Scrapbooking victories and church questions
This weekend, my mother and I went to a 25-hour scrapbooking "Camp Crop-a-Lot" up in Dawsonville.I got 40 pages of pictures, paper, and stickers done. I am the wo-man. I won a prize at the end of it for my fab 40 and I also got my name picked in a drawing for free stuff...it was a fun weekend!
In other news, I sang in church this morning, Dr. Parker didn't really have any fun phrases to blog about, and I am in denial that I have to go back to work tomorrow. I am avoiding going to bed (hence the blogging at 10PM) so I don't have to wake up and face Monday. Sundays are so much more fun!
On a more serious note, Ben and I were discussing some about his thoughts on community today with our Sunday School teacher, David C. We were discussing the ideas behind visitation and inviting people back to church who have already visited. I completely agree that this is a great strategy for people who are looking for a church. They visit once, we get their info, we talk to them about what our church is and does, and they decide if it's the right fit.
I only have one problem with this. What are we doing to reach the lost? Would the lost even be interested in what our church has to offer? Visitation on Tuesday nights is a place to start, yes, but won't the people who are looking for a church find one in the end anyway? Are we wasting our time? Not entirely, of course, but I don't believe this is the place our church is really being disobedient. Even though I don't go "visiting" on a certain night of the week, I make phone calls to people I see and try to reach out to those who have darkened the doors of our church.
But what about those who don't darken the door? I don't know if the churches at large in our country are even relevant to most people who don't know Jesus. 90%+ of our American population loves to sleep in on Sundays, go out to eat, hang with people, and they enjoy their life just the way it is. They probably feel no need to spend a couple of hours a week with people whose cultural perspective is so far from their own.
Is the way we do "church" really working for the Great commission? I am sad to say I don't know. I grew up going to church. I have always enjoyed it. There has never been a time where I didn't want to go to church. The institution and organization of our southern churches is ingrained in my personal history and culture.
But most people in this country are not like me! And if I put myself in their shoes, I don't know that I would feel any kind of desire to get up early on Sunday and go to a building with strange music and people I don't know. Even if a person invited me, I would still be overwhelmed with people I had never met and didn't have a real opportunity to get to know in a natural setting.
Of course, a church community is necessary to believers in many ways, and I am in NO way advocating the absence of a church altogether. But what would it look like if we designed a church community around being culturally relevant? Not watered down, not fudging on truth, but just in a more accessible and natural format? Would we meet on Sunday mornings? Would we meet in a building? It just seems so fabricated when I think about what our organized church has created. It doesn't seem like a natural fit into part of any un-churched person's life.
I have a friend that I work with who actually grew up in church, but no longer attends. He goes walking or hiking on Sundays, and he really enjoys it. I don't see a single thing wrong with that, and in some ways, I'd like to do that, too. What do we have to offer him that is relevant and needful in his life? I have invited him countless times, and he says in a guilty tone, "I really need to go, I know." But it's never that he really wants to. If he wanted to, he would.
Sometimes I wish God would just come down and design his own church from scratch. That would make our jobs easier, but that kind of defeats the purpose of seeking Him, doesn't it?
Plus, what He wants could change all the time. That's part of the problem- I don't think we change as quickly as He wants us to.
posted by Gina @ 10:30 PM
2 Comments:
"Deep Thoughts" with Gina Deaton...Way to go on those pages. Can't wait to see them. We're back home. I'll see you next weekend.
Love ya, KT
I would say a couple things on this subject ...
First of all ... I would say a resounding "no" to your question about whether the Church (at least in the US) was doing what it needed to fulfill the Great Commission.
Second of all ... I would say that Jesus did establish a Church the way He wanted it and then sent His Holy Spirit to empower it to fulfill the Great Commission. He did that once. Who's fault is it we've gotten away from what He instituted?
Our idea of fulfilling the Great Commission is trying to get the lost to come to us. That's laziness and pride. God's idea of fulfilling the Great Commission is going out to THEM. That's love.
The problem is built into the very system of paying ministers and them expecting them to do the work Christ has called all of us to do. We can change what we do behind closed doors all we want, but if we aren't willing to do the work, take the risk, of the Great Commission, then don't expect the fruit of it either.
Love you.
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