An old professor of mine in seminary once told me that good theology should smell like fish and have dirt between its toes. In other words, it must be real and applicable to every day. It needs to be down to earth and not fancy. It needs to be understood in a way that the every man can understand. It should smell like fish and have dirt between its toes.
I think the same applies to the church. The church needs to smell like fish and have dirt between its toes. It needs to be real. It needs to be tangible. It needs to be something that represents and shows the work of the Holy Spirit. It needs to be approachable by the every day person. Not just the everyday Christian but also the everyday non-Christian. You know the one. The one who didn’t grow up with Christianese as their primary language. The one who didn’t know what in the world a narthex was until he was told he was standing in one (Okay, that one was me…it took me two years to find out what a narthex was). The every day person that thinks organ music is used for Spangoli and Elvira bad movie nights. The church needs to be authentic and real. It needs to be something that everyone is able to find the dirt between the toes and smell the fish of Christ…I mean see the works of Christ.
I’ve been reading blogs about the church from the Young Adult Leadership Task-force (YALT) and they’ve had some great things about the church. They really have. And I’ve been thinking about the church. What it is. How it is the body of Christ. How it is a verb. Something that is done not something that just is.
They’ve also been talking about the future of the Christian Reformed Church (CRC). Is there a future for the CRC? I say yes. But we need to do somethings to retain and hold on to this future by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Here’re some thoughts:
1. Stop defining ourselves by what we’re not–I’ve heard people in churches say that they’re not like some of those other churches with large numbers of people. They don’t have a praise team. They don’t have programs. They’re not retaining the young adults (by the way, what exactly is a young adult. I’m 35 and still referred to as a young adult. May I grow up please now baby boomers?). Stop defining by what we’re not and start defining ourselves by who we are.
2. Play to our strengths–What are we good at? Who are we? I think one of the things we need to do is look at what we do well. Stop defining ourselves by what we’re not and start defining ourselves by who we are. And the CRC is good at a lot of things. We’re good at teaching. We’re good at having a tradition. Yes. I said it. Tradition (insert song from Fiddler on the Roof here). We have a strong tradition. A good tradition. And during this time of spiritual searching that the Gen Xers and Millennials have, something that has stood the test of time is something good to have. A rock. A base. A thing not changing in a ever rampant changing world. Let’s play to these. Let’s embrace these and define ourselves by these.
3. Keep it simple–We don’t need a lot of huge programs. We don’t need a lot of fancy things. We don’t need a huge amount of books on being missional or church growth. These are helpful and give great ideas, but do we need them all? Instead, we need the beauty of simplicity. Simplicity and authenticity. We need a simple laser like focus on what we want to do. And then we need to do it. Play off of our strengths. What are we good at? Let’s narrow it down to that. And then simply find the need that needs to be filled. We’re not going to be able to fill every need. But, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the right need can be filled by the strengths that we have. So keep it simple.
What about you? What are some thoughts about the church today? What are some thoughts you have about how the CRC can not just survive but thrive today and in the future?
Jacob's Limp 