What I Want and Don't Want in a Church? Part 1

I am making an effort to be more positive. I have often ripped the church as we know it today. This is really only beneficial if I offer some positive solutions. With that thought, I offer part one of this post.

I loved TV in the 1980s. There was this fad that started (I think) with "The Dukes of Hazzard." The fad was that people were not the stars of the show; the real stars were the vehicles. In "The Dukes of Hazzard" the real star was the 1969 Dodge Charger named the General Lee. Sorry, Tom Wopat and John Schneider, but you were not the stars. Then there were shows like "Knight Rider." David Hasselhoff was not the star of the show, KITT was the star. The show "Airwolf" was all about the helicopter. The "A-Team" was not as much about the van, but it was a star. Ever "Magnum P. I." had the Ferrari as a co-star. This was a fad that was pretty much dead by the time 1990 rolled around.

The same is true in the church. There are fads out there. Remember bus ministries in the 1970s and early 1980s? Then there was the "Purpose-Driven Church" fad of the late 1990s, followed by the more recent "Purpose-Driven Life" fad.

Fads are that, fads. They come and go. They don't stay around long. They leave us wondering why we word leg warmers or acid wash jeans.

I don't want a church that is driven by fads. Just because some famous pastor writes a book, we don't have to follow it. In 1995, Rick Warren wrote The Purpose-Driven Church, which I have read. It is a good book. In the book, he says not to copy everything he has done, but churches tried and failed.

Just because someone we went to school with is having church in a tree house, doesn't mean we have to have church in a tree house.

I want a church that is driven by vision. We need pastors who are bold enough to ask God for a specific vision. This is scary because it unsafe. It's easy to do what someone else is doing. It's scary to start something new or different.

I want a scary church. I want a church that looks at its community, people, culture and geography. I don't want to do the same thing everyone else is doing. I want to do what God wants us to do.