the Church

I’m Full of It

Frank

The Apostle Paul admonishes us in his letter to the Ephesians to “be filled with the Spirit.” (v 5:18).

What, you thought “it” was something else?

The “it” in the title is usually related to something that rhymes and smells. We say it about someone when they are talking nonsense or we think they are lying.

“After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” (Acts 4:31)

I don’t see a lot of nonsense there, but the disciples were definitely full of it.

In Mark 4, Jesus gives us the “Parable of the Sower” (title in the NIV); a story about four seeds that are planted in the ground (so not really about the sower at all): one falls on the path and is eaten by birds, one falls on rocky soil and cannot establish a root, one falls among weeds and thorns and gets choked out, and one falls on good soil and produces a harvest 30-100 times larger. (v 3-8)

When the disciples approached Jesus confused, Jesus explained that the seed is the word of God. The first seed is snatched by Satan before it can take root. The second seed is planted in shallow hearts and cannot survive dry spells. The third seed gets choked out by the worries and distractions of the world. But the fourth seed is planted in good hearts and produces fruit. (v 13-20)

The seed is the same. The only difference is the soil.

We can take a couple of religious extremes when it comes to the saplings produced by the seed. On one hand, we can rejoice for even the smallest leaf even if it will soon wither and die, counting it as “fruit” by adding it to our church rolls and counting towards our attendance. On the other extreme, we can judge the saplings that don’t survive as if something is wrong with them.

Both are obviously wrong. The young sapling didn’t choose where it would be planted- it is the product of its environment. There is no such thing as a bad seed. And both extremes fail to do anything to help that young sapling.

Who will pull the weeds and cut back the thorns in a Christian’s life to help him or her grow strong? Who will till and break up the hard soil so that the Word of God can establish deep roots that can survive any draught?

Like I said, I’m full of it. Sometimes “it” smells. You know what “it” is? Fertilizer.

I look at the role I play in my church family as “the guy who spreads the fertilizer”. I focus on teaching- spreading “it” around in marriages, parenting, friendships, hermeneutics, theology, and on and on. My heart aches for the shallow roots, fearful of the day when the sun beats them down. So I keep “laying it on thick”.

Paul told the Corinthian church that he plants seed while Apollos waters it. (1 Corinthians 3:6-9) Some of us are planters, some are waterers. Some are even weed whackers. And some of us smell like fertilizer.

(I ask for your continued prayers as my teaching ministry is beginning to take off at my church. If you don’t see many updates here it is because I’m busy writing small group curriculum. And please pray for this bit of exciting news- I’ve been asked to preach a couple Sundays from now. Please pray that I don’t stink up the joint too much!)

God’s Architect

Frank

Did you check out yesterday’s Google doodle celebrating the 161st birthday of Antoni Gaudi? To be honest I had never heard the name so I clicked out of curiosity. And I was completely blown away.

Once upon a time I was into architecture and considered that as a career field prior to college, so reading about Antoni, dubbed “God’s architect”, had be glued to my screen. His masterpiece, if you’re not familiar, is the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. This basilica (anointed such in 2010; not technically a cathedral since a Catholic bishop does not serve there) began construction one hundred and thirty years ago and still isn’t finished. In fact, it isn’t expected to be finished for several more years. Despite being commissioned in 1882, the Sagrada Familia did not celebrate its first mass until its dedication by Pope Benedict three years ago.

I encourage you to check out this profile from the Christian Science Monitor that came up when you’d click on the doodle. Included is an embedded video from 60 Minutes about Gaudi and the basilica that includes such tidbits as the fact that the highest spire is 3 feet shorter than the nearest mountain because Gaudi didn’t want to upstage God.

What is fascinating about this story is how this one man was so dedicated to a single project all with the intent of glorifying God. This building became his life’s work and his legacy. And since he knew it was so complicated, so grand, that it could not be completed in his lifetime, he built many scale models so that others could complete his work.

About those others: three generations of one family has carried on the legacy; a young architect never returned home after visiting it while touring Europe; a Japanese sculptor converted to Catholicism while working on this project. There is just something captivating about this place and now I feel I must someday visit.

Gaudi wrote, “A church is the only thing worthy of representing the feelings of a people,
for religion is the highest thing in people.” His design is intended to tell the two-thousand year history of the church in a single building. In a culture where we spend millions on churches as monuments to ourselves, such a purpose is inspiring and refreshing.

