Do you want to plant a church?

"Do you want to plant a church?"

It's an odd question. It's akin to, "Do you want to open a McDonald's?" Or maybe, "Would you like to start a local chapter of The Lions Club?"

A friend and mentor lobbed the question my way. It came floating over my salad and struck me between the eyes. I had considered the question and wrestled with what God is planning for me but had not yet put my thoughts into words.

"Well, I know I don't want to build a building and raise up an organization that ends up adding responsibilities to burned out, overloaded people," I responded.

My mind bounced to the Scripture that says, "What does it benefit a man to gain the whole world and yet lose his soul?" I remembered reading that passage just a few days earlier and thinking, "What does it profit a man to build a giant church while losing intimacy with God? What does it profit a woman to be at church four nights a week doing God things while sacrificing sabbath rest with God."

My friend knows me well enough to recognize that my mind was processing. He remained silent and sipped his water while looking me straight in the eye.

"But it bugs me that the American 'church' (I made the quotation marks with my fingers as though I was Chris Farley on Saturday Night Live) has not even kept pace with population growth over the past three decades. It's like we sit in our comfortable pews and point a judgemental finger at the people who stay away and say, 'They have a problem. They are blind. They are selfish.'"

"Um hmmm," came the response as he took another bite of his sandwich.

My words were not able to keep up with my thoughts but I managed, "I think we have a problem, we are blind and we are selfish."

His smile made it clear that he saw right through me. Good friends have the ability to do that. "So, you've been thinking about this a lot, huh?"

He was right. Sleep has not come easy. Books and articles have been devoured. My prayers are constant and my eyes have become sensitive to those "outsiders." It is though God is giving me the ability to see us as they see us. And it hurts my heart.

I've been tossing and turning wondering how to love people as Christ would. How did he hang out with people and chat? How did he live that caused people to ask him questions? How do I live? How do we live?

"You still with me?"

My friend's voice made me snap back to our spot in our window booth. I laughed, apologized and looked at my untouched salad. "Yeah, barely," I chuckled.

"So, you don't want to plant a church?"

"No, I don't want to start another place that takes people from somewhere else. But, I do want
to build the church, if that makes any sense. I do want to do something that sets people free. I don't want to be a recruiter, ya know?"

I could see from my friend's puzzled expression that more was needed.

"It seems like we spend a lot of time recruiting people to come to this, come to that or join this group or that. We've got to recruit them because if numbers go down that makes giving go down and then when giving goes down, budgets get cut. Then you can't pay bills and people lose their jobs so you recruit harder to get the people to do what you need. It's like a vicious cycle. I don't want to be a recruiter. "

"Then what do you propose?"

I don't have the answer to that question yet. Now, two weeks past our lunch meeting, I have no answers of how to do what I want to do. Last night, I glanced at the clock at 12:59 AM and then returned to staring at the ceiling praying, "Lord, what are you doing with me? What do you want? What should I do? How do I do this? Where do I start?"

No booming voice ... no still small voice ... no direction-bringing dream... only an ache in my heart that "outsiders" come to see how very fond my Father is of all of us.

I looked at the clock again.

1:52 ...

The Christmas story ... at least what we've made of it

Imagine that first Christmas ...

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Future generations will add two to three family parties, two staff parties, three to four church programs, one school performance and days of shopping at crowded malls, fifty greeting cards, and at least one night of wrapping. Your children will go to practice upon practice to prepare for performances and you will watch them at school, at church and at civic events. You will sew costumes and rehearse lines. Your friends will host a dinner party or two to add to the festivities. And there will be lots of baking to do.

You'll cut down trees and hang pretty bobbles on the branches. You'll put giant, inflatables of a jolly bearded man in a red suit on your lawns. Also there will be a green, monsterish creature people will call a "grinch." And, much will be made of a deer with an illuminating nose.

People will sing songs about a "Silent Night" and a "Holy Night" and sing about peace while having no idea what true Peace is.

It will all be so much fun! People will borrow money to make it all happen. People will work as hard as they can to provide something called, "the perfect Christmas."

Elves, reindeer, snowmen, a baby in some straw, boughs with red berries and fa la la la lah. Yes! That is the miraculous "Good News" we've come out here to tell you about tonight. Pretty exciting, don't you think? People will even be rude to each other and God's people will get ticked at people who wish them "Happy Holidays." Most won't really care much if people know this Savior born today but it will be very important to them that people say, "Merry Christmas."

Now hurry off, you shepherds. Get down there to Bethlehem and find that baby. If you don't you're going to be messing up nativity scene pictures for all eternity! We can't even imagine Christmas plays without those little kids in bathrobes with towels over their heads! Go, go now.

