Same stuff, same result
You hoped 2023 was going to be different, just like 2022, 2021 and 2020 but here you are facing the same frustrations. It is time for a change.
As those who know me already know, I believe there are foundational flaws in the way local congregations are structured and governed in America today. While not an exclusive list, those flaws include
Institutional protections that favor the powerful over the weak.
Permissivism vs legalism war against each other for primacy. While these issues stand in the front of our congregations, forcing people to take sides, they are a reflection of institutional preservation. The way of Jesus calls us to more than preserving our institutions and protecting our moral positions.
Discipleship systems are broken as those systems betray that we are more focused on getting people connected to the organization than to Jesus. If you doubt this then just seek to discover how many are actively engaged in making disciples where you worship vs how many are passive attendees during what we call disciple making classes.
Confession of sin is discouraged in practice because it is messy, requires discipleship and personal transparency. We would honestly rather other people keep quiet about sin because we don’t want to open up about our own sin.
You were frustrated after all the work and effort of 2022 and you entered 2023 hoping that things would be different. Now it is 2024 and once again you remain frustrated. It is time for a change so what do you do?
Begin with prayer and fasting.
If we are to discover the will of God, not for different results but a different path forward, we must seek Him in prayer and fasting. These spiritual disciplines work in partnership with the stirring and feelings of discontent already at work in you. If those feelings are from the Spirit then He needs opportunity to direct you. If they are not of the Spirit then He needs to direct you. Either way, the Author and Empowerer of Gods will wants to guide you.
Make disciples
If you have made it this far then you care about Christ’s Church, about His people and His plan. As such, you probably care about making disciples but struggle because so many equate discipleship with Sunday church attendance. If you want to make disciples then you may need to break out of the campus based mold and disciple in different ways, times and places. Whatever you do, make disciples.
Find people to partner with you in the rediscovery of a New Testament way of BEING the church.
You probably feel alone in your thoughts that something isn’t quite right with the church today. I can assure you that you are not alone. What people rarely do, however, is act on what they already know in their heart they should do. You hope and pray that another year of faithfulness inside a broken system will somehow see different results. I am sorry but staying inside broken volunteer based systems rarely brings change. You need the encouragement of like minded people to help birth in you an imagination for what can be in the life of Gods Spirit-empowered church.
Lastly, come to terms with life in and with the Body of Christ outside of prevailing paradigms & locations for the established church.
Those that know God is spurring them on to something new struggle with fear, uncertainty, and even a sense of loss. Trust me, I have journeyed through all those feelings and more. What I have also found is a powerful curiosity among people who deeply want to have faith in Christ but not in the context of established religion. They desperately want Jesus. They don’t want the prevailing evangelical baggage that comes with Jesus. However, they believe that Jesus and the baggage are a package deal when they are not.
So let me assure you there is life in Christ outside of a campus based church ministry. In your homes, workplaces, and community you will gather with people desperate for Jesus, desperate for life, desperate for purpose. This IS the church that was born in the New Testament. It isn’t less than or greater than campus based but it serves a different purpose and targets a different part of the population than campus based churches.
If God has been stirring inside of you, and you know who you are, then why not make 2024 they year you step into the call that God is birthing inside of you?