Was Gaudi Crazy? Maybe. But I think about the Universal Church. While not a physical construction project, we have been works-in-progress since Jesus himself walked this earth. So much today is made of being like the First Century Church that we forget they too were imperfect. God has been refining us, sculpting us, for two millennia. And we’re still not finished.

Paul described the church as being “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” (Ephesians 2:20) He writes elsewhere,

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.
 
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.”
(1 Corinthians 3:10-19)

Our construction is incomplete. You and I are each individual spires in God’s temple, reaching up towards heaven. Reflecting on Antoni Gaudi’s life work, I wonder what it is I am building?

You’re Not Alone

Frank

April was Autism Awareness Month and May was Mental Illness Awareness Month. It’s coincidental they line up because they are only matching letters- Autism could just as easily been covered in August and awareness for Mental illness in March, but alas here we are. The two are linked although when someone mentions “mental health” our thoughts jump straight to depression, schizophrenia or other maladies. Yet the Autism Spectrum (which technically includes Asbergers Syndrom and not as officially includes ADHD and bipolar disorder) deals with many of the same social stigmas, especially at church. So I have done my best to cover both subjects to the best of my ability (and to the limit of my emotional capacity). Of course I cannot cover it all, so here are more posts on the subject.

The news of Matthew Warren’s suicide in April prompted many Christian bloggers to offer up their thoughts on mental illness. I think this is too important a subject to be covered by a single post, or even a series of posts. Additionally, everybody has their own personal story of mental illness impacting their lives. So below is a compilation of posts that I’ve found on the subject. Please feel free to add your own in the comments. (And a huge hat-tip to Adrian Warnock who has continuously posted on this subject throughout the month over at the Patheos blog portal. You’ll see many posts from him below.)

 

The posts that got this started:

On mental health:

On depression:

On medications and treatment:

On suicide:

Other conditions:

I’ve closed out each of my previous posts with a reminder that if you are struggling through dark times, if you feel alone, if you feel the church has rejected you, to have hope. Some of us do understand. You are not alone. I pray these resources are an encouragement not only to you, but are useful for the Church as a whole to better understand, better relate, and better sympathize with those who are struggling and know of no where else to turn but to Jesus and his bride.

Not Crying on Sundays

Frank

I have a confession to make.

Not that long ago, I went through a period where I didn’t want to go to church.

Yeah, I know. Me, you, everybody; this isn’t much of a confession. But this wasn’t because I wanted to sleep in or catch the early NFL game. No, I didn’t want to go to church because most of the time I would come home crying.

This is our usual Sunday morning routine. Get up and get ready for church. Eat breakfast, making sure that our son had a high-protein, low sugar balanced meal. Sometimes we’d pray in the car on the way there. If it wasn’t out loud, I would always pray silently before dropping off my son in class. We would take him to his classroom, he would grip tightly to our hand or our leg, and we would have to pry him away to get him to go in. He’d try and escape back out the door, sometimes stopping to sit just outside in the hallway. Other times, he would find a chair off by itself and plant himself there, pull his knees up and bury his face safely behind them.

About a half-hour in to our church service, a volunteer would come and tap me on my shoulder to tell me my son was having problems. I’d leave worship, sit him down and try to talk to him one-on-one reminding him of the importance of following directions and not being disruptive to the other students. Sometimes I’d let him go back to class. Other times, if it was really bad, I’d keep him out with me. I wouldn’t dare take him in to the church service. So we would sit. Alone. Waiting for church to be over. I’d feel every glance and glare from people walking by. I’d smile politely but I can read their eyes: “what’s his problem?”

Let me for a moment define “really bad” which unfortunately was much of the time. My son would crawl under the table and kick the mechanism that folds up the legs. It made a neat sound, rattling against the metal. It fascinated him. Other times he would start tearing up his paper into little pieces, just to see how small he could make a rip. Sometimes he’d wonder what those pieces of paper would taste like, so he would proceed to eat as many as he could before a teacher could intervene. He wouldn’t join in circle time when everyone would be singing together. He wouldn’t sit still in his chair. A teacher could only put up with this for so long before they would have to call for reinforcements- me.

