Do you ever feel God has put you on the spot?

How can you tell if something is the genuine article or a good-looking fake?  You have to test it.  You take a sample, expose it to some kind of stress and there you find out what it is made of.  It is possible to test for both genuineness and purity.  Is this water or is it alcohol?  If this is water does it contain pollutants and if so what kind?  Some tests are pass/fail others are about diagnosis.  God’s testing is about revealing to us the true condition of our hearts, our faith and our loyalty.  

In John 6, Jesus tests Phillip in the context of the feeding of the 5,000.  For Phillip, the test was not did he have faith.  He must have had faith of some sort or to some degree; he was, after all, following Jesus.  But there was something in Phillip that the Lord wanted to expose to Phillip.  There was a lack or an impurity that prompted the Lord to test him.  One of the features of this test is that no one else knew what Phillip learned.   We never hear a word about Phillip’s insights gained.  This is a characteristic of discipleship or walk and our testing is so personal that no one else can understand or interpret the test for us.  It is with God and Him alone that we must hammer out the lessons He brings to us.  We may have companions in our faith walk but they are outside looking in and encouraging us.

Nor is testing pleasant. Jesus put Phillip on the spot.  It is as if Jesus says, “Phillip, we have a big problem with all these hungry people and it is your job to figure out how to solve it.”  No one likes being put on the spot even by Jesus.  It is no wonder that testing is described as fiery.  Who thinks that sounds good?  Comfort, ease, success and constant upward progress are among the core values of our culture that we have often adopted.  Core values that can be diametrically opposed to the work God wants to do in us.  Being put on the spot with inadequacy is not what we want but it is sometimes the only way a lesson can be taught. 

Often the circumstances that reveal the impurity or weakness is what will destroy or make understandable why we need it destroyed.  The testing can at times be the curative.  It is only in the testing that we see why our ideals, beliefs, or systems will not work.  If our sin is greed then the testing that reveals it and the cure may be poverty.  Only poverty could reveal greed and learning to live in poverty the cure.  Questioning and challenging character is the very nature of testing.  (Which by the way is why we NEVER test God, it would be to presume that His character is flawed and needs refinement)

I am not sure that we should want to be tested.  Those who say that they are looking forward to their testing may be asking for the revelation of more than they want to know.  Everything God gives us is good; that is not the same as pleasant.  However, I think it is reasonable and wise for us to want the results of working through the test-the improved faith, character and heart that testing will produce. 

What "Deal with It" can teach us about drawing people to church.

Refocusing to the Proper Focal Point.

On the hidden camera TV show “Deal With It” a mother is pranking her son at a restaurant.  She is trying to convince him that she has joined a cult and if she can convince him to drink the Kool-Aid known as the “Elixir of Freedom” she will win 5,000 dollars. 

During the prank she tells her son to hold her hands for prayer before the meal.  The young man says, “Mama, you ain’t never prayed for a meal.”  But obediently he takes her hands and she begins to pray to “Gregory”.

The young man protests and says, “Mama, you don’t pray to no Gregory.  You pray to God or Jesus.”

Even without a religious upbringing this young man knew the right focal point.

Over the last generation we have, with the best intentions, attempted to reach the un-churched with seeker-driven, worship services.  We have literally adjusted everything to meet the taste of seekers.  It has not all been bad, but the overall effect has hurt the church.  In some cases, we have dumbed down the faith, like the preacher who described the incarnation as, “It is like God became a dude and lived with us for a while.”  In some cases we have made the evangelistic efforts of the church silly, as in Christian, professional, wrestling entertainment.  We have even turned worship into a consumer product, as in the cases where churches cancel worship when Sunday falls on Christmas.  I believe there is a heart cry from people who have found that we lost something when we become seeker-driven. 

I can almost hear someone saying that I am out of touch and wanting to lead the church back to the days of boring worship and old songs.  We must not fall into the false dichotomy that the only options are boring and fun. 

Seeker-Driven, Hyper-Contemporary Ministry Isn’t Working

What I am saying is that for us to awaken from the slumber of a cultural faith we must, while understanding the culture, not be enslaved to that the culture.  Seeker- driven worship is that kind of enslavement.  This has really very little to do with music, but rather the focus and the driving force of our worship and our churches.  Please don’t give me the line that in order to reach young people we have to be young, cool, and hip.  That is bunk.  Its “bunkedness” can be demonstrated by the fact that we have, as a whole, never been so hip or so cool and we have never had a generation leave the church the way Millennials are leaving. 

What is the solution?  Let me begin with a couple of antidotes.

