A previous post sparked some good discussion about community within the Church. Here’s a quick recap:

My good friend d10 talked about the list of people that have stopped coming to church:

it seems a list would be unnecessary if relationships were critically central in a church. people wouldn’t slip through cracks like they often do. there’s very little that’s ever done for a person on a list that will engage that person in relationship.

My new friend (met through blogging) Bruce pointed out that maybe I should be asking why people are leaving church rather than focusing on whether or not we should use time and resources to get them back. He ended his comments by saying;

Why do people go to Church? The music? The preaching? The denomination? The doctrine? Perhaps. What most people are looking for is community. Relationship. And that is where we fail I am afraid.

This has gotten me thinking a lot about community within the Church. And I agree, we are failing. It pains me to say this, but most relationships within the church are superficial.

If you don’t believe me just think about someone within your church that you talk to every Sunday but never interact with throughout the rest of the week (except for Wednesday…maybe). Now that you have that person in your mind ask these questions, “what is (insert name here)’s dream?”, “what is God doing in their life?”, “what are they struggling with?” You can’t do it can you? The reason you can’t do it is because your relationship with this person isn’t deep.

And that is the crux of our problem, we create many relationships within the church, 98% of which are shallow relationships that only exist within the walls of a building. This is not community. I have a lot of thoughts on this that I will explore in future posts. But, for now, I would like to hear from you on this.

Why do you think that the natural relationships that develop within the church tend to be shallow and superficial?

This past week I have been thinking a lot about [tag]unity[/tag] among the [tag]body of Christ[/tag]. What does it take for a body to be unified? How do we maintain the unity that we started with? If we are all following Jesus why do issues of unity ever become a problem? These are just a few of the questions rolling around in my head. I haven’t really found many answers just yet, though I have a few hunches.

However, one thing I can be certain of is the place where we find unity, at the foot of the [tag]cross[/tag]. It is only when we are kneeling down before the cross of Christ, the very cross we deserve to hang on, that we are all equal as we humble ourselves before our magnificent Creator. It is in this moment when we look on Him with awe and on our sin in disgust that we understand our true condition and remember how small we are compared to the magnitude of His glory.

Last night my family and I had the privilege of being in our church’s cottage [tag]prayer[/tag] meeting. We had twenty seven people gathered in a home for the sole purpose of going before God as a body of believers. One of my students led a short Bible study (which was excellent) and then we got to the serious business of prayer. Words can’t describe how powerful it is to listen to God’s people genuinely pouring their hearts out to Him. Listening to the prayers of those saints was humbling and uplifting. When the time of prayer was finished I could sense a unity among the group that I have rarely felt. It felt like family. It felt like one body unified with purpose. It felt like we were living out Acts 2:42-47; communing with Christ and each other in Bible study and fellowship; in the breaking of bread and prayer. This is what being the body of Christ is all about, finding unity and purpose at the foot of the cross.

Why was the book of John written? According to John 20:30-31 it was written to help us believe that [tag]Jesus[/tag] is the [tag]Christ[/tag]. The scripture says:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may [tag]believe[/tag] that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
-John 20:30-31 (ESV)

But, what if we already believe? Does that mean that we should no longer read John and move on to a book written for another purpose? Of course not. It means that we should continue to read John’s gospel, continue to consume it’s truth in order to make it a part of who we are and strengthen our belief.

I have been thinking about [tag]belief[/tag] for the last few days and I am just now starting to realize how big it can be. I think we all know that there are varying degrees of belief in Christ. There are those people that say they believe in word and deny it with their actions. There are those that say they believe and live it out (at least as far as the outside observer sees). And, of course there are those believe and actually allow that belief to shape the course of their lives.

All of this is obvious even to the casual observer, but I have been trying to think of this on a deeper level. [tag]Abram[/tag] “believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as [tag]righteousness[/tag]” (Genesis 15:6, ESV). That’s a significant statement. Imagine the depth of Abram’s belief, it was life changing; but more than that, it was spirit changing and even future changing. It influenced his thinking, his living, his family, his household, the course of his life and the courses of the lives of his offspring even to present day.

I think most of the time we think of believing God as something that we do once (when we come to know Jesus) and then we are finished, but I don’t think that is God’s intention. Our belief must grow. It must penetrate the deepest part of who we are and still dig deeper. We must become consumed by our belief and allow it to change us from the inside out. We must never be satisfied with where we are but strive for deeper relationship and more life changing belief. After all, we just need the faith of a mustard seed to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). The last time I looked, all the mountains were still located where they have always been…so I guess we all have a long way to go.

