Tag: church ministry

The Church Playground

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment

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At first glance, when you drive by any school at recess the whole thing looks like a bunch of random kids descending into chaos bordered by a fence to keep it all from spilling out into the streets.  But there’s much more going on than the quick peek tells you.  There are all kinds of petty little groups that make up the playground.  It kind of reminds me of church.

The Presbyterians head outside into recess and can’t believe the lack of order going on.  They try their darnedest to get some organized games happening, but the Baptists aren’t having it.  They’re too far separated from all the other kids to care about playing with any of them.  Besides, nobody is playing by the rules and if there’s one thing Baptists can’t stand is a lack of legalism.  The Pentecostals all seem completely oblivious to anything that’s going on.  They’re just having too much fun going as fast as they can on the merry-go-round to see that the Catholics are totally aghast at their lack of guilt feelings over hogging the equipment.

The little group of Episcopalians are lost in some funky inferiority complex and retreat into their liturgical games while the popular kids, the Non-denominational group, break out singing Chris Tomlin songs so loud that the Methodists go scrambling for their Book of Discipline to see what to do about it.  The Lutheran kids are so busy fighting each other about who is the true Lutheran that they can’t hear the non-denom kids anyway.  And the Reformed are those annoying kids who keep acting like the teacher instead of just enjoying being a kid on the playground.

There are two things about the church playground: the groups of kids don’t play very well together; and, the entire playground thinks it’s the only one in town.  They don’t realize there are other playgrounds with all kinds of other kids.

We live in a big world.  How we interact with that world is going to determine if the school gets shut down, with no more playground.  After all, what parent wants to send their kid to the school where nobody gets along with each other?

What’s more, how we interact with each other on the playground of Christianity says a lot about our view of God.  For far too many groups, God is the high and lofty Principal who’s only seen when something goes wrong, not realizing that he is really the encouraging teacher who’s daily in the classroom offering kind words and self-sacrifice that changes your life forever.

Instead of lamenting that Christendom has vanished from its grand position in society and that the moral fabric of our country is down the toilet along with the janitor’s cigarette butt, maybe we should stop giving the other kid a swirlie long enough to see that our bullying and belligerent ways are anything but the words and ways of Jesus to a world who needs spiritual care, not spiritual abuse.

I’d suggest we use our detention time to think about what we’ve done.

Romans 9:6-13

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            I want to break this to you as gently as possible, but as straightforward as I can:  My friend, you are not in control!  Any semblance of control we think we have is only a delusion.  Now, before you push back on this its important to make the distinction between control and taking charge.  Taking charge of your life means that you own your decisions and take responsibility for their outcome.  The Bible describes this as “self-control.”
            But “control” is not your job – never was, isn’t, and never will be – that’s God’s business.  God makes his choices.  This was the Apostle Paul’s point to the church at Rome.  The congregation was a volatile mix of both Jew and Gentile.  There was some bad history between them that stretched back centuries.  Yet, here they were together in one church worshiping Jesus.
            Paul made his choice to step into the mess between them and let each group know something important: It is neither their choice about who’s in and who’s out as God’s people, nor their choice about how someone gets in to start with.  Again, this is God’s choice.
            The Jews needed to know that Gentiles are in because God did his work of calling and including; Gentiles are chosen just as much as Jews.  The Gentiles needed to know that they were not replacing Jews as chosen people.  The point? God chooses whomever he darn well pleases to choose, and its not up to you, my friend.
            This speaks on so many levels about how to conduct ourselves with one another in the church.  The foundation of all good church dynamics is the recognition that God is the one who calls and gathers people together in the church.  This needs to be the starting point in our relations with each other.

 

Sovereign God, you choose whomever you will to include in your kingdom.  Allow me to see Jesus in each person you call and save so that I can love and encourage them in the faith which is mutually and graciously given to us all; through Christ our Lord, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Do One Thing Well

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
            I was watching the BBC series Planet Earth II last night.  There’s nothing quite like the soothing British tone of David Attenborough talking to you about the wonders of our planet.  In the first episode, the sloth… was on… and he… moved… really… slow.  That’s what sloths do.  They move slow.  But that’s okay.  They just move up and down mango trees… at a really sloooow pace… and eat mango leaves.  Turns out they put their giddy-up on a bit when its mating time, but, other than that, they just focus on their mango tree existence.
 
            What struck me about watching Slow Poke Sloth was the fact that he didn’t care he was slow (he did want to get to that lady sloth quicker, but, hey, there’s joy in the anticipation).  He wasn’t wishing he were a jaguar racing across the savannah.  He did one thing.  He did that one thing really well.
 
            It sometimes amazes me how we humans, in contrast to the sloth, keep trying to be all things to all people.  We hurry and scurry and fret and worry and strive and connive and go as fast as we can to get where we’re going, sometimes not even knowing where it is we’re headed.
 
