We Can Do Better

One of the top rated comedians in recent days is Larry the Cable Guy. That is, of course, not his real name. And the character he portrays is not who he really is. But he obviously has lots of fun acting like a goofy working class guy and that persona allows him to say things that he couldn't get away with saying as himself. To say that Larry is politically incorrect is like saying I am a little overweight.One of Larry's signature sayings is, "Git 'R done."

Getting whatever it is that you have to do done is almost always a good idea. Some exceptions might be: your scheduled execution, fulfilling someone's stated wish that you go to hell, go play in traffic or jump off a bridge or acting on suicidal thoughts. Getting it, or anything, done is often a problem and is easier said than done. Thus the popularity of one of my favorite sayings, "When all is said and done, more is said than done." It seems that I know, in my head, more things to do than I know how to get done.I am still working on how we can best accomplish our stated purpose, as a church, to produce fully functioning followers of Christ.

From years of observation and personal experience I have come to the conclusion that the methods used in my early years in the ministry are generally ineffective. Hearing lectures about Christian history, learning how to and then studying the Bible, sitting in Sunday School, Youth Group and Bible Study Groups are not bad things to do. But I haven't seen much fruit of changed lives pouring forth as the results of many hours spent in these pursuits. Over the years I have met many people who have fully participated in church, week after week, year after year. They have attended Sunday school, studied the Bible, attended worship, and yet they were some of the most immature, mean spirited, self-centered people I have ever known.

I know that my experience is not unique. Read what Dave Johnson, Senior Pastor of the Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, Minnesota, has to say on the subject. "His name was Ray. He sat in the 3rd row on the aisle seat of the church I grew up in. Every Sunday, there he was-watching, critiquing, making sure my father said it right. Ray's Bible was a thing to behold. Words underlined and circled with arrows pointing to other words-notes in the margin of almost every page. I think he knew the Bible better than God."Ray was a church guy. When I was 10, he scared me. When I was 20, after my father had begun to share with me the inside story of life in ministry, I came to realize that Ray scared him too. My dad was the pastor of our church. Ray was one of his elders-at least for a time-and he wasn't a happy guy. The Spirit's fruit, like love and joy, rarely showed up in him in any discernable way, and he didn't much like it if showed up in yours."Sometimes I wonder if I've been too hard on Ray. He's somehow become the composite of every rigid, narrow minded person I've ever met in church. No matter-Ray's dead now-long gone-in heaven, no doubt. At least that's what we all thought, because Ray prayed the prayer. He believed all the right things about Jesus (His death, resurrection, 2nd coming, all that), and would fight you if you didn't. Like I said, Ray was a church guy. He just wasn't a good guy."So here's my question: "What's up with that?" In all his years in church and in "the Word", Ray never became a different kind of person. He never changed. He never became more loving, gentle, peaceful, or patient. Indeed, he only seemed to become more angry and rigid as time went on. He became harder to be around. What's more, no one seemed to be bothered by that, as though something were out of the ordinary. No one wondered if maybe Ray had somehow missed the point."In other words, not only did Ray never change but no one seemed to expect him to. Ray was just being Ray. He prayed the prayer, he believed the right stuff about Jesus, he was irritated with people who didn't, and he went to heaven when he died. So again the question: 'What's up with that?'"

I really want to know the answer to Rev. Johnson's question. What IS up with that? Why has the church (Generally speaking - there are exceptions.) failed to be a place where people's lives are changed and a majority of the people are conformed to the image of Christ? Why can we not "Git 'ur done?"

Dallas Willard has said, "We fail to be disciples only because we do not decide to be. We do not intend to be disciples." I am not sure that it is we don't intend to become disciples - perhaps it is more about us not knowing what a disciple is and what it takes to be one.


But what of us who intend to become mature Christians and fail? Which is the greater problem, the person who does not intend to be a disciple or the church that never expects him to be one and doesn't provide the means for that to happen? I have little to say about the individual's choice but I hope to have some say about the expectations of the church. Honestly, I expect to be changed and I expect you to change.The dilemma for me is figuring out what must the church do to make that change possible? What do you think?

Seriously, what do you think? E-mail me at bill@harrisonlegacy.com and let me know what you think. I really want to know.

Copyright (c) William T. McConnell, 2008, All Rights Reserved