The game itself was exciting.  There was a lot of action.  The pace of hockey games is really fast with a lot of quick substitutions.  The crowd was really into the game.  And of course, there were several fights.  As a matter of fact though, I was surprised at just how into the game the entire crowd seemed to be.  In my mind, hockey is not a major American sport, but an impressive amount of people were in the arena, all glued to the ice, cheering and reacting to almost every move.  I did get into the game and even jumped to my feet when the home team scored, but at times I still felt lost.  A lot of whistles were blown for rules I did not understand.  Players were penalized for slashing and dashing and flashing and all kinds of things I didn’t know about.

We tried to pick up on the rules from the discussion of some grade school kids behind us but I still could not help but feel like an outsider who had energetically intruded into the hockey nerd’s bubble.

Because I think about church all the time, I could not help but draw the comparison.  I have to wonder how many people every week have feelings about church like I did at the hockey game.  How many ‘outsiders’ give church another (or a first) try and end up feeling like they don’t get it or confused because they don’t understand or know the rules.  I grew up in church but was still exposed to how a non-church person may view our services every time I brought a visitor.  When we have a new person we care about accompany us to work, school or church for the first time, we over-analyze everything, trying to view it in their eyes.  I did this, and it was not until I did that I realized how so many of the things that occur in most church services only appeal to or can be understood by “church people.”

When reading the Bible, I cannot help but see that the church is designed to reach people with the gospel message.  Therefore, everything that we do should be to appeal to them.  If church is boring, out of touch, or fake, those who visit will immediately be turned off and non-receptive when the message of Christ is presented.

All I know is going to that hockey game was fun.  I enjoyed it.  There was a lot of cheering and yelling and I was impressed with the player’s skills, but I still could not play the game by the rules, much less explain it to anyone else.  Could the same be said about our churches?

Knowing how much joy basketball gives me and that going to games is a great way to unwind, I bought a mini game plan at the beginning of the season.  I have tickets to fourteen of the biggest games of the hawks season.  One of those games was last Friday.  The Hawks were playing the Dallas Mavericks at 8pm (according to my tickets).  On Friday I got off work, picked up some dinner, met Katy, and we made the hundred mile drive to the ATL.  As we approached downtown I mentioned the noticeably low traffic for a Friday night.  We were able to park without any delay.  Even more skeptical was the lack of ticket scalpers we passed on our way to the arena.  I pulled out the tickets to recheck tip off time.  We walked into Philips Arena at 7:55pm to an unusual amount of noise and an equally unusual amount of traffic.  As we rode up the escalator I caught a glimpse of a jumbo-tron only to realize the buzzer had just sounded for halftime.  The game had been moved up to 7:00pm and nobody told me!

After finding a team attendant to file my complaint to, I huffed off to find my seat and plop down in disgust.    I felt cheated.  I felt robbed.  Everyone else around me was getting the full game experience and I was getting half a show.  I found it hard to get into things or fake excitement even when the second half started.  It was only when the game ended up going into overtime that I somehow felt better about driving all that way and missing the first 24 minutes of play.

As I sat, watching the game with little emotion, my mind drifted to all the times I have sat in church, checking my watch, feeling the service had gone too long.  Every week I see people stumble into church late, showing up as though it’s more of a good deed than an act of worship.  So many times even I have publicly noted that preachers should have more respect for other’s time and make sure that the service ends promptly one hour after it begins.  At the basketball game I felt cheated when I missed out yet sometimes in church I felt confined for having to stay till the end.

Realizing this showed me some things – that I’m glad I no longer go to boring churches.  If you are one who have said such things about church or have the attitude of duty when attending, perhaps you should find a place of worship you can get excited about.  You go to church because you want to.  Because you realize it is a great place to worship, serve, or build community.  No one moaned when the basketball game went into overtime because such was going to ruin their lunch plans.  Yet that is the attitude when church runs five minutes over at many places of worship on Sunday mornings.

I have actually told others lately that when something comes up and I have to miss a week of church, I feel as though I have really missed out.  I’m disappointed.  I get the pod cast so I’m not left out.  How do you view going to church?  What would your reaction be if next Sunday you showed up and realized they were already taking up the offering (which I think is the church equivalent to an NBA halftime).

