the way to the Way...

As a minister I have found myself in a fight for attention - trying to get people (in my case parents and students) to buy into the ministry that I oversee - trying to get people to give their time to my “church stuff” as opposed to “worldly” things - trying to get them to make my classes, events, devos, and projects a priority over other extra-curricular activities. I know one minister who used to get frustrated with some of his members when they would stay out doing a particularly fun hobby all weekend instead of coming back in town Saturday night to be a part of things Sunday morning. We accept that people have jobs, school, family time and maybe a hobby, but there is a line. If a student plays 3 sports, he or she will never make the winter retreat or Wednesday night classes. If a parent works long days and then goes off doing recreational activities all weekend, where is the time for ministry?

Sometimes it is as if we are saying to people “A majority of your life doesn’t matter. Work, unless you do fulltime ministry, is just a job. It’s part of the curse. Sure you might be a doctor or a social worker, but that is secondary service to humans. Your hobbies and sports are things to do, but those aren’t really living and the aliveness you feel in them is of this world. Sure you have to work, go to school and sleep, but after that, you need to give your life to Christ and become a member of the church. By “church” we don’t mean the world-wide faith community of those that follow Him, we mean this place here and the worship services, schedule, programs and ministries that we offer on behalf of Jesus. If you buy into what we are doing, then you can fully live.”

In my last post I wrote this: “The claim is that through a regiment of “worship services”, classes, small groups, ministries, programs and the like one can be spiritually formed. The problem is that our organizations often work to submerge us in a Christian sub-culture thinking that in this controlled and sterile environment, spiritual growth can take place.” As I said last post, some spiritual formation does indeed take place within our institutions, but my point was that spiritual formation is truly done by God and it more dynamically happens “out there” as opposed to in our buildings. In many ways we have stepped in between people and God and worked hard to get them to commit to our organizational regiment.

Sometimes I feel we are actually working to get people committed to our “church stuff” instead of “the way of Jesus.” Undoubtedly, our “church stuff” is a reflection of the way of Jesus, but it is often much more complicated. We have countless books on church dynamics, models, programs and ministries to prove as much. I think the way of Jesus is much more simple and, as I have been saying, organic. Yet it is as if the church has stepped in the middle and said “Jesus is the Way and our institution (and all that comes with it) is the way to the Way.”

Jesus didn’t come to pull people out of their lives and give them new “institutional ones.” He didn’t say that His yoke was easy and light, but it comes with a big budget, programs, intricate doctrinal stances and a whole lot of rules. His way comes to us where we live. I understand that there is much about life as we know it that is not good. There is suffering, toiling, and emptiness around every corner. The reasons for the state of life as we know it have been written about and wrestled with inconclusively forever. Yet, as I live, in my better moments, I still seem to catch glimpses of the original core of beauty in this physical life we live. This world as we know it is not my home, but it seems like it is a shadow of a place I was supposed to live in. It is as if behind the layer of soot caked on from our constant messes, the engraving from the Original Maker can still be detected and reminds us that at the core of this existence living is good.

For years the church as been telling me that it is bad and that they (outsiders) are bad and that the only good things left are found within their teachings, ministries, music, and people. It’s caused me to be fearful, isolated, judgmental, and narrow-minded. Being in full-time ministry has allowed me to submerge myself in this Church sub-culture all the more. In many ways it has left me shallow.

What if in some ways we have been serving our institutions and not quite serving Jesus? What if it wasn’t “well you have your work and family life and you have your Christian sub-culture church life”? What if our organizations have essentially cut in on us and sold us “their way” as opposed to “Jesus’ way”? What if we caught on?

More on this next week…