What the Church can Learn From AA

I went to an AA meeting a couple of weeks ago. No, I am not an alcoholic, and no I didn't crash some random meeting. I went to an AA meeting this weekend because of my father. He was receiving his medallion for being sober for a year. For an alcoholic, the one year medallion is a big deal, the whole meeting was about my dad. I'm proud of my father, and I'm happy and grateful that he has come this far, but this post is not about dad, it's about what I learned, and what I think the Church can learn from AA.
During the meeting, one of the men my dad asked to speak for him read the 12 traditions of AA, and what got me was the tenth and eleventh ones:

"Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy."
"Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

What if the church did this? What if we shut down the media blitzes, and the PR, and the battling bus ads and just lived attractionaly and stayed away from controversy? What if we could say:

"The Church has no opinion on outside issues; hence the Christian name ought never be drawn into public controversy."
"The Church's public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films."

Before you immediately disagree with me on the first one "Of course the church has an opinion on outside issues! the world is full of SIN!" (One may say) consider these two items. 1) Sin is not an outside issue, but is at the core of Christianity and what we believe. 2) Why do we insist on discussing and denouncing the moral actions of people who are not Christian? Is it not a waste of time? Did Jesus not die precisely because our moral acts can not and will not stand up to the Father's expectations? It is inappropriate to talk about morality until after we talk about the Gospel.

But what about the second statement? don't we need promotion and flashy ads for the church today in this consumeristic product-driven culture? Sure, if you're selling a product. Sure, if you want to compete with the World. Simple truth is, the Church will never be able to compete with the advertising world. We'll never be the Old Spice Guy, or Diamond Shreddies (If you didn't get this in the States Google it, brilliant campaign) and that's fine, we have something that consumerism and fads will never have, staying power. Jesus died 1972 years ago (give or take) and His Church has stood up to (and thrived in) ridiculous persecution and out and out wars to kill it. So why don't we just do what we do best, preach Christ, teach the Gospel and leave morality of unbelievers to Philosophers.

With Love For The Church
-Kevin

Spineless Small-groups, Sycophants and Shallow Saved Sinners

     So, the other day, Twitter showed me this article written by Brian Jones over at the Christian Standard about Small groups and why they (essentially) don't work. The argument is that 90% of all church small groups only ever produce is self confident believers but not missional disciples. The artilce stresses the weakpoints of what I will call "Organized Community" that is, small groups that are organized and you sign up for. these have become pretty standard in evangelical churches. I have personally been a part of about four of these types of groups; two of those, I have led. The one thread that I have realised is that the article is right. Small groups, in an overwhelming majority of cases do nothing or next to nothing to make disciples. Which is a shame, because the heart of Christianity is community and loving others, but that can't be manufactured, it has to be real. The best growth I've seen in my own life has been accidental. 2am conversations in Bible College, impromptu prayer meetings, and the breakfast club that a few close friends and I started a few months ago. Those breakfast meetings are real, we share eachother's burdens, pray for each other, share our successes and failures and fears.

     I'd love to expand on this, but there's nothing I can add to what Jones says. He nailed it.

-Kevin

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     I have been taught not to complain about something unless you have a solution to offer as well, so here is mine,  let's place less emphasis on small groups the way they are, namley a leader, in a chair, with a curriculum. let us instead preach and teach the value of intentional community and individual growth and discipleship. Followers of Christ need to take responsibility of their own part in the process of sanctification, not to minimize the work of the Spirit, but if we are not open to Him, His words will fall on deaf ears.

With love for Christ and His church
-Kevin