Supposedly a prayer by Sir Francis Drake
I’ve just stumbled across this post about Willow Creek’s program-based church.
I’m still in Honduras having lots of interesting conversations about church, missions, missional churches and loving Jesus.
“Church” is such a complicated subject. You’d think after all these years, we’d have some idea of what it’s all about. Right now, it seems that the leadership crunch is the big problem. And by that I mean, there are lots of managers and super-stars who want to be leaders, but who can only repackage someone else’s leadership. Maxwell-ites, Hybell-ites, Warner-ites. And there is nothing inherently wrong with following good examples - that work. But NT-type leadership is more about shaping lives and empowerment than about amassing numbers and doing programs. I think.
My soul longs for real koinonia and real vision. Not Moses-down-from-the-mountain vision, but the how-can-I-activate-you vision. (Not so much that I personally need activating! But the kind of church leader who is concerned about activation of others, not just to put them into his system, but to release them empowered to do their thing…) A multitude of this kind of leader will make a huge difference in the Church.
Last night, Nick Venditti asked me what I thought of the whole “emerging church” scene. He sees it as a bunch of guys (and ladies) poised to repeat every mistake made by the Pentecostal and Charismatic and Third-wave movements of the past. Maybe he’s right. Seems to me the church in every generation is pretty much poised to live out the same mistakes of their fore-fathers. Seems every new kid on the block must learn his own way on his own journey.
But I also see and sense a deep longing among the emerging/missional crowd for things to be authentic and real. Simple and organic. Resonating deep inside.
