Ed (I know I we don't know each other, but calling you Mr. Stetzer just makes this post seem so formal, which I am not),

Your article is well written, thought out, passionate, and on target. Here are your four remedies:

1)Clue in to Gospel transformation.
2)Making the destination of sermons and conversations the Gospel.
3)Shake loose of the hero complex.
4)Focus on the cross.

And you know what. I agree with every one of em. And something that struck me was this: Not one of those things has anything to do with how big or how small your church is. Not one of them.

And our number one problem in American Christianity IMHO is: We've bought into the lie that size matters

And we've turned The Bride of Jesus into small business and we're competing against the business down the street and the quickest, laziest, and easiest way to measure myself in the competition is how many "sales" I've made this week. And in our hunger to get more "sales" we focus on the next slick "technique" to up our market share and make my business more attractive than yours. And then when they come pouring in, we trumpet the fact that because I had more sales than you, I'm obviously doing something right, and you are obvioiusly doing something wrong.

Then from there, all the up and coming businesses obviously want more sales themselves and they go to the "big company" to learn how their getting all them sales. This further fuels the whole evil process. The "small company" then gets jealous of the "big company" and resentment, anger, bitterness, jealousy, contempt, malice, backbiting all set in for the "small company" while pride, ego, haughtiness, and aloofness set in for the "bigger company"...

Because you see in business, we're not all on the same team. We're competing for those souls. But when the heck did that become the modus operandi for the Bride of Christ. We're not competing for those souls. We're on the same team. It ain't me vs. you, it's Jesus vs. Satan and we're on the same sideline. But because everything in America is "self made" and "competitive" we can't take time to help the small church down the street. We can't take time to applaud the "big church" up the street for the work that they are doing.

Cause God knows if I applaud the "big guy", my folks my go over there and then where would I be? How am I gonna get paid?

When it's a business instead of a community, numbers matter. When it's community, numbers don't matter, people do.

I agree with you Ed..whole heartedly. And as an aspiring church planter, my prayer is that God would help me understand and support my fellow teammates. Help me love the church and the Bride...

I'm not perfect, but I'm trying to get better...

Some of the anger against what is largely called "church" is well-placed because many of these churches have compromised the gospel, both in its essence and its application.

My issue with your article, Ed, is that you seem to minimize the fact that some churches deserve no claim to the title church. They have a deficient ecclesiology, that looks nothing like the NT.

Just as Christ condemned the Pharisees, so the true church must condemn and confront those who have compromised the gospel in this day and age. It is not enough to sit by and "do our thing." We must confront error.

That is not a call for needless polemic. There is a great deal of that. But there is far too little needful polemic, because there are far too many people willing to grant "church" status to gatherings who do not resemble a church in any fashion.

Marc,

Indeed, church is not all about the numbers. I agree. But, it is also not illegitimate to hvae numbers... and even to want to reach more people. I think the challenge is the right balance.

The Church Growth Movement focused so much on numbers, I think that some lost a focus on people. But, it also matters to me that tens of thousands of churches reach no one each year. I guess that 0 is a number, too, and I don't like that one as much. Grin.

Ed,

Couldn't agree more. The numbers focus is wrong on both sides. Small churches for hating it and not wanting to look outside to a lost and hurting world and big churches for thinking their numbers validate what their doing.

The Gospel is the only validation we need. Both sides have lost focus of the Gospel in a lot of instances. That's why I really agree with your article. By the way, you and Tim Keller are starting to sound more alike all the time.

Our methods (big church), nor our traditions (small church) will see a community transformed. Only the Gospel will transform and renew. Doesn't matter what size you are, focus on that and let the results (the size of the harvest) up to God and don't worry about it.

PS...Greetings from Ozark, MO. If you're ever in town, I know the leadership of our church would love to buy you lunch. We're an Acts 29 Church that's trying our dead level best to stay focused on the Gospel and nothing else. We'd love to host you.

Thanks for this Ed. My devotion yesterday included 2 Timothy 2:23-26

“Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.”

I had to take stock of my own blogging and admit that a good part of my blogging has been devoted to the pursuit of controversy. So, that and your post are a good and appropriate slap back for me.

Larry,

I don't disagree with much of what you said... but I think the question is, "How do you address the concern?" and, "How should we speak of a soiled bride?"

How do we speak of a soiled bride? IMO, cautiously and quietly at first, addressing those who may simply not know better. The more public the error is, or the more egregious the sin, the more we must address it publicly. When the sin comes from those who should know better, whether because of training, experience, or cconfrontation, it becomes worse.

I think by and large, the church at large is weak because we have taken doctrine and purity lightly for so long that it seems almost too late to fix.

Gladly, we have the biblical doctrine of the local church in which I am responsible for my church and for what I do. No one answers to me ...

Ed,

I just came across your post on Catalyst Monthly, forwarded it to my leadership team for discussion, yet couldn't wait to respond to you! I resonate with this in our community (Chino, CA) - home to several mega-churches and 60+ small to mid-sized congregations. For too long, we've pointed the finger at each other, and to offer you some hope, we're rallying to address it and "be the church" rather than just go to church.

In November, we'll join 3 other local churches to cancel services and serve in our community on various projects like school cleanup, visiting seniors, and building a Habitat house. (We're following the Faith In Action model from Outreach Inc.). We'll then come back to our worship center and have a celebration service around noon. While this will definitely demonstrate the love of Christ to our city, the added impact will be the fellowship of four different church traditions working side by side in Jesus' name. And, can you tell, I'm just a little excited about it?! So, good stuff will happen, I know.

But with respect to the Bride, we often go deeper in offending her -- we start within our own church family! I've been working with a staff member lately on this very issue - loving the church family as Jesus does. As pastors, we can often get discouraged and lash out at the church for what attitudes "they" are having against us. Yes, they are stubborn sheep, but the reality is...they are in need of a Shepherd! Our job is to point them to Him and allow the Spirit to convict.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this!

Thanks for serving us, brother!

In Him,

Mike Spradlin
Valley Christian Church
Chino, California