Anybody who knows me, knows that there are certain beliefs in my life that I cling to and believe to be amazing. I want to talk about one of those today. I am a Mac convert when it comes to computers. I'm a huge proponent of using a Mac if you have the means to make it happen. Macs simply perform creative tasks better as well as run Windows software better-haha.
There are tons of differences between Macs and PCs that run Windows operating systems, but I want to focus on the fundamental philosophical difference between the two. Windows has a bureaucratic belief system in how it does business as opposed to Mac which has an open-source philosophy when it comes to how they run their business. I want to compare this to the modern church and its failure to recognize where the postmodern church is going.
"Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other."-Leon Trotsky-
Apple makes their production materials freely available, open-source software developers make room for individual users to adapt software to their own needs. The term "open source" comes from software trailblazers back in the late 90s who wanted to make their products accessible and flexible, thus the Linux Kernel was created-it was the first open source operating system. Apple kept this as a priority which almost bankrupted them but they stood their ground because they believed that a One-Size-Fits-All operating system isn't what's best for people, because people are different, their operating system should be different and catered to fit their needs not the company's.
Windows on the other hands makes their One-size fits-all software available only to those who can afford hefty licensing fees, and essentially mass produces the same closed system for people to use.
I think the modern church is mired in a "closed" philosophy of how it views the world and approaches it. I think the bureaucratic approach has failed, and yet the church continues to try and force it upon the postmodern church because it still wants to hold tightly to the controls and steer the ship where they want it to go. That's what I think is really ironic, you can't tame or bridle God or His movement, but that seems to be exactly what the modern church is trying to do. Maybe its fear of change, or maybe they do not trust a younger generation that they raised to take the wheel. I can tell you this, if the wheel was passed to me, I wouldn't be the only one driving, Id be asking for directions, trying to find out from God and other believers on this walk where we are going, and I'd let someone else take the wheel, and I think that scares the establishment that is the modern church.
The postmodern-emerging church is an open source approach to Christianity. It's free and available for all, but its also free and available for ALL to search out and change, transform and (Dare I say it) evolve. This movement believes that together we can grasp a better understanding of the world we live in, and how God relates to that world and what it looks like to follow Him in a constantly changing world. It doesn't force religion down someone's throat, instead it de-emphasizes mass produced Christians and emphasizes Christ followers who fervently seek after God and do so because they want to know why they believe what they believe and live their own life in accordance with that.
Shouldn't we be wanting open source followers? People who dive in and figure out how God relates to them on an individual level, and how that effects them systemically in getting involved in changing the world, whether that be helping the weak, feeding the hungry, taking care of the lame or supporting the poor. Just because a pastor sees God leading him or her to preach doesn't mean that's your calling. You have to actively engage God and figure out for yourself what it looks like for YOU to follow God. And in an open source movement we can rely on each other for support and help, and we can figure out what we believe, because I'd be narrow-minded to think that anyone else on this planet should believe exactly what I believe.
I'm an optimist! I think the next generation of the church is tired of how the modern church has refused to change and adapt to a postmodern world, and I believe this next generation will get back to its roots, and that entails each person figuring out passionately why they believe what they believe and realizing that there will be differences, but there is truth all around us and in an open source world-we can actively seek it out and hold tightly to those truths that we see, and that can give us direction to our individual calling, and also it can plug us into a worldwide movement that changes the world!!!
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Travis, the more you blog, the more I see how much we have in common. I'm a Mac convert too! Can't stand a PC now. lol.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, when you say you don't think everyone should believe what you believe, what specific beliefs are you referring to? Do you believe there is a universal Truth when it comes to who God is, what it takes to know Him etc? What parts of our modern culture are okay to change in the church and which things do you think we need to adhere to as far as historical standards? I hope these questions make sense. lol
It makes perfect sense Chrisi, Personally I think there are tenets that we as Christ followers believe to be "Universal."
ReplyDeleteSuch as the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
Jesus was God in human form, and he died and resurrected to forgive us.
He was brn of the Virgin Mary, etc...
I think that God is...
