No Church People - EVER

There were a LOT of pictures I could have chosen to illustrate what I'm about to write, but somehow getting ranked below trespassers, trespassing mushroom hunters, and trespassing deer hunters just seemed to fit. What does it say about the message we "church people" have been sending to those outside that we get not only listed as worthy to be shot, but with an emphasis suggesting that he might just enjoy shooting us?

Church people.

There was a time when that delineated those who were the backbone of society. They held down jobs at every level all over America. Some owned plants, some worked in them. They were doctors and lawyers, teachers and engineers. Still are. But instead of being the people who brought to life the foundational values that provide a bedrock for any society, we morphed over time to people who are known chiefly for pointing out the sins of others while ignoring our own.

We have sent untold millions of dollars, and invested thousands of lives into places and people overseas while completely ignoring our neighbors lying in the ditch on the side of the road, or worse, deciding that the ditch doesn't look too bad and checking to see if there's room. (see our divorce rate, etc.)

At the beginning of the church age, the requirements of admission were to deny yourself and your selfish ways, believe in Jesus - the Son of God and salvation of mankind, and take up your part of the work by following Jesus with everything you had or ever hoped to have. This was not missions by proxy, where you pay people to do the work for you. You were Plan "A" and there was no Plan "B". But that was just too HARD. So we created organizations and told ourselves that these structures would help us do more. And they did in some ways, but were devastatingly ineffective in others.

The SBC is one of those organizations.

When it works right, it's very effective at mobilizing individuals and churches for direct mission activities - disaster relief being the best example.

When it works poorly, and it often does, it usually makes front page news in the media and gives rise to signs like our example above. Disney boycott anyone? Tied at the hip to the GOP - perhaps? Pulling away from the local church and demanding loyalty to the denomination? Uh huh.

So many congregations are pulling away from the SBC.

Churches are deciding not to label themselves as SBC churches even if they continue to remain a part. Others are seeking and finding viable missions work outside the SBC and making real the "every member a missionary" blurb so many adopted as an aspiration rather than a lifestyle.

Was reading today about one state convention's efforts.

In 2008 the Partnership Missions office in our Kentucky Baptist Convention made a bold move to re-think local church involvement in international, cross-cultural missions. In previous years that office entered into partnerships with various Baptist conventions or countries, then organized short-term trips into those countries.

Now, however, they have shifted their focus to local churches, and have restructured their office into that of the role of partnership facilitator. Their desire is to help local Kentucky Baptist churches engage in deeper and deeper levels of missions commitment and involvement. Their current strategy involves four designated levels of engagement:

* Level one (Exploring Missions) churches have had limited experience but understand the importance of missions.
* Level two (Increasing Involvement) churches have been exposed to overseas missions and are seeking God’s direction for a greater commitment to missions.
* Level three (Partnering Strategically) churches are ready to commit for a specific time to work with an IMB missionary in a specific region.
* Level four (Fully Committed) churches desire to take full responsibility for an unreached people group or area without direct missionary assistance.

They are headed in the right direction.

New Hope is headed that way too, regardless of what the local association, state convention, or national organization do. We are realigning with people who want to be Jesus to their neighbor across the street or across the ocean. We are redirecting monies and other resources from supporting missions by proxy to doing missions ourselves.

Frankly, as pastor I don't want the label "church people" applied to us.

I like neighbor or friend a lot better.

So stay tuned fans.