This week at theStory we spent some time talking about children and the role that they have in our community. It’s been something that lays heavily on our hearts because we don’t think that the church in general has been doing a very good job with them and we don’t think we are doing a very good job with them. As it stands right now, children on Sunday mornings are no more than babysat in another room. We want to get away from thinking that the important spiritual formation and the real ‘church’ is happening in the ‘main service’ and start actually looking at children as equal parts in the gathering.

I’m quite fascinated really how the church, since I have been noticing, has dealt and worked alongside of children. It’s basically the opposite of what Jesus has told us. Jesus says that we need to be like little children, yet every church program there is somehow manages to put children through a system to make them more like us. Jesus says that the secrets of the kingdom are given to little children, yet we run things as if we have secrets to tell them. He tells us that unless we change and become like children we will never enter the kingdom of heaven, but we’d rather discipline and make the children to ‘adult things’ at their own level. There is something that Jesus keeps bringing us back to in seeing something special in children, yet we seem to brush it off or use it as a sermon illustration instead.

I wrote a post a few days ago wondering what it would be like if children were considered more important than adults on a Sunday morning. What if church was about having the adults teach the children instead of getting the children out of the way so the adults could learn? I don’t think something like this could ever happen until we start to change our theology towards them. Unless we actually believe that they have something to offer a community besides ‘aw ain’t that cute’ moments then I have a feeling understanding the kingdom of God is going to be quite tough. Why do we think that a pastor has a better ‘understanding’ about the kingdom than a child? Why have we elevated teachers above children?

I am still struggling to see what this balance will look like. We’ll be meeting once a month with different people from theStory who are going to be part of involving the kids in what we are doing and involving us in what the kids are doing. So I am praying that out of this come a new understanding of children and what they can offer a church community.

We’ve been having a lot of struggles with children and how they fit into the overall picture of theStory. We value our children and we have made it the point publicly many times that we want to make sure children are treated and given attention just as much as the adults. I don’t think our desire has changed at all in the last year. I think we still value kids and want them to get the most out of their experience with theStory and for adults to get the most out of the experience with the children. I think most of us would agree that we have really dropped the ball on this one. We have defaulted to just sending this kids out of the room into a weight room (we call it the dungeon), with usually one helper who has been doing it every week. We don’t really have an organized program for them or really an organized anything for them and its like we give up on them every single week by sending them into the dungeon hoping that they won’t come running out in costumes with crafts until the ‘important parts’ are over.

We are doing a lot of thinking of how this needs to work, and we are coming up with all the same ideas in which we see in all other churches. Things like buy a curriculum, split up the ages, have a fun safe space, rotate teachers on a schedule or hire a children’s pastor (you know with all that money we have as a church plant). We are at a loss for the most part. We want to make children a meaningful part of our Sunday expression but we end up getting them out of the way.

All this gave me a thought. I don’t know if we could do this at theStory on a consistent basis, but I would love to try and fail till I succeed at it a few times. Most of us have seen the movie Shrek (or a lot of other of those types of films). There is something about a movie like Shrek that is able to communicate to a room full of people no matter what age you are. If you are a child, any age, you love Shrek. It’s funny, stimulating and keeps you entertained and can teach you lots of things. Yet I can sit in the same room as these five year olds and enjoy the movie, but for an entire different reason. I’ll get things that they never will, but we are watching the same things. The movie has layers, like onions.

What if a church’s Sunday service was like Shrek. There is something wrapped in the service that speaks to everyone but its primarily a kids thing. What would that look like? Is that giving too much importance to kids? Or is that exactly what is looks like to teach adults what the kingdom of God really looks like, after all it does belong to them. What if we created a service every week for children and we incorporated things for adults amongst the chaos of what was going on. Why do we always do it the opposite? It would probably take a lot of time to create and maintain something that was able to connect children and adults at the same time, but I think that the positives it would bring to a community would be priceless. I think it would be worth it. Though I wonder if adults would get ticked off because they weren’t getting fed enough. Then I wonder how much adults would be growing if they were in constant teach mode to children.

These ideas seem far-fetched even to me. I’m just so frustrated right now with how children fit into a community. During the week it’s great. Children are amongst us during every aspect of us hanging out. During games, eating, watching television, trips and work we have children next to us, yet for some reason on Sunday we have to get rid of them to something more ‘age-appropriate’. It just doesn’t sit right with me yet sometimes and yet sometimes it makes perfect sense. I sound confused don’t I.