            When it comes to church ministry, even our own individual Christian lives, it also amazes me how much we try to do everything under the sun – as if we were meant to be every creature on the planet.  I have often heard small churches lament that they’re not bigger.  The implication is that if they had more people in the pews, then they could really do a lot of things, offer more ministries.  Yet, even the megachurch doesn’t do everything well.  Truth be told, the trend for big churches is finding ways to be smaller – which is why the multi-site movement is prevalent today.  The big guy has found that doing pastoral and spiritual care is difficult with such size.
 
            I think we need to take a lesson from Mr. Sloth.  He moves slow, but with single-minded purpose.  If you look at Jesus in the Gospels, he was never in a hurry to get anything done.  He moved at his own pace, not deterred or influenced by others trying to get him to go faster or do something he didn’t want or need to do.  When our Lord looked at the state of people concerned about what was going to happen, he told them to do… one… thing… well. 
 
“Don’t worry and ask yourselves, ‘Will we have anything to drink?  Will we have anything to drink?  Will we have any clothes to wear?’ Only people who don’t know God are always worrying about such things.  Your Father in heaven knows that you need all of these….  
 
“But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants.  Then the other things will be yours as well.” (Matthew 6:31-33)
 
            The singular question for each Christian, every church, and all denominations and ministry groups is: “What does God want?”  The question is not: “What is that other church doing?” “What will make this group of people happy?” “What is everyone else doing?”  Nope.  What… does… God… want?  What does it mean to put God and his work first?  Now we’re talking – that’s the kind of discussion to have in an elders’ meeting.  It’s the kind of inner dialogue that needs to happen in your heart.
 

 

            Mango leaves are not you’re thing.  But going hard after the kingdom of God and his righteousness is to be your one passionate pursuit.  If you will do this one thing, then all the other stuff will fall into place.  That’s not David Attenborough talking – its Jesus.

The Theological Thespian

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
           Every one of us has experienced the awkward times of sitting through a boring preacher, a monotone teacher, and/or a pasty looking person leading a ministry with about as much life in him as a bowling ball.  Yes, God’s Word is always relevant no matter how it is presented.  But that doesn’t mean it has to always feel like eating rice cakes and brussel sprouts.  The Word of God ought to be presented in the life and power of the Holy Spirit and with a great deal of flavor!  Ministry done with some attention to the ministered will have a winsome and gracious tone about it that is attractive. 
 
This is where we could take a lesson or two from the world of actors.  The ability to connect well with an audience; showing emotion and empathy; and, exhibiting confidence are just a few ways where church leaders and ministers can take the sacred Scripture text and communicate it with all the gusto of an actor – to be a kind of theological thespian who is concerned not just to know the Bible, but to communicate it in a riveting manner that displays all of its timeless message.  For the Word of God is really a divine drama, an unfolding production of redemption.  And we are to be the divine dramatists who proclaim the creation, fall, redemption, and new creation of God’s tremendous work in the world.
 
We are, therefore, to be mindful and present both to the text of Scripture and the congregation who we serve.  The ability to connect authentically with the thoughts and feelings of others in order to demonstrate a resonance with God’s Word and Christ’s ways needs to be established so that parishioners can walk away taught and inspired toward a more biblical path to live their daily lives.  But sometimes fear can get in the way, keeping us from being confident in what we are doing – fear of failure; fear of what others might think; fear of being hurt emotionally; fear of not being good enough.  Yet, if we focus more on our identity and security in Christ and less on our abilities or lack thereof, then we can step boldly into ministry to others using various means at our disposal to express ourselves dynamically as we present God’s Word.
 
Maybe this all sounds a bit contrived.  But consider the Old Testament prophets.  They were filled with pathos.  They did anything but simply say God’s message – they proclaimed with incredible passion and sometimes even with arresting object lessons and shocking word pictures.  Whether it was Ezekiel lying on his side for 390 days to symbolize the upcoming siege of Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4); Jeremiah putting a linen belt around his waist to communicate the worthless pride of the people (Jeremiah 13:1-11); or, Elijah on Mount Carmel taking on the prophets of Baal with physical altars and speeches of sarcasm (1 Kings 18:16-39); God’s messengers have always communicated their given message with the same tools used by actors in order to bring that vital Word to people in the power and pathos of the Holy Spirit so that it is believed and obeyed.
 
There are a few simple ways we can develop this ability to communicate a bit further.  If you have children or grandchildren, read to them.  Take on a unique voice for each character.  Read the story with emotion and enthusiasm – even if it does not feel natural to you.  Picture immersing yourself in the characters of the book as if you were them, and let the words flow through that grid.  If there are no kids around your house, volunteer to read in a church Sunday School class, or even at the local elementary school (which, I guarantee, are always on the lookout for those who will come to a class and read).
 
Another way, similar to reading to kids, is to begin always reading Scripture aloud with the same attention to character, voice, and situation.  Read a particular text over several times in different translations, playing with different tones of voice and various emphases on words.  After a few weeks of doing this, it will begin to become part of you.
 

 

Other suggestions are:  taking an improvisation class; reading a biography or, better, an autobiography of a favorite actor; and/or actually re-creating some of the object lessons in the prophetic books of the Bible for your ministry.  Whatever it is you choose to do, be intentional about the development of connecting the biblical text to people.  It is an endeavor you will be glad you invested in, with eternal results.