Church Happens!

In many ways, church is not a place or even a gathering of people. Church is an event. Church happens. What if they scheduled a worship service and church broke out?

I know church happened in many places around the world yesterday. Specifically, I know of two gatherings in which church broke out. In the congregation in which I serve, a blended service took place yesterday that was purely anointed by God's Holy Spirit. My colleague in pastoral ministry here offered one of the most bold and faithful proclamations I have ever known. He shared with candor and with hope about an addition from which God freed him several years ago, which he has kept hidden. He courageously reminded our congregation that the Body of Christ isn't where we keep things in the dark from one another. Church happens when we love, support, and stand up for each other just as we are, and together we allow the living Lord to free us from the secrets that oppress us. The gathering was so spiritually ready. Musicians, worship leaders, and worshippers were all receptive and open to the Spirit's leading. It was a moment of deliverance for many. My friend and colleague received a standing ovation as a thanksgiving to God for his faithfulness and courage! It was a passionate worship event.

At the same time I had the opportunity to speak at a blended service in a congregation I served several years ago. This congregation was ready to open their hearts to the Lord. They gathered musicians together from three different worship services employing three different styles, with the one aim of opening hearts and minds to the living presence of Jesus. Truly of one mind in Christ, every part of this experience spoke of top flight guidance from the pastors and the leaders in the congregation. Worship was already at top speed and the Holy Spirit was moving freely way before I got up to speak. (I could have read from the phone book and gotten away with it; the spirit and focus of worship was so strong throughout.) It was a passionate worship event.

The Spirit of a mighty God is at work. The Holy Spirit calls us to push aside all the stuff that serves to distract us in congregations, and to just invite church to happen. I've seen it, and I know I'll see it again.

What if they scheduled a worship service and church broke out? Man, I've got to see what's around the next bend in the river.

More Than Just, "Let Us Pray"

Increasingly I see a central emphasis uniting many Jesus-followers who long to see churches awaken to their transformating, disciple-making mission. More and more people seem to discover that if many congregations have any hope at all for their future, prayer will provide the foundation for that hope. This does not mean the routine, "Let's open with prayer" at every church meeting, or "Oh, by the way, let's be sure to pray about this." This means praying before anything else begins. Foundational prayer prayer is yielding prayer. This kind of prayer doesn't mean coming up with a great idea for evangelism, then asking God to bless it. Yielding prayer implores God to set the agenda and the pace first, and asking the Holy Spirit to take the reins at every step.

For years, Henry Blackaby (author of Experiencing God) has urged disciples to accept the fact that God is already at work, that God invites us to join Him in his work, that God seeks a relationship with us, and that God communicates to us through that prayer-based relationship. It is pointless to do anything in ministry until prayer lays the foundation for that relationship. Martha Grace Reese has authored Unbinding the Gospel, presenting a relational evangelism posture for mainline churches. She tells churches to pray at length before doing anything programmatic in outreach. Paul Borden has served as an American Baptist executive, leading a number of established churches in his denomination through transformation. He says months or even years of prayer should precede missional transformation. Here are persons from conservative, mainline, and evangelical expressions, all saying the same thing about prayer as the foundation to fulfilling the great commission to go and make disciples.

What would it look like if prayer became the main thing in any given congregation? When we would walk into the midst of such a fellowship, how would we know that prayer is the heartbeat of the church's life? In everything from evangelism team meetings to finance committee meetings, how would a central focus on prayer be evident?

What do you think? The rivers are up everywhere, so be careful. I'll see you around the next bend.

Who Cares if Churches Survive?

Some people fear for the future of organized religion in North America. They point to the declining impact of churches. A recent research project cited in Rev magazine indicates that worship attendance nationwide is likely lower than previously thought by the Barna and Gallup organizations. An editorial in our local paper on Easter Sunday lamented the diminishing strength of churches. One church leader publicly stated that the Church may be a generation away from extinction.

I wish I could say that my primary concern is the survival of United Methodism or any Christian denomination as we know it. Honestly, though, it isn't my main concern. In fact, if my denomination or any denomination is destined to turn inward, hunker down in survival mode, and eventually die, I say so be it.

The vital core of the gospel of Jesus the Christ always finds a way to spark, flicker, and eventually blaze, regardless of history's attempts to suppress it, and regardless of institutional baggage that threatens to suck the life out of it. The living presence of Jesus does not depend on human institutions to survive. It's the other way around; organized institutions depend on being focused fully on Christ for vitality and validation. The question is not whether or not faith in Christ will survive. The good news of Christ will always find a way. The question is whether or not our denomination or any denomination will be a part of it. If we are, then the Holy Spirit will flow freely in and through us. If we're not, then we deserve to fade away.