So while sitting outside of class and outside of worship, my son and I would have deep talks. Sometimes I’d take him outside just so he could run around in circles to burn off all of his extra energy. Sometimes we’d talk about God and Jesus. Most of the time we’d talk about what made my son tick.

But by the time church was over I would be near tears, crawling out of my skin. “Why didn’t we take two cars?” I’d ask myself. The silent, invisible wounds from every comment and sideways look were killing me.

Here are some comments we’d hear. Maybe you’ve heard them, or some variation, yourself:

  • Boys will be boys. He’ll grow out of it.
  • If you kids are going to be disciples of Jesus, they need to be more outgoing. You need to teach them to not be so shy.
  • You need to do something about your son, there’s no reason at his age he shouldn’t be able to sit still.
  • No, there’s nothing wrong with him, you just need to teach him self-control.
  • I don’t think you’re disciplining him enough at home.
  • Remember, spare the rod and spoil the child.

So I’d leave church wondering if we were wrong about our son. Maybe we just needed to spank harder, discipline him more severely. At best I was paranoid about his condition, at worst I was a failure as a parent.

Sound familiar?

But there were others in our church who watched this from a distance. They recognized it. They felt our pain. And soon we’d have parents giving tips of what worked for their children and share the struggles they have had. One mom, a parent of two teenagers with autism, said that she recognized it as soon as she met our son. Affirmation! Relief.

Some teachers also understood. One makes a point to assign my son to be a helper- keeping him busy and out of his chair. Others know that when he’s sitting off by himself, that they just need to leave him be until he is ready and acclimated to his new environment.

And we changed our habits too. Yes, a high protein and low sugar breakfast is still a must. But now we also give him coffee every morning. While that may sound strange, caffeine is a natural stimulant that has the same effect (in principle) as ADHD drugs. Explaining this to one parent changed his life- he noticed that when he’d drink tea or coffee he wouldn’t feel as much anxiety and could focus better. He is know on ADHD medication and you’d think he was a completely different person.

This isn’t just my son I’m talking about. Teaching class a few weeks ago, the lesson was on Palm Sunday. The kids were restless so I suggested we go outside and have a parade for Jesus. We marched around our church building singing as loud as we could, shouting “Hosanna in the Highest!” But there were two boys who dragged along behind, covering their ears. Even outside in the open, this was too much stimulation for them. My son hung back with them. He understood.

Chances are, there are children at your church, in your Sunday-school class, friends with your children that have either ADHD, autism or maybe even both. It might be your child and you don’t know what to do. It used to be said that one in 88 children would have autism. That rate has recently been raised to one in 50. More than one in 10 have ADHD with boys twice as likely as girls to be diagnosed, a percentage that has increased 70% in the last five years. A 2009 study suggests that one in six children have sensory integration issues that impede their daily functioning.

Let me repeat:

  • 1 in 50 children have some form of autism.
  • More than 1 in 10 children have been diagnosed with ADHD.
  • 1 in 6 suffer from sensory integration issues.

These are children at your church, in your neighborhood, maybe even your home.

As I continue to say in this series of posts, you are not alone in dealing with this. Talk about it. Share what works and doesn’t work. Don’t be afraid of the label and have your child checked out.

For the church, one of the most important things to do is to educate others. Sunday-school teachers are volunteers; they are not likely to be professionally trained teachers or have degrees in special education or developmental psychology. If it looks like your child’s teacher doesn’t know what to do, it is probably because they really don’t. And this was the hard lesson for me- don’t take their lack of understanding personally. Be kind. Share. Offer encouragement.

Most of all, have hope. It does get better.

I’m Not Alright

Frank

I’m “pinning” my post You’re Not Alone to the top of the main page for a while and I’ll be adding more material as this continues to be a hot topic for me and other bloggers.

But why am I making such a big deal out of it, after all Matthew Warren’s suicide was a couple of weeks ago and there have been bigger headlines since?

I’m staying on this subject because for me, it is personal. Some of what I’m writing about I relate to within the four walls of my home. Some of this is happening right now within the four walls of my congregation. And it continues to be an issue outside of those four walls, even if they don’t make national headlines. Last Monday a local school was on lockdown as a student was reported missing and was assumed to be armed. Later that day he shot himself.

