Monday, March 15, 2010

If I had a Church today....

Quick random post: If I could start a church today, what would it do? What would its core values be? What mission would we undertake? Etc. Here's a quick rant.

1. Expository Preaching on Sunday mornings (don't read "non-evangelism focused", read "evangelism in context")
2. Theological Education during traditional Discipleship times
3. Outreach to homeless in community (temporary residence, food bank, advocacy service, life-management and job-search help)
4. Liturgical and Reformation-appreciative worship style (No fad gimmick worship, we are sitting on the wave of an ancient tradition, let's not violate sacredness with base forms of relevance) (note: base forms of relevance are different from other forms of relevance, i.e. an acoustic guitar is relevant, but ripping off Vanilla Ice for a praise song is base)
5. Family-centered community involvement (don't dice up ministries and keep the men separate from their family, or kids separate from mom and dad)
6. Smart missions involvement (not a smattering of random trips here and there, but a long-term partnership with missions personnel to equip indigenous leaders to minister)
7. Homeschool families cooperating in the education process (Christian families, homeschooling, is multi-generational discipleship, the church should capture and redeem this facet of society. Not sheltering kids from the 'corrupt' world, but engaging the world through the family)
8. An understanding expectation for commitment from prospective members (if someone wants to join, I wouldn't be so impatient as to rush them through the process. I would want to see commitment and service before the church expects commitment and service. That way they aren't disappointed and we aren't either)
9. Corrective and formative merciful church discipline: you can't punish every sin for every member, but there are certain sins and issues that affect the body of believers in a congregation that must be dealt with either privately or publicly. It is biblical and avoids many pitfalls with unregenerate non-repentant members causing problems under the auspices of membership.
10. Spiritual leadership: no lost used car salesman will be a deacon just because he is well known in the community and has been in church for a while. Too many churches are ruined by unspiritual businessmen who manage God's house like a furniture wholesale store. If a man isn't spiritually adept at layman ministry, he probably isn't fit for administrative leadership in the church.
That's it.

4 comments:

Kurtis Neil McInnis said...

Sounds sort of like a church I know in the central panhandle of Florida, though improvements are needed.

I would add "frequent communion" to the list, though that could be a part of the worship one.

Also, the pastors should wear collars.

By the way, nice profile pic. Very post-1980 Carter-esque.

jpm said...

#11 would be non-anglican
that ought to throw a weevil in your breadbasket.

Anonymous said...

I feel lost in church.
Is going to church all about doing activities?

jpm said...

No, it's not all about activities.