I was talking with Hannah the other day over lunch about a growing concern I have with many churches (well honestly, all the ones I've been too). First let me begin with a metaphor. Think of a car*...
It requires many things, but perhaps two of the most important are the wheels and the engine. The engine, like the heart, makes the car run. Many may see this part of the car as the most important part, and the bigger, faster, stronger engines really catch our fancy. But of course, we know that an engine by itself certainly doesn't make the whole car. It needs many other things.
Now some may see something else as more important, namely, the wheels. Ask Fred Flinstone, his feet were the engine. It was the wheels that got him around. Wheels are what make the car go from place to place. Some wheels really help us get dirty and go off road, whereas other provide incredible traction on the road. In cars todays, without the engine or the wheels... well you aren't going anywhere fast.
Many churches seem to be increasingly concerned with the engine. So what is that engine? I would argue it is preaching, and often preaching particularly through one central figure. The Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Luke Timothy Johnson, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Rob Bell's of the world have increasing popularity because they are some of the greatest communicators of the Gospel. Listen to one sermon and you are inspired. Get one of their 'good' sermons, and by golly, it will change your life. With an increasing growth in technology, these speakers can be heard all over the US, and sometimes the world, on any given Sunday. As a "preacher in training" myself, I look to preachers like these people and I'm inspired. I truly think they have raised the bar for the Gospel to be told in exciting, passionate, and faithful ways. So it seems natural that people show up to church wanting to "hear a word from God". We need to be fed, right? We need to be guided, right?
Increasingly it seems the Sunday morning experience has become the focus of Christian community. And of that experience, preaching stands the tallest. As long as we hear the sermon, we are being faithful. Our walk centers around the latest sermons series. Our growth depends on what we've heard. In fact, our faith becomes so that we see the sermon experience as perhaps the most important part of faith. Now I'm not knocking these preachers. They are doing what they are suppose to do: be the best preachers God can make them. They preaching moment has become the engine of the church.
BUT at what expense have we forgotten the wheels? Sure the engine is important, but what about the church in motion. I mean isn't that the whole point of a car? It's not there just to rev up and sound powerful. At the end of the day, a car is suppose to be in motion.
So the wheels then... what is that? Is it not the church in motion? The church in community. The church engaged into society. Of course the engine is important, but isn't an engine suppose to help us at moving around. As I was talking with Hannah over lunch, I told her how frustrated I am that the church is so focused on Sunday. We are so focused on the worship experience. Any job I've had, I find myself spending most of my time planning Sunday. But what about the other days of the week. At times I wonder if worship and the sermon have become our new idols? We really worship those more than worshipping God.
How can I tell?
Well have you spend more time complaining about the quality of music than the quality of missions? Me too.
Do you spend the 30 minutes after worship critiquing the sermon instead of living the sermon out? Ya.. me too.
Do I think we should get rid of the sermon and worship? Of course not. The level and quality of those experiences have been raised, and now its time we raise the quality elsewhere. What if the wheels, the movement of the church, became the most important thing again? What if the Sunday experience wasn't the main part of the Christian experience but just a part of it? What if our faith was more centered on movement?
Of course, the engine brings us movement and the wheels get us around, but it doesn't stop there. Someone has to be driving this thing, guiding it in the right direction. Well, I guess I'll cue this song to finish this off.
*I'm definitely no car genius. It may be in fact that something else is more like the heart than the engine. Of course the metaphor can be argued, but the idea is plain enough.
It requires many things, but perhaps two of the most important are the wheels and the engine. The engine, like the heart, makes the car run. Many may see this part of the car as the most important part, and the bigger, faster, stronger engines really catch our fancy. But of course, we know that an engine by itself certainly doesn't make the whole car. It needs many other things.
Now some may see something else as more important, namely, the wheels. Ask Fred Flinstone, his feet were the engine. It was the wheels that got him around. Wheels are what make the car go from place to place. Some wheels really help us get dirty and go off road, whereas other provide incredible traction on the road. In cars todays, without the engine or the wheels... well you aren't going anywhere fast.
Many churches seem to be increasingly concerned with the engine. So what is that engine? I would argue it is preaching, and often preaching particularly through one central figure. The Andy Stanley, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Luke Timothy Johnson, Barbara Brown Taylor, and Rob Bell's of the world have increasing popularity because they are some of the greatest communicators of the Gospel. Listen to one sermon and you are inspired. Get one of their 'good' sermons, and by golly, it will change your life. With an increasing growth in technology, these speakers can be heard all over the US, and sometimes the world, on any given Sunday. As a "preacher in training" myself, I look to preachers like these people and I'm inspired. I truly think they have raised the bar for the Gospel to be told in exciting, passionate, and faithful ways. So it seems natural that people show up to church wanting to "hear a word from God". We need to be fed, right? We need to be guided, right?
Increasingly it seems the Sunday morning experience has become the focus of Christian community. And of that experience, preaching stands the tallest. As long as we hear the sermon, we are being faithful. Our walk centers around the latest sermons series. Our growth depends on what we've heard. In fact, our faith becomes so that we see the sermon experience as perhaps the most important part of faith. Now I'm not knocking these preachers. They are doing what they are suppose to do: be the best preachers God can make them. They preaching moment has become the engine of the church.
BUT at what expense have we forgotten the wheels? Sure the engine is important, but what about the church in motion. I mean isn't that the whole point of a car? It's not there just to rev up and sound powerful. At the end of the day, a car is suppose to be in motion.
So the wheels then... what is that? Is it not the church in motion? The church in community. The church engaged into society. Of course the engine is important, but isn't an engine suppose to help us at moving around. As I was talking with Hannah over lunch, I told her how frustrated I am that the church is so focused on Sunday. We are so focused on the worship experience. Any job I've had, I find myself spending most of my time planning Sunday. But what about the other days of the week. At times I wonder if worship and the sermon have become our new idols? We really worship those more than worshipping God.
How can I tell?
Well have you spend more time complaining about the quality of music than the quality of missions? Me too.
Do you spend the 30 minutes after worship critiquing the sermon instead of living the sermon out? Ya.. me too.
Do I think we should get rid of the sermon and worship? Of course not. The level and quality of those experiences have been raised, and now its time we raise the quality elsewhere. What if the wheels, the movement of the church, became the most important thing again? What if the Sunday experience wasn't the main part of the Christian experience but just a part of it? What if our faith was more centered on movement?
Of course, the engine brings us movement and the wheels get us around, but it doesn't stop there. Someone has to be driving this thing, guiding it in the right direction. Well, I guess I'll cue this song to finish this off.
*I'm definitely no car genius. It may be in fact that something else is more like the heart than the engine. Of course the metaphor can be argued, but the idea is plain enough.
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