Or “Why the missional neighborhood church isn’t perfect.”

I often write and speak about how beautiful my congregation is. The truth of the matter is that I do love it, I love every messy thing about living life with the people who are in my congregation. There is nothing that I would rather do than be our neighborhood pastor.

It is life.

Yet, it isn’t perfect. There are problems, real and significant problems, inherent in a congregation like the one I lead. The biggest problem, the one that keeps me up at night, is loss of momentum.

Our congregation loves one another. We deeply care for one another. Like no other congregation I have ever been part of, these people live out the Scripture’s admonishment to “love one another.”

In the midst of this though is the very real possibility that it can lose momentum. We can become complacent and satisfied. When you deeply love and care for one another, it is easy to look around and think, “This is great, I don’t want anyone to come in and ruin it.”

When that moment comes, something significant is lost.

This loss of momentum or missional impulse that leads to complacency is the great weakness of a smaller, home based congregation. Particularly when all is going well.

Nobody is looking to “rock the boat.” We can easily rest in the reality that we have an amazing community. Those people would only ruin it.

When you have intentionally freed people to carry on mission without the programs of the congregation you risk losing momentum for the mission. People can become consumed with other things. It can be easy to slowly lose sight of the importance of connecting with their faith community.

When momentum is lost it is difficult to recover. It is much easier to lose momentum in a smaller community than a larger one, because there is little back up for the key people who bring the energy.

Along with momentum, there is also the down side of lack of scale.

Something I noticed working for a large para-church organization as opposed to the local church is its ability to serve on a large scale. It felt like the large organization had greater reach to serve more people. The numbers bear that out. The bigger organization has the ability to serve on a larger scale.

The small scale within which we serve in our neighborhood in beautiful and personal. Yet, our ability to serve on a larger scale is very limited. While we can help out immediate neighbor, our ability to have a significant on something like the Flint water crisis is quite limited.

Finally, the neighborhood based missional community approach has limited resources. One of the things that I appreciate about the mega-church is that it has resources that it can mobilize for the greater good of the body of Christ. The finances it can invest in missionaries and other community service is amazing. The number of people that a mega-church or even a church of 150 can mobilize to service is amazing. There are resources that can be freed by the larger building-centric congregations that a neighborhood base congregation is unlikely to ever amass.

Let me be clear, in spite of these potential issues, I am convinced that this is the best way to live as the church. This is not to say that the other ways of being the church are bad or “less than,” they certainly are not.

Quite simply, this the manure that makes the grass green on my side of the fence and I think it smells great. These are the problems that I prefer to deal with and worry about. Also, I don’t think our missional community has lost momentum or is in any immediate danger of losing momentum. But, it isn’t fair to critique one approach without also looking for the plank in one’s own eye.

Originally published at danielmrose.com on February 21, 2019.

I met with someone recently who is interested in launching a new congregation. They listened to my stories and my heart. I felt really heard by them. It was a wonderful time. It is evident they are a good person who loves Jesus.

They asked the question in our conversation that always comes up when discussing my perspective on leading congregations.

Why would having a building be so bad? How would it hurt what it is you’re doing?

I have been a pastor in multiple settings since leaving seminary. I have served a very small institutional church that transitioned to a missional approach, I have served at a small mega church, and I have served a missional neighborhood congregation. Being in each of those settings has offered me the opportunity to see behind the curtain of each. All three have their positives, all three have their negatives, the grass is not greener anywhere. Each approach uses their own version of manure and each kind of manure has its own distinct odor, you simply have decide which you prefer to smell.

The one thing that is true about both approaches where a building has been involved is that the leadership of the church is primarily focused on the development of financial resources for the building. The means by which this takes place is by bringing in enough people as giving units to fund the building and its necessary extras. At this point, the primary focus of the leadership of the local congregation ceases to be about the work and life of the congregation, but becomes more akin to a business.

Woah! Woah! Woah! That’s way too cynical. WAY TOO CYNICAL. It sounds like you’re saying that churches with buildings are primarily being run like businesses. I don’t think that’s fair.

I understand that this might make some folks upset. I get it. It’s a hard truth to hear. Yet, if you were to sit in many of the meetings that I have sat in over the years what you would see and hear are discussions based on one thing: money.

Income and expense reports are shared each month. They are gone over with a fine tooth comb. Discussions ensue about how to raise the income and limit the expenses. The desire to grow the congregation is rooted in the need to get more money. Buildings age as do their systems. Things need to be fixed and replaced. Being a good steward demands that the congregation pay its bills. To pay bills you have to have money. To have money you need giving units. To get more giving units you have to figure out to have more people come through the doors and start giving you money.

I have become convinced that the moment a congregation owns a building it necessarily changes its identity from “congregation” to “business.” The pastor becomes the CEO, the Session becomes the “Board.” Congregants become “guests” that need goods and services provided to them. We desire to make them comfortable more so than to challenge them and press them into deeper discipleship. Why? Because we don’t want them to go down to the church down the street.