Ironically, the surest way for United Methodism to die is for United Methodists to seek first and foremost for institutional survival. The path to survival is to forget about whether or not our organization survives and to be concerned solely with whether or not we're aligned with the disciple-making, life-transforming mission we've been given. Something about he/she who seeks to save his/her life will lose it, etc.

I may be paddling alone now. I hope to see some of you, anyway, around the next bend in the river.

Fear and Great Joy

This Easter morning I noticed how Matthew the tax collector described the reaction of the women who discovered that the body of Jesus of Nazareth was not in the borrowed tomb. "So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples." (Matthew 28:8, New Revised Standard Version.) Notice they reacted with fear and great joy, together. We tend to assume that the two things, fear and joy, are mutually exclusive. The presence of one automatically negates the other.

This morning I also read a devotional reading which told of politically imprisoned persons observing Easter while incarcerated. "Today is Resurrection Sunday. My first Easter in prison...In here it is much easier to understand how the men in the Bible felt, stripping themselves of everything that was superfluous. Many of the prisoners have already heard that they have lost their homes, their furniture and everything they owned. Our families are broken up. Many of our children are wandering the streets, their father in one prison, their mother in another." (from Visions of a Hungry World by Thomas G. Pettepiece, as quoted in Rueben P. Job's and Norman Shawchuck's A Guide to Prayer. Upper Room Books, Nashville, 1983. Page 143.) If any situation could be completely fear producing, this certainly was.

However, the testimony goes on to tell how the Christian prisoners gathered together to worship on Easter. They even pantomimed giving and receiving the Lord's Supper, with no bread, no cup, and no wine. In inexplicable gladness and hope overtook these men in bondage. Describing the event, the author wrote, "We gave thanks to God and finally stood up and embraced each other. A while later, another non-Christian prisoner said to me, 'You people have something special, which I would like to have.'" (Page 143.)

Maybe it's when, in the presence of the risen Jesus, fear and joy are not mutually exclusive that a yet-to-be-reached world will take notice and draw near.

I hope everyone has had a joyous and powerful Resurrection Day. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Simple, Yet Daunting

It's so blindingly simple, yet so daunting at the same time, I suppose.

In the Christian Bible, according to John the evangelist, Jesus said, "I give you a new commandment, that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:34-35, New Revised Standard Version. Italics mine.) I'm afraid those of us who frequent and/or lead Christian worship hear these words so often that we don't truly hear them anymore.

This is not any old love Jesus is talking about. This love is not based on warm and gushy feelings, on affection for those close to us, on general "niceness," or even on random acts of kindness. This love is very specific, and Jesus is the core of that specificity. It is a love defined by the event we recognize this day, a day known to Jesus-followers as "Good Friday." It is a willing to face the worst kind of abandonment and execution possible love. It is a sacrificial love; a love especially seeking those who are the least lovable. It is a love based on choice, not feeling. It is a love given even if it is rejected. This love has open borders, welcoming and even seeking the stranger. It is a love beyond human comprehension. Only God can author it. This is why the phrase, "as I have loved you," defines the verses above.

The words, "By this everyone will know that you are my disciples," demand my attention. We wonder why more people don't fill the pews of churches in this land. We fret over what to do to inspire more people to commit to Christ and the Church. People who are serious about disciple-making pour all kinds of effort into evangelism studies, books, events, seminars, and programs. All of these are good and necessary. But John is reminding us that it is the practice of this beyond-comprehension love that will capture the attention of a yet-to-be reached world. Before people even know Jesus, they will say, "I want to find out what those people have!" The sermons, classes, seminars, and programs can augment the practice of loving one another as Jesus has loved us, but they cannot replace it. And without having the practice of Jesus-specific love in place, all those things are a waste of time and energy.

Jesus' command seems so simple and clear. Why is it so hard for the organized church to invite that to happen? I hope God unleashes something in our midst this Easter, calling on us to set everything else aside that the sacrificing, chosen, God-authored Jesus-love for one another would spread like a wildfire in our midst.

Have an awesome Resurrection Day. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Wonder and Expectancy

It's March, and a great stirring in the hearts of Ozark "river rats" begins. I want to get that canoe out so badly that I can taste it. And my kayak purchase is maybe a couple of months away. The Current River awaits...

