I know we’re just barely in the shadow of the holiday season, and it’s hard to think about “getting serious”.  But what better time to look forward to what’s next than after having a good time celebrating what was.  Put a marker down in remembrance of the good things the Lord has done, and now let’s press in to see what He has for us next! 

“Come, Lord Jesus!” – this is our cry in this coming season.  Just as we celebrated his first coming at Christmas, we eagerly anticipate His soon coming return to the planet!  However, this time He won’t appear as a baby in a lowly manger, but in glory and splendor, coming to set up His Kingdom on the Earth!  This the “blessed hope” of every believer!  What a great day it will be when our wonderful, loving, kind Savior is running the planet – and we get to govern it WITH Him! 

There are three facets of this cry for Jesus to Come. 

1.  Come into my life.  We are all in need of a deeper walk with Jesus, and truly He desires to encounter us in a mighty way.  We also each have prayer requests where we want the Lord to move and answer.  Begin to make a list now of these request, so that you can present them to the Lord DAILY during 504.  You will see Him come.  If you don’t make a list, how will you know when/if He comes with breakthrough?

2. Come change the world around me.  We also each have those in our lives who we’d like Jesus to touch and change.  Our nation needs Jesus, and the nations of the earth need Him.  Make a list of the things that burden your heart.  Plan to interceded for them in a focused way during 504.

3.  Come back to the planet.  Jesus WILL come again, PHYSICALLY to Earth and He’s going to come and rule and reign, and He’s going to stay!  This will be glorious!  Life will be SO much better when He is here and establishes His Kingdom!  But, He’s going to come in response to us crying out, and ASKING him to come.  He wants us to want Him here.  So, to prepare us for His coming, we are going to be studying the book of Revelation together. 

In our next installment, we’ll talk about some practical ways to set aside 504 hours and cry out “Come”. 

For now, though, I’d like to ask you a question.  Be honest – when you think of the book of Revelation, what is your first reaction?  Do you think, “hmm, scary”, “cool!”, “I don’t understand it”, “never really thought of it”, or…? 

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Yeah, take a breath.  Let’s take a break from this intense thread… kind of. 

The scary thing is, this blog thread could go on and on and on and on…. exactly what I DON’T want it to do.  I just want to raise some questions and get to the bottom of things — what’s really important?  what really matters?  Getting there (for real) requires getting beyond some of our pre-conceived notions, prejudices, and our “well, if we just did this . . . “-type of trite, know-it-all-I’m-right-and-the-system-is-wrong answers.  (Forgive me if that sounds judgmental.  I don’t think any of your are operating in that kind of spirit, but it is easy (for me) to get in that mode.) 

The truth is, I’m not truly convinced that any of us truly has THE right answer.  I think it’s God’s pleasure for us to find His mind TOGETHER — yeah, that whole unity thing.  It keeps us humbling ourselves and “considering others better than yourself”, it keeps us remembering that “I’m not an island” and that the Good Shepherd speaks to ALL of His sheep, not just the lucky few.  And, I’m not trying to start an endless discussion of opinions with no resolution in sight.  I hate that kind of thing.  What I believe is that as we truly wrestle with these ideas, bite off a question and chew on it for a while, digest and put on the table what surfaces in our hearts… that together, we might actually find some nuggets of truth.  I think we learn a lot, in the struggle.  I think we grow in the discomfort of the unanswered questions.    So, we don’t stop life until we get it all figured out, we keep going with what we know… until we find the better way… the more excellent way, if you will.  This is why (though it seems like it would be easier) I’m not a fan of the “trash it all and start over” kind of mindset. 

Most of us are trying to do something… and I say, keep going!  Adjust as you go.  Take come chances.  Be free to fail.  Even if what you’re doing doesn’t seem to be “working” (I feel that way, for sure), don’t give up!  God loves faithfulness and He WILL honor it.

We’re not done with this discussion.

Let’s see.. question for this time:

1.   Is your personal ministry (EVERYONE has a ministry!) “working” the way you want?  Why/why not?

I dare you to answer that question honestly, and not wait for someone else, or sit back thinking you don’t need to deal with the issue.  

If you’re new, please check out post #1 and post #2 in this series.  And for those who have been following along, make sure you read all the comments on the previous two, there’s some GREAT insights that are still being added. . . .I’m not sure why post #2 in this series did not get the quick and fervent response of the first, but I know there are many of you following along, and there’s so much to talk about, I must press on. . .

Again, the challenge here is staying focused.  Even I am getting so many thoughts that it’s hard to not go a million places. 

But, I see two things floating to the surface of the discussion so far, which I will label as

1. Form

2.  Encounter

 Let me explore these a little.  (And, mind you there is A LOT to be said in these areas, but I’ll let YOU flesh things out more.) 

Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations…” (Matthew 21:13, Mark 11:17, Luke 19:46, quoting Isaiah 56:7).  This is a staggering and meaning-packed statement.  I want to look at it specifically in terms of “Form” and “Encounter”.

 Let me first define what I mean by these terms. 

