Last night Jim and I rented the movie “Second Chance” with Michael W. Smith and produced by Steve Taylor. Ordinarily, I, being one of many spoiled big production movie-goers, hesitate to watch what I believe will be low budget flicks. However, I do want to be diligent in supporting movie’s with character so I try to rent all Christian produced movies that make it to blockbuster (ie. End of Spear, Left Behind, The Visitation etc.). I have also on occasion committed an act of treason against my party by renting movies that I know to be left wing propaganda (ie. V for Vendetta, Clooney’s Syriana…., and yes, even the infamous Farenheit 911). I guess I am a glutton for punishment at times and curiosity gets the best of me. I suppose an explanation of the Farenheit 911 movie is in order though. A girlfriend of mine suggested I watch it so that I was “fairly” educated on the Bush/War issue. I accepted the challenged. Watched it, took notes, AND purchased Farenhype 911 (the rebuttal) and laughed my head off. We have since invited people to watch these programs back to back for the comedic enjoyment of the experience. No one has taken us up on it to date. I think I am going to have to buy a garage sale version of Farenheight 911 just so that I have both DVDs available if anyone ever wants to eat junk food, and laugh til they cry with me. But alas….the Michael Moore hype is also wearing out – even from the liberals so I guess this isn’t as interesting anymore. (Side Note: People have emailed me in the past threatening to quit reading my blogs if I keep writing expositores on politics and religion. I think I was suppose to feel quite chagrined over that. I didn’t 🙂 ).
While I didn’t turn on this DVD with great expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by it. I liked the storyline, and the acting wasn’t half bad either, and I definitely enjoyed the music (though surprisingly there wasn’t a whole lot of it).
Towards the last half of the movie though my heart was sinking and the finale left me crying a river. It was an all too familiar story to me. While my life experiences in the church had (technically) very little or nothing to do with this story line, there were parallels everywhere for me.
The story is about a Pastor who grows a mega church from an inner city church and then attempts to support the inner city church as essentially a missions project. The problem? The mega church wants to throw money at the inner city church…not people. The black pastor in the inner city church is tired and discouraged and desperate for help – real help.
Here is why the story tugged at tender heart strings.
I was born in LA, CA in 1973. At the time, my father was in seminary. He and my mom were looking for a church that needed him. They didn’t seek out the church that could serve them. They sought the church were they could serve. They found an inner city church in LA that desperately need a Youth Pastor. Dad took the job. After a time, Dad and Mom moved back to Apple Valley, CA (where they both had grown up) and Dad accepted the position as Assistant Pastor at their home church. When I was four years old, Dad candidated at a small church in Phoenix, AZ. He became the senior pastor and has been preaching at this church since 1977 – celebrating 30 years next year.
When we first came to minister as a family to this church, it was located on the northern most boundary of Phoenix. The majority of the members were middle aged or older. Things have changed a lot since then. This area is now classified as part of central Phoenix and is quickly becoming an inner city neighborhood. It was strange to me how well I could relate to the struggles of the inner city church portrayed in the movie. No, we aren’t regularly involved in rescuing gang members from the streets and helping prostitutes find a new way of life but we do struggle with issues primarily inner city churches struggle with. Here is a short list:
* Dad became proficient at removing graffitti from solid rock. We even made it to the news for the extensive graffiti damage a couple of years ago.
* The church is no longer a safe place for women at night. Two years ago, while trying to protect a group of teenagers, my sister in love Jodi, and my unborn niece Karsyn, I had to remove a homeless person from a youth bible study while the man was yelling at me and telling me he was going to shove something down my throat (all the while reaching for his mysterious black back-pack…yikes).
* We have been robbed several times and have had our cars robbed during church services.
* Recently we were harassed by the community for our chipping paint. Side Note: Our paint was chipping because we are in the process of removing it and re-painting – which was obvious. We all just stared at each other when the warning from the city arrived wondering how in the world anyone failed to notice the obvious remodeling? Even the city was sympathetic to that one.
