I am still thinking about the possibilities of growth in our congregation. Generally, we are all thinking of growth as an increase in our numbers. Of course, we all readily acknowledge that there are deeper and more meaningful aspects to growth than simple attendance figures. Recently, many have focused meaningful effort on our youth. The Spirit Club has become a reality. Coordinated youth activities for the pre-teens is currently being renewed. A tutoring program is coming soon. These developments are encouraging and I hope we all will find ways to support them.
The most common metaphor employed by Scripture to describe the Church is family. We naturally think of God as our Father and we are His children. That relates us as members of the Church as brothers and sisters. I do not think that we have fully embraced the total essence of this powerful metaphor. There are most definitely great displays of brother/sisterhood within the Sunshine family. But, I am concerned that some are overlooked. I'm not suggesting wrong-doing here, but rather, a lack of a lovingly aggressive right-doing.
We have brothers and sisters in need. There are members of our family who suffer alone. Why are we blind to these needs? There are two reasons that come to mind. First, we are generally too preoccupied with our own problems to aggressively assess the needs of another. And secondly, the needs of our brothers and sisters are complicated. There are no simple or quick fixes. We look for simple or quick fixes because we feel the pull to return our attention to our own problems. So really both reasons stem from the same situation, preoccupation with the self. The metaphor of family challenges us to think in terms of the community, not the individual. This is not the way of the American middle-class.
Can we grow in love for our brothers and sisters? Love is the only thing that will motivate us to rethink our basic approach to daily life, so that new possibilities might emerge. Can we become like the early Jerusalem Church described in Acts 4. They shared everything and no one was in need.
If we are to grow as a family, it will come primarily by humbling ourselves in prayer before God. There are no simple solutions. The problems many of our brothers and sisters are dealing with are complex. This ministry is not something one can do on the side, but rather must emanate from a deep and abiding relationship with the Father. Are we willing to challenge the assumptions we have adopted about povery, personal boundaries, co-dependency, etc?
Let me know what you are thinking?
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
A spin on growth
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
What are specific things you see/want the church to do? I would like to know about a specific need so that I may better know and understand what I need to do as part of the body of Christ.
SOAPE
These five letters consume me everyday at work. Even though I don't actually think these letters, I use them as my structure for an exam.
S=Subjective: Listening to determime what is wrong
O=Objective: Testing to determine what is wrong
A=Assessment: The problem
P=Plan: The answer
E=Education: Educate patient
My point to this, is most of us will go through these steps in our minds to solve problems. The fault is, if we do not know the problem then how can we come up with an solution. I can not come up with a diagnosis and treatment if I do not know the complaint.
I think most of us would be willing to help if we only knew what the problems were. Unlike a family unit, where you typically know the problems of your brother, the church/family unit seems to be tight lipped. Maybe the one in need is embarrassed or afraid of someone elses response. That is when they go to Steve, Jamie, the elders or the deacons. I know that is the proper channels, but it makes it difficult for everyone else to help if we are not informed.
I am not saying that it is right to know, but again, hard to diagnose if we don't know what we are treating.
I agree with your family analogy, because if we were truely a family unit then we may feel more comfortable to go to our brothers/sisters for help and we then in turn would be more apt to react.
I hope that I have made sense. I truely agree with all things said. I am just wondering aloud. I think prayer is always the first treatment plan, but what's next and how can we help?
Jen,
I emphasize prayer so much because I am short on providing specific ideas. We need to come together with loving hearts seeking God's guidance and hopefully arrive at some specific ideas. I am planning very soon to get some folks together to begin praying specifically about situations, then hopefully acting specifically to help.
Aaron,
The notion of assessment is very relevant. Assessment is based upon education and experience. Currently, I am reading a book by Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D. She has spent 24 yrs studying the mind-set differences of the 3 socio-economic classes. She defines povery as "the extent to which an individual does without resources." She lists 8 key resources. Money is only one of them and is at least 3rd in significance. We as a church family could provide many of these resources she mentions, but it will take a long-term commitment of time and energy. An effort of this magnitude will only be sustained if we really love the ones we are trying to serve. The specifics will need be tailored for each situation. As you can see, its not something for which I can tack a sign-up list on the back bulletin board.
I think one of the main reasons people are cautious about revealing their problems is that they see very little example of that very thing in the church. I mean, who wants to layout all their dirty laundry to someone who seems to never get dirty. If you've never been dirty how are you going to be able to help me get clean?
A song by Casting Crowns:
Is there anyone that fails?
Is there anyone that falls?
Am I the only one in church today, feeling so small?
Cause when I take a look around
Everybody seems so strong
I know they'll soon discover
That I don't belong
So I tuck it all away
like everything's ok
If I make em all believe it
Maybe I'll believe it too
So with a painted grin
I'll play the part again
So everyone will see me
The way that I see them
To be an effective Christian we have to be real ourselves. That's why you see so little of it being done, because it's not an easy thing to do. It's easy to say "I want to help", but hard to be real enough to actually be help.
An example from my friend Jeff Garrett's blog:
After our AA meeting, my sponsor and I had lunch at Wendy’s. The conversations we have are open and transparent. I talk about the most personal part of my life – my joys and my struggles, the good and the bad, my confidence and my insecurities. It’s good for me to talk about the things I once kept secret. It’s frees me up to live. Today, by the grace of God, I am 3 years, 3 months, and two days sober.
Now there's a guy I could take my struggles to, he's real enough to admit his problems too. And we all have struggles, but do we hear about them? Do we share them on Sunday morning? I've never understood the people who won't even ask for prayer when they are having physical problems. We have a long way to go to be real with each other. And that's where our growth is going to come from.
