lifeasmission

A Risky Ecclesiology

December 3, 2008

The church is by nature a community which exists by faith and faith is inherently risky.  Sadly, most churches are structured and run in a way that aims to minimize risk and keep people comfortable.  Of course we do this with the best of intentions, like a mother who refuses to let her children go out and play for fear that they might get hurt, but all we are really doing is ensuring that they will get hurt when life finally catches up with them and robbing them of great joy in the meantime.  Those who have aspired to positions of leadership in the church need to call and release our people to risk much and live by faith.  We need to spark imagination, give away power like it’s going out of style, and embrace suffering and failure as normative. The call to follow Jesus is a call to die.  It is a sin every time the church invites people to anything other than that.

These thoughts sparked by Neil Cole’s words which I caught over on Jonathan Dodson’s blog…

We ask for volunteers all the time. We offer spiritual-gift assessments to see where people fit best in our program, but we never really offer very challenging experiences for people. Handing out bulletins, directing traffic wearing a bright orange vest, chaperoning a youth function, or changing a diaper in the nursery may be helpful for the church program, but none of it is a task worth giving your life to. Many who struggle to do these things have a nagging unspoken question: “Did Jesus come so I can do this?”

We must transition from seeing church as a once-a-week worship event to an ongoing spiritual family on mission together. Then people will see church as something worth giving your life for. Honestly, people need one another more then they need another inspiring message. You would be surprised what people will do for Jesus, or for a brother or sister, that they will not do for a vision statement and a capital giving campaign.

Of course there is nothing wrong with serving in any of these ways above, but Cole here articulates a fundamental difference between attractional churches (oriented around ME and my desires) and missional churches (oriented around God and God’s desires).

Especially in cultures where “going to church” is the norm, we need to work overtime and go far out of our way to help people reimagine what it means to be the body of Christ in the world. And this is no mere intellectual exercise, “Here, let me explain this to you so you understand and then assume it will just happen.”  No, we must decide to adopt the structures, patterns, and practices which will create an environment for this new reality to flourish. When we invite people to be on mission, to risk much and live by faith, we are inviting them to experience the fullness of life that Jesus came and died for.  To deviate from this is compromise the very integrity of the body of Christ.

Posted in: Jesus, church, community, spiritual formation