* In small or inner city churches, Pastors are hired for a laundry list quite longer than what they received their education for. They must be able to repair toilets, fix sewers and drainage systems, put in (and take out) sprinkler systems all the while missing electrical and main water lines (Dad missed that class), remove stains from carpet, find the missing toilet paper, paint, resurface, ….it’s actually quite helpful if they have their General Contractors license as well. This is the short list. Get the drift?
While on this particular topic, I have a mystery I am determined to solve. How is it that, irregardless of our automatic thermostats, our Sunday School class still continues to vacillate between Antarctica and hotter than…..an oven;)? No church should ever have a room that reminds one of the “hot place”;). That just sends a most outdated fire and brimstone message don’t you think? (Getting too punchy now? Oops!) I have been submitting my recommendations for tracking down the problem but to no avail. Here is the crazy thing about this. Some random unnamed person is always cited for messing with the thermostat but only about 5 people would ever have reason to touch the thermostat and they have all been counseled. We even have post it notes hanging from the thermostat warning curious souls with button pushing tendencies to just look and pass right on by. My recommendation? Put a plastic box on the suckers and give the Pastor the only key. I was shot down for that because no one wants only one person to handle that sacred key. So I rebutted. I suggested that we trial this for one month. Pastor could surely keep sole possession for just four weeks couldn’t he? If the temperatures continued to vacillate we would either (a) determine an electronical error or (b) blame the Pastor;). If suddenly we kept to a perfect “keep the parishoners fresh and energized – not shivering and not falling asleep” temp…well then we’d acknowledge that the “Not Me” ghost truly did exist and we just managed to exercise him. (Until we had to give others rights to the key anyhow). Any chance someone reading this has insider information on this phenomena?
Then there are the issues of how to keep a church running and operational with limited funds and few helpers. This list would quickly grow into a book so I won’t even start it. All right…I take that back….I will but I will limit my self to a short list of three.
1. We never have enough volunteers or teachers leaving about three people to keep rotating jobs indefinitely.
2. There are always community programs that we would love to implement, but like they say about wealth…you have to have money to make money…same basic theories apply.
3. You can’t serve without servants. Here is a classic case in point. The local school wanted to work with us to help feed the homeless and those in the community in need. We wanted to help and we do in fact have a food cabinet that we have shared from for as long as I can remember. A member of the congregation was willing to offer us truck loads of food/products leftover from a local market so that we could distribute it to the community. I did not receive the popularity vote when this came to my attention and I quickly moved to veto the idea. Does sound harsh I admit. Here were my reasons: (1) In order to run an effective food ministry, you must have an admistrator and volunteers. No one had yet been “called” to that ministry:). (2) You have to have someplace to put the supplies – we didn’t. They were being piled in classrooms. (3) You have to monitor the intake and weed out what is useful for the needy and what isn’t. For example, the Halloween decorations that were donated were less than helpful as was the expired food. Canned goods are nice but we also need to distribute can openers because often the homeless complained they couldn’t open them. And by the way, few people prefer beets in a can. Some things sit in the back of the church food cabinet too 🙂 . We needed a system and people and we didn’t have it. So is it terrible to refuse the stock? Maybe so but I think it is even more terrible to accept it and not be able to administrate it. See the problem?
And the easy answer is always “So get people to help?” I grin when that comes up because generally the person making that suggestion isn’t the one volunteering. Being quite straight forward, I have been known to call that point out on occasion too.
So I was shaking my head and tears were weaving their way down my face because I understood something that only servants in small/inner city American churches can relate too – the small family churches are a dying breeding.
What is causing this slow death? I don’t know but I do have suspicions. Only one of which is the mega church phenomena. Now before anyone gets offended, the purpose of this post is not to write anything inflammatory about large scale churches. They have their place and wonderful things have and are coming from them. I don’t dispute that. I am more concerned about what often draws people to mega churches.
