the sleeping god may wake

I had read this quote once before, but forgot about it. Chris McGrath emailed it to me and I had to share it with you:

“On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of the conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake some day and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.”
(Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone to Talk, Harper & Row, 1982)

read this

If you know how to read, but don’t, how are you better off than those who don’t know how to read?

So, I encourage you to turn off your TVs, grab a tall glass of lemonade (or iced tea if you prefer) and read this book:

Organic Church by Neil Cole

the next step

Christians in America aren’t starved for good teaching. We’re not slacking in our faith for lack of great worship music or places where we can gather to sing songs, talk to other Christians and hear the Bible preached. We’re not hurting for resources. We don’t lack freedom of religion. We aren’t persecuted. It’s not difficult to find a copy of the Bible, they’re pretty much everywhere.

So, since we are so richly blessed, I bet Christians in America are radically living for God. I bet we’re walking out the teachings of the Bible since there are so many great teachers and resources. I bet the church is firing on all cylinders, functioning passionately as the Body of Christ, constantly baptizing new believers and discipling people to truly live as Jesus lived.

Or, are we?

I think it’s pretty clear that the church doesn’t need amazing teachers, talented musicians and singers, nice buildings, and lots of money to thrive. In fact, I sometimes wonder if we would be better off if those things would be stripped away so that we would learn not to focus on them.

Neil Cole wrote, “Christians in America are already educated beyond their obedience, and more education is not the solution.”

Do you think that’s true? Or, do you think we just need more or better education to get the church to wake up and BE the church? Is that what sustained the New Testament church? What’s the next step?

Leonard Sweet says, “Christians have much to learn about faith as a lived experience, not a thought experiment.”

I can’t help but feel that we are sometimes missing the heart of what it means to be a disciple of Christ. I don’t mean just stuff like serving the poor or caring for orphans and widows. That stuff’s important, but it’s just a glimpse of God’s heart for people. What about the Sermon on the Mount for starters? Have you ever read Jesus’ words that day…reading slowly and seriously considering the depth of each part and what it would look like to actually obey Jesus’ teachings?

This is not simply obeying a set of commands, but living a certain life that can only be lived with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. Things like Matthew 5:13-16… Being salt and light to a world that is hopeless and dark. Are we doing that here in Hampton Roads?

So, what’s the next step? I think we need to take our Christianity to the streets. We need to bring the light of Christ to our community, here in Hampton Roads. We need to be the church outside of our ‘church buildings’ and live as Jesus lived. This is not a moral lifestyle, but in fact is itself true life.

the mission

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.

a treasure to pursue

My home page is set to cbsnews.com. So, whenever I open my web browser I get a quick look at the latest news. The top headline just now caught my attention more than most: “$500M Treasure Ship Found in Atlantic”

Wow. That’s exciting. Fortune, adventure, scuba diving, 17 tons of colonial-era silver and gold coins… maybe I chose the wrong profession.

But then I remembered what Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like. “…the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant who was searching for fine pearls. When he found a valuable pearl, he went away, sold everything he had, and bought it.” I guess that’s what we’re trying to do. We’ve found something that’s worth our full attention. Something that’s worth giving up everything else in life. And, we’re pursuing it with passion.

So, some have asked me recently when our next service project to the poor will be. Let me fill you in on what’s going on:

People who are excited about BEING the church (not just going to church) are coming out of the woodwork and saying they want to get involved. We’ve been needing people to organize and lead service projects, outreach projects, prayer events, etc to help provide opportunities for all of us to BE the church during the week. So far, here’s who is helping to lead the charge:

Randy Hill – Randy is working on a BBQ cookout and painting project at Trailer City. It’s going to be great for building relationships with some of the poor people in that area. If you want to get involved in this, email Randy @ randhil@regent.edu

Jason Plumley – Jason is working on an outreach to some of the local nursing homes in the area. Is there a better way to grow as a disciple of Christ than to serve and share the gospel with the undervalued elderly in our community? Imagine sitting down and writing a letter to a son or daughter for hands that are too old and tired to write themselves.

David Crane – David and the rest of the Life Ministry team are continuing to advance our efforts in fighting against what is clearly one of the most (if not THE most) important social injustice issues facing the church today…abortion.

