Tag: missional

  • Guest Post: Be the Church

    T.C. Porter and his family, connect with T.C. at http://www.facebook.com/tc.porter

    Yesterday, T.C. Porter of Adams Avenue Crossing shared this as a comment on my June 15th post, Churches Don’t Reach People…

    It’s such a good comment, and it’s almost like a 95 theses calling me out, that I asked him if he minded if I posted it as a stand-alone blog post. I’ve been getting to know T.C. and his unique view on what the church ought to do/be. Adams Avenue is not your typical church. My own description of their ministry would be that it is a Christ-centered unchurch. Unlike me, T.C. is more of a do-er than a talker and he’s someone I’d label as “Crazy enough to change the world.”

    Be the Church:

    another good post and now i’m praying we can move past theory and see more practice, everywhere, every city, as adam envisions.

    i/we’ve been doing it for 2 years now: no building, no long sermons (7 minutes max); lots of conversation; no music, except on a couple occasions with a guitar and singer unplugged; lots of picnics, meals, coffee, picking up trash, tutoring kids, walking around, volunteering with organizations. it’s actually very confusing much of the time so i am not speaking as a paid expert or anything (ah yes that’s another thing, this does not attract a whole bunch of money or people, by the way). there’s no guidbook, other than maybe hirsch’s forgotten ways handbook and a few others; lots of material out there on theory and many ideas but indeed the workers are few and the enemy is dead set against the kind of movements that adam is inferring.

    a few interrelated opinions as i work this out for myself in collaboration with people like you who i love and appreciate so much:

    – do it. stop talking about it. leave your church and do what you are saying. that’s the message i keep getting, and increasingly i have less time writing about church reform because there is, as you say, so much work to be done. people want this but we are on the leading edge and it is hard work. nonverbals are the message – what is our message – go out and get it done and build it; know that it will take a long time so you have to start now, stop writing about it folks.

    – remember that jesus resisted the temptation of feeding everyone. it’s about more than just feeding hungry people. it’s about feeding some hungry people, but it is about more than that. man does not live on bread alone. there is a ministry of the word. how do you do that in the context you are imagining? don’t answer, do it. let me see how it looks. this becomes the riddle to solve once you jump out of the building. you have to create things, against people’s comfort and habit; how do you minister the word out there in the world? this isn’t haiti, this is the usa – how do you preach, when only 5 percent as adam says, are listening to the preacher? go for it. get it done. it’s possible. hint: the people who need the word are not reading this blog.

    – can you really go to a church and not give money? like NOT giving money will cause them to do what you say? perhaps, but why are you following a pastor who won’t listen to this message without such coercion; when will he get it? you are feeding the problem just by being there; your vote is your butt in the chair, more than your money. … this is just devil’s advocacy. i know the line about reforming from within. yet we really need more people who flee from their church and see it as more than an opportunity to just go to the beach. we need warriors building this new kind of thing. reform from outside.

    – a big trend that has to be bothersome is this rising chorus of critique against the church without a rising army of folks living out the alternative. gen x got its name from being meaninglessly, non-committal, and complacent. and i know too many of us who are not really engaged and fighting the good fight with a covenant community, we’re just saying things like “church is everywhere” and “love your neighbor” and yet it looks like a ministry of convenience more than anything. i like to write so i blog; i like to feed the hungry so i do that. i like beer so i drink with my neighbor. … all fine and good, but: are we becoming a generation of disciples and disciple-makers? is this generation being shaped and formed into Christlikness against he prevailing tides of individualism, hard-work, consumerism, well-touted charity, etc.

    – i really suggest we all tithe and then some, just simply give everything we can; and see the tithe more than just giving to the poor but also giving to the word; i would uphold a levite + sojourner/needy/hungry tithe. don’t throw the baby out with the bath water is what i’m saying. yes stop paying for pyrotechnics and excessive a/v and megabuildings (or buildings at all) but do pay your pastor. have a pastor! have a church! be the church! commit. covenant. be a family. share everything.

    – to sum up folks at some point we really have to turn these diatribes into something that we can show the world and be accountable to the broader church and say, “this is what we’re talking about. it’s a work in progress but here it is. join us. work with us. help us. fund us. serve with us. get messy and live dangerously too.” there must be very soon a large network or web of such churches all around, every city, so when folks like daryl are asking the question, “where is this?”, there will be many options.

    – i’m reading Eugene Peterson’s Practice Resurrection which uses Ephesians as a launching pad to discuss ecclesiological issues. i suggest it as a tonic to the missional material so prevalent today. let’s not worship mission or create an idol out of food or coffee or anything else. let’s not just react to what’s at hand. let’s endeavor to be the church in all it’s fullness.

    much love and gratitude for people like you.

  • The Dark Side of Attractional Ministry

    dark-side-attractional-ministry

    The dark side of attractional ministry is that it’s a short term strategy.

    True confession–

    I was a perveyor of an attractional ministry model. It never permeated any youth group that I’ve been a part of, but the structure of our last ministry was– at it’s very core– an attractional model within our two biggest demographics. (Children and adults 40+) Time and time again here on the blog I’ve made generalizations about attractional ministry, not just as an outside observer, but as someone who has participated and performed within the model. I critique because I know!

    Three quick reasons attractional ministry doesn’t work:

    1. A life with Christ isn’t entertaining. At the end of the day, a day-to-day walk with Jesus isn’t filled with flash pots, set design, video screens, and compelling skits, and crafted messages for the heart. So the premise itself presents a well-intentioned lie about Jesus.

    2. When the lights go out, people feel empty. Whether its an amazing kids program or a great event for adults. The reality is that people leave feeling empty and longing for more. Just like 2 hours of television doesn’t fill the soul quite like an intense conversation with a good friend, an amazing night of Jesus-y entertainment just leaves you tired and empty. The attractional model had the same effect as a visit to a casino. A huge build up and a huge let-down. (With free drinks along the way.)