We live in a society of supply and demand. We are quick to acknowledge what our “needs” are and then we shop til we drop until we find what best satisfies. The mega churches are a quick answer. They have programs galore. They have a variety of service options. You never need to worry about whether an adult Sunday school class exists but which (of the 50 options available) you should choose. Some churches with amphitheater seating even have cup holes for your cokes these days and some even have….can you believe it…STARBUCKS!
Realizing that probably the majority of those reading this post attend larger scale churches, I want to make it clear that my gripe isn’t against the large scale church. In fact, those working in administrating these positions often face the same frustrations that we do (although they are more likely in a paid position that lessons the gripe LOL). Example, if you run out of toilet paper at a mega church, a staff member calls the third party vendor that is responsible for maintenance. At a hometown church, the person that discovered the outage goes on a TP hunt. When they fail to find it, they look for “Cindy Sue” who was responsible for that stall and find that she was out sick this week. She recommends searching the cleaning pantry. The cleaning pantry is empty because “Jo Ellen” hasn’t been to Walmart. Jo Ellen then say’s “I haven’t bought the TP from Walmart in awhile because it isn’t in the budget but frankly, TP purchasing was never on my list anyhow. Why does everyone always come to me about the TP?” There are two types of victims to this scenario. The first one shrugs their shoulders, wonders how a church that can’t stock the restroom has managed thus far, and is suddenly fascinated that the church up the block actually has a handless towel dispenser. Hmmmm….might need to check them out. The other is the one that heads to Walmart after morning service :).
But that isn’t my point…my point is that our culture gets attracted to what best services US and not how we can best serve. I admit there are plenty of places to serve in the mega churches and many are doing that (and I am glad – that is the right thing). But on the same token, many abandon the smaller scale churches because they are frankly…a whole lot of work. As a long time member of an inner city church, I see it as a tragedy that little churches struggle so much for survival these days. True, we may not have all the amneties, service options, scrapbooking events, automatic soap dispensers, and mini franchise restaurants in the narthex, but we do have a lot of heart. A place where we raise our families together – know every face, witness lots of tears and much joy, celebrate every baby born and every saint gone home, have memories of which babies kissed who and are now married, giggle at the sometimes “talent-less” shows over the years that a big church would have totally nixed (which later had lasting value to all who saw).
More than that though, as the daughter to a Pastor of small inner city church, I know for certain that you learn that life is ministry. You learn how to serve and you learn what it really means to be a part of the body of Christ. It is about giving. It’s about meeting someone else’s needs.
Not long ago my mom and I had a heart to heart. I, feeling very frustrated, told her that I sometimes worried that my kids would miss out on all the spiritual education that a larger scale church could give and I just couldn’t believe that we still hadn’t found a Sunday School teacher for Tanner’s age. I droned on and on about this. She told me that she felt the Lord had called her and my father to serve and that in the end the price was high. She couldn’t give me and my brothers everything that we could have had somewhere else and she was sorry if I bemoaned that but she had an obligation to obey Christ by serving where He had called them. Wow! Took the wind right out of my sails. I think I called her twice apologizing after that and I was miserable that my words had caused any amount of hurt (even knowing that my mother is my closest friend and doesn’t have it in her to truly be angry at me). That conversation made me think a lot about our plight though. That of the church, and that of my home. I determined that irregardless of what I can or can’t give Tanner and Ty in the way of flashy programs and extracurricular activities, I am responsible for teaching them. I have tried to be very dedicated about our nightly bible and prayer time and guess what? Tanner can turn the pages of his children’s bible and recap a majority of the lessons. That’s really what I wanted all along. THAT is the best I have to offer my children. It’s a gift. Teaching about a life of ministry is something precious my parents gave us kids and I hope to give that to my own. I hope they will be able to recognize it as I did one day.