That's all I can say, He's too massive for me to wrap my head around. So I believe that there is so much truth about who He is tat we will never even begin to scratch the surface, but as far as a postmodern approach, we don't need to fear questioning about who God is because it makes our faith and beliefs stronger. We don't have to "DO CHURCH" the ways its always been done. There's a lack of relevance in the church today because we focus to much on dogma and legalism that we should happily divorce from if it's not theologically needed. It's a simpler form of church, it's relational, it's communal and its organic.
It also realizes that pastors are simply people too, we are all "the priesthood of saints" and I take God at His word when He calls us all into Hiw will. Does that answer your questions a bit:)?
Thanks Travis, I thought that's what you were saying, but just HAD to be sure. lol. I agree. I could go on and on and on about things I see in churches that just make my skin crawl, but I won't.
ReplyDeleteWhat things specifically would you change from the way things were done to the way they should be done?
Hmmm.... good question.
ReplyDeleteI think instead of leaving the doors open and expecting people in need to come to us, we should proactively be seeking out opportunities to help those people in need.
I think we should stop arguing with other Protestant denominations, heck i think we should stop arguing with other world beliefs and start dialoguing and finding a common ground so that we can change this world, and leave it off better than when we got here. I think a de-emphasis of denominationalism in general is a good idea. Instead of continued church splits that have resulted in over 1000 recognized Protestant denominations in America alone, we should be folding back towards one Denomination:"Christ Follower"
I think we need to get less political and more active if that makes sense. We can vote and run for office and whatever, but more importantly, how am I personally getting proactive in engaging this world in a way that I feel God has called me to love?
I totally agree, we need to be doing more to seek out the people in need. Each one of us with a gift we can use to bless someone in a situation that we can use those gifts. The way I help someone is different than the way you do, and together we can accomplish a lot if we're using those gifts and listening to God when it comes to the "who" and "when" of helping.
ReplyDeleteI agree that arguing about small, unimportant issues, is silly. I do, however, think that there are certain things that Christ stands for, fundamental issues crucial to our relationship with Him that many denominations and world view's have wrong. I think it's very important that we stand up for those beliefs no matter what, without waivering. I do think we need to unite with different denominations and people with different views to really love people the way we're supposed to. There are things I won't compromise to do that, however, and sometimes though we may want to unite with others they don't like to unite with us because we aren't accepting of all practices and beliefs. For myself, I accept people the way they are where they are. What many of them don't understand is that we can separate the person from the beliefs. Many of my friends are unbelievers, I've come to know and enjoy them in spite of our differences. I think we can come together to do good without the religious beliefs coming into question. I try to see them the way God does, He met me where I was and we can't meet people who don't know Him at the same place where we are. If you don't start a garden with seeds, it will never grow.
I think I got off on a tangent...lol.....ultimately, we can unite with people with different beliefs, but when the time comes that there is a barrier with beliefs we can't compromise just to set out to accomplish certain things. Sometimes, beliefs are a barrier, if not for us then for others. Gee I hope I make sense, I've come back to type this a few times in the interim of dealing with a 2.5 year old and 10 month old. Sometimes I lose track of where I was. lol
You're so cool for comparing the modern church vs post-modern church with Mac vs PC. Such a great analogy!
ReplyDeleteJust because a pastor sees God leading him or her to preach doesn't mean that's your calling. You have to actively engage God and figure out for yourself what it looks like for YOU to follow God.
Thank you for saying that. I get frustrated when I'm told that if I'm not on the street corners every day telling strangers about Christ, that I'm a bad Christian. Not all of us have that gift. God made us as a body, each body part has its own function. I'm sick of being shoved into the box of having to preach at people. That's not what I'm good at. I'm an ear, not a mouth.
We need ears friend, it makes the mouth more informed and allows for more grace and forgiveness;)
ReplyDeleteCallisto, I'm totally with you on the "shoved in a box" portion. I've had family try to shove me into gifts I just don't have. Gifts I haven't been called to have. We are each a player in a symphony, playing different instruments in order for the end result to be a beautiful song. Don't feel guilty for not being that guy that carries the cross and walks all over town. You will know what God has called you to do.
