27 May 2006

COTB - Last in a series?

Finished up this past Sunday morning with Church Outside the Box, the series. I have a feeling that this thought will not be far away for a long time, that it will flavor many things before it abates.

We started out talking about the Block Party from the night before. Discussed whether we were the church in the Park or not. We decided that serving other people, helping them have fun, having spiritual conversations, and helping them to see that not all Christians are out to beat them over the head was a good thing - we might have been the church outside the walls afterall.

Then we talked about all the things our past and traditions have forced upon us and decided if they were really required for us to be the church. (If you look real close, you can see the ghost-white legs of the goofy preacher....) I preached for the first time ever in big church dressed in shorts, t-shirt and sandals - or at least I started out with sandals, they came off pretty quickly.



Several of the things written on the wall were torn out and thrown away. About the only thing that was not discarded was the Bible. We even decided that a paid preacher was not a requirement for us to be the church....





Clean walls again.... It remains to be seen if we will continue with our evaluation of who we are as the church. It is my hope that we will get rid of as many things that hold us back from being the church that we can. We can put many things down that we have held dear. Hopefully we can show those who do not know Christ yet who He is and who we truly are - His called out ones.


7 comments:

J. Guy Muse said...

About the only thing that was not discarded was the Bible. We even decided that a paid preacher was not a requirement for us to be the church...

Yep, you're right! Kind of hard on the old ego isn't it? We do a similar exercise with our house church planters, but we have even gone as far as to say that having the Bible itself is not an absolute "must" in order to be a NT church! What Bible did the Gentile Galatian churches in Lystra, Derbe, etc. have when Paul planted the Gospel amongst them?
At best they might have had portions of the OT, but it wasn't until hundreds of years later that churches had the Bible as we have it today, and yet they were churches just the same!

Anonymous said...

Last in a series? Hmmm....somehow I don't think that is possible....Maybe when it gets cooler you could have church outside, maybe bring lawn chairs or blankets? Hmmm....or set up a tent of sorts....or maybe switch the sanctuary around....

BTW..I really liked casual Sunday...that was fun....

Anonymous said...

oops....yeah, that comment is from me....lol....

RMc said...

Guy

Not too hard on my ego... at least at this point. I'm a fairly new pastor (2 1/2 years so far), in my third career, so if I needed to provide an income for my family and be one of the elders of the church, that would not be a frightening thought. It is an issue that I have had the opportunity to think through. It appears that some of the more healthy churches around are those who are pastored by "bi-vocational" pastors. And with the way society, church culture, spiritual formation are heading, it might turn out to be that full-time pastors are more and more a thing of the past.

I understand what you are saying about the Bible, but most of us in the English speaking world have more access to the Bible than any other time in history. It is important to follow what the Bible says, go in the directions it points, etc. I would hate to do without it..... (I am learning that the Spanish speaking world is changing its reliance on older texts too!!! I recently purchased an NVI/NIV bilingual Bible to take with me to the Dominican Republic the end of this month.)

The point we were discussing on our wall was a specific version of the Bible - the KJV. Many churches think that the KJV is the only one that can be used. I haven't heard anyone use that kind of English in normal conversation ever - so why do some insist that we use a language that is 400 years from our past?

me....lol....

You still didn't tell me who you are.... I think I can guess, and I will have to say that it must be due to the influx of mixed drinks that you have been learning how to make and consume. Right? And yes, it would be fun to go up to Cherry Lodge to worship on a Sunday morning one day. Looks like we might be using our water slide again soon for an evening meal here. Hopefully we will invite friends too!

Anonymous said...

me....lol....

Ooh, don't tell me that paychecks are overrated!!! Please!!! I find them very important in my line of work....Mixing drinks is not an easy job....you must make sure you get it right...it is extrememly taxing...lol

RMc said...

Jake -

You are welcome to ride the slide, as long as Ginger holds you while you go down it. And I want to take pictures of that part!

You hit the first key square. That is one of the hoped results of this series, that we would go out and not expect everyone else to "Come on Down!!!" Doesn't work too well nowadays.

Looks like you (or Keith) will be finding out whether the paycheck is overrated if things keep going the way they have. And if they do, He will take care of it anyway.

me....lol....

I didn't say getting a paycheck is overrated, Jake did.... Getting a paycheck is an important part of it, but the church does not necessarily have to pay a pastor full-time in order to be healthy, or to be considered a church.

I'm sure that in your line of work, if you "mess up" a mixed drink, you would be very willing to "dispose" of your mistakes too.... BTW - taxes come out of your paycheck.

Anonymous said...

true...true....

me...lol...