Power, Property and Politics may be the 3 main 'Christmas Killers' in Churches.
In a very real way Christmas is about 'Advent' -- the coming of THE Christ Child. And, in a very real sense Christian Churches exist because of the coming of Christ.....at least in theory.
A Great church in her purest form is centered on Christ and on ushering in His Kingdom, in facilitating the journey of stargazers like the 'Wise Men' in Matthew 2 toward Christ. And, ultimately the church's mission is to lift up this Messiah-Baby-God-Man-King of the Universe for all to see, worship, adore and follow.
Many people come through church doors led by a 'star' of some sort on a quest for the Messiah -- the one who can make their life make sense and give the hopeless hope again. In great churches they find Him and they worship.
In some churches they find, instead another 'kingdom' in motion that is more concerned about its own property, power and politics than about assisting would be worshippers on their way to the manger. Herod, in Matthew 2, had a clash with this Baby-King-Messiah in Bethlehem because he had a lot of power, property and political gain on the line if he was challenged by a rival of any sort--especially a 'Messiah'. Amazingly, a church can loose sight of her mission and her accumulation of power, property and political position cloud her mission and may even cause those under the influence of the 'church' to focus on maintaining their positions of power and protecting their property (income, new carpet & paint, bank accounts, extra gear gathering dust in the tech closet) from being used to facilitate the worship of the King.
Rick Warren has mentioned that one of the things he wonders is how to get the established churches that are full of property, power and political poition to use those to bless start up churches like Phos Hilaron Church to accomplish her mission of facilitating the journey of star-gazers on their way to the manger.
My guess is that sometimes the established regimes are unaware of their own opposition to God-ward movement. They can't even see that they've shifted from mission to maintenance. They've gotten out of the fishing business and into Aquarium upkeep and managing the exchange of fish from other aquariums--hoping to get the best fish into their tank to make their property more valuable and to increase their political standing among the League of Aquarium Keepers.
I also suppose that most of us who start new enterprises come across as arrogant and so anti-establishment that we make it hard for those with the possibilities of blessing our new endeavors to do so. So, no question that I, and other church starters, must work at communicating with the established power brokers without losing our heart for our mission. It's a tricky task full of dangers. For in our quest for property, power, and political might it's easy to loose our 'fishing legs' and opt for something less.
Is it really possible for an established church to have over $900,000 in the bank and to have lots of unused resources that they'd rather sell on E-bay than pass along so that would-be worshippers would find their way to the manger to say that they're true to the call? This is tough, because it's so difficult for me and for existing churches to give up power, property and political position....just like it was hard for Herod over 2,000 years ago.
I dunno, I'm just wondering.
Headed to the Manger,
Jeff
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