ReplyDeleteChrisi, as usual, wonderfully stated:)
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ReplyDelete"I think the next generation of the church is tired of how the modern church has refused to change and adapt to a postmodern world, and I believe this next generation will get back to its roots"
ReplyDeleteTravis: I'm saying this as a respected friend :) I'm serving in a traditional umc church now. I've attended emerging churches. There is something to be said for the long standing history of the traditional church. I don't think all traditional churches are closed minded and against change. I don't think all emerging churches are open as you say they are. I think it is hard to compare a whole group to another. I think we have to look at each individual church and see the greatness rather than the issues that set us apart. Yes...the over all traditional church needs some work...along with the emerging! Also something to be said with tradition! I really hope the emerging church movement sticks around and doesn't fade out like the "contemporary" churches are...honestly I do! We are all striving to do the work of God and further His Kingdom...not what we desire.
ps: sorry about the deleted post! i went to post my comment and it wasn't there...so i re-wrote it a couple times! must be that darn windows program on my computer ;)
ReplyDeleteMollie, I could not agree with you more, I'm not saying I'm in total agreement with the emergent movement, for that matter I think people associated in this movement hve different ways of wanting to do ministry.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely concur that any church should strive to be relevant to where they are at, which I know for a fact your staff and leadership is striving for that:) That speaks volumes about how Kingdom minded you are and your leadership is in Leavenworth. I don't think we throw out tradition for the sake of advancing the church at all!!! I think we throw out the junk that is not needed, for example, politicism, leglism and judgmentaism. Some of the deepest, most intimate times I've had in my life where I truly experienced the presence of God took place in traditional settings. I would also argue that it is possible to be UMC and emergent:)
Great response friend, this is one of the many reasons I love ya'. You rock Mollie:)
PS: Wy to take a cheap shot at Windows, could you be any cooler my friend?:)
ReplyDeleteTravis, when you say you want to throw out "politicism, legalism, and judgmentalism; can you give me some examples of each one of those? What specifically involving those issues do you dislike?
ReplyDeleteJust some examples
ReplyDeletePoliticism: Putting a political party and its goals ahead of Christ in certain situations. Judging someone because they have a different political belief than you. Churches supporting candidates from the pulpit!
Legalism: Placing tradition ahead of or equal to scriptural doctrine regardless of theology. Treating other believers who have diferent beliefs on non-tenet philosophies as lower than you. Being too strict and taking Biblical text out of context to gain control over people.
Judgmentalism: Judging someone and looking down on them because of their race, financial situation, beliefs or sexual orientation. I beieve we can love sinners and hate sin!
Politicism: I definitely think there needs to be a very careful boundary between politics and the church. Aside from the fact that if they endorse a candidate, they lose their tax exempt status. Other than that, I think there are foundations we need to examine. The foundations we find in the heart of Christ, to base our political decisions upon. If they are large fundamental issues and would be to Christ, we need to examine whether the choice is wise or not.
ReplyDeleteLegalism: I totally agree, I see tradition take over the hearts of many people and it becomes something more real than the relationship. I grew up Catholic, and was very fortunate to have moved into a non-denominational church by age 10. As a young child, the rituals were very confusing at best. I only began to know Jesus after being in an environment where the focus was Him. My Grandmother still uses Scripture out of context with me, and when I point it out she gets so mad. She doesn't like that. lol
Judgmentalism: I think us Christians, so many of us, need to learn that no matter the circumstance, we are all equal to one another. Whether a person is an unbeliever, a homosexual, and adulterer, a liar, etc. We all come from a place of sin. We are all imperfect, and some Christians can be more imperfect than those that aren't. We couldn't be Christian without it. We all feel the same way, have the same emotions, struggles, etc. I do believe, that there is a point to which we are to judge....righteously, with gentleness and respect, and with love. If our Pastor were engaging in adultery or any other sin, it is our place to righteously judge and say "no that's not the best way for you, we need to get you to a place where God wants you to be." Not shut him out, but to help him to his knees. So many people see us Christians as "judgmental" I think there is a distinct line between the two. We need to examine our hearts and make sure we are doing the right kind of judging and get down from that right hand place next to God that some of us think we need to be. We are all on the same playing field.