At the end of an interview for a series we [Christ City Church in Memphis] were doing at The Journey, my good friend Aaron turned to me and said, "I'd like to say something about Christians trying to convert non-Christians."
One of my major premises in the writing I’m doing these days is that evangelicals have become a movement actually destroying itself.
At no point does that seem more obvious than in the recent evolution of worship within evangelicalism.
Does anyone- I mean, really, seriously- have any idea what is actually happening within the worship culture of evangelicals?
We have, within a matter of 50 years, completely changed the entire concept of what is a worship service. We’ve adopted an approach that demands ridiculous levels of musical, technical and financial commitment and resources.
We have tied ourselves to the Christian music industry and its endless appetite for change and profit. We have accepted that all of our worship leaders are going to be very, very young people. Traditional worship - a la Tenth Presbyterian in Philly- is on the verge of becoming a museum piece.
The reformed- of all people- have led the way in this revolution. I attended a seminar last week where a room full of reformed were instructed in why the optimum worship leadership option was “the band.” Not the choir, the worship team, etc. But “the band.” Does anyone realize what that means for public worship?
Diversity, generational compatibility, even simplicity are all being blown up. Worship is now a major audience event, led by skilled entertainers, aimed at a demographic and judged by the audience reaction.
God? God has been moved around to be things like a reluctant Spirit we sing down with our songs or a divine innovator always blessing as much radical change as possible.
Why do I call this a goof? Because there is no way for this to end well. This is like a NASCAR car with the throttle stuck open. We’re stuck on a roller coaster and we can’t get off.
Worship has now become a musical term. Praise and worship means music. Let’s worship means the band will play. We need to give more time to worship doesn’t mean silent prayer or public scripture reading or any kind of participatory liturgy. It means music.
Even singing is getting lost in this. As the volume and the performance level goes up, who knows who is singing?
And who can stand for 20, 30 or 40 minutes?
We have a lot of happy people right now. They have no idea what Biblical worship is outside of the context of their favorite songs played by a kickin’ band. They have little idea of worship in vocation, in family, in ordinary work or in silence. They credit their favorite songs as major spiritual events.
We have goofed up. Simple, plain liturgy. Diversity and inclusion. Appreciation and full Biblical understanding. Cross generational intentionality and suspicion of the profit motive. Renouncing the spirit of competition. Hearing the prophetic warnings about God’s disgust with much of Israel’s “big show” worship culture. We need all of this.
We need Jesus shaped worship, and we need worship that promotes a simple, direct, uncompromising Jesus shaped spirituality.
Wouldn't it be cool if stuff like this didn't make the news because all churches were known for this sort of thing? I think I remember something about the community of believers sharing what they had so that no one was in need. I need to give more.
I use words all the time like "off-mission" when talking about the American local church even though I love the Church and believe in the local church. After spending more than a decade in "professional, vocational ministry" you might see quite a bit on here about what the Word says "should be" the focus of the local church and why it even exists. Well, at the expense of being labelled a lazy blogger, let me reinforce all of that by tossing out a shameless reblog from Tony Morgan...
This thought occurred to me yesterday as I was driving home from Atlanta. When Jesus began calling the first disciples into ministry, he used this phrase:
“Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!”
For whatever reason, I started thinking about what Jesus didn’t say to those first disciples.
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will teach you spiritual insights!”
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to worship together!”
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will gather you together in a home group!”
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to pray!”
He didn’t say: “Come, follow me, and I will make you members of the church!”
I think we can all agree that Jesus was a fairly insightful guy, so I think it’s interesting of all the things he could have said, he chose to put the focus on ministry to reach other people.
And, of course, that got me thinking about how we “disciple” people in the Church today. Rather than putting the focus on ministry to reach people, we prioritize different things. Not that the other things are wrong. I just wonder if there’s something significant about the initial vision that Jesus shared with these first disciples.
In other words, maybe discipleship is really more about helping people serve God by serving others. Maybe it’s more about disciples making disciples. Maybe what we really need to do is unlearn how we do discipleship in the church.
How would the Church look different if we approached the discipleship process on “fishing for people?”
I'm starting a little something here on DNSLNS called "It's Tuesday... Let's Talk." I don't want to limit the dialogue because I really want to hear from you on anything and everything so go for it. But, I'm really asking you to engage "It's Tuesday... Let's Talk."
Sometimes, it'll be provocative but not just for the sake of being provocative. It's just that some subjects are. And, sometimes it'll just be stuff I want you to weigh in on so that we can all grow and learn from what you have to give. In all, I just want to hear what you have to say.
Like I mentioned before... some great discussion going on here and so I thought I'd toss this one out. It's simple. But since I don't know how to word it in one question I'll throw down a few for your consideration...
62 pages, 20,588 words, 106,703 characters = World's Longest iChat convo. I'll be the first to admit... this is a bit excessive. It's always good talking to Tyler but today was absolutely insane. We were discussing the Church.. a topic that comes up quite often in our relationship. Actually, we were discussing a book he's reading but the only problem is that I've never read it. Needless to say, it made for interesting debate. I mean, can you imagine a book club where not everyone is on the same page... literally. Anyway, the conversation centered around what it would take for the Church to redeem her cultural voice in the world and we were tackling some of the hurdles that roadblock this from becoming reality.
He made an interesting statement... "There are issues that are keeping others from seeing who we are but I'm talking about issues that are keeping us from being what God intended." One deals with external issues we have no control over like how the world views us in light of abuse scandals or out-of-touch Christian subcultures... and the other deals with things we do have the power to change.
A self-proclamed rip-off of "Stuff White People Like" , blogger and pastor's kid "Prodigal John" offers a gift to the world in the form of "Stuff Christians Like." It's a bit of good fun in his honest assessment of the American Christian subculture (my take on it, not his). There's also some thought-provoking posts as well.
The New York Times published a fascinating map (click the image for larger viewing) that shows the concentration of Mega-churches across the United States.
There are just over 1,300 megachurches in the United States, according to the most recent survey by Prof. Scott Thumma at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. These are churches that average at least 2,000 in weekly attendance. The shaded areas reflect the density of megachurches in counties across the United States, based on the most recent census figures.
I'm not suggesting that only "mega-churches" can make a significant impact in a city. But, I do like Brian Houston's perspective in his The Church the I See. "The Church that I see is a Church of influence. A Church so large in size that the city and nation cannot ignore it. A Church growing so quickly that buildings struggle to contain the increase."
Wanted to turn you guys onto a blog that I absolutely love. Pastor Don James is pastor of Bethany Church in Wyckoff, NJ. I've had the opportunity to spend some time around him through my friendship with his son, John James (not to be confused to the former lead singer of Newsboys). Anyway, I love the authenticity of the blog and am really impressed by what they are doing up there in NJ. I've reblogged one of his latest entries below... check it daily at www.pastordonjames.com
Saturday Night Fever (November 10, 2007) - Ok so everyone wonders what someone who has been in minstry for over 30 years feels like on Saturday night before a Sunday service and message. Well, it started about an hour ago…the fever…or the nerves. Yes even after all these years when I think about getting up there tomorrow in front of hundreds of people….uggggh.
It is an awesome assignment (and honor) to bring what you believe is God’s Word to his people. I know there will be many, many people who come tomorrow and desperately need a word from God. They don’t need entertainment, they don’t need my opinions or just another message. They need to hear from God. That’s my assignment….uggggh.
So tomorrow I will step up, open the Bible and my notes and ask God to come and speak through me. God HELP! Apart from You I can’t do this. And that’s the real truth! Just in case you were wondering.