Last year, a friend told me about his granddaughter going to visit a sick friend in the hospital.  As she and her mother were walking through the lobby she pointed to the chapel and asked what it was.  Her mom explained that many times people who have family or friends in the hospital would go to the chapel to pray for them.  On their way out after the visit my friend’s granddaughter asked to go to the chapel and pray for her friend.  Once there her mom read, in hushed tones, a couple of Psalms and they kneeled and in quiet voices prayed for the sick friend.  The little girl prayed a long time for her sick friend.  Once on their way again the little girl said that she really liked going to the chapel and praying for her friend.  She concluded by saying,  “That was nice.  At church there is no place to be quiet.”

I had a conversation with a young millennial about his faith walk and church attendance.  He told me that he choose to worship in a church with a formal liturgy.  He was not drawn so much by the minister or the music but by the scriptures and prayers.  He wanted something deeper than what was available at the typical church.  It was the worship service built on slower, deeper, and more thoughtful process that drew him in.  He is not alone.  In fact, there is a bit of a revival occurring among the youngest of adults and it is happening outside of the seeker-driven church.  Many Millennials are hungry for things deeper and more meaningful and they are finding it in the mystery of the Universal church, not the local rehash of a trendy method of a mega church across the country.  (For an interesting treatment see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFbCPw6qzMA)

Here are a few suggestions that may help us find our way. 

Don’t try to “out-Disney” Disney.  Let’s stop putting our hopes on trying to turn every worship service into an ever, increasingly, fantastic event.  Your praise band will never be Chris Tomlin, you will never preach like Max Lucado, T.D. Jakes, Chuck Swindoll or you can fill in the blank.  No offense, but every preacher believes he is above average but half of us are not.  In an age when everyone with an IPhone can access awesome preachers and worship leaders we need to shift our hope away from being the next mega church.   We cannot be the greatest show in town so let’s stop trying.

Hear the word of God.  Where else will a person have the privilege to hear the words of the Almighty?  At times we have acted as if the Scriptures embarrass us.  Rather than acting as if the Word is out of date, archaic, and outmoded, we need to embrace the Holy Scriptures.  There is great power in the Word.  Extensive public reading of scripture gives it appropriate priority.  Try this twist, rather than having a band perform the latest song which may have silly, Biblically unsound or even heretical lyrics, lead the congregation in reading the Psalms in unison or antiphonally.  

Join generations in prayer.  One of the complaints I have heard about liturgical worship is that prayers are read and do not come from the heart.  I have heard a lot of “spontaneous prayers” that were the same Sunday to Sunday and clearly didn’t come from the head.  When we lead people in the ancient prayers of the church we have generations of great theologians and godly scholars helping us to pray.  There is a depth and beauty to the prayers that your congregation will find refreshing.  Taken carefully and thoughtfully you will find they are fresh every week.

Come back to the table.  Perhaps, most importantly, we need to return to the practice of weekly communion.  There is the danger that it will become a routine with weekly observance.  I recently attended a church where there seemed to be a rush to get past communion.  In this church it seemed to be without meaning.  Do we stop receiving offerings because there is a danger of it becoming routine and losing its worshipfulness?  I hesitate to put it this way, but it is the best metaphor my weak mind can produce.  If the remembrance of the Lord’s life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension is the focal point of our life and love, that love needs foreplay.  When we make the Lord’s Supper the center of our worship of our Savior then everything is about coming to that moment.  We have a locus for our lives, faith and worship that points to the only One who is a never exhausted source of worship and adoration. 

I love the church and I’m not questioning the heart and the motives of those who are moving the church toward contemporary/seeker-driven worship.  I will only say that as a preacher who pursued that path passionately I have discovered in worship that is quiet, simple and historic, Jesus became more alive and real and my faith grew dramatically.   I am not suggesting that we all impose on all our congregations a high church liturgy.  What we need to have is a sort of restoration of the early and historic church priority in worship and life.

As a Seeker Driven Pastor was I driving people from the church?

It is one thing to question another person’s motives. 

It is something else to question their systems, tools, processes and operations.  I have no doubt that the vast majority of ministers are operating from the most noble of motives.  Loving the Lord, His church and the lost they have looked for effective systems, tools, processes and operations to reach the lost and grow the church. 

The problem is that when we focus on the wants and perceived needs of the un-churched we slowly untie our connection to eternal things.  This transition was by no means instant, but like the frog in the kettle we began to cook ourselves to death.  We began with music that was more culturally appropriate and the illustration of Biblical truth with skits and drama. 

Somewhere along the way things got silly.