The church world is very competitive. You don’t want to lose out to the cooler, more hip place down the street.

Am I cynical? Perhaps. I’m fine with that charge. I’m actually very comfortable with it.

Here’s what I know, in the six years of serving a missional neighborhood based congregation, my Elders and I have barely discussed finances. They are almost a non-issue and they are certainly not something that we spend time worrying about. Our Session meetings are times of them ministering to me and us praying for our congregation.

I may be cynical, but I am convinced I’m right about how owning a building changes the nature of a local “church.”

Also, let me be clear: I don’t believe that congregations with buildings are doing something inherently bad, wrong, or unbiblical. I am grateful for the way they serve their communities and all the ways that they honor Jesus.*

One last caveat: My next post will be a critique of the missional neighborhood congregation approach. So, don’t worked up that I think my current congregation is THE way and all other approaches to living as the church is wrong.

Originally published at danielmrose.com on February 21, 2019.

A thought about what happened in the kitchen last night.

Each week I have the joy of gathering with friends to share communion. Communion is the culmination of our time together. It is not quiet or somber. It is noisy and talkative. It is beautiful and I love every minute of our inefficient celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

Before that time we gather in together in a mob of humanity in my living room.

We open the ancient collection of texts known as the Bible.

We read and question and discuss.

We think and doubt and believe.

We do all these things together, kids and adults.

We learn and lead and press into life.

The we of the gathering for communion each week leaves me in awe. Some weeks the we includes more people than other weeks. Yet, it doesn’t matter how many or how few.

What matters is the rhythm of the time and being present and alive with one another.

Some weeks there are tears. Every week there is laughter.

Some weeks there is dessert. Some weeks there is quinoa. Every week there is enough.

When my house empties I realize that there is one thing true: I am changed.

These amazing people change me. They leave me filled and overwhelmed with joy.

The bread and juice may be the “elements” of communion, but it is the people that make communion live and breathe.

The stories, the prayers, the laughter, the tears, the people.

These are communion.

Originally published at danielmrose.com on February 18, 2019.

Why are we, Christians, upset when people want to hold us to a higher standard than others? When this happens I see the response from other Christians,

“We are sinners too, you know!” “We aren’t perfect, that’s why we need Jesus.” “We are broken.” “We are just like anyone else.“

Here’s the thing, we claim to follow Jesus if we bear the name “Christian.” If that’s the case then we are to appear to be his followers. The word in the Bible for this is “disciple.” This word means, “learner.” We are to be learning from Jesus.

In the first century, disciples would seek to be exactly like their teacher (the word they would have used is “Rabbi”). They would take on his mannerisms, language, everything they could. They would walk so close to him as to get his dust on them. They wanted to be just like their teacher. Paul calls this “having the mind of Christ.”

Jesus said,

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” — Matthew 5:14–16

This is such an important statement from Jesus. What he’s saying is that our lives, our actions, what we do, points people to God. The way you live your life matters. It matters how you act, what you say, because the world is watching you.

Christians are held to a higher standard, we are held to that standard not by the world but by Jesus.

Jesus tells us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.” He is telling us we need to pray and ask for help in avoiding sin. We need help to live the kind of life that points people to God.

This is not some sort of weird moralism. No, this is more than that. We must be diligent and mindful in paying attention to our lives. When we stop paying attention we slide into stress and unhealthy modes of living. When we pray this prayer we are setting our minds on the necessity to be aware of our lives and how we are living. There is an intentional mindfulness.

If we are going to be on mission with Jesus we must live the Jesus life. We must live lives that look like his. We must pursue a unity with the mind of Christ. Our lives by necessity need to be marked by self-sacrifice, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Being on mission with Jesus is to live this life in the public sphere. This means that we will be judged by how well we live it out. This is our reality.

—

Thanks for following along on this journey through the Lord’s Prayer and how it relates to missional living. Here are the links to the whole series. I hope you found it helpful. I know it has been eye-opening for me to think through these things and to process them over the last few weeks.

—

Program vs Presence

Present in Prayer

Our Father

On Earth…

Today

Forgive Them, Yes Them

Help Us Not Suck

Originally published at danielmrose.com on February 14, 2019.

Who is your “them”? Is it conservatives? Maybe your “them” is liberals. Perhaps your “them” is cishet white males. Your “them” may very well be homosexuals. It could be that your “them” is people of color. Whomever your “them” is, to be on mission is to move towards “them” in love and forgiveness.

In the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray he said, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This could be understood as “trespasses” or “sins.”

I love how Eugene Peterson puts this in The Message,

Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.

After he teaches the prayer, Jesus talks even more about this and says that you can’t experience forgiveness yourself if you don’t extend forgiveness to others. Think about this, Jesus is getting at the root issue for many people. Many of us are harboring bitterness, anger, and hatred in our hearts. There are tons of folks who are “them” to us and we refuse to forgive them.

