Lose Your Job. from The Work Of The People on Vimeo.

Travis Reed sits down with Sally Morgenthaler and discusses the provocative idea of church leadership. I thinks she asks some pretty interesting questions regarding the space of being a pastor.  What do you think?

A couple of years ago I was part of a group of people that wanted to start a church.  In hindsight, I still believe in the idea but it was a little too complex.  It required a little too much organization.  The idea got shelved for several reasons but the idea of an intentional community stuck with me.

This last week I had a vision while attending my current community, which is essentially a traditional evangelical church.  My thought was this.  Could a community gather together simply for the sake of practicing the Great Commandment. The simplicity of the question startled me for a second.  But over the next half hour I was mesmerized by the idea.  And in that time a new idea for church was born.

I jotted down three words: worship, storytelling, feasting.  That was it. The community would gather together to worship.  Then we would spend 30-45 minutes allowing the community to dialog, wrestle and share on how we are engaging love in community.  The community would inform the process, as opposed to a single person.  There would be no teaching.  And then the community would share a meal together.

As I shared the idea with my friends (both of whom had been involved in the original idea two years ago) it quickly caught their attention.  Could it be possible to gather together in such a simple way?  The first concern we ran into was the assumption that we needed to teach from Scripture.  And I get that.  But as we thought about it, could we be making things hard by not allowing the community to inform the process. It didn’t mean we avoided Scripture.  It means that we simplify it by engaging love. The practice of love is the fulfillment of everything. Anyone can do it. It doesn’t make it easy, which is what connects us together.

Just curious what you think and any feedback?

It seems like I’ve had some of the best conversations lately. It started with this post, which asks if Christianity is a system of belief or a way of life.  And then it extended to this post, which asks if denying God is wrestling with God.  And within these conversations seems to be common thread.  What is a follower of Jesus? What is the true essence, the stripped down version of being a follower? In other words, did Jesus come to establish complexity or simplicity?

I ask this because of a recent conversation I had with a friend who said that he has a bunch of friends who are willing to practice love, which is arguably the basis of what it means to follow Jesus, but who are completely unwilling to set foot into the church.  In other words, they dig what Jesus is saying but they are unwilling to add on all of the religious jargon associated with Christianity.  And for them its not just about social justice, but about engaging a deeper form of what it means to be human.

And it seems like so many people I meet and talk to are wrestling with this strange notion of what it means to strip away the religious connotations, in order to get to following.  We all want the real thing.  And this desire is not limited to Christians.  It’s deeper than that.  Its extends to human beings (who are created in the image of God anyway).  Jesus even said, “You will know them by their fruit.”  And can’t we make the assumption that love is the greatest fruit, and the essence of Jesus’ intention for spiritual formation?

So I would ask if you think one can be a follower of Jesus, and not set foot in the church or participate in traditional forms of worship?  Can one be a follower of Jesus simply by practicing love. And this doesn’t mean not participating in community because so many of my friends already have tribes that are asking these deeper questions, and they aren’t taking place in churches.

I still love Ted Haggard.

Out of Ur recently posted the announcement that Ted Haggard is starting a church.  And some people are not happy about it. It seems we’re still wrestling with the same problem.  We don’t really know how to restore our leaders.  If Haggard has done one thing it has been to expose the fallacy of our “restoration” process for fallen leaders.

It’s interesting to listen to those sit in positions of power and question what Ted is doing, even calling it stupid.  But what if this is really exposing the tension we have with grace.  If the church (and I know I’m generalizing) has done one thing is ignore the reality of grace.  It’s hard.  We don’t like it.  We hold onto the insane notion that pastors are super people.  And it ends up killing them.  When they fall, it requires years to build them back up.  But when if the reality is that what takes years to build back up is not the pastor, but our willingness to trust?

So I love Ted Haggard because he’s forcing us to wrestling with our own sense of grace.

How do you feel?

{AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)

I love satire, especially when its self-deprecating.  Some of the points this video makes are so hilariously rich.  And its also important to know that it was produced by one of the largest megachurches in America, Northpoint. Well done. (ht)

I had a strange thought this morning.  Would the Apostle Peter get hired as a pastor?

I have an RSS feed for Pastor jobs in my Google Reader.  And I consistently see the same job posting for Pastor.  They typically list qualifications for the role which include something like:

• A committed Christian with an exemplary life and sense of calling to worship ministry.
• A sound understanding of the Bible and application of it in corporate worship services and in all areas of life.
• A maturity to work submissively both with the Senior Pastor and the Elder Board.
• A relational ability to work well with musicians, technical crews, artists, youth musicians, and other ministry leaders in a healthy and flexible manner.
• A heart for worship

In fact the previous list is from an actual job listing.  And I get the list.  We want someone that exemplifies the Gospel in their lives.

But then I began to ask if the Apostle Peter would get hired.  He was obstinate, pushy, and even arrogant.  He probably wouldn’t have worked well with the Senior Board.  And oh yes, he had that thing on his resume.  He denied Jesus three times.   Yet Jesus picked this man and said, “I will build my church on this rock.”

Sometimes I wonder if we’re setting ourselves up for a fall by creating such a demanding role for anyone to play.  When the pastor does fall it becomes virtually impossible to get over it.  Rarely (and there are definitely exceptions) does the pastor stay in the role.  Its just easier to find a new one.

Michael Frost explores the purpose of the church.

Andrew Means explore churchianity.  What do you think?

If you could make one constructive change in your the way your church or spiritual community operates, gathers, questions, or communicates, what would it be? No ranting.

A guy I follow offered the following quote from Bill Hybels.  I don’t have the exact source but I have to believe it is true.

“The local church is the hope of the world, and its future rests primarily in the hands of its leaders.” – Bill Hybals

Do you buy that statement?