Even when I was a part of the kind of churches that vote I was baffled by the idea. It actually makes me angry when I think about the service in which I was voted on in joining a church staff. I had gone through extensive interviews with the pastor, the staff, the deacons, the youth I would be working with, the parents of the youth I would be working with, the search committee, the Wednesday night dinner committee, the party planning committee, and anyone else who wanted to throw a right wing theological question my way. I had also worked at the church in an interim capacity for several months, so they knew me quite well by this time. In a Sunday service the chair of the church committee read a recommendation for me to join the staff as well as some of the stories from my already existing ministry there. The pastor then spoke highly of me and said how God had given him peace that I was to be a part of the church staff. I then shared my testimony and told about my desire for ministry and to serve at such a great church. And then…………they took a vote. I cannot believe this actually happened! Literally hundreds of people I had never met or who would never be affected by my ministry area were able to reject or approve my joining the staff there. When a church conducts business in such a manor it’s pretty much saying, “we know this is the will of God, He has told us what to do, but because we want you to like us and we know that you want to feel important in the church, it’s up to you”.

Voting on the will of God may be the reason God is unable to speak in many churches. Doing so sure shows we have little gratitude or respect for when God speaks. I remember even asking my pastor at that church why we vote on the will of God. His response was a look of powerlessness and a shrug of the shoulders followed by something about people would get upset if the church didn’t let them vote on everything.

We tie the hands of God when we put His words through the filtering of approval by every non-committed Christian who sits on a pew and claims a church membership. Churches should be willing to provided account as far as financial records and other areas of stewardship to the involved, giving members who request to see such data. But to take every decision that has been intently thought about, prayed through, and agonized over by the equipped leadership of the church who are paid to do and lead ministry and then vote on it by the person who just showed up on Sunday is ridiculous!

While at a clergy retreat held by denominational leaders, one speaker was addressing the situation of pastors fresh out of seminary who get plugged into smaller, family type churches. He said that when such pastors fail to recognize (meaning accept) that culture and try to do more outreach or not approve his decisions through the “heritage” church members, they are being foolish. Those where the actual words he used! So getting to the point where you hear from the Almighty and then want to take Him at His word and act in faith is foolish!

Yes there must be accountability and trusted leadership, but the day churches start seeking the applause of their congregation in pursuing their God-given vision, a cap is put on the potential of that church and a precedence is set as to who is the head of that body.

My reasoning for doing this has been that many of these pastors or churches have had a great impact on me.  I have been molded and challenged by being able to read or listen to many of the resources that come out of some of our countries largest congregations.  Visiting churches such as Willow Creek and North Point have made me better and allowed me to evaluate the way they do things.  I have not been to their churches, but getting to hear both Rob Bell and Joel Osteen in person (on separate occasions) made a great impact on me and God used those events, more than those men, to speak to me.

I also believe that God does not have a system.  I don’t think there is just one way to teach, preach, or do church that is His requirement.  So from what I know of most of the churches that make the 7,000+ attendees group, they are effectively reaching people as a result of God blessing that churches ministry.

All that being said, this post is actually about some of the things I have seen in many mega-churches that actually bother me, quite a bit.

I acknowledge that the following are generalizations and in no way do I believe what I am about to say applies to every large church (or does not apply to every small church).  The first thing that kind of irks me the wrong way when studying some of these ministries is that it appears to be all about image.  I love touring church building and hearing stories from church staff, but when that is the foot you lead with and you talk like there is never anything wrong at your church, that may be a problem.  So many larger churches have pages dedicated on their website to telling you all about their staff.  One area church’s site actually has a page of multiple posed pictures of the pastor and his wife you can print out to have, but no mention of Jesus.  Another top 10 attendance church in the nation which has a country wide TV ministry had the pastor visiting church member homes at Christmas to sing carols and eat cookies with the families.  Every home he visited was a highly attractive young couple living in at least half a million dollar homes.  It really bothers me that some churches try so hard to give a picture of their church as elite when I’m sure it has been reaching the downtrodden and outcast which has boosted their numbers in the first place.

Also, I find that many large churches seem to reach a point where they feel they must abandon what got them to where they are and begin doing what every other highly successful church is doing.  I see examples of this all over the entertainment industry where bands look like simple everyday guys on their first album cover but after “making it” they all grow their hair out and get tattoos, piercing, or do whatever else the groups they are trying to match are doing.

