Church is not business...but

I saw this in a comment on YouTube recently. It's worth repeating.

Now we have a quantified aim! Another one! Oh dear me...[this church had a 'target' of 5% pa growth]

Remember Connect09? That was an aim with a slogan. Even worse!! [This was a campaign in 2009 in the Sydney Anglican Diocese of Sydney under Archbishop Jensen: the bright idea guy, I guess]

Remember 'Evangelism Explosion"; the 4 points of salvation; the 2 ways to live? More of the same! All busy work and no true transformation.

The way out of this cycle of ineffectiveness?

Edwards Deming is known in business circles as the great balloon popper of business hubris. He works here to.

Many of his 14 points of management apply to church life:

[My comments are preceded with ">>"]

+ Create constancy of purpose: Focus long-term on improving products and services rather than short-term profits.

>> Always look long term: no instant fixes, no immediate paybacks. Patience and biblical precepts, not cultural accretions. By biblical I mean Paul, James, Peter; by cultural I mean business, reformation,  priestly castes.

+ Improve constantly and forever: Continually upgrade the system for planning, production, and service.

>> Patience must be informed by continual checking and developing practices in community. Church is not a one man or board led operation. The elders have a job to do, but it is not to 'lead'.

+ Institute training on the job: Provide modern, thorough skills training for all employees.

>> Exactly!!

+ Adopt and institute leadership [alas we have an obsession with 'leadership' and ignore 'discipleship' and 'serving'] : Shift management from mere supervision to coaching people to do a better job.

>> Not leadership as we conceive it today, he means as a mentor. Discipleship I think we say.

+ Drive out fear: Encourage open communication, innovation, and trust so everyone works effectively.

+ Eliminate slogans and targets: Stop giving the workforce empty exhortations or zero-defect quotas without providing methods to achieve them,

+ Eliminate numerical quotas: Remove factory floor quotas and numerical goals for management that compromise true quality.

+ Remove barriers to pride of workmanship: Abolish annual merit ratings and systems that rob workers, engineers, and managers of pride in their work.

+ Institute education and self-improvement: Encourage lifelong learning and personal development for every employee.

>> We need to be always training, studying and learning. Christianity was once an intellectually fueled faith, now it is merely 'feelings' fueled.

+ Put everyone to work on the transformation: Make the company-wide shift to quality the job of every single person.

>> Every saint counts.

He could almost have been 'channeling" Paul.

Who do we follow?

In a Christian gathering we often declare our allegiance, our vision and our commitment in some formal manner to commence our time together (some people call this a "service"; perhaps because we serve each other as per 1 Cor 14, although gathering/assembly/meeting are perhaps better words).

We might do this in the words of the Apostles Creed, a passage of scripture, or prayer.

My favourite scripture passage is (from the Morning Prayer format):

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us: but if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 St. John 1.8-9. 

Of late some Christian gatherings start with intoning an 'acknowledgement of country'. Sometimes this is given an attempt of a buffer, packaging it with some Christian niceties. But this is false as we would not do the package if we weren't really doing the AoC.

In case you don't know, an AoC is intended to 'acknowledge' Aboriginal presence on this island prior to the arrival of multi-cultural refugees from Britain in 1776 or so. Noting this is already well done and honoured in endless adoption of Aboriginal place names across Australia.

The AoC itself is a type of ceremonial paean derived from one invented in the 1970s by an Australian Aboriginal entertainer, Ernie Dingo (BTW a very good entertainer!) at the behest of, I think, of a Maori group who did historically have such a greeting.

So what does recital of these words imply when done in some association with a Christian gathering of any type, in a church publication (newsletter, website, letter) or sign?

As one of my bosses told me many years ago (she was CEO of a professional society) when a board member wanted to do something similar. The boss lady supported my rejection of the idea because "we do not split our brand". That is, we do not represent ourselves as anything but ourselves. We do not confuse our market as to who we are. We do not give allegiance to any others. No offense implied or intended, but we are who we are, not someone else.

Aside from her commercial 'nose' and loyalty to the organization, she could see the diffusion of our allegiance to our mission being implied by acquiescing to the request.

