Earlier today I posted about how only babies need to be fed by another person, and only babies complain about not getting fed.
This reminded me of when I was a brand new baby Christian … (I was twenty-years-old) … and I was immediately put in a situation where I had to feed others. The reason was that I was leading people to Christ and, compared to them, I was the “long-time Christian” (even though I had only been a Christian for a few weeks!).
I had no choice, at least not that I knew of, and so I studied the bible like a mad man, put together studies and lessons, and gave them (as crappy as they may have been) to others. You’ve heard of the blind leading the blind, well this was the baby leading the babies.
And what I learned is this: A person grows WAY MORE from feeding others than they ever grow from being fed. So, I guess, if you want to really be fed - feed someone else.
Sometimes babies can feed others … but only babies should need to be fed.
- Featured on newchurches.com
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
“Waaaaa. I’m Not Getting Fed” (Part 2(b))
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
So who should be in the seats on Sunday? Should the Christians who are able to feed themselves be there? Or should they be serving, or doing something else? Is there a way to have mature and not so mature in the same service and have it work for both?
This topic goes WAY deeper than people sitting in seats on Sunday, preaching topically vs. expositorily (Vince, I'm sure you're going to go into these things, and don't hold back!).
Having some experience with people like this, I've seen that it usually boils down to a serious heart problem--one of selfishness, and one of wanting control. In most cases (every one that I've dealt with in our church), they want more than "deep teaching"--they want to dig their claws deep into the workings of the church. And if they don't get their way, they'll do whatever they can to sabotage what God is doing in that church (whether they know it or not): they'll stop giving (or use their giving as leverage), they'll start trying to pull people to their side, they'll start rumors about the leadership, or they'll complain about not getting fed and decide to leave (and they may try to take others with them). If they're not dealt with decisively and quickly, you find your church off mission because of the mess.
Hope I haven't stolen any of you thunder, Vince!
i'll be talking some more about this stuff, but "steal" away - that's the reason for the comments section, we get to learn from each other.
and i think there is a way for the same service to work for the "mature" and "not so mature" - and especially if we have a clear understanding of what the goal is...
with stuff like this I run to see what the Bible says on it. I'd like to hear some of you all's opinions on where the Bible speaks on the topic. I won't get too specific on what exactly the "topic" here is because I want to see what you all are thinking. Make sense?
Don't WE ALL have a problem with our heart though, and are'nt we ALL selfish? Don't we have to find a way to have people who whine about not getting fed in the body that is the church just as much as anyone else? Is everyone really able to come? Remember NO PERFECT PEOPLE. I hope we really mean ALL are welcome because all of us mature or not are broken, Pastors included!
anonymous,
Yes, they will be there, and that's okay, as long as we don't listen to the "I'm not getting fed" crowd. I believe mature and not so mature in the same service is of course possible, and happens every Sunday. It kind of depends on what you determine as maturity. I would say maturity is reflected in "feeding others". People being on mission is maturity. I agree with Vince that we learn more from teaching, from engaging the questions of our seeking friends, etc. than by just opening up our notebook and taking down information - yet that is what most people mean when they say "I'm not getting fed" or "it's not deep enough".
The Bible...yeah....let's go there!
Where are the people in the Bible who are whining about not getting fed or getting deeper? Hmmm....no where!
What are the preachers preaching? The Kingdom and the gospel over and
over...how to practically live it. See Jesus' teachings in Matthew-- Apostles' teaching in Acts.
No one complained about not being spiritually fed ...everyone was satisfied with what they were getting and they asked for more....of the same stuff.
The dissatisfaction didn't come from the *quality* of the food but the *type* of food. Some people just couldn't digest it.
Not being fed is a new phenomenon...now that we have all the scriptures...all the commentaries...all the super star preachers...a consumer culture thinks that the job of the preacher is to go deeper and better and fancier. But no...our job is to tell people about the KOG over and over again...what it is and how to live it. Yes creatively, yes with passion, yes intelligently...but in such a way that it is a launching pad to self feeding.
I see two problems: 1--the church hasn't taught people how to feed themselves. We don't have a culture of self-feeders. 2--a lot of people (including pastors) are too lazy to pick up the fork and the knife, cut-up their own food, put it up to their mouths, chew it and swallow it.