The truth of the matter is, I’m not alright. My family is not alright. You are not alright. We need to get beyond the superficial “fine” when asked how we are doing. Some of us are hurting inside. Some want to hurt themselves or others. The Church cannot continue to turn a blind eye to the struggles associated with mental health. (And you’ll see in these posts that “mental health” ranges from severe depression to autism- two extremes that if we’re honest, we really don’t know what to do with.)

I’m not alright. Are you?

If weakness is a wound
that no one wants to speak of
then cool is just how far we have to fall

Hunger Games

Frank

Every wandering eye, every unfaithful thought starts from the same place. Hunger. Emotional and physical needs aren’t being met. “Love cups” or “love tanks” aren’t filled and a person is left feeling empty and in need.

An affair never starts with the intent of being unfaithful. It starts when someone else, a stranger, a coworker, meets a need that isn’t being met at home. Maybe it’s listening and relating. Maybe it’s paying a long-needed compliment. Maybe it’s the physical attraction that goes along with a little flirt. However minor that first step towards cheating may seem, it still ends in the same place.

And it all starts from being hungry.

Throughout the Bible, God relates the unfaithfulness of His people to adultery, giving the image of His relationship to the Israelites as equivalent to that of a man and wife. The New Testament goes further and calls the Church Jesus’ bride. And so the temptations above, made strong by hunger are the same.

We hunger because we think our Lord and Savior cannot satisfy. We don’t believe His promises. We don’t count on Him when times are bad. And so we stop believing that He completely satisfies and we fool ourselves into being hungry for something else.

Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love
and his wonderful deeds for men,
for he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things
(Psalm 107:8-9)

And we can be unfaithful to our churches for the same reason. Sometimes we hunger because we are not being fed. How long have you been nursing on milk, when you should be eating solid food by now? (Hebrews 5:11-13) And so churches around us are wasting away, starving to death, because no one is being fed.

It is then, in these times, when the pangs of hunger are so overwhelming that any little morsel resembling truth suckers us into consuming whole meals of false teaching. Paul instructs the church in Ephesus how to grow and mature through solid teaching, so that “we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.” (Ephesians 4:14)

It’s all hunger games. We allow ourselves to wither and starve when we don’t feed on God’s Word, when we are not trusting in Him.

[H]is delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither.
Whatever he does prospers.
(Psalm 1:2-3)
[B]lessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.
(Jeremiah 17:7-8)

You don’t have to starve when you have nourishment right at your fingertips, when you have a loving God who longs for you to be satisfied. Don’t go hungry and fall into the temptation of another. Another lover, another church, or another God.

Flashback Friday: Perfect Church?

Frank

***Originally posted a year ago when I was doing a book club on Michael Spencer’s book, Mere Churchianity. I warn you in advance, this is a long one.***

I’ve been on board with Michael Spencer through eight chapters of Mere Churchianity and I’ve enjoyed every part of the ride. But I had to get off the train at chapter 9 (though I’m going to jump right back on at 10). In chapter 8, Accepting the Real Jesus, Michael drew a line in the sand delineating the Church consisting of disciples of Jesus and the institutional, religious church filled with Christians. But it seems as though in this chapter he forgot the line was there.

I agree with Michael that you cannot keep “church shopping” hoping to find the perfect church because you never will. I also agree that many people’s spiritual journey to be Jesus Shaped will lead them “out of the church as they have known and experienced it.” (pp 109) I can personally testify that this can be the case. In fact, I do believe there is a perfect church worth going after. But I do not believe everyone Michael describes in this chapter has found it.

Let’s begin with the perfect church. What does it look like? Michael listed several flavors of church he experienced trying to find it. Someone commented yesterday that it would be great if we could combine each of these into one. I’ve always felt that the perfect church would have the reverence of the Catholic/Orthodox church, the worship of an AME church, the emphasis on Biblical survey of the Calvary Chapel, the outreach of a foreign mission, and the doctrine (personal bias) of the Restoration Movement. But I haven’t found that yet, and I don’t think I ever will. But that does not mean I cannot create it.

You can browse the titles of Christian books, search the themes of Christian bloggers, and find the most followed Christian tweeters and it won’t take long to notice that many are on the same quest to find the elusive perfect church. There was a push not long ago to “restore the First Century Church” even though that is not described in the Bible. The best we have to go on are the sparse writings of the Early Church Fathers and the Didache. Right now we see the “Acts 29 Church“, or as I like to say “the next chapter”. Catchy name. I pray they are successful in creating authentic community and a Jesus Shaped church. I’ve also seen “the Acts 2:42 Church”, but there is very little written in the New Testament, and even less in the book of Acts, for “what” this perfect church should look like outside of a few anecdotal examples.