Ozark river rats never find complete contentment on a pond or a lake. They're fine for a while, especially if the fishing is good. But after a time, it's just the same water, the same shoreline, the same topography. Ozark floaters live for the river, and the unknown that a river trip brings. Even if it's a stretch we've travelled before, we don't know what depth we may be facing through this next set of rapids, what trees may have come down since the last trip, or exactly where the mainstream is this time. We bring a certain preparation of predictable equipment, skills, and accumulated experience. All of that, though, engages an adventure that is delightfully unpredictable each time, at least to some degree. That's the nature of rivers.

We who are Jesus-followers bring planning, preparation, skill, and commitment to the event known as worship. At some point, though, we must invite something that is beyond anything we bring to the trip. Nancy Beach challenges us to invite wonder. (I recommend her book - An Hour on Sunday: Creating Moments of Transformation and Wonder. Zondervan, Grand Rapids. 2004.) She speaks of worship services that adventurously seek the wonder of a quieted soul, the wonder of deeply felt emotion, and the wonder of a turning point in a person's life. We can set the stage for this, but God is ultimately the source of wonder. Our job is to get the boat in the water and paddle into God's wonder, with hope and courage.

I tell our people here that our goal needs to be to have all our worship services infused with a sense of expectancy. What does God have in store for us in the river ahead? It's sometimes scary, because a lot of it is out of our control. But it's worth the trip.

When was a time that you experienced wonder and expectancy in worship? Let's talk about that around this next bend in the river.

Great Paddling From Others

I have great hope for the Body of Christ, even with the challenges that face institutional churches in this century. I am enthused by the people who hunger for the Holy Spirit to keep breaking the calcified shells we too often allow to harden around churches as organizations. That's part of the reason I started this blog. I want to stay connected with the voices of those people. Here is a small sampling...

From odaat come wise words about radical discipleship. "There is a huge difference between believing in God and TRUSTING God. Many believe. Few trust." As the witness in the Christian Bible attests, even the demons believe in God. Believing God exists does not equate to complete allegiance and trust. The latter require an act of will and commitment.

My friend dan boldly states that Jesus' agenda was not to create a structure. "If Jesus had any agenda it was not to make a church to maintain his ideas. It was to make a community to display, distribute, and promote his ideas until everyone knew...they had to have what the believers had." What they had was a relationship with Jesus, a relationship with each other, and a relationship with a mission for which they had great passion. Movement, not structure, was the vehicle of their dynamic impact.

Speaking about my most recent post about the need to listen more than we talk, swimmin' upstream said, "And...by making this effort to listen to either our God or our friend...it sends the message that the one speaking is valued." As we engaged a world of people who are yet to meet Jesus, we begin by hearing the stories of others. We listen to what they value, what they fear, where they've been hurt, where they doubt, what they need, where they have hope. The very act of listening opens the door to the good news of Jesus. What else is God's initial message to a person than, "You matter."

(About the same post, diggin' deeper said I shouldn't worry about people looking at their watches when I start to speak as much as I should worry about people looking at their watches while I speak. That's great! Annette noted that Jesus didn't manage to keep the attention of everyone. That was encouraging.)

These are just some of the statements that really impacted me. Again, I'm excited and grateful that there are so many adventurous and passionate Jesus-followers out there. It's awesome to paddle on this river with company.

I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

A Talking Head?

As I said, I want to pull together some thoughts about the very insightful comments I've received on previous posts. I will get to that tomorrow or Saturday. I've been at a meeting at our denomination's state conference center in Columbia today, and I stopped through St. Louis to see a parishoner who had surgery at Barnes-Jewish hospital. I'm a little road weary, and my brain is pretty much mush right now.

Just a little something popped into my mind today. At one point during the meeting at the conference center today, I made a comment to the group. As soon as I started talking, I noticed a particular reaction in one of the participants. It took a fraction of a second, but I noted it. In fact, from time to time I've seen other folks do the same thing when I'm in a group discussion and when I start to say something.

This person glanced at his/her watch. Just for a moment, but, as soon as I started talking, it happened. She/he would have no conscious awareness that it happened, probably.

When I've seen other people do this as I begin to speak, I wonder if how many people presume that, if Geoff is talking, it's going to take a while. If so, I'm not surprised. To a large extent I make my living with words. And, let's be honest...a lot of us in my particular vocation are in love with the sound of our own voices. I wonder if there are times when I am known more for talking than for listening.