Hey anonymous commentor:
I agree--we're all broken, we're all in process, but there are some people that we must watch out for and protect our churches from.
Maybe this will help clarify: the people that my previous comment referred to are not "seekers" or young Christians. I'm referring to church hopping, non-committal, fault-finding, nit-picking churched people. These are people who claim to have been Christians a long time, but their track record indicates little if any life transformation. They are divisive people, sometimes with an "axe to grind," they slander others in the church. They'll praise you like your church is exactly what they need, and then at some point down the road, they'll start showing signs of antagonism... maybe several months or years later. When they use the "not being fed" line, it is a red flag to leaders that something MIGHT be up.
Granted, some Christians will use the "not being fed" line and simply need to be taught how to pick up a fork and eat, but in my experience, it's usually something much more sinister that Satan tries to use to get a church off mission. We as church planters and leaders have the responsibility of protecting our churches from such people as we seek to lead broken people to healing and restoration through Jesus.
Cool discussion on this one...
Great stuff Kevin. I was thinking some of those same things. In the Bible we see Jesus preaching the KOG and even the guys closest to him want more clarity from him on what he is saying. There are no complaints just a desire to always deepen their understanding.
Aaron is it completely our job to protect the Church or is it God's? If we start weeding out devisive people or people with motive or agenda soon we will be alone or even have to weed ourselves out. Maybe a Pastor should go case by case and dialogue a bit with the person whining and not paint with a broad brush. If the size of the congregation prohibits this then at least have someone for the person to dialogue with about. ALTHOUGH I think if the Church is soo big that a Senior Pastor can't sit down with a person with a complaint once in awhile then maybe the church is too big. That though is just my opinion and I'm not a mega Church fan(different strokes) Now if the Pastor is sitting down all the time with complaints then maybe the Pastor should be a bit more open to their surroundings. I don't know I'm rambling and should have written this in the morning when I am fresh. I just look at broken people as broken people and if they are really out to destroy the church I trust in God that not even the gates of hell will overcome her The church after all is God's bride and not our business venture. You're right though good comments on this one
I'm seeing a lot of "let's go to the Bible" chat, and I'm always a huge fan of that. Here are my reasons for why I say what I do in previous comments:
Check out Paul's warning to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28-31. He tells them to be on guard for themselves and their churches because people with both come in and "from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." Fast forward to 1 John, and you see that it happened. John didn't just let God deal with them--God used John to deal with them.
Go to Titus, and you see Paul tell Titus in Titus 3:10-11 to "reject a factious man after a first and second warning." Those who I'm speaking of will play the "not being fed" card, but behind the scenes could be trying to draw people to their point of view.
Go to 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul includes "revilers" (other translations say slanderers) in a list of other things that need church discipline. Keep in mind, the church at Corinth was relatively new when he wrote this. In my experience, those who play the "not being fed" card haved also maliciously slandered staff and leaders.
How does this relate to the main topic of the post? I'm not trying to paint in broad strokes--not everyone who comes up and says, "I'm just not being fed" is a divisive person. Sometimes it's a matter of equipping them to feed themselves (which the church must do a better job at). But in my experience (and in the experience of some church planting friends of mine), the chances are that the person saying this isn't a new Christian, it isn't a "pre-Christian" (or whatever term you prefer). It is someone who claims to have been a Christian for a long time, and who show other signs of antagonism--church hopping, beefs with leaders at past churches, having some sort of agenda for this new church. Playing the "I'm not being fed" card sounds very spiritual (think about it--it's Christianeze. The chances of an unchurched person or a brand new Christian saying this are pretty slim) but in many cases, it's a subtle power play.
So yeah, we do need to evaluate each case on a case-by-case basis. We do need to have a structure/system in place for evaluating and dealing with cases like this. We don't need to rush hastily to action before a lot of prayer, reflection, meditation, examining and re-examing Scripture, and evaluation. We need to ask questions about the person's spiritual background, church history, etc. If we find that this is someone just seeking something "deeper", then we find ways to equip them to feed themselves. But if we find it to be a "wolf" in our midst, then God has given us as leaders the responsibility of both seeking restoration through Christ for this person AND protecting our church.
maybe the complainers are future church planters that need to be developed
Post a Comment