I have struggled for the many years in ministry with the state of the church and the people in it, at least here in North America anyway.  While I observe mostly from the vantage point of my own denomination, it is apparent that my concern is prevalent across denominational lines and part of the western church as a whole.  What is quite obvious, especially to those outside the faith, is the great chasm of disconnect between faith and practice.

My twenty two year old son asked me just yesterday, "Why is it easier for me to be a vegan based on an ethical standing than it is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ?"  He observed that it seems that today many Christians just take on the name, but he knows few real disciples — people fully devoted to following Christ evidenced by a change of lifestyle, habits and priorities.

Of course this is not something new.  It was happening already in the early church and written about extensively by the apostle Paul.  You just have to read Romans to catch a glimpse of a church trying to redirect their lives in line with discipleship.  Sometimes he’s correcting the misguided believers in his letters, while at other times he is painting for them  a counter-cultural picture of the full life in Christ (Ephesians 4:13).

What does this have to do with being missional?  Everything!  The church is not missional without devoted followers of Christ.  The disconnect is obvious when churches make missions, outreach and evangelism a committee or program.  A devoted follower of Christ should always be missional; considering the needs of others above their own, rearranging their lives for the things of God and opportunities for mission, being intentional about their relationships with others especially those outside the faith, and giving of themselves whole-heartedly to the work of Christ. 

Many people assume this can only be done if you are in ministry full-time like me and other pastors.  My friends, you certainly won’t read that in the Bible.  And I’m sure that we would all agree with that.  So the questions remain, why is it that we as individuals and as a collective body, the church, who call ourselves "Christians" have not so devoted ourselves to Christ that in our "coming" and "going", at work, at play, in daily life, we make disciples for Christ’s kingdom (Matt 28:19-20)?  What in us needs to change?  How do we break down the barriers and walls that so box us in that we walk as if we have blinders to the needs around us?  Why is it that Christians choose to put their time and effort into being just like the rest of the world and so have little time or finance for kingdom work?  So many questions arise from this.

Many churches today, especially traditional,   find their young adults leaving for other churches or no church at all.  There is scorn and concern about the Emergent Church movement.  But I do not find it surprising.  The Emergent church is looking to bridge the gap between what you say you believe and what you actually practice in everyday life.  They want to see the church put legs under the truths of the gospel.  Gone are the days of loyalty to a denomination or family church.  The postmodern world takes nothing at face value anymore.  Everything is up for interpretation.  Thus the church needs to look like Christ expected it to, or at least is obviously serious about being Christ’s mission on earth for it to have any value at all.

But, let’s face it, if the church is being Christ’s missional body full of active devoted followers of Christ who are not afraid to be real and rearrange their lives and priorities for the sake of the kingdom, then the answer to the questions will be taken care of.

’til next time

akd

The whole ministry of small groups is quite simple really.  It’s about staying connected — to a group of people and to God.  That’s when things really begin to happen.  Our programmatic churches want to put them into a nice tight format for various reasons.  Perhaps they want to keep people from wandering to another church, or "forcing" them to participate in the program, or expect small groups to be the only source of discipleship in the church.  A retention approach by the church only cheapens the real value of biblical community (Bill Search, Simple Small Groups p.14). 

A closer look at John 15 helps us in understanding this connection.  It is simply to abide in Christ as our life-source.  When that happens, fruit naturally grows.  Likewise our spiritual growth can only take place when we stay connected to the source.  But notice that branches are not individual entities.  They require leaves and twigs and a working together through photosynthesis for everything to stay healthy and grow.  No room for the "lone ranger" mentality when it comes to spiritual growth.  It requires one to be connected to a community so that through group life everyone may grow and bear fruit.  Each part must interact with the other for growth to occur.

This kind of connectedness cannot happen by merely rubbing shoulders with a church handshake or a passing of the peace on Sunday morning or at some church event.  This is group life where people interact at a deep personal level as together they challenge each other, often through accountability, study, discussion and prayer, to stay connected to our life-source Jesus Christ.

Small groups are ESSENTIAL for spiritual growth.  God wired us to not only need him, but be in communion with each other.  That means getting into each others lives with the joy and the dirt.  There’s no bypassing the system God set up.  Trying to only sets you up for disconnectedness and often false piety, or worse, a nominal Christian at best.  There is no growth, no life, no discipleship, no fruit.

Need a group?

’til next time

akd