Ok, I got up at 5am, got in [tag]the Word[/tag], and then began the daunting task of catching up (a good thing to do on the 2nd day of the new year). So, for the last hour or more, I have been checking email, reading messages and comments on myspace, replying to those emails, messages, and comments, catching up on facebook; and finally catching up on all RSS stories that I have so haphazardly neglected for the last month or so (note: by catching up I mean marking all stories as “read” even when I haven’t read them).

Essentially, I have spent the last hour [tag]reconnecting[/tag] with people and reacquainting myself with what is going on in the blogsphere and the real world. It’s striking to me how easy it is to get out of touch. I have been so busy over the holidays that I haven’t had time to keep up with the news and all the regular reading that I try to do. I didn’t even know that President Ford had died until two days after the fact because I have been so busy.

This proves to me how dangerous it is when we (Christians) start to seclude ourselves from the rest of the world. We can get into our own pattern of living; talking to the same people every day, listening to the same music and keeping the same routine. And, when we do this for even a short time, we lose touch with the world around us and lose our ability to connect with the very people we are trying to reach out to. This is the catch 22 that [tag]the Church[/tag] continually finds itself in; the need to avoid being “worldly” (as in sinning like the world) without losing the ability to carry on an intelligent conversation with someone “of the world” (someone that doesn’t know [tag]Jesus[/tag]). Basically the whole, “be in the world not of it” idea.

So, I find myself [tag]asking[/tag], how do we stay connected? I mean, I have been otherwise occupied for about 3 weeks now and I feel like I just arrived in a new country and have no idea what is going on. What about the Christians that checked out a year ago, or five years ago, or twenty years ago? How do they get reconnected with the culture that they have avoided intentionally? Is that even possible?

For me, on this 2nd day of the New Year, I am committing to stay connected with blogs, news, Christian news, and other important information. I will also try to intentionally talk about these things through this blog to help keep you, the loyal readership, better informed (for those of you that may have “accidentally” missed the news or something). Also, please take note of the section in the sidebar titled “links 2 read”, this is the place where I will put links to news articles and other items that I think are important and worth taking the time to read.

I am currently doing a bible study over Galatians. I have already been through this study before when I lived in Thailand, when I had to depend on God because everything was hard, when it was clear that I could not do it on my own, when I saw that if anything great was going to happen among the Thai people it would happen by grace and not my performance.

Once again I am brought to that place of submission, the place of casting my cares on the One who is able, the One who is good and true, the One who is full of grace and mercy. How silly it is of me to ever attempt to rely on my own goods, my own understanding, my own wisdom and experience. Who am I trying to kid by acting like I have it all together, that I can lead my family, that I can lead others, that I can lead a movement of youth. I can not.

Grace busts in without permission, just when we are so filled up with ourselves here it comes, a truly beautiful collision, as Crowder says, “when depravity meets grace”. Jesus wants me to see that He is able to lead me, my family, my friends, and a youth movement. He is not only able, which is a great big thing, He is willing. Wow, the creator of the universe is concerned with me, even with all my sin stained self. God overflows in love to me so that He can overflow in love through me.

This love is unearned. This is grace. What freedom! Grace lifts up the name of Jesus. Grace draws me out of myself to the greatness of God where He shows off in me. I do not, nor should I , need to aim at getting God to delight in my performance. Pride seeks approval by performance. Grace is free. Love is free. Unearned love is pure and electric. “Grace makes the law of God a thing of beauty instead of a burden.”

Jesus wants to move in big ways and among us. Grace empowers us to run the race. Grace will always exalt God. Why would I ever seek to lift myself up and miss out on Him.

Contemplate Grace today.

Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
-[tag]Isaiah 55[/tag]:2 (ESV)

This verse makes me think about playing video games. I must admit, I enjoy a good video game now and then. My favorite game tends to be NCAA football where I can win with my boys, the [tag]Yellow Jackets[/tag] (go Tech, and yes…I know…it is only in “X-box-land” that they win the National Title). I like to take Tech through a good ol undefeated season, go to the championship game, and walk all over my opponents. It makes a guy feel good. The only problem is, I’m the only one that appreciates the victory, because the game is nothing more than a fantasy. In reality Tech is playing in the Gator Bowl rather than for the National Title.

Why do we spend our money on things we don’t really need (that which is not bread) and work for things that don’t last (that which does not satisfy)? Everywhere I look I see examples this in both secular and Christian [tag]culture[/tag]. In secular culture I see people spending all their [tag]money[/tag] on big houses, better cars or expensive clothes, while neglecting to save money for more important things (like…their child’s college education). In Christian culture I see churches paying outlandish salaries, building larger more extravagant buildings and often neglecting the Biblical mandate to feed and clothe the poor. I see Christians spending plenty of time and effort working inside the walls of the church but overlooking the work that needs to be done for the people in their neighborhood.

