I ran across a fantastic article on the out of ur blog on people loving Jesus, but not the church (the institution). Here’s the link to the full article. http://blog.christianitytoday.com/outofur/archives/2008/03/they_like_the_c.html#more
At the end of the blog, there were some really great questions. The first is questions we typically ask in the church, and then the second is maybe an alternative question that maybe we should be asking instead….
Not: How do we grow the institution?
But: How do we grow people?
Not: How do we motivate people to serve in the church/institution?
But: How do we equip people and release them to serve outside the church/institution?
Not: How do we convince more people to come?
But: How do we inspire more people to go?
Not: How many programs can the church start?
But: How many programs have other churches started that we can help support?
Not: How many people have a committed relationship with our institution?
But: How many people have a committed relationship with another brother or sister in Christ?
Not: How do we make people dependent on the institution for their growth?
But: How do we equip people to grow independent of the institution?
Not: How much revenue can the institution generate?
But: How much revenue can the institution give away?
Not: How many buildings, pastors, and programs are necessary for the institution to have maximum exposure in the community?
But: How few buildings, pastors, and programs are necessary for God’s people to have time and energy to engage the community?
Just a couple of thoughts on these questions……I personally like the emphasis on relationships/community. So when people invite people to our church, I prefer to say we are inviting them into a community, not a “church”, inviting them into a relationship with us and hopefully with God. Also, like the focus on what happens outside the walls of the church. This really is the measure of success for the church….what occurs in our homes, at our work, in the community, in our city. Also, like the idea of not being dependent on the church, but our goal is that we grow and mature to send people out of the church into the community. Yeah, pretty cool questions………
