Wednesday, March 14, 2007

The Next Big Thing

Angie Ward writes about why pastors seem to flock after every new thing that comes down the pike. The latest is Simple Church.

I've got some ideas about why that happens.

~ Rightly or wrongly, pastors are often judged by the "success" of their ministry (which being interpreted, means numbers and size). If the church is large, then they must be "successful" is the way the thinking goes. If we think this book or that conference will help us be "successful," then we're tempted to go for it.

~ We want to be "up to date" and "with it," just like most everyone else. In junior high and high school, we had to have the latest styles and fashions. In ministry, it doesn't seem to be any different.

~ Quick fixes look really good sometimes. If we can read a book or go to a conference, and then come back to our church and implement what we've just learned, we just know we'd see change right away and the kingdom of God would advance greatly! At least, that's what we think.

~ The evangelical church, as a whole, is very shallow. Pastors are not immune to it (and may be one of the biggest causes of it). We run from fad to fad - the latest, greatest, next big thing - like there's no tomorrow. Instead, we should do the hard work of deepening ourselves and our congregations spiritually (primarily through God's ordained means, the Word of God and the sacraments).

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