Do we view our faith through the eyes of our mind, or our heart?

I think I have learned a secret, a secret so profound it has been oft overlooked in dealing with faith. But not just any ole faith the faith of the church. You see I am finding large numbers of people who are interested in spiritual things. People who are looking for angels, demons, ghost... looking to astrological signs, fortune tellers, palm readers, or churches. Yes I lumped the churches into the "trial" areas of peoples search for the supernatural. Hence the reason shows like "Ghost Wisperer" or Touched By an Angel, movies like the craft and covenant have a large following. People desperatly want something to believe in, and some will believe in anything in the hopes of finding the supernatural, the spiritual.

Paul encountered this in a huge proportion in Ephesus, where he stayed for over two years. Ephesus was the hub of magical and supernatural power seekers of all of Asia Minor. People were hungry then and they are hungry now. I find it interesting that Paul prayed for the people of Ephesus "that the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened" (opened) because it is there that real spirituality is found.

Today we as church leaders have focused on the going: go to this church cause it has the real presence of God, go to this church to find your destiny, go to this church to find your home. But the whole Bible has little to say about the going, yet the people of the Bible placed so much emphasis on it, and the people of today are spending so much time on it that tey (both the old and the now) have missed the journey. I believe that is why Jesus spent so much time outside the "place" and inside the "lives" of those He touched. people who are spiritually hungry are not looking for a place, they are looking for a person and the vehicle that God chose to share His love and power was not a place (though it was called the church) it was people. People living together in faith is where true spirituallity is found, not in a building. now I am not against gathering in a building provided that gathering does not become the focus, the faith journey found in the community of people living life as a family is the focus, and should be the focus now and in the future!

I have heard so many sermons on the errors of those found in the Bible (sins if you will) and about how they were put in the Bible for us to learn from so we wouldnt make the same mistakes. I wonder if the Inspired God put those people in there to tell us something else. I believe He was telling us He loves us and He loves people who are not perfect. people who make mistakes, people who sin. thats what community is all about, "normal" people becoming Gods people, and showing other "normal" people how they can become Gods people too.

Find the spiritual outside the walls of a building, find it in community, find it in "THE Church"

Message from a Non believer

This post is from comments on annother blog I frequent: Bob Carder - The Planter from a non believer. I am posting his comments and my response. I would love to hear from more like him who are honest and upfront.
David said:
Hi, I'm a non-believer, so I hope you don't mind if the "world" intrudes into your Christian sphere a little.In recent years, I have re-newed my interest in spiritual matters, including the Christian faith. First impression: From my experiences interacting with Christians in blogs like this, there is no such thing as radical transformation. Christians have no deeper understanding of life. They are not spirituality more advanced/mature than other people. Christianity merely appears to be a source of deep emotional comfort - but Christians have no clear answer to controlling emotions and developing healthy emotional lives.Second impression: Christians are not really interested in talking to the world about their message. Sure, they will reply to questions occasionally, but few will take the time to really engage in meaningful dialogue with non-Christians. Christians seem to be more interested in re-arranging the chairs on the Titanic, or desparately trying to stop the collapse of their faith in the Western world.Third impression: I've also looked at other faiths, especially Buddhism. What I found surprising, was that Buddhists are interested in engaging with the world, have very practical strategies for developing better lives, personally and socially, have a clear, analytical and relational philosophy. All this without the "Jesus saves" gobbledy-gook proffered by Christianity.

Carls Response:
David,
I appreciate your candidness, the church needs to hear from more people such as yourself. I for one am listening and would love to hear more. If I may address some of your comments:Christianinty has become the icon of American History, and as such many have claimed Christianity as their heritage. Church attendance has for many become the act of claiming their heritage without the substance of Christ. Likewise if Christianity has become the icon of American History then the Bible has become the icon of Christianity, and as such the Bible can be found in over 90% of the homes in America (usually dust covered and unread). The church has taken the life found in the Bible and reduced it to spiritual truths of ages past, and God has been reduced to the God who did instead of the God who does and is doing.The Bible does infact contain the answers to your questions regarding developing healthy emotions. You see once we remove the icon status and once again begin to see the Bible as the inspired, living word of God it can and does transform lives, emotions, marraiges... etc.For many the idea of talking to the world about the Christian message is reduced to sharing their American Heritage: "well I'm a Christian" but the backbone, the crux of real Christianity goes much deeper than that, unfortunatly many simply only embrace it as the past rather than the now.Many of us have no desire to try to stop the collapse of that kind of faith because some of us believe that that kind of faith must collapse in order for the living faith in our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed in the lives of those living in a powerless rote of tradition they call faith.I prefer to not run around with all the Jesus saves gobbledy gook, I would rather live that Jesus Saved and transformed my life and you can live victorious today too... victoriously in your emotions, your marraige, your finances, all your life wholly. And I would love the oppertunity to share with you how.The Bible is full of practical strategies for developing better lives and it differes from buddhism in that it is found in a relationship, not in a set of behaviors.Thank you for sharing with us please come and share more, or as the scripture says "come let us reason together"

So anybody want to share their hearts on these issues? Post a comment!

