There are no pews in the church; or, there is no church in the pews.  The church is not in the pews or in a building or in a location.  If church is the church, it is scattered.

For the past month, I have been forceful in comments about challenging the status quo, changing to meet the challenge of this generation and having the courage to make a difference.

I have been called to move from generalities to specifics.  This is my manifesto.

I speak of my own local church but the truths apply to the larger church in general.

I love my church.  I am committed to my church.  I am passionate about my church.  Consequently, I am ready and willing to fight for my church.

The enemy with the potential of bringing the church down is not outside the church.  The enemy is within.  The enemy is present from the pew to the pulpit.  We must identify, challenge and fight complacency, apathy and mediocrity wherever they occur.

Identifying and achieving the objective will require rocking the boat.  It will require speaking out.  It will require taking a stand.  Humility is essential.  Timidity is unacceptable.

Making the church what it needs to be will require getting out of the pews because church doesn’t have cushions.  Remember the First Century church — the one we say we are modeling? Do we see them sitting in pews?  We occasionally find them gathered, but we most often find them scattered, on the move and in action.  When we find the New Testament church arguing – and we do find them arguing – it is generally about practice and never about worship style, budgets, building plans or staff assignments.

Changing the church is not about changing the pastor or the staff.  Changing the church is about changing me.  My church will never be missional, relevant, radical, primal, engaging, piercing or exciting until I am.  So, change is about me.

I am a man of unclean lips.  I live among a people of unclean lips.  But, I believe.  God, help my unbelief.

I can’t determine what programs work for you or don’t work for you.  But, I can for me.

I’ve taught Sunday school for the last 500 years (give or take about 465 years) with the past six being a young adult class.  When my commitment ends in a few weeks for this Sunday school year, I am shifting my energies to a community group.  That decision was carefully weighed.  I’ll explain later.

I have mentored and counseled young men for a least the past 15 years.  Beginning in January, I will make that more intentional, purposeful and directed.  I have found a model I want to put in place.

Being the church requires being flexible.  It requires being open to change.  It isn’t regimented, scheduled or programmed.  It is frustrating, time consuming, exhausting and draining.  It requires lots of grace, acceptance and relationships.  It is short on legalism.

But, we won’t realize that as long as we sit in pews daydreaming through another sermon.   We discover that out there where there are no pews, no stained glass windows, and no schedules and where sermons are lived out.  And, it doesn’t depend on professional ministers.  It depends on professing ministers.  When you look carefully at the New Testament church, the ministers are those who profess to follow Christ.

Last week, I was asked when this new ship would show up.  My response was, “when we build it.”  It doesn’t involve a committee.  It doesn’t require a vote. It is not covered in the by laws.  It doesn’t need a budget allocation.  It requires passion. It’s time to get started.  Are you ready?

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 at 4:25 am and is filed under Christianity, Church, Leadership, Motivation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.