why church can be like your gym

ok so this is not my new body shot, i still have a sizable gut, but i have started working out at our local gym. The cool thing is that not many people look like this guy.... in fact who does?? talk about a condom stuffed with walnuts!

Anyway......

I have noticed some parallels between the modern gym and the modern church and here they are in no particular order.


1.The motivation to go to church/gym : I got off my ass to the gym because well i know that i need to lose some weight and i wont be able to do it "alone" some sort of vain self improvement i guess... So why do most people join a gym? usually they want something for themselves a better body, more fitness or perhaps it is motivated by fear, one guy i met in the change rooms said "my girlfriend said i better get down here because im 50 and i wont be around much longer if i don’t do something"
To often the modern church offers the "self help" gospel the "you can live a better life" message where we go to church because we want to get "better" have less sin, perhaps become a buff and ripped "super christian"

2.the professionals V the rest: Ok i have only been at the gym for a little bit but i don’t think its the guy on the bike next to you that designs your fitness program in fact usually its only the staff that give you any advice or encouragement, they teach you how to use the machines and get you started... but of cause because the staff to user ratio is so high you don’t even see them that much.
So to in the modern church if we are all driven by the "self help" reason for being at church we tend not to have anything more than a surface relationship with other people, sure the people in positions, the senior pastor, the small group leaders all try there best but once again the staff to user ratio is up there (unless your at a small pentecostal church where everybody tends to be a pastor?? i just don’t get it)

3.when you give up: now im sure that if i stoped coming to the gym i might be lucky if i got a call wanting to know where i was. in fact because my direct debit comes out each month im sure it doesn’t matter if i am there or not.
So to in the modern church when we get large or just to focused on the unimportant things we lose track of who "isnt" there we are constantly trying to bring in new "members" but the backdoor stays wide open and we sit back and wonder why we haven’t grown.

now i dont know if churches need to stop being like gyms or if gyms need to be more like churches, either way we need to capture a greater sense of community arround what we call church. It is not a business and i am not a consumer....

king of the hill goes to the MEGA church!

footloose and the emerging church

last night I had the privilege of leading some worship for a young life leaders gathering here in Sydney, it was a great time.. I also got to catch up with some friends from Sydney that have decided to come check out Breathe, as I spoke to them about some of their reasons for leaving their last church the all to common story came through.

“We feel like we are different because we want to be “missional” we feel “different”

I thought back to my feelings in the “institutional” church and I have felt the same.. I have always felt… well I felt like Kevin Bacon in Footlose. (stay with me this is going somewhere)

it just happened that footloose was on TV late last night so I decided to watch it, and it is a good parable of emergence. (not that I think emerging church is all dancing and screwing the pastors daughter) but here we see a town controlled by a church structure that is forcing the “kids” into its mould and the “kids” rebel and run their own dance…

now surly the motivation for emergence is different but the feeling is the same, when you feel the structure your in needs a shake up and you feel like everybody is against that change, now sure that change might be a bit scary, it might seem to be immoral (perhaps having church where lots of non-ers feel safe to attend, but that teen angst that we have all felt has grown up, it is turning into a movement, the dance party is coming.

as more and more people move away from traditional church structures we start to realise that we are not “different” but many like minded people are willing to journey with us. I spoke to another friend just recently who has just started being a part of a missional emerging church and he was like “I can never go back”

Kevin bacon was able to dance his way to change in a small town suffocated by religion I pray that those with a healthy dissatisfaction with the way things are will also “move” into action and seek change or band together with other like minded people.

emergent’s unite!

augie march

well saturday night was gig night for me and em and we rocked up to the newly renovated newtown RSL now known as @newtown. the venue was awesome a great fit out and of cause cheep club prices for drinks....

the support act for the night was dan kelly and the alpha males, and in true sydney style the room gave a "sitting ovation"...

Dan and the band did a great little set though with rambling alt. country sensibility highlights included the JJJ hit "C##k S@##ing Mother F#@#ing" such sweet harmonies to such dirty words.

But of cause most people were there to see Augie March, This being the second of 3 sold out sydney gigs meant the crowd was half die hard fans and the other half "oh yeh that new band with the One crowded Hour, song"

Augie hit the stage and in true fashion Glen the lead signer/Diva of the band wasn’t happy with his guitar tuning, the foldback or the front of house mix. They were able beat out blistering versions of some of there new songs. One Crowded hour was like 3rd on the set list and i am supprised that half the crowd didnt go home after that.. but then came the time that wins over most people, the soft acoustic numbers where Glens Jeff Buckly'ish voice stops people in their tracks.

Despite more Diva tantrums and fold back problems the set was awesome although all too short.

will Augie now be the darlings of australian music? well they did do rove.... i don’t know, but i still pine for the days of 2 hr sets and too much drinking of red wine...