Here’s your chance! Say what ever you want on the subject of church and a relationship with Jesus. Leave your raw and uncensored comments.
A few questions I’m interested in but not limited to:
What are you looking for in a church?
What do you struggle with in church?
What should the church be doing?
What are you struggling with in your relationship with Jesus?
If you could change something about church, what would that be?
Come on, jump into to discussion.
If you are interested in the current blog series “So you don’t want to go to church anymore” Book by Wayne Jacobsen and Dave Coleman you can READ IT HERE.
Can’t answer these off the cuff…need to ponder…will be back later. Raw and uncensored…what is this WWF??
Same with me Joell, I want to distill all my bits into what I hear from Him when I’ll hush a bit. This is challenging for me (hushing) so may take time.
John – that is one of the ways we are so blessed by the Word you are bringing. There’s Life there for us to acknowledge an discover. Thanks to God for your integrity. That’s one thing that’s life giving to any congregation, integrity and intimacy, too and time to ponder and listen.
ps thanks for the WWF picture….I’m pretty flexible about what I wear to church, but no leotards for me :)
I’m back. Bet you didn’t think I was coming back. Ha!
I’ve been thinking about these questions and asking the Lord to help me examine my heart about them. Here’s what I have to say…I think it might be longish.
-What should the church be doing? Simply put, the church (the individuals and the collective body) should be about their Father’s business…loving Him and loving the people He created the way He loves them.
-What am I looking for in a church? I am looking for the Word to be preached, without apology. I am looking for warm loving people who love and accept my family…specifically…my son and his special needs. I’m looking for real people, living this life and who desire to grow and serve God.
-What do I struggle with in church? People who want to “do” church. People who are there to perform and put on a show. I struggle with pretense a lot. I just want poeple to be real. Churches who are so stuck on “this is the way we’ve always done it”. And to be honest, I struggle with allowing myself to plug in to a church knowing that we never live anywhere very long. I struggle with my own expectations of what I think church should be and am probably a little jaded as the kid of a preacher and knowing too much about all the “goings on” behind the scenes. Maybe you can relate.
-If I could change something about church? Hmm, I am reminded of the new testament church. Where people gathered and and shared meals and had fellowship in the homes of other believers. Where church was NOT a building, church was wherever you were at the time. Where they cared for the sick and the widow and the orphans. If I could change it, I would simplify it and maybe turn back to what it originally was, not a business to be run, but a body of believers celebrating their faith, loving Jesus, and loving and caring for the needs of others and walking in the way Jesus had taught them and encouraging others to do the same.
-My personal struggle in my relationship with Jesus? Making that time for Him. Period. I get so caught up in the “tryanny of the urgent” and I say I’ll do that later and later comes and goes. So I end up feeling sort of disconnected a good bit of the time. It is something I am working on.
So there ya go. Sure would love to see some other responses.
Love you bro.
As a pastor’s child (now 30 years old), who now works in full-time ministry, I’ve been to dozens of churches in my life. I’ve seen so much good, but I’ve also seen an incredible amount of bad. When I was 18, I got disgusted, left the church, and spent a few years on “a sabbatical from my brain” (to quote your Dad). I went back to church and about 2 years later, got severely hurt by my church. I again left the church, this time for 4 years.
Now that time has passed and I have focused on God (instead of the disappointments I’ve felt at the hands of people), I’ve realized that The Church was created by God and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it– except that the people (including me) that it is made up of are imperfect and in need of a Savior. God doesn’t want me to run from His Body. He’s made for me a place in that Body and wants me to step into that place so that I can help keep that Body healthy. God has not only placed me into the perfect church for me (which has helped to heal me from what I’ve experienced in the past), but He placed me working in full-time ministry as a staff member with my denomination. (Don’t you just love God’s sense of humor?!)
With all of that said, I have to say that I agree with Joell about the New Testament church. Church is about loving and serving, not about a building. It pains me to see so many churches, who get so focused on budgets and programs and aesthetic issues (paint versus vinyl siding or round tables in the fellowship hall versus square ones), that they forget the people that are in such desperate need of ministry.
And in regards to my personal struggle with my relationship with Jesus, I’d say that the hardest thing for me has been learning to break free of religious mindsets and get to know God for Who He really is. It’s a long, sometimes painful process… But I’m thankful, because He Who began this work in me will be faithful to complete it!
My wife & I moved suburbs, and had a little girl 3 years ago, and hitting the 9h30 sunday church service was tough. At about the same time I “received a vision” to establish His kingdom in our new suburb (whatever that meant!).
3 years down the line we have 6 families of our 30 neighbours in our street attending our “sunday school” as well as another 20 kids from the suburb! We’ve partnered with another couple to establish the kingdom, and church for us is a number of believers meeting for the messiah’s purposes and in his name working out our lives, and applying bibilical truths to everyday life (we all have money making jobs as well!)
What we miss from traditional church is the experience of singing praise with a group, and being able to walk away from a sermon comfortable that you “got the message” and that can understand what the next steps are – non-traditional church is very different!
We ARE the church. We have to ACTIVELY love our neighbours into the kingdom … we (the local church here) aim to touch each household with the good news of Jesus – the fact that in Him there is hope, life, love, salvation, and discipleship.
The core of us get together to pray every wed night for God’s guidance, and we get together to immerse ourselves in the Scriptures on many Sunday nights …
Here are a few thoughts after thinking about your questions… I’ll try to finish this before Bryson wakes up!
In all that I have been reading, thinking about, and praying about the chorus of a song I we sung at my church in college sticks in my mind. “All of life comes down to just one think. That’s to know you, Oh Jesus, and to make you known.”
I want a church that helps me, and everyone involved, keep our focus on our relationship with Jesus and not all of the religious stuff that constantly fights for our attention. I think that is my biggest struggle when it comes to church, and to my personal relationship with Christ. I think I am not religious, but the more I read and pray and think, the more I realize I am SOOOOO religious. I like a world where I can do all of the “good Christian” stuff and that makes me a better person and makes God love me more than the people who don’t. Or, if not love me more, at least like me more… Or reward me for it… Or something.
Hmmm, I have more thoughts but the baby’s awake. I’m excited about all of this, even though it is challenging me to see this whole church thing in a whole new way!