programs101011

Churches are full of programs.
By some accounts they are a sign of a healthy congregation. It means you have things that are 'open' to everyone to meet many different needs. Generally they are bible studies packaged in different ways for a multitude of demographics.
But...
They leave me so empty.

Times up time to go!
At first they can be really good. Even well along the way they can be really good with competent people at the helm. Yet when they aren't so competent programs can be the worst. It is times like these that the program gets to be bigger than those that minister.
"The program has to be led by someone because otherwise we'd have no program."
I've had many conversations similar to that.
"Things have always been..."
Some programs can seem to be older than our oldest congregant.
At least in our minds... or sometimes in reality.
What do we do? Where do we go from here?
When we get stuck our perspective can be blurred and it might seem that we are in ally with nowhere to turn (this is a bigger problem when leadership is entrenched and no new people are coming in). A little perspective goes a long way.

If programs are working for you let them keep working. If they are broke let's shop around a bit before we duct tape them back together.
First off obligation is not a terrible word. When those systems get out of whack and you feel like you are on some crazy ride that adds to the stress of work and life then it's not so great.
In high school I went to a youth group, surprise. These friends of mine weren't so great, in fact they were pretty bad friends. They picked on me and pranked often enough. But they were very good at one thing. If youth group was Sunday night there was no reason that they or we shouldn't get together on some other night of the week. Chaperones? nope there were none. We just liked spending time together and playing video games or pulling movie marathons or whatever else. The gatherings weren't regular nor were they abundantly spiritual all the time.

While this was just some teens hanging out it shows what I'm getting at. Why is it that when someone wants Church to get together they either need to be "coming to the building", throwing a potluck, or having a bible study? The Church should be drawn to itself like a magnet. Not led around by a shepherd with some treats in their hand.

The challenge is being thrown down. Let the Church be a magnet, drawn to itself. Get together to share your lives together. Ups, downs, and sideways the church sticks together. Think of "the Mighty Ducks". "Ducks fly together!" Your life or my life could be upside down and inside out but the church still wants to be there for us. The distress of life does not fit neatly into scheduled program time.

Where to start?
Well let us assume that we have at least one or two friends in our congregation or maybe we know some more Christians in our city. Hang out with them. Make prayer and talking a normal but unstructured and spontaneous part of your getting together. If prayer comes at the end then it comes at the end but don't let it go without. When someone asks you "how are you doing?" Tell them the truth. You will be honest with yourself and them (confession) and if they don't want to hear it, they will probably stopping asking. Which solves the problem of them pretending to care!

I have some lofty goals for myself in this city. I want to connect better with pastors, christians, and people in this area. I want to do more of Church without doing more programs.

My first idea is to ask a couple musicians to get together and jam. I'm looking to have a time of musical sharing and worship with prayer injected in there somewhere. Sounds like a service, but it isn't!
The God of Creation enabled us to create.
Therefore I will Create!

Gungor "God is not a white Man"

So a youth pastor friend introduced me to this band when I went to speak at his youth group.
Musically and lyrically they are quite good. Although his style of singing is not my favorite.
I really enjoy them poling at this inclusive love of God. Especially with the people we think
shouldn't be allowed.

(Non)-denominational

Since I have an exam today it seems like a very good time to revive the bad blog. It has been a cluttered school year that has not given me much time to ponder. Probably the two strangest things were
1. getting on the Dean's list (twice)
2. finding it difficult to write papers.
Yah I somehow had a hard time at writing my papers this year, especially this spring. Yet I like to write so I'm not sure what it was that was blocking me.

So denominations...

I may be late to the party but the term non-denominational... It is incredibly accurate and inaccurate at the same time. I'm not sure how people understand this term, but for whatever reason I've always taken it to mean no denominational theology. If that is how it is taken, well it's inaccurate. I've attended many different churches and because it's New England many were "non-denom". The churches though were fairly uniform across the board.
Order of Worship
Active ministries
Songs
Theology
Architecture
It was all about the same the thing. Although some had comfy pews and others had hard pews and then there was the super hip "chairs", they all join together and function the same as a pew.

What does this term mean then? If everything is so chain-restaurant-the-same from place to place? Well it simply means they have no denominational affiliations. They don't have a larger body working together. They are an island of believers with no connection to other "non-denom's". They get to suffer and enjoy all the benefits and shortcomings of being by themselves.

There are of course ups and downs to their position as there is with being part of a Nazarene or any other large denomination. Bureaucracy.

The curiosity of them is their nearly uniform theology. Their title is totally inaccurate in the sense of "Non-denominational-theology". Which is a shame. For me there would be a much larger appeal if they were somehow able to shed non-practical theologies from their existence.

I've found in youth ministry a simple and useful theology. Adults do not want to explain deeper theological ideas to kids because they might not "get it". This of course is the exact thing that happens to adult congregations but not admitted to. Some more theological youth pastors might be able to incorporate deeper theology than myself but of course they could be the exception instead of the rule.

Do not let this seem like I am snubbing theology, in fact I embrace it. However I find that there is quite a lot of superflous theology that I suspect we have created to distract ourselves from the tragic realities of the society around us.

Jesus had a beautiful way of concluding his teaching so that people would continue to scratch their heads.
Continue to think.