Friday, February 14, 2014

On Donald Miller and church

I read yesterday that Donald Miller, a wonderful writer and great Christian mind, says he can't find God through music and has pretty much given up on church. He says he finds God through work most often.

He writes in a follow up to that much shared blog, "Theologically, I find myself in the evangelical camp in many ways, but as for the 'one way to do life and church' I've gone a different way. And I'm hardly alone. While I love the traditional church, I love it like a foundational part of my past..."

He goes on in a very rational ways to explain how "church" is evolving for him. He says, "I'd say half of the most impactful people I know, who love Jesus and tear up at the mention of His name, who reach out to the poor and lonely and are fundamentally sound in their theology, who create institutions that feed hundreds of thousands, do not attend a traditional church service. Many of them even speak at churches, but they have no church home and don't long for one. They aren't wired to be intimate with God by attending a lecture and hearing singing (which there is NOTHING wrong with). They are wired to experience God by working with Him."

Let me say that this somewhat influent individual has the right to believe and act in whatever way he deems works for him. That he finds God is the key to the entire matter.

So many times in so many ways we seek to "do church right," when what we really mean is we want to come into contact with God in a great and meaningful manner.

I believe one way (ONE WAY) we do that is through worship. I have based my life, accepted my calling, and what I believe I've been called to do most is lead through worship. It's what I feel I'm best at, though clearly and certainly there are hundreds if not thousands who are better at it than I.

All week long I work towards the one hour on Sunday, and when I take the sermon into the pulpit, I do so with a sense of great responsibility and honor. And I believe that what happens some of the time, not all the time, is that God speaks through me. I really do. What others hear or experience, I can't really say.

I want what Donald Miller wants, so desperately. And that is a touch of the divine. Can that song, prayer, song, offering, special song, lecture style of church be boring? Without doubt. And that is only part of the reason church is declining. But mostly I think, it's about the one in the pews for the object of worship is God, not what we get out of it.

Miller's final comments are very, very telling, though.

He says, "Neither am I a ruing the current model (of church) should change. Millions are weekly thought these kinds of programs. What I'm arguing is that nobody should be faulted for creating something different. Those who would argue "we shouldn't simply create the church in our own image" forget it already has been created in our own image. ...I'd argue that by making the church smaller, less formal, less organized, less institutionalized and more like the chaos of a family structure, the church would be moving more toward the historical church in Acts and less like a culture-formed institution by deconstructing itself. Though I hardly consider that a God-given decree."

I would say that creative thinking, inspired by God, would help our churches immensely. The problem would be getting that across and through those who need a touch the most.

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