Church and the Next Generation

At the Christian Chronicle website there is an article titled “Are We Loosing Our Young People.” Here are some quick thoughts I have:

The problem is not in how many young people we retain or how evangelistic we are (or are not). The problem is a paradigm shift in the way the upcoming generation thinks. For most Churches of Christ, church is a 3rd person entity that is done from a building with a chapel that imposes a complete set of rules on how we worship, fellowship, and minister: We must all sit in pews, we must have worship leaders who always do so from the stage and they must be male, We must follow the scripted worship order planned by someone else, fellowship is a Sunday School class or a bridal shower at the building, ministry is a VBS at the building or a clothing drive at the building, etc... Though there is nothing inherently wrong with this model, it has a number of limitations in allowing a new generation to express their worship and faith in God in the 1st person which is what being church is about. In the worst forms, there are some who believe this model of being church (3rd person) is biblical and therefore unchangeable.

We must come to grips with the reality that for the upcoming generation, church will not be a 3rd person entity done from a building. Church will be a 1st person reality and acted out in ways that will not fit into our mold. Worship, fellowship, and ministry may be practiced out in a house church, by a small group at a coffee shop who will never see the inside of a church building, in a city park among the company of the publics most disenfranchised, and many other forms that is even difficult for my mind to fathom. The upcoming generation will care little about what gender does what when worshiping. They will care little about whether their singing is with or without instruments (if they meet in a coffee shop, they may not even sing but instead encourage each other just through the communal reading of scripture). From my viewpoint, these shifts have nothing to do with being or not being scriptural. I realize that for some, there are biblical issues at stake. Regardless, unless we can learn to start allowing expressions of being church that are beyond our traditional box called a building we will only continue to experience the frustrations already being felt.

A Wonderful Day

Yesterday was a great day. Monday is technically an “off” day but I do wind up engaging in some ministry tasks usually. Yesterday was no different.

Monday seemed routine until around two O’ clock in the afternoon. I went to visit one of our members at the community center where she works. She is working through a couple of issues and so I thought I would stop by for a chat. It was a wonderful conversation and very encouraging for me as well. While there, she had a phone call to take. During her phone call I wound up talking to another lady who volunteers at the community center. This lady told me about growing up in a violent New York City neighborhood where negativity is a normal everyday experience. We wound up talking about God’s grace that helps us all overcome the challenges of a fallen world.

From there I stopped by my favorite coffee shop, Gimme! Coffee, on Cayuga St. The girl serving me coffee asked me what type of work I do. This gave me the opportunity to give her my business card and tell her about my mission and ministry with the Ithaca Church of Christ. She has a friend who just received her M.Div and now serves with a Lutheran Church in Albany. I invited this girl to visit us sometime. I don’t know where she is at in life but it is always nice to have conversations with people in the community where God becomes part of the subject.

Later in the evening I attended the Evangelist / Elders meeting. Our meeting began with prayer and ended with prayer. It is so nice to have elders who actually believe that God is acting through his Spirit as we pray. The meeting was very encouraging also as we talked about our developing mission. It is nice to have elders that are concerned enough about Kingdom business that they are trying to force themselves to think outside the box.

After this I came home and took the dog for a walk. While on my walk I met Rob. Rob is a homeless man who travels around camping out at different music festivals. After talking about the upcoming Grass Roots Music Festival in Ithaca, we started talking about life. Rob asked me if there was something good that he could do for me. Dumbfounded, I just said “pray for me.” Then I told him I was an Evangelist and said I would pray for him as well. Rob told me that he tries to do at least one good deed to everyone he meets. He said that the world would be a much better place if everyone tried to do at least one good deed to everyone they meet during the day. I think he is right.

Well, I proceeded home and on the way I saw a woman that plays on my softball team. We talked for a bit. She used to come to the Ithaca CoC. I am not sure why she stopped coming but it is nice to build connections again.

At last I came home and there was my beautiful wife and daughter. My daughter keeps me laughing and my wife keeps me on right paths, always encouraging me in so many ways.

This is a wonderful day for me. First, my day was wonderful because it was spent with people in the community. Though office work is a necessary evil, mission and ministry is about going where the Lord goes and the Lord always went to people. Secondly, my elders are encouraging to me. They make me want to even work harder and remind me once again of how glad I am that God brought my family and I to Ithaca. Last but certainly not least, I can and do come home to my family. As much as I love church ministry and mission work, I could go on without being a paid evangelist. But my family… I need them and love them. God has been and continues to be good to me.

A CashCall of Injustice

I was sent to this website by CashCall loans by another blog (www.kendallball.com) where this loan company CashCall charges 99.25% interest (that is right, 99.25%) for a $2,000.00 dollar loan to people who cannot secure loans elsewhere. This, and businesses like them, are an injustice who most likely seek to take advantage of the poor. We should do whatever we possibly can to expose such injustice and that is what I want to do.

If They Only Knew...

The city of Ithaca is a very politically charged town and I am so accustomed to hearing people discuss political issues that I rarely even think about it. Political discussions are just a part of the every day background noise.

However the other day something did catch my attention. Two people were discussing their frustrations with the nations participating in the G8 Summit. One of the people commented on what it would be like to actually be a part of a nation that actually cares about people rather than preservation of political power. I could not help think to myself, "If they only knew that there is a kingdom (though not a physical nation) that actually is concerned about the well-being of all people rather than protecting its power base." Of course I was thinking about the Kingdom of God which Jesus proclaimed was breaking into this world, the same Kingdom (reign) of God which Jesus demonstrated in his very own life and called his followers to do so after him.

If people only knew that there is a kingdom that is more concerned with justice and compassion for all, based upon self-sacrificing service rather than self-centered preservation of power. Then again, I must admit that many people do not know of such a kingdom because too many Christians (and their church congregations) have failed to proclaim this kingdom and demonstrate in their very own lives. Instead of proclaiming and demonstrating the Kingdom of God, too many of us have been more focused on proclaiming and protecting what makes our local Christian communities different from another Christian community. On the other side, too many Christians and their local churches have been focused on reducing the nature of God's kingdom to the politically correct cultural expectations of a fallen world. And other Christians have simply placed other loyalties (often politically related) above the Kingdom of God and their confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Is it any wonder why so many people see Christians as simply part of the world's problems?

I believe God created this world and created life in this world to be lived in an equitable and just manner. Unfortunately, the selfish actions of humanity (sin) have destroyed such a life. But God in his grace is trying to redeem us (save us) from this pitiful mess we have made for ourselves. God therefore revealed himself to us in his Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus demonstrated to us how God intended for humanity to live and did this consistently throughout his life. Of course the powers that be felt threatened and so they killed Jesus. But this was all part of a plan of God, who raised Jesus from death so that the world would know that life beyond the powers of evil and death could be lived. God made Jesus both Lord and Savior, not so we could just get a "ticket to heaven" but so that we would surrender our selfish ways (baptism) to God's way and find real life where selfish pride and living is relented in exchange for service and self-sacrifice for the sake of others. Jesus is our model, thus our Lord. The resurrected Jesus is our promise of this new life, thus our Savior. God gives us his Holy Spirit as a promise of this new "eternal" life which frees us to live a life of service and self-sacrifice for the sake of others without fear. Therefore we can proclaim and demonstrate the Kingdom of God in our living.

If they only knew that there is a kingdom (though not a physical nation) that actually is concerned about the well-being of all people rather than protecting its power base!