Simple Church or Simple Jesus
I’ve heard the term “simple church” bantered around in different context meaning different things the past few years. I like it. All the discussion on church is about how to keep the church alive and effective today and insure a place for it tomorrow. How much of that is up to us and how much of that is up to God?
Is the answer of the church and the future of the church found in the church, or outside the church? What if the answer was not the bride but the bridegroom--Christ? Can we truly “deal” with the bride without knowing, understanding, or even getting in trouble with the bridegroom--if it’s His bride? In Texas we have a saying, “Don’t mess with Texas.” And, it’s true. Ever been to the Alamo? I have an ancestor whose bones were burned in a pit with some 189 others. I think today Jesus might say, “Don’t mess with my bride until you’ve first dealt with me!”
The challenge to the relevance of the church we are dealing with is generally not our theology, history, or even Biblical understanding of Jesus as much as it is our cultural and personal way of relating to Him. How do we bring others into a dynamic relationship with Him.
What if, instead of making the church simple, we made our understanding and walk with Jesus simple? What would that look like? I’m traveling and will try to respond, but I’m just curious.
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Jan 16, 2007 at 09:05 AM
I think the questions are very close, if not the same. By making our follwing Jesus simple it by association makes the church simple; simple not easy. I have enjoyed the thought provoking questions lately.
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Jan 17, 2007 at 07:28 AM
Those are great questions - and insights. You're right, and you've mentioned it before here and in Transformation, about the simplicity of being with Jesus. "When will Jesus be enough?" is such a great question to reorient us.
But what if the structures and values of the church actually HINDER instead of help a walk with Jesus? Would you agree that structures, unfortunately, do not exist in a vacuum? They communicate. They reinforce values. They set expectations. In our culture, the medium IS the message, just as much, if not more than, the message is the message.
Jan 17, 2007 at 08:46 AM
Bob, I wholly agree wit simplifying our love and following our Jesus, but I'm not sure if that lets us off the hook of simplifying the churches. In fact, part of simplifying our following of Jesus will mean unclusttering our churchly lives.
Jan 17, 2007 at 08:47 AM
And by the way, well done on the nomination for the award.
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