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Overview
With Contributions from:
Shane Quick (OUTCRY)
David Crowder
Jenn Johnson (Bethel Music)
Chris Quilala (Jesus Culture)
Pat Barrett (Housefires)
Chris Llewellyn (Rend Collective)
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781617958274 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Worthy |
| Publication date: | 08/09/2016 |
| Sold by: | Hachette Digital, Inc. |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 224 |
| File size: | 542 KB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Outcry
New Voices Speak Out About the Power of the Church
By Ryan Romeo
Worthy Publishing Group
Copyright © 2016 Ryan RomeoAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-61795-827-4
CHAPTER 1
DOES THE CHURCH STILL MATTER?
I feel at this juncture of our journey, introductions are in order. My name is Ryan Romeo. I came to know Jesus when I was fifteen years old through a young youth pastor — who is still one of my closest friends — named Joel Fritz. My life changed. Not only as I encountered Jesus but also through Joel's discipleship and the relationships I forged in that small church. Ever since that time in my life, I have spent significant time volunteering as well as serving on staff at local churches. My wife, Blake, and I have done missions work from Asia to South America and have seen the church in a form quite different than what we see and experience in the US. I've led worship, and I've been a graphic artist for different churches and musicians all over the country. I have a heart for Jesus and his church and share this passion with my good friend Shane Quick.
Now, Shane works with some of the biggest names in Christian music and — like me — has a heart to see the church championed and encouraged. He gets a mile-high view of the church often and has brought me along in seeing the people of God from a vantage point few get to see. Combined, he and I see a wide spectrum of the movement of God. From the small, struggling local body, to the international megachurch that influences millions of people, and everything in between, we've seen it.
But we are not what you would call the "old guard" of church proponents.
We met as young leaders in our twenties working on a conference in 2010 called Crowder's Fantastical Church Music Conference in Waco, Texas. It was packed with some amazing artists and speakers, including Louie Giglio, Matt Redman, Francis Chan, the David Crowder*Band, Hillsong London, Jars of Clay, Leeland, Gungor, Rob Bell, The Civil Wars, John Mark McMillan, and many more. Behind the scenes the conference was truly something special. Some of the world's most creative and influential leaders in the church, all in one place. We both experienced something that only someone like Crowder could pull together. It was an amazing variety of speakers and musicians that made a deep impression on me and Shane. We saw the beautiful and unexpected diversity of this amazing movement called the church.
After that, Shane and I went our separate ways. I continued to work at a church in Tucson, Arizona. I was also bi-vocational at the time and filled the rest of my salary at my dad's business doing manufacturing. I loved working with my dad and learned a ton, but it felt like it was a step away from the dreams God had placed in me. On top of that, my wife and I were expecting our second child. And just when I felt God was settling me in that place — just when I started to feel like the passion he had instilled in me was beginning to wane — my phone rang. It was Shane.
We began talking about a potential conference called OUTCRY. We talked for a couple of hours about what we would say at this conference. And the entire time we were talking, our focus was not on musicians or new trends but on the oldest movement we knew: the local church.
At the end of the conversation he said he had just started working with a group called Jesus Culture and that I should come out to LA to hang out and dream some more. And so the process of dreaming about OUTCRY began. Shane would call ... I would fly somewhere ... we would talk and dream ... then I would return home.
Call. Fly. Dream. Repeat.
The more we met, the more we began to see that we didn't carry the usual millennial narrative of wanting to see the church drastically change to look more like us. We didn't see a dying church. We didn't see a church struggling for relevance. We spoke from both a higher vantage point — the church from thirty-nine thousand feet — and in a close and personal way, discussing the pastors who had changed our lives. We didn't talk about what the church should or could be doing — we talked about the identity that the church carries and the impact it has on us. We felt reactionary against all of the judgment — external and internal — that we as young leaders were expected to carry.
This was the beginning of the message we rolled out with OUTCRY. There is still hope in the past, present, and future of the church. In the church, our best days are ahead.
But why doesn't it feel like it? Looking around, it's hard to find people with a hopeful outlook on the church or its future.
A SEASON OF CRITIQUE
All around us people are sharing the ills and imperfections of the church. We read viral blogs telling us how we are "missing it" with millennials or how we have become increasingly irrelevant in society. We read headlines about the demise of the church and how if we don't adapt to the changing tide of society, we will die. Not only do they say this, but they come prepared with polling data! Much of this data stems from a study by the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS), which noted several statistics about the church. It showed that from 1990 to 2009 people who self-identified as "Christian" fell from 86 to 76 percent. This prompted the infamous headline from Newsweek magazine that year titled "The End of Christian America." And the diagnosis from the media isn't slowing down.
There is still hope in the past, present, and future of the church. In the church, our best days are ahead.
CNN ran a headline on its website stating "Millennials leaving church in droves, study finds." In the article the author states, "It's not just millennials leaving the church. Whether married or single, rich or poor, young or old, living in the West or the Bible Belt, almost every demographic group has seen a significant drop in people who call themselves Christians, Pew found." That Pew study showed that between 2007 and 2014, self-described Evangelical Christians fell in the US by 0.9 percent while people who described their religious identity as "Unaffiliated" rose by 6.7 percent. Recently, the Huffington Post introduced an article on Christianity by saying, "The numbers may vary but the trend line is consistent: The Christian church is in decline. From church attendance to those who identify as Christian, all numbers are heading south."
All numbers are heading south.
Like a tidal wave of public opinion, the narrative of a failing church is growing stronger. All around us, the data shows a struggling, dying church. To people outside the church, there seem to be a faithful few hanging on to a dying movement. A group of out of touch, stuck in the past, fuddy-duddies sitting in uncomfortable pews, drinking bad coffee, and totally ignoring an inevitable demise!
That may be a bit dramatic. But it isn't that far off from the prevailing view of the church.
And I wish I could say this is just an outsider's perspective. Unfortunately it's not. In fact, a lot from the critique we see comes from inside the church.
Recently there have been many viral blogs hitting social media about all the problems with the church. We hear advice from well-meaning (I assume) Christians on how to better reach millennials, or what we really need to do to