I went to church on Friday?
I guess this will be less of my asking you, but more of me telling you about my church experience this past Friday. There was no hymn singing. In fact, there was an I-pod with surround sound speakers playing U2, the Beatles, Beach Boys, Maroon 5,
Tracy Chapman and others.
There was no scripture reading. There was much in the way of open dialogue on spiritual matters.
There were young families, retirees, and people in need of healing there. There were long-time believers, an agnostic, and a couple of non-believers in attendance. There was a searching college-aged group. There were people I would consider saints in attendance. My mentor was there.
There was prayer. Although there was not audible, corporate prayer, there was intercession as people shared about families, joyful experiences, illness and relationships in crisis.
There was talk of movies, pop culture and good food. There was a sense of family there. There was a bit of dysfunction to be sure in our midst. There was also lots of laughter.
There was volleyball, lawn bowling and you would never be in the Midwest without playing Corn Hole (don't ask.) There was a ton of food and the event lasted well into the evening. No none knew how late it was or how long we had been there until it got really dark outside. We then realized we had been there for hours. It was one of the most blessed experiences I could have had.
What was it? It was the annual picnic for our staff and co-workers who work on our floor which was held at our house. I felt the presence of God there in a way I have not felt His presence in a while. I got a glimpse of what I think heaven might look like. There was no pretense. There was no keeping up appearances. There was no rank or status acknowledgement. There was no platform. There were lots of genuine deep hugs and outstanding relationship building.
All this took place in a quiet neighborhood with about 20 people in my back yard. This weekend coming up nearly 9000 people will gather in Hershey for a great gathering. We will know who holds status. We will sing songs. There will be someone who will speak, then another and another. I am praying that I will find the same sense of the Father there that I felt two nights ago.
I have been to gatherings like both of these. As I grow older, I have become less and less enamored with big events and long for intimate relationships. I hope I get that this weekend. Sorry to say, I am probably not as optimistic as I should be, even though I am praying for a visitation of the Spirit in big ways.
I may not have been in a meeting on Friday, but I think I experienced church. I wonder if I will this weekend.
I am thinking more these days that we are in need of church and not more meetings. I am not sure that church happens in meetings. I know I have been blessed occasionally in big events. I am wondering more these days if church will look less like what we know as church and more like what I experienced as church in my back yard.
Did I go church on Friday? Will I go to church this weekend? What do you think about this topic? I do not mean to belittle the hard work that has gone into the events of this weekend. I am not bashing the sincerity of the people who had the vision and put it together. I am just thinking that in the emerging age in which we live, we need more. We seem to measure success in the fact that numbers and big ones tell the success story. I will be with a great many people this weekend. I am hoping the experience with 9000 might somehow come close to being like the one I had with 20.
What is church to you? How will we need to have church in the emerging age?
What do you think?
Tracy Chapman and others.
There was no scripture reading. There was much in the way of open dialogue on spiritual matters.
There were young families, retirees, and people in need of healing there. There were long-time believers, an agnostic, and a couple of non-believers in attendance. There was a searching college-aged group. There were people I would consider saints in attendance. My mentor was there.
There was prayer. Although there was not audible, corporate prayer, there was intercession as people shared about families, joyful experiences, illness and relationships in crisis.
There was talk of movies, pop culture and good food. There was a sense of family there. There was a bit of dysfunction to be sure in our midst. There was also lots of laughter.
There was volleyball, lawn bowling and you would never be in the Midwest without playing Corn Hole (don't ask.) There was a ton of food and the event lasted well into the evening. No none knew how late it was or how long we had been there until it got really dark outside. We then realized we had been there for hours. It was one of the most blessed experiences I could have had.
What was it? It was the annual picnic for our staff and co-workers who work on our floor which was held at our house. I felt the presence of God there in a way I have not felt His presence in a while. I got a glimpse of what I think heaven might look like. There was no pretense. There was no keeping up appearances. There was no rank or status acknowledgement. There was no platform. There were lots of genuine deep hugs and outstanding relationship building.
All this took place in a quiet neighborhood with about 20 people in my back yard. This weekend coming up nearly 9000 people will gather in Hershey for a great gathering. We will know who holds status. We will sing songs. There will be someone who will speak, then another and another. I am praying that I will find the same sense of the Father there that I felt two nights ago.
I have been to gatherings like both of these. As I grow older, I have become less and less enamored with big events and long for intimate relationships. I hope I get that this weekend. Sorry to say, I am probably not as optimistic as I should be, even though I am praying for a visitation of the Spirit in big ways.
I may not have been in a meeting on Friday, but I think I experienced church. I wonder if I will this weekend.
I am thinking more these days that we are in need of church and not more meetings. I am not sure that church happens in meetings. I know I have been blessed occasionally in big events. I am wondering more these days if church will look less like what we know as church and more like what I experienced as church in my back yard.