For example I once talked with a minister that was highly contemporary in his approach-which included a liturgical dance during communion-and whose church plant was in attendance free fall.  (See liturgical dance for communion).  He told me that what he thought they needed was a copy of a picture he had seen of Jesus laughing.  He felt that if he could put that picture in the entryway of the church it would make people feel happy about being a part of a church that loved a Jesus that loved to laugh.

A preacher I know led his church to spending $40,000 for a light system for the stage.  This was a smallish congregation with an auditorium that would max out at about 250 in seating.  The preacher felt that with this lighting system they could control the mood or atmosphere of the worship service better.  I will give you one guess who spent most of the time in the spotlight.

One church I visited offered me earplugs when I came in.  They did this because in their words, “We like our music loud and that bothers some older people.”  Let me state, I don’t mind being older.  Actually, I like it.  But I couldn’t help but feel this was less of a service to those of us in the advanced years of our 50’s and more a statement about the church’s youth and hipness.   It was similar to the worship service in which during the second song of the worship set a fog machine started belching out white smoke.  By the time the set was over, a good 6 inches of smoke had rolled off the stage and covered the floor.  Nothing says “God” like a fog machine.

Once, at the beginning of the sermon, I was shocked to hear the preacher say, “I want to apologize for reading so much Scripture today.”  Apparently, reading a lengthy passage of scripture was in someway unacceptable to his audience.  He really didn’t want to do it because it wasn’t what they wanted, but to make the point he had to, so he begged for their indulgence.   

From Silly to Idiotic

When those we want to reach drive our systems, tools, processes and operations we can move beyond silly to stupid and idiotic.  There was the church that gave a way a free motorcycle in worship one Sunday.  Under every seat was taped a ticket. Whoever had the matching ticket matched drawn during the sermon won a brand, new motorcycle.  It was a lesson on grace.  The good news reduced to a carnival game show.  

Put and Arm-Bar on your declining attendance!

Or like the preacher who delivered the Easter sermon wearing a bunny costume.   He promised that the Easter Bunny would show up.  For those who have a more macho ministry your church can now schedule a professional wrestling ministry.  Large sweaty men in tights will come to your church, yell at each other, beat on each, other strangle each other all the while your congregation can boo, hiss, and yell at the “bad guys” in Jesus Name of course.  If being a spectator is not enough you can go to a Christian wrestling school or a mere $1,200.  No mention was made of accreditation.   We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but they do!

Is this why the church is in decline?

When those we want to reach drive our systems, tools, processes, and operations there is no way for us to draw a line and say, “No more.”  As I try to imagine the next level of ministry driven by the wants of the world I am afraid.  The abuses of the pre-reformation church come to mind; a great show followed by the offer of salvation- for a small fee of course.

I believe that part of the reason that the church is in decline is not our lack of being contemporary or relevant but because of it.  As we have kept offering newer levels of greater novelty we are experiencing the law of diminished returns.  In other words, the church is in decline because we have exhausted the supply of the “seeker’s” curiosity.  The seeker has come and seen the novelty of that which we have to offer; they have seen it and now they are moving on.  We the church have forgotten that only God can be the source of inexhaustible fascination, attention, and adoration.

In our attempt to adapt to the culture, which can be appropriate at times, we have succumbed to the culture and have simply become a religious expression of the culture.  In too many cases the church is the expression of the dominant culture not in terms of economics, fashion, or entertainment, or politics, but an expression of the culture in religious terms.  Our culture is oriented toward showmanship, power, entertainment, wealth, popularity and a matrix that measures success in numbers.  That is not an unfair description of the church in many cases.

We must awaken from our cultural slumbers.  Having eaten Lotus we are numb to the changes in our own soul and spirit.  That awakening is difficult, but it is possible.  In fact, I believe it is already beginning to happen.

To be continued.

My painful Confession

Last week I wrote about how people are leaving the church and in many cases it is because they feel that they are not cared for or loved.  They feel they have simply become a pawn in the objective of growing a bigger church and that their value was not as a person, but as a tool.  It could be said that people are not leaving churches, but leaving leadership that has not the desire or ability to care about them.  I want to look at the other side of this same coin. 

I have to take you to a moment of confession.

To that moment follow me to a non-descript basement in an equally non-descript city in a non-descript town.  Sitting around the room in folding chairs holding Styrofoam cups of coffee are about a dozen or so people.  I am to say a few words to the group.  I have known this day, this moment, was coming since the first night I came to a meeting and I have not looked forward to it.  I step up to a small music stand and look at the non-judgmental faces that are a mixture of concern and compassion.  I begin:  “Hi, my name is Charlie and I am a seeker-driven minister.”

In unison everyone answers, “Hi, Charlie.”

There, I said it.  It is out and I can’t take it back. 