If you decide to rent the movie, I think you’ll understand why the end moved me to tears. If you are wondering what my point in all this is, I’ll make it easy. What are you doing today to further the cause of Christ? What is your place in the body of believers and how are you serving? If you haven’t found a church, are you looking for a place to be served or to serve? Big church or small, be passionate about what you do to serve. If you are looking for more service options because you don’t want to get up early and get kids ready on Sunday morning, imagine what Christians in Iraq and Iran are going through to attend church. When it becomes too inconvenient to participate in mid week studies, Sunday evening services, and we don’t want to get up for Sunday School….it is only a matter of time before that option doesn’t exist. We have taken one of the most precious gifts a free country has given us and we have squandered it. Do you know how many Christians in third world countries have to hide to worship? No wonder that sometimes the most beautiful revivals break out under extreme persecution. The persecuted understand the gift better than we do and they are more unwilling to give it up. At the end of the movie the young pastor, with tears streaming says’s “The church is not the building the church is the people”. In response to his words, my heart answered “But here is the church and here is the steeple, I look inside and where are the people?”
16 responses to “Second Chance”
After I got my jaw closed at the starbucks I continued reading. So well stated, so well stated. Our Pastor just recently preached on almost what you wrote here. In fact I’ll email you the link in case you want to listen in your ‘spare time’.
Thank you Lord for Doni, and for the voice you’ve given her in her words. Lord may any and all who read this be moved to a place that honors you. I thank you that we are all part of your family, weather in a large building or a small one, Lord keep us humble and keep us at the heart of worship, it really is all about you Jesus.
Thank you Doni! You have given me sooo much to think about. We briefly discussed this in the past, but it has been on my mind again lately and you provided me with a great deal of clarification! I am here to serve, not be served! Man, how do the simple things get overlooked so often? I’m asking myself this by the way! 🙂
God has been drilling the message of servanthood into me too… it’s hard to balance when on paid staff at a church too… but this is a well-written perspective we all need to consider and ask ourselves the questions…. we need to ask ourselves and then ask again.
It is very possible that these very lessons are not just good to teach our children but could become ESSENTIAL in the days to come… it is amazing how quick a nation can change and frankly, I fear for ours. Our children may HAVE to know how to serve unfearingly and unswervingly to survive the sharing of their faith in the years to come.
Doni you have such a way to get your point accross. I love it. I don’t know why but it put me to tears what your church goes though. Me and my sister finally decided to try the small church on base here in Alaska and we love it. Its very very small with no starbucks in sight…lol Old smelly but the best services I have ever been too. Being in the military we have to find new churches all the time. So far the small ones are the best in my opinion. I can’t say I have ever been to any of the big churches and I don’t know that I really want to be lost in the congergation. (sorry about my spelling). The sunday school at this church usually has 30 kids and one teacher. I was floored when I took my son in and thought how can I leave her with all these kids. I did,lol but she did a great job. The only really neat thing in this church is the crying room. I can take my younger one and not feel bad that he is blabing all over the place cause they can’t hear him and I can still enjoy the service.
Church has no always been apart of my life. I love to worship but didn’t feel the need to go to church. I now am loving going and loving what has done to my Son. Shay has made me cry twice now. I hear him on the play ground asking other kids if they know about Jesus? I thought that was so cool. He doesn’t know many sunday school songs but he has done a great job making some up.
Anyhow thanks for your post. Sometimes I get so lost in my world I forget about the rest of it. I will have to put that one on my movie list.
Jere’
Thanks for opening my eyes today………..sometimes I also get lost in my own world. As allready stated, “Thank you Lord for Doni and for her missionary work here”.
Love, Shayla
We go to a big church. They only have 2 bible classes to choose from, but there is a service or class for each age of child. We do have a coffee shop in the lobby, not a Starbucks, but a small volunteer ran shop, and the proceeds go to the local soup kitchen, and the churches food pantry for those in need. I feel good about that. We went to a small church before, and I was very frustrated with the non-existant children’s program. I am good at a lot of things, but not creating a children’s program, and missing service at the same time. It just got to a point I wasn’t even hearing the sermon, I was trying to corrall 10 (yes only 10) children and teach them something, that I didn’t really feel like I was doing a good job at. So we quit going to church. Now, at the big church we aren’t missing what was lacking in our lives for so long (a couple years we didn’t go). And at least at the big church, I get to learn something, the kids learn about Jesus, and everyone is happy. However, that doesn’t mean that I don’t serve. Not sure where I am going to serve this fall, but I will, because I agree, it is very very important, and it sets a good example for the kids. Doni, what you do is not something I can do, and I am glad you are so good at it!