I’m starting to have doubts about the ‘evangelical church.’ Despite all the quotes we’ve all heard like “the church is a whore but she is my mother” and other likewise, I’m growing more skeptical as my experiences start to find themselves enveloped by its large wings. I have a feeling that when Jesus comes back, he isn’t going to look at the evangelical church and say here is what you did wrong, and here is what you did right. I have a feeling he isn’t even going to look at the evangelical church at all, well at least no more than he will look at Nike. The evangelical church has turned into a corporation, and while many people that attend churches with that label on it may be good Jesus following people, no longer can we look at the evangelical church as the body of Christ (not saying we ever could) and no longer can I consider myself as part of this label. Jesus is not coming back for the evangelical church.

The bigger the evangelical church gets, the more noise key movements and people inside of it make and the less like Jesus it looks. Of course, as it plays out it is always the loud ones that look nothing like Jesus so they get the most attention and media coverage which results in more people going in that direction. Then what ends up happening, is the minorities (sometimes the ones that actually look like Jesus) in the evangelical church start finding themselves defending the church to everyone around them against all the loud-mouths that are getting heard. So not only are they leading people astray with all their harmful theologies they are tying up precious time of people who actually love Jesus and the church.

I’m starting to understand the church as a lot more universal as the evangelical church sees it. The church certainly spreads over the evangelical church but it not limited to just that. When Paul is writing in Galatians 3

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I am convinced that if he was to write this letter today it would read that “there is neither evangelical nor catholic, rich nor poor, American or African, male nor female, oppressed or free, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” The church is bigger than the evangelical church and that is the church that I am part of. The church is not a whore; the church is the hands and feet of Jesus. The church is not messed up; the church looks exactly as Jesus wanted it to look. The church is sneakier than we think. While it is easy for us to look at horrible things in church history and be distraught at how messed up the church was we can be rest assured that the true church, the church that was following Jesus was there in the cracks constantly subverting the empire and bringing justice and mercy to everyone around them. The true church doesn’t get much media attention. The true church doesn’t need to be heard. The true church doesn’t need to point to itself and say God is here so come here because it is too busy going there and bringing God to people. The true church cannot be pinpointed and labelled. The true church is where Jesus is moving and won’t be institutionalized or branded or even get a logo or a committee board. The true church is what I am trying to be part of as I struggle to follow Jesus. The true church spreads over every race, denomination, gender, orientation, philosophy and physical kingdom and that is the church that I am a member of. That is the church that Jesus is coming for.

I am reading the Great Giveaway right now by David Fitch, and I am loving this book. He is a very articulate writer and through his book explains how the evangelical church has given away itself, its practices and its way of showing itself to consumerism and culture surrounding them. He raises numerous great points and defends them well along with giving advice on how we can get back on track. I’m looking forward to hearing him speak at the FRWY in May.

In his chapter on worship he makes observation that church services are always ‘sermon-focused’ and how that should change. He also pointed out how communion went from being a vital part of the church to merely a once a month practice.

This got me thinking. It’s amazing how we’ve given so much power to the preacher on the stage. It’s also amazing how we’ve removed so much power from the community. I’m not saying that it should be all community or abandon all preaching, but we’ve obviously lost the balance. Communion is one of the best ways to build and celebrate community that the church has. It is built on the very actions and words of Christ and took place amongst friends and family in the middle of one of the most important and intimate meals that the Jewish tradition had.

I think that it would be a good thing for every Sunday (or whatever day you wish) the entire church comes together for a meal and communion. Maybe this could take the place of our ‘regular’ service one a month. Maybe it could follow every single service. It could be set up however one wanted. Whether it be potluck or people take turns cooking. Encourage people to talk about the message. Encourage people to relax and enjoy themselves in a community that loves them. Communion needs to be more community based and not so individualistic. One person is not the body of Christ; all of us together are.

When we put so much emphasis on the stage to one person (especially when it’s the same person over and over again) and we don’t as a community work through what they teach we are doing ourselves a disservice. No wonder we are all so afraid of heresy being taught from the pulpit. It’s because we have all be trained to accept whatever is said from there instead of discerning it as a community. We barely have a chance to discern it as a community. We all go home to our own houses or out for dinner with ourselves at Swiss Chalet (where half the church is going anyway) and we don’t come together as a community.