I think the point of this verse is to call us into focus. Playing video games isn’t bad, it’s just not the best use of our time. Buying a nice house or building a large church isn’t bad, but we should be cautious to make sure it’s best. Isaiah is calling us to “eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food”. So, maybe it’s time to put down the X-box controller and pick up the Bible. Maybe it’s time to get a ride that is “not-so-pimped” and give away some cash to someone who needs it. Maybe it’s time to focus less on church socials and more on church service projects. Maybe it’s time to get focused, put what’s best in front of us and enjoy that other good stuff with whatever time is left.

I think it’s time we all dug in to some rich food rather than settling for coco puffs and pop tarts.

Tonight I was witness to some of the most beautiful things I have ever seen among the body of Christ. I went to the Saturday night service of The Church at the Ridge, which is a church plant pastored by a friend of mine. Part of their core values states their goal of “helping parents, especially fathers, to realize their God-given roles as spiritual leaders in the lives of their children, thereby establishing a heritage of faith that will carry into and impact another generation.” Tonight’s service lived out this statement in a very real and amazing way. Throughout the night I found myself blinking back tears as I saw men of faith step up and lead their families like real men, like real spiritual leaders, like pastors for their families.

The emotional roller coaster started with a child dedication, which is usually a rather uneventful thing for the average onlooker. But, at this dedication the pastor asked the dad to pray for his family. I watched this man (a new believer by the way) kneel, as his family knelt around him, and say a simple, sweet prayer for this children, it was moving.

Then came the very important and often completely overlooked sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Again, in many churches this can be a ho hum event, which is downright sinful, but not so at CATR. The pastor gave perhaps the best explanation of the Lord’s Supper that I have ever heard, which included explaining that Jesus rode into Jerusalem during the Passover Festival on the day that the people chose the lamb they would slaughter as a payment for sin…hmmm…that seems significant. The pastor then gave directions on how we should proceed in taking the Lord’s supper, specifically asking families to take the Lord’s Supper together and asking fathers to administer it to their families, acting as their family’s spiritual leader. As the Lord’s Supper began I bowed my head to pray, overhearing the prayers of the family next to me and appreciating the leadership role that father took. Then, once I felt I was able to take the Lord’s Supper appropriately, I got up and walked to the table. As I waited for my turn I watched fathers giving their children the bread and the wine (juice) and praying over their families. I honestly wanted to just kneel and weep in the beauty of the moment but settled to blink back tears and thank God of the experience. To my left a family had knelt down and was praying, to my right a father gave communion to his wife and children while other families waited patiently, then it was my turn. I took the Lord’s Supper with a thankful heart.

Next was a time for baptism, which I was excited to see simply because we were meeting in a school. The baptism started with a video talking about the family’s faith and the boy’s conversion experience, which is what I expected. They the spotlight flashed on to reveal a large tub (for lack of a better word) with the pastor standing on one side and the boy’s dad on the other (I’m sure you can see where this is going). The pastor gave a brief introduction, then turned it over to the father to baptize his son. Chills ran up and down my spine watching the event, imagine, a dad acting as a pastor for his son, even to the point of baptizing him! It was truly amazing.

Later as we worshiped in song I took a moment to notice the people around me. Within the room were families, not adults worshiping while their kids were hangin out elsewhere, their were actual family units worshiping together. I think there were as many kids in the service as there were adults, and amazingly, the kids were perfectly quiet and seemed to be enjoying themselves. A few rows in front of me a father and son worshiped side by side with their arms around each other’s shoulders, amazing.

This church focuses on families, and more than that, it they focus on helping men to be real men. In saying that I simply mean that they are helping men fulfill their God given role of being the spiritual leader in their home. In talking to the pastor he gave me some statistics¹ showing why they focus on men to reach families.

If you reach a teenager for Christ, 3% of the time you will reach their entire family.
If you reach a mother for Christ, 17% of the time you will reach their entire family.
If you reach a father for Christ, 93% of the time you will reach their entire family.

Let me be clear, the church service was great. The worship was good, the pastor’s short teachings were good, and the people were friendly. But, what made this service so significant was seeing dads stepping into their leadership role with boldness, under God’s authority and direction. Tonight was an experience that will encourage and challenge my heart for years to come.

Now, after writing all of this I have to ask one question, and I’m hoping that you will discuss this with me.

Why don’t we see more men stepping into the role of spiritual director/pastor of their family?

1. I don’t know where these stats came from, I will find out and post the information