Should Church Be Fun?

A couple of years ago I was listening to a conservative Christian talk radio show and heard the host complaining about "rock-n-roll" churches. At first I wasn't quite sure what she was talking about. But, as the discussion progressed it became clear that this particular Christian radio personality had a general skepticism of churches with a contemporary service -- like Heartland I guess.

If you know people with different church backgrounds, you probably also know that some people have very distinct and often very strong opinions about what church should be. For some people church services can only take place on Sunday. Others think it perfectly appropriate to attend church services on Wednesday night, Saturday night, or any other day and time that is convenient.

For some people "worship" means hymns and a pipe organ -- the thought of even an acoustic guitar in service is pretty much blasphemy. For others, nothing seems to bring them closer to God than contemporary worship music performed by a band and worship team. For some people, church is supposed to be simple and dignified. Sunday services are a time for solemn worship and quiet reflection. Others want church to be energetic, exciting and maybe thought provoking. So, this brings me to the title of this blog and the question I have for you: "should church be fun?"

Before I go any further, I need to let you in on a little secret. The secret is this. The talk radio lady who is skeptical of "rock-n-roll" churches -- I actually share some of her concerns. Yep, I really do.

Don't get me wrong. I think churches should come in a lot of different shapes, sizes and flavors. Different types of churches are able to reach different types of people -- and that's obviously a good thing. I even think that church can be fun. But, in with the fun there also has to be a seriousness of purpose.

I think the real concern this particular talk show host has, and again it's one that I share, is at times churches might be trying so hard to cater to the base desires of people -- to make church easy, interesting, exciting and maybe even fun, that the point gets minimized or even lost. The concern is that churches can get so caught up in the production that they lose sight of God's purpose. The concern is that preaching can become more philosophy and pop-psychology than edification from the Word of God. The concern is that for the sake of growth or attracting new believers the message gets softened, watered down or even becomes unrecognizable.

I love my church -- and not just because I am part of the staff. Having sat in countless meetings where we have discussed difficult issues about where the church is and where the church is going, I can definitely say that we don't always get it right. But I can also definitely say that we try our best to get it right and to seek God's will for Heartland Church.

As a church we certainly want to stay relevant. But, we also want to stay true to the Word of God, to go into the world and preach the good news, and to properly disciple believers. I think we can do all of that. I don't think of Heartland Church as a "rock-n-roll" church, but I will also be the first to admit that it's not for everyone. On the other hand, sometimes reaching people takes a little fun, and maybe even a little rock-n-roll! And I can live with that. What do you think?

Faith (Revised)

"Faith" -- if you are reading this blog right now you probably have it. If you don't have it (in which case I would sincerely be interested in knowing why you decided to read this) perhaps you either think you might want it or at least would like to understand it. Actually, as I think about it, if you are reading this and you don't have faith I definitely want to talk to you!! Please send me an e-mail at john.crews@the heartlandchurch.com and we will get the conversation started.

Faith is in many ways the real starting point of our Christian walk. But lately I have found myself wondering "what does 'faith' really mean?"
When people discuss faith, sooner or later someone is bound to quote Hebrews 11:1. The NIV translation of Hebrews 11:1 reads: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." The King James version is probably more frequently quoted. It says: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Hebrews 11:1 is a beautiful verse. But to me it speaks more to the quality of faith than the substance of faith. What I mean by that is Hebrews 11:1 is speaking about, for lack of a better word, the strength of the faith that God desires from those who believe -- that is the confidence we have in what we believe in. Hebrews 11:2 continues "[t]his is what the ancients were commended for." The author then goes on to discuss the quality of faith that caused Cain to offer the better sacrifice, that allowed Enoch to be taken without experiencing death, that allowed Noah to build an ark, and ultimately the faith of Abraham that changed the world forever.

As I was writing this blog my second son, Christian, came into my office to see what I was up to, and I took the occasion to ask him what faith means. Christian is a really smart kid and he knows the Bible well. I don't remember the exact answer he gave, but it sounded a whole lot like Hebrews 11:1. So, I pressed him a little, and he quickly acknowledged that Christian faith is not just believing in something you can't always see -- even if that something is Jesus. As we continued to talk, Christian suggested that faith means believing in God and submitting to His will. Now, we were getting somewhere.

