A Discipling Community

This Lent, I’m exploring Five Characteristics of Christian Community in series of sermons as well as reflecting upon these themes here. You can listen to the sermon on a Christian community being a discipling community here. What is a disciple? In a general sense, a disciple is a student or apprentice. Not just a casual student, but a committed student. Someone who has devoted him or herself to a particular teacher. These sorts of student-mentor relationships have famous threads in many circles, but perhaps especially, in academic, artistic, and martial ones. The rising scholar whose mentor is a legend in their field. The renowned composer who studied with one of the greats. A martial artist who has devoted herself to her master and learning his art and passing it on to the next generation.

If you apply this understanding of disciple to Christianity, you are at once shaken and challenged. If the primary mission of the Christian Church is to make disciples, and if disciples are committed in the way that other disciples are to their teachers, then the work of the Church becomes both more challenging and exciting. We have often been pretty good at making church goers in our congregations. People who show up, sometimes regularly, and who sometimes also help out with other activities around the church. This is all fine as far as it goes. However, it doesn’t go far enough, according to the instruction of all the great spiritual teachers. Spiritual teachers aside, it falls short of THE Teacher’s example and instruction, “Go therefore, make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:16-20).

A disciple in the Christian sense is a follower of Jesus. A disciple in the Christian sense is someone seeking to allow their faith to anchor their life and their faith to flavor and saturate every aspect of their life. This doesn’t, necessarily, translate into being at the gathered church all the time. Disciples worship regularly, usually weekly, some more, but their particular sense of Christian call and responsibility may manifest through their profession, their volunteering, or in raising their family. There are many ways of following Jesus and many variations on the path of discipleship. Despite the disparate ways of being a disciple, disciples across the spectrum share many things in common, beginning with the one Lord. Disciples aren’t perfect by any means, but they understand they are on a journey. How is your discipleship going? Is discipleship something your local church talks about and more importantly, does?

What did you hear in the sermon, in the text, or this reflection? What would you challenge, what would you add? What are you still wondering about?   

A Worshipping Community

This Lent, I’m exploring Five Characteristics of Christian Community in series of sermons as well as reflecting upon these themes here. You can listen to the sermon on a Christian community being a worshipping community here. It might be obvious to state that a Christian community is a worshipping community. That worship of the Almighty is the primary purpose of its existence. However, like with common sense, the obvious isn’t so obvious a good deal of the time. For smaller churches, Sunday worship may be the only time the community gathers. In larger churches, there may be several worship services and dozens of activities, programs, and events held throughout the week. In either situation, worship should be the anchor of all that local congregation does. Why?

That’s actually a good question and a contested one. Community centers and agencies do many of the things churches do and often more efficiently and on a grander scale. But the church is more than a community agency or a social club. At least, it’s supposed to be more than (or perhaps different than) these organizations, which certainly have their place and which God uses to accomplish much good in people’s lives. A church should be a community in which individuals can encounter God. Christianity is a communal faith. Worship in the gathered sense cannot be done by yourself. The sacramental churches have always held onto to this truth with their emphasis on the Eucharist being the central act of Christian worship. You can’t celebrate the Eucharist yourself and yet in the Eucharist God can be encountered in a special way.

The evangelical churches have also held onto this truth with their emphasis that the Bible, as much as it should be read individually, should be encountered in community through preaching and shared study. The mainline churches have also held onto this truth with their emphasis on justice, which requires us to unite across all sorts of boundaries to cooperate with the Spirit for a better world. The charismatic churches have also held onto this truth with their emphasis on God’s presence, a presence that is best experienced and interpreted alongside other believers. Yet, for all the Body of Christ’s emphasis on gathered worship as the anchor of Christian life attendance by professing Christians at weekly services is on the whole, hardly overwhelming. But never mind attendance figures, but what about the spiritual figures of those attending?

What are people doing when they show up to worship? Are they just going through the motions? Are they encountering the divine? Are they opening themselves to the Spirit? Whether the service is High Mass, Rock and Roll, Quiet and Respectable, or whatever, are worshippers allowing the service to be a vehicle for God to transform their hearts and minds? Worship is an opportunity to step out of our constant fixation on ourselves and be opened to a greater reality that will point us to the mystery of life and to concrete service to life in all its forms. One of the great truths of the Christian faith that is visible by any quick survey of human behavior, is that we are by nature worshipping creatures. We are going to worship. It’s inevitable, but what or who are we worshipping?

