Church, Big Business? Or Fellowship Center?

http://www.e3scottsdale.com/

http://www.fnchiropractic.com/


Dance, then, wherever you may be.
I am the Lord of the dance said He.
I will lead you all wherever you may be,
For I am the Lord of the dance said He.

That's my favorite church hymn. At least the second verse of it from how I remember it. I always thought it was pretty cool for the writer to talk about Jesus being the dance. The dance of life and living when He was rejected, murdered and still lived on as the dance. Probably, I first heard the song and took it in at about four or so years old. About the same time, I thought it was very powerful of Solomon to ask for wisdom versus riches. I still have that stuff I think about from very young age.

Here's a history. I may forget one or four, though:

St. Mark's United Methodist
Melodyland
Living Faith Lutheran
Happy Church
Christian Fellowship
Vineyard
Asbury United Methodist
Oral Roberts Chapel
Riverview
Kansas City Seeker's Church
Faith Christian Fellowship
Circle of Love
Calvary Temple
Believer's
Open Bible
Victory
Destiny
Guts
People's Church
Church Live TV
Life Church TV
We Do Life
Calvary Chapel
E3 Scottsdale
Cornerstone
Church of Do-What-You-Want-To

The last one is kind of a joke. Not a good joke for the soul of a believer, but it is my aside. I first learned the term Do-What-You-Want-To from a Jacob's Trouble song. They also sang "Hide the Beer, the Pastor's Here". Church of D-W-Y-W-T is the portion when a drop-out has been made and decision to leave corporate church of America. Hide the Beer pretty much occurs when the drop-outs happen. Literally. One time in 2000, I was up at the bar with Justin and the pastor of Guts happened to come in. I helped start off the mega-church in 1992 with Billy. He saw me, I was ashamed, I turned on his approach, and he turned, rejected. I apologized later to him in 2003 and his statement was "Water under the bridge". Cool.

The reason for this post is because of a conflict I have been running into with attending different things/meetings and just having no desire. I'd like to enjoy increased fellowship, but don't see this as being effective with mega-church. Right now my current conclusion has to do with the matter of whether churches today are mostly big business versus true and authentic fellowship. I call my church home now E3 of Scottsdale. I call it home because I honestly feel that they are truly about relationship and fellowship. I enjoy meeting, can't wait for Sunday and get-togethers and know many people there. I think and pray about them daily and also know their names. I look forward to seeing them on any basis, at any time.
In Chandler, I have attempted another church relationship and it just doesn't fit. There is lack of relevance, structure and something which seems built up on the excitatory nature of the herd mentality. I've been to and attended the programs of the very small all the way to the very large. I've had to evaluate my personality and proclivity to prefer the closer knit situations versus being in a herd of cattle. And I've also had to evaluate the herd mentality itself and the nature of the mass population in general. Herds make people comfortable. In true fellowship, you actually involve application, communication, relationship. This is probably achieved best in small groups.
On the subject of the large versus the small. I was brought up early on in the small situation in Santa Barbara. My parents had large prayer studies and, still, I know that everyone knew each other because of the enrichment surrounding a small community. We had potlucks, eat-outs, and all that and it was kind of Kumbya. You knew people actually cared and phone calls, house visits and grill-outs, beach-outs, picnics were achieved. My parents had an open door, no-knock policy.
Its kind of funny because I remember getting extreme stress headaches much of the time surrounding the time of get-togethers. I've always needed space it seems. I also would get the headaches when going to church. I've given thought to this as well. There was a routine I expected on Sunday. We would all be forced to go and it was mom and dad fight morning. Much of the time it was when my dad attacked my mom and all the drive to service, the family would endure my father lighting into my mom. It was so backwards. Of course, we would get out of the car/bus and, all of a sudden, my dad was business and Mr. Socialite and that was it. Couldn't understand that. Gave me a headache. Another aspect to the get-togethers involved my dad's forcefulness in drilling this certain aspect of religion which didn't seem to me to actually be a "real" lifestyle. I just don't think there was a good example coming out of the things I saw in the home. There were certain aspects good and bad. A place where I saw the reality of living in Christ was found at the Friesen's house. But, then, they were kind of boring, but actually living out the reality of their spirituality.

