Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Wandani at St. Marcus - Epicenter of Church and Ch...":
This has the ring of 'playing church' ... from Bailing Water:
" Anonymous said...
Great post Freddy. I enjoy your insight. You commented on a quote in the article and I too found it interesting but in a different light.
"We’re trying to keep it from becoming the thing that turned a lot of people away from church."
I can’t, and won’t, speak for the folks referenced in the article but I can relate to this. Some insight on me before I elaborate…I’m a PK (Pastor’s Kid) from Mequon but not from the Seminary. That narrows down my identity significantly. I’ve been WELS educated from Kindergarten to Undergrad. Went to church every Sunday. Said my prayers, learned the differences between what I believed and what other “religions” believed. I was a very good, conservative, WELS member.
As I got older, by the grace of God, I kept going to church. Through no engagement of the Church and Change, Church Growth stuff, I started asking myself on Sunday mornings “What am I doing here?”, “Why am I doing this?”, “Am I really worshipping God right now?”, “Why do I believe what I’m saying right now?”. This was very troubling. I shouldn’t have been asking those questions…I’m WELS…I can recite the Creeds from memory!
I went back to the Bible and my Catechism to try and figure out what was going on. Sadly I realized that I was just playing church. I was going through the motions. Not only was I doing that but people that I was close to, some who were un-churched, began to notice this. What a terrible witness I was!
I was pushing people away because they saw me only going through the motions, yet I was the one telling them that they need to start coming to church! I then looked around and realized I wasn’t the only one “playing church” and I saw little to no effort from the pastors or from anyone else in the church to fix this. Nobody was engaged in what they believed. Everyone was content in “confessing” what they believed by coming to church and reading what was placed in front of them. They were content in being a number in that church and they were not engaged.
I once heard a Pastor say to his congregation “If you want to come here to go through the motions and fill our seats to just be a number, please leave. There are plenty of congregations out there that want you as a number and who don’t care if you just recite what they tell you.”. That was it for me. I had to admit that I was just being a number. I realized I had to get into a church where there is Law and Gospel and where I had to become involved and active.
That is what people are looking for. Confessions are not enough anymore. People want to be at a place where they hear God’s Word and see Jesus and not just people reciting things at the same time. Are they rejecting liturgy? I don’t think so. I think we just ruined it for everyone else but ourselves. Are they rejecting doctrine? No, they want more, but they need to see it in action before they can buy into it! Does that mean we have to take a different approach? It appears by your post that you are open to it. My position is that we have must. (sic) Anything that isn’t unbiblical must be fair game.
Freddy, in my opinion, that is what is turning people away and what they are looking for. I don’t think it has to do with the Law as you suggest. I attend a rather “contemporary” WELS church now and have almost been in tears because of the Law. I also know that I have not described you in my comments about being content as a number. There is enormous value in being Confessional but we (the WELS) have seriously screwed it up. Many churches do a great job at reciting it but not a good job of living it so we have to change our approach.
JW (aka Joe Krohn, aka Joe the Bass Player, author of the notorious blog - An Apology for a 'Rock and Roll' Lutheran Church