What did you hear in the sermon, in the text, or this reflection? What would you challenge, what would you add? What are you still wondering about?   

Valentine’s Day Ashes

This year feature’s the unusual occurrence of Valentine’s Day falling on Ash Wednesday. One church calendar features a cartoon with valentines that read, “Won’t you be my Valentine you miserable offender?” and “Roses are red. Violets are blue. Lent is beginning. No chocolate for you.” Besides a few jokes (both fun and bitter), what insight does the bringing together of this largely secular holiday (St. Valentine not withstanding) and Ash Wednesday provide? Actually, the insight is pretty sweet (get it, sweet?). Let’s first touch base on the meaning of each observance on its own merits.

Valentine’s Day is a romantic holiday. A day for candles and candies, for special date nights, thoughtful gestures and the like. It is also a day of despair for those who wish someone was in their life and a disappointments for couples who feel their relationship is not all it is supposed to be. Women may be more hopeful about Valentine’s Day, yearning for something poetic and memorable to happen. Men may dread it or see it as little more than a day that obligates them to buy roses. Romantic hope, cynicism, and sorrow are all on tap on this day annually. Some families also exchange valentines, as do some school children.

Ash Wednesday is one of the most solemn days of the entire Christian year. It marks the beginning of the season of Lent. It is a season for self-reflection, spiritual spring cleaning, repentance, fasting, and the like. It can also be a day of despair because Ash Wednesday reminds us of the difficult reality of death. Ashes are marked on the foreheads of Christians with the declaration, “You are dust and to dust you shall return.” Some Churches stress Ash Wednesday and attendance is strong and some do not with attendance being less. While the majority of Christian Churches observe Lent, there are a sizeable minority who do not.

So what happens when you bring together mortality and romantic love? You get life! (And Shakespeare…) Whether romantic love or not, one of the great joys of life – relationships – is also one of its greatest sorrows. Eventually, you and I will have to say good-bye to every person we care about. This can lead to despair if fixated upon. Relationships, of all kinds, with God and people, are what make life worth living. But people die, people move, children grow up, you take a new job, a break ups occurs, and eventually, some day you will join the great throng of humanity that has left this life for the mystery beyond.  

Where is the sweetness in this? A rose is sweet because its blossom is not eternal. Its bloom is precious because it is for a season. A rose should be enjoyed while it lasts. A rose should be tended to preserve its beauty and longevity. The rose will be a memory which if we have treasured, will be with us forever. Ok. You say, yes, treasure people, they won’t always be here, blah blah, etc. I get it. Do you? Are you? But there is something else. A rose is a gift. The people in our lives are gifts. They are not our possessions. We can trust that in some mysterious way our love for them will echo into eternity, but for now, they are temporary gifts. Cherish them.             

Mountaintop Experience

This is a reflection and place for dialogue on my sermon and related themes from the last Sunday of Epiphany, on the Gospel text from Saint Mark 9:2-9.   

What exactly is happening here? Are Peter, James, and John experiencing a vision? Is the veil between our everyday reality and the fuller reality of life being pushed aside revealing Jesus in all his splendor? No one can say with certainty save that this incident became so significant to the early Christian community that it was included in the Gospels. Certainly, this event, qualifies as a mountaintop experience! 

What are we to make of these sorts of experiences? Should we desire them? Should we seek them out? The importance of this event in the Gospel is once again affirming Jesus’ unique identity as the Son of God, while no doubt, encouraging the inner circle of apostles along the way. I have met many people, some active in their faith, many not particularly, who have experienced some sort of supernatural or unusual experience. For many, these events whether visions, angelic visitations, miraculous healings, and the like usually seem to have strengthened the faith of these individuals.  

On the other hand, I know many who have begged and battered the doors of heaven for some sort of transfiguration in their own lives or the life of somebody they care about. A different path are those seeking spiritual experiences and spiritual powers. Some find more than they bargained for. Some get involved in things they later wish they had not. Some discover nothing and toss their hands up at the whole enterprise of faith. All of the great teachers of the spiritual life have warned against seeking special visions and powers. If such experiences come they are to be gratefully received, but not desperately clung to. They are to be acknowledged but not worshipped. The goal in the spiritual life is learning to listen to the divine voice more clearly and to follow it more nearly. In the Christian tradition, the voice of God always points us to the loving service of our neighbor.  

