The American Church

The American church is messy. Dysfunctional [some more than others!]. Hypocritical. Strayed SO far from what Jesus intended the church to be. Not doing things the right way. Too old-fashioned. Too quiet. Too loud. Too contemporary. Not contemporary enough. Not doing enough for the family. Too focused on the family and not on the lost. Too greedy. Too sloppy.

I have heard all of these things describe the American evangelical subculture. I have said some of these things myself, to be totally honest. Some of these things are painfully accurate. Still, for some unexplainable [and sometimes frustrating!] reason, I am called. Whether for a lifetime or a season, I do not know. I know I will always be doing ministry of some kind - just not sure what shape it will take in the future, and to be honest, every time I think I have it figured out, God throws me for a loop and changes everything, anyway. So I continue to do what I do, hoping that, in my corner of the world, I can make a difference. Maybe I can make the American church a little better.

This has been a month of tremendous spiritual highs and lows for me - usually in the summer, I get two "shots in the arm," so to speak: A vacation of some kind, and kids' camp. A vacation to get away and relax, hang out with my husband and our extended family and just forget about life and responsibilities for a week. For various reasons, this has not happened this summer - we're working on something in the fall [one of THE worst times for me to leave, but maybe God is trying to teach me to not be so Type A!], but in the meantime, we plod along and work our tails off. Kids' camp, because it's ministry of a different sort - 100% pure ministering to kids - without the paperwork, the church politics, the phone ringing, and all the "boring" but necessary stuff that comes with ministry. It's a week to just get away and remember why I became a chidren's pastor in the first place. But this year, we had no kids register to go.

I have been discouraged by the evangelical subculture in general - the "churchiness" of it all. I am so tired of being "churchy." I want to be real [and so does my church, our vision is the acrostic REAL - Reaching, Engaging, Assimilating, and Leading :o)], but struggle with wondering if I am the only one out there who feels that way. Knowing that I cannot possibly be the only one who would like to see the American evangelical church really BE the church in people's lives.

Which brings me to the purpose of this post - my friend Pastor Deanna Shrodes and her husband Pastor Larry Shrodes, co-pastors of Northside Assembly of God in Tampa, Florida, just pulled off an awesome and amazing "surprise" in their church service yesterday. She's been teasing all of us online for weeks..."I can't wait for August 16th..."

So yesterday - which also happened to be my birthday - she finally posted the details of what was happening. I encourage you to click here and read about an example of what church is all about.

Messy? Yes. Dysfunctional? At times.

But this is an example of "absolutely beautiful." This is why I do what I do instead of answering phones, flipping burgers, or pouring coffeee. This is the church at its finest.