Deep Roots is a discipleship ministry of First United Methodist Church calling God's people to find the depth of God's heart and produce fruit of Kingdom Living.

"This is what the LORD says: "Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD. He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit." [Jeremiah 17: 5-8]

Partnership – a covenant relationship between individuals or groups characterized by mutual cooperation and responsibility, as for the achievement of a specified goal.

Many churches are floundering and failing not because they're not being faithful, they are. The problem I believe is that they're being faithful to the wrong kind of church. Many people have competing views of what it means to be the Church, and often we find good church folk angry and confused not because they're bad people, but because they think about the church differently.

The church is a hodgepodge of faith backgrounds, lifestyles, educations, experiences and needs all trying to live together in community. Many people even are bewildered by whether the church is passive or active, personal or corporate, consuming or contributing organization. Where, for example, does the pastor's spiritual and administrative authority begin and end and where does our personal relationship with Christ enter in? [if at all]

For the next several weeks I'm going to try to look at several of the most common "church metaphors" people have when they think of CHURCH. I hope you will enter into the discussion with me.

The Health Club

Lutheran pastor Michael Foss argues that the central challenge facing many congregations today is to shift their dominant paradigm from being cultures of membership to cultures of discipleship. When Foss describes what he means by a culture of membership, he turns to the model of the now-ubiquitous health club. Writes Foss:

"I don't want to push the analogy too far, but for the sake of illustration, let's think of the membership model of church as similar to the membership model of the modern health club. One becomes a member of a health club by paying dues (in a church, the monthly or weekly offering). Having paid their dues, the members expect the services of the club to be at their disposal. Exercise equipment, weight room, aerobics classes, an indoor track, swimming pool—all there for them, with a trained staff to see that they benefit by them. Members may bring a guest on occasion, but only those who pay their dues have a right to the use of the facilities and the attention of the staff. There is no need to belabor the point. Many who sit in the pews on Sundays have come to think of church membership in ways analogous to how the fitness crowd views membership in a health club." [Michael W. Foss, Power Surge: The six marks of Discipleship for a Changing Church, Fortress Press, 2000.]

Identifying Characteristics

    The people in the pews view themselves look for a church that "meets my needs" not "where I can serve".

    Seating preference is given to long time members. Membership has it privileges. "This is my pew!" [or hymnal]

    Members are empowered to critique the staff on what they like and don't like. Sunday morning sermons, for example, may need to be less challenging and more conducive to comfort.

People are proud to proclaim their status be "long-time members" and not for their service, teaching or sharing.

    People expect a visit from the senior pastor when they're in the hospital even if they do not attend regularly.

    Giving to the church is conditional upon attending that Sunday and using the services of the church.

    There is comfort in having your name on "The Roll" but not in actual life change.

Solutions

    Celebrate the testimonies of disciples who really are growing and making a difference.

    Engage the entire church in at least one annual study. By engaging everyone in a study, we encourage participation over passivity. This participation may break the barrier to God's heart.

    Preaching on Service, Study, and Significance in life will be the bread and butter for life change.

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