    3. It’s unsustainable. This goes in a few directions. It isn’t sustainable in that a single church cannot entertain all the demographics/age groups you will attract. Also, it isn’t sustainable among volunteer and paid staff. (People don’t volunteer to entertain, they volunteer to minister) Lastly, it isn’t sustainable as it doesn’t prepare people to leave your church and fulfill the Great Commision.

    You can’t sustain it as a church

    When we first began our attractional ministry to children it seemed so innocent. The idea was if we could make the kids program awesome, kids wouldn’t want to miss church. We’d target kids knowing that parents would follow and support something that was great for their kids. It wasn’t about attracting money, it was about attracting families. Our hearts were in the right place as less than 5% of our communities families were part of a church. It wasn’t a false Gospel, it wasn’t evil or about self, it was just a short-term strategy that worked very well at first.

    The dark side of that is that entertaining people is an ever-hungrier dragon. Our initial efforts were simple and fun. But expectations quickly swelled. It didn’t take long for us to rethink our plan… we needed bigger casts, more production money, more planning, and if we just upped our game a little bit we could attract more people. When we got to the next level, people were excited and wanted more. Within a very short time people were expecting an experience we couldn’t create. They’d watch television or go on vacation and their expectations increased as they wanted those experiences with a Jesus-twist. More money, more people, more production… this is not a model for sustainability. I don’t care if your congregation is 200 or 20,000. You simply cannot compete in a sustainable fashion with the entertainment industry.

    Your leadership can’t sustain it

    The same truism played out among the leadership. The folly of turning one area of the church into mini-Disney quickly caused unintended consequences. Within a few months I went from ministering to the hearts of people to the host of a three ring circus. I had a hard time getting into spiritual conversations. It always came around to “I loved what you guys did, what’s happening next?” It was such a time-sucker that in all reality… I was the host of a three ring circus who did the bare minimum relationally to be called a minister. The community recognition was useful, the day-to-day reality wasn’t useful.

    Among the leaders, people turned on one another when one attractional ministry got more attention or funding than another. Remember that dragon? He always needs to be fed and as he grows he gets hungrier and more demanding. And a church only has so much talent that is functional for entertainment. As expectations for better entertainment attracted new and more people– competition for resources began. Feelings were hurt. Rank pulled. Volunteers stolen. Guilt laid. Moral shrank. Frustration set in. We all wondered in our silence, “How can we spend the same amount of time and money and get a bigger and better product?” We had fed a dragon that now spit fire.

    That’s right… the church staff began thinking of worship services, kids ministries, and adult outreach as product to be perfected and sold to an audience. Before we could figure out what was happening, it all turned into one tragic game a bigger or better. The problem this model was created to solve really just made the original problem ten times worse.

    The whole time I knew we couldn’t sustain it forever. There wasn’t more money. There weren’t more people. The questions went from “what are we looking to do in the next 3-5 years?” To “what are we trying to do this year?” To “what are we doing this quarter?” To “what are we doing this month?” To “what are we doing this week?” In desperation you just get into a survival mode of… how can we get through this week? No one entered into this foreseeing this problem. But that’s how dragons go, I guess.

    Ever increasing expectations + lack of resources + staff frustrations = burnout. I wasn’t alone in feeling burnt out. All of our staff and volunteers felt it. But none of us would admit to it because we were all too busy feeding the dragon. He wanted more.

    You can’t sustain it as a model for walking with Jesus

    The model itself sounds so Christ-like when you start. We justified, “Hey, this is exactly what Jesus did. He drew a crowd, then invited them in to a relationship.” But our theology was short sighted. We forgot John 6, didn’t we? When Jesus confronts those following him with the reality that following him was going to mean they’d have to carry His burden and that in order to follow Him lont-term they’d have to eat his flesh and drink his blood… John writes... “From this time many disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”

    Within a year, the most dedicated volunteers were still following us but the majority had pulled a John 6:66 and gone home. Who could blame them? The leaders were defeated, but still had people coming– expecting to be entertained. Pride set in as we doubled down to say, our plan MUST WORK! We couldn’t admit our mistake or tell those people that ultimately our vision failed. We knew a walk with Jesus wassn’t about fun skits, silly songs, games, and great music. Ultimately, our attractional-style of ministry worked in one way and had devastating effects in another. All the staff hated what we had created. All of the staff lied to themselves that it was worth it. All of the staff openly questioned themselves, “Is this what ministry is all about?”

    A life with Jesus isn’t about making it from one event to the next. It isn’t about getting inspired by an event. Teaching people that by depending on entertainment to draw people is ultimately not the Gospel. It looks like Jesus. It smells like Jesus. But its just a shadow of the real thing. Luke documented this phenomenon in Acts 8.

    Now for some time a man named Simon had practiced sorcery in the city and amazed all the people of Samaria. He boasted that he was someone great, and all the people, both high and low, gave him their attention and exclaimed, “This man is the divine power known as the Great Power.” They followed him because he had amazed them for a long time with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached the good news of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Simon himself believed and was baptized. And he followed Philip everywhere, astonished by the great signs and miracles he saw.

    I share this story as a warning to my friends in ministry— tough times make us all look for easy solutions. It’s Fall. A lot of churches are in the same position we were in when we started our attractional ministry. They have vision, they have unreached people, but right now money is tight and you think… “If we could only attract 20 more families, we’d be OK. We wouldn’t have to lay off staff.” That’s right where we were when we brought the dragon into our church.

    That dragon may be cute and cudely today– but trust me, it will breathe fire soon enough. He will eat you up, spit you out, and leave you quoting Ecclesiastes.