It doesn't hurt my feelings at all. The room was filled with my friends and colleagues in ministry, and I think God was speaking through them. If they would experience me or anyone who shares our mission as talking more than listening, what must the yet-to-be reached population around us think? Is it possible that those of us who really long for others to experience the transformation of Jesus can lose the balance between presenting and receiving? We're in a different world now. To learn it and to learn how to present Jesus in it, I'd better learn how to hear it. Wasn't it Francis of Assisi who said something like, "Preach the Gospel, and, if necessary, use words!"

I plan on trout fishing with a couple of friends tomorrow. I'm going to try to practice an economy of my own words.

Your thoughts? Seriously, I need to listen to you. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.

Changing Forms/Changeless Substance

It's been a glorious, pre-Spring day in Southeast Missouri. A couple of friends and I plan to do some fishing this Friday, so here's hoping...

Before the week is over I want to post a summation of some great observations I've received, commenting on previous posts. Today, just a quick thought... I am doing a little reading in the history of the Methodist movement, with its various tributaries and branches. In reading about the post-Civil War years and the rise of the Holiness movement in the late 1800's, I ran across this statement: "As young 'progressive' ministers joined the ranks, older preachers looked on sadly at such innovations as robed choirs, organs, and seminary-trained ministers." (Vinson Synon. The Holiness-Pentecostal Tradition. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, 1997. Page 24. italics mine.) Imagine that...robes and organs viewed as dangerous innovations! In some traditional churches now, these are the very things over which many church persons will fight to the death, as if they constitute the core of the message we proclaim. Apparently this has always been the case with whatever forms of faith expression become institutionally the norm. I wonder if the day will come when people of my generations will lament some new way of worship, believing we should stick with electric guitars, drums, and keyboards, and singing "Lord, I Life Your Name on High" as God intended!

As I indicated in my first post on this blog, sometimes we confuse the specific forms through which we happen to experience and express faith with a relationship with Jesus the Christ. Again, what do we need to keep and what do we need to jettison, so that connecting with Christ stays the main thing?

Those are my thoughts on this stretch of the river today. Yours? I'll see you around the next bend.

(I'm about 2/3 of the way to enough money for that kayak!)

More on Organizations and Movements

Our area had the prettiest snowfall we've seen in a while yesterday. The downside was that I didn't get to sneak away for a little early season fishing along a stream somewhere. I watched the old cheesy movie, River of No Return with Robert Mitchum and Marilyn Monroe this morning on AMC, so I got in a little bit of a river-fix, if vicariously.

My wife, Elaine, is just finishing a book that she says is the most impacting things she's read in years. It's a novel entitled The Shack, by William P. Young. It's about a man, Mack, who faces the worst kind of personal disaster. He then ends up in deep, intimate conversation with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. Elaine says this book powerfully speaks to the need for the Body of Christ to be a passionate movement more than a controlled organization. Here's a section of The Shack that may speak to the things I've talked about in this blog. (The Holy Spirit is speaking to Mack.)

"Religion must use law to empower itself and to control the people it needs in order to survive. I give you and ability to respond and your response is to be free to love and serve in every situation, and therefore each moment is different and unique and wonderful. Because I am your ability to respond, I have to be present in you. If I simply give you a responsibility, I would not have to be with you at all. It would now be a task to perform, an obligation to be met, something to fail." (William P. Young. The Shack. Windblown Media, Los Angeles, 2007. Page 205.)

Even with the best of intentions, institutions come to the point at which they exist to maintain themselves and to survive, not necessarily to fulfill the mission which is the origin of their very existence. Institutional maintenance depends on rules and control. Movements depend on dynamic relationships, courage, and passion. I believe the hope for United Methodism or any church or denomination lies, ironically, in giving up the drive to perpetuate the institution. Our hope is to embrace the original mission of knowing and loving and serving the risen Jesus, and reaching a lost and hurting world, regardless of whether or not United Methodism survives.

Those are my thoughts as the melting snow feeds the streams of southern Missouri. Your thoughts? I'll see you around the next bend of the river.

Like A River

It's late on Thursday evening, and we're bracing for another winter onslaught in Southeast Missouri. I don't guess I'll rush to get my fishing gear ready for the season just yet.

There's a lot of talk in my circles about the survival of the denomination known as United Methodism. A recent article in Rev magazine presented statistics that are sobering and dismal for most North American Christian expressions, including Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, and evangelical. While spiritual hunger may be high as we get the 21st century underway, confidence in organized religion to address that hunger is declining, clearly.