The big church, in my perspective. The first biggie was Happy Church with the (Hickeys). Yep, Happy and Hickey. The first church in Denver. The first visit, I went to Sunday school in this huge place. I was ordered to move to a certain seat, the kids teased me about my winter clothing and I was also forced to hold up my hands during singing. This was pretty disgusting. Did anyone get to know me, the new kid? Was I introduced? Naw, there was no opportunity. It was mega-church. The Sunday school alone was over one hundred kids with friends and factions already made. The only change was made in this situation when it was found that I could get tapes of music because of my dad's gig with christian radio.
The next strange thing I saw was that there was almost no community. People came and then went. A little different. Or a lot. The niche made was in business and politics. Probably the only factor in my family's fellowship with others was my father's actively campaigning for his christian radio and my mom's delving into the business of counseling for the ministry. I'm sure that people's lives were affected positively, but most of it revolved around business. This aspect was probably most revealed in the very real hiearchy of the Happy system of administration. There was the ministry side and the church side; the book and tape side and the TV/radio side. I gave up on the Happy system pretty much right away. A few years went by and I did get blessed by some of the church in different ways, but that took a good and long time.

Other indoctrination into the big churches was Oral Roberts, a KC Seeker's, Destiny, Christian Fellowship, Believer's, Victory, Guts (later years), others. At each of these, there was established very corporate structure. You could get involved and maybe be recognized as a person eventually. If you didn't have an "in" somewhere with a higher-up, though, then you are a number or a paycheck. In the interim, you are hit up for the latest numbers on TV ministry "opportunities", the new mall that they are buying and the new sanctuary being bought so the growth can keep going and you get even smaller. Until you get an insider, then the individual goes in the in door and out the out door only to wait in traffic to get out of the parking lot. I don't call this fellowship and relationship and I also do not think this is what Christ meant the church to be. At this point, this type of church becomes business and should be treated like one.

(An aside - Destiny is an example - I can't tell you how many times I talked to the head pastor and his wife. The last time I was introduced as someone new to the wife, I just told her that we met many times before. She was kind of shocked at my response to "meeting". You know what? I still bought two of the seats in the sanctuary which was never built. Glad I never bought into their bonds deal. I feel sorry for those who did.)

In all fairness. These places do attempt to get you involved in things like small groups. Usually, in the many I have attended, the concept is usually contrived and done out of what "feels" like obligatory action. There is a heart there, but lack of effectiveness in connecting. I have often viewed the lack in effectiveness of the "small" group. Its even worse when you find in excess of twenty to thirty people in one group and then there is rare authentic communication outside the group or even inside the group. Often, there is introduction so that people can get a glimpse. But, its still much of the coming and going again. Just the way it is.
My positives coming out of the mega-church? I have learned a lot. I can count on a few fingers and then there are extensions: Paul, Wes, Brad, Jude, Pat, Carson. Teaching is generally okay and usually music is great. Its relatively easy to introduce someone to the gospel here.

Also, I'm not bitter about this and do contend that the larger the church, the bigger the business and the lesser a person gets. Right now, most communication is via mass email delivery which may even include people's pictures of their family whom will probably never be met. A bit comedic. Part of the problem is the nomadic nature we all now share. Most of us are in three-step: Work-Family-Home. Another problem has to do with extreme growth. Too much, too fast. How in the world would one expect personal identification when a place grows by hundreds per month? The personalization dims with that kind of growth.

But let me see here. If there is to be fellowship, relationship, commitment to stewardship and loving your brother, then is mega-church business truly performing their statement of purpose? The growth most of the time cannot be matched. I'd say that growth is the primary factor in creating the void of true christian fellowship. What if a place of fellowship creates a center and then satellites once a certain goal is achieved? For a lot of these places, that would be a lot of buildings bought and sold. The center (mass sanctuary) could be a mass meeting place for maybe once per month services and then everyone goes to the satellite to truly commit to discipleship/relationship/fellowship.
The satellite could just be someone's house: i.e. small group. But with true structure and the church "business" set aside so the concentration is on truly talking one-on-one, having a meal and development of true mentors with even "appointments" made weekly or semi-weekly with your even smaller mentor group. I know this is already being done in certain areas, but have seen that mega-churches mostly have not developed outside their corporate structure. The average christian and definitely not the "seeker" rarely develop into this system. Obviously there are problems/opportunities which can be dealt with regarding this. But when you have a structure where some pastor-type is running around for his "church" day and night because the place is out of hand with thousands in the population....Well, I've seen this one. Leads to just the church all the time, affairs, factions, political in-fighting, financial woes. Business, right? The average church attendee contributes maybe about $20-$22 per week to their church of choice. If someone becomes a number in thousands with little fellowship opportunity, then why would they want to contribute? Because of obligation? Is the solution an increase in numbers? That's what has contributed to the cycle in the first place. The increased numbers lead to more members getting a machine instead of a real person at the end of the line.

