A Different Look at Church

     A friend said he was going to Chicago with his family. I jokingly said to enjoy my fourth love. God, wife, daughter, Chicago. He sent me a message that asked where the church was located in that list. I replied that the church is not a building but people, and if Chicago were made of people then the church would be fourth as well. We both laughed, but it did concern me.

There is a disconnect in our culture with the church and I wonder if it is because we have changed our definition from people to a building. In the dictionary the first two definitions are the building and the next three are the people. It should be reversed. You may congregate in a designated building, but the church is people.

When people tell me they love their church I’m curious, do they mean they love the people or the programs that have been put forth by the leadership of that people? There is nothing wrong if you love the programs of your church, but it alarms me when people say they don’t like their church because then I have the same wonder. Do they not like the people or the programs?

     I was having coffee with a Washington DC up and comer in DC and I asked the question, if the conservative party is the “Christian party” then why don’t they help the poor and needy? I find it ironic that the “Christian party” would bash the liberal party for helping those in need. Do we realize that if we did our part as the church (people) we wouldn’t need the government to do anything? I also realize that the church (building/organization) is doing a lot, but we (people) must not be doing enough if there is still the need. I wonder if as a people we are programmed to expect an organization (church, government) to solve the problem instead of ourselves. The Lord’s request of Peter was if you love me then feed my lambs. Even Jesus portrayed that it took a personal touch.

I remember visiting a church that has dozens of satellite campuses. They all took place in homes. One of the people with me said that that would never fly in my denomination because we are church building oriented group. My response was simple. Why would we not be okay with it? It is biblical?

     People can’t be discipled by a building; people must disciple them. They can’t be invited by a building; people must invite them. The church can do everything in the world possible, but it takes people to make it stick, connect, and last. An institution cannot accomplish what a personal relationship can. It’s always a personal touch that counts. The church should not be thought of as a building, but foremost as a people. We are a body, a team, and a unit of people in this journey together.

The Road Less Traveled

The Road Not Taken

By: Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,  

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could 

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair, 

And having perhaps the better claim,  

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there  

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.  

Oh, I kept the first for another day! 

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,  

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh   

Somewhere ages and ages hence:  

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—  

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

The Road Less Traveled

By: Stephen Maddox

     Live the dream is a common phrase but a road less traveled. The person that impressed it on me was Lee Burns, a staff member I met at Hillsong Church while I was in Sydney, Australia. This is not a new concept or even a foreign concept but it is a great challenge.

     Are you living the dream? If not, why? Take a minute and ask yourself. Am I living the dream? If not, why?

I can’t say it definitively, but I would guess that most of the reasons you came up with are not the real reason. Those are the reasons that help you sleep better at night. You can give me every reason, excuse, fault, situation, but you are the one that is to blame. Rise above, endure, outlast, fight on, don’t give up, don’t give in, dream on. Let the past be the past, and let the present be the present.

What is “it” you’ve always wanted to do? If you aren’t doing “it”, why? I understand being realistic and the need to sustain a living, but every day should be lived to the fullest. If you aren’t doing something each day to make your dreams a reality than you wasted a day. Waste too many and it becomes a year or a lifetime.

I have read countless biographies and autobiographies of people that sacrificed it all to make a difference and live their dream. Salinger, Hemingway, King, and countless others had multiple stories and writing pieces turned down before they came to fame. They lived on nothing, some with families, until they were able to make their dreams a reality.

I’m not saying you have to quit your job and live your life in hopeless abandonment. I’m saying fight the fear and live the adventure.

Make a list of every dream you have no matter how silly or small. It helps to visualize your dream. After you have made a dream your reality cross it off and move onto the next one.

Can you imagine if people like Edison, Newton, Gates, Jobs, Franklin, Einstein, and Tesla had not lived their lives to the fullest and dreamed big dreams. This is not a heavily traveled road, but it should be.

I have not turned every dream I have into a reality, but each day I am living my dream and each day I am doing something that continues to bring my dreams to a reality. Some are outlandish and will not be done without God’s help, but I enjoy the journey. Traveling the road less traveled isn’t lonely, just a more select group. Don’t let your life be the road not taken, but the road less traveled.