Now, what happens in a church context?

Same thing: we 'split our brand'. No longer do we meet to edify one another in the Spirit, we also meet to 'acknowledge' on political (perhaps on faux or real or misplaced compassionate grounds) a formal non-Christian, indeed pagan belief structure with practices as diachronically ungodly as the Western heritage is.

Do we acknowledge the Ancient Greeks or Romans? Caesar, even Constantine? No. What about Boadicea, Nero, or Scipio Africanus? No. These would be completely incongruent with our faith.

It also degrades implicitly the faith of Aboriginal Christians as we overturn Paul's teaching in Galatians 3:28. All of a sudden there is 'Jew and Greek'! We have injured in our words the unity of the body of Christ. We have said we meet for other than our Christian mission of making disciples. We have confused our message in our now split brand, mixed our allegiance and denied our Lord. Instead of inviting the world in, we have asked to join it!

Let's stop doing it and get some backbone when questioned. We are no longer of this world: Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Christians, we are all "in Christ". To him we give our total allegiance. Thanks be to our Lord and Saviour.

  

What is Sunday for?

A letter I sent to a friend:

I note that the article talks about "Sundays are for worship and preaching".

Here, the author misses the point. Paul tells us that 'worship' is the transformation of our lives. He uses the word, in Romans 12:1-2, from memory, for priestly temple service and the 'sacrifice' is living: us! James also weighs in: 1:27; something the modern church seems to have 'outsourced' to government!.

Nor do we gather for preaching. Preaching in the NT is the proclamation of the gospel to those who have not heard or responded. Perhaps Paul is the model here where he discussed the gospel in terms that made sense to his hearers: the Mars Hill address a case in point.

What we do meet together for, on whichever day, is to build up one another (1 Cor 11-14), to teach one another, where each has a prayer, a hymn, a prophesy  (in the Biblical, not the foretelling sense, maybe), etc. We gather in love for each other to edify one another. The post reformation church has failed consistently with its mere remodeling of Roman priest-craft and transformed the gathering of the saints into a pulpit show.

 

How's your church doing?

If you want to find out. Here's an 'instrument' that will help you understand.

It  consists of three items in each of three major areas of church life and people mark where on each radius where they think their church is. Nearer the middle, the worse, nearer the circumference, the better.

Now, the way to use this instrument is to have three teaching seminars over the months prior (you do have monthly teaching seminars: Saturday afternoon, simple dinner, evening discussions?).

 Here are the factors we score:

Worship - as defined by Paul, and James.

Transformed thinking ( Romans 12: 1-2), care for others (James 1:27), and the payoff being the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

Congregating - our gatherings where we grow. See 1 Corinthians 11-14; and no, it's not just about speaking in 'tongues'.

The important factors are; meeting to edify one another: this implies other than a one-man pulpit show; and doing so in love ( 1 Cor 13).

Learning: this hangs of 1 Peter 3:15, being prepared to give a reason for the hope we have in Christ.

Training for this might include the monthly seminars I mentioned above covering in general how to handle the 7 basic questions of Christians, and the 7 challenges Muslims often make to Christians. A set of seminars with discussion are essential for these two areas.

The other areas must include Biblical understanding: the whole show that hangs of the major events: Creation, Fall, Babel, Abraham, David, Christ, New Creation.

Also Christian theology: we all need a good grounding in Christology, Soteriology, Creation-New Creation, particularly. We should also cover Historical theology to understand the development of the wider church through history. 

Then we would be forming those who could teach (Hebrews 5:12) and people who could confidently 'chat their faith' and engage in focused proclamation in the street or marketplace.

Measuring church performance

I saw a podcast on this topic recently.

I suggest that mere numbers, or changes in numbers of attendees, or the size of the offertory, tells us little of value.

Here's what we might measure instead:

1. The Hebrews 5:11 test: how many of the congregation are able to teach?

2. How many people are the hired help training and coaching to teach?

3. How many people do the 'Talking the Talk' workshops, or whatever you call your workshops on how to deal with the common questions/challenges made to Christians.