For church, could it not be that what made you big will keep you big?  I had someone advise me that once I get my ministry going, I need to stay a church planter as long as I can.  “You will eventually settle down into the roll of a pastor” he told me, “but even if your church grows to thousands, try to keep that church planter mindset of reaching everyone”.  Sure, more people and more money allow you and force you to do certain things in church world, but conforming is not one of those things.  It may have been being unique that got you where you are.  Part of why two out of three church plants fail is because they are built on some other church’s vision or philosophy.  So they fail.  Why has this not been learned by large churches that fail to continue growing when they feel that they need to offer certain ministries or start hosting conferences just because the big church across the country does.

Even though I have always been a part of large churches and in most areas feel they are best equipped to meet peoples needs, they, just like everyone else, are not perfect.  My hope is that as God continues to raise great ministries and great church leaders, He will strongly call us to authenticity and humility; two things He always blesses!

Reflecting back on that situation though, I have to wonder his intention behind asking if it was a solid church.  What does that even mean anyway?  I’m not unfamiliar with the term though because I grew up in a culture where we were challenged to always be in a solid church.  There were reminders of how our church was a solid church but there were fewer and fewer solid churches now days and if we were not going to be in a solid church, we might as well not be in church at all.  From considering all the ways I heard this phrase used, I think I have determined that when others say this, what they mean by “solid” is…..

• A church that does things the same way we do
• A church that carries things out in a familiar way that we are used to
• A church that only believes what we believe
• A church that has our priorities and values
• A church with a rich heritage (meaning the best days are behind them but they are still formal)

A “solid” church, according to that definition, is not open to any new ideas or the challenging of beliefs and ideologies.  Though I know what is meant by most when they ask about a church being solid, and in most of the core, important areas I guess we would be in agreement, I have no desire to be part of a solid church if those areas are to be the focus or purpose.  The church is to infiltrate the community around it and shift to meet the needs of the unique individuals it is trying to reach.  If the church’s focus is on adhering to the ancient standards of a system that no longer works, there will be no eye to the future and only lip service when it comes to evangelism.

I like the church I am at now, though in many ways it is still a little conservative for me and I feel there is too much “black and white” thinking about things.  However, as I shape and evaluate the vision for the church I hope to be a part of launching in the future, one prayer of mine is that we will not be the traditional interpretation of a solid church.

This is an area where I certainly need work as I have been faced with the reality that a lot of my assumptions are wrong and that to even come to them so quickly is many times unfair.  When we are so immediate to build that wall of assumption, we turn ourselves off from a lesson, experience, or blessing that may have been about to come from an unlikely source.  So among the many that exist, here are some assumptions and generalizations I have made that have hurt me.

“All old people are Republicans”

Oddly enough, my stereotype here used to be the exact opposite.  My dad had me convinced that the democrats had scared all the senior citizens in the state of Ohio into being in their party.  This caused me to grunt and walk away anytime politics came up if there was a “more experienced” person in the room (even though I knew less about politics then than the little I know now).

Because I now live in the Bible belt, perhaps my conclusion is somewhat based on reason but I know I’m still painting with way too broad a brush.  I understand that my political outlook has changed in the past years and that few of the people I work, socialize, or worship with share my views or opinions on such things, so I do try and remain somewhat reserved when these issues arise.  Still though, in my mind I will judge what I believe are probably a person’s values and in my mind play what I expect to be their comments on the president, health care, global worming, etc.

I have been shocked not only to find out that my labeling is not always correct and there are many well-aged democrats, but also that a lot of the republicans of age I have met are more open-minded and willing to discuss the issues than I had given them credit for.  Don’t get me wrong, I do not hold adamantly to the label of either major party, and there are just as many close minded and uninformed people on one side as the other, but until recently I had been pre-determining that anyone I ran into above a certain age must be right wing.  I’m glad I have had some experiences and conversations show me that I was wrong.  And even in the times I may not have been “wrong” about their political lean, I was wrong in my assumptions of what traits and attitudes may come with that view.

“All Baptists are dogmatic”

Again, I have had experiences that have caused me to come to this assumption.  It’s not that I had anything initially against Baptists or that I stubbornly oppose all of them now, after all, I did grow up as one.  In Bible College though I was exposed to the reality that they cannot even get along with each other.  Forget the fact that there are numerous denominations that label themselves as a sect of Baptists (American, Southern, Independent, Missionary, Free Will…….); my experience had taught me that it is the norm for these believers of supposedly alike beliefs and practices to fight and split among themselves.

