Wrecked
How church is typically done in America nearly wrecked me…then God gave me a vision for His Kingdom…then He transformed me.
This blog is not for everyone and that is okay. There are those who are happy with how the typical church operates. If that is you, I discourage you from reading this. These words are only my words. My experiences are mine and may not be yours. I do not think what I suggest is the only, or best, way for how we do church. However, I do believe God is in the process of recreating how his church operates and functions in the world. If you are interested in learning more about my journey to the Microchurch model, read on.
My experience with typical church was that…
too high a percentage of those present on Sunday were interested in programs that focused on making those present happy. We talk about reaching people but programs tend to benefit insiders significantly more.
too high a percentage equated volunteering only on Sunday morning with missional living.
too high a percentage of budgets are spent on buildings, Sunday morning and staff to meet the expectations of congregants. Reduce spending on those, i.e. say we are going to let a staff person go to open up resources to feed children in the community, and watch what happens.
people cared more about music preferences, style and maintaining traditions than actively caring about people living without community or hope.
too high a percentage equated Sunday School attendance with discipleship and as such most did not make, or possibly become, disciples of Jesus.
too high a percentage did not intentionally make relationships with those not yet interested in Jesus. There is just not enough time for lost folks.
Meanwhile…
children arrive at school having not eaten since the previous days school lunch. Their bad behavior is literally because they are “hangry.”
children don’t know how to read because their parent is working two jobs and they don’t have time to help the child by reading at home. Their bad grade is because they can’t read the assignment.
teenagers who do not have a drivers license have to pick up their intoxicated parents and drive them home while they are passed out in the back of the car.
kids go to school with torn clothes because they cannot afford anything new, even from Goodwill.
generational poverty, addiction and a lack of education continues in communities as our congregations pass out backpacks and shoes. While backpacks and shoes are nice, they don’t even scratch the surface of the need that exists just outside the borders of our campus. It is entirely possible that handing those things out alleviates our conscience because we can declare, “At least we are doing something…” Then we keep spending what we have to keep our campus operation afloat.
I became less confident that my behavior and leadership was in line with the Kingdom to which God had called me.
These were not exclusive to any one church and as I coached many congregations, my experiences are not exclusive to those I pastored. Additionally, these concerns are not a reflection of every person in every congregation I served / studied. However, as I read the Acts of the Apostles, I could not help but notice my own pastoral approach did not look much like the approach of the New Testament Church.
As I journaled about my struggle I read about the start of the Tampa Underground, I attended Exponential and I read authors like Alan Hirsch, Ed Stetzer, Len Sweet and others who believed that the typical church in America was in trouble with its missional models, its discipleship models and its understanding of the communities where our congregations are located.
All of this left me wrecked. Those without any understanding of Jesus struggled to find any connection or entry points with the vast majority of congregations in America and worse, I felt like I was contributing to the problem. Then the Spirit began to transform my vision of what could be happening in the local congregation. We could move from Sunday centered to 24/7 Jesus centered and in order for me to practice this, I needed to leave established church to become a bivocational follower of Jesus in a new community. I needed to test new ways of worship and discipleship. I needed to test new ways of loving a community.
As I share this foundational struggle, you will have one of at least three reactions.
You won’t agree with my assessment or decisions at all. That is okay. No judgement here. There are those that don’t see the problem I see or don’t agree there is a problem. If that is you then press on where you are and keep doing what you sense God is calling you to do.
You agree with my assessment but you are not interested in change, can’t change or feel called to remain in a typical church to plan for revival and renewal. No judgment here either. For whatever reason, you do what you feel best.
You have heard my assessment, agree with it and feel called to explore renewed, yet ancient paths of the church. You long for an approach that looks more like Acts 2 than what you see today.
What if gathering in homes, eating around tables, encouraging each other in the ways of Jesus and passionately loving and serving our community, and each other, with our time, talents and money is what we find in Acts? What if the local church was never meant to be organizational with professionals and passive observers? What if the local church was meant to walk the presence of Jesus into every sphere and moment of life in the power of the Spirit? What glorious, amazing and exciting opportunities lie before us!
My ultimate goal of this post is to see if God is speaking to anyone in the third group above. I do not have any desire to try to convince the first or second group of anything. I actually believe that we all must follow the direction of the Holy Spirit. If how He is directing you is different than me then praise the Lord. If you think like me and want to explore more, I encourage you to message me. You can reach me through the contact page at www.terryweyman.com and I would love to connect.
If you are far enough along in life that you feel God is stirring something new in His Church, feel led to remain in your church, and yet also want to invest in what God may be up to in bridging the gap between culture and the church, I would love to share more of my vision with you. Just reach out to me at the website above and I will share my heart with you. It is time for me to go attend some high school basketball games and coach some soccer. It is the day to honor the senior athletes and I want to be there to cheer for my students.