Making sure we are having people SERVE the right "Lord"

Some of the people in my faith journey weren't too happy when I posted this cartoon on my blog. It is drawn by a man in the UK who is involved the missional movement...he has some "pointed" comments that do make me and others uncomfortable at times.

His point though is well taken...our ministry needs to insure that people are serving the right "Lord". Questions for us to consider - Who do people really serve with their time, giftedness and treasure? Who do people look to for spiritual transformation and influence? Is people's allegiance really to Jesus or to the institution?

Here are some "notes" from the training materials that I share with people in our missional project...give them a bit of thought for today!

“A Jesus fanatic is not someone who is always going to church or at meetings but rather someone in whom the Live Truth dwells” Len Sweet

a. Dualistic Discipleship = there should not be a disconnect between what we SAY we believe/who we follow and our actual ACTIONS - if Jesus IS Lord of our life that should be apparent in everything we do.

b. The Church can no longer be a "silent partner" or a deliberate purveyor of dualistic discipleship. In spite of all the talk about Christ’s Lordship, everyone knows that the expectations of the culture and the institution come first. That is the unspoken façade of much of institutional Christianity. Christ followers tend to make decisions like everyone else NOT ON THE BASIS OF THEIR SUBMISSION TO CHRIST AND HIS KINGDOM. Our ministry is to attend to people's commitment to Jesus - His will - His purposes - His leadership in our lives.

c. Following Jesus can no longer be trivialized as little more than a devotional lubricant to keep us from stripping our gears when pursuing our own lives. Following Jesus has become an exercise in “reductionism”…it has been reduced to “quiet times”, “Sunday morning worship experiences”, “committee meetings”, and religious activity separated from real living. For many, following Jesus highly privatized, spiritualized and disconnected. Modern culture still, in most cases, defines the good life.