Friday, June 27, 2008

How many should you have?


In an era of super-sized whatever I have a question.

Should we have mega-churches or should we have churches that plant new churches and support them? How many people should you have? Can a pastor really pastor a church of 2000 people?

I am not saying that mega churches are bad but I wonder if the pragmatic view of church growth has influenced our view of how large our churches should be.

What do you think?

Saturday, June 21, 2008

How many do y'all have...?


Why is is that when you see someone you know (especially in the ministry) they want to know how many people go to your church? Now I know that might not sound like a bad question and from an etymological point of view it isn't. The idea behind it is what prompts me to bring this up.

Our culture cannot get away from the pragmatic idea that if your church is big God must be doing something great in it. That same pramatic idea also leads us to deduce that if your church is small that "God has written Ichabod across the front door" and that it is simply dead.

I suppose that the business principle of have a product, market that product, and sell that product for a gain has led us to bring that same principle into the church.

So, we have:
-Christ and His message of saving grace
we then:
-Have magic shows, concerts (that have no semblance of anything Christian), or some other gimmic to "draw in the masses"
finally:
-tell people that Jesus is there to be their best friend, boyfriend, marriage counselor, financial guru, physician/surgeon who will miraculously heal all wounds/sicknesses/diseases

So if we have successfully "drawn the masses" in through whatever means was needed our friends, family and the world will assume that God is doing a wonderful thing. And to follow that line of thinking; God is not doing anything if your church is not growing.

What if when we see people we ask them "How many people in your church really act Christ-like?" Or what about "How many in your church desire to live holy God-honoring lives?" How would folks respond then?

My problem is that we use warm bodies in our church building as a means of determining if God is doing something. I am reminded of 1Cor. 3.6
"I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow." The growth that we manufactor does not mean that God has "made it grow." I am reminded that Our ways are not His ways.

I think Satan has planted an amazingly deceptive theory of growth in the church that has roots as deep as an oak.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Gay is No Longer Happy

I am sick to the point that I almost can't "stands no more" on this issue of the acceptance of homosexuality being force fed to the church. All the while the church remains silent for fear of retaliation from the GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender) community. Also many in the church are opposed to the church speaking out about homosexuality because they have friends or family that are involved in this "alternative lifestyle."

To add fuel to this out of control fire we have this article of a large metro Atlanta Word-Faith church that is "considering their options in reference to having a gay group (SoulForce) to come in and lead workshops on human sexuality. What in the world is that church thinking?

The church cannot remain silent on this sin or any other sin for that matter. Who cares if people get upset or protest? Our concern should be what God thinks about it. I am equally concerned about the churches that choose to remain silent. Their silence puts them in the same league with those churches embracing it.

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