But there is plenty written on “how” this perfect church should function. For the sake of our discussion, I’m going to stick with Ephesians 4. Here Paul gives an outline of how Christ’s church should grow up in unity. (And remember that Jesus prayed for unity amongst His believers the night before he was betrayed.) First, the perfect church is up to us. “[L]ive a life worthy… be completely humble and gentle…bearing with one another… make every effort to keep the unity…” (v 1-3) And later, “to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it… It was he who gave some to be… to prepare God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (v 7, 11-13) In other words, the perfect church is up to us, doing our part, “From [Christ] the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” (v 16, emphasis added)

Of course, we are all human. Our pride and selfish ambitions will get in the way of what Paul describes above. Over time religiosity, legalism, and false-doctrine will set in. And the church we thought we were a part of will become unrecognizable. But, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.” (1 Peter 1:24-25) We can always turn back to the Word and return to what is right. I do believe that in this sense, the Church is undergoing constant revival as each generation comes to it seeking to be Jesus Shaped.

But the description above isn’t the approach Michael Spencer takes. Instead he takes an ecumenical broad-brush and (practically) declares that everyone who is doing good work in Jesus’ name is part of this true church. Yet Jesus himself said, “not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.” And it continues, “only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21) This is consistent with what Michael wrote in chapter 8, but appears to abandon here. It is also interesting that when Michael declares “There are thousands of Christians where I live. They express their faith through how they serve…” (pp 111), he then lists off several brand-names of churches as if they are all equal. But he does not mention the Mormon Church. I would expect that many Christians, and most Evangelicals, would not consider the Mormon Church to be Christians, yet I challenge you to find any group as focused on their communities and on their families as this church. According to Michael’s description of the “true church” in this chapter, they have to be included in the discussion. Unless he applies an unwritten doctrinal line.

There is a written line in Ephesians 4. “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope when you were called— one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (v 4-6) Which brings us to the “One Church”.

This is a dangerous doctrine. Not because it is unbiblical, but because of our human nature to corrupt everything we are a part of. The Restoration Movement began when a Reformed Baptist and a Presbyterian got together, examined their doctrines in light of Scripture, and chose to go another way. They strived for One Church, unifying the divisive denominationalism that still exists today. Because of the emphasis on One True Church being defined solely on Scripture, the church they founded, the Churches of Christ, have been turbulent with division ever since. I think the Scripture says this, you think that, therefore we cannot agree and you are no longer part of “my” One True Church. Yet Paul said he doesn’t care  so long as the Gospel is being preached and Jesus said no one can do a miracle in his name one minute and curse his name the next. You see the slippery slope?

So what does that mean for you and me and our quest for a Jesus Shaped church? First, we have to look to the Word of God to measure the state of our church, not our feelings, not the latest bestseller on church growth, and absolutely not traditions. Next, we have to examine ourselves by the same standard. Are we “doing are part” as Ephesians 4 instructs? Finally, and this goes back to the thrust of Mere Churchianity, we need to keep Jesus as our focus.

Is there a perfect church out there? With our sinful nature, sadly not until Jesus returns to claim His Kingdom. Is there a Jesus Shaped church out there? There are likely many and as Michael describes, there is no shortage of people striving towards it. Is there One True Church? Yes there is, and it is defined by God’s own Word, not by the walls we construct. I pray one day we can worship there together.

Not Just Lip Service

Frank

So I’ve been ranting and raving the last couple of weeks about how we define “church” and what a strong church looks like and should be doing. I’m not going to add anything today other than highlight a couple stories that got my attention this week.

First comes a story of a church giving back, literally. Last Sunday Liquid Church in New Jersey gave out $30,000 from their own coffers during their regular weekly contribution. Given current events and the economic climate, I struggle to ask for money at my own church. Yes, we need to pay the bills too (I’m the outgoing Board President so I watch this more closely than most others) but would it really be the end of the world if we couldn’t pay for our luxurious (by some standards) building and had to meet, like the church in the article, in hotel conference rooms in order to instead give out from our reserves to meet the impoverished needs in our congregation and community? I’ve written about this before and how it reminds me of the ministry of Kingdom Assignment. I wrote in 2009 that I’d love for my own congregation to do something similar. Two years later I see little chance of that.

