I have in my Bible study of late become more and more intuned to the fact that ALL of life is a matter of the heart. Everything pertains to the heart. This is how God made us, to be creatures of the heart, to live out of the heart, to love out of the heart, to experience joy out of the heart. Our parenting, our relationship with our spouse, our relationships in our workplace. All of who we are is from our heart. In the Bible so much is spoken about how the heart dictates the flow of our lives.
Because of this understanding I have come to the realization and the questions that follow:
If the heart is key to our lives, why do we rely on a church/church event or service to help us with our hearts? You see as I look back over time and see how the church has developed I have come to realize that the church God created in the New Testament was a scalpel, and we have taken that to a broadsword. Let me explain, if you went to see a cardiologist because there was some issue with your heart, you would not allow him to do surgery with a broadsword, nor would you allow him to try to perform heart surgery on a group of 300 at one time. In the context of the New Testament God called us to be makers of disciples, and the process of making disciples is done in a much smaller context (my preference is one on one) yet we have created the atmosphere where we call everyone to a service or event, and the speaker swings a broadsword at your heart to try to help you change it, to allow God to mold it… and in the process many leave with a heart condition that cannot be healed because of the sword rather than the scalpel.
Now more programs have been added to the church to try to resolve this condition, programs like Sunday school, Small groups, Youth groups and children's groups. We have women's Bible Study and Men's Bible Study, breakfasts and brunches… well you get the idea, and these are not bad things, and for some they have helped, but for most they are ineffective. At some point two things must happen as I see it in order for this to change:
1)The church goers must in themselves realize that what they are currently receiving is not sufficient to change their heart condition in many aspects of life…(I do not mean salvation per say, but rather the WHOLE of life that God has for them) or to help them grow to the potential God has for them. This realization must lead them to a disciplemaking, disciple driven ministry, where they can connect with a disciple maker who will pour themselves into their lives.
2)The church as it sits right now needs to put down her broadsword and pick up a scalpel and begin to move away from the event focused "come here to get" ministry to a disciple generating ministry where discipleship is more important than the size/numbers of your congregation or the size/numbers of attenders on a given Sunday Morning.
Neither of these things are easy to grasp, but I know many who are struggling and are beginning to see a need for change, changes in their own lives that they are not finding answers to in the church as they attend it now.
It would be so helpful to many who are dealing with these type issues if you would share your story with us, what do you think, are you being discipled by someone? Are you discipling someone? Do you think church as it is right now is discipling you? Do you wish someone would take the time to disciple you? These are questions many are facing with no one to help them hash it out, post a comment and help someone else (maybe even yourself).
Carl Van Vliet