Past Ramblings: Part 5
Today is Turkey Day! Thanksgiving is always cool because it reminds us just how many leftovers one family can produce! For real, it is always cool to focus on what we are thankful for... in American Christianity, there is no shortage of things we regularly take for granted.
Originally Posted 11.25.04
Today is Turkey Day! Thanksgiving is always cool because it reminds us just how many leftovers one family can produce! For real, it is always cool to focus on what we are thankful for... in American Christianity, there is no shortage of things we regularly take for granted.
Take for instance, the amazing institution known as the youth ministry. I feel like picking on myself and making fun, so bear with me. I just got back this past weekend from doing a Disciple Now at a "mega-church" up in the DFW area. I am continually amazed at the amount of money being poured into teenagers who are churched and come out of a more privileged background than most (this all being said with the knowledge that even the poorest person in America is still richer than 75% of the rest of the world). This church had just spent millions of dollars building and remodeling a children's building and a youth center... both of which are quickly being filled to capacity. I guess the thing I struggled with as I drove home was this... where does it all end?
At what point does a church say, "We're just too big... we need to begin planting other churchs out of our excess." Because now the current trend is to add "satellite" locations... franchises of the original, so that the name recognition and branding are still present. The denominational mega-church of Houston doesn't plant churchs now... it adds satellite locations. And more and more, the church in America continues a headlong rush towards becoming a reflection of Corporate America. Now, I understand everything about the "ministering in the culture you live in" and the fact that "God is doing great things at these larger churchs" but I still get an uneasy feeling sometimes... like, "Are we missing it?"
Is there a point when a church is just "too big?" Not "the church" as in the church universal or as in the church local, but I mean an institution where a person has never met their "pastor" face to face and that same pastor couldn't match a name to the face they see on a regular basis. In many ways it boils down to something my pastor and I were talking about at the office one day not too long ago. I was kind of in a slump because I had been to a Spring High School football game and had been exposed to the millions of dollars in advertising that is being heaped on my teenagers by Pepsi and Gallery Furniture through the school system. I was wondering, "How can the church even compete with Corporate America at their own game?"
Clay's (my pastor) response was, "Are we meant to compete with Corporate America at their own game?" He continued to gently remind me that we're called to see lives changed by the power of God and that the product we're selling will always outdo theirs... whether we have a snazzy, million dollar facility or not. I was encouraged greatly by this, but I wrestle with the tendency to want to compete with Corporate America... to want to get into the whole "bigger, better" game they play. It is something I could use prayers for... if you are the praying type.
Alright, well it is now time to head to my folks' house for the Thanksgiving feast. It will be the first time in two years, I have spent Thanksgiving Day with them, so I am looking forward to it! Happy Thanksgiving to you and blessings on you as you give thanks!