2020.03.22 Future Church : Sending

2 Timothy 3:16–17 NASB

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

Mark 6:7–13 NASB

7 And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; 8 and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt— 9 but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.” 10 And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. 11 “Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” 12 They went out and preached that men should repent. 13 And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

Future Church : Sending

What a time this is to talk about a new type of Church!

Whether you’re sitting in your living rooms or bedrooms, perhaps even in your pajamas, worship certainly feels different here without your bodies here. Yet, we’ve been forced to use a different medium to provide ‘corporate worship.’

This crisis has already challenged us outside our comfort zone, and although we don’t like being outside our comfort zone, I’ve already heard of people who watched last week’s stream who would not have likely walked in our doors! That’s a win for Future Church, so today, let’s start leaning into what Future Church may look like.

A couple of weeks ago, we talked about what a reproof and correction are. If you remember, I said that a reproof is informing someone that their current belief is wrong, and a correction is replacing the wrong with what’s right. These two go hand-in-hand, and I’m going to use that approach for today’s topic.

First, the reproof:

The Church in the Western World (North America and Europe) has used the same basic model for being Church for several hundred years! We’ve been very slow in changing anything at all - in the 1970s and 80s we engaged in what became known as the “Worship Wars”. A more correct terminology would be “music wars”. The Church didn’t want any updates to the music we sing, because we’ve been preference-driven. I want what I want, so I will resist any changes.

This approach has left the Church anemic. We’ve focused on ourselves so long we’ve lost the power to even recognize our proper place in the world. If any of my United Methodist supervisors are watching the stream, they may not be happy with what I’m about to say, but I’m gonna say it anyway.

The statistics we report every year, are the stuff of dust and termites. There’s an old saying: “What gets rewarded gets repeated.” I would alter that saying just a bit … “What gets reported, gets repeated.” The reporting gives incentive to put a lot of energy in the areas that get reported.

Every year, it takes almost a month for Arlette to put together our annual statistical report. And most of the statistics are data I would tell any of you about. Our top statistic is attendance.

Historic Church has decided that our top priority is gathering people … the more people we gather, the more impressed others are with our church.

But where, in the Gospels, do we see Jesus intentionally Gathering a crowd? We don’t.

Jesus certainly drew crowds. There’s no question about that. But we don’t ever see him telling Peter, James, and John, “Hey, fellas. We really need to get more people here.”

No, he said in that his being lifted up on a cross would draw people...”all men” to him. ()

We never see Jesus building a structure and telling people to come back every week, or every day. Instead, he says, “The son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ()

The reproof of Historic Church: We’ve been centered around ourself. We want all people to come to our building. We want them to put money in our offering plate, so we can do what we want to do in ministry. Gather people : gather resources.

The correction is that Jesus wants us to replace gathering with releasing! It doesn’t mean we stop gathering together. But it means our primary mission is to release people and resources into our community to expose every man, woman, and child to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Just like you today … people don’t have to come to our building to hear the good news. We’ve celebrated the church gathered … it’s time to celebrate the church scattered!

In our gospel reading, Jesus gathers the apostles together. Then, he send them out two-by-two. He gave them authority and sent them out!

Mark 6:12–13 NASB95

They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

Every week, we scatter. We work with different people. We live around different people. We shop and eat and drive by different people. What are we doing to help them hear the Gospel?

Every week, we scatter. We work with different people. We live around different people. We shop and eat and drive by different people. What are we doing to help them hear the Gospel?

Historic Church taught us that our task was to engage people and bring them back here. While there’s nothing wrong with that … that’s not the mission of the Church. We exist to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Changing their location doesn’t do that. Telling them about the love of Jesus, and encouraging them to repent … anointing them with oil and healing them … THAT’s how we make disciples.

So, today is more theoretical than practical … but this theory is critical to Future Church! If we don’t change the nature of our task, we will continue getting the same results.

How destroyed were you that we can’t meet in the building? Historic Church taught very well, that the building is the church. Future Church recognizes that YOU are the church. You carry an infection with you. You are infected with the Holy Spirit, which is more contagious than coronavirus.

So, our task needs to change. We’re no longer trying to gather people and resources. We want to release people and resources to accomplish the mission. Are you ready?