We're burning out at a record pace

I looked at the digital clock on my desk and saw the red numbers reading 12:04. My day had been backed up from the start when my stress level increased with each passing train car making me an additional ten seconds late for my nine o’clock appointment. My earlier breakfast meeting had been difficult to draw to a close despite having set two different audible alarms on my PDA. I arrived at my office at 9:10 apologizing for being tardy. In the middle of trying to get caught up on correspondence before an 11:00 commitment, an interuption came - someone's printer wasn't working. If technology is not doing what is promised, I am the first call in my office. In fact, I am the first call when my extended family sees the 'fatal error' screen. (Chances are, since you are online reading this blog, you are the resident computer guru in your circle too, right?) After a reboot, all is back on track and I try to get my train of thought back to where it was. Soon I notice the 12:04 signaling that I am late for our weekly staff lunch appointment. I look at my PDA with disappointment wondering where the customary reminder tone went.

Halfway to the restaurant I became painfully aware that I had spent yet another morning too busy to take care of even the most basic of physical needs. As we entered the restaurant I hurried to the restroom.

Dr. Richard A. Swenson, in his book Margin describes margin as “the space that once existed between ourselves and our limits.” I am operating outside the bounds of the personal constitution I wrote a number of years ago at a Franklin/Covey personal coaching seminar. My Christian values of desiring time with God, Sabbath rest, prayer and relationships with others have been pushed aside by what Covey calls the “urgent but unimportant” in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. The space between myself and my limits has disappeared. Has yours?

Swenson notes past generations’ bravery in the face of challenge and is careful to point out some key differences existing today that increase our stress levels. We travel faster, we tote computers and PDA’s to remain connected wherever we go, specialization drives us to achieve, debt and materialism undermine security, crowds surround us most everywhere we go and the exponential speed of change forces us to try to keep up.

I have had a few pivotal moments in life when I have had to face the fact that burnout is not God's plan, it is man's. Man is impressed by packed schedules and even elevates the insanely busy and declares them "hard-working" and "dedicated." We Christians outwardly scowl at the workaholic ideal but then hand out the accolades to those around us who work non-stop. We admire them. The man who says, "I am sorry, I just can't do any more" is seen as weak. Others gather to encourage him to press on, tell him how valuable he is and then say, "Hey, we've all got it tough."

Swenson echos the same counsel that doctors have been preaching for years. He demonstrates the consistent result of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke and points out the weakened relationships in the marginless life. The institution gathers briefly to offer a few words and then quickly moves to fill the gaps and find the next person who will give their very lives for the cause. That cause can be anything from selling widgets to preaching the gospel of Jesus.

What? The church? Surely if any organization had the idea of the importance of Sabbath rest, balance and time for meaningful relationship, it would be the church, right? Wrong. Consider James Dobsons' newsletter article of 1998 where he wrote,

"Our surveys indicated that 80 percent of pastors and 84 percent of their spouses are discouraged or are dealing with depression. More than 40 percent of pastors and 47 percent of their spouses report that they are suffering from burnout, frantic schedules and unrealistic expectations. We estimate that approximately 1,500 pastors leave their assignments each month..."

Shouldn't we know better? In The Church You’ve Always Wanted by Wagner and Halliday, the authors devote a large portion of their work to encouraging leaders to buildchurch environments where believers are not exhausted by demands but instead find rest, peace and are re-energized. It is the same principle of margin that Swenson presents. The number of Christian books written on the topic would easily fill several bookshelves.

Swenson indentifies three major costs of progress saying we have suffered relationally, emotionally and spiritually. That is true of my life. Is it true of yours? The hectic pace of our days and the unrealistic demands of our jobs leave us angry and exhausted not wanting to spend time with people. Deadlines squeeze out exercise, bible study and prayer. Hobbies are shelved and relationships are stunted as we look at people as appointments and blocks of time.

What do we do? I am thanking God for pointing out the cause of my pain and am planning change (repentance) by trimming the time commitments that are standing in the way of relationships. We must trust the Lord to take care of us as we begin scheduling down time for life and relationship to happen. We have to budget our time and let our employers know our limits. When the piles continue to be pushed to our desks, we've got to leave them behind at the end of the day. If it doesn't get done in the 40 hours we have committed to working, we've got to let the chips fall where they may. If that's a pink slip, perhaps we need to trust our Father enough to thank Him. A termination is not terminal but burning out can be.

We've never heard tell of the man who, on his deathbed, says, "My only regret is that I did not spend more time at the office." Instead, we've all heard the wishes of our elders saying had they had everything to do over again, they would have spent more time in relationship. In fact, isn't that what Jesus is all about too?

When we don’t even have time to use the bathroom, something is very, very wrong.