4.16.2008

To burn with Zeal!!

So this is pretty raw, little post I have rumbling around in my mind!!! Steve and I have been having this discussion lately about our little church and what God is doing in it. It can be so discouraging at times because we don't know what we are doing here or if we are doing enough of it. We question what it should look like, are people meeting with God, what is happening here? We have also been talking about the way we do church, is it effective, is it what God is doing here? There have been a few people here in our little church who have brought up a few times the way we do church, in that it might get more people here if we had a building and sunday service and the things that go along with that. So this is that backdrop for my thoughts and ponderings today....

I am by no means opposed to have a meeting place out of our home, in a building to carry out some of the activities of a church body, like worship, prayer, celebration, group discussions, teachings. But I feel like this is not what people are asking, they are not wanting a building because we have out grown out of our home and need a bigger place to meet. I feel like rather people would like us to open another church building so that they can come on sundays, listen to music, drop their children in sunday school, hear a sermon and then go home.

Why do Americans want to settle for a dose of God once a week?

It breaks my heart because idealistic or not I came here because I wanted to see people's lives changed and surrendered to God. I wanted to help be part of an army of people who want to change the world by loving it, living in it, dying for it. I feel like I have this passion in me to be part of something bigger than a sunday church service with small groups during the week for added holiness.

I am not trying to bash the way that church is done here but I have come to believe that there is something more than that and I know it cause I experienced it!!!!! I came from a regular church in some ways (it met on sundays, had sunday school, had small groups during the week) but it was so much more than that. I found a community of Christ followers, who had laid down their lives to take up Jesus' and they were reaching out to a broken, fallen world around them and trying to participate in what God was doing. I feel like I am running into maybe American Christian Culture, we just want to go to church on Sundays and lives our lives Monday thru Saturday. I know there is more though and I guess that I feel hesitancy and discouragement about people here thinking that we should have a building, when we don't need one yet.

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