I’ve heard it said that “our current system is perfectly designed to give us the results we are now getting.” (I think I heard that from Dallas Willard) It’s one of those obvious truths that we somehow easily forget. To put the statement in the terms of the church, you could say “the current way that we ‘do’ church is perfectly designed to create the types of disciples that we are now creating.”
So, the question is: what types of disciples is the modern church in the U.S. making?
While the answer is probably ‘many different kinds,’ I think I could argue pretty convincingly that for the most part the modern church creates consumeristic, Christian spectators… kind of like what you see happen at an NFL football game, where you have 50,000 people desperately in need of exercise watching 22 people desperately in need of rest. We focus on a weekly event to the point where we even refer to that event (and the building where it is held) as ‘going to church.’ We attend the service as if we are going to a temple where God lives, forgetting that the curtain was torn when Christ died and the Spirit of God lives in us! In fact, we ARE the church (whether we acknowledge it or not) 24/7, wherever we are!
And so, a church that focuses on and defines itself by a weekly service (where very few are serving in their gifts, and the rest merely look on) is going to make disciples that are conditioned to let the mission of the church stay in the hands of a few people that stand on the stage each week, and all the while forget the incredible, awesome, world-changing potential that is sitting dormant in their own life!
It’s this reality that is causing us to rethink what it means to be the church (not go to church!) It’s the fact that we understand that we are meant to be disciples of Jesus (and in fact the church is supposed to be the Body of Christ) yet most of the Body is lying dormant, as if in the state of a coma.
And I think God is saying to the church in the U.S. what Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” !!!
So, that’s our mission. We are going to, through God’s help and direction, learn what it means to be the church, and make disciples of Jesus that together truly function as the Body of Christ here on earth.
Our first step is to stop focusing on our weekly service. We are going to focus on Life Groups…that’s where we will all learn to function in the giftings that God has given us. That’s where we’ll build true community, minister to each other, pray for each other, invite unchurched people to hang out with us, have fun together, serve the community, etc. We must interract with each other life on life, and learn to live as disciples of Christ in the context of community. Our weekly 5pm gathering is going to be seen as a ‘gathering of life groups.’ Our projects in the community (serving the poor, the elderly, orphans/widows, evangelism, etc) are also going to be seen as functions of the life groups, so that we are learning to obey Christ’s teachings in the context of community.
And so, we are calling this movement “the Mission”
God, help us as we strive to radically live, as Jesus radically lived. Help us to love sinners, as You love sinners. Help us selflessly sacrifice, as you selflessly sacrificed for us… and teach us what it means to be the church.
