Gametime

October 1, 2009- Last night I spoke to our youth @The City Church.
We had a great time with this discussion. The church seems to use the format of a football game when it wasn't designed that way. You find that there are 22 players on the field, and 80,000 in the stands, watching the show. The Church was not formed that way. We ALL should be on the field, in the game. Here are 3 types we find in the church, when we should only find 1.

1. The spectator- This is the majority of church people. They dress the part, they talk the talk, but when the rubber meets the road, they are just consumers. They are here for the show. This is how we all come at first, but the sad truth is many people have gone to church for years, and all they have done is gone to church for years.
2. The referee- Now this is an interesting character. The referee never runs the ball, never shoots a shot. He has no true experience with the win or the loss. All the ref does is run from one end of the field, to the other, blowing his whistle, and pointing his finger. The ref is the worst of the 3. In his defense, we do need feedback. But the ref usually says, "you guys need to change that", not "hey, we should really look at this change". Notice the contrast? The ref just needs to put up his whistle, and get in the game.
3. There is no need to label the last person. We should all be in the game. We all have a part to play and we need to get out of the rut of consumer church. Let's get back to what we were called to. The ministry of reconciliation.