Mo Money!

The mainline church is dying in America because of one simple reason.  The reason ain't culture.  It ain't pluralism.  It ain't New Atheism, or any of the other excuses church leaders propose.  The simple answer is the church is dying because of money.  Some say money makes the world go round but in the church it makes the church go down.  Behind the smoke and mirrors of Sunday worship, children's programs, youth retreats, and heart-wrenching short-term mission trips is money.  Make no mistake about it the church in America is an institution and like most institutions it has become more obsessed with its survival than its mission.  As an institution, the church has accumulated and developed all the accoutrements an institution needs to exist.  It needs professionally trained managers, systems and programs that encourage conformity and the status quo, a pacified constituency adverse to risk and devoted to safety, and a prevailing message that equates success with serving the needs and the "mission" of the institution.  But above all else an institution needs money and this need drives nearly every decision whether explicit or implicit.  Herein lies the problem and why the institutional church is dying.  Jesus and his mission is all that God will accept as the impetus for the church, its form, and its function.  To reduce the Kingdom of God coming near to a building, a budget, or a brand is to reduce the work of God in Christ to a late night comedy skit long forgotten, "Mo Money!  Mo Money!  Mo Money!"     

        

A Good Kick in the Teeth

Metaphorically speaking, when was the last time you were kicked in the teeth?  When was the last time your self-assurance, over-confidence, or false sense of reality came crashing down?  The past year has been for me one kick after another.  Let me share a few self-discoveries from my chiclets being rearranged.  First and most surprising, the world actually doesn't revolve around me...shocking but true.  Second, having the title "Reverend" in front of your name does not make you more important or necessary than the other 7 billion people living on the planet.  Third, we are all self-deceived and the most toxic self-deceptions are born out of religiosity.  Fourth (an extension of #3), the pursuit of religion is a house of cards waiting to crumble.  Fifth, there is a God who wants to be your Father.  His love is incomparable, incomprehensible, unmistakable, life-altering, and never ceasing.  It doesn't run from pain or hide from darkness.  It doesn't need excuses or look for faults.  It doesn't shift with the tides or change with the wind.  With my teeth hanging on by a thread, I have learned there is a Father who doesn't ostracize, exclude, deny, or discriminate; but who wants to love personally, intimately, and for all eternity.