As I've said before, I love reading blogs. I track close to 70 blogs through bloglines, which is a very helpful resource because it allows you to see what's updated out there in blog-world without having to click on, in my case, 70 something websites. That can get quite time-consuming!
Anyway, one guy that I track is Mark Waltz, Pastor of Connections at Granger Community Church in South Bend, Indiana. He posted this today about spiritual transformation and what that means for people at different stages of their spiritual journey. Very, very good stuff!
I would have to agree with him here. We need to teach new believers how to feed themselves, but once they learn, they need to stop being dependent on the church and learn to do it for themselves! It's almost like a newborn child. Once they are born, they are heavily dependent on the parents to feed them and give them what they need. But as the child grows, they are gradually weaned from the parents toward a more independent life. That's exactly what needs to happen in the life of a believer.
Unfortunately, that's not what happens. I'm hearing more and more from church leaders around the country that the "we want to be fed" group of church attenders is growing. Whether its more indepth bible study or church history courses, the cry is the same. "Feed me!" But when does the burden of growth become lifted off the church's shoulders and placed on the mature believers? Please hear me here because I'm not saying that indepth bible studies are bad, nor is going deeper. What matters is how and why. "How" meaning is the expectation placed on the church, and "why" meaning what is the purpose for wanting to go deeper. If the "how" is that the church needs to be provide, well, I don't believe that's the church's responsibility. I applaud the initiative of three friends of mine who meet on their own every Thursday night to go through an indepth study. That's taking the spoon and feeding yourself! If the "why" is strictly for knowledge, then you run the danger of becoming a consumer of spiritual knowledge and then it becomes all about what you know and what you want. But if it's to help you grow in light of a circumstance, by all means, dig in!
I have to go out on a limb here and say that American Christians can be spoiled brats. We want more and more without giving anything. Sometimes I just want to tell people that, if you want to grow and go deeper, step out in faith and mentor a few new Christians in their journey. Lead a Journey Team. Share what God has done in your life and the lessons you've learned with those who haven't "been there and done that." I'm of the belief that Christians can grow without bible studies. After all, what did we do before the printing press started churning out the first bibles? Steve has said many times, and I'm a firm believer in this, that spirituality is more caught than taught. That's why we have Journey Teams (small groups) that meet weekly to build relationships that will last. These relationships are being created so that each of us have help along the journey of becoming passionate followers of Christ.
I think the reason I've got such a strong opinion on this is because I've observed several people (including myself) through the years who have gone on the journey of "going deeper" only to become more inward focused. For me, those times found me desiring more knowledge than seeing lives changed. But one experience changed me forever on this. It was through being a Journey Team leader in 2005. Our group was filled with new Christians, eager to grow and learn how to live the Christian life. It was at that time I realized the joy and excitement of being a part of another's spiritual journey. I think I grew more in that year than all the years of bible study combined. Why is that? I believe it's because I was in a place that I had to rely more upon God because I realized others were looking to me for guidance in their new found faith. Also, for some reason, the longer I am a Christ-follower, the harder it is for me to stay passionate about Jesus. But being around new believers is contagious. Their passion, their energy, their excitement over the changes occuring in their lives can't help but transform yourself.
And that's all I got to say about that...
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