Blowing Up a Church

You’ve probably seen the occasion. A large building, possibly a hotel, is imploded and after a series of blasts at strategic places begins falling in on itself until it is only a heap of rubble covered by a huge cloud of dust and smoke. After a while the smoke and dust settles and there is the rubble waiting to be picked up and hauled away. When the site is cleared it is redeveloped and a new building…bigger, grander, better…is put in its place.

I have seen churches implode over time. Usually the implosion is set off by a volatile mix of human selfishness and pride. That first burst seems to set off a series of similar blasts that, over time, bring the church down to nothing more than rubble and memories.

I, on the other hand, want to be part of an explosion. Explosions are different from implosions, as the name suggests, in its direction – outward. So, I want to be a part of blowing up the church. Some would argue you are still left with rubble, but I would like to disagree. I think you are left with no walls, which may be the best architectural reality the church has ever realized.

I want to blow the church up. One of my partners in this desire is my daughter, now 25. She and I had a conversation earlier this year that had us both agreeing we were tired of the way we had seen church done over the experience of our lifetime. We (maybe just I) was part of the problem and she had great ideas about taking the polish off the ball and being real. We are now in a team that is attempting to do just that.

In the place I serve, and with the people I serve, I have given up being the go-to guy and now serve as one among many. There is a freedom in that. I do not have to be superman anymore (as if I ever was.) I do not have to have all the answers. I do not have to sit at a desk and do busy work. I get to give my gifts (creative communication and leadership) and spend my time creating rather than administrating. It makes for better community and it makes a better me.

Week by week and month by month we are blowing out another window, or door or sometimes even a wall. Before long we will have blown it all up and look around and there will be no walls. Then we will be happy because the church will have become part of the world around it and the community of humanity will be able to see in while we see out and the separation will be gone. We will have attempted to be and do as our leader, Jesus, instructed us… Be in the world, just don’t be of the world. Be known by love, not self-righteousness.

Be known as inside-out people…hearts where they can be seen.

Blow Up. Blow Out. Be.

~ by phil underwood on 18 November, 2007.