I have to agree with Aaron and Jennifer. How can we help if we do not know how to help or what to do to help? When the need arises and members are aware of someone needing help I see us going full speed ahead to help. The big problem seems to be as to who needs the help. I am well aware of people not wanting to air their problems to everyone else because I am one of those people. However, I do have the most respect for others asking for help when in need. This is the beginning of the healing process in most cases. Just being able to seek our help and God's is a good start. I put my Faith in God and Prayer.
It will be difficult to overcome issues of privacy and confidentiality. Some people are very uncomfortable with open discussions going on about their needs and deficiencies. I am one of those people. In the 35 years I have been associated with Sunshine, I have gone forward one time. It was to get baptized and I waited until Sunday night. I think Scott is onto a key point. If those of us, who seemingly have it together, were more open with our weakness and failures we could effectively change the culture of our congregation. We could make it easier for anyone to feel comfortable asking and recieving help, whether it be spiritually, financially, or otherwise.
Embarassment over personal, private issues is definately a reason for the problem existing.
Another reason can be a negative past experience if they were able to get beyond that first hurdle. I think that sometimes we, as a congregation, tend to fail in following up on people's needs. Someone may have asked for help in the past and all they got was a handshake or two, a pat on the back and some sympathetic promises to pray for them...but by the next service almost everyone had forgotten about the problem.
We all have things that sometimes keep us preoccupied with our own problems and it's easy to forget or devalue somebody else's problem. It's hard enough to let everyone know about whatever the problem might be in the first place. No way will somebody bring the subject up a second time if nobody actually takes the time to roll up their sleeves and help the first time around. I think they would probably think twice before asking for help with any future problems as well.
Just a thought.
A very relevant thought, Al.
I think you’re all on to something. The first thing we need to focus on is Prayer… nothing lasting will come from our planning by our own vision and strength. We really need to ask God for direction, and for Him to be directly involved in leading us to – and through each and every opportunity. And while getting together to pray is really important – we certainly don’t need to wait for a public prayer meeting to be on our knees before the Father asking Him to make us fit and approachable to someone in need.
Several of the comments I’ve read deal with going forward or sharing a personal struggle with someone, and how that makes you feel as though you’re at great risk, or at least concerned about what might come of this. What’s sad about this is that when we fail to look to others and ask them to pray – we miss the power that God provides as an answer to those specific prayers on our behalf.
Yet, I really can’t say I blame anyone for not opening up to us – I think it’s a must to look to others, but still hard to blame them for not doing it.. I mean think about it… its pretty clear that we don’t totally trust ourselves. I know that in the past, or from time to time someone may judge another for a struggle. Or we may be concerned that our secret might not be kept. But I think there is a more subtle problem that is causing us to feel insecure about the judging, and not keeping secrets.
I think sarcasm and cynicism are out of control in society today, and I think it has found it’s way into the atmosphere of the Church. Don’t get me wrong – I love goofing off and having fun – but it’s pretty hard to do much of anything and not find that you’ve been critiqued anymore. And I know – because you’ve told me – most all of you feel this way.
It doesn’t matter what phase of service, or ministry you’re involved in, if you’ve done something – chances are – someone has put it under the microscope and intelligently critiqued it to others for you, or made a snide comment as soon as you finished. The sad part is that it’s usually from the more involved folks.
Now I know that most of the time people are just joking around – most of the time. But I don’t think we need to be told how untrusting we seem to others when our M.O. is to take shots—no matter how cute – at others.
I believe if we are going to have a powerful ministry to the poor, the rich, the struggling, the weak -- then support, encouragement, and love have to be evident by all for all. I think goofing off is a must. I don’t think we can live with out having fun and goofing off. But I also think we can do it in a way that builds up – and builds trust in one another.
If I’m going to share my struggles with anyone – and I do, and often -- Then there are a few things I automatically take into account when deciding if this is a person I could/should bare myself to.
1. Are they full of God, or just themselves?
2. Do they genuinely love me, or do they want a project?
3. Are they alongside me as a friend, or just trying to fix me, then “humbly”
going and telling others how they’ve helped me with all my problems?
4. Does this person realize that they are flawed, and seek out help themselves when
they are struggling?
5. Do they ask God to bless, strengthen and draw me closer to Him?
I love Sunshine – and I’m proud to be part of such a wonderful Church family. The call to greater love for God, and greater love, service and ministry to others starts in just that order…God then others. I think we are, and have been well on our way with His help for sometime now, It’s great to hear and read the comments from hearts that love and want to serve Him.
You have made a good and strong point, Jamie. I am one who has been guilty of going overboard with sarcastic comments in an attempt to be humorous. The lack of a bad intent does not excuse carelessness in speech--it has taken me a long time to realize that. I have contributed to the culture that I am now trying to change.
Jason,
I trust you know my comments weren't targeted at anyone specifically, but at the way sarcasm has caused people to be stifled in their attempt to lay it on the line when it comes to being open and honest with each other.
As I was typing, I was forced to look at myself and the way I deal with others. And I, at times have been guilty of ending very spiritual moments for others for the sake of a quick joke or funny line. I was always taught that with each gift comes the responsibility to discern when and how to use it, looking to God is important even when it comes to humor. I need to grow more in that.
Again I have to say -- I believe joking around and goofing off are gifts from God, healing medicine to the soul -- and several members at Sunshine share that gift. But its the way, the why and how often, of joking around that either enhance or stifle spiritual atmosphere.
By the way -- I appreciate and respect you for your honest comment. And I openly confess my guilt as well. I too am guilty of contributing to the culture we are now actively trying to change.
Post a Comment