What does it mean to belong?

So what does it really mean to belong? I often struggled with this while pastoring in the traditional church setting, because I oft found my own views did not match those of the church, or the denmination.

Allow me to explain:

Our church required in its constitution and by-laws that the only way for one to belong, I.E. "be a member" was to accept a set statement of faith and embrace the doctrine of the church, and/or make a confession of faith and be baptized. While I am all for a person making such a confession, and I am certainly all for baptism I simply do not see this model described in scripture. What I do find was Jesus traveling the countryside inviting people to come and follow, and then he taught them along the way and their lives were transformed through the following, and through the belonging. I dont find Jesus saying "hey come follow me, but first you have to accept my set position on things, and then you can follow me." He calls, people follow, transformation comes after, not before.

A community of faith is one where ALL peoples, at ALL stages of their faith's journey should be able to belong, and grow. From the person who does not believe there is a God to the believer of 30 years who thinks they have it all figured out, and every spot on the journey in between. It is in the belonging that believing and transformation come.

Starving Artist's or God's paintbrush?

I just had dinner with a young 30 somethings family last night in our home... As we sat over coffee after dinner, while the xbox roared in the background from all the kids (8 fully enjoying the gaming experience, well most were enjoying the gaming experience:P) I began to share the vision for a movement without walls, without platforms or platform ministers and without programs. We talked about how exciting this sounded, how discipleship is what they desire in their own lives and the lives of their chldren. After about an how or so the hammer dropped...

"so what will it look like?"

I had just spent an hour describing what it would be like, only to realize that we are uterly clueless as to what it will look like. While we have wonderful concepts of the disciple making process, and we have an awesome vision, it simply cannot be painted on a canvas like a Norman Rockwell special edition. It cannot be sold at a starving artist closeout at the local exhibition center like a sofa size painting for $19.99.

I tried to explain, I dont know what it will look like, I mean how do you describe a ministry with no walls, no programs, no Sunday Sermon, no stage or band, only people... and thats just how you describe it, its people!

God is such an awesome painter, He uses wide brushes, skinny ones, he uses oil paints and watercolors and they blend so well when He does it. And those paintings are people, short people, tall people, married people and single people, people with broken hearts and people with Big hearts ready to love... what better description could I give than one that paints a visual picture of how much God loves every person. And God wants us to pour our lives into people, not things like buildings. Not things like programs, just loving people! thats what we're here to do, to love people into the Kingdom of God.

It takes God to be able to paint this picture on the hearts of those He calls to join us and I love to watch Him paint.

I thought Church was a thing of the past for me, and for my family. ..

What a strange way to start a post on a blog for a new church... Let me explain, the church as it looks today with its priorities on services, programs and buildings was, and is a thing of the past for me and my family. I Pastored for 14 years in that setting and found that much was wasted on writing sermons instead of meeting people. Holding business meetings and making sure the order of service was right instead of sharing my life with people. Oh yes we had great services and I preached great messages (I know because as people shook my hand as they left the building they told me so:) ) and then I would work on next weeks service, or the new worship song, or the next come and see event, or the... well the list is endless. And such was my life, the life of a Pastor.

When I left that life over a year ago I had every intention of never pastoring again, yet here I am, launching out into the deep of that very thing, Pastoring... but not like you would think when you think of that word, that job description. This time there is no sermons to write, no order of service, shucks, there isnt even a building, there is just a deep desire to see lives changed, to see families changed, to help people live, survive, and even thrive in this world we live in. And you know what, we just might learn what it really means to "BE" the church along the way.

So have you ever thought about what church would be like without a building, or service, or the great "programs" like youth ministry and childrens ministry? Might it look like "a family"? well thats kind of what it should look like, a family with crying babies and antcy children, and even the ocasional bored teenager... or maybe it would not have any crying babies, or antcy children, or bored teenagers at all (well probably crying babies) because maybe, just maybe they are hungry for a real relationship with God too? maybe they long for the environment to see their entire family striving to make their sunday faith real... and maybe, just maybe it would be life changing for them to see.

What do you think???