1 Peter 2:5 You
yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house,
to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to
God through Jesus Christ.
Being a part of a church building program is equal parts joy, excitement, exasperation and stress. The joy and excitement comes from the fact you are building. You are doing something new. And you are probably doing it because the church is growing. That's always exciting.
But of course new things also cause stress. And if you have ever been a part of a building project you know how hard it can be. If not, simply take your issues and stress from building or renovating your home and magnify them a hundred times or so.
I've heard that in 2 years after a building program is completed the pastor usually has to move. I don't know how accurate that is, but it wouldn't surprise me. Working with different groups., trying to tie everyone together, articulating the vision, trying to figure out how it's all going to be paid for, filtering a hundred voices who have better ideas or complaints is a daily occurrence. And that's tacked on to your daily ministerial duties.
As Rosanne Rosannadanna said "It's always something." I clearly remember driving into the church parking lot during a church build. I noticed an odd metal column sticking out of the top of the church. When I asked the senior minister what it was, he said, in a very glum voice "Its the shaft of the elevator to the second floor." I pointed out to him that the church had decided not to build the second floor so the elevator would go nowhere. He said, "I know. But someone failed to let the subcontractor know the plans had changed."
That's the danger when you subcontract a project out. You may no be assured of the working on the same blueprints your build is not going to go well. This is a rule do thumb that not only works for the building of a church structure, but in the building of the church universal made of of, as Peter says, "the living stones" of the Body of Christ."
One of the current trends I'm seeing in the church in the United States today is the tendency to subcontract our faith away from the local church. Many Christians are members of a local church and that's where they do their Sunday morning worship. But they subcontract their youth's spiritual formation to local parachurch fellowship groups that have no local church affiliation. They subcontract out their own discipleship not to small groups in the church but to small groups or bible studies made up of people of various faith backgrounds and experiences. We subcontract out or missions to local charities often with a donation given at work.
Before I continue, let me be clear I am NOT anti-bible study or small group or youth fellowship that have no local church affiliation. It's fine if you wish to participate. Nor is this a plea to have the local church have control over your life. But I do have a concern if this is the steady diet of one's discipleship. There are some dangers in the subcontracting of our faith we need to take into account.
1) Theology matters. Reformed, Catholic, Calvinist and Wesleyan-Armenian, all Christian theologies have certain accents and emphasis. What one believes and why they believe it affects our daily life and our world view more than you might think. If you get a United Methodist perspective on Sunday, and a completely opposite view or belief on Monday night, what is one to believe?
2) A loss of our theological distinctives and heritage. This is sort of a subset for #1. But most United Methodists can't tell you what the distinctives of their faith are. Yes, sometimes that's our fault as the local church. But for many, it's a result of subcontracting our their faith. It does your local church no good to have a class on UM beliefs if you don't attend because you are getting your Bible Study elsewhere.
3) Many will argue that it's good to be exposed to various viewpoints and theologies. I won't disagree. But I wonder if this is actually happening. For the most part, we tend to surround ourselves with people who look like us and act like us and have the same thoughts, values and demographics While the church certainly can appear segregated, this is much worse in small parachurch groups. You tend to get together with people who are just like you. Again, I'm not saying we should never be a part of these groups but, if it's your steady diet, what will happen? In the church we see a much larger spectrum of backgrounds, demographics, etc.
4) When it's uncomfortable, there is no reason to stay. It's small group. You are there voluntarily. If you don't like it, you don't have to come. If someone makes you angry or hurts your feelings, you can leave, or tell them off and then leave. We don't have that option in the church. We are a family. We may disagree, and maybe even tell one another off. But we also have to worship together, send our children to children's choir together. We actually have to practice what we preach about love and forgiveness.
5.) We pass on our subcontracting behavior to our youth and children. If you think this is difficult for adults, it's much more difficult for our youth. They haven't formed a strong faith based world view yet. Getting twenty different views is even more difficult for them. All we mentioned before is magnified for them: the cliquishness, the ability to walk away. And do any of us really believe if our youth aren't guided to be a part of a church Sunday School or youth group that, when they become adults, it will simply magically happen? There is a reason why Proverbs tells us to "train up a child in the way they should go." (Proverbs 22:6)
6) The perpetuation of a consumer mentality. Again you are drawn to what you like, or your kids like. And, if they or you don't like it, you leave and look for something else. The church teaches us it's not always about our needs. Sometimes we are a part of things because it benefits others -- or we do it to please God. It doesn't always have to be about us. And if our needs aren't being met in the local church, at some point shouldn't we ask why not? How can I help my church reach more people, or touch more lives, rather than look elsewhere?
I realize this blog post may run the risk of looking too inward, or whining and complaining about "outside" groups. And that's okay. It's not my intention. My hope is that, at the very least, we will take a serious look at how our spiritual formation takes place. That we should first look to Christ's established institution, the church, before we look outside. So that, in the end, we, and the future generations of the church, aren't buildings with elevators that go nowhere.
In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Brian Jones <><
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