If we are going to be a people on mission in the world, we must become agents of forgiveness.

This does not mean that we are doormats. It doesn’t meant that we don’t speak truth to power. It doesn’t mean that we ignore evil.

It does mean that we move towards people who we consider to be “other” in love and forgiveness.

After Apartheid in South Africa they developed the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. “The TRC operated by allowing victims to tell their stories and by allowing perpetrators to confess their guilt, with amnesty on offer to those who made a full confession. (Wikipedia)” The goal was not punishment. It was reconciliation and forgiveness.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5 that we are to be ambassadors of reconciliation. This means that we are to be agents of forgiveness.

Forgiveness is lived practice. We show our forgiveness by moving toward the “other” in love.

What does it look like for you to move towards the people in your neighbor in love? Whom do you need to forgive? How can you love well?

—

I’m slowly working my way through the Lord’s Prayer as a roadmap to missional living. Do you want to catch up? Here you go:

Program vs Presence

Present in Prayer

Our Father

On Earth…

Today

Originally published at write.as.

I’m slowly working my way through the Lord’s Prayer as a roadmap to missional living. Do you want to catch up? Here you go:

Program vs Presence

Present in Prayer

Our Father

On Earth…

I am always amazed by how full my calendar is. I have dates on there months into the future. It’s crazy! This reality makes it very difficult to live in the moment. I am often thinking, planning, worrying, and dreaming about the future. Today is not something that I often pay attention to.

I live in the future.

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray told them to pray, “Give us today the food we need.” He didn’t tell them to pray for weeks, days, month, or years of good. Today’s food is what he told them to pray for, even demand. The “give” here is an imperative, it is a command, not a request.

What is going on here with this bit of prayer and how could it possibly relate to mission?

This goes back to the issue of presence as opposed to program. I think what Jesus is saying here is to be aware of the needs of the moment. What is happening around you? Be present in the here and now, don’t miss what is going on right here and right now.

We need daily food. It’s a necessity. When we don’t for a day, we notice.

Often I get busy and focused on work that I forget to eat. I become consumed with my thoughts and plans. This focus is great because it allows me to create and produce. But, if I continue to forget to eat all of that would be naught.

When it comes to mission we, particularly leaders of congregations and communities, get so focused on our concepts of success that we miss the moment. We often don’t see the hurting and the pain in our midst. It becomes easy to not see what is going in our most immediate communities, our families and close friends.

Why do you think so many pastors get divorced or have to leave the ministry to work on their marriages?

If we can’t be present with our families how can we expect to truly be present with the congregation or our neighborhoods or our communities?

To be on mission with Jesus is to be present in the moment. Our body can’t be in the future even if our mind can be. We must work hard to bring unity to the mind and body. To be an embodied presence our minds must be in the moment.

So, we pray, “Give us today the food we need.”

Body and mind united, in the present.

This is easier said than done. So, we pray, “Give us today the food we need.” And we pray it every single day.

Originally published at danielmrose.com on February 11, 2019.

Part four in a series on using the Lord’s Prayer as a roadmap to mission.

I’m slowly working my way through the Lord’s Prayer as a roadmap to missional living. Do you want to catch up? Here you go:

1. Program vs Presence
2. Present in Prayer
3. Our Father

Love that is just an idea is not love at all. Grace that is just an idea is no grace at all. Mercy that is just an idea no mercy at all. Peace that is just an idea is no peace at all.

All these things need to be embodied. Love, grace, mercy, peace all need to be lived to be something. If they are not lived and carried out in the body, then what are they? Nothing.

Mission that is carried out only in ideas, strategy, or concepts is no mission. It is nothing. It is dream and talk. A friend of mine constantly says, acta non verba. “Action, not words.”

Jesus in the prayer that he taught his disciples said,

Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Jesus was keenly aware about the necessity to embody the mission in the world. The word we translate “earth,” can be understood with a range of meanings. It can be translated as “soil” and “people” and “country.” Now, we know that Jesus didn’t speak Greek. He most likely spoke Aramaic and Hebrew. Matthew when trying to express what Jesus was saying here uses this word that can mean “earth” and all these other ideas. Why? Because Jesus was trying to tell his disciples that what he wanted was for the kingdom, his kingdom, to be lived out right here, right now.

The mission, the faith, whatever you want to call it is not a sales pitch, it’s not a media strategy, it’s not to be a marketing campaign. No, the mission is to be something lived. It is to be the living of, the embodiment of, Jesus kingdom right here in the flesh, on the dirt, and with the people.

What is this supposed to look like? I think it’s supposed to look like the poem that Jesus taught earlier in Matthew,

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs. God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted. God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth. God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. God blesses those who are merciful, for they will be shown mercy. God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God. God blesses those who work for peace, for they will be called the children of God. God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right, for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

Oh that we who claim to follow Jesus would live this way in our bodies.

Originally published at write.as on February 7, 2019.