A New Kind of Christianity - Brian McLaren [122]
3. Pastors often ask, What should I do if my congregation isn’t interested in or open to this quest for a new kind of Christianity? I always discourage pastors from forcing this quest on their parishioners. (Please, please, please don’t announce an “exciting new sermon series” on “a new kind of Christianity” next Sunday!) Far better, in my experience, to invite a few interested people for conversation over a home-cooked meal than to subject a whole congregation (in yellow, green, or blue stages) to a series of sermons on questions (appropriate to indigo or violet stages) they may not be ready for. “Bless the people,” one of my mentors once said to me. “Don’t try to lead them or challenge them until you have truly blessed them.” And if you have patiently blessed them, but they remain deeply resistant to your leading them into new territory (or a new zone, as we said in the previous chapter), then accept that reality. Better to go elsewhere and join or start something different than to waste your time and theirs in something they simply aren’t ready for. This isn’t a failure for you or for them; it’s just reality. Remember, you weren’t ready for this quest in the past; it’s good to allow others that freedom too.
4. If our church isn’t open to new ideas and some of us feel it’s time for us to leave, should we start a new congregation? Or should we give up on church altogether and just create an informal circle of friends? The truth is, we do need thousands of new churches, especially churches that take shape as companions on a faith quest instead of as institutions defending theological turf. I spent twenty-four years of my life planting and leading a local church, so I know both the hardships and rewards of this path, and I recommend it highly. If you feel a pull to explore church planting—either as a pastor, lay leader, or involved volunteer—you should. Not in a divisive spirit, of course, because that would simply serve to replicate some of the worst features of the conventional kinds of Christianity.
Around the world in recent years, I’ve met many people who begin planting new churches, but in the process discover that the word “church” just carries too much baggage. So, instead, they form what I call faith communities. Some are more formal and large and others informal and small; some last a long time and others a few weeks, months, or years; some have regular meetings and high commitment and others simply enjoy social interaction and the conversations that emerge spontaneously during meals, walks, or working together. Opinions differ as to whether these faith communities are in fact churches (I’m glad to have them “count”), but however they’re categorized, I believe we also need thousands of them, both to sustain the faith of followers of Christ who can’t survive in existing contexts and to create space for seekers to be exposed to the way of Christ.5 I think that in many cases established congregations and informal faith communities can learn to coexist and in fact develop a real synergy together.
5. Our church or denomination is open, so how can we help it experience transformation and change through this quest? Change-agentry in churches and denominations is a huge subject about which many good books have already been written and many more need to be written.6 When I’m asked this kind of question, I typically offer some very specific advice.
A. Get a consultant. There is enormous power in having the guidance of a wise, gifted, and experienced person who remains outside your congregational or denominational system. Good consultants are expensive, I know, but so are good heart surgeons, and the two have a lot in common.7
B. Build new parastructures to foster new approaches to faith rather than trying to bend existing structures to that end. In the Roman Catholic Church, for example, renewal has often come through monastic and missional orders—Franciscans, Carmelites, Jesuits, Paulists,