Cari
I???m glad you brought this up. It has been on my mind a lot lately too.
In my opinion, small churches should only remain small for a time, there should be growth. One of the main goals is to bring people to Christ with outreach. If this is not happening, then basically you are only catering to yourselves, which is what you are saying the ???mega churches??? are doing. They have these programs to bring people in to the church which is obviously what???s happening, that???s why they have so many people. It all depends on how you look at it and it really is a personal preference. You may say there is no money for outreach, but I believe when there is a will (especially God???s will) then there is a way.
My other comment would be about how we are responsible for teaching our children about the Bible, how to live as a Christian, etc. I can understand that you feel comfortable doing this, but for some of us who are not as knowledgeable about the Bible or do not feel are adequate as teachers, we look to the church and programs that a church would provide to aide us with this responsibility. I do not feel that this is a negative thing. I also do not feel that in going to a small church that we should have to do without programs that we feel would benefit us or our family i.e.: AWANA, MOPS, etc. and if we have to go outside of the small church to find them I think that???s what we should do.
The responses make me a little sad. I tried to reply yesterday but decided I sounded like I was debating and didn’t want to do that.
Doni and I talked personally about this and I understood better then and I hope you do too – that she is not attacking the Mega church or blaming them as the problem…. it’s just very hard to compete with the big churches who already have so many programs in place and you begin to wonder where are the people called to the mission of the small church?
The church my family is called to right now is a big church… it would be HARD to go to a small church and see her through or to give up what our large church has to offer – VERY hard. It’s not a job many want to do. (And for the record, I say “right now” because our family is military and moves regularly – not because we PLAN to get out and leave our church to look for a “better one” someday). 🙂 That’s a sad thing… but we Americans, especially, are used to having so much available and when we satisfy the current longing we want more. my family is not exempt from this desire – it’s practically built into americans, in my opinion. we all fight that.
I think the heart of the issue in churches both small and large is servanthood. Christ called us to serve. Even in our very large church, few people do most of the work. We are growing in numbers but I tell you what – I bet most of the visitors we lose we lose for not having certain areas covered like they need to be. In a large church you need those willing to give of themselves as much as you do in a small church. But Doni is right – you don’t stand out as much in the large church. If you don’t volunteer there’s a good chance that will go unnoticed.. my husband and i “hid” most of our first year. Then when ready to get more connected and get seth into the nursery – I volunteered to help there – that way I was helping the nursery and getting to know the teachers and helpers who would be working with him. It worked out great and I feel safer in my church for having given the time.
On the contrary, In a small church, everyone knows if I try to hide out and not get involved or help or volunteer.
I’m learning more and more to ask myself – what am IIIII doing to meet the need? And yet I can hardly keep up myself with the areas I WANT to volunteer in, for having lost so much time to work and taking care of my family.
As to the church teaching our kids – yes, that IS a responsibility of the church. But as another friend noted, it is my primary responsibility as a parent. I was actually thinking abuot this the other day, before I read these notes… God is clear in His word about how important we are to make the scriptures IN OUR HOMES – we’re to wear them, place them over our doorposts, talk about them morning and night – I have a huge responsibility to my son – not to take him to church for Sunday School – but to teach him personally through my actions and learning.
I wondered to myself, if government closed church doors tomorrow and all Christians who worshipped publicly were sent to death, what would I do for Seth’s education? Granted that is not likely to happen tomorrow..but I read often about families in countries where this IS happening. They can not rely on those in a church building to teach their kids. They ARE the church just as Jesus taught – WE are the church. And you know what, if I don’t know the answer, I have SO many resources available to me to help me learn and to help me teach. But my dear brothers and sisters in North Korea have pages copied from a Bible and a lantern in the middle of secrecy and darkness.. .they manage to teach their children.