Frankly it really doesn't matter whether my denomination or any denomination survives. Christ-following isn't about organizations. It's a flow; a movement. In a way, it's like the path of a stream. Water will move downhill, one way or another. It moves with a relentless determination toward the ocean. Sometimes it may be a trickle, and other times a torrent. On occasion something may block the flow, and the water might stagnate for a time. Yet eventually it will break out, and the persistent flow downhill will happen again. Where it has a channel, the water follows it freely. Where it meets a barrier, it flows around it to find receptive topography.

Throughout the last two millenia this movement which is the presence of a crucified and risen Jesus has always found a way to flow. Just when we may think it has stagnated or dried up, a spring bursts forth somewhere. God's determination to seek and save the lost, to embrace the alienated, to grow vibrant disciples of Jesus, and to bring healing to a broken world will not be denied. To ask whether or not United Methodism or any denomination will survive is to ask the wrong question. The real question is this...Will our denomination be a channel through which the flow will have its way, or will we be a barrier, rigid and lifeless, watching the flow of God's vital movement in Christ flow around us?

Those are my thoughts on this bend of the river, on this snowy night. Your thoughts...?

Piercing Words from a Bishop

Okay, two days after I was romping around Sikeston in running shorts, we have snow on the ground here in Southeast Missouri...

Two things about this post...First, in a February post I raised the issue of the Church's need to abandon that which prevents Jesus followers from fulfilling the command to make disciples and to reach the least, the last, and the lost. This post relates to that original question. Second, I am a part of the particular branch of the Christian tree which is United Methodism. I love my roots and I love my connection, but we who are United Methodists face a real crossroads in our history. We are structured for maintenance more than we are streamlined for whatever we need to become, so that we may offer Christ in a new millennium. The following words come from someone who is now one of our bishops (leaders). The "Wesley" to whom he refers is John Wesley, an 18th century priest in the Church of England who is regarded as the father of the awakening and renewal movement commonly known as "Methodism." THE BOOK OF DISCIPLINE is our denomination's guidebook of doctrines, official positions on issues, and procedures. I'll let these words stand on their own for now, and possibly comment on them in later posts.

"When Methodism fails to stress Wesley's conviction of the powerful, even prevenient, grace of God as the source of all possibility of new life, Methodism degenerates into insufferable, sentimental moralism in which the Christian life is depicted as simply another helpful means of making nice people even nicer. Discipleship is not a sanctimonious Twelve Step program. A holy person is a testimonial not to the innate possibility within people, but rather to the insistent, transforming love of God in Jesus Christ despite our sin. The laborious, legalistic, minutely detailed procedures and mandates in our current United Methodist Book of Discipline are testimonial not only to a church with too little trust, but also to a church where we attempt to do through moralistic law that which only the transforming love of Christ can do." (William Willimon, "Suddenly a Light From Heaven," in Conversion in the Wesleyan Tradition, Kenneth J. Collins and John H. Tyson, editors. Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2001. Page 250. Italics his.)

Your thoughts? I'll see you around the next bend in the river. We may be in the rapids now...

Confused by Jesus or Us?

It's a balmy day in southeast Missouri where I live. We've got blustery winds, mostly sunny skies, and temperatures in the seventies. If I don't get on a river and/or get to fishing soon, I might break something. (Of course, they say we could be getting snow by Tuesday.)

Again, "Swimmin'Upstream" (whoever this is...I can't access his/her profile), raises the right issues. People in the public as a whole are often confused and even put-off by denominational structures, complicated rituals, and the incongruity between that which Christians profess and how they live. I remember some spoken lyrics in a song by Casting Crowns which I heard recently. Speaking to professing Christians, a child's voice says, "People aren't confused by Jesus; they're confused by us!" A recent article in REV magazine backs this up in sobering fashion. For years Christians have been told that about 40% of the American population is in worship weekly. The writer of the article points at that this is on the basis of self-reporting. In fact, when the actual faith practices of people are tracked, the figure is dramatically lower. While spiritual hunger is at an all time high in our culture, confidence in organized churches is at a low ebb. This is true for virtually all Christian expressions - Roman Catholic, mainline Protestant, and "evangelical." (I'll go into this article in more detail in my next post.)

This is sobering. We who are connected to organized churches can respond in several ways. We can practice denial, which apparently we've been doing for a while. We can get angry and defensive. We can blame clergy, or laypersons, or society, or all of the above. We can collapse in despair and give up. Or we can see this as an opportunity; a God-given chance to realign ourselves with God who is made known in and through Jesus, regardless of the effect on the organizations and practices on which we've become dependent.

Is it possible that we who say we want others to meet Jesus are a part of a significant barrier to that meeting taking place? What do you think? I'll see you around the next bend in the river.