Differing Views

Rob Bell’s (of the popular Nooma series) new book, Love Wins, has caused some major discussion and controversy in the evangelical church world. His book came from a comment on a note from a church member placed on a painting of Gandhi displayed during a church art event. The comment implied that Gandhi was in hell; to which Bell responded “who says so?” He has been criticized and even called heretic by some that he believes in universalism. For many of you this is not a controversy, but I raise it because many times in the church we have difficulty talking about difficult issues and allowing for differing viewpoints.

Recently Linnea Nilsen Capshaw  led a PRC workshop on equipping church members for ministry in the church and in the world. She referenced the book The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith. The book suggests that in Christian faith formation between the journey inward (stage 4) and the journey outward (stage 5) there comes a “Wall”, a time when a person struggles with unanswered questions and doubts. She shared that in the journey of faith many persons hit a wall with the questions, doubts, and struggles, but often the church does not provide the space or opportunity for the persons to break through the wall.

Many churches are facing difficult decisions about church life and faith—from what kind of worship should we have, what stays in or out of budget—to issues of lifestyles and sexual orientation. We speak about safe sanctuary for children (and it is important) but do we also have safe places for persons to discuss difficult topics and issues without our faith or commitment being questioned?

Lent is to be a time of reflection—remembering 40 days when Jesus was challenged about his faith. Perhaps if we allow Lent to be a time for questions asked, doubts expressed, and differing opinions allowed and appreciated… at the end of Lent we will find ‘new life’ within ourselves and our churches.

Team Playing & Looking Good on Paper

Pat Guillick ,adviser to the Philadelphia Phillies, recently said that the 2011 Phillies are a better team ON PAPER than his 2001 Seattle Mariners that won 116 games. Plans can look good on paper, but they need to be executed well by  the team to be effective and successful.

The recent Phillies teams have had success because they played well as a team; one person picking up when another player was struggling. They were a team that enjoyed being together, played hard, and had fun too. They also had a leader, manager, that they respected.

Your team in the church or at work can have ‘star’ players or persons with great ability, but if they do not work well together as team, the results can be less than effective and successful. Tom Rainer and Eric Geiger in their book “Simple Church” noted that  large churches that had ‘star’ staff members , but who were not a unified team behind a clear purpose,  ultimately did not do well in the long run.

An old saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. But you if your team is not united, does not work together toward a common purpose and execute the plan, then the  plan only ‘looks good’ on paper.