Emily Teagle & Doug Drader – This project, called “Less is More” is going to be awesome. Imagine if everyone in our church were to simplify their lives by bringing in their possessions that they don’t really need or use. We all have those things that we don’t need but we hold on to anyway. With “Less is More” we’ll benefit by simplifying our lives and becoming (hopefully) a bit less materialistic. But that’s only the first part. We’re then going to sell the items and use the profit to do something awesome like dig a well in Africa or buy a trailer for a widow who can’t afford a home. Stay tuned for more info. ALSO, we still need one more person to help lead this in order to launch it. If you are interested, contact Emily at emailtheteagle@yahoo.com

So, that’s not just to inform you of what’s going on. This is an INVITATION to join in on this movement. If you are interested in getting more involved, contact me at briansweet77@yahoo.com Let’s pursue the kingdom of heaven with all that we have and all that we are. Let’s pursue it with passion.

what the church does

Last week, Bill Gualdoni talked with us about the importance of community in the church.  He said that we should be intentional in our relationships, and that without a strong sense of community within the Body of Christ (church), we are missing out on one of the essential components of ‘being the church’.

This whole conversation about community brings up something that I’ve been pondering lately.  If it is our goal to be the church in a biblical, authentic, and Christ-honoring way, then one of the first things we should do is ask ourselves what are the main functions of the Bride of Christ.  What are those things that if we don’t do, we are missing an important component of being the church?  It seems to me that if we can focus on these main functions/purposes of the church, and if we can do them well, then we will be well on our way to being an authentic, biblical church.  Also, knowing what these things are will help us determine where our freedoms are in terms of how we go about being the church.

Not long ago I was asking someone what they thought these main functions/purposes were.  He said that he thought they are laid out pretty well in Acts 2:42-47, and are specifically:

• Worship
• Evangelism
• Fellowship
• Teaching the Scriptures
• Serving

I talked to another guy about this and he said he thought the list looked like this:

• Worship
• Community
• Discipleship
• Service
• Outreach

I’ll throw out one more list from a book titled From the Ground Up: New Testament Foundations for the 21st Century Church:

• Worship
• Learning
• Fellowship
• Evangelism/Mission 

What do you think?

from singers to servants

I read an article today by Shaun Groves entitled “From Singers to Servants” that started out like this:

I go to church with 5,000 singers. I can’t call us worshipers yet because many of us come to church only to feel better, be served and hear our favorite songs while our kids are kept in short-handed pre-school classes. And after church, on Monday, you won’t catch many of us singers at the reitrement home writing letters for hands too bent by age to hold a pen. A few miles north, in East Nashville, you won’t find us playing basketball with a child of another ethnic background, giving his mom a dress or a job. And down the street, few will bring blankets, tooth-brushes or a kind word to the rapists and thieves in the county jail. We’re great singers, but, to be honest, some of us are lousy worshipers.

Wow. I’m really convicted by that statement. I have to ask myself, am I a singer or a worshiper? I wonder how so many churches are content being full of singers, but in actuality contain very few worshipers. I wonder how church leaders can justify focusing almost exclusively on facilitating opportunities for people to sing and hear a sermon, but not so much on opportunities for people to truly worship. I wonder how so many people can go by the title of ‘worship leader’ when in actuality they are only functioning as living juke boxes that churn out the latest and greatest worship songs for people to sing along to. Do we go to church to feel better? Why do we live by the concept of “going to church” when in actuality we are supposed to be the church, 24/7?

Shaun later points out that “‘Worship’ in our English bible is never translated from a Greek or Hebrew word meaning “singing” or “songs.” So where is the disconnect in churches today? Does our modern view of worship distort the truth and allow us to justify lives that aren’t lived in such a way as to reflect the true meaning of worship? Can you find instances of people in scripture who encountered Jesus, became his disciple, and yet their lives were not radically disrupted for the sake of God’s Kingdom? Were there comfortable worshipers who suffered little sacrifice? Or, like the rich young ruler (Matt 19, Mark 10, & Luke 18), is it the people who are not willing to radically disrupt their lives for Christ that miss out entirely on knowing God?

