I’m ready a book right now whose every page is ruining me in all the right ways.

I’m being filled with a holy desperation for something more.

My heart is craving for a community of people who are heaven-bent on loving others to Jesus in every radical way possible.

We’d rather play church.

But it seems we’ve settled down on earth and forgotten heaven completely.

Am I the only one? Is there a longing in your heart for a community like this?

Once upon a time there was a building. The building was half-filled once per week with a group of religious people.

One day, a firey traveling preacher pounded the pulpit and exhorted the congregation to become stewards of all that Christ had died in order to entrust to them.

This spark came alive in their hearts and things quickly started to change.

Everyone started actually giving 10% of their income to the work of the Lord.

The church decided to start tithing the CHURCH income to those in real need around the world.

The people decided to fill the building seven days a week: a drop-in on Monday. Tuesday kid’s group. Wednesday was training for parents. Thursday was youth programs. Friday was a couples marriage night. Saturday was a meeting place for serve projects. The afternoon following church was a makeshift blood donation clinic.  All weekdays the space was graciously ‘rented’, for very little, to community groups in need: seeing eye dog training, English as a second language, divorce care groups, counseling ministries. The church cut some of their own programs and poured their people into these groups.

Congregants purged their houses and gave half their possessions to the poor.

They eventually decided to sell their church building. They used the proceeds (just shy of $600,000) to increase support for their local community organizations, build 27 mission projects around the world, and create a fund to pay for renting their more use-appropriate warehouse in the heart of the city.

The church became the church.

Right now…
There are over 400,000 churches in North America.
Church real estate alone is valued in the tens of billions of dollars.
Average church budget is just under $300,000 USD.
For every dollar taken in, less than 2 cents goes overseas for missions.
If every American churchgoer went on welfare and starting tithing, giving would increase 4Xs.

Right now…
There are 143 million orphans in the world.
800,000 women and children are trafficked into the sex trade each year.
In the time it took you to read this, 33 people died from starvation.
Over the next 5 minutes, at least 400 people will die without knowing Christ.

Jay

This one’s big, and I’m going to bring it to a personal level with two stories next week.  But today, I want to talk about some broad indicators that lead me to the assumption that, unlike what we preach, we do not practice.

I read a tweet last week by @mikefili that said “There are 100,000 orphans in the US. There are 350,000 churches. You do the math.”

It got me to thinking about the numbers…

Let’s do the math here- 450,000 churches in North America alone. Over 30 million a week attend a church service somewhere.  Offerings are less than 2.5% per person.  In fact, if every person in America went on UNEMPLOYMENT and then actually tithed, giving would go up fourfold!

Christians give Christians a bad name.  They should have a show called ‘Christians Do The Darndest Things.’

Just found out that two local leaders (less than 10 minutes from my house) just got suspended from their ministry jobs after the SEC started investigation their involvement in a $14.1 million Ponzi scheme.

I read this week about a Baptist church in the south that believes God’s calling for their church is to travel to gay events all over the world and protest- to somehow show the love of Jesus by telling them they’re going straight to hell.

SOMEONE’S MISSING THE POINT!

If we all got it, poverty would be in rapid decline.
If we all got it, trafficking wouldn’t be happening at unprecedented levels.
If we all got it, gay people would be getting saved in huge numbers.
If we all got it, there would be ZERO un-adopted or un-fostered kids in our towns.
If we all got it, we’d use our wealth for kingdom investment, not greedy gain.
If we all got it, people in our cities would be getting saved in unmanageable numbers.

So let’s get it.

IT, being a ROCKIN’ relationship with Jesus, of course.

Jay

As a quick follow up to yesterday’s post, and certainly an important one, I’d like to write for a moment to something HUGE that I missed yesterday.

We ARE the church.

Duh. Sometimes I forget.

This is more important that everything else combined: that God planned it this way.  He specifically crafted the idea of getting people to learn to love each other.  He knew that IF they could figure it out and unite under one Lord, the world we see that something was different, and that God is alive and well in the hearts of men.  And so the church was born.

It’s had it’s ups and downs, for sure. It’s been used and abused and yet it still remains.  No one can stop it, no one can destroy it.  It’s constantly changing and it’s up to us to find out what God’s will is for the church in our generation.

