FORM vs FUNCTION.

I want to post a  "churchy" report that Val  (our Craigieburn CSM ) sent to me here and share it with everyone in regards to the local church, its VERY  - VERY good.

we recognise it comes from another church pastor, but it's too good to not share it...maybe if a few of us took heed to it, it may just change what the local church looks like and how it functions.

a lot of people are more concerned about what  a church looks like, rather than what it does.

I would like to suggest to you  -

that what it does(function), should identify  what it looks like (form).

rather than the other way around....

sound confusing ?

well let me clear it up... (hopefully) (from A Salvo perspective)

when we are more concerned about our uniforms, bands, songsters, flags.... than seeing peopel saved and set free, well we have it back to front.

Rather.. it should be, that people are set free and saved when the Salvos turn up. And that is our primary concern. 

That our outward appearance just identifies us, and is used as  a "witness" to.... the real work of the Salvation Army church, which is...   seeing people saved.

so Form = what it looks like, and Function  = what we do.

now so I don't upset the puritans...  I am not suggesting for one moment that we do away with our identity, and our style and our character and our DNA,   NO.....

I just think we need to crank back up,  what we are supposed to be doing in seeing people saved and set free.

NOW for those comments from (Val's report)

The church is the hope of the world. According to Jesus, who said He came to establish the church, it was intended to be something so filled with energy that not even hell itself could withstand its onslaught. 

The idea is that we are the light of the world, and as that light is brought together through the church, it gains intensity the way focused light becomes a laser beam.

So what’s wrong?

Most churches are anything but energy-filled. Hell seems to not only be standing its ground, but gaining territory.

Let’s bracket off all the things churches are doing wrong today.

Let’s put aside the scandals, the splits, and the outdated strategies.

Let’s not worry for a moment about any disappointments you may have with leadership.

Let’s talk instead about what any single individual person, in any particular church, can do to help their church reach its full redemptive potential. In other words, let’s go after the lowest-hanging solution-oriented fruit. 

Isn’t that what all of us will answer for at the end of our lives anyway? Not what others did, but what we did?

Here’s a baker’s dozen:

1. Embody the idea that it’s not about you, but about the person who isn’t even there yet. And be a willing participant in whatever it might take to reach them, even if it means you are inconvenienced.

2. Be generous with your financial resources. How much ministry can you do for $1? $1 worth. Help your church do all that it can by giving all that you can.

3. Invite your unchurched friends. Really, it’s the only way your church can grow, through the unchurched.

4. Step up and serve. Don’t wait to be asked; just volunteer. If it looks like everything is covered, trust me, it’s not.

5. Leaders and teachers are desperately needed.  Please let your church know if this is in your gift mix, and that you, as a more mature follower of Christ, are willing to serve in these pivotal roles.

6. Give your pastor an umbrella of grace for all that they aren’t, and pray for them on a regular basis. They can’t walk on water, but they can drown. Be one of their “floaties.”

7. Realize that those on your church’s staff do not get a thousand emails a day giving them encouragement. Most of the people who bother to email do so to critique. Send them a word to feast on to keep them going. They are human and get as discouraged as anyone. 

8. As a volunteer, or simply as an attender, show up and be on time. Repeat: Show up and be on time. You have no idea how much this matters.    

9. Talk about your church like gossip over the backyard fence, but in a good way. Like a great movie you saw, or a good restaurant. Unleash positive public relations in your neighborhood and community. 

10. Work hard on having a positive attitude of a cup half-full instead of a cup half-empty. You’ll be surprised how contagious it is.

11. Handle friction and disagreement in a way that honors God, which means handle it biblically (Matthew 18:15). But in general, just practice the habit of “agreeing to disagree agreeably.” And remember Augustine’s rejoinder: in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; and in all things, charity. And much more falls into the “non-essential” camp than we often admit.

12. Welcome those who come into your church with messed-up lives, screwed-up marriages, piercings, tattoos, addictions, divorce, homosexual orientation, children out of wedlock, roommates that aren’t their spouse … in other words, welcome everyone’s differences and scandals with the greater scandal of grace. Not affirmation, necessarily, but always acceptance so that they can experience that grace for themselves.

It’s the Jesus way.  

13. Pray, pray, pray. In fourteenth-century England there were holy women who placed themselves in little rooms at the base of churches and gave themselves to prayer. They prayed for the church and its members, and the extension of the kingdom of God. These women were called by the quaint but telling name of anchoress, for they were spiritual anchors that held the church amid the storms of that century.

Be that anchor. 

All to say, if each of us are called to be the light of the world, and that light is meant to be brought together in and through the church, then perhaps we need to bring an old song back into circulation:

"This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine."

(Dr. James Emery White)

now that's Function over form.....   its really good.

 

I want to ask you a few questions in conclusion of this little blog of thoughts...

Is the church/corps you are attending seeing people saved and added  in every week ? 

Why ? or why Not ?

or...

When was the last time people were radically saved for Jesus Christ in your church/corps ?

Are you (is your church) more concerned about what things look like, or what is being achieved for the Kingdom ? 

and my final question....

What are you building at your church ?  

and why are you building it ?

I don't pose these questions to make you feel guilty or anything negative, but rather to remind us each to keep it real and true and functional, lest we ever turn into some quaint little club in the back streets of our suburbs that is irrelevant and useless.  We are anything but that. We are called and positioned by the King of Kings for His Purpose(function) we must never forget that.  We are the ARMY of Salvation , we have tremendous opportunity, we have tremendous identity, HOWEVER, we must also be a tremendous influence for Jesus Christ.

you might say, well I am not  actually building anything, that's the officer or pastors job...well I say, go get involved in the building, your pastor or officer would value your service and help any day...

you might say,  well I am doing my bit.... well I say, well done, but go do more.... don't stop or quit until the whole world is saved (in your local area where God has placed you)   You are there for His purpose's not your  own personal preferences.

you might say, we are already seeing stacks of people saved and added to our church/corps every week. 

well I say, that's fantastic...but don't stop yet...there are too many still unsaved and unconnected. 

I have heard it said, that its not about filling buildings on Sundays and that the church has a much wider role to play  "out there".   ( this is close to being a form statement)

 In my experience .....I believe we should be involved in both.  

We should be active in our communities AND also gathering people into holy worship of our Holy God.

Keep it about Function and allow the form to follow closely behind.

Because in many many cases, when it is more important that we get the "form" right .... the "function" is actually lost.