Friday, August 24, 2007
What I Like About You
Andy Rowell, writing at Out of Ur, says what he likes about mainline and non-denominational churches. Apparently in an effort to always be positive, sometimes the things he remarks upon seem remarkably at odds. For example, about the mainlines he says:
My heart yearns to have it both ways, and yet I have never seen or heard of it being done.. The nondenoms do do outreach and newbies better, but then what? Programs designed to "go deep" usually flounder and fail, or have awful numbers. And the mainlines, when they work, which they often don't, do breed maturity, but don't exactly drawn them in like bees to honey. Efforts to "lighten up" tend to just kill the best thing about the church. What to do?
Well how about remember that the goal is not to program but to transform. The church does not do the ministry, the church members do. Imagine newcomers coming not because of advertiseing, but with someone, who escorts them through everything. Imagine someone that responds to the message not with strangers but with the friend that brought them.
Imagine growth, not exponential numbers growth, but geometric numbers growth, while accompanied by increasing depth, committment and faith on the part of those joining the community.
Ask yourself, Why did Christ train 12 apostles instead of set up a program?
Related Tags: church, growth, maturity, discipleship, evangelism
Mainline churches have a greater appreciation for Christian history. The liturgies of the mainline churches reflect the thought and deliberation of several centuries of Christians. Many evangelical worship leaders say whatever springs to mind.And about the non-denoms he says:
Nondenominational evangelical churches question traditions that no longer connect with most people.But doesn't the "the thought and deliberation of several centuries of Christians" at some point rise to the level of near truth and therefore should not be really subject to the vagaries of modern taste?
My heart yearns to have it both ways, and yet I have never seen or heard of it being done.. The nondenoms do do outreach and newbies better, but then what? Programs designed to "go deep" usually flounder and fail, or have awful numbers. And the mainlines, when they work, which they often don't, do breed maturity, but don't exactly drawn them in like bees to honey. Efforts to "lighten up" tend to just kill the best thing about the church. What to do?
Well how about remember that the goal is not to program but to transform. The church does not do the ministry, the church members do. Imagine newcomers coming not because of advertiseing, but with someone, who escorts them through everything. Imagine someone that responds to the message not with strangers but with the friend that brought them.
Imagine growth, not exponential numbers growth, but geometric numbers growth, while accompanied by increasing depth, committment and faith on the part of those joining the community.
Ask yourself, Why did Christ train 12 apostles instead of set up a program?
Related Tags: church, growth, maturity, discipleship, evangelism
