8 times when church is just ‘fun’
I want church leaders to think about times when church really is fun – and to long for that to happen in their own congregations.
I want church leaders to think about times when church really is fun – and to long for that to happen in their own congregations.
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I’m not what you would consider a man of the outdoors, but I did my fair share of fishing during my teen years.
Adobe Stock Photo. Do not publish.
The 20th century political anarchist Edward Abbey loved the desert and once observed, “What draws us into the desert is the search for something intimate in the remote.” Abbey was not the only person who discovered intimacy in the solitude of the desert. The same could be said for some of the most influential people of prayer mentioned in Scripture. God originally created man in a garden, but He frequently recreates them in a desert.
a golfer blasts his ball from the sand trap
I have tried really hard to like golf, but I prefer hobbies that do not tempt me to say or do things I will regret later. One thing I do like about golf is the mulligan—a do-over stroke that doesn’t count. They make those terrible shots disappear into thin air.
I want church leaders to think about times when church really is fun – and to long for that to happen in their own congregations.
As a pastor, I really do understand. Ministry is hard, and some people in churches never get on board. Nevertheless, Thom Rainer showed years ago that pastors of Breakout Churches “refuse to blame others. They accept the responsibility that comes with being a leader.”
I’m at the point of life where I’m both planning for the future and reflecting on the past. As I think back on 40+ years of ministry, including 14 years of lead pastoring, here is one of my biggest regrets: I did not invest in college students well.
The longer a church small group is in existence, the more likely it is the group will have turned inwardly. They don’t move in that direction on purpose, but it happens.
Some years ago, I was diagnosed with neuropathy—in my case, a strange combination of tingling and numbness in my feet. Though the doctors never discovered the cause, I still think about that diagnosis when I find myself in a similar spiritual malaise of both needle-like tingling and numbness at the same time.
My assessment is that many, if not most, churches have no intentional, strategic plan in place to disciple believers. Illustrating an image I use in my book, Disciple: How to Create a Community that Develops Passionate and Healthy Followers of Jesus, these churches may have “puzzle pieces” of discipleship—but these puzzle pieces are lying around the floor. No one has put the puzzle together.
From my experience, here are seven reasons why some prodigals return to their family and their faith.
We who preach or teach are kidding ourselves if we believe everyone is listening to us when we speak. Somebody’s not listening and, if weren’t honest, we can identify some of those folks by just watching them while we’re speaking.
I have two pastoral heroes whose lives I want to emulate. One is now with the Lord, but the other continues to serve the Lord faithfully even into older age. I could write all day about things I heard them say that have changed my life, but I’m focusing in this post on things I’ve never heard from them. Sometimes, what we don’t say is as important as what we do say.
I’m not looking for a new church home. We love our pastors and the church’s vision, and we have no intention of going elsewhere. At the same time, though, I’m often in correspondence with people who are looking for a new church. They most often turn to the website to determine whether to visit a church, even when someone has invited them.