Form:  The specific place, structure, and order of how we “do church” in a corporate way. 
Encounter:  Meeting with God, experiencing relationship with Him.   

There’s always been much debate (and heated) about how we ‘do’ church, and “I don’t like institutional religion” has been a mantra of many for years, in essense disliking the form of church (we’ll stick with Christianity/Christ-followers in this discussion) that they have seen, but not discounting the validity of having a true encounter with God, outside of the structure. 

I believe the words of Jesus above speak to this issue.  I’ll hit at the issues in no particluar order, and let you draw your own conclusions (and make comments). 

At first blush, it might seem that Jesus was NOT a big fan of “institutional religion” either, and that the point of his clearing of the Temple (see Luke 19) was that He was the answer, buildings and liturgies were not.  While that IS true, there are some other factors to consider:

WOW!  First of all, THANKS so much to all of you who commented on post #1 (if you haven’t read it, go there now AND read all the great comments: click here)!  Everyone of you said something noteworthy and provacative.  I’m inspired by you all, and hope you’ll stick with me in this conversation!  Let me tell you what struck me MOST as I read through your comments:  I hear a lot of HOPE!!!!!!  That is awesome.  That makes me feel really good about this discussion.  Without hope, our hearts grow faint and weary — and we become powerless to change.  I also LOVE the yearning I see in the younger ones for a “breakthrough” — faith for “more than this”.  That is crucial.  We should never feel that we’ve arrived, not until the Kingdom of Heaven has fully come on Earth.  Until then, we should be pressing in for more of It to break in.  I’m excited.     

Let me tell you a little bit about where I’m coming from, and what has prompted me in this whole discussion.  There are a lot of books out there seeking to define and re-define “church”.  Obviously, we’re not the only ones who care.  That’s a good thing!  Some of these books look really interesting, others I have no time for.  Honestly, though, (for the moment at least) I don’t want to read another book, or hear someone else’s great strategy for how to “do it right”, or what worked for them….. I mean, people have had great ieas on how to do “church growth” for the last thirty or more years, but by and large, we haven’t been growing!  Do I somehow think that I’ve got the answers?  No.  But, I do know Someone who does, and my heart tells me that He is very interested and willing to bring us to the place of right understanding, together. 

“Together” means, let’s not be too quick to shout out our quick solution/opinion.  There’s a growth that happens for us all as we give and take, agree and disaggree, letting the “iron sharpen iron”.  Wisdom is found in a multitude of counselors, and victory is sure to come as well, in the voice of many (see Proverbs for those nuggets).   I understand that I really HAVE opened a can of worms with this discussion — that means it could go anywhere from here, and it could get messy.  Thare are MANY things begging to be addressed, I know!  Before I started this series, I made a list of about 20 topics related to this as an “outline”.  But, if we get too broad in our discussion, it becomes overwhelming, and causes people to shut down.  Let’s stay together bit by bit and try to stay focused in the journey, ok?      

So, it seems that we all agree, things with “church” could be better.  I said “it doesn’t seem to be “working”.  What makes me think that “it’s not working” is this:  When I look at the “church” (for reference- most of my comments will be generalizations and don’t apply to everyone or every church, but from my perspective, are generally true of the church in our soceity/culture), what troubles me are these things.  Or, it would be more constructive for me to frame it this way:  The following are (in my opinion) some of the true markers of the Church, functioning rightly…. and my take on where we are at:

1.  Passionate Zeal.  Though I believe we are sincere in our love for God, we are quite comfortable.  Life is pretty easy for most of us, so there’s no real motivation to press us into God (i.e. “consider it pure joy when you face trials… for you know that the testing of your faith… devlops perserverance… so that you may be mature and complete,lacking nothing.  James 1:2-4) If our life were made more uncomfortable (i.e. suddenly under great persecution, experiencing large-scale economic distress, or simply truly convicted of our apathy…), we would be stirred up and motivated towards real change.  Our God is an all-consuming fire, shouldn’t we be branded with that same zeal? 

2.  Spiritual Power.  Though we definitely are touching lives, we don’t seem to be changing people’s lives on a large scale — where communities are transformed, and people are shocked by the metamorphasis of the worst of sinners becoming saints.  There are not those being added to our number daily, or even weekly.. perhaps montly,h and hopefully yearly…. but not daily, from what I’ve seen.  Also, to see the power of God manifest in (physical, emotional, spiritual) healing is an idea that is celebrated, but not normal in reality for most people or groups.  Also, to see the pre-believer struck to the heart with conviction that brings them to their knees in repentance is also rare (but was quite common in the Great Awakenings of our nation years ago).  Now, we can’t necessarily “make” any of these things happen (and you may not think that we should even expect them).  However, I do believe most would agree that we lack power. 

