Back Inside for a 2nd time

Today we returned to the church we visited on December 21. As I type this post, I'm not sure what to say about our experience. Having been a pastor, you always wonder how visitors view and experience what happens during the worship service. You hear things like, "I liked it." "It was nice." "I enjoyed your message." "We had a good time." None of those things really tell you anything. Therefore, I've had to stop myself from writing, "We had a good time and enjoyed ourselves. The message was very good."

When it comes to picking a new church home, there are lots of ways to make your final decision. Some people choose a church where they grew up. That becomes their church home by default. Others pick a church on the basis of the relationships they already have. Another important factor is the demographic of the church. Somewhere in this mix of data, people begin to weigh worship elements like the style and quality of the music and the pastor's message. I have served churches where new people liked everything about the music, the message, and the demographic. But after a few weeks, they left for another church. The deciding factor was the inability to connect with anybody at the church. They were not able to form new relationships with the people they hoped would become their new church family.

Well, so far after two visits at the church, we like the music and we like the sermon. We know a handful of people already. As we continue to try on this new church, the next step will entail getting our kids involved with aspects of the children's ministry there, as well as a small group for us parents. In a few weeks we will attend their monthly informational meeting for new folks called "Pasta with the Pastor". The week following that is fortuitiously the church's annual business meeting. This event is one of those that can't be dressed up in order to hide the warts. Here's where you'll get a good look at who the church really is.

A couple of factors in choosing a church have not been mentioned yet. What type of ministry opportunities are available, i.e. how can we serve using our gifts and talents? What type of outreach, locally and globally are being done? Is it clear that the Holy Spirit directs this church?
I'd like to wrap up by touching on that last one. I think it is clear that the Holy Spirit is present in the worship of this church. For the record, I think the Holy Spirit is present in the worship at ANY church, despite what some in the pews might say. We sometimes have a harder time as individuals detecting that because of our own issues. More importantly, I can sense that this church is a place where the Holy Spirit is directing us. He will lead and guide us as we integrate ourselves into the community life of this church. Partly due to my nature and past experiences, I found myself naturally wanting to get involved in as much of the church as possible. I even found myself subconsciously thinking that I needed to be at the church this Wednesday night to help take down Christmas decorations!

I hope to sit down with the pastor in the next 7 to 10 days to talk about the church. Unfortunately, I probably still have some baggage from last year that needs unpacking and I'm still looking at everything through the lenses of what I had hoped to be a home church model. This blog is about living faithfully. So for now, I'm being faithful to the Spirit's leading and going back inside is where he's taking me.

One final note. It's likely that this blog will not see as regular a schedule of updates as my other blog. That's partly due to the fact that this "year" is almost over. However, I will come back as often as necessary to post. On my other blog will be a link that will tell you when this site was last updated.

Back Inside

Yesterday we attended a brick and mortar church. A few weeks ago I hinted this was coming. We chose a church where we already knew some people. We have also heard good things about this church. Of course, every coin has two sides, so we've heard some other things about it as well. Not bad things per se, just some things that others were dissatisfied with. Having been a pastor, I don't let those things bother me. Besides, we have to experience it for ourselves. We even previewed a couple of the pastor's sermons online.

It was a great Sunday. First, the boys didn't give us any fuss. They don't like to have their routines messed with and moving church back outside the house and inside the traditional church model falls into that category. But, they had plenty of warning, plus they knew some kids there already AND I believe that deep down in their hearts they feel it is the best thing also.

Second, it was wonderful to be part of corporate worship again. There is nothing like singing songs of praises with other Christians. This part is especially important for my wife. The toughest part as a former pastor came during the sermon. Of all the duties I performed as a pastor, delivering the sermon was my favorite. It is a special privilege to bring forth and break the Word for God's people. Despite those initial pangs of bygone experiences, the pastor did an excellent job of guiding us through the Word so that we might receive the message God had for us.

We've not decided on this as our new church home - it was only our first Sunday. We'll check it out several more times and get involved with other aspects of community life there. In the meantime, we'll praying and following wherever God leads.

To Build or Not To Build

Ben Witherington, NT scholar extradornaire, has posted an excellent review on George Barna's and Frank Viola's new book Pagan Christianity. Sorry for the multiple links in that last sentence - they're all worth following. I've not read the book yet myself, but I gather its gist is that the way we do church nowadays is more a result of institutional bureacracy trying to preserve itself more than fulfilling what Christianity is supposed to be about. It sounds like the perfect followup to Barna's previous book Revolution, where he makes a very strong argument against meeting in brick and mortar churches each week when the more effective manner in today's social climate would be house churches. Please note that I said "strong argument" not "effective" or "convincing".

