First of all, thankyou to everybody that's been praying for me, I am feeling much better today. :) The book that I'm currently reading "Churches that Heal", by Doug Murren, has impacted me greatly this week and I've got a lot of things on my heart as a result. I didn't recognize the author, so I was a little skeptical at first. While I was reading a couple nights ago, I also thought to myself, It's not the Church that is responsible for healing anyways...The title itself could be enough to discredit the whole book, just because Jesus is our healer, not the church. However, We, the Church, are responsible for creating environments condussive to healing, where God can move and do his work, we each have a part in creating that atmosphere where people can come and find healing in Christ. There are several reasons why I like this book, for example, I found it so encouraging that Pastor Doug talks about things that I see in my church, being essential for creating that environment, and things that have contributed to me finding my own healing. It confirmed in a whole differnt way, in a completely new person's perspective that not only am I in the right place for healing, but I'm in the right place to get to see others healed, and set free. It encourages me to take responsibility! And my favorite part of all so far, warns against the consumer mentality, which is often responsible for the turnover rates in our churches...People leave because they aren't getting their needs met instead of sacrificially giving of themselves for the common cause of Christ. Having said that, I think it's important to point out that obviously there are people who leave churches for valid reasons. I also found a Checklist that Pastor Doug goes through as a means of processing woundings in the church, which do to that fact that there is no perfect church, it's going to happen to all of us at some point and in varrying degrees.
One of the parts, as I said, that I have found greatly encouraging is actually a part where Doug talks about what hinders churches from becomeing healing environments, and in The Rock Church, I see the opposite of those things. Allow me to explain using parts of one of the checklists. A healing church has:
A willingness to grant a healthy anonymity to those who are in great pain.
When I first came back to the church, as is the case with many people who first come back to or first start attending church, I didn't nescessarilly want to be noticed or acknowledged. I kept to myself. I needed to ease my way back in, slowly and cautiously. I feel like during that time, love was always there, but people at the same time respected that need for space, no one pushed themselves or anything on me. People made it clear that they were glad I was there, no more and no less untill I was ready...I was good just the way I was.
A belief that the core of Christian faith is inner transformation before the "doing" and the outward behavior.
One of the the biblical principles that has always been highly emphasized in our Church is that it doesn't matter what kind of addictions, or heart issues you have. If you give your heart to Jesus, and seek him, He will change you, from the inside out.
The encouragement of women in leadership positions.
As a woman, this is exiting to me. The Rock Church has scores of women in leadership positions-we believe in our girls. :) There are tons of ladies that I have in my life to look up to, even though it was a process for me learning to trust again, it's always been encouraging to me to have that picture of what women of God can be.It's important for new believers and seasoned believers alike to have Godly examples that are women.
When schedualing meetings, families are taken into consideration, family time is encouraged and prioritized.
Family is a priority and The Rock. I love that! Moms and Dad's aren't asked to be so overly commited to church activities that it negates from spending time at home with the family.
Not majoring on minors- for example, abortion, politics, tongues, deliverance,- while forgetting key issues of love, joy, and peace.
I love that our pastors and leaders discourage standing on a corner with a sign; those charismatic protests aren't going to win anyone to Christ. We've got better things to do, like loveing that young women who is broken from her decission to have an abortion.
Community with other churches in town, not isolation.
The Rock Church values the body of Christ as a whole, recognizes that it's more than just one building, under one pastor..No matter where we disagree, our only chance of reaching the lost to our greatest capacity, the key to the churches success, will be found in it's unity, not it's devission.
Responsibilty! Each individual member of a church is responsible for setting the healing atmosphere, For loving and reaching out to the un-lovely, for not being embarassed by the poverty stricken homeless alchoholic, who needs a hug. I am thinking to myself: We need to smell with the nostrills of Christ, Jesus doesn't smell the alchohol in the skin, he smells a soul ripe for the picking, if we are hesitant to hold that person close, we need to do a heart check folks. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. Moving on:
"Is it the Pastor's fault if a church does not heal? Personally, I think the pastor's role is overstated. One of the great mistakes the church has made in the last century is to place an excessive ammount of importance on the role of pastor. The Pastor can preach great sermons and oversee the leading of great worship. He can keep a check on the climate and offer leadership when change is needed. But if a congregation itself is not creating a healthy environment -if believers are not seeking health for themselves and promoting healing for others-the toxic environment mitigates against all sermons a pastor can preach."
