Remove the Queen
So I was reading a book entitled "11 Innovations in the Local Church," by Elmer Towns, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird over the weekend, in anticipation of Neil Cole's visit with us and came across a very provocative thought.
In the chapter on Organic Church, attributed to author Stetzer I believe, he tells of another well-known Christian author and speaker Alan Hirsch, and an illustration he uses to talk about "the church."
Hirsch says that the best way to learn how to play the game of chess is to "remove the queen." In other words, when you deliberately eliminate your own queen from the game, you are forced to learn how to use the other parts more intentionally and holistically. You don't depend upon the queen as a "crutch," but recognize the value and import of every piece and are able to apply your strategy more strategically and effectively.
Hirsch goes on to say that in the American church today, "the queen" is the Sunday morning experience. He believes that most churches today are so dependent on this--in calendaring, in budgeting, in energy and time given to preparing, that they don't do much else, failing to apply the Body holistically to the commission Christ has given us as His church.
I'm teaching through the book of Ephesians currently at the church where I serve, and it's interesting to note that this book, the most comprehensive treatise in Scripture on the theology and behavior of "the church," nowhere even mentions the Sunday morning experience (unless you include it in 5:19-21 which appears to speaks to the Christian life 24/7) as a highlighted part of church life.
Perhaps the apostle was more focused on us being the church than just doing church, with the rest of the six and a half-days of the week also in mind.
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What if we reinvent our
What if we reinvent our whole church experience? Is what happens on Sundays what Jesus told us to do?
Are we real Jesus disciples if we are not doing what the Master did?
Let me tell you what I think about the Sunday experience:
1) Everything is about the attendance. The more people we have to count the better we are doing.
2) Parents gave up their task on discipling their children and throw out that call to "the church" (aka Sunday school teachers and Pastors)
3) The Sunday experience robbed the incarnational side of the church. We just need to go to the service and offering, and probably one more night during the week, to be a faithful Christian.
4) The separation between the church and the world we've been sent, has transformed our congregations in a group of disengaged people with almost nothing to share with those outside our buildings.
And you can go on and on. I don't want to sound as a cynic that doesn't love the church. I love it!. The church is still the Bride of Christ. We just must think about how we are dressing and feeding the bride.
What if we reinvent our
What if we reinvent our whole church experience? Is what happens on Sundays what Jesus told us to do?
Are we real Jesus disciples if we are not doing what the Master did?
Let me tell you what I think about the Sunday experience:
1) Everything is about the attendance. The more people we have to count the better we are doing.
2) Parents gave up their task on discipling their children and throw out that call to "the church" (aka Sunday school teachers and Pastors)
3) The Sunday experience robbed the incarnational side of the church. We just need to go to the service and offering, and probably one more night during the week, to be a faithful Christian.
4) The separation between the church and the world we've been sent, has transformed our congregations in a group of disengaged people with almost nothing to share with those outside our buildings.
And you can go on and on. I don't want to sound as a cynic that doesn't love the church. I love it!. The church is still the Bride of Christ. We just must to think about how we are dressing and feeding the bride.