(NOTE: Since my post this morning, BW3 has posted another entry on Ch 2. I have no idea if he will do this for every chapter in the book. My comments from here on only deal with his analysis of Ch 1)

If I had all day to write and you had all day to read, I would quote from Dr. Witherington's post extensively and add my hearty "Amen!" to his critique. I'll trust you will take the time to read his comments. I'll just say that I concur wholeheartedly with Dr. BW3's statements regarding ordained ministry, the necessity of sacred space and time, the mystery of the divine, and his criticisms of shoddy and insufficient scholarship used to bolster convenient claims.

My agreement with Dr. BW3 may seem baffling to friends and family who are closely watching my current endeavors with a worried eye or to those who are watching from a distance because this might turn out to be an interesting sideshow. At times, I can come off very anti-establishment or anti-institutional. I recently had a long discussion with someone about how frustrated I had become with my own denominational home, The Wesleyan Church, and its policies, bureacracy, and institution in general. I even hinted at leaving. I stand by all my criticisms and frustrations, but I ain't going nowhere yet.

So what's going on here? Why is someone who has pledged to leave the brick and mortar church behind, at least for a while, disagreeing with what should be such a welcome work like Pagan Christianity and the philosophy which undergirds much of the house church movement? Dr.BW3's post has created the perfect opportunity for me to clarify exactly what is going on the mind of Matt Guthrie and the path he's taking his family down.

Let me begin by affirming the Church. The Church is the bride of Christ. For all her problems, she is an institution established by God himself. Though she has problems and insufficiencies now, one day Christ will return and present her to his father as the perfect bride. I am not about to go about bashing Christ's bride. I may not like the way she cooks and cleans, but I gotta love her.

Keeping in line with Dr.BW3's comments on church buildings, let me explain why no brick and mortar church for me at this time. A church building is a tool. It is very important tool because it provides a place to gather for worship. This hopefully allows for the building and strengthening of the bonds of community as well as providing a place for other acts of ministry. The problem with buildings is that sometimes instead of becoming a tool, it becomes the controlling factor in a church's life, the church's identity itself. "Community" does not seem to exist outside its four walls. Ministry is not taken into the world - the world must come to it. Maintenance of the building becomes a major budget item, taking away from other ministry funds.

Do not read anything I am not saying. I am by no means implying that ALL churches fall into this trap. What I am saying is that a church building is not the ONLY and best tool. Tapping into my idealistic, purist, and yes, even my anti-establishment tendencies, my desire is to broaden the collection in the church's tool box. I dream of a network of home churches that experience community in the sense of doing life together on a daily basis. I dream of a network that understands the need for sacred space and time, even in the home, and longs for the mystery of a divine encounter in its worship. I dream of a network that because of its unique place in the social fabric of today's society is able to reach people a brick and mortar church could never reach. I dream of a network where the people live out their faith in daily incarnational ministry to the world immediately around it and abroad.

Right now this is all a dream. It's a long way from being fulfilled. But it's worth pursuing. It's something I'm excited about building.

Transitions

If you read yesterday's post about the need to intentionally pursue community, you've probably come to a couple of conclusions. One of those is that we are not nor will we be attending church. Since stepping down as pastor from our last church, one of the most popular questions asked of us now is, "Where are you guys going to church?" We usually answer humorously with something like, "The First Church of The Living Room" or "Guthrie Memorial Home Church". I have a some friends who are now pastors without a flock and I have asked them the very same question. They have or currently are experiencing the same situation I now experience - the weird transition from being pastor/leader of a church to a guy who sits in the pew.

It's not an easy transition. I talked to one colleague who spent over a year and a half searching for a new church home went he entered early retirement. He never found one. Nothing ever felt right. Currently he is doing some interim pastor work. I haven't asked him, but I bet he feels the most comfortable he's felt in almost two years.

When I have talked to these other pastors, they all detail similar experiences. Like any other person searching for a church home, they are looking for church where the Holy Spirit is moving, the worship is uplifting and quality, the preaching is solid, and hopefully even a place where they can get involved in ministry. When we first resigned our last post and began searching, we too looked for all these things. The difficulty for us was we felt like after a year or so of healing, we would be starting a new church. We felt awkward searching for a place where we did not feel right about becoming too comfortable because we knew we would be leaving. I'm not saying we had the right perspective, but it's the one we had.

I'm discovering that my transition goes beyond moving from clergy to layperson. I'm undergoing a transition in what I understand church to be. We have faithfully had church services in our home for our family. In fact, we hope to add people to our group and eventually expand into a network of house churches. Those church services looked just like the ones held in all the brick and mortar churches around the country. We had some music, prayed, and expounded on Scripture. Does that make it church? If we did it with one, two, or even three other families, would that have made it church?

I've got some thoughts and opinions, which I'm reserving for the moment. I want to be able to explain them better after they have more time to ruminate. I will share this thought - it's amazing how trapped we allow ourselves to be by forms.

BTW, about the conclusions re: our church attendance. We'll stop by the traditional brick and mortar church on occasion. We're not avoiding church but we are coming to a new understanding of what it is.