Mind Blown

Church Zero by Peyton Jones

An ebook that was free for a short time through davidccook.org that I decided to download on a whim. It sounded interesting. I've always like to see what people think is the problem with the modern church. People blame so many things; the congregation, the pastors, the facilities, the music, the chosen denomination, the list goes on.

I'd been wondering much the same myself. My home church has been scratching their collective heads about it for a while. We have a lot of good things going. We have four incredible pastors who works their butts off to lead us. 

We have a set-up that allows for individual care through small groups headed by two individuals (a shepherd and apprentice shepherd) who are in turn headed by mentors who answer to our pastor in charge of adults ministry (he is a totally awesome guy who can preach the entire Bible in one sermon) . It's a good system that is based on the setup God gave Moses so that all of the people of Israel could be taken care of without killing Moses do to the non-stop care the people needed. 

We have a great Children's Minister who is passionate about reaching children and a Youth Pastor who never ceases to impress me. We even have a pastor dedicated to Life Care, meaning counselling the hurting!

But we are still missing something and I couldn't put my finger on it. Then I read Church Zero.

And there it was.

My church as well as the modern church as a whole have been focused on growing up, not out. We are so focused on bringing people in, we forgot that our job is to go OUT and reach those who have never heard Jesus's name or only heard it in passing. We are supposed to bring the Gospel to them and that usually means one thing: CHURCH PLANTING.

Peyton explained it in a later chapter in the book as such:

"Churches should be like Mogwai. Multiplication is hardwired into their DNA, all you have to do is accidentally spill water on them and they pop out five more furry church plant balls."

So what happened?

According to Peyton, we have lost sight of what Luke penned in Acts. This church was growing out through various apostles (with a little a, as in not the original Twelve picked by Jesus, but Paul, Timothy, Titus and others like them) rather than up like today's megachurches. Granted, Jerusalem had a megachurch but it was constantly sending out people to reach those who hadn't heard the Good News.

In other words, yes we need to get people in the Church, but we must also prepare those that accept Christ to do His work, which often means leaving to start new churches. We've focused so much on Shepherds and Teachers, the ones that stay put, we have forgotten, by ignorance or willful omission, the Little a- Apostles, the Prophets and the Evangelists of Ephesians 4:11-12.

This was very challenging to me personally as well as in regard to my home church. I did have some consultation though. Whether we were aware of it or not, my church family is led by most of that fabulous five. I don't know if we have all of them, but we have most. We are also not afraid to try new things for the sake of reaching more people for Christ. We have helped plant a church in an area that needed one. But are we doing enough to grow out?

I'm still trying to take all this in. It's incredible to think about. How many time have I read that passage and missed it? How many times have pastors done this same thing?

I'm still praying about all this, seeking God's wisdom in the face of this information. But I can say is this:

I'm not the same as I was before I read this. My perspective has changed drastically. The Modern Church is content to hold its ground when Jesus told us to gain ground for the Kingdom.

I am no longer content to stay in the trenches.

A Prayer from a Scared Daughter

Dear Jesus,

I'm really terrified right now. I didn't realize how bad it is until now. I'm avoiding silly things because it feels like those things will make this all the more real. I'm scared of what will happen tomorrow. I'm scared for my mother. Her surgery tomorrow is fairly routine, laproscopic and shouldn't take very long. But I'm scared. I'm very scared.

I'm trying find reasons to ignore what's going on. I'm putting off even calling the local zoo to make sure Missy will have a wheelchair when we go on Saturday. As if that would make it any easier to deal with this. It won't and I know it. So I guess I'll pause here and call the zoo.

And they were absolutely no help whatsoever. Fully-automated information systems don't answer that sort of question very well. Oh well. I'll try again later.

I'm also trying not to get angry when my mom tells me all these things that need to be done and adds a bunch of stuff that isn't that important. I know how to clean a bathroom. Really. I know she just nervous though and doesn't want to come back to a mess. Not that the common areas of the house are ever really that bad. But that's beside the point. I need to do this for Mom, whether I'm having a conniption silently in the corner or not.

I'm scared also that I'm going to lose it in the two weeks or so after the surgery. I'm going to be doing everything for real this time and I'm scared of it. I'm terrified of my mother relying on me.

Please help me. Give me the strength to get through all of this. I know that with You, I can get through this intact.

Thank You so much.

In Jesus's Name,
  Amen.

Wysp Got Me Thinking

I've recently joined an art community called Wysp (http://www.wysp.ws/) as it is more about the artistic journey than the popularity contest that deviantart can be. I was surprised to see that part of the account set up is a mini-interview so you can give other wyspers an idea of what you are about. The second question was "Where do you want your journey to lead you?". I answered it pretty generically, stating how I'd like to be published and I want to use my creativity in homeschooling my future kids.

While this is very true, its not all. I seemed to have purposely left out one of my biggest places I want my journey to take me. It's part of the being published bit. But it's the main reason I want to be. I am a believer in Jesus Christ. I believe he died for me so that my sins would no longer be counted against me and so bridged the gap between God and I. I want my comics to reflect this. I want the women who star in my work to represent Jesus to comic readers. This is something that others have tried to do, but the comics were confined to comic versions of Bible passages and woefully terrible piece of drivel that was well-meaning but the lack of in-depth characters and immature art made most of this work laughable.

I want to change this. I want Christians to have accurate representation in the comic world in compelling way that effects people rather than making them laugh. Comics are a mature medium that should be used to tackle difficult subjects, not cliche' teen angst or cheesy Christian-ish superheroes. While I freely admit that this isn't everything there is to offer out there, its kinda' a sad section of literature.

I am ashamed that I didn't have the guts to state this before. All my reasons for not doing so seem pretty ridiculous now because this is who I am. I shouldn't be ashamed of it.