The Church As a Drain

This is another journal entry from over a year ago...

4.1.2007

I've had another idea for an article. It, too, is a subject I've thought about before, about serving within and outside of the church.

My contention is that churches try to do too much - they, as organizations, place (or have placed on them by their denominations) certain requirements and obligations which need to be met. Yes, this is usually "accountability" at work and oftentimes these obligations are viewed as God-ordained and absolutely necessary, whether seen as a biblical mandate, a denominational requirement for participation, or even a "fad" which dictates effective churches do this, this and this.

So churches, even small ones become sprawling associations of programs. These programs need to be planned, executed, and reviewed constantly. They need to be run by people, and many times by people who step in to fill a gap in a ministry, regardless if they have any passion, talent or even mild interest in it. (I sometimes wonder if spiritual gifts testing is some sort of subversive plot to staff the church with willing work drones.)

Take, for example, The Church of Lame Examples. TCLE has a sandwich ministry, with a mission to provide God-honoring sandwiches to those who are seeking spiritually-infused sandwiches.* Unfortunately, this ministry needs 6 sandwich-makers, but only 4 step up to the plate (no pun intended). At least 2 of them were "convicted" by the pastor or ministry leader about participating. If the ministry is lucky, 1 of the 4 actually has a passion and vision for sandwich-making. The other 3 don't know where to go to serve (hence, serving where they're told), or don't think they're doing enough, or think they're being humble by ignoring a call to do what they really want. All of them, and likely the church, may also be ignoring the fact that, perhaps, the ministry has outlived its usefulness, or - forgive me for writing this - may have never been intended by God to be started in the first place.

Programs grow - both as individual programs and in collective number. People are stretched thin, often serving in 2 or more programs. Volunteers burn out because they're not supposed to be serving anyway, and not only does the church lose effectiveness - and sometimes members, who don't feel inspired or appreciated - but the church also loses opportunities.

Take this issue and grow it to include the entire church, under pressure by its denomination to use certain methods (a.k.a., programs) to "reach out" to the surrounding community and fill seats, fill budgets, fill reports full of positive numbers. I believe that each church is part of the Church Universal, and as such is an extension of each of its members. Meaning that I believe each church calls to certain types of individuals, and the church collectively has a "spiritual gift" above other gifts. All church, like all Christians, are called to tithe, to feed the poor, reach out to the sick and imprisoned, to go forth and make disciples. None are exempt. But just as an individual may excel at organizing and connecting people and resources (administration, I think this is called), the church entire may be great at motivating a whole community to connect and rally around a certain issue.

I wonder now and then if our country, the world, whatever, has too many programs and associations and charities. So many are vying for our attention, our money and time, and so many are worthwhile. But so many overlap, and the Church often doesn't help - it only adds to it all.

I also wonder what would happen if more churches stopped creating programs and instead encouraged their members to go find and participate in programs at other churches, at non-church programs, and even - gasp! - non-Christian ones.

What would happen? It's just possible that...

• the church would become less myopic and internalized;
• the church would become more effective in the programs it's called to do;
• the members would experience growth as they encounter God outside of church;
• more people outside the church would be effected by the gospel.

As a single person, I sometimes hear advice to get involved in a program that interests me or volunteer for something I'm passionate about,* ostensibly so I can put myself in a position to not only grow, but to meet someone with similar interests - to put myself in an environment that has the potential to foster a relationship. If a church wants to changes lives, it has to go outside itself to meet people.

Then the command to love our neighbor as ourselves becomes a greater possibility.

*I'd like to note that the whole sandwich-ministry thing was written before I even heard about Food For Thought, which began in May 2007 while I was out west. In fact, I knew nothing, really, of FFT until a couple months later. I picked sandwich-making to be a little on the ludicrous side and envisioned it less like FFT and more like a lemonade-stand-right-outside-the-church-doors-to-rope-them-in kind of a thing. The funny thing is, as I reread this the other day, I recalled that at the time I had been entertaining the thought of creating a pb&j "tool belt" out of a half-apron and walking around DT Toledo to make sandwiches on the spot for people. I kid you not. However, like many of my ideas, it never came to fruition, and I "discovered" FFT already happening at my own church. :)