Setting and Success

Shifting; always changing, whether mighty or minuscule; anything that follows God will always be shifting.

Looking around, I see symptoms everywhere of a copying and regurgitation culture.  I recently returned to school and see it in the students.  They'll take an assignment, and spit back out what they took in, seemingly unable to take the material in, think about what it means, and apply it.  I roll my eyes more often than not... it's like the capacity to think has been bred out of us.  Our great "learning centers" have regressed; we have been duped into shelling out the rest of our lives for this "education" now.

The same thing happens almost everywhere.  In the church, we read books by these up and coming leaders, and try to copy and regurgitate their methods in our own settings.  We fail to take into account the setting where they became so-called successful, and even worse, we fail to even consider how something like that would apply in our own setting.

There are "buzz" locations, places where what the institution and leadership calls 'success' is occurring, both in our own local setting, and on the national level.  And that's fantastic.  Really.  I'm glad someone is figuring out how to tap into the potential that's everywhere.
     But what is considered successful and what is considered effective in these places may not apply in any way, shape or form to the setting where you are.

What is 'success' in a church, anyways?  Do you gauge success by the number of people sitting inside on Sunday morning?  By counting the people (who already have everything they could ever need,) except now they call themselves faithful because they gather on Sunday mornings?

If this is your measure of success, then from here on out, you'll probably never see this.  It's just not how God is doing things anymore.
If you can't see how God is drawing us all deeper into Him, and closer to one another, then... well, I'll be nice and shut up.

So how DO we measure success, especially in smaller churches that are strategically placed in areas where the gospel isn't just empty words, but the only thing that brings hope?

Are we tapping into this, or are we just being lazy and doing what we've always done?

Instead of being all proud and boastful of how many people you feed in your food pantry "ministry", maybe what God is doing now is inviting us down deep, in the depths of humanity, to get to the real reason that people need to get food from a food pantry.
     Wouldn't it be nice if there was no longer a need for a food pantry??  THAT could be called success.  (Then the army of people who volunteer to help with the monstrosity that has become the food pantry can actually be doing something to feed someone's soul, not just their belly.)

What if real success is standing side by side with people as they endure all that life throws at them?  It could look like noticing that someone is struggling, or noticing that something is 'off', and making yourself available to them.  Where they do all the talking, and we utilize the ears we've been given.  (I am particularly fond of reminding people that we've been given two ears and one mouth, not the other way around.)
          Instead of preaching to them, we walk with them.  It doesn't matter what side we stand, there's an ear on both sides of our head...

What if real success is slowly, patiently, changing the mentality of entire communities from hopelessness to a mentality of grace, and accountability, and general concern for the well-being of one another?  Where people stand together, united and connected.
     I would call that a kingdom transformation!

When looking at what to do next, it will take a holy imagination, and a whole lot of listening to what God is doing to figure out what is coming.

If we're not tapping into these things, then we'll just see more concrete proof of the crumbling of an institution built by man to honor God, but ignoring Him in the process.

March

In the blink of an eye, time passes.

The most desolate month of the year is gone (thank God), and in its place arrives a command:  march.

The darkness of February brings us to self-preservation; the cocoon is built, the blinders are on, and we close our eyes, all in hopes to weather the storm we cannot escape.

I am a bewildered soldier who knows what the command means.  I question everything about it, for it came with no answers and no clarity, only more of the unexplainable notion of faith.

     Work still has to be done in what was supposed to be periods of rest... will relief ever come.

     Relationships still have to be explained and maintained and nurtured, despite the agony of our brokenness and our misunderstandings and our offenses all being laid bare in plain view.

     The mortally wounded lay grovelling at the feet of the offenders, begging for mercy.  The apparent injustice of it all sickens me.

     'Confession' feels like feeble attempts to soothe the beast; words fail time and time again, so we just stop using them; somehow thinking that things will get better on their own.

The command echoes; the sound it creates is the only peace I know.  I keep chanting it, like a mantra, as it drives a rhythm into me, activating bone and muscle and flesh and neurons into action.

I am in between the first and second step, I think, of my cadence; time slows to an eternal pace as I try to anticipate where this procession leads before the second foot falls.

But, like the predawn sky, the command comes out of the darkness, pushing me.
Prodding.
Driving.

I am too tired to resist.