The following is an excerpt from the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Sunday February 11th. (http://www.startribune.com/462/story/993598.html) The quote comes from Mac Hammond, the pastor at Living Word Christian Center, a congregation of about 10,000 in Brooklyn Park.

"I do think it's the will of God that every church grow," he said. "It really hurts my heart to see the kind of mentality that pervades much of the body of Christ right now, which is small church, friendly environment, know everybody, and they become little religious bless-me clubs. Our mandate is to exercise greater influence in the community than the ungodly elements seem to exercise."

I am struggling with how best to respond to this comment made by Hammond. While a great deal was said in the article, this quote about small churches stood out to me because of my own leadership of a small church. Maybe my church as meant to be excused from Hammond's allegation, but I doubt it. While small in size, Light of the Lakes has always sought to grow and reach ou to the community. Certainly I agree with Hammond that there is danger in a church becoming self-interested, and that the desire to form intense internal community, where everyone knows everyone, can come at the expense of knowing the community, I reject the notion that it is part and parcel of small churches, or restricted to small churches.

Now I do not want this to become a mud flinging competition, where pastors validate their own ministries by placing criticisms on others, so I believe while I am hurt by what Hammond says, the best thing to do is to understand why that is. One limit to growth is the fear of change. People are often concerned that growing will mean losing something that they have. I know that often churches use intimacy as an excuse to avoid growth, I want to use it at as a tool for growth.

Unlike Hammond I do not see "small church, friendly environment, know everybody, and they become little religious bless-me clubs" as such a terrible thing. Certainly the notion of a "bless-me club" is negative, but I think this is a concern for most churches. I believe that the self-interest of individuals is always a hurdle that has to be overcome in the quest to follow God. I believe churches should rise to the challenge of making themselves friendly environments, places where people can safely come to know everybody, I also think they should be places where people feel blessed. I think today's society is filled with the notion of bigger and better, and what gets lost is personal contact. I do not believe this gives a church a license to not reach out to the community, but I believe the very thing that Hammond is attacking is the sort of thing people truly need. The challenge is just offering it to them, letting them know it is there for them, and inviting them in, or bringing that warmth and blessing to them.

What Salvation do I Preach?

I have a sort of love/hate relationship with "Organic Church", by Neil Cole, which I have been reading for the last week or two. There is a lot I agree with and probably equally much that I disagree with. Some of it simply boils down to a difference in style between the two of us. In one chapter Cole starts off by talking about Schindler's List, and the idea that each of us should be creating a similar list of people we know who are in need of salvation. What really struck me was that Cole was focused on the idea that our fear of death should prompt our efforts for salvation. I do not want to preach a Gospel based on the fear of death, but rather one that rejoices in the beauty of life. I think that Cole gives an excellant example that helps us to see things in terms of all the people who need to be saved. Unfortunately I worry that the Gospel too often gets cast as a way of saving us from Hell, rather an a way that can remake us into better people in this life. Do we follow Christ because of what Christ has to offer us, or because of what we want to offer Christ. If people are introduced to Christ because they need to be saved, this becomes the basis of their faith. I think we should follow Christ out of love, not out of our need. Each of us can think of a time we have been guilty of "sucking up" or similar behavior. Whether it is to a boss, a teacher, or simply someone we respect, we have sought to better our relationship to them in hopes of some sort of gain. On the other hand, think about how we relate to the people we love. We do not think of our relationship in terms of what we get from them, but instead in terms of what we can give. I do not want people to get saved because of what will happen if they don't, I want people to know about God, because God loves them so much, and God wants them to be in a better relationship with God. The purpose of evangelism to me is not to appeal to people's fear of death, but to show them the love of God, and the beauty of life.