I know this sounds extreme but I can’t help but bring it up. I am responsible to teach my kids and if I don’t know how I MUST learn. I must. Not only because I don’t know what the necessity will be in the days to come but because I am the ultimate example to my son and because God tells me in His Word that I am to make His Word that big a part of my life and my families lives… and yet, I still forget to read one of the many Bibles on my shelf some days… too many days…. I am taking Doni’s example to heart on daily teaching my son – I have to. God himself asks me to.
Hmmm, very interesting thoughts you have brought up Heidi Jo. We talk about Jesus every day, the kids will ask me something, and I will try to explain the best way I can. But we don’t do Bible studies every day. I don’t know if I can, I work 4 hours a day, and go to school full time too. Sometimes making dinner is almost more than I can do, between typing papers and studying for exams, and well, sleeping…I guess I need to pray on it and maybe He will find a way? I rely on Sunday School and Jr. Church to fill in the gaps that I can’t in the same way that I rely on Tony’s and my parents to grandparent, because that is not something I can do at this time.
Although, I guess one more thing I will ask Him to help with is we only own one Bible, and sometimes Destiny needs it at the same time I do for her Sunday School homework. Maybe I can ask a family member to get her one for Christmas.
The picture you gave me in my head of the Korean people is very similar to an image I got from a book called “The Hiding Place” by Corrie Ten Boom. If you have never read this book, it is one to read. Her family was a Christian family that harbored Jews during WWII and went to camps for it. They never lost their faith, and she has long been an inspiration to me.
Good discussions! One thing that I think might need to be addressed that I failed to address on the first go round, is “for whom much is given, much is required”. I believe that those more mature in their faith have higher levels of accountability. Using me as an example is appropriate. I SHOULD be teaching my Christian because I have been well educated to do that. I also agree with Heidi. Irregardless of where we are at on the maturity scale, forward motion is always important. Teaching a Sunday School class is not the most appropriate job for a newer Christian but there are other ways too serve. The heart of my message was centered on doing what we can do for where we are at in our own personal walks with the Lord. Concentrating on our personal growth so that we can better serve is important for all of us. Wouldn’t it be nice if a lot of newbies that were intially attracted to the big churches really matured there and then were sent out as missionaries to inner city churches that need more mature believers to help fill in the gaps? That was actually the point of the movie. The little church needed people that could serve in inner city ministries to help fill in the people gaps and the mega church wanted to give money but they didn’t want to give people. Also as Heidi reiterated, the intent of this post (as I stated a few times) was not an anti-mega church campaign. I think God has purpose for both. I am speaking to a more global issue on servanthood in the christian community and in our American culture that makes it very difficult for inner city churches to survive. (And Cari – like you I love Corrie Ten Boom – read the book – saw the movie:).
That book is indeed inspirational! Yes I’ve heard that story too…
It is sooo hard to juggle all that we have to in our fast-paced culture. I guess for me it boils down to what do I think is more important? This is hard to say, but I know that it is an issue of obedience. If God says His word should be that important, it is my responsibility to make it just that, even if it means I give up something. Ouch… I know exactly what He’s telling me to do right now… MAKE it happne.
Ohhh I am from a small church and here is a list of thing that me and my husband do (I am not complaining just giving you all an idea)
Husband is The Volunteer Youth Minister
I teach the JR High Students
He Teaches the High School
I teach 1-3 graders on sunday nights
He is on the Worship Ministry
He is a Song Leader
I work in the preschool
We cordinate all youth events
We do home visits
The list goes on and on
Now our church has 60 members and about 6 of those are the people who do most of the work…
Everyone else shows up on sunday and wonders why we can not attract more people…
Because no one else wants to work..And there is so much work to be done
It is a Privlage for me to be God’s Servant but I also get tired. I do so much and sometimes It seems like a waste since no one apperciates it…then I remember that god does.
