"But the challenge of forming selfless followers of Christ isn't just a seeker-church problem. Traditional, non-seeker congregations are often oriented toward maintaining their own styles and methods, unwilling to change for the good of others. Too often, the transformation we see within churches is from secular self-centeredness to Christian ego-centricity. This is akin to the alcoholic who exchanges his drinking for smoking or workaholism.
Dressing up self-serving attitudes in religious garb does not sanctify them. When "good" Christians are unwilling to give up personal preferences of worship style, dress, or preaching in order to obey the Great Commission, how much are they displaying the emptying out of Christ (Phil 2)
Have we lured people into virtual-Christian showrooms, providing misleading glimpses of what the real experience is all about?
Alan Nelson, "Redirecting the Self-seeking," Leadership Summer 2001, 48.
How do you deal with selfishness and individualism when it is the idol of our culture and society?
Last evening I was sharing some thoughts that have finally crystalized within my mind concerning outreach, church health, church growth, and their relationship to the individual. These are some of my favorite topics, but I often feel like I am speaking a different language than my hearers. The week before this was confirmed when I kept getting questions that lead away from my point. I realized as a communicator I was failing because no real communication was occurring.
Why?
We lacked the categories to even discuss outreach.
When I talk of outreach, evangelism, or even ministry, I almost always think about life within the Church, the body of Christ, the community of faith. Real outreach happens in community.
When many folks hear the words outreach, evangelism, or ministry, I think they think of their part, what they should do, what is expected of them, and how these plans/programs will impact their life. They are reminded of their failures, their short-comings, and their fears. While these are very real questions and issues, I think they are all secondary to how ministry is worked out in community.
Why the disconnect?
There is almost no discussion nor even categories within our Western culture and in particular our American culture that allow us to think as anything but individuals. The notion that we are a Christian community first is hard for us to grasp. Even when we do, we understand it in our head, but our heart has a hard time living it.
At least I know I struggle with it. How about you?
A true idol is something that controls our behavior. It is not a bit of metal or wood. It is an idea, principle, or force that ultimately dictates our behavior. As I often have presented, "An idol is anything apart from Christ that we use to get meaning, purpose, direction, and love."
In America and the West, this idol is self. It is individualism. It infects everything including our discussion and ideas about outreach. It seems so natural to us that we cannot see it, but it is deadly for our soul.
Faith in Christ is about losing ourselves to gain everything. In the process (and it is a process), we get a community of others given to the same process. A place where love and grace flow. Where folks are dedicated to the apostles teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer (Acts 2:42).
So why do our churches not do everything possible to be such a place and encourage such growth? How do we move beyond ourself to think as a community? Is this even a need or are we doing OK already?
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