Last night, my dad read a passage to me from John Eldredge's book Waking the Dead. It is right on target with how I feel about this planning committee.
Most churches survive because everyone keeps a polite distance from the others. We keep our meetings short, our conversations superficial. "So, Ted, how's everything going on the Stewardship Committee?" "Oh, just great Nancy. We've got a big goal to reach this year, but I think we'll be able to get that gym after all." No one is really being set free, but no one is really at odds with each other, either. We have settled for safety in numbers- a comfortable, anonymous distance. An army that keeps meeting for briefings, but never breaks into platoons and goes to war.
When will we stop planning on planning on doing things, and actually do them? Who cares about the new gym? There are starving souls in the world. The body of Christ (the church) is standing motionless. Rather than the hands and feet and arms of Christ reaching out into the world, we're planning. Not even that, we're planning how we're going to plan. A blueprint for drawing the blueprint. A sort of holy procrastination.
In the last several years of my life, my father has repeatedly told me "You're thinking too much." Which I do, a lot. It paralyzes me and keeps me from DOING anything. The modern American church has the same problem. It is paralyzed, motionless. Oh God, set us free from ourselves, that we might act. That we might break into platoons and go to war for your kingdom.
4 comments:
I see your point--I truly do. It seems like we often spend so much time and energy talking, planning, and writing stuff down that we lose valuable time for DOING. But did you, by chance, read the whole page in the bulletin this morning about what the Planning Committee is about? I did. It seems that perhaps others think we just might have too many committees, and too little focus on what our church's mission REALLY is --or should be. Additions and subtractions seem to be in the works. Did you miss the announcements about the Sr. Youth's mission trip last week, and the Jr. Youth's mission trip this week, or the VIM's (Volunteers In Mission) upcoming trip to South America later this summer? Yes--it would be so grand if mission opportunities or outreach programs just happened and appeared suddenly and spontaneously and we could zealously jump in and help the world--no planning or committees necessary! They usually don't happen that way. After spending several summers as a Youth Intern at our church, I am sure you really do know just how much planning, organizing, coordinating, etc. goes into taking groups of people somewhere in order for the "hands and feet and arms of Christ to go out into the world" and minister. Without a "plan", how effective do you really think they could be? Not to mention the effect on the pre-teens and teens--and even the adults--who go and do this! Remember how much of an impact Mtn Top had on you at that age? Those trips and experiences were PLANNED. How would YOU do it without planning? We're having a thing called Mountain Marketplace at church next Saturday, where many things will be sold as a fundraiser. Frivolous? A waste of time and resources? Too "upper class" to waste time planning? Perhaps. But the money being raised is for 2 purposes only: a scholarship for some deserving but needy kid, and the Pastor's Discretionary Fund. What is that? It is a way for the Pastor/church to give IMMEDIATE help to anyone in the community with a desperate need--WITHOUT the red tape of going through yet another Committee. It's used to feed, clothe, transport, provide medical attention, buy school items, help downtrodden people get back on their feet--immediately--without any planning, organizing, or getting permission from any person or committee. Pretty spontaneous. What would Jesus say? The more money we raise, the more people we can help when a need arises. Probably took a good bit of planning. I "plan" to be there.
Some people only attend worship and not sunday school because it is more difficult to hide in a small group like SS. The battle for our hearts is at hand. It will be waged and won in small groups. Just like the early church won hearts with a group of 12 again (after recruiting Mathias). The Enemy loves lots of committees and the bueracracy that goes with it. Plan on it!!!!
Uhhh is it awkward in here, or is it just me?
AMEN. I found your blog on my friend Lee's. The Church is one of my biggest passions. God has recently placed it on my heart in intense ways. I'm hungry for change. I'm not satisfied with the average American Church. We're missing it. We're not being the Body. We are being an institution. I want freedom from that. I want to see the Church DO rather than BE.
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