The Thirst for Freedom

I am supposed to “go to church.” Good Christians do.

The problem is I’ve been bored sick with the messages I hear at any church for years now. I’ve spent a lot of time and energy feeling bad about that. I suspect that this expenditure of heart resources has been a waste – maybe I shouldn’t feel bad. Maybe I’m not the problem.

You see, in my heart I have a deep longing to have impact. I want to do.

And I don’t mean that I want to do the few things that will make the church or pastor feel successful. (Show up, tithe, sign up for the church’s programs, etc.) There is nothing wrong with those things, but they don’t scratch the itch. I suspect I am not alone in this.

I have an “internal itch” that “going to church,” local evangelism, conferences, or even “worship” time will never scratch. Especially if those things aren’t pointed decisively towards dominion.

I have a problem. I want to change the world!

In my case that means traveling, teaching, discussing, debating, writing, thinking (i.e. World Missions). For some it might be running a business, painting a picture, writing a song, or being an athlete.

Is the church a place to go focus on heaven for a while so you can survive your week? Or is it a place of connecting with other world-changers and getting equipped, charged and prepared to take over??

Bojidar Marinov has written an excellent article over at AmericanVision that I think you should read and consider, especially if you are in church leadership. Go read it, then come back and tell me what you think!

Here is a sample:

But then, why would a young man stay in the church? Is there a “male” message in our churches today? Is there a message that gives a young man a worthy cause to work for and to fight for? Why would he stay, to listen all his life to the same sermon over and over again, in many different versions of it? Come back every Sunday to learn—for the n-th time, over and over again—that God loves us? Shed tears over the same emotional stuff every week? Or hear that we live in the “last times” and therefore evil will expand and he can’t do anything to turn the tide? Or that his gifts mean nothing in these “last times,” all he is supposed to do is to “witness” to save a few souls from hell?  [Read More]

It’s an inspiring article. I hope you enjoy it. I hope it causes us to change something!

It’s time for a change!

Marvia of Growing Your Church had this to say on the topic:

Pastors should not disengage from politics. Like every other citizen of a country, the pastor must also exercise her/his right to have a say in the governance of the country. However, I also believe that pastors be objectively critical when addressing political matters in the church.

I once served a circuit of 3 churches for 6 years, in 3 communities that had their different political leanings. None of them knew which party I supported. They tried every bait to get to me tell them where I stood. It was hard for them to tell, because I criticized or commended both sides. I knew that being in a position of authority my choice could influence some persons who believed I was on their side and at the same time anger others who would feel I was against them. But that did not stop me from including political statements in my sermons or discussions.  [Read More]

Here is the comment that I posted in response:

Hello Marvia!

Good thoughts. It is certainly important for pastors and Christian leaders to give careful thought to how they approach political issues.

I would like to submit to you and your readers another important consideration: the distinction between what pastors should or shouldn’t do vs. whether or not the government should be deciding what pastors should or shouldn’t do.

Here is what I mean.

We can debate amongst ourselves as Christians what role we want our spiritual leaders to play in informing us about politics. Some will prefer their leaders say little, some will prefer their leaders take a strong stand. You have articulated well in this article a very common belief that American Christians happen to have about this issue.

It is very different, however, for the National Government to prohibit or restrict the free speech of pastors. Whatever we believe pastors should be doing, I hope we can all agree that the IRS should not in any way be inhibiting religious expression of political speech!

The Congress has committed a serious moral error by including the prohibition on endorsing candidates (for churches) in the tax code. The restrictions on working to influencing legislation are inappropriate as well. I submit that both of these sections of the tax code need to be repealed.

The debate about “how much do we want to participate in politics” should be an internal debate inside the Church of Christ, not an external restriction placed by the federal (or state, or city) governments.

Something to think about!

The vision of Gospel for Asia is to mobilize native local missionaries to advance the Gospel. Because they are not a huge Western Relief Effort and because they already have workers on the scene they represent an ideal opportunity to give some money towards the relief efforts in Burma. I did so and I invite you to do the same!

From their website:

Gospel for Asia missionaries and local church leaders moved out from Yangon (Rangoon) Thursday morning to go into Myanmar’s cyclone-devastated villages and search for survivors, according to a GFA correspondent inside the ravaged country.

Five teams were sent out to survey the damage and begin assessing the needs of the traumatized survivors. The teams included students from GFA’s Bible college in Yangon, which has become a center of ministry to survivors in Myanmar’s largest city. [Read More]

-Donate to GFA-

The Donate Button is at the bottom of the Cyclone article
at the GFA website