apathy: church culture?

it is a funny thing to have been working in the church for 8 years and beyond that, growing up in the north american church culture. i have come to this idea lately that the church is obsolete because north americans today don't give a crap about some "organized religion." but this easter we did something that if never done in church, is rarely done in church, and that is a tattoo. it was awesome! it was extremely exciting, and we received a ton of local media attention! the service itself went off great and commitments were made as a result. now, only three days later i sit in my "office" pondering the reason i think little will change even though we had what i consider one of the most culturally relevant easter services ever. it is not the world, but the church itself. my church? possibly, though i have more faith in my team than that. but i mean the church universal that created this cultural tendency to see church as a place where we get stuff and where we see God as this cosmic vending machine or a genie who does whatever we want. sadly, i think we, the church, are apathetic in our views of God, hell, the lost and the church. we don't care enough about God to believe what his Word says or obey him. we don't care enough about hell to fear it or keep others from going there. we don't care enough about the lost to pray for them and seek them out. in fact, the way most christians act, we might as well tell them all to go to hell. and we don't care enough about the church to realize that it is the community of believers, the called out ones, the bride of Christ. we just don't care. i blame the consumer mentality that we have created inside the church. Christ said that unless we hate our families and our lives, we cannot be his disciples. that sounds like the exact opposite of what we, the apathetic church of america, have created. so, how do we change this paradigm of laziness? good question.

obsolete

i say it all the time to my crew at watershed that the church today is obsolete because people don't find value in it whatsoever; not even those who go to church. let's face it, no one wants to get up on a day they normally have off and go watch some people sing songs and then listen to some guy pontificate out of some old book, telling them that they are wrong and have to change. if we were honest, how many of us christians are really affected by "the church?" probably very few. we have made this "church thing" just something we do on a sunday morning for multiple reasons - we are used to it, we feel bad if we don't go, or we think it's our get out of hell free pass. we want to go on sunday, maybe drop a 10 spot in the offering (if the sermon is good that day or whatever), and bail without any further thought about church or God until the next sunday. that is exactly why the church today is obsolete! we christians don't even believe it is real or let it be real in us. so the world looks in and says, "see, you're no different than me!" chances are we are worse because in the midst of our sin we wave the flag of Christ over ourselves and say, "i'm a christian, i'm a christian." it's funny because i have heard it over and over, and even said it, that God is the One who changes people. it doesn't matter your evangelistic method or your discipleship courses, God does the changing. but we who are in the church don't even let him do that! instead, we live life exactly like the world with minor, insignificant differences and expect them to flood our churches. who wants to get up early on a sunday morning to go to church and deal with a hang over?! so i ask, why in the world would those who do not call themselves christians want anything to do with a church that offers nothing?! God is not obsolete, but we, the church, are. ask yourself, "why am i a christian?" and then ask, "why would those who aren't want to be?" does my life call them to something better? does my church?

spiritual disciplines

i have been reading a book by dallas willard called "the spirit of the disciplines." it is a great book that basically states that if you want to be the clutch player like Jesus was when he performed all his miracles, you have to do what Jesus did when he wasn't in the lime light. so often the scriptures say that he stole away when he could to spend time in prayer. he had a hard time getting away from people, so he would spend the night in prayer only to be interrupted by needy followers. he even spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting before he started his ministry. that makes me wonder if i should spend 40 days in prayer and fasting before i start any ministry i do. the cool thing is that this was not a time that made him weak. ok, ok, physically probably, but not spiritually! the Spirit lead him into the wilderness, and when he was at a peak of strength spiritually, that is when the devil showed up to tempt him. sometimes, maybe satan shows up when we are at our strongest because he sees that we are giving ourselves more and more to God and he realizes that if he can make us fall then, we will think we haven't gone anywhere at all. yeah, he'll tempt you when you are weak, but really, when are you most dangerous? just a thought.

a place to vent

it's funny how much time blogs seem to take me. i just spent the last hour trying to add a pic to my profile. pretty sad, huh? oh well. i realized today that we all need to vent. sometimes we vent to our spouses and sometimes about them to friends or family. but there is one problem to this whole need to vent. we get rid of our frustrations and discouragement, but only by placing them on someone else's shoulders. now, a good xian (that's christian only faster to spell) would say that i simply vent to God and then feel better, but honestly, that would just be a load of crap. do i tell God that i am frustrated and pissed? yes. and does he listen and comfort me? of course. but this way, the internet acts as a catch-all, where others can read what is going on and encourage me or tell me to man up and quit whining. the more i do ministry, the more i understand our need for community. this space lets me vent while at the same time lets my community (even from afar) do what it was made to do - remind me of why i do what i do in the first place. i find i learn best through discussion, so most of the stuff you will see on this site will be thoughts on theology and life, but occasionally, you may just catch the venting of a frustrated man, husband, father, or church planter - whatever roll i may be in at the time.