Healthy Church

I just finished an interview with a consultant from LifeWay Church Resources. He was a really nice guy and I enjoyed my time with him. Apparently I took a survey a few weeks ago and Terra Nova ended up being in the top 10% of healthiest churches in America. I really don't know how they "scored" that, but I'll still take the compliment!

After the interview, I started thinking...

What is a "healthy" church? I think a healthy church is a church that is actively loving God and loving others. A healthy church will have times of expressing culturally relevant worship together as a community. They will have times of challenging each other from God's Word. They will have times of fun and relaxing together. A healthy church will make the community/city in which it lives a better place. A healthy church will make it clear to everyone how much God loves the people of that city. They will work together to build a taste of the Kingdom of God in their community.

While this is a nice vision, the pragmatist in me now asks: "HOW?" If you are still reading, here are a few thoughts:

• This kind of "Christianity" has to be taught and modeled from the pastor and staff. People should hear stories regularly of how the pastor and his/her family have been involved in loving God and loving people. The staff ought to be able to share stories about caring for others and authentically worshiping God (individually and corporately).
• People need opportunities or venues in which to learn to live this way. While it would be great to say your neighborhood is your mission field, let's face it, 90% of the people in a church are scared to death to share their faith with their neighbors. So part of the role of the leaders of the church is to create opportunities to model and then let people practicing this kind of "loving out loud."
• People need safe places to remember how good God is. This happens when small groups of people do life together. This happens on Sunday mornings when corporately we talk about God and how He is working in our lives. This happens via email and phone calls between people who are in authentic relationships with others in their community of faith.
• People need to be inspired. This world is full of depressing and dark news. People need to know that the God they love is bigger than this world. They need to know that life is more than an accident of nature, but it has meaning and significance.
• People need to be prayed for and cared for. Ezekiel 34 challenges the "shepherds of Israel" to start truly caring for their sheep. The prophetic call to shepherd needs to be sounded again. Pastors and leaders need to care for the people of their congregation...really love them! When you do, you will pray for them, you will invest in them, you will teach them, you will inspire them to be more than they ever dreamed they could be.

Terra Nova may have "scored" well on some survey, but in reality, our health boils down to our people learning how to love - God and others. So far, they are amazing at this. My prayer is that we continue to grow in this. I can honestly say that I love this church (and I don't mean the building!). I hope I get to pastor here until I die!

Under the Mercy,
Jason

Missing Church

Due to my surgery Friday, I was unable to be in church this morning. As a pastor, this is both freeing and terribly difficult. It is not difficult because I feel guilty about missing church - not in the least! It is difficult because it demonstrates to me my own control issues.

As a pastor, I have to realize that it is God's job to build His Church and it is my job to equip His people. If I am doing my job, they shouldn't miss a beat when I am gone. As I write this it is the middle of the second service at Terra Nova and I have no idea what is going on...but I think I'm okay with that. I have an amazing community and staff who will worship God without me.

I hope they want me to come back eventually, but right now, I'm sure they are fine without me! Honestly, though, I do miss them.

A Pastor's Confession

I was spending some time praying this morning and reading about (and from) the book of Amos. God convicted me of a few things, so if you want to hear a pastor's confession, read on. If you think we pastors (or me in particular) are perfect and holy, stop reading now lest you lose that illusion (or delusion).

My spirit seems clear that God has called me to be some sort of "prophetic voice" in Delaware. I do not in any way claim to be a prophet - that is (to quote our President-elect) "way above my pay grade." I do believe that God has called the Church to speak His truth and hope to the communities in which they exist. And I lead a church in Delaware, OH so I need to be that voice.

Here's where I get convicted.

As I was praying, I started thinking:

What message does a prophetic voice proclaim in Delaware?
What if people listen and want to follow God's dream for His people?
Who would lead them?
Could I?

I don't think I am ready for that! What if people really wanted to be shown how to move from a religion to a relationship? Can I model and teach that?

I was cut to the heart to realize that I might not be ready for that. My relationship with Christ might not be strong enough to handle that. What if my relationship with God was no deeper than anyone else's (or worse, what if it was much more shallow)? I realized that I had become more concerned with the success of an organization than with cultivating a heart for God among His people - including me.

So, today, November 12, 2008, I renew my calling from God to connect with Him and then help others connect with Him. I am not about the success of an organization (although if it is a tool God wants to use, I will certainly do my best to use my gifts for that end), but about building a relationship with Christ and His people - inside and outside the Church.

This might not be a huge deal or revelation to you, but for me it was important. Thanks for indulging a pastor who doesn't have it all together and who's relationship with Christ is not always a mountain top experiences. Those experiences are very rare these days. It is, however, a daily decision that I have to make for myself. I'm not batting 1.000, but but I'm trying to improve.

Under the Mercy,
Jason