If I could make one suggestion to change how a church functions on a repetitive basis I would say that the church would after every single service eat together as a community and to communion. However that works for the church is up to them. It sounds like a lot of work at first, every single Sunday? I think though it’s worth it. If we maybe spent a little less time worrying about the powerpoint, announcements and our newspaper ads maybe we could put that work into setting up weekly lunches for the community where all are welcome and all participate.

Dr Phil…

*** NOTE ***
I never thought I would ever start a blog with those words, but here we are a few days before the turn of the year and I’m starting it with those words. Brace yourself. Melissa, this post will be dedicated to you.

was on TV today and he was doing what he normally does. I wasn’t really watching it but it was on when I was over at Phil’s house (not Dr. Phil, but my friend Phil). I don’t really understand the context much but besides he was talking to a lady that wanted to be perfect and she could live with any imperfections. He started explaining how sometimes when the insides (internally) of our brains, hearts or whatever are messed up that we try to make up for it certain ways. The way many of us try to make up for our internal failures of order or perfection is to desperately try to order or make everything perfect outside of us (externally). When we can bring some kind of order externally, it brings us a small amount of peace internally.

I found this true in many circumstances. Mostly in the church. We are so busy trying to keep in order everything outside of the church (abortions, homosexuals, marital laws, politics) that we take all the focus of ourselves and try to bring peace or ease by bringing the things around us to order. It doesn’t work.

Maybe its time as the church and as Christians to focus on ourselves and allow God to change us instead of poking our fingers at everyone else trying to get them to change. Change doesn’t come by making everything like us so we feel better about how not good we are doing. It comes by being sanctified and becoming more like Christ.

It’s been a while since my last post, there is still some discussion going on about biblical inerrancy on the post two before this one, so check it out and participate if you want, its taking some interesting directions. I’m home for Christmas so I’m not in front of my computer (with my beautiful new flat screen, thanks Ron) as much as usual.

With a church plant coming up in my future within the next year, naturally I have been thinking a lot about church. We’ve all heard the sermon by now that we don’t go to church because we are the church. I’ve been constantly trying to rid from my speech the act of talking about church as if it’s a place rather than a people. I find myself still continually saying I’m going to church, or complaining about the church or something that defeats the true meaning of the language. I know that the church isn’t a building; I know that it’s not an institution but rather a living organism that we call the Body of Christ. So why do I and thousands of other still say we are going to church and speak of church as a physical place or a gathering of some sort?

After talking about church for as long as we have as a place we go to on Sunday morning or an organization it gets engrained into our head. Just because we aren’t using the language doesn’t mean that the real Church doesn’t exist. Many times over and over again we would make the mistake of equating this place or this organization with the true church of Christ, and I think this is one of the gravest mistakes that we can make. I found myself constantly criticizing the church (organization, place) but in doing that I found myself just getting confused, because all of sudden now we have one word for two different meanings.

I don’t want to try to change all of culture and try to make everyone use the word church properly. The fact is no matter what I criticize in the church, within this corrupt organizational consumeristic place, exists the true Body of Christ. It looks nothing like our church, but it never ceases to exist within it. I don’t know how many churches that I’ve been too that when I’m looking at the building, staff, ideologies and actions as a whole they look like a cheap entertainment industry, but within that I see people who are part of the Body of Christ carrying out the work of the Church of God. Whether it be in a Catholic, Pentecostal, Baptist, Vineyard, Emergent, Reformed church or no church at all, I think that on the outside they are pretty messed up and look nothing like God intended for his Church to really look like, but when you open them up you see Christ’s body living and active in all these small areas. It’s hard to see sometimes because we want to judge a believer by his denomination or what he pledges himself too; wouldn’t that be so convenient.

All this to say, as frustrated with church as I become I can be confident to know that the true Church (that isn’t organized into labels or denominations) walks around boldly doing the work of the Kingdom and their language is love. I hope we can be confident that God’s Church is growing and getting stronger and it exists not between walls or movements but is connected by the Spirit in ways that we can’t comprehend. Thank-you God for still moving and using the True church despite our failed attempts to organize, categorize and institutionalize your beautiful gift to us.