from Jeff
I had an interesting conversation with a brother from DBC the other day. He asked me a simple question, "what do you think we're missing at DBC?" It led to a great conversation. There's no shortage of answers people would give to that - from personnel to programming to deep relationships. Everyone seems to have an idea of what we should be doing or focusing on.
What do you think? This is not meant to be a gripe post. But, I've benefited over the years from hearing the honest feedback of folks.
So, tell me, "what do you think is missing at DBC?" That assumes you think something is missing of course...
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
What are we missing?
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3 comments:
Power and bold proclamation of the truth. We call a spade an ace instead of a spade. We need something more from the pulpit than just a self-help seminar and we need to be doers of the word, not just hearers.
I am not sure that I could point to one thing that we lack. I'm not sure that it is that simple. one of our greatest challenges are from our blessings. I do think that we have bought into a culture of prosperity leading at times to a subtle snobery. I think that we, being naturally insecure humans, struggle with wanting to impress others with what we have or where we live or work. Ideas like simplicity and detachment seem to be bizare concepts when I have share my inclination towards these virtues. Someone once said that it is only when we are detached from our possessions that we are free to enjoy them. someone else once told me that it is a sigh of psychological (and probably spiritual) health when a person is happy with simpler thinks like a rainbow or a flight of geese overhead. I struggle with this too. I recieved a nice rais today and caught myself thinking of how I measure up to those around me.
Another challenge is that we are not that rounded in our approach to faith living. The motto of my alma mater was "head heart hand." We have alot for the Christian hand. We can get a person busy. We also talk alot about the heart, albeit in a more sentimental way. We have little for developing the Christian mind.
We also have some structional challenges. We have grown to accept a culture of dissorganization. I've heard it sayd that if one does not like organized religion, then we are the place becuase we are not organized. This is a huge hinderance to new ministries and initiatives.
I'm not sure that one majic ingredient would make us the best that we can be. We have a gread diversity in people with many spiritual temperaments who come from many relibious backgrounds. That creates a great challenge for leaders and teachers in particular. I was telling a spiritual brother last nignt that although we are each called to take on the image of Christ, in a way we as a community take on the image of Christ also. It is all of our strenghts together that can bring a richer picture of Christ than any of us can individually.
Great comments. I resonate with the disorganization. It does appear to be a hindrance. However, what seems to be organization in many places is just control. I do think that we can instill a common thread that runs through it all - and in fact, might change it all over time.
If we focus on making disciples (having Christ formed in and around us), and cast that as our goal, then perhaps all other ministries could evaluate themselves based on a common purpose.
It seems to me that we get caught up in aiming for the fruit of things - community, growth, evangelism, life, etc - when what we really need is the sap. We need the power of intimacy with Jesus that leads to all the fruit that we really want and try to program to.
But, we Christians live with this "ought" to kind of relationship with God. We "ought" to be this or that, do this or that.
It seems to me that following Jesus is at once simpler (and more complex) than we often make it. We find ourselves spending millions, not to mention our energies, focused on things that might not bear the fruit because they are not aimed at really drawing from the tree. Make sense?
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