By Jeff
I cannot help but wonder if our churches have become too muscular? Have our churches become immobilized due to overwhelming attendance and the resulting church politics? Is it possible to grow die hard disciples out of a large church? Special Forces soldiers and Rangers are rarely stacked with muscle and yet they are the most effective soldiers in the field. Should we strive to build congregations so full of Christians that they are impressive on the exterior due to mass but rendered ineffective by the very same characteristic that we find impressive?
Special Forces soldiers and Rangers are not stacked with muscle for a reason. Too much muscle hinders agility and speed, thus making them a slower target. It seems that we as the Church have placed too much value on well attended services (just as athletes can become obsessed with numbers numerically representing their performance) that we have created congregations that cannot run the race of missions. Unfortunately, since the church has supported the numbers game, the congregants have followed suit. We now have vast amounts of congregants who have overloaded their lives with things that seem to be positive (like muscle) but leave them unable to walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death unless they make some serious sacrifices before they begin their march through the Valley. We as a church have packed on so much ‘muscle’ that we cannot quickly adapt to the changing currents in the ocean in which we swim.
We must become more like Special Forces soldiers or Rangers, we need to cut the excessive muscle and re-gain our agility to navigate through this rapidly changing world.
Jeff, I think you bring up a good point. The Church seems to be stuck. I think that the church is only stuck though because Christians do not want to move it. Could it be that the Church is not holding back Christians but Christians are holding back the Church? On a more individual level, each follower that makes up the body of Christ has a responsibility to advance the gospel and the Church. I think that, like you said, the Church is too strong, but maybe the Church doesn’t need to slim down, but each follower of Christ does.
Great post, Jeff. I agree that when the goal is unclear, or if one is distracted from the goal, then often the wrong kind of muscle/skill can be developed. For example, I’m a distance runner, so my goal is to run for a long time. But if I somehow got confused and thought my goal was to throw things really far, then my training would change and I would no longer be successful as a distance runner. If we, as the church, have become too muscular, maybe it’s because we’ve gotten distracted from the true goal–bringing God’s kingdom, here and now.
I agree Jeff we have become so wrapped up in activities and events that we no longer are able to take time to invest in our particular contexts (neighborhoods, businesses, and whatever else), and build relationships with people that live closest to us.
And on a side note, I’m not sure we as a church have build up as much muscle as we have put on a little extra holiday weight. ha