Rounding the corner


Sometimes you don't get a clearer view till you're not looking directly at something.

Approaching a two-year mark since walking away from a full-time ministry job, I see some things I didn't see as clearly before.  

Just making note of them here for reference.

1) Religious groups are way more culturally homogenous than they imagine. Within a relatively narrow band of income, education, and other factors, most people in most religious groups are pretty similar or at least have roots in the group that aren't far from them.

Most outreach or faith sharing is tied heavily to being invited to culturally similar community of people.  Most people share their church group or its worship service and not their actual "faith".  Most do not see that there is a difference.  Most people either accept or reject the community, not the faith.

The critical mass of any group will "do outreach" in semi-passive ways to people who are similar to them AND to groups that are a lot poorer/culturally different than them.  They don't know what to do with someone who is kind of similar, but just two or three steps away from them culturally or economically.

2) The leadership of any group is what caps the group's ability to grow or change. Most "lay leaders" volunteer for a known system of beliefs and practices and resist any modification that isn't beneficial to them as leaders in some way.  If something makes their job as a leader too hard, they'll bail or resist.

Most are "trained" into a corner where they learn to hold on to decision making or influence to the degree they can't share it with those who might take things in a direction that would take it out of their control - even if that direction is "more biblical" or would be "more successful". 

More things are "baked into" leadership than most people imagine - the success or failure of the group, how success/failure/growth is defined or defended, who is invited/excluded, etc - all of it is dependent on who has actual decision making ability. Groups have "Jesus as Lord" to the degree he's Lord of leadership.

3) The vast majority of people in our culture see worship services and "going to church" as the main connection to or access to God.  Believers and non-believers share this view.  It's potentially one of the greatest hinderances to non-believers being able to "hear" about God. For many, church culture = God.

Everyone is doing the best that they can with what they know. Most people have simply not thought about God potentially being distinct from worship services or church culture - inside or outside a church - they are one and the same.  The idea they might be different just sounds completely crazy or too complicated.

Most "inside" a church don't want to lose what they have, even if they have a sense of there being something different or more.  Church, as they know it, is safe and known and they'd rather keep that than explore, even if it could lead them to a deeper, freer relationship with God and others.

There's more coming, but it probably needs to cook some more.

Peace and goodwill!

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