The Bible says that "faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ." Romans 10:17. So, faith obviously requires some knowledge of who Jesus is. Fortunately or unfortunately, the new believer often has pretty limited knowledge of who Jesus really is. And, of course, knowledge is not enough. Faith also requires that the new believer believe.
John 3:16 seems to be a favorite Bible verse of a lot of Christians. It says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." But, of course, we need to keep in mind that there is belief and then there is BELIEF. And, John 3:16 is talking about BELIEF.

In fact, the Greek word for belief used in John 3:16 is "pisteuo" (transliterated).  And, here is the definition:

pisteuo Transliterated Word Pisteuo Phonetic Spelling Parts of Speech pist-yoo'-o    Verb

Definition

to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in of the thing believed to credit, have confidence in a moral or religious reference used in the NT of the conviction and trust to which a man is impelled by a certain inner and higher prerogative and law of soul to trust in Jesus or God as able to aid either in obtaining or in doing something: saving faith 1bc) mere acknowledgment of some fact or event: intellectual faith to entrust a thing to one, i.e. his fidelity to be intrusted with a thing

You have probably heard it said that even Satan believes in God. But belief in the sense of faith is an entirely different thing. I think Christian had it pretty close to right when he said that faith requires both a belief in God and submission to His will. Maybe another way to put it is that faith requires that we hear the Word, that we believe the Word, and that we submit to the Word.  Or better yet, saving faith means both that we "believe" Jesus is who he says he is and we put our "trust" in Him.
If this is starting to sound too academic let me bring it back down to earth. I think that grappling with the meaning of faith is important for a number of reasons. Let me give you a couple.

First, at times I think that when we speak about faith to people who are seeking to know God we make it sound too easy. In Luke, Jesus admonishes us to count the cost of being His disciple. Luke 14:28- 30. While salvation is a free gift, real faith changes us. As Paul says in Second Corinthians, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17.

For most of us, the change that comes with living our life for Christ requires sacrifice. Most of us need to give up some things we don't really want to give up; and most of us need to take on some burdens that we don't really want to take on. Again, I agree with my son Christian that "faith" requires submission to God's will. To submit to God's will, though, we have to understand His will. And, that in turn requires our commitment to get to know Him better. I guess the way I look at it is that the gift is free, but the burden of carrying the gift is not always easy.

Second, I think we need to try to understand faith so that we may have confidence in our own salvation. We cannot be the witnesses for Christ that we need to be without that confidence. Again, this is where I really think Hebrews 11 comes in. This is "what the ancients were commended for" -- an unwavering faith; the kind of faith that can move mountains.

When Pam and I first started attending Heartland Church I was really struck by people like C.R. Hamill, Mark Behrens, Ben Anderson, John Ferris and many others who just seemed to have an incredible trust in God. These names may or may not mean much to you (particularly if you don't attend Heartland) but they mean a great deal to me. Their faith inspired me and helped me to see God differently than I had before.

Be confident in your faith. But remember that belief and BELIEF are two different things!

The Right Thing

I recently read an article in USA Today about an all too familiar issue in far too many churches today -- sexual abuse. It seems that the former youth ministries director at Vienna Presbyterian Church, which is located in Vienna, Virginia, was allegedly involved in inappropriate relationships with a number of girls in the congregation. We have unfortunately all seen many of these types of stories in the headlines in the past ten years or so.

This article was a little different though. Recently, some six years after that youth ministry director resigned, the church leadership apparently came to the conclusion that they did a poor job of responding after the allegations of abuse were reported. The question the church leadership now faced was "what to do about it?" The church was obviously confronted with, an continues to face, significant potential legal exposure. Even if the church did everything possible to avoid this type of situation, resulting lawsuits could easily destroy the church.

The church's insurance company made its position on how the situation needed to be handled very clear. In a letter written by an attorney retained by the insurance company, the church was warned "Do not make any statements, orally, in writing or in any manner, to acknowledge, admit to or apologize for anything that may be evidence of or interpreted as (a suggestion that) the actions of Vienna Presbyterian Church … caused or contributed to any damages arising from the intentional acts/abuse/misconduct" by the youth director.

The church's governing board faced a dilemma -- they could take the insurance company's advice or they could do what they considered to be the right thing and risk losing any insurance coverage for the potential claims. The church decided to ignore the insurance company's directions.

