In Chapter 5, in the section entitled “Moving Forward,” the author talks about a pastor who left behind his large church pastorate in order to minister to a couple of families in inner city San Francisco. Referring to this pastor as well to as his daughter said, “Such people are all humble; they don’t rely on past experience or present ministry posts to define them.” How do we compare? Are we eager to get to Annual Conference to compare size? For the large church pastor friend of the author, he did not settle on the large church as his goal for life. “He didn’t talk about church,. Instead he kept wrestling with the Kingdom of God.”
You can pastor a large church like a high powered CEO; but if you have not loved, you are nothing. (I Corinthians 13:14)
How many of us are willing to reduce or eliminate our compensation packages and “start all over.” Is the large church pastor willing to go to the small church, where with the experience of the past he can help the small church of the present see the Kingdom of God?
The concept of working out of Starbucks like a branch office to meet new people within the community is very intriguing; but for the pastor who is over extended, how likely? For the author, he interpreted it as a “personal quest to be able to spend time with people outside the church.” You know the ones, tax collectors, sinners and prostitutes. All this because he “longed for something more.”
Who knows, maybe it’s time to forget our press and read how we are to humble ourselves like Christ (Philippians 2:8)
5Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
6Who, being in very nature[a] God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
7but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature[b] of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
As I read this chapter, I realized that one of the biggest fears I have is talking to people I do not know. I am not sure what I fear, rejection,being unable to say something intelligent, being pushy? My fears keep me from really engaging with people who are outside of the church, it is much more comfortable to talk to people I know.
ReplyDeleteYet, on the other hand I feel challenged to build those bridges to the faith, to bring people signs of hope and to be a support to them. Listening then to the call of God to make disciples, to push away the fear, ah this is the challenge for me. And if I have that challenge I imagine it shows up in my leadership as well, yuck.
I liked where they said (p34) " . . . hundreds of pastors with whom we've shared our story love unchurched folks as much as our edgiest church planters, but they are also responsible to keep a church structure afloat, one that signifies safety and survival for themselves and their parishioners."
ReplyDeleteI agree that many of us loved unchurched folks as much as our edgiest church planters--maybe more! I love hanging out with people who aren't in my church, even though I always feel sad that I don't know how to invite them in.
But, I also think there's a place for revitalization, not as an organizational strategy (although that's good, too) but as an evangelism plan. I find that my church folks are just now starting to branch out a little and talk to unchurched people about the church. We've been doing Martha Grace Reese's Unbinding the Gospel with our church council and they're starting to talk to each other differently, too.
My heart breaks for the people in my church who are sipping at the fountain when the whole waterfall is there to swim in! Some of my very favorite people in my church are so focused on saving our church that they've let the spirit dribble away.
What have I been doing that has let that happen? What do I need to do to help them? After all, it's their passion for Christ that's going to grow our faith community, not just mine.
We are right next to Saddleback and, here in San Clemente, they're almost entirely transfer growth. Nearly every church in San Clemente has lost members to them. OK. There are so many others who are looking for something Saddleback isn't going to give them. What they're doing only affects me to the extent that I can watch them and use them for market research (Youth Group on a weeknight or on Sunday?) since we can look to them and see what works for the majority of our mission field.
I dream of building this church into something that will give birth to a new ministry, aimed at very young adults, in less than five years.