After years of this and the reoccurring incident of Baptists from my past still approaching me about “concerns” they have about my beliefs, my neglect to finish my master’s, or my engaging in “the appearance of evil” I developed an almost bitter attitude against them.  They seemed to be such unhappy, unthankful, boring, people who went to church because they felt they had to and were opposed to anything new, loud, or modern.  Certainly, some of this is true and turns many people away from any church with the “B” word on its sign, but such traits are not the standard.

Many Baptists have been a blessing, encouragement, and example to me.  It was wrong of me to ever allow a few extreme cases to cloud my view of the whole group.  I believe I have settled into a happy medium now where I still see little point in denominations but realize the reason denominations are so messed up is because they contain messed up people, like me.  I owe a lot to Baptists, like a solid education and some great believing friends.

“Foreigners are not as smart as Americans”

It is nowhere in me to be racist and I would probably never have even thought to say the above phrase out loud, but I have thought it before.  The two main reasons I ever assumed this of those different than myself are 1.) a lack of global perspective and understanding, and 2.) confusing language barriers with intellectual differences.

If a foreign student would have problems understanding me, I would blame it on their ability to reason rather than their undeveloped English vocabulary.  One time I took a 50 year old African man named Kirby to Wal-Mart during my days in college.  On the way he told me how he never told his son that he loved him in fear the information would be abused by the son to get whatever he wanted from his love-vulnerable father.  My thought did not go to the concept that we have different cultures and values in our countries, but rather that he was wrong because they just have not come around to the right way of doing things over there.

It’s been hard for me to get off of this subconscious assumption of mine and I have even had to be called out when speaking down to others who were not American.  My desire though is not to build any walls of separation or come off as acting superior and certainly not for reasons as shallow as race or ethnicity.  Along with the other two exaggerated assumptions above, I have had to change in this area of thinking as I become more involved in my community and allow a passion and love for people override my preferences or preconceived ideas.

Southern Baptists are facing a membership decline that could shrink the nation’s largest Protestant denomination by nearly half in 40 years, its convention president said Tuesday.

The Rev. Johnny Hunt, a megachurch pastor from Woodstock, Ga., told convention members gathered in Louisville that Southern Baptist need to give more to worldwide missions and attract minorities.

“I really do believe we need a revival” Hunt said in a 45-minute address to kick off the two day convention.

The denomination is declining at a rate that could shrink its membership from 16.2 million to 8.7 million by 2050, Hunt said.  Total membership of Southern Baptist churches was 16,228,438 last year, down nearly 38,400 from 2007, according to LifeWay, the convention’s research and publishing arm.

Hunt, himself a Native American from the Lumbee tribe of North Carolina, said the denomination needs to work harder to court minorities.  “We need to really join with our brothers of ethnicity in this convention” Hunt said.

The Convention, which formed in 1845 after a dispute with northern Baptists over slavery, is expected to vote this week on a resolution acknowledging the historical importance of President Barack Obama’s electoral victory.

Below is an article I wrote in response.

The Cult of Denomination

Even though I laughed, I was a little hurt in reading Wednesday’s column on the Southern Baptist Convention’s yearly conference.  Their precedents of business and religion more than spirituality amaze me in that they believe they must pass a vote in order for the significance of President Obama’s election as a black man to be real.  Just several years ago they also thought it necessary to vote on a position about women that is already clearly taught in the Bible.

As a former SBC member myself, I now appreciate being a part of a congregation that’s emphasis is on simply seeing people being saved and restored.  It’s not about getting people to join our church and our denomination, and I’m not so sure that targeting a set group of people is not narrowing the focus of the great commission.  I actually look forward to the day when church and ministry networking blurs the lines of denominations or perhaps even makes them obsolete.

My concern is that most denominations have become separate identities because their focus is on the minor issues of the religious system and these obscurities become the issues that divide and the mountains we choose to die on.  I was disappointed to hear that just this past Sunday my former SBC pastor made the comment that alcohol was never ever permissible because it discredits our witness; a statement that is completely legalistic and extra-biblical.  So many churches preach a desire to keep the main thing the main thing, but this rarely happens.  In this tough economy, there is not an opening for the job of Holy Spirit, may we instead focus on being the hands and feet of Jesus.

Aaron M. Marcelli

Former SBC Minister