Sticky church - part quatre

Before I get into a discussion of life groups and the book "Sticky church" let me describe to you a clip that I saw on ESPN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9a6Ni5ClXc

It shows a young father catching a foul ball, turning to his right and handing it to his little girl who promptly throws in away.

But also notice his response. One of surprise, but then he puts his arms around her and continue to love her.

I couldn't help but think that sometimes we don't realize what we have - and we throw it away.

Our health, our relationships, our money, our job, and even our relationship with God. When it comes to God, even after we have thrown the ball back, God will put his arms around us and love on us, as we turn to him.

Let's all pause for a moment this day and realize what God has given us. And be grateful and thankful.

Anyhow.....back to our discussion of life groups.

This part is important.....and challenging....

It's what we talk about quite a bit in the kingdom but what find hard to implement.

You've heard me nod to this on Sunday mornings. I trust that you are catching this part of our vision.

We are all busy. Hyperbusy and most of the time overcomitted.

Between jobs, church, family, soccer practice, piano, ballet, etc, etc, we are really busy.

How can we minister effectively in our fast paced culture?

Are we in the church really doing everybody a favor by adding on one more thing to the docket?

One more ministry? Have we taken into consideration that maybe, just maybe, people have a full plate as it is?

But it's more than being less busy ("simple church" is not "lazy church"), it's being busy doing the right things. How can you and I build relationships, if I am always "doing" something at the church?

How can you and I have a cup of coffee and talk about the real issues that you are dealing with if we are running from one committee meeting to another? One ministry practice to another?

Here's the deal: we must adjust our ministries to this reality.

So, we must ask ourselves. What is in "competition" with our desire to A. Come on Sunday mornings. B. Participate in a life group. C. Serve in a ministry?

What is "good" in our church that is keeping us from being the "best" we can be.

I can see you nodding now, but what if we talked about the ministry that you are participating in and hold dear to your heart?

It's hard. I know that.

From Sunday School classes, choirs, special midweek children's programs, Saturday morning prayer meetings, to women and men's events, there is a hosts of competitive programs, all begging for workers and attendance from our church family.

The hard part is that they are all great ministries in and of themselves.

But when you put them all together, it brings forth a pie of busyness and lack of intimacy in relationships in the body of Christ.

I can serve in a ministry and become connected with people in that ministry and never get to know those around me on a Sunday morning. Instead of my ministry being a piece of the pie (I'm getting hungry talking about pie so much) it becomes the whole pie, with the rest of the church on the outside.

Here's what I know: many people pick the ministry they enjoy the most, not the ministry they need the most.

We must simplify our process and go back to doing one or two or three things and doing them well.

This coming year (September 2009 - May 2010) will be one more year of transition.

How long will the transition take to go from a busy church to a "simple" church?

There is no easy answer, outside of "as long as possible", at a pace that is led by the Holy Spirit and guards the unity of our church.

I encourage all of our ministry leaders to really give some conversational energy with God as to this question: "Is what I am doing adding to the vision and mission of our church?" Or is it adding on one more thing to keep the church busy?