Christian’s have far too many committees.
In fact we have so many of them its amazing we achieve anything at all.
case in point: I have a friend that recently went to a church meeting for a ‘team/committee’ at 10pm on a friday night. after recieving a text message to come to the meeting at 9pm, This meeting was for a ‘committee’ that had met less than one week earlier, the meeting a week earlier had gone for 3 hours and had achieved nothing.
The question has to be asked how can you preach on a sunday about ‘going out in the world and making disciples’ and then have your weekly schedule look like this:
Monday – small group
Tuesday – worship meeting
Wednesday – nothing
Thursday – helping with the small group you lead
Friday – youth/young adults hang out session (because we have to have something that will keep us out of the world)
Saturday – nothing or hanging out with christian mates at night to watch a DVD
Sunday – church once or twice including service in someway e.g. worship team, childrens church, prayer ministry, coffee/tea etc.
In fact many surveys have shown that because Christians tend to socialise within Christian circles their work colleagues, next door neighbours and non christian friends see very little of them and so are unable to form any meaningful relationships that don’t seem to be overtaken by christian activities.
On the other hand there are a large number of christians (normally single males – i know some of those reading this blog would dispute that) that don’t actually step up to leadership or serving within churches which means those who are serving within churches tend to have a heavier load which takes a greater amount of their time as there are less people willing to serve or lead.
Do your experiences mirror this i.e. are you involved so much at your Church ’serving the lord’ that your non christian friends and family can count their time they see you in minutes in a week?
OR
have you have had experiences that are quite the opposite?
May 31, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Oh you are right of the money lisa, as usual.
Did you know that a group of vultures is called a committee, puts an interesting twist on church structure.
As you know, I try to be intentional with my time and prioritise it in the right way, I’m a busy person, but my focus is not going to be a series of committees which are not going anywhere. I spend a large amount of my time (shock horror!) with non-christians. I also spend alot of my time for Mosaic with non-christians.
I just got burned out by the meetings for committees and cell groups (especially where you couldn’t speak your mind as you might offend someone and cause spiritual growth in their life – no thats dangerous.
Now I spend alot of my time at cafes, bars and other places trying to bring lightinto my freinds lives. I havn’t spent much time in church buildings lately…
June 15, 2008 at 5:23 am
hohummmmmmmmmmm
February 4, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Hello,
I definitely agree that churches are way too busy. I used to think that we needed more activities so that people will grow and get involved rather then just be Sunday Christians. After reading a book by Reggie McNeal, titled: “The Present Future” he definitely changed my perspective. What he says in the book is that we need to not ask: “How can we do church better?” But rather: “How can we get our people to hit the streets with the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?” Further, he makes the shift from church growth, which leads to getting people in the door, regardless of what it takes, to kingdom growth, which is going out and making disciples and not worrying about if they end up at your church or not. Additionally, he makes a shift from “everyone a minister” to “everyone a missionary.” The phrase: “everyone a minister” definitely leads people to think that they need to get involved and lead at church activities. I agree that we need to free people up so that they actually have interaction with non-believers.
However, just out of curiosity, is this part of why you are a part of the Anglican church in the second life? Is it because you do not want to get consumed with all the demands of a local church? The reason why I am asking is because I still attend a local congregation.