"My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do…"
Remember that song as a kid? I do. Call me silly or whatever… but I am dumb enough to believe it. But as I look around the scope of my fellow friends in ministry I wonder if they have the same faith in the same BIG GOD that I do.
Here’s what I mean. I have friends who have no problem seeing how big and strong God is… but when it comes to "there’s nothing my God cannot do" they check out. They look at personality clashes… inevitable crisis… staff trouble… whatever… and these guys don’t rely on God, they don’t look at the mirror and see something about themselves they need to change… they simply check out. To a new ministry. Greener pastures. Bigger. Better. Same thing, different zip code. Some in turn check out of church. Some get tired and check out of ministry. Too many check into small god faith. They have itty bitty faith in a GREAT BIG GOD.
There is no excuse for this. There is no excuse for guys, good men and women in ministry, to be so petty and so selfish to check out of where they are at because of something they want or "feel" called to do. Again and again I look at that as a cop-out. The excuses sound like this… "I felt called to go to another ministry… and things with my boss weren’t working out." So the real problem is with a person… the "feeling called" was some convenient opportunity the enemy put in your way. Remember, a calling is something that comes externally not internally. You get called by the leaders of your church… not by a "burning in the bosom." This is what keeps you from feeling called to start a cult… it’s built in, Biblically founded, accountability.
Here’s the result in America. We have too many churches in some places and not enough in others. The American mentaility of church has become, sadly, like a franchise. Either you like your current ministry or location… or you plant a new one. What have we ended up with? You’ve got that scene from Shrek 2 when people run out of one Starbucks that is about to get crushed across the street into a new one. There are too many churches full of people ready and willing to run out of their old church into the new one across the street. And there are plenty of "called" ministry professionals who couldn’t play well with others in an existing ministry so they planted their own who will gladly accept any digruntled person from another church. Sure… those guys believe in a itty bitty god… but the have passion for it… they believe they are too good for the old churches who beleive in a GREAT BIG GOD… but since they view them as competition… they just call them rubish and discount their longstanding ministries as worthless. And these places grow like weeds! Why? Personality! So many itty bitty god believers aren’t looking for Jesus in their church experience… they are looking for someone exciting who will make them move and feel good RIGHT WHERE THEY ARE. Don’t want to grow? You know where to look.
But you know what? God really is GREAT BIG. In the end, these guys with exciting faith in an itty bitty god will be exposed. They are fakes. I love some of these guys… but they are leading people away from Jesus.
So… if you are thinking of checking out of your old boring church and checking into the new Starbucks church in your neighborhood… take the time to ask the people who are starting it… "Tell me how you came here? Where did you work last? Why aren’t you there now? Were you sent by the leaders of that place here to replicate it’s health.. or are you a boy who decided to take your ball and go play somewhere on your terms? What’s wrong with the other 25 good Bible beleiving churches in my town?"
Be wise. Make sure that they are leading you to the throne room of a GREAT BIG GOD and not an itty bitty one. Why ask these questions? You need to know… when I am not fun to be around, when this place won’t grow, when the going get’s tough… what type of person, what type of leadership is there at this place.
As for me… I prefer an old church with the intestinal fortitude to stand against the pressures of this world, to tanglibly meet needs, and to express faith in the GREAT BIG GOD for the long haul.
Leave a Reply