In the light of the breaking of the story about Ted Haggard and my own reflections on my own struggle with honesty/truth I have some thoughts and questions on what the system of the modern church is producing and what sort of church not only do I want to go to but also be part of creating/doing. But not only for my benefit, church, for me, is not just an indivual exercise in self expression but a communal expression of a life shared together so I would love to hear your thoughts on this too.
I have therefore written this post and would invite you to come over and join in the conversation: What sort of church am I projecting/perpetuating/participating in: reflections on Ted Haggard, me and all of our church families
As ever here is an extract:
"As business guru W Edwards Denning said: “your system is perfectly designed to give you the results you are getting.” In other words, if every third car rolls off the production line with bumpers installed upside down you don’t blame the bumpers. You’ve got a system this is unintentionally designed to produce defective cars. So what is this system we call ‘the church’ producing? And since I believe in the church and am part of the church more than that - what sort of church am I projecting, perpetuating and participating in? I want to look briefly at my own thoughts about the tragedy of what has happened to Ted Haggard, reflect on my own experiences of my struggles within one sort of church environment, finally explore with you what sort of church I now want to be involved with/in and asking you the same…"
Good stuff. I read your other post on honesty that you linked too as well. More honesty and more 'real' is needed. Thanks!
My first thought when I heard of Haggard had nothing to do with Haggard per se, but was, "Where has the church missed it?" That doesn't make light of his situation, but it certainly should make us examine ourselves, our praxis, our cultures, and our processes to see what we can do to make the church more real, more organic, and more...well, like the church and less like a corporation.
I truly believe good will come from this.
Shalom
Posted by: David | 08 November 2006 at 09:20 PM
Thanks David, for the encouragement.
I felt for Ted and his family but the 2 thing I felt was how have we missed this AGAIN... which is where my wondering turned to writing...
And I think you are right - rather than just bewail over church or abandon church, I think we need to engage and say ok how did this happend and what can I do differently.
For me I think it is many things, but it starts with that reality sharing and with being prepared to get my hands dirty standing with people... I've certainly been challenged a lot by the conversations on this post at Jason's.
I share your faith that good is coming from this.
Posted by: Paul | 08 November 2006 at 10:53 PM
Your post really spoke to me as I've been struggling/wrestling a lot lately... Thanks for taking the time to write.
Peace,
Britt
Posted by: britt | 09 November 2006 at 02:59 AM