Are you actively a part of the church?  Or are you trying to do your own thing?

We ARE the body of Christ.

We MUST get connected.

We, the church, choose to be the church.

Jay

I love church just as much as the next guy, but…

Skipping church doesn’t mean you’re going to hell.

But it does mean you’ll miss out on ALOT.

Accountability
An unexamined life is not one worth living.  Step into the light, don’t hide in the dark.  People who avoid church often avoid allowing others to lovingly walk alongside them and help them to work through their sin issues.  Let’s be honest- we’ve all got major hang-ups… it’s very hard to win by yourself.  You need a team.  You need a family.

Giving
On-mission churches are pretty much the best investment going.  If a community of Christ-followers is seriously tapped into the things of God, then giving a weekly offering should be like heroine- a total rush.  Kingdom investment almost ALWAYS suffers when we disconnect from church.  Church reminds us that this thing called life is WAY bigger than just us.

It’ll Sharpen You
The thing that makes the church so awesome is that it grinds on you.  Let me explain.  People have a way of bugging you, don’t they?  Me too.  I think God planned it that way.  It allows us to grow in love and patience and all the other gifts of the spirit.  Proverbs 27:17 says “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”

My former pastor, Dave Overholt, described it something like this… if you were a sheep and only hung around with a few other sheep, you’d always stay the same.  But the church is like a really big barn- you’ve got your sheep, cows, horses, and pigs (especially around potlucks). All these different types of ‘animals’ help you stretch and grow and see different perspectives.  Maybe ya’ll don’t get along- but that’s part of the joy of becoming one in Christ.

We’re an army.
You gotta remember- this is spiritual people!  We need each other- for protection (defense) and kingdom advancement (offense.)  I love what Mark Driscoll once said: “We’re getting ready to charge hell with squirt guns!” Church allows you to be part of a squadron of soldiers- you get to take up lines with heroes of the faith and fight the only fight worth fighting- for that of the rescue of a world that’s falling apart.  You’ll never to that from the couch.

I’ll confess- I didn’t “go to church” on Sunday. But I DEFINITELY met with God and some godly people.  Michelle and I went out for dinner at Ribfest in Guelph with James and Karen Kelly.  About 4 hours of our time together was spent in deep conversation about the things of God and how He was working in our lives.  We challenged each other on some things. We encouraged each other. We shared our hearts.  We dreamed and planned for some “God things” in the near future.  We shared our wealth (we paid for ribs, they paid for dessert!)  They shared their stuff with us (loaned us a box of Catalyst Lab CDs for our trip!)  Maybe we weren’t in any particular building, but “church” was definitely in session!

Intentional community.
Church is about being part of the conversation.  About constantly being connected to what God is saying and God is doing in the lives of those who love Jesus in your midst.  It’s about being on vision TOGETHER, for the good of your city.

I know people who sit in church every single Sunday for the past 20 years and have yet to engage in that conversation.

They’ve yet to lift a finger in service of God’s kingdom alongside their fellow workers in Christ.  They refuse to open up, refuse to step up, refuse to enter into the ‘community of the saints.’  It’s not that these people lack passion- I’ve seen them watch sports.  I’ve heard them quote movies.  I’ve witnessed their skill at mind-numbing time-wasting games.  Yet they never step out and live a real life adventure.  They’ve missed the point of church.

Here’s what a few of you are trying to do:
You agree so far in that you don’t like going to church on Sunday.  But you’re also not being intentional about being connected to the Body of Christ.  No, you’re using that time to sleep in.  You’re using that time to entertain yourself.  You’re bad talking others and avoiding certain people.  You’re wholly believing of the fact that you’re too good for that church.  And so you’re fading away.

CUT THAT CRAP OUT.  You’re not fooling anyone.  You’re rebellious and lazy and self-focused and pride-filled.  Submit, discipline, renew your vision, and humble yourself to the point that you can regularly and intentionally be a part of a community that loves Jesus and people immensely.

And for the rest, I leave you with the exhortation of Hebrews 10:25 today…

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Jay

Stop Working for Jesus. New blog post by Michelle for the girls.