3.  Influence.  Though there are some loud voices in the political arena (the “religious right”), who from time to time break through in areas of righteous standards (and, I thank God for that!) — for the most part, society at large doesn’t care about the Church.  People aren’t beating down our door when they are in trouble, looking for answers.  They don’t care what we think or what we do.  They don’t feel the power of our influence in our communities.  When crime statistics go down; when teen pregnancies cease; when domestic violence is replaced with healed, healthy families, etc. etc. — then, it can be said of us that we are truly a force in the earth.  Isn’t the church supposed to be the instrument through which God’s Kingdom is being manifest on Earth?  Surely there is more of His Kingdom to be expressed than we currently see.  To me this is the true relevance.  I don’t mind (actually I like) cool services, video clips, hip surroundings.  But, I believe, church that is Relevant (i.e. it reallys means something to people’s lives), is when people’s lives are being dramatically changed by the ministry of Jesus Christ among them.     

I will allow that the three items I’ve chosen here are hard to quantify, and even harder to achieve with a simple mission/vision or strategic plan.  There are also probably 100 more items that could be listed as evidence of the church that “works”.  I’m just letting you know my heart.

So, here’s the question for you: 

What do you believe are the (top three) ”markers” of the true church; evidence that it is living and operating as it should?  I think some of you may have already expressed some of that in previous comments, please feel free to repeat them in this post.  Try to keep your response to the point and constructive. 

And, please if you disagree with anything I’ve written, let me know your opinion!

Ok.  So, that’s a pretty diplomatic title for the series of discussions (aka “can of worms”) I hope to open up in the next few weeks.  I hope that you will join me and throw in your input.  To put it in more bluntly, one might ask:

“Is the church broken?”

I have heard some say that it is.  At first blush, I might want to agree.  But, I just can’t.  Not because I’m convinced that church as we know it is find and dandy, but, because of something that happened about a year ago…

I was in prayer — at our church, as a matter of fact — praying for the church, at length.  And, suddenly I had to stop, as I felt the the voice of Jesus, with such tenderness, yet with great strength say to my heart:

“My Church is not broken.  It’s under construction.  Won’t you help me build it?”

It was disarming to say the least.  A total paradigm shift in my thinking and my attitude.  Sure, things are not all good and well in the Western church — but Someone is very interested in us, and has intention to bring us into the fullness of His plan.  Not only that, He’s looking for those who will help Him. 

I guess that’s kind of where this discussion comes in.  I’ve been pondering, praying –whatever you want to call it — about the state of “church” for a while.  And, I’m not sure I have any solid answers.  I’m not just talking about the particular church that I’m a leader in.  I’m talking about ALL of us, at least in the western world (those in the East seem to have something good that we don’t — but, that’s another topic). 

Many of you have been invited into this exploration.  Thanks for reading this far!  Please stay with me!  Here’s what I’m hoping we can do:  I want to ask some questions, pose some ideas, share some of my opinions (they may not all be right!), and then ask for YOUR feedback.  I am by no means writing this thinking that I have all the answers!  I’m looking for some people who are willing to throw in their two cents and honestly wrestle with things with me.  Can we do that?  I only ask that we try to stay constructive and not do too much blaming.  But, by all means, BE HONEST.  I’m planning to post a couple of times a week.  So, all I need from you is about 10-15 minutes to read, digest, and post your thoughts.  I’m really pumped about this!  But, if I can’t get a good number of you to join in, it will be a bust. 

 So… my first thoughts to ponder and questions:

In this discussion of “what’s wrong with church”, there are usually two sides of the conversation.  On one side are many well-meaning church leaders trying to figure out why all of their hard work seems to be producing so little.  On the other side are the church-goers (for lack of a better term) who faithfully attend and who talk vigorously amonst themselves about what is good, bad, or could use improvement.  Unfortuntatlely, these two camps hardly talk to each other about these things.  The leaders look to the latest church growth method, or to the church where the Spirit seems to be moving, or to the church down the road that seems to be “working right” – all in search of the answer that will “fix” things.  The faithful begin to look for a church that feel will better “feed them”, where they “fit in better” or where they feel it’s being “done right”.  Even more unfortunate is that in each group, there can be a tendency to criticize and place blame on the others for all the problems (“If only the people would do more….”; “If only the leaders would be more . . .” etc.).  We all have the solution (or, so we think), and believe that if “they” (the other group) will get their act together, the problem will be solved.   

I don’t know if we’ll truly solve all the problems or change the world in this discussion, but, who knows, what if we can?   At least maybe our eyes will be opened a bit more by seeing from one anothers’ perspectives.  And, maybe can we move towards productive, constructive change.   I will admit there are some churches/ministries out there that seem to be doing very well, but, by and large, the Western church does not seem to be happy and healthy.   

I hope to tackle some crazy, intense questions like,  “What IS church?”  “What’s the purpose of church?” “Why do people go to church?  Why do people leave church?”  “Should church be concerned about being culturally relevant?  If so, how much is enough/too much?”  “How does Jesus feel about this church that bears His name?”     

So, my first questions for you to answer:

How satisfied are you with your current church experience (scale of 1 to 10)?  Why?

What do you see that is good about church (in whatever form you know it)?

What do you dislike about church as you know it?