They're Just Rocks....Lets Get Dirty

This has been a very amazing morning for me. God has reached down and touched my heart because of two different blog posts that I think are linked in a very special way. Before we go any further, please read "They're Just Rocks" and "Make Them Care".

After reading those, you may be thinking that I have lost my mind. "How could these two things be related?", you ask. Well, I'm glad you did.

As I have written on this blog (and the more I read others, I am finding out that I am not alone in my thinking), a shift in thinking of the "Church" today is needing to take hold. Just look at the statistics that are out there, and you will find that church attendance on a weekly basis is down all across this country. My church is facing it, and I am sure we are not alone. Of course, you have your "mega-churches" out there that seem to continue to grow and prosper (but are they growing in new converts, or do they just have a better marketing approach than the church down the road) but then you read thing like "50 small churches a week are closing their doors". Why is this happening? I believe that it could be from several different issues, but two of them were discussed by John Paul and Adam.

1. We must begin to understand that the "younger people" in the church have something important to say and contribute.

I remember when I was working with youth on a regular basis, I was always caught up with the latest "lingo" that was being used. It has only been five years since I was a youth minister, and you put me around a group of students today, and it sounds like I have crossed into another dimension. That is how fast our world is changing. Now after saying that, who do you think would be the best people to go to if we wanted to find out what the culture today is thinking about church and Christianity. Don't give me a church committee, give me a group of twenties and teens for a town hall meeting. We want to grow our churches (again, not for numbers sake, but for Christ sake) , then we must listen to the youth, and allow them to lead. I remember when I was still twentysomething, I use to look forward to turning 30 just because I thought others may finally begin to listen to what I have to say. It still didn't happen, but isn't that sad to have to think. A Barna Research article stated, "One of the reasons that many twentysomethings struggle to find their place in churches is that many young people may feel overlooked as potential leaders." As I sit in our churches committee meetings, I hear things like, "What are we going to do to bring in more younger adults into our church?" I want to stand up and scream at the top of my lungs, "Listen to them! Let them lead! If you do, you just might be surprised what they can do."

2. Another reason our churches are beginning to wither on the vine is because of...FEAR.

This is where John Paul's and Adam's posts really collide.

A. We are afraid to get dirty

This is where I am probably going to step on a lot of toes (mine included)...but here I go. I CAN'T STAND SPIRITUAL GIFT INVENTORIES!!! If you are reading this post and saying to yourself, "What is that?" God bless you and continue down the post to the next point. We now live in an era where we essentially say to the people in our church, "we are not going to ever ask you to do anything that you do not feel comfortable, or at least well trained, to do." We have these spiritual gift inventories that we complete and after doing so find out that we have the "gift" of teaching, prayer, missions, and so on, and so on, and so on. Can I let everybody in on a little secret....are you ready.....WE ARE ALL CALLED TO DO WHATEVER CHRIST LEADS US TO DO!!!! How can we ever see the miracles of God take place if we are never placing ourselves in situations that we can truly look at and say, "Man, there is no way I just did that....It had to be God, because I could never do such a thing!" You want to know why I believe in miracles, because time and again I am able to get up in front of a group of people and preach. That is not something that I could ever do without Christ standing right next to me each time I go out. Don't believe me....Meme if you are reading this.....leave a comment and let everyone know that I would have rather taken a Zero on a book report in school than ever get up and present it in front of the class...am I lying. :) Another little secret, I feel that way EVERYTIME I get up to speak to this day. It is not I, but Christ in me, that allows me to do what I do. And, if you ever liked even one of my sermons, let me say for the record....It is not I, but Christ in me, that developed that sermon. (Man, I think I'm getting worked up)

The last part of the post was just about getting out of our comfort zones....Don't get me started about getting out and working with people we don't feel comfortable around, but I'm going to let Adams post speak on that issue (I think he stated it very well).

B. We are afraid of not being popular (both outside the church and inside)

Outside the Church:
I have to agree with John Paul, I am tired of feeling that I have to stand in the shadows just because I say that I am a Christian. You want to try to change my mind about my political views...go right ahead...I'll will agree that each view has about the same % of a chance of being right. You want to try to change my mind about being a Cowboys fan...go right ahead (you may not get far)...I'll will agree that there are other great football teams in the NFL. But, you try to convince me that the faith that has grown inside of me (with fear and trembling..but that is another post) is on the same level with some of the other garbage that this world is trying to teach is truth.....I promise you will not get very far. You see, I have come to the faith that I have because of a lot of work on my part and a lot of love on Christ's part. I could no more live without the faith that is inside of me, than I could live without the blood that flows through my veins. We (as Christians) come from a long line of people that have given their lives for their faith. If you haven't...take a look at Jesus Freaks by DC Talk Volumes 1 & 2. John Paul wrote, "I encourage you all to check yourself over the next week. Are you keeping your faith private? Let it out, what’s the worst that could happen? I think Stephen (from the Bible) is up in Heaven yelling down, 'They’re just rocks!'" THEY'RE JUST ROCKS, man that is great (I wish I had written that). Some of you are saying right now, hey man their rocks...they can do some damage. I would agree, but the point that John Paul is making is this: If killing us is the worst that they can do (and it is pretty bad) then who has REALLY won. (Pay special attention to vv 54-60)

Inside the church:
Through the leadership (Adam spoke well on this issue), we have been taught from a very young age: sit down, be quite, do your job (worship) and leave...we (the leadership) will take care of the day to day stuff.
Isn't this exactly what Jesus went through. Adam made a very good comment on a fiends blog recently about the culture that Jesus was born into.

"In Jesus' times children would grow up following the school of religious thought in Jewish culture. The students would learn and memorize, then when they got older they would move to the harder schooling and some would get kicked out, then to an even harder school and more would get kicked out and rejected, then when they were adults, the elite would study with a rabbi, and follow him around all day long just trying to learn form him. If the rabbi told you to follow him, it meant you were good enough and you could do what he does. The rabbi may reject most as say to them to go follow their family business and they would end their schooling, they were not good enough. So Jesus comes, and He is a rabbi and he approaches some of the rejected people, the fishermen, the tax collectors, the people that were not good enough to follow a human rabbi with faults. Jesus tells them. "Come and follow me," It was amazing. I used to wonder why the disciples would just leave everything behind for a guy that just said follow me, but it was more than that, they were being told they were good enough. Finally told they were good enough to follow God."

Do a little study about the Jewish leadership of Christ's time and you find that His teaching threatened them not just spiritually, but also politically. Can I ask a very hard question: Is it any different in the church today? "Be careful what you say, you don't want to offend Deacon so-and-so." Can I ask another very hard question: What exactly can Deacon so-and-so do to me? And another: Would Deacon so-and-so even be offended if Christ Himself came down and said the same thing? Again, it all goes back to making the changes in the church that need to be made. I'm not saying that I have the answers, I'm just saying we need to start looking really hard for them...from The One that does have the answers.

I really don't know if any of my ramblings have made any sense...but after reading Adam's and John Paul's posts, I really felt moved to write. Thank you guys for your words. Thank you God for loving us. Jesus, give us all the strength to be able to say, "They're just Rocks...Lets Get Dirty!"