Did I go church on Friday? Will I go to church this weekend? What do you think about this topic? I do not mean to belittle the hard work that has gone into the events of this weekend. I am not bashing the sincerity of the people who had the vision and put it together. I am just thinking that in the emerging age in which we live, we need more. We seem to measure success in the fact that numbers and big ones tell the success story. I will be with a great many people this weekend. I am hoping the experience with 9000 might somehow come close to being like the one I had with 20.
What is church to you? How will we need to have church in the emerging age?
What do you think?
posted by Larry at 5:51 PM
17 Comments:
It's so crazy that you blogged about this today! I just got home (its 10:50pm) from a young adult bible study. Now although we were there to discuss the bible and we were all believers the discussions we had and the fellowship and yes good food and even a game I too experienced God in an amazing way. I experienced God in a new way and learned more than I did in Church this morning! There were 13 of us in the basement of a house. We talked about the media and the world and the bible too! What an amazing fellowship! We lose track of the time every time we have it! It started at 7:30!
I think that this bible study was church and I think that your fellowship with co-workers was church too. I think that we need to have more of these events. These times of fellowship when everyone is equal and there is no superior and we can just talk about everything! About life, about God. I pray that this idea grows with the church.
Anyway, I too am praying as well as hundreds more for this weekend and I really feel from the bottom of my heart that this Congress is going to me amazing and no, not just because I'm going to get to see so many people that I miss but I believe that God IS going to show up with the 9000 people and He is going to do amazing things! I really truly believe it!
When it comes to this topic, I’m coming to believe that there will be no “coverall” programme or solution for everybody. Church will be church, or “the” church, coming together in various ways, ways that will meet the need for fellowship, and worship, and spiritual growth, and also be an outlet for social action, which will also meet the three needs listed above. It may not be the same thing every week, and it won’t likely be very formal. It will be a movement of the laity, though it may still have an ordained, or at least a well studied individual providing guidance/pastoral support. It will be, to steal a phrase, liquid church, and so there won’t be definitions of what is church and what is not. In fact, we may actually arrive at a place where we no longer even call it “church”. We may actually understand, even in word, that the church is us, and so we’ll refer to things like worship, as worship, or Bible study as Bible study. Who knows?
One thing’s for sure, it will absolutely mean the death of things that many hold dear. Even those of us who feel we’re on the edge will struggle with it, particularly with what to call it. We’ll be uncomfortable with silly things, like food in the chapel, or no structured Sunday morning meeting. In fact, many of us may get left out. We may finish up life preferring the old style, and so we’ll finish up our lives as part of a dying church. We’ll be like the Shakers, with no new converts in over fifty years, realizing that we represent the last church of modernity. It will be sad, and it will be painful, and many great resources will be lost.
The good news is that The Message will go on. The real story of Jesus and the Gospel that accompanied him will continue to be told. People will still be saved and, after a long dry spell (which we’re now living in) will once again be discipled. It’s already happening all around us. Many of the people who are a part of it don’t even realize it. They’re not waiting around for somebody to start it because they don’t need to. In fact, they don’t even recognize what they’re doing as something new. They’re just getting together and talking about faith. Sometimes somebody brings a guitar along and they sing songs, often about God. But have no doubt, the Holy Spirit is there and he’s nurturing in them something new, and something ancient.
And I pray, that when my daughter is old enough to know any better, church won’t be so difficult anymore, but will be a wonderful "place" again.
Allison,
I am glad you know what I mean.
Tim,
You are right. In spite of us the Message of the Gospel is alive and will continue. I hope that I am part of the new church that will meet the needs of this emerging generation.
We are in ned of moe worship and less meetings. You are very right.
God will be there. Because all of you will be there.
Larry and Janet - My daughter Jaime will be there and she will dance. Would you and Janet try and get to her and bless her. Because God has me here in California working with other people's teens this summer, I will not be able to see her dance. Would you be my physical arms and heart and hug her for me?
tenderly,
Jeff
Jeff,
I will try to do as you ask. I have several people who have asked us to do the very same thing.
Will you be back from California anytime soon?
End of August.
Thank you for trying,
blessings,
Jeff
Cappy,
Great blog. I know God will show up in Hershey and Atlanta this coming weekend, even amidst all the pomp and circumstance, because there will be willing, open hearts there waiting for Him. The new Captains who have just signed their covenants will be looking for a dose of holy spirit strength before taking on the challenge of their new appointment. I would love to worship with 9,000 people and I believe that if we would just "get out of God's way" and stop over programming, we would see more of Him. Can you imagine singing praises to God with 9,000 others...and listening to the Word divided by an annointed speaker and an altar of prayer full of those seeking for the first time or seeking Him for a deeper walk or for forgiveness..... I believe that some day it will happen. We will realize that it is not about us and it is ALL about Him.