I think that mega-churches are pretty impersonal but if you enjoy going to church only on sunday and not having a realtionship with everyone in your church family I guess thats the place to go…
I know all of my church family and I tell everyone hello and give them hugs every sunday.
I just wished more of my church family wanted to serve the lord…. I really think it takes more then just showing up on sunday morning to be a christian.
Sara
.. you got this right – God DOES appreciate it and is honored by the gift of your time. That is a precious precious thought.
As a previous Mega church member in two different states I never felt it was impersonal at all. They have small groups and so many areas of the church to get involved in you meet and become close to so many people. Also mega churches tend to be in big cities so the more people you know there you end up doing business with them, knowing them though areas outside of church. It’s nice when you are needing a dentist, a pediatrician, a banker, a mortgage person, a real estate agent, a new car, whatever to be able to rely on people you fellowship with. It’s not at all about just going to church on Sunday because those churches are 7 days a week. You may go to service on a Sat. night or a Sunday but you are in the childcare on tuesday night, helping with teens on thurs, putting together packets of info at your house every morning over coffee, teaching vbs two weeks straight, planning for future events. Because you love being part of a Church that is reaching out and sharing the Lord’s message and His Love. Helping them reach out and change others lives like mine was transformed as well.
We were members of an incredible mega church in the DFW area and have moved cross country and are joining a smaller church to serve and help them grow. Our experience from being at a large church inspired us to do this. If I hadn’t been a part of wonderful minstries like Awanas, MOPS, http://www.justmoved.org , First Place I might not have wanted to go to a small church (emergent) to help them start up such programs.
Churches shouldn’t compete against each other. http://www.scotthodge.org has a great write up on this. There are enough unchurched people out there. Some prefer big churches and others prefer smaller churches. We’ve moved a lot and have had the wonderful opportunity of being members of both. We’ve been drawn to both at different times and stages of our lives.
In one of the smaller churches at our most recent move we felt it was so hard to feel “loved” there. That church wasn’t growing and I often felt that newcomers were intimidated by the “everyone there knew everyone” type of atmosphere. Those individuals who had been there forever had lost what it felt like to be “new” to be in “transition” and maybe even to feel lonely and isolated in a new town. They didn’t reach out to me. It was the large church that did. They had a ministry (www.justmoved.org) that immediately helped ministering to a huge need that I had. They just happened to be 30 minutes away. I kept trying the smaller denominational church in town that was within walking distance to my house and despite the pastor living across the street, the childrens minister living two doors down, several other members living within a mile NO one offerred assistance to a mom in need. (yes they knew my needs because they had an email chain to post prayer requests).
I had trouble knowing where to serve in my early years as a Christian. In regards to the multitudes of classes that mega churches offer one of them was a Discovering your Spiritual Strengths class. (which is how a church of 20K members stays nearly 100% volunteer ran). It wouldn’t be using my spiritual gift to ask me to teach preschoolers sunday school (even though I do have preschoolers) . But I love helping plan and organize events, I love praying with others, I love teens, and I am definately called to help families in the transition of moving. It is easy to get people to serve when they have a gift for that area. If it’s something they love they have a vested interest in taking that area of volunteering all the way (even if it means using their own money) to do so.
Friends – let’s remember what the heart of this conversation was – servanthood! Where ever the Lord leads you to serve – serve. While it is true that in our American culture smaller churches are fighting harder for survival, that is testimony to the culture we live in. In no way does that negate the need for the Mega church. God has purpose for all. Let’s not derail this conversation into a debate between churches both big and small. Let’s honor the Lord in this conversation and keep the main thing the main thing…we are all called to service. We need to be the hands and feet of Christ where ever we are.
i watched it finally and was in tears more than once. i know why your heart hurt… and my heart was cautioned for my own church – not wanting us to become the church in that movie….not because they mega-church is the problem or that media, (which my job happens to be in!) shouldn’t be used as an effective tool to draw others to our churches…. but because i don’t want us to become too locked into ourselves and our comfortable mega-church life in the process. i don’t want us to forget our sister churches or those who might never walk through church doors.