I'll buy that for a Dollar
Am I asking for too much? (this turned out to be rather lengthy, I appreciate you allowing me the time to express myself)
Had a great morning meeting with Ben Arment from History Church over a bagel and a mocha. Ben's passion for the 'true church' resonates with me. We share a similar optimism and expectation of what 'church' is and should be. We discussed several models and processes (all of which involve people so have the potential for enormous error). Ultimately though doesn't it get down to a person being wrapped up in God?

Isn't that His-story? Intimacy (true acceptance)- To fully know and be fully known without either party having fear of rejection. God has made himself known, reminded us that he fully knows us, died to demonstrate his willingness to accept us fully, now the only piece missing is for us to accept Him fully.

Really no need here getting into our discussions. My personal thoughts from our conversation left me thinking today about the rest of our society and church. I returned to the office to learn that someone had called today while I was gone. (we usually take Fridays and Saturdays as our days off but rarely get to... I'm actually in the office right now). When Steven shared that I wasn't here, there was noticable disdain for the fact that we view Sunday as a day of work for our staff.

Consumer Christian- Christian person who views the local church as a product or store. (Symptoms: complaining, gossip, 'whats in it for me' attitude)

I get to my desk and read a note to call a young man I've been talking to who doesn't currently attend our ministry. He's been in and out of juvenile programs since he was 13 (now 16). He has his GED but is too young for full-time labor at most companies that pay anything. He works 50+ hours a week at Pizza hut making $5.15 hr. His dad and mom are basically out of the picture with huge issues of there own and are divorced. His brother is in jail and facing 25+ years. He is on probation and will come off in August. Since December he's held this job and stayed away from much of his former self. I call him back and he shares that he's going to be left alone by his dad come around September/December. He'll then be 17 and stranded. He doesn't have transportation and will not have housing... I call a major Christian organization on his behalf asking if they'd take him into their program. They shared that they'd be glad to and he meets the perfect target audience. They go on to say that it will cost him $800/month just to attend.

From my previous blogs you may have seen that I'm not a big fan of teens selling everything they have to go to camp ($340). I believe it sends a very wrong message to the kids (sell anything purely for your own benefit). Read below if I don't make sense in this blog....
Anyway... So here we are... we have people IN the church fussing about me as a Youth Pastor being in my office or 'doing church' 6 days a week (this week and next it will be almost steady w/o break) and angry b/c their kids haven't earned their money for their camp, then we have a kid who's basically abandoned who wants help, wants to make wise choices, wants to get his life straight and he comes reaching out to me... I call around and am told that this program isn't really for him. It's geared toward the suburban family who can afford to send their sweet Johnny to this place to get 'fixed up' so that he can come back to his nice home and drive his nice car. The interesting thing is that they offer a basically free version of the program to adults. Figure that. Deny those who cant' afford it as youth but then when they turn 18 give the program away to them as adults. Why not fix them while they are young and they want it? I guess the system doesn't work that way.
As you may be able to see, I'm kinda confused today about Christianity as a whole. We allow issues such as carwashes and cookie-dough to eat away at us while people die and go to hell as they get turned away from Christian treatment. I don't' understand.

I also don't understand why we can't 'get-it' with regards to 'church'. I believe the 'church' is a group of Christians who long to know God intimately. Nothing more, nothing less. That's it. That's our focus. To build the church means to build the people. "To encourage and equip people to Know God through his son Jesus Christ." That's the main thing. That's what it's supposed to be about. I can't possibly tell you how much I'm distracted from that mission. It hasn't helped me as I've taken note of how much I'm actually able to do to further that mission.
Try it... Funnel everything you hear this Sunday through that statement. How many people in your church have that in mind when they complain? How often is what 'the church' spends time on really about that mission and how often is it really about something trivial in comparison?

So I ask. Am I expecting too much out of the local church?