Love to Mrs. A
Stretch
I agree that you went to church on Friday. As far as what is church? Discipleship. That, I believe is what’s missing in church today.
Why didn’t Jesus just gather large crowds of people in the Synagogue or Roman Coliseum and give altar calls every night? His goal was not to simply “get people saved.” Teaching the Word of God and making disciples was his priority.
God delivered Israel from Egypt by grace. But getting to the Promised Land required obedience. The Promise Land is not a symbol of heaven but represents God’s destiny for us here on earth.
In short, God delivers from Egypt, brings us to Sinai in which we willingly submit to His Lordship and make him our King - “We will do everything the Lord has commanded.” God then “teaches” as he gives the Ten Commandments and leads Israel through the desert. What kept Israel from the Promised Land? Disobedience.
When Jesus, the Word in flesh, comes he too teaches . . . He does what His Father did . . . and so he calls us to walk after him. Some, like the rich young ruler, walk away because the cost is too high.
And for some churches, all they care about are numbers. Jesus didn’t care about numbers. Jesus cared about making disciples that would be “just like their teacher.”
Sorry so long . . .
Good post!
Like you, it is not my intention to belittle the hard work that many have put into this weekend but I too have such a difficult time embracing the “show” of events such as this. Perhaps I should say, I have an issue with our tendency to always ask the “beautiful people” to present at events like this. You know, the ones who look just right, sound just right, and, dare I say, have just the right connections. While I do not believe that their witness is less because of these qualities, I cannot believe that they are the only ones within The Salvation Army who have a witness. This really is an issue with me because my mantra is “God uses ordinary people to show how extraordinary He is.” I would much rather hear Jerry present the Scripture than a professional orator. His very attempt is a witness to me about how much someone can overcome when they put their lives in His hands. He brings authenticity to a sometimes plastic process…WOW, I sound like belong to the Jerry Fan Club. Some may say that I have little right to make such claims because Kevin and I are often asked to do things. Yet, it is for that very reason that I make this argument. I am well aware of my challenges and just because I can hide them a little better, dance around them a little better, cope with them a little better, doesn’t mean that they are not there. It is in our challenges that we see how great He really is. More people need to hear that His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses.
I am excited about this upcoming weekend because of the encouragement one can receive from being with such a huge number of like-minded people. It's why it's important to me that young people come and experience a larger gathering - so they know that we are not alone in doing what we do and being who we are. A small church gathering in a small town in what seems to be the middle of nowhere is what we appear to be. What we actually are is a part of a world-wide, Spirit-activated holiness movement. We shouldn't kid ourselves by claiming this as primarily an evangelical weekend, and that's okay with me. It's encouragement for the Body.
Thanks, Jeff, for stating the truth so simply - God will be there because we are there.
Larry - your experience this weekend with 9,000 may not be anything like your experience Friday with 20, I expect. But it doesn't mean it won't be church, right? Maybe it won't be the church you're looking for, but it might be exactly what someone else needs - a connection with something larger, an encouragement to stay the course.
bret, you are right about church being discipleship.
bedemike,
i hope there is relationship and not formality and mask wearing this weekend. i have found that most of these events while charging up the troops leaves very little time for what church means and what Jesus set up as church. church means vulnerability, risk taking and honesty. i am praying there will be church.
I pray for that as well. It may not happen during the meetings, but maybe during meals, at the Park, in the "in-between times" when there is time for fellowship. It's happened for me already and I just got here! But, it's as a result of the "big gathering." I'm thankful for all potential aspects of this event...
Bedemike,
I think it is not because of the big gathering....it is because the Spirit led you. The more I am at them the more I realize Big gatherings have very little to do with church. People being intentional and vulnerable is what makes church work under the Spirit. I hope I find some of those people this weekend when I get there. I am going to be late.
My point is this - of course the Spirit led, but the gathering brought the people together: people that I do not have the chance to see on a regular basis. I value and take advantage of the opportunity.
I can't disagree more that these "big gatherings" have little to do with the church. "Church," by your definition in your original post, is happening all around us at such events. Yes, some people are just shooting the breeze, just meeting & greeting, just schmoozing, whatever you want to call it, and there is nothing wrong with any of that. But many are engaged in fellowship, in koinonia, investing in and interceding for each other. Don't tell me you can't see and be encouraged by that...
Schmoozing is not church. It is something none as falsehood.
I must not be making myself clear. I'm aware that schmoozing is not church, and I didn't even imply that it was in my comment. I simply acknowledge that, while those things do go on at these events, they are not the only things that go on. People are actually making a connection. It's not all schmoozing & shooting the breeze.
Post a Comment
<< Home