The second story is about the ongoing debate in the missional movement. I’ve argued in my own circle of influence that if Jesus isn’t the center of community outreach then it is just community service. The argument goes that being “missional” is the latest trend, and many churches are jumping on the bandwagon in the name of social justice and leaving the Gospel behind. Here are some great blog posts the dig into this debate.

So that’s them. What about you? What are you, or your church doing to share the Gospel uniquely? I am personally wrestling with this myself, so inspire me with your stories!

Is This Really Church?

Frank

To continue a theme… actually watching this video a few months ago got my wheels turning on this whole thing. Here is Francis Chan, from 2009, asking his own congregation “is this really church?” The premise is that if you were stranded on a desert island with only the Bible and no other religious influence and you were inspired to start a church, would it look like the church you presently attend?

This is a long video so I recommend letting it load before watching. After the opening video spot, skip ahead to the 22 minute mark where the sermon really begins.

What is the Perfect Church

Frank

To continue my rants and raves from last week on the big-c Church, I want to follow up on Friday’s post asking us to identify our strengths and weaknesses. What makes a perfect church? Do we need every attribute Ed Setzer describes in the Transformational Church? How about every characteristic in Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church? What if we modeled every feature in every book on how to do-it-yourself, fix-er-up church? It would be overwhelming. In fact, I bet if you went into your local Christian bookstore, or even to the faith & spirituality section of Barnes & Noble, you could close your eyes, throw a dart at the books, and likely hit a book either complaining about the state of the church or offering ways to make it better, bigger, more seeker-friendly, more missional, more somethingorother…

No, let’s simplify. What does every church need? This is off the top of my head and isn’t all-inclusive, but I think it’s a good starting point for discussion:

  • Reverence of God the Father
  • Reliance on the Holy Spirit
  • Discipleship of Jesus the Son (sorry, I tried really hard to find another “R” but the only synonym I could find was “rooter” but I didn’t like the ring of that)

That looks obvious, so let’s get more specific:

  • Takes sin seriously (really, I’m serious)
  • Holy, set apart from the world (not the same as removing ourselves from the world in something like a commune, but separate from the world’s values)
  • Evangelistic
  • Serving, both inside the church and out
  • So Missional and Benevolent
  • Worshipful (This could mean a lot of things to a lot of people, so I’ll leave this open-ended)
  • Teaches (“For the Bible is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” Paraphrasing 1 Timothy 3:16-17)
  • Relational (your relationships in your church fellowship actually mean something)
  • Prayerful (any prayer warriors in your fellowship?)
  • Faithful (no duh, but how many of us actually are?)
  • Loving
  • United
  • Global (not just world missions, but with the attitude in your heart that we are to go make disciples of “all nations”)

Again, this may be simplistic. But what I’ve found is that churches that excel in one or two of these neglect the others. There is an ongoing debate right now amongst missional churches remaining Christ-centered and not just “doing mission” because that’s the latest fad. Churches that are strong in fellowship may be weak in calling one another to account for sin. I’ve seen churches that emphasize evangelism on the standard of the Great Commission, but neglect the rest of the command to “teach them to obey everything I [Jesus] have commanded you”. I’ve seen churches emphasize one another accountability, but lack love. I guess the bottom line is that I have yet to see a single church excell in every one of these.

Maybe it’s not realistic to expect. We are all sinners saved by grace after all. And churches are man-made institutions that will always be imperfect by their very nature. Then again, isn’t the Church Christ’s bride? And doesn’t Paul instruct husbands to imitate Christ “to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her [the Church] to himself [Christ] as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless”? (Ephesians 5:26-27) Aren’t we to present Christ’s bride perfect?

So we fall short. We identify a weakness and have a “campaign” to correct it, meanwhile neglecting what made our church strong to begin with. No one single church program can cover all of these bases. But only a church culture, where “every part does its work” (Ephesians 4:16) and every person strives to be Christlike in every area of their lives (prayer, worship, service…) can truly capture the fullness of Christ. Christ’s bride is not a church defined by walls, staff, or programs. But rather by people, each striving to apply their unique spiritual gifts passionately for the Glory of God in the Name of Jesus. Then, when they come together in unity, can we finally see a “church” as described above.