I have to believe that these are questions that we, the bride of Christ, should wrestle with. Is a church that’s full of ’singers’ a beautiful church? What do you think?

name

Okay, it’s time for us to give this thing a name.  As long as we continue to call this the “3rd Sunday Service” it’s going to be hard for us to think of this as more than just a… service.  This is (God willing) a movement.  Services are events.  Movements are organic.  Movements cannot be controlled by man, are often radical in nature and result in a change of some sort.  Movements are bigger than any one person or group.  Like ideas, they have the ability to make lasting change.  After all, ‘movement is a sign of life’. 

This movement is not about events…it’s about transformation.  It’s about restoring the beauty of the church.

So, I’m going to list our current name ideas below.  This is your chance to leave a comment to this blog entry with either new name ideas to add to the list, or to vote for which one(s) you like best.  Let’s make it our goal to name this by the end of the month.

Soma                  (Greek word for ‘body’ as in the Body of Christ)
Elevation
The Gathering
Numa                 (Greek word for ’spirit’ or ‘breathe’)
Kalos                  (Greek word for ‘beautiful’ or ‘good’)
Ekklasia              (Greek word for ‘church’)
Plathos              (Greek for assembly or multitude…as in after Acts 2)
Cairo                  (Greek abbreviation for ‘Christ’)
Mosaic
Journey
Church without Walls
Z-Church
Zume                 (“ZOO-may” – Greek for ‘yeast’)
Sunodia             (“soon-a-DEE-a” – Greek for ‘a journey together’)

That’s what we have so far.  Let us know your favorite(s) or post some new ideas.

mission trip

I was thinking back to a couple really awesome mission trips that I went on in high school. We went to Alaska one summer, Portugal the next. I remember that the preparation was pretty intense…training, planning, raising money, gathering supplies, packing…if you’ve been on a mission trip, you know what I’m talking about.

Back when I went on those trips (now a little over ten years ago) I used to think that it was funny that only young people went. I knew that when you got old it was tough to get off of work for a couple weeks, but I still thought that it was weird and even sad that adults hardly ever went. It was always the youth group that was going. And you know, those were some of the best weeks of my teenage years. We served people daily, built stuff, tore down stuff, chopped down trees for new churches to be constructed, evangelized in every creative way we could think of…

I got to use a chainsaw for the first time, got to preach at a church for the first time, prayed with people to receive Christ for the first time, worked all day every day for two weeks for the sake of the gospel…for the first time. It was sad to me that for the most part it was only the youth who got to experience all of that each summer.

Recently I had a new realization. Those things that we experienced when we went on those trips, they are what life is all about. They are what being the church is all about. Why is it that we feel like we have to go away to some other place to be the church?

Why can’t we go on a mission trip to our neighborhood? Better yet, let’s get rid of that word “trip” that sounds so temporary. Let’s be missionaries right here in Hampton Roads!

I’d like to imagine that we all just got off the airplane. We’re totally exhasted by jet lag and a long flight. We came here to share the gospel with anyone and everyone who will listen. We understand that our culture (the culture of those of us who were brought up in ‘the church’) is very different from those we are trying to reach who are far from Christ. It’s almost like we are from a different country.

And now, we have to decide… what do we do next?

the movement has begun…

Let’s take a moment to imagine. What would it look like if God decided, in His great mercy, to open up the heavens and pour out his Spirit and anointing on Hampton Roads? What if we saw a transformation so significant that it shook the very foundation of our social, political, and economic structures? What if prisons were closed because they were no longer needed and abortion clinics were turned into houses of prayer?

What if the term ‘church’ no longer referred to a service or a building…but a movement. Something so great and awe inspiring that it could not be contained. It’s strength and beauty overwhelming. Walls could not contain it. Man could not be victorious over it. Wait, this is sounding familiar. Jesus said to Peter in Matthew 16 that “…I will build my church; and the gates of hell will not overpower it.”

If you’re reading this blog, consider yourself invited into something bigger, more powerful, and more terrifyingly beautiful than any man, or building, or company, or nation, or idea could ever be.  The gates of hell are powerless against it… It’s the bride of Christ.

Let’s explore, study, and imagine what we think the church should be.  Let’s dream together, and then with God’s help, let’s make it so.