There is also a possible problem with the smaller mentor groups. The biggest, in my opinion, is accountability. People are many times afraid of being honest. How many times have you been in any group and the individuals are courageous enough to know that they are accepted? Or how many times do you go into a group and know that you actually are not accepted "As you are and not as you should be"? The people talking behind your back and saying something to your face which is not true. We will always have that. And it shuts a person down into "feeling" something other than what Christ has stated them to be (Made in Righteousness) from the beginning of their acceptance. Everyone has something - just how it is.
My dad had the beginnings of a small mentor group. I believe that the intentions were good and bright. It went wrong out of lack of honesty and integrity and became C-O-D-W-Y-W-T (Church of Do What You Want To). The leadership was askew and that's too bad. The group may still be going, I don't know. And, hopefully, leadership and accountability has been righted. Or maybe the group is down the drain and a lot of people have been hurt and friendships/fellowships have been torn and raped. Isn't the destroying of these relationships exactly what the devil wants? The devil is here to steal, kill and destroy. He does a good job of this, too. Darn good job.

So. All this said, its my option to stay within a smaller church where I know people actually get to know me and I get to know them. There may be no concerts and I may not get a Tony Robbins seminar but there will be actual true Word translation and fellowship. Guess Tony will benefit because of my having to buy his stuff.
I maintain my relationship with E3 and those guys are a blessing. Fun too. I'm trying to make it to small group dinners and have developing friendships. I also don't feel like going there is helping to maintain a business machine. It usually takes me about 25 minutes to drive there and Elsie Jane has asked me to go to a nearer church since she comes in on Sunday. She's catholic and attends any close place of worship. She comes and goes. I have had to explain to her that this is not why I attend. To come and go. I go for open fellowship and to be around those I care about and to nurture what I feel the church was made for. Shoot, if I did it her way, I would couch it on Sunday, read a few scriptures, pray over breakfast and make it for kick-off of my favorite football games. My way, I get to be closer to people who are the real deal and who I can go to the fights with on Saturday and who are available for honest and open communication and also are there thick and thin.

Dave

www.fnchiropractic.com

www.bionicdoc.com

www.bionicscott.com


Dave. I'm so glad you left post on my weblog. The BionicBand has completely changed my life. I'm only 37 years old and every year going by has seemingly been more stressful. I've had no explanation for it until finding out about emf and all the ramifications regarding it. Your sleep and dreams are somethings I definitely identify with. Just finally getting good sleep has helped change the person I am. I also have experienced detoxification which I can only explain through the P.A.R.T. technology. It is truly amazing. I just hope that you will experience some of the great things I have. Ha! I'm still loosing hair at the monk's cap, but continue to have no gray! Maybe the hair loss will change.
As a chiropractor, I have many times attempted leading horses to water and to no avail. Some things cannot be explained except for the one who actually comes and drinks from the well. Financially I wish to benefit from proton alignment technology, but my greater purpose is to see how many benefit healthfully from this stuff. That, to me, is worth more than a million.

One of my greatest new patients is L. I've known her socially for about one year now and she had a bad car crash and now I am her doctor. I got to my office on emergency visit Wednesday. She is doing well excepting bad whiplash and probably low back complication which will most likely be present in about two weeks according to my history with this sort of thing. I didn't know certain things about L prior to treating her and I am truly blessed that she is coming in for care. I watch people when I am doing my thing. When I watched L, I noticed certain problems with her movements and posture and finally get to include her on education of chiropractic and how much this kind of care can do for a person.

One of my first new patients out of school ten years ago was sent in to me by his wife. Outside of clinic in school, I think this guy was probably my fifth patient ever. After two visits, his wife came to me and asked for a "closed" session. I was scared. I didn't have insurance coverage. So, anyway, she asked me what I did to her husband. I did not have a response and a turtle head was growing in my pants. After what was probably only ten seconds which felt like thirty minutes, the lady said that they had been married for over 25 years. In that span, the guy never said he loved his wife and she had often wondered. I don't know what happened exactly, but I treated him for low back twice and he became a chiropractic patient for life. His wife made him come in after she got sick over his constant complaint. Well, after the second visit his wife came in. After 25 years of marriage, he told his wife that he loved her and even brought flowers home. She was almost crying in my office over this. To this day I don't know if I really did anything. I just performed chiropractic as I know it. I did what I would want done to me and that is it. I still don't know sometimes the power of what it means to let the nerves live in a person but I do know what this does for me.

I was coached earlier today by my friend Dr. Dawson. This guy should be published. I'm still working through everything he taught me today on the workings of upper cervical treatment. This was only a twenty minute session and encompassed two years of work which I never learned in college. Dr. Dawson is a genius. If you are a reader, everyone on earth can benefit from chiropractic care. That is fact, in my opinion. I've seen it and lived it and will never do without it. I feel pain for those who do not get chiropractic. I am now a 17+ year veteran of the sport.