The day after the church received that letter from the lawyer, the board wrote a letter of its own -- to the congregation. In that letter, the board stated that the church was "profoundly sorry that [the church's] response after the abuse was discovered was not always helpful to those entrusted to our care." In his sermon the following Sunday, the church pastor told the congregation that the church wouldn't "hide behind lawyers." "Jesus said the truth will set us free" he said. Then, the pastor directly addressed the girls/women who were apparently involved. "Let me speak for a moment to our survivors," he said. "We, as church leaders, were part of the harm in failing to extend the compassion and mercy that you needed. Some of you felt uncared for, neglected and even blamed in this church. I am truly sorry … I regret the harm this neglect has caused you."

As a pastor and an elder, I can fully appreciate the decision made by the pastor and board of Vienna Presbyterian Church. I completely agree that as church leaders God is the only authority who really matters. In any difficult situation, church leaders need God's wisdom. We need to determine as best we can, through prayer and the Word of God, the right thing to do. And then whatever that "right thing" is, we need to do it.

As a lawyer (please do not mention that to anyone -- it is supposed to be a well-guarded secret!) I can also say that the "right thing" is not necessarily as clear as it might seem. I do not know enough about the facts and will not presume to second guess the board's decision. But I can say that jeopardizing the church's insurance coverage not only puts the church at risk, but it could create the possibility that money would not be available to pay for counseling or other needs of the survivors of the abuse.

I guess my point is that we live in a complicated world. All of us face choices from time to time for which the Bible gives us only general guidance. In those situations, it is up to us to make the best decisions we can. And, the only way we can really do that is by searching the Bible, praying for wisdom, and getting the counsel of other believers who we trust. Sometimes doing the right thing is the hard part. But, sometimes just figuring out the right thing to do is even tougher.

I hope and pray that the actions of the board and pastor at Vienna Presbyterian Church bring healing to the entire congregation of that church, and particularly to the "survivors." I pray that where faith has been shaken God will bring restoration and renewal. And, I thank God that the board and pastor of Vienna Presbyterian Church had the strength to do what they believed to be the right thing.

Space ... The Final Frontier

Over the last three years I have had the pleasure (and sometimes the burden) of helping Heartland Church and our partners through a lot of challenges. Some of those challenges are rather obvious (like the move to Carrollton, getting our Deacons in place, and so forth). Others have probably been more subtle, or even completely off the radar of most of our partners (things like staff reorganization, policy changes and that kind of thing).

I have to say that I love the quiet times around the church -- those times when everything seems to be clicking on all cylinders and I can just sit back amazed at what God has accomplished. We need to enjoy those times, because they don't happen very often. That just isn't the "norm" at Heartland Church. And I praise God for that.

There are certainly some challenges I have been involved in over the last three years (including some in my personal life) that I would like to have avoided. But I have to believe even those were part of God's plan. For the most part, though, I look forward to the challenges. If we are not challenged as a church we are standing still -- and standing still is not good. We knew that moving to Carrollton would be a challenge. In fact, we assumed that the move would create entirely new challenges, obstacles and problems that we would have to overcome. And, we have not been disappointed!!

If you are a "Star Trek" fan you might think that the title of this post has something to do with outer space. Well, I can assure you that the next big challenge at Heartland Church has nothing to do with space travel. It does have something to do with space though.

If you were here for second service on Easter Sunday you probably didn't see me. That's because I spent pretty much the entire service holding crying two to three year-olds (it turns out if you hold them long enough the crying stops!). All of our classrooms were filled to capacity that day, and I figured that helping with some of the kids was my best and highest use.

Two things became evident for me that day. First, Katy needs more volunteers to help out with the kids. We have some great teachers and other volunteers, and I am really excited about our Children's Ministry. But, as we grow we really need to continue to attract people who have the gifting and passion to minister to kids.

The second thing that became obvious is that we need more space. No, space is not our final challenge or frontier, but it is probably our next big project. We are just to the point where we really need to expand the size and number of our classrooms -- both for the kids and for adults. What a great problem to have!!!

We have already asked some people who know a whole lot more about construction than Pastor Dan or I do to come up with some alternatives for dealing with our growth, and I hope that we have some plans to share with our partners in the next few months. God is good!!!!