’Tis the Season, Born to Die, day 10

…Contemplating what it means to follow Christ, in being born in order to die

Back on day 5 of my advent ponderings I asked:  “So… what part of me and of you is God graciously inviting to die, so that many new things can be planted?”

Today, I want to ask that question of our churches and Christian organizations:  what part of us is God graciously inviting to die, so that many new things can be planted?   

There are way too many things that pop to mind.  Old programs.  Resistance to God’s Spirit.  Busyness that keeps us from things that are important.  Competition.  Empire Building.  Stinginess.  

Rather than allowing my list to go on and on, I’ll stop on one area in particular where I believe there is a need to die in order to live:

Putting other things before God.  (Traditionally called “idolatry”).

I know, I know.  Churches aren’t supposed to do that.  Churches are supposed to be all about God.  But too often we aren’t.  What are some of the things that churches seem to have a habit of putting before God?  

*Some churches idolize their pastor.  They believe that the church rises or falls on that person.  They believe that person is the one who makes the church “succeed.”  The pastor is treated like a celebrity, and there is the underlying belief that no one else could ever  fill the role that the pastor fills.  Sometimes the pastor feeds this belief.  What would happen if a church died to idolizing the pastor, and instead began to rely - truly - on God?

*Some churches idolize a key person or group of people in the church.  How many times have I talked to folks in a dysfunctional church who have been afraid to upset this key person or group because there is the belief that “if we upset them, they will leave, and if they left, the church would not survive.”  The reality is that, if the church continues to idolize this person or group, that prediction will ultimately come true.  That person or people will leave or die and the church will die with it.  What would happen if a church died to the influencers in the congregation (while there is still time!) and instead learned to listen to the voice of God and follow Him… no matter what the handful of nay-sayers said (no matter how ‘powerful’ they are)?

*Some churches idolize the building.   Maintaining it, beautifying it, sustaining it becomes more important than what happens in it.  What would happen if churches would die to their love for the building and instead find themselves in love with Jesus?

*Some churches idolize their programs.  It doesn’t start out that way… a program starts, is used of God, sees wonderful things happen.  But then people get attached, not to what God did in and through that program, but to the program itself.  People begin to think that the program must survive, because it is the program that worked, not God who worked.  What would happen if churches began to look for and celebrate where God is at work now?  And in those places where He seems most active, the church gets on board.  And in those places that seem less active, they let the program (yes) die.  Not because God was never in the program, but because God is now at work in a new way.

What if…