- Doug Murren
To be honest, I myself have contributed to a toxic environment by participating in gossip. I'm just being honest. It's one of the things I have to work on, and I would encourage each person to keep a check on it to. Words are powerful. Words can be healing. Words can be destructive. It's not just what's spoken from the pullpit that has an influence on hurting people, but what we allow to come out of our own mouths, I have a deep desire to be an encourager...Encouragement and gentleness, peacefull confrontation, all promote healing. Healing happens one person at a time. One word at a time. One act of love at a time. Those are things we all can do, no matter what leval of maturity we are at...It's not just the Pastor's job to encourage and exhort.
Keeping on the theme of taking responsibility, it is important that we do not give into, the American trend that is the consumer mentality. Last I checked, I wasn't attending The United Church of Burger King, where I'm entitled to have it my way, no pickeles Like it or not, no matter what church a person attends, they are going to experience pickles. There will always be pickles in the church. They aren't tasty, sometimes they are down right sour. Guesse what? Deal with it, and build your charachter, or run scared and dissapointed in search of something that will better suit your needs. I've been a consumer. I'll admitt to it. I've been un-fulfilled and missed opportunities as a result. In wake of my pastors "Dangerous Church" series, I've experienced great spiritual breakthrough, and I am determined to no longer be a consumer. Pastor Doug put it like this: "Consummers can't be desciples." I'm not going to walk away dissapointed if the Pastor doesn't serve up something tasty, or because for whatever reason, the programs in the church aren't meeting my needs. It's not about what I need, it's about what I am called to give sacrificially, it's about making sure that I do everything in my own power as an individual, to make sure that my church is equiped for what it is called to do. I love that. I love that God has given me the opportunity to set aside my past, or my worries about my own future, to give something, I love that he's given me something to give! We all have something to give, we who breath, and speak, who have hands and feet, I'm exited that I'm not a whore, I'm not a failure. I'm a vessal. I'm the mouthpiece of God, I'm his hands, and his outstreched arms to the people who still only see the whore and the failure when they look at themselves in the mirror! Imagine if every person in the church, who knew Jesus, picked up that truth and ran with it. Imagine if the church was emptied of it's consummer mentalities, because those same individuals recognized that they are not insignifigant, they play an absalutely vital role in seeing the multitudes healed, imagine if each person gave everything, imagine what that would do to the church. I love to think of that, and I love that it's possible.
1 When Ahab got home, he told Jezebel what Elijah had done and that he had slaughtered the prophets of Baal. 2 So Jezebel sent this message to Elijah: "May the gods also kill me if by this time tomorrow I have failed to take your life like those whom you killed." 3 Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. He went to Beersheba, a town in Judah, and he left his servant there. 4 Then he went on alone into the desert, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. "I have had enough, LORD," he said. "Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." 5 Then he lay down and slept under the broom tree. But as he was sleeping, an angel touched him and told him, "Get up and eat!" 6 He looked around and saw some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water! So he ate and drank and lay down again. 7 Then the angel of the LORD came again and touched him and said, "Get up and eat some more, for there is a long journey ahead of you." 8 So he got up and ate and drank, and the food gave him enough strength to travel forty days and forty nights to Mount Sinai, F78 the mountain of God. ( 1 Kings 19 1-8)
This past week I have been very tired. When I was reading my Bible this evening, I came accross the story of Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 19. Through Elijah's experience, God showed me how important it is to avoid burnout by caring for my body, eating, and resting when I need to. I also found this scripture in Proverbs 31:
"She girds herself with strength [spiritual, mental, and physical fitness for her God-given task.] and makes her arms strong and firm." (Proverbs 31:17)