What did you hear in the sermon, in the text, or this reflection? What would you challenge, what would you add? What are you still wondering about?  

Five Steps in Growing Congregations

In a previous post, I outlined five factors that congregations that wish to grow, spiritually and numerically, must reckon with. These factors are largely related to the shifts that have taken place in our society over the last sixty years, resulting in our present reality of living in an increasingly, post-Christian world (the United States is the furthest behind in this process for different reasons and can learn from countries like Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand who are further along). These five factors must be considered when looking to take any of the five steps described below.  Let these five steps be conversation starters in your congregation regarding church growth and evangelism.   

1.     Stepping Up Prayer 

Often people will nod to this step and then say, “Yeah, but, what are we really going to do?” If we are not willing to make a concerted effort in becoming more prayerful congregations and to pray more regularly and intently for the spread of the Gospel in our communities, then we should put our spiritual car into park and not attempt to hit the highway of evangelism until our parish and ourselves as individuals have had a major spiritual tune up. Avoid this step at your peril.

2.     Stepping Up Discipleship 

Remember, the target goal is not simply to increase attendance and add to the membership rolls of your congregation. These are inadequate motivators in the work of evangelism. Our mission is to proclaim the Gospel, make disciples and love our communities in Jesus name. Disciples attend church regularly, but being a disciple and being a member of a congregation are not necessarily the same thing. If you do not know the difference between a church member and a disciple, find out. We will have to re-learn about discipleship, Christianity as a way of life, and how to offer preaching, teaching, and resources in our churches oriented to helping people with these goals in mind. 

3.     Stepping Up Welcome

Almost every church thinks of itself as friendly. The challenge is that research and anecdotal evidence suggest that many small churches are indeed friendly, with each other, but less so with new comers. For many, the prospect of showing up to a new place, much less a church, is an anxiety producing one. Have you thought through the entire experience of a first time guest from how they find you (for increasing numbers of people today they will start looking for you online…), get to you, park their car, find the right door to enter, find the worship space, know where to sit, and what to do, how to get to coffee hour (if you have one) and how you will follow up with them once they have left? This is just for starters. If you want a real eye-opener, ask a couple of people who have never been to your church to walk around the facility with you and give you their honest impressions!  

4.     Stepping Up Worship

This doesn’t necessarily mean bringing in a band and big lights and attractive lead vocalists. Small churches will not likely to draw individuals who are looking for a “big” church experience and vice versus. Most churches are small and such churches need to be seeking those who are looking for or who will better respond to a smaller, more family like experience of church. This is not an excuse for poor quality, however. Is the service well-planned and executed? Does the congregation participate strongly and devotionally? Is the worship space clean, well lit, and attractive? Are you sitting in an immense space with just a few people? Can you find ways to block off some of the space to give it a better feel? What can you do to improve your music? There are good pre-recorded options, find the best options you can. Piano and organ aren’t the only options for live accompaniment of congregational singing. Are there musicians in your congregation, what about your community? Is the preaching solid, clear, and oriented toward discipleship and Christianity as a way of life?  

5.     Stepping Up Invitation  

The best news you might read in this post is that drawing new people into a relationship with Christ and His Church (evangelism) does not require expensive programs, super talented preachers or state of the art facilities. Study after study, across denominations, continues to reveal that the number one reason people join a church or come to Christ is because someone they know invited them to church. That’s it. Yes, there is a place for marketing, web presence, dynamic preaching, stellar music and more. However, without an invitation to worship by a stranger, acquaintance, co-worker, friend, or family member, most people will never come to church anyway. We have to learn how to invite. There are ways of making that easier for many church folks who are often shy about these things. If you invite 10 people will all 10 people come? No. It will be a smaller yield and sometimes you will have to invite someone several times over a several month (or longer period) before they will come. But with God’s help we can do it. The future of our congregations depends upon it.

A Prayer for New Zealand

God of great waters and green islands, we ask your blessing upon New Zealand. Guide and sustain leaders at every level from the Prime Minister, to the Councils of every region, to those leading in their local communities whether civically, culturally, or within your Church. Strengthen bonds between immigrants, native New Zealanders descended from immigrants, as well as indigenous peoples. Guide those preserving New Zealand’s great natural beauty entrusted to it by creation. Bless every citizen and those eagerly working toward citizenship. Let the world learn more about this great nation and let those who make the journey there and back again be blessed and share their happy stories of this epic land in many languages across many nations. We pray this through the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.