Jason’s Thoughts On: Large Churches

So this is rather “topical” for me, and not at all like my usual, introspective posts. And the title is a total joke by the way… But in a way it is kind of serious and introspective because I’ve learned a lot and had a lot of change of heart on this topic.

You see, when I first became a Christian… I thought that big churches were the best realization of God’s will for a community. I thought they were successful, people reaching places where Jesus was obviously at the center. “They must be doing something right!”

Then (about a year ago) I went through this “medium-church” size phase where large churches were the enemy. Bloated organizations that didn’t do anything but help trap people into a system of religious doom. I thought that they were socially inconsious and completely selfish. “That’s right, spend 20 million on a building for rich white people…meanwhile almost every time we take a breathe a child dies from preventable diseases. And never mind that we could fill a football stadium a few times with the number of homeless children in the US or of underage sex slaves around the world. As long as you have a nice, ornate place to gather… screw the world.”

And now… well I’ve become a little more balanced.

Look, churches don’t have to be big… just healthy. Healthy in a lot of ways. And size doesn’t always interfere with health. But sometimes it can. If a church is too big (or too small) it’s probably not thinking about these questions:

1. How are we being salt and light? How are we changing our city? Is our goal to gather a bunch of people for a worship service, or do we actually have a heart to change the culture of the world around us? Because I can think of lots of churhes that think that because they’re big, that they’re influential. That’s not always the case. And if we’re not influencing the culture around us for Jesus… how are we being salt and light?

2. How are we changing the world? Bottom line, poor stewardship is still poor stewardship, even if it’s in large amounts. While the world starves and dies, we cannot spend bloated amounts of money on ourselves. 99% of all money raised by the American church goes back into the American church. We suck at giving and the world needs Jesus… pretty sure that he’d have something to say about that.

3. How are we reproducing? You’ve heard that healthy things grow right? Well sort of. Small churches may be unhealthy if not growing. But large churches may become quickly unhealthy if they keep growing and never reproduce. A look at the human body tells us that things grow… platuea in growth… mature… and reproduce. Are our churches?

4. How are we caring about the lost? Not just transfer growth, but how are reaching people who’ve never met Jesus. Doing church in a way that doesn’t help people who’ve never met Him to do so isn’t just “another method” or a matter of “preference”. It’s our mission and not doing so is wrong.

I used to think that ALL big churches couldn’t do these things. I now realize that the most don’t… but some do.

And those that do have the resources to be a big help to the world and the Kingdom because of their size.

It’d be cool to be a part of that kind of place.

Why Not Burn the Gates?

So I’ve been digging this lecture by Francis Chan (hero of mine) who spoke this year at the National New Church Conference in Orlando. His speaking time was the last of the multi-day “churchapalooza” event.

He discusses his honest uncomfortableness with the book of Acts in the Bible… about how the church today looks totally different than the church of that day. He notes how early disciples were uneducated and bold, and how churches today are full of educated and scared people.

Wow!

Honestly when I look at Acts, and how the first churches were started, and I look at how we do it today… I see the same thing. And so the question comes up:

If God is still the same God
Who has the same mission
Who uses the same Holy Spirit

Why can’t we be people who resemble the early church?

An absolutely relentless faith, extravagant love, endless grace… a family.

I know not all churches were like that, but I see more of those things in the church of Acts chapter 2 than I do in my own backyard.

But why not?

Last week while doing a prayer drive my wife spoke something AMAZING. We were praying and driving through a community not unlike 99% of Wesley Chapel that is full of gated sub-communities. She prayed that we would be people more concerned with letting people in than keeping people out. As she prayed she said offhand to me and God: “I know they won’t actually take down the gates…” And tears began to pour from me…

‘Cause why not?

Like the Berlin wall fell and became this iconic breaking of barriers…

what if one day we were a community that was full of so much hope and love and faith that we didn’t spend untold thousands on “keeping ourselves safe” and invested it in the poor and needy?

what if we didn’t close our garage’s every night at 6pm so as to leave the neighborhood guessing as to whether or not we’re home?

what if we tore down the gates on our community and declared our homes open places?

And the old man says “but it’s your job to keep your family safe”…

No… it’s not! It’s not my job, it’s the Lord’s. Read the scripture and see whom the Bible tasks with the protection of even the littlest of us…

What if we weren’t scared, but were bold?

Of course:
It probably won’t work
It’ll probably cost me my reputation and life
I’ll probably be broke soon

But… heck… why not try?