Take the Land

This morning my wife and I visited a church with some friends of ours. One of these friends had recently taken a church-planting course at one of our SBC seminaries. Following that class he met with some people from the BGCO (Baptist Mecca of Oklahoma) to find out about newer church plants in the OKC metro area. He was told of one in particular, the one we visited today. He was told that this place was "it" in regards to SBC church plants in OKC. Needless to say we went with relatively high expectations as we were interested to see what this "it" church plant would look like. I assumed that it would be a place striving to be relevant and reach lost people in their community. I expected something far different from what I had become accustomed to in 29 years of Baptist church membership. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed.

The pastor and associate pastor were both very nice people. They greeted us at the door and entered into conversation right away, answering my friend's church-plant questions with great enthusiasm. But while the pastor was very nice, his answers were quite disappointing. First, it seems that very little of their growth has come from lost people being reached. Instead the vast majority were life-long church people who had, as of late, been forced to drive an extra 15 minutes to find a suitable church because they had gone through some bad experience in their previous church. While I'm excited that these people have found a church in their community that they can be a part of, I was hoping that far more would have come from people experiencing new life in Christ.

Further, hearing the pastor talk I felt like we got the usual church as a "business model" that you typically get when asking about church growth. He talked about key influencers and those with money, etc. Church was spoken of in terms of a Sunday morning gathering. That was clearly the focus with little thought beyond that to real ministry in the community. The service itself was fine for the most part. They had a children's special which was cool, just because it involves children and I think that's great, especially on Sunday mornings which are usually reserved for the "slick" presentation which kids struggle to pull off. There's a realness about it. Anyway, they also had a 13 year old kid who led one worship song. He was great. He had this Taylor guitar that was as big as he was. Apart from that it was absolutely your typical Baptist service (meaning there were hymns, a choir, and an offertory special).

Anyway, all these events led to sadness for me. As someone who imagines a new kind of church being birthed it's sad to see that those on the frontier (as frontier as OKC can be in regards to church plants) are often just re-creating what I consider to be a broken-down, insufficient replica of what we already have way too much of.

My greatest pain though came from the fact that this particular church is on the cusp of a building campaign. They are three years old, run about 225, and are about to build their first building. Right now they meet at an old Food Lion that serves as several other things throughout the week. Now, I'm not necessarily against building campaigns but the way that people approach them often makes me vomit. This one was a typical Baptist building fund. The pastor preached a marathon run through Joshua, of course equating it with the building they were about to build. He alluded to similarities with the children of Israel as they stood on the edge of the Promised Land. They were going to receive the promise, conquering any who stood in their path, just as the Israelites had done. The even called it "Taking the Land!" THAT is the part that frustrates me. Comparing your million dollar building to their entering into the Promise Land? This particular group of people had waited more than 600 years to see that day come. They had endured 400 years in slavery and another 40 wandering in the wilderness. Up to that point none of them had every truly known what home was. How in the world does that compare to a 3 year old church who has a pretty nice place already? It doesn't at all! So why compare yourself to that?

I think its Bible abuse in the worst way. You've got to pump the people up so you might as well use the Bible. It comes from the notion that no truth can be found outside the Bible, a popular Baptist opinion. If it's true it's gotta be in Scripture. The answer for every situation in life is founded somewhere within it's pages. In light of that anything you do has to be justified through some random verse or some totally unrelatable Bible story. You bend and manipulate and warp Scripture to justify what you're doing and to get people "fired up."

Please just say, "We want to build a building." Say, "We spend hours each week setting up and tearing down and we want to take that time to spend out in the community serving others instead." Say that no self-respecting church would be caught dead in a Food Lion. Say whatever you want as long as it's true. Please please please don't abuse Scripture in this way just because it must be "justified."

Next week we'll be visiting another SBC church plant in the city. Apparently it's not nearly as "with it" as the one we were at today. That's a terrifying thought. I still dream of a new kind of church where we are truly the salt of the earth and the light of the world and I hope that is who we become. In total contrast to my experience today, check out this experience from a fellow blogger. Reading it was so encouraging.