| By
Michael Wacht
ORLANDO — Since the earliest days of the
Christian Church there have been two kinds of Christians, says the
Rev. Tom Bandy, vice president and senior partner with Easum, Bandy
& Associates.
The Christians who separate themselves from the
world and seek out a sacred and safe space for themselves are “the
Body of Christ at rest…and in residence,” he said. “The second
group is continually on the road to Emmaus. They see no difference
between sacred and secular because everything is sacred. They are the
Body of Christ in motion.”
Bandy and his partner, the Rev. Bill Easum, were
in Orlando as part of a four-stop tour of Florida. The two church
leadership consultants challenged churches to discern where Jesus was
going after he disappeared on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24:13-35.
Bandy said that in the 35 years since the peak
of denominational membership, Jesus has been sending the church into
ministry with Gentiles and modern pagans. “Wouldn’t you rather be
on the road with Jesus in mission than in a meeting in the basement of
the church?” he said.
Sept. 11, 2001, represented a “Quo Vadis
Moment” for the church, Bandy said. “Quo Vadis” means “Where
are you going?” and comes from the story of Peter encountering Jesus
on a return trip to Jerusalem. Jesus asked Peter where he was going,
and Peter turned around and went back into the mission field.
“We don’t have much time to survive as a
church…if after Sept. 11 the only thing we had to offer was offering
envelopes, hard pews and nominations to committees,” Bandy said.
Bandy said modern pagan religions are competing
with the Christian Church. The “Cult of Harmony” exists in many
churches, he said. “We love each other, and we’ll do what it takes
to keep it that way.”
Other pagan religions in modern America have
different names, but the same attributes of ancient Roman religions,
Bandy said. The cult of Jupiter, who controlled the sky and
addictions, is now the nameless higher power of 12-step programs like
Alcoholics Anonymous. Mars, the god of war, peacekeeping and heritage,
is now the United States’ armed services and United Nations’
peacekeeping missions. Vesta, the god of hearth, home and roots, has
been replaced by Bob Vila.
Following Bandy’s presentation of the
challenge to churches in today’s society and culture, Easum offered
practical advice on how churches that are stuck and can move forward
in mission.
Easum says a moving church has nothing to do
with church growth or health. “There is a vast difference between
church growth and the Great Commission, which is about faithfulness,”
he said. “Some churches say, ‘We’re here. If they want to show
up, that’s fine.’ That may be a healthy church, but it’s not a
faithful church. A church may be a growing church, sucking up
transfers from other churches, but that’s not a faithful church.
Faithfulness is doing whatever is necessary to join Jesus on the road
to mission.”
Easum said nearly 90 percent of modern Christian
churches are on the road to nowhere. Those churches have a leadership
system that is top-down, stifling and control-oriented. “This is a
church where new ideas aren’t welcome, so don’t have any,” he
said.
A church that is moving is bottom-up,
out-of-control and based on trust. “This is a place that honors new
ideas as long as they match the values of the church,” Easum said.
The first step to leading a church into mission
is to build a solid community and eliminating any major, ongoing
conflicts, Easum said. Then, the church must make what Easum calls an
“unfreezing move,” a new phase, level or direction of ministry
that challenges the status quo and takes control out of the hands of
the church’s controllers.
This move can be traumatic for some churches,
Easum said. If the movement in a new direction is sustained, the
church can expect to lose between 10 and 40 percent of its members.
A moving church must focus on maintaining the
three engines that drive it, Easum said. Indigenous worship, worship
that is in the language, technology and culture of the people being
reached, is the engine that invites. “Most worship is European, and
most people in our society are not European,” he said. “We’ve
gone from a one-world view to a many-world view.”
The second engine is a mobilized laity who are
growing spiritually. “They’re not volunteers, they’re servants,”
Easum said. “They’re called, not nominated.”
The third engine is redemptive missional
opportunities. “Most churches make the mistake of starting here,”
Easum said. “They try to involve new people in some church activity,
and it’s seldom a growing experience. People can’t model what they
don’t have. Most people believe the church is a service
organization, but it’s not. It’s a redemptive outpost.”
Easum said the pastor is key to transformation.
“The job of the pastor is not to do ministry, but to equip the laity
to do ministry,” he said. “It’s heresy to think the pastor is a
hired hand.” |
