I felt the need to post this little blurb after a good exchange on a previous post. This was going to be a comment, but I think it is worth a post to encourage dialogue.
In regards to the church being like a bubble I was going to say that as a place of refuge, the church should be a bubble. It should be able to help provide community, rest, and help during both physical and spiritual crises. However like a bubble, it should only be temporary.
What has happened is quite the opposite. The bubble has become a socio-economically and demographically tuned place to capture, maintain, and grow a market share. It tries to hold on to its market share for as long as possible creating a bubble of stasis.
stasis:
1. the state of equilibrium or inactivity caused by opposing equal forces.
2. Pathology. stagnation in the flow of any of the fluids of the body, as of the blood in an inflamed area or the intestinal contents proximal to an obstruction.
An obstruction? What should be a system that works to support and train and then send out people to impact the world, is in fact Amway for the soul. It is time to overcome oppression and injustice to bring real life to people who are thristing.
-mike
August 6, 2008 at 2:39 pm
i was reading this post today and thought about subversive church…
http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com/?p=5656
i love reading this blog but today he his a topic that i found myself fighting against. if you read it and feel so compelled to comment…be kind.
August 7, 2008 at 3:01 am
Well Jordan, you did cause quite a stir over there. I read through the comments and it seems there was a mix of opinions, which was refreshing.
A couple of thoughts:
I was saddened to see the title ‘main communicator’ being bantered about. Wow, a main communicator? Is that mega-church-speak for ‘pastor who doesn’t know a single person in the audience’?
For the most part, that type of post is old hat for me. I have had roughly the same conversation many times with a friend who works at an aspiring mega-church. Here in WV though, it is hard to find a population dense enough to make it ‘mega’. There is only one in the state, in Morgantown, if you say that over 2K is mega. Apparently there needs to be size designations.
Los talks about ‘bringing the body of Christ into an authentic worship experience’ on his ‘about’ page. What is that, exactly? Cannot, and in fact, does not, worship happen everywhere and anywhere? If I marvel at the amount of greenery in a WV forest, is that not authentic worship? Or does it need to have some sort of rehearsed soundtrack with a lightshow? Seriously? Authentic? It is terms like these that hijack meaningful experiences away from the common believer and keeps them inside the four walls. What defines authentic? Do the mega-churches have to defend what they do with terms like authentic?
Authentic. Real. Relationships. Relevant. Any other buzz words I missed?
-mike
August 7, 2008 at 3:36 am
Oh, and I think I was being kind in my comment.
-mike
August 7, 2008 at 9:19 am
Loved the comments on Carlos’ blog. Good job mike (and jordan too).
August 7, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Thanks.
August 8, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Great thoughts in this post, Mike. I couldn’t agree more. I could launch into a ton of different thoughts about stagnant communities and the un-love that they tend to brood as subcultures of an already degraded affluence culture, but I’ll save it for a more fully explained post when i have time to write about it. Your words and the bubble analogy are great illustration for the issue though. Thanks very much.
August 8, 2008 at 12:09 pm
oh yeah, and i just read throught the comments here:
“Los talks about ‘bringing the body of Christ into an authentic worship experience’ on his ‘about’ page. What is that, exactly? Cannot, and in fact, does not, worship happen everywhere and anywhere? If I marvel at the amount of greenery in a WV forest, is that not authentic worship? Or does it need to have some sort of rehearsed soundtrack with a lightshow? Seriously? Authentic? It is terms like these that hijack meaningful experiences away from the common believer and keeps them inside the four walls. What defines authentic? Do the mega-churches have to defend what they do with terms like authentic?”
Amen, brother.
August 8, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Looking at worship in the NT, it usually is service in action. Romans 12:1-2 for example. Not heaping upon ourselves a glorious, exultant, soul-stirring song repeatedly chorused about God blessing us with fog machines making the light show up as beams.
God deserves our praise and gratitude for the wonder of His blessing. Is He impressed by our staging?
August 12, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Very good insight…and I agree – the church is thirsting – all the while standing in the midst of the “river of living water”
August 24, 2008 at 3:32 pm
And all in unison…
dissecting Carlos’ about page makes us all feel better about how we are living out our faith.
Good words on here. I agree with them all.
AND still believe that God can and will use people to bring others into an authentic worship experience.
But alas.
I wither.
Los
August 24, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Los,
It’s not that people gathering together singing songs is a bad thing. And neither are people who can lead other people in group settings. It’s that the word authentic comes across as exclusionary; as if the only authentic form of worship is there, at your church, or if taken on a wider scale, in a church building.
Maybe it isn’t meant that way, and chances are pretty good it isn’t. However the word authentic has far more connotations than denotations in our society.
I have to admit a good friend of mine is a ‘worship leader’ and we have this conversation all the time. There are many ways to worship, but the church has put such a stranglehold on the term that if you were to ask the average joe at church what ‘worship’ is, it would invariably be ’singing in church’. If pressed I’m sure you would get deeper answers, but off the cuff I’m not so sure.
If that is the case, which I believe to be in your favor, then is there a need to use the word authentic?
-mike