Growing up in a parsonage my heroes were always preachers, especially preachers with dynamic and growing ministries.  While my friends had cassettes of rock bands or disco groups, I had cassettes with titles like, “Re-digging the wells of our historic faith,” or “It took a flood”.

My freshman year of college I started volunteering as a weekend youth minister.  When I graduated 4 years later, I wanted nothing more than to grow a great church.  I read about “The Frog in the Kettle” and how I should market my church.  I poured over the Leadership Journal interview with Bill Hybels.  I tried to incorporate drama in worship, introduce keyboards and songs written in the same century in which we lived.  We progressed from overhead projectors all the way to PowerPoint and to video.  Seeker-driven worship and felt need ministries were the two engines that would make a church take off.

I embraced the Seeker Sensitive/Seeker Driven model of ministry and the churches I served grew, most of them doubled in size during my ministry.  They set all time records for attendance, additions, and opened new and creative ministries. 

But along the way misgivings began to set in. 

I felt like I was on a treadmill in ministry.  There were no quiet pastures.  There were two appetites that had to be fed.  To fail to feed them meant that the two engines or seeker-driven worship and felt need ministry might sputter and die. 

First, it is exhausting to always have to do the latest, “latest thing”.  Like receiving notice of the latest update for your I-phone, the invitations to conferences were endless.  There was always another book to read, another training to attend-a new better way to do worship.  To keep up you had to, if not attend the conference at least, buy the kit with the VHS tapes (later DVDs) a three ring binder of notes and a book by the expert author.  “All this is yours, for a limited time only, for $199 plus shipping and handling.”  At one church I served, their library contained no less that 35 of these ministry kits.

We created an insatiable appetite for novelty.  If you didn’t have the latest innovation another church in town would.  They would be reaching the un-churched, and stealing a few of your sheep along the way.  As if every innovation for the church and ministry was part of planned obsolescence, we seemed to need to reinvent ourselves on almost a weekly basis.  Every successful program or book had as many incarnations as the “Chicken Soup of the Soul” series.

Without a baseline where do you end? 

When we focused on seekers, which by the way is a little difficult to define and more difficult to recognize in life, every opinion poll, survey and statistic from researches has the potential of a required, total, revamping of ministry.  There are two things which never say enough, three that are never satisfied, the experience-seeking seeker, publishing companies, and the market for church growth.”

When attraction is the objective, leadership is based on attractivity.

One of the terms used to describe the seeker-driven ministry is “Attractional Ministry”.  We attract people to our service, demonstrate that being a Christian has unheralded and unnoticed advantages and then invite them to follow an attractive Jesus and His attractive pastor.  The attractional approach sets up a scoreboard by which we can judge success.  Leadership becomes the ability to attract and leadership based on attractivity is prone to follow forces other than a Master carrying a cross. 

But worst of all was the bitter fruit of perpetually immature believers. 

Like it or not, a ministry that is focused on meeting the needs of the latest group of “seekers” and addressing their felt needs has little room for serious discipleship.  We can dumb down discipleship so that it can fit.  So that it can be part of a Christian karate class or a Christian self-help book club, but there was little to explain why we should die to self or what that means.

Why people left my church. 

To come full circle, sometimes people leave the church because they feel they are not cared for, but sometimes because they don’t want to be disciples.  I was not a perfect pastor and some folks may have left the church because they sensed that they were not cared about.  But let me share a few examples of why people left the churches I served.

There was the couple that was offended that the church did not allow their teenage daughter and her ‘baby daddy’ to leave their 3 month old with grandparents and go on a week long, youth retreat.

The refusal from the church to issue a tax receipt for $10,000 for goods left in the fellowship hall caused one couple to leave.  It was about 25 cases of old plastic Halloween junk, which was left over from a failed, flea market business.

When I told a lady she had to end an affair with a minister in the next town, she left and told me I didn’t understand her loneliness or that his marriage was just a pretense of a marriage.

But perhaps it was summed up best by the comments of a good friend.  The short of a very long conversation was that he was living with a girlfriend without being married and when I told him that scripture was clear about the situation he said he didn’t care.  When I asked him, “Who is really in charge of your life?  Who decides what is right or wrong?  Who is the ultimate authority-you or Jesus?”  His answer was cold and crystal clear.  “I’m in charge.  I call the shots.”

Pragmatism is tasty, but it is a poisonous fruit.

It would be unfair to say every seeker-driven ministry is fraught with people who are utterly unconcerned with being a disciple.  But we need to take time to ask, “Is the way we’re doing the ministry causing us to make something other than disciples?”

Next week: The move from just plain silly to an awakening from cultural faith.