Just Thinking

Disclaimer: Please do not read if you are looking for any answers...

Is the Church today any different that Ci Ci's?

If you were to ask just about any owner of Ci Ci's Pizza, what do you think is their priority. Is it serving high quality pizza? If you have eaten there, you know what the answer is. No, their priority is the bottom line...how much money are we bringing in. More people in the restaurant equals more money. Success is how many are in the seats.

Is this the same measuring stick for the church today? Are healthy churches the ones with the largest attendance? I'm not too sure what the answer is. This is something I've struggled with on and off for the past few years. How do we measure the success of the Church today?

I have been discussing this lately with some of those around me who are smarter than I am (of course being smarter than me doesn't really say a lot does it?) There is this struggle that I have where I want to be a part of a mega-church, but at the same time there is something that doesn't sit right with me whenever I hear or read the word "mega-church." I'm not sure if the uneasiness I feel is a check from the Holy Spirit or if it is jealousy because the mega-churches have all of the resources.

As I have struggled through this God has been teaching me much just about how I view the Church. He has been showing me that I put too much emphasis on what I call the church (notice the little "c"). There seems to be this difference between the Church as the world-wide community of God and the church as the local gathering. I have often put quite a bit of emphasis on the local gathering, where much of my energy has gone to growing this gathering. On many occasions the thought has taken root in my mind, "what can I do to get more people in here?" However, I don't think that is the correct question to be asking. Maybe the right question to ask is, "how can I get more people (including myself) out of here?" I think God is trying to teach me that the Church isn't primarily about what goes on in my little community (church). Now, I am not saying that people should not gather as a local community. I think that is extremely important, but what I am saying is that sometimes I think we forget about the world-wide Church...The Kingdom of God. As far as the Kingdom of God is concerned, it is about using, not just having. It is about sending out, not just getting. Rick Warren says it best in The Purpose Driven Church. He says, "a church's health is measured by its sending capacity, not its seating capacity." What are we doing with the people who come into our churches? Do we spend enormous amounts of time trying to love them, train them, and send them? Are we helping them realize what God's heart for them is? Or, are we trying to get them to come back, bring a friend, and win a free X-Box?

What is our mentality in our churches today? Is it "how can we get and keep people" or is it "how can we get and send people"? Or, maybe it is some combination of both. I don't know. Maybe I'll find out when I finish this last piece of pizza...