The Leper Colony

I stole the title from a famous old movie called "12 o'clock High" starring Gregory Peck. It's an amazing movie on leadership and stuff and everyone should watch it.

Anyhow, this is not a commercial. There is a hot shot leader who thinks he is too good for everyone and doesn't respect Mr. Peck's authority. In response to this, the punk kid leader is put in charge of all the least-effective crew members on a plane named "The Leper Colony." The leader is told he has to make all these morons into the best unit or else risk dismissal.

Oddly enough, this is my dream, my quest, my mission, my goal. I would LOVE for my church to be a true Leper Colony, an Island of Misfit Toys, a League of Their Own, and soforth. In a way, I already have a glimpse of this working with Set Free, although I am not the pastor.

I'm sure that rich, successful people need Jesus just like everybody else, but that seems to be the only targets for church planting---after all, it worked pretty well for Rick Warren and Bill Hybels!

What if there were a group of idiots like me whose only goal in life was to avoid the trappings of the rich and powerful and successful? Who wanted to see a work that only God could do? Who wanted to move among the "lepers" of our day, as one of their own kind, and pull them to the only one who can cleanse them and make them new?

Well there just so happens to be one man foolish enough to go there, and his name is me!

Transparency

As I have been in different Sunday school classes in my career as a church attender, it seems like the hardest thing to do is to get people to answer questions, discuss their life, or whatever. One thing I have found that can reverse the trend is a little transparency.

The problem, however, is that inbred Christian churches (i.e., churches grow by the majority of transfer membership, and never affect the unchurched population) do not create an atmosphere conducive to transparency---that is, people are intimidated to talk about their mistakes.

Basically, it has to begin with the leadership. The pastor has to stop pretending to be perfect. In my opinion (and I know many will disagree with this), it begins by dressing like a normal person, even on Sunday!

We often don't realize it, but by trying to look nice, act happy, and appear holy on Sunday mornings, we are promoting the idea that God is sectioned off from the normal parts of our lives---we do things different at church from the way we do things at home, therefore, I have to dress up and act nice in order for God to accept me, and when I'm in dumpy clothes and and irritated, then God wants nothing to do with me.

The solution? Teachers, leaders, and others need to start freely admitting their failures, mistakes, sins, and start modeling a continuous lifestyle of repentance for the people they teach and lead and disciple. It means apologizing when you're wrong. It means using stories and illustrations about yourself where you are the villain and not the hero.

This is yet another reason why I love working for Set Free. There is zero pretension there. Even the pastor is a recovering alcoholic. Everybody there wears the same clothes they do during the week. And our Bible studies are amazing because nobody there is afraid of looking bad because we all already look bad.

I also recently learned that Charles Wesley used to kick people out of his church that dressed up too much. I may just continue that practice in my church!

Sit Down and Shut Up!!

I have really been thinking hard (aka wasting time) about coming up with a new purpose of the church. Basically, what I have seen is that churches want everyone but the pastor and song leader to just listen to them.

This is partially why I do so much music stuff in churches: A) I can't sit down or sit still long enough and B) I hate the music in most churches (but I already blogged about that!).

However people try to baptize it, church is basically just for the entertainment of the members. Sure, you sing along some times, but don't people even do that at music theaters and some movies?? Then, of course, there's the issue of taking the Lord's Supper out of all but four services a year. What's the point of even going to church? I don't do anything, there are better preachers and music on the radio, and the people are usually doing their own thing and cannot bring themselves to say anything more than "howya doin?" when they see you.

Both on paper and in practice, church needs to be a place where everybody does something, or has the opportunity to contribute something to the overall experience. This is one of the reasons that I am so enamoured with the house churches. I am still working on how to translate this into a larger setting. If it does translate into a larger setting, it may mean putting a heavier emphasis on small groups than on the "worship" service, which I am leaning toward calling a teaching service, because worship is more than an hour on Sunday: if worship is only for one hour a week, then it isn't worship!

What gets accomplished at church? If the church is just spinning wheels, no wonder so many people don't want to go!

Every member has something to offer, yet most do not have any idea what they can do for Jesus or for each other. And that's a problem. It might even be THE problem.

I'm Andrew Riley,
Good night, and good luck.