My Responsibility to You

As my family and I journey through the Orthodox Church and the spiritual atmosphere there, so many things strike me as truly wonderful.

Recently my husband, who has shown little interest in joining any church since Milestone, was speaking to our priest about becoming Orthodox.  He related the conversation to me later as very striking.

"When I asked Father what is entailed in joining the Church, he said,

'Well, when you become Orthodox, my responsibility to you becomes much greater.'"

My husband said this struck him as such a different attitude.

"He didn't say, 'Your responsibility become greater: you have to tithe, attend so many services,' or anything like that.  He said that HIS responsibility to ME increased.  That was very unexpected."

I was pleased to hear this, of course, and I immediately contrasted it in my mind with a pastor who has a "goon squad" to keep "undesirables" away from him.

Come to think of it, that is simply NOT a pastor.  That is a preacher and CEO who feels that you ought to call him your spiritual leader, that you ought to tithe to his church, that you ought to bring more people in, that you ought to attend services.  But he does not feel the obligation to hear your confession regularly, inquire after your family, check up on you personally.  He does not feel that he is obligated to actually interact with you versus having people "keep you away from him."

This pastor is full of himself and his title.  He feels that he is too important for you.  Too important, even, to call you when his Associate Pastor acts in an unseemly way.  Too important to reach out to those in his church who have been hurt or injured.  Too important to humble himself to those he has wounded.

All I can say is, "Praise God for delivering my family out of such an environment."  This is not Christ-like.  This is not humble.  This is not something I'd wish on any family.

I now have a firm conviction that there is, in fact, one true church.  And, sadly, many millions of people are sitting in seats in heretical churches in which a man or group of man determine doctrine apart from the wisdom of the true church.  My experience at Milestone convinced me of this more than anything else.

It's not that people are deliberately doing wrong.  They genuinely believe that are doing as God would have them do.  But, I am convinced, they are hurtful and ineffective because they are in a heretical church.  Most of the problems encountered are a direct result of a body cut off from orthodox attitude and teaching and any accountability.

I urge all of my Christian friends to research their own history.  I urge them (and you) to take a good long look at what happened at the Great Schism and then later during the Reformation.  In my opinion, it's not pretty and is the root cause of all of the modern church ills that we have.  We are a body divided and it should not be so.  It causes undue pain and heartache for EVERYONE involved: pastors and laity.

Reflections on the Difference Between "Church" and "Business"

My journey through Christendom has given me so much to think about over the years.  It has led me in many different directions and to many different types of churches.  A theme I constantly come back to when thinking about our time at Milestone is "The Church as a Business" or "The Church as a Pastor's Kingdom."

Church is, after all, a market share kind of thing.  There's one on just about every corner (sometimes four).  People are no longer denominationally oriented and are quite willing to flit about from church to church gathering what nectar they may.  I've done my share of that in the past as well.

So where does that leave churches themselves?  Vying for market share.  Leadership conversations start sounding like this, "How do we retain the members we have?  How do we recruit new members?  How do we make this building a place people want to be?"  As opposed to, "Where is the Holy Spirit leading us this year in terms of spiritual growth?" or "How can we better learn humility this season?"

I personally think it is sad.  I also think it's artificial and unnatural and not the way church was ever intended.  I also think it lends itself to "pastoring" turning into something more akin to "CEOing."

I was sitting in a restaurant one morning with a girlfriend and right behind us was a pastoral team meeting with a church consultant.  The conversation ran to business...the same kind of questions I mentioned above.  Basically, "How can we structure your church so that it appeals to the largest number of people?"  I think both of us were a little shocked.  We were both still at Milestone at the time and had that moment of realization.  This is what is going on behind the scenes at OUR church too.  This is what our leadership is saying about....us.  Somehow feels a little less spiritual, doesn't it?

Well, so what?  For me, the big "so what" is this:  It wasn't supposed to be this way, it doesn't have to be this way, and it should NOT be this way.

As I have mentioned before, I spent a good deal of time researching church history and tracing the origins of my faith back to the roots of it all.  I landed at an Orthodox Church.  An ancient church.  Based on about 2,000 years of tradition and not prone to having planning meetings on how to appeal to the masses.

The focus of my faith has shifted BACK to where it started when I was young...my personal walk.  My personal sin.  My personal repentance.

What would happen if every Christian, church, and pastor had this experience?  What if we properly understood evangelism as an outgrowth of spirituality, closeness with God, and humility vs. the PRIMARY goal of our faith?

What if pastors who had seen people injured under their watch got a hold of this idea?  What if they dedicated the rest of their spiritual lives to humility and repentance and seeking out those they had neglected or ignored because they were too "busy" or "removed" to do anything?  What might happen then in a church, a city, or a nation?

We need a restoration in the church today.  Yes.  A good history lesson, some sayings of the church fathers, and a big-time restoration.