A Critical Change for Trinity....

Trinity is definitely in a time of transition and going through a lot of changes.  If you have been around us at all, you would know that our life as a church has been turned upside down and the Lord is really shaking us out of our comfort zone...but that is not a bad thing!  We are truly excited about all that is going on and are looking forward to whatever He has in store for us.   We have joked about being blessed as one of the "richest, homeless churches in America."

Our Strategy Team and Building Teams have been reading Tim Cool's book, Why Church Buildings Matter and it has helped us evaluate what we should be looking for in terms of facilities for our church body in the days ahead.  This is a fantastic book and I would certainly recommend all of our church members read it as we seek the Lord's will for where our church should move.  While certainly the location and type of facilities we will have are forefront on everyone's mind at this time, I want us to use this time of transition to look at the health of our church and other changes that need to be made.  After reading Tim's recent blog (below), I can't help but think that if we are going to be all that God has called us to be, then we have to change one very important thing about our church - and I believe it is this same thing that all churches struggle with today....

http://coolconversationslive.com/if-i-could-change-one-thing-about-church/

IF I COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT “CHURCH”

Cool Conversations Live>>Blog>>If I Could Change One Thing About “Church”

I was recently leading a workshop for a conference in Texas on Organizational Culture and how it communicates a story…similar to how our facilities communicate a story.  As part of the Q & A time, I was asked a question I have never been asked before.  It caught me a little flatfooted, but got my mind racing.

The question was – “If you could change one thing in ‘church’ today, what would it be?”

Wow…what a loaded question.  I paused while my mind tried to function like Tianhe-2, the worlds fastest super-computer.  The bytes were flashing through my head so fast you could almost see smoke coming from my ears.  I was processing things like:

• Stop world hunger
• Stop all wars
• Stop injustice
• Stop bickering on Bible Translations
• Elimination of red carpet and purple pews in churches
• The unification of denominations
• etc, etc, etc.

My thoughts ranged from altruistic to humanitarian to downright outrageous.

But then it hit me with clarity I have rarely experienced.

We had just completed a discussion on being contextual…abandoning the unproductive rhetoric of “contemporary vs. traditional”. That discussion, about contemporary or traditional, is really a treatise on personal preference…which is actually a form of an “ism”….“me-ism”.

That was it!!!!  That is the one thing I would change if I could.  I would eradicate me-ism.

According to Wikipedia, me-ism is defined as “a focus on, or obsession with, oneself”.  Another website says it is “the error of exaggerating the value of one’s own point of view”.

My response became crystal clear and intentional.  Whether we are debating guitars and drums vs. an organ, or the KJV vs. the NIV or NLT, or if a steeple is more spiritual than a shopping center sign, or whether we should wear ties vs. flip-flops, it is all me-ism. These all represent personal preferences. Some based on our past experiences and others based on our current context….but they are about ME!

Can you image what a different church (and world) we would live in if we could abandon our me-ism for “you-ism”, “other-ism” and “Christ-ism”?

Next time you get embroiled in a silly debate about hymnals, pew color, instrumentation, when the offering should be received, tattoos, dress codes and which day to worship, step back and determine if it is merely me-ism.

Step out and be a me-ism killer!

PS:  This is as much for me as you. Like Paul, I am the greatest of sinner.

Planning for Our Worst....not bad advice!

Some time ago I saw this link  http://www.challies.com/christian-living/when-youre-at-your-best-plan-for-your-worst?utm_content=buffer71490&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer  and I believe it is timely for all of us. This advice should help all of us in every area of life, not just when dealing with the internet. 

 

When You're at Your Best, Plan for Your Worst

My children are growing up fast and, between you and me, they’re growing up a little bit faster than I had expected. My son is thirteen now, just a half school year away from being in high school. I sometimes find myself remembering when I was thirteen, and the kinds of things I awakened to and became interested in. Though I see now that I was only a kid, I was sure that I was all grown up. It’s disquieting at best. Meanwhile my oldest daughter is 11, going on 16. I love her to death, but she too is getting far too old for her own good. There are three kids in our home, but only one of them is still a child.

As my kids grow up, I find that I need to have important but uncomfortable discussions with them. They are unfortunate discussions, but the kind you’ve got to have in a world like ours. I suppose the only thing worse than having those discussions is not having them.

Some time ago we implemented a plan in our home to protect the kids from some of what lurks out there on the Internet. We removed Internet access from some devices, limited it on others, and applied filters that keep tabs on what we are doing online. It has been very smooth from a technological perspective, but a little less so on the interpersonal level.

Recently my son said, “Dad, you’re treating me like I’m addicted to pornography. But I haven’t ever seen it and don’t want to see it!” And he’s right, to some degree. If I’m not treating him like an addict, I am at least treating him like a pre-addict, someone who has the inclination, or who may well have it before long. In this way I think I understand him a little better than he understands himself. Of course our Internet plan is not designed only to protect the children from exposure to pornography, but that is still one of its major purposes.

But his exasperation and hurt feelings gave us opportunity to talk about one of the principles I have found helpful in my own life: When you are at your best, plan for when you are at your worst. I see this as an application of 1 Corinthians 10:12-13: “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Right there, in the middle of this discussion about sexual immorality, the power of temptation and the promise in temptation, Paul gives a call to humility: “Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.” This is consistent with what he told the church in Rome: “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned” (Romans 12:3).

There is a kind of weakness, a kind of vulnerability, that may come when we are convinced of our strength. It is when we arenot being tempted, it is when we are standing strong in the Lord’s grace, that we ought to consider the times we will be weak and tempted and eager to sin. We need to assume such times will come and we need to use the moments of strength to put measures in place that will protect us when we are weak. The wise nation builds its defenses in peace time, not once the enemy has invaded its borders; the wise homeowner buys insurance before the big catastrophe, not once the flood has already risen. The wise Christian fights sin even when sin seems distant and dormant.

I do not consider myself particularly prone to the temptation of pornography. I can sit at a computer early in the morning or late at night and not feel any pull to abuse the privilege. Not at this point. And yet, I explained to my son, I treat myself as one who is disposed to the temptation. I do this because I know my own proneness to sin and I do this because I have seen so many men shock themselves and their families by succumbing to the temptation. This is obviously Satan’s major point of attack on men today—old men and young men alike—and it would be folly to assume I’ll never face it. It would be folly not to prepare myself right now while I’m thinking straight. And it would be folly for my boy as well.

I have yet to meet the man who hasn’t been tempted at one time or another. And for this reason I have filtering software and accountability software and, even better, men who ask me good questions about my life. In the end, I explained, I am only holding my son to the standard I use for myself—the standard of a sinful man, wanting desperately to avoid a major fall, and all too aware that in those times I begin to lose my delight in God, I grow in my delight in sin. This, I hope, is the sober judgment the Lord calls us to.