 

This tells you about sustainable discipleship actually happening. You want the biggest number in point (3), the smaller number in (2) and the smallest at any time in (1). Long term sustainable spiritual growth.

20 church actions

Points from a video by Matt Dabbs at Revolution of Ordinaries, a YouTube channel by a Churches of Christ minister, from what I can gather. But, I like the guy. He makes good sense in most cases.

 My comments.

00:16 - #1 - Biblical teaching without smoke machines

And this means: not a 'sermon'. Sermons aren't how we teach practices and how we truly learn and grow in true knowledge, knowledge we incorporate into our thinking world.

How we do this is by discussion. Discussion for learning-teaching is not a free for all: see Stephen Brookfield's work on this. It might start with pre-reading of a passage, not necessarily constrained by the chapter-verse coordinate system we have, and some pointed questions and cross references to consider. Then as a group we discuss. Then the teacher gives a summary talk to bring it all together, and Q and A following, perhaps while still seated, but with some refreshments. Maybe at tables, like a cafe or a banquet.

00:55 - #2 - Participatory worship

Of course, he means participatory gatherings. Worship is what we do all the time as our minds are transformed and we are caring for our brethren in need (Romans 12:1-2, James 1:27).

As per 1 Corinthians 11-14, each has something to contribute: more a 'round-table' discussion circle than a one-person lecture all facing the front. 

And our singing is to teach each other: Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16. 

01:24 - #3 - Preachers who know the people

He means teachers/prophets, of course. Yes, this is a thing of the gathering of the saints, not a dislocating rant or ceremonial address that has nothing to do with relationship. It is the members of the gathering who do the teaching/prophesying (encouraging biblical reminders).

01:48 - #4 - Holy Spirit back in charge

Our church needs to be prayerfully conscious of being in the hands of the Spirit. Church means the body of Christians together. Not merely the building we use to meet in or the times of meeting in that building.  

02:26 - #5 - Make Disciples

This marks the biggest failing of the entire Western church! We don't make disciples. We grab every new believer and shove them into a pew, perhaps having urged them to read the Bible, or given them a study book to work through; perhaps a couple of meetings with a counselor (I mean a mature Christian to encourage and teach, not a head-doctor).

Not enough. It should be at least a year of careful coaching and instruction, in groups if possible. This should cover the foundations: what the Bible is, its organization and textual history; biblical theology, basic church history, study of a gospel, Acts, a couple of shorter letters, Genesis, Job, and selected 'episodes' from other OT books. It should also include simple apologetics, such as the 7 basic questions and the 7 Muslim challenges.

Some instruction on basic heresies and heretical cults could also be important. 

Then, the new Christians should be drawn into the community with hospitable inclusion in the life of the church: being invited for a  simple meal or coffee in your home, go to movies, concerts together, etc.

Finally, they should be invited to participate in giving: volunteering in ministries they are suited to or interested in; talk about their 'journey' in the gathering or small group, and their reflections on their journey so far.

General on-going discipling is important, so people can become teachers where so gifted, conduct groups, organize functions or ministries, be trained in public speaking, and the pragmatic side of church life as well. 

03:36 - #6 - Plant churches

Carefully and wisely. Thorough research on the local area and support from the sending group.

05:02 - #7 - Make communion central

I don't think the early church had a 'ceremonial' or 'sacramental' communion. It was part of their 'love feast' or meal together. 

06:02 - #8 - Play together

Go out together, not in cliques, but in assorted groupings: to entertainments, picnics, conferences.

07:18 - #9 - Fasting

An inconvenient practice...that's why we need to get back to it. 

07:46 - #10 - More hearing the Bible

Not just snippets, but, in the right context, whole coherent passages. We also need to train and practice this craft so that its worth doing and worth listening to. 

08:48 - #11 - Healthy accountability

Sure, but not intrusive:always kind, supportive, in love, and seeking the others' (or mutual) growth. 

09:31 - #12 - Less clock, more connection

Besides, we need to have longer more varied gatherings. If your church has a building, turn it into a whole Sunday thing:

Classes in the morning

Morning tea

Large meeting for edification: 1 Cor 14.

Lunch together, maybe a talk and some discussion

Skills workshops

Casual chat-around (people come and go)

Supper

Evening gathering: sharing and singing, prayer. 

10:06 - #13 - Teach on sin

Avoid legalism and casuistry. Sin is 'anti-God', anti-love, pride in action. It is not of the New Creation.

10:31 - #14 - Spiritual community engagement

Connect with the local community, real connections, join local groups, be known as Christian, and genuinely interested in the group. Get involved in various relief efforts for local and distant disasters. 

Be seen on the street and in any fairs with community booths for organized stand-up evangelism; and don't be corny, be real. 

11:41 - #15 - Less programs, more training; training as the consistent theme of the gathering body.

As per #5 above. 

12:18 - #16 - Spiritual leadership

Expunge the modern usage of  'leadership'. Replace it with 'communityship', serving each other with one's gifts and skills and Philippians 2:1-17. 

12:53 - #17 - Kingdom vision and goals

Know that we are working to the New Creation in all that we do. But do it with careful thought based on real opportunities, needs, challenges and know the barriers to overcome.

13:18 - #18 - Privatize giving

All giving should be top-secret. 

14:06 - #19 - Engage community leaders

Connected with #14 above. Get your senior brethren (that is those with specific relevant responsibilities) to connect with civic authorities.

14:41 - #20 - Don't rely on "tech" 

Good pointers in the video: that is be personal, not 'automated' by web services. But in the fine detail, do technology well. 

Make sure any use of equipment, IT or otherwise is skilled and tested. Set up sound gear professionally (no tapping a microphone asking if it is 'on'. You should have done a sound check with the panel operator/producer before delivering). Have people trained and skilled as 'producers'.

Nevertheless, do your best to make your equipment serve, not lead. If you have no illustrations that add to a particular presentation, talk, speech, training session, don't use PowerPoint! 

Be Like a New Testament church

Tom Wadsworth, in a recent podcast, ran through his 9 points for change to echo the NT church in our modern practice.

Also see his full lecture on this.

I've added my comments here and there.

1. Change terminology.

'Worship services/time/pastor...order of worship, etc' That language is foreign to the NT. Paul sets out the core of worship in Romans 12:1, 2. But let's also use NT terminology for our gatherings/assemblies: gathering/ecclesea, assembly.

2. Make edification the purpose of our church gatherings: 'one anothering' each other.

Make edification the purpose of joining a church gathering. That is, to build up one another. Nor by the 'man at the front', but 'one-anothering' each other. No longer a consumer, but a maker (jointly).

3. Less concert more content.

'Worship' and 'worship music/bands/pastors' has come to dominate modern gatherings; and music made to mimic the entertainment attraction of a pop-concert. This is far from the 'one-another' songs mentioned in the NT.

4. More speakers, shorter speeches.

Not just one person doing the talking, but many do so; but in an orderly manner.

5. More dialogue, less monologue.

Conversations about living the faith, not lectures that amble around a single verse. The latter is for the teaching/study group (adult 'Sunday school').

6. Break big groups into small groups.

Up to about a dozen people. More than this imposes a limitation on individual participation and salience. This is where disciples are made and maturity is achieved. Without this, people are probably not growing and have no place to 'grow'.

7. Create edification 'rooms'.

The church I recently served at purchased, converted and extended a cottage for meeting rooms. One of them, and one in the older building, were fitted out like domestic sitting rooms, with sofas, easy chairs, coffee table, standard lamps. Not like office meeting/lecture rooms (which the others were), but homes.

Not only did young people relax more in them and feel at ease, but so too did adults.

In larger rooms, seating might be set out to allow people to see each other: in arcs if not full circles.

But also, let's really drop the usage 'church' when we refer to our buildings. In my church, apparently as one of the appointed ministers (that is, elected, but not paid) pointed out to me, the place where we gather on Sundays is 'The Church', not, as I had referred to it in a document as: "the main hall. Sheesh!!

8. Incorporate the meal: the Last Supper was a meal, not a shot of wine and a cracker.

Include full meals in the life of the church and use these to remember the Last Supper. Eating together brings people together: relaxed. But, be sure that talk about  Christian life  and concerns is the major conversation focus.

And 'shot' of wine? Who ever heard of such a thing!

9. Make love an assembly mandate (I Cor. 13).

Paul's discourse on love is in the context of assemblies! When the church comes together, with many speaking, etc. love is essential to trust in this as the way of the church, from which all learn and are known to each other.

On babies

In a documentary on the Islamisation of Sweden, the speaker made the point that Islam wins by out populating the post-Christian West. Not his words of course.

This caused me to reflect on the degree to which the church broadly as bought into this. I look at my church. It is in a well-off suburb with many practicing or retired professional people, managerial types and academics. Happily we do see a good (but not good enough) number of children in the church.

But the Christian ethos tends not to dominate our lives. Self included.

I compare this with what I've seen of Roman Catholic practice as lived out. Two of my relations are priests and on the rare occasions I've participated in services they've been involved in I've been struck both by the simple courtesies of both clergy and 'laity' and the going out of the way concern for others. I noted particularly the concern for one disabled man who could not sit on the chairs available, so had to recline on steps to a podium at the rear of the ecclesium. One person offered to fetch him a chair, another a wheel chair, a group of clergy, all in their flashest PPE greeted him with a nod and a kind smile as they walked by.

I also saw lots of children; lots!

But we in the land of the well off seem to have 'just enough' children. The median number seems to be two. Three are rare. More is almost never seen. Yet, I would hope that we'd routinely see famlies of four to six children and middle-income pretensions be damned. But we don't.

The church has turned into a comfortable sermon club, neither engaged with (prophetically) the world, or a witness against its indulgent values.

Then I look at my own history. I have one child, and that in later life. I wanted to have a 'brood', but perhaps I was unconsciously wearing a 'not husband material' T-shirt, as I was also married later in life than...anyone else I knew.

Yet the environment seemed to be full of young women not so interested in marriage (except for one, who's companionship I fumbled badly), or to my mind 'not suitable' for me or 'out of range' in terms of age. Was I too 'picky'? Was I indeed not 'husband material'? To what extent had my church life led me unwittingly down the same path as the self-indulgent? Had it similarly led the women I mixed with?

Yesterday at church: be family

The sermon was on 'being family'.

Clearly our teachers saw a deficiency here and urged its correction.

However, a 'family' ethos is a result, not a cause. If our current systems are not producing the desired outcome,  then 'try harder' within these systems will achieve no change, just frustration, fatigue and disenchantment.

We must understand the system that is causing this result, and then devise relevant changes to it. It is probably a long term effort, not one that will work next week.

Welcomers at your church gatherings/services/meetings

The job of a welcomer is usually to say 'hi' hand out the service handout, if there is one, and for a newcomer, offer to help them find a seat and escort them to it.

 

Welcomers should continue to be 'on duty' after the gathering: keep an eye out for the newcomer, speak to them again, ensure they have a coffee if desired and available. Introduce them to a regular member.

 

Emergencies: the welcomers must be trained for emergencies, be able to help with exits, operate fire extinguishers, and do initial aid care (not 'full' first aid) and assist as guides for evacuation. They must train for this regularly.

 

Spiritual issues. The welcomer may be the only person a newcomer speaks to, and so they should be able to give a plain English, cogent answer to any of the 7 basic questions:

 

1 -- Why do you go to church?

 

2 -- Why are you a Christian?

 

3 -- Why do you read the Bible?

 

4 -- Did Jesus of Nazareth really resurrect -- is he really God?

 

        Bible teaches Yeshua is God

 

5 -- Why do you believe in God?

 

6 -- Doesn't science disprove the Bible?

 

        See John Lennox on Science and God -- Two Mistakes we Make.

 

7 -- How can you believe in God/be a Christian with so much evil and suffering in the world?

 

        My first impulse here is to ask how they deal with evil and suffering in the world without a Saviour? Do they just accept it mutely, ignore it, seek to redress it, and how? However, the first question, as always should seek information: what do they mean by 'evil and suffering'? But also see John Lennox on this. And the full lecture.

When goodbye doesn't happen

A friend of mine recently left the job of church administrator. Not at my church, but another.

I'd spoken to him that morning in the hope of catching him before the farewell morning tea. He later assured me that there was not one. No farewell at all in formal terms from any of the ministers, let alone the senior minister, no offer of a time of prayer together, no card, no gold watch, no nuthin.

He said one of the committee members thanked him for his work and one of the ministers at the last moment asked him to turn up on Sunday for a formal farewell; but this should have been organised when he gave his notice a while back.

Sometimes churches just don't act like churches. I think in every organisation I've left I've enjoyed some sort of farewell unless I've avoided them, and even then colleagues have dropped into my office to chat and wish me well. But not at church!

If there are any updates to this, I'll write about them as I might learn more.

The church to join?

 How do you find a church to join?

Here's a tip: look for one like the one in this letter from a minister to his church as it looks to the year ahead.

This is a small country church in a large enough town.

The congregational committee started to meet for this year.  The committee members are A, B, C, D and F (names obscured, of course), and they will look after rosters, music and training readers.

We have four adult Bible classes for first half-year:

The Rector                   Practical Discipleship

Rector's warden           Genesis

Bishop Jones (ret'd)    The Psalms of Messiah

Deaconess Smith        Minor Prophets

There are five home groups this year. Joe Flynn will be the secretary to organize them with the groups being hosted by: Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Yoshio Yoda, Jane Dulo and Lisa Seagram.

Our year started with a thanksgiving prayer meeting in which 20 participated.

Following on from this in February we held our Home Group Launch to which 78 people come (pot-luck lunch and very enjoyable).

Men's Mountain is back after a successful year last year. This year we have some great dinners lined up with speakers from far and near, including Bishop Jones talking about his adventures in the bush with Leon Morris all those years ago.

The Men's Mountain project this year is to help St Eric's at Junee with their first steps towards prison ministry. We'll be staying on a wheat farm! St Eric, as you man know, is the patron saint of Law.

The first of our community seminars was for our older folk, or those with older parents and dealt with aged care options and legal concerns.Brad and Janet organized it.

Our next community seminar will be on managing the work-life-kids-rest-hobbies balance. It will be in May, details to come later.

This year our sermon pattern will be each month:

1st Sunday: OT

2nd Sunday: NT

3rd Sunday: Theology

4th Sunday: Society, that is apologetic and social issues with a biblical critique.

The 5th Sunday,  when it occurs will be on an aspect of church history.

Of course the names have been obscured (with the cast of McHale's Navy), but you get the drift. It's  a little church that you've got to love!

Jung: wrong again!

Richard Noll, in his book "The Jung Cult" writes, quoting Hinkel: 

"...it is indeed a central part of Jung's repudiation of traditional Christianity that offered a God that was distant, transcendent, and absolute."

And how wrong this is.

The Bible tells of a God who is in intimate fellowship with his creatures, then after their repudiation of him, provides a means of regaining that communion.

The God who dwells with his people in their imageness, in propositional communication, in the Tabernacle and Temple, is among us in Christ, who upon leaving us provided the gift of his indwelling Spirit and the family of the faithful.

This is God who is close, who seeks man for fellowship...for man's good. Who has shown us his proximity and relatable connection by performing the creation within the basic delineation of our existence: in a series of days, cementing that relational connection first in the Sabbath then in the person of Christ Immanuel.

7 tips to choose a church

1.  avoid Calvinist churches and those that like to pretend evolution is God's method of creation.
2. avoid churches with no active community outreach (and I mean outreach, not in-drag) or evangelistic training and action
3. avoid churches that don't educate kids and youth in the Bible's total picture, its grand narrative and the wonderful theology and picture of reality it teaches
4. avoid churches where the financial statements are not public
5. ensure both sexes, suitably qualified, are involved in church governance
6. check that it has a membership of which at least 30% are active in volunteering in the church
7. check that it has a strategy to connect with new-comers, engage them in the church life and integrate them as disciples of Christ.
   

In translation

I had the opportunity recently to read a church program from a Chinese church.

It was one of the best church programs that I'd encountered, after I found its translation into English.

Sundays were the day of both general connection and study. We meet to sing and pray together and share some testimonies of thankfulness or (wise) observation from our week. The pastor or an elder then gives a talk from the scriptures or related to the scriptures.

These follow the general framework of four sessions over the year, with breaks for Easter, Pentecost, Trinity and Christmas when activity is focused on the subject of those seasons.

The four seasons are devoted to: Old Testament, New Testament, Themes (i.e. systematics), and Society. Society is about apologetics and the analysis of ungodly views of life and the world.

The talks are of a general nature: encouraging, informative and practical.

Then one can stay for lunch, or not.

After lunch there is a two hour Bible class. This is optional but it is run by a qualified teacher with the aim of giving a 'theology diploma' level of education in the Bible over a four year cycle. Lent season, running from Candlemas to Easter is always an overview of the Bible, teaching its background and general 'story' of reality. This is run every year, so some may skip it in subsequent years. The following three seasons of the year work through:

Year 1: Pentateuch, History, Minor Prophets 1

Year 2: Wisdom, Major Prophets 1, Major Prophets 2

Year 3: John, Minor Prophets 2, Acts,

Year 4: Synoptics, Paul, General Epistles & Revelation

 The cycle really ends at Advent when seasonal topics are considered.

In the afternoon another option is a Christian Education program. This is about apologetics, gospel conversations, and church history, It runs after Easter and up to Advent in two session each year.

Each week there are Disciple groups. These might be 'home studies' or 'Bible study' groups. They are about prayer, reading through and discussing the Bible in step with the Sunday general teaching program and prayer and personal discussion.

The church has a 're-group' once a year as a weekend away, which includes reflection on church life and learning, and an 'equipping' weekend at their premises, usually around Pentecost for some intensive teaching.

Seems pretty good to me!

The outreach program I'll cover in a future post.

Modern church

The  modern church is a parody of church. The NT, 1 Cor. 14:26ff, for example is utterly different from the pretend captain of our souls: the pastor/minister/priest. The 'pastor' is a transmogrified priest, that's all. The NT talks about a plurality of service and oversight; not 'leadership and authority'. Yet we resist this at every turn.

Sermons, lectures, would be the poorest of teaching modes. Something like tutorials at uni would offset the largely ceremonial waste of time that a sermon represents. Our church has started to recognise this and we reserve our serious teaching for short courses. Church is not a spectator sport, but in the West has largely descended into that.

Special interest groups?

Be wary of these. I like the idea, but 'social 'justice' groups' (an interest group so biblically bizarre that I had to use quotes within quotes), for example, will usually attract the left side of the church and will go on to interpret everything in the freedom- and soul-destroying doctrines of socialism; often without even knowing it. Such groups must be given instruction that is biblical, and not just cherry picking verses, but grounded in the whole teaching of scripture.

Further, we must remember that political activism can only go so far. An unsaved 'pro-lifer' is as condemned to perdition as a hired killer. So goes for the unsaved solar panel maven, and so on.
Our one core job is to preach the gospel. Not just 'John 3:16-ing people, but...here's an example of a friend's practice:

At his Uni there was a large Muslim forum on Jesus. He went along, ended up having a 90 minute discussion with the mufti. The mufti was much challenged; but my friend knew the Koran and the more prominent hadith. He was well versed in Muslim thinking and culture, he keeps reading and thinking and watching sources that analyse Islam; he keeps rehearsing with every public Muslim he meets his talking points. He keeps track of what was successful, what was rebutted, and improves.

At the same time as this function, the Uni Christian group contented themselves with standing by their tables hoping a Muslim would come along! No! We've got to go there, just as Paul did in Acts 17.

It takes work, study, conversation and endless practice. There's no time for 'social activism'.

What should church 'look' like?

On reading the New Testament, one would not get the idea that the church would be like it is in most places today.

The modern Western church, and probably over the entire world, is like the pre-reformation church. The reformation, like most revolutions, merely changed the people at the steering wheel, and some of the fuel, of course.

We still isolate 'worship' into a set of performances in a special room, with a ceremonial talk called a 'sermon'.

Paul tells us otherwise.

The closest thing I got to what I'd call a 'real' church expression was in a small 'church plant' in a lower income area.

First we collected the kids in a bus for Sunday School. We taught SS, then drove the kids home. Back at the church premises we gathered for a pre-'service' morning tea; we chatted, mingled and were a community.

Then we had the 'service' which became a performance of sorts. Another morning tea was then provided, noting that most attendees had not participated in the 'between tea'.

The middle bit was good.

So how might church be at meeting.

Informal, sitting around tables, talking about life, faith and the scripture, a light meal,  perhaps or morning or afternoon tea. Singing, of course, but not as performance, as community.

After we might break into a few learning groups; groups for new, younger, and older Christians.

We might also meet during the week for prayer and conversation, with reading of the Bible together.

For special events: Christmas, Easter, Pentecost we might have special celebrations. Proper liturgy, choir, etc. followed by a special lunch or dinner together.

Once year we might have a conference, or we might alternate a conference and a 'regroup' (not a retreat) annually. These might be at our premises, or away at a special venue.

Years ago we had a men's conference at a hotel in the local mountains. It was great. Not lavish, but good to be in decent accommodation, a room to oneself, good food and lovely meeting rooms.

All this would be tricky for me, as I find a formal liturgical 'service' wonderfully helpful and enthralling. Every time we meet we together read the Bible, say the creed, the confession, respond to prayer and commune together. The 'service' is full of the scripture and its sentiments, all reinforcing of our faith and commitments.

Cute church signboards

We've all seen them; droll or twee church signboards; or even just naff! But at last a good one, IMO:

What if there's more?

Good one!

No fake answers, no dimwitted use of Bible passages. Just a question.

Now, I wonder what the follow up is.

A church in retreat

I can see my church rolling back.

We sometimes have 'retreats'. Now we've made it a strategy, it seems. We are in full retreat.

Years ago we helped to found a local educational ministry with other local churches. We can no longer find a volunteer to be on the joint committee. Christians might not like committees, but without them nothing gets organised.

We did have outreach type activities every day of the week. Then it went down to three days a week, now we're down to two days a week. None of these produce any real flow of Sunday attendances or enrollment in short courses, so why do we do them?

Our Easter Fair was a bit of a local thing. Not enough volunteers. Can't run it.

Prayer before our Sunday meetings? No. No time, no interest to convene it.

There's a local 'market' once a month. We could have a booth there and sell crafts produced by our mission partners' villages, offer 'fair trade' coffee (I don't think this has any real benefit, but it would allow us to offer free coffee without seeming to compete with others). Then we could use this for quiet outreach activities with volunteers trained to initiate conversations that lead somewhere. No one is interested.

Our youth ministry has fallen flat. Partly due to demographics, partly not.

We make no contribution to local school religious education ministry.

I don't quite know what we do.

We outsource our efforts in family development to secular organisations with secular commitments including to sex confusion (one organisation we host has terminated an employee for standing against its rejection of men's needs).

We do have some courses that are helpful, but not properly targeted (maybe because these needs are not promoted from the pulpit); we have nothing for developing skills in faith conversation, regular courses in grounding faith (for new Christians), and the bones of Christian faith, practice and history. These only need to be 'term' long: that's 10 weeks.

We don't do anything to celebrate and encourage ministry contributions: I could image both an inaugural celebration for group ministers (servants, the biblical idea, not 'leaders', the worldly idea), with perhaps a special morning tea or lunch, similarly at year end; we could have a celebration of our church's founding; maybe not on the date, but on Pentecost!

In the past we've partnered with a small rural church for encouragement and support, and mutual edification. We lost interest!

We do nothing for men or separately for women; true we have lots of home groups; maybe that's good, but I don't know. Men particularly miss out in church, which are very woman dominated in the volunteering effort, and have few occasions to get together as men and do man things. I don't mean tritely, but just a dinner and a guest speaker three times a year would help. Off that we could develop a men's group for monthly fellowship, prayer and discussion. We did have bi-monthly breakfasts, but they've gone. Another local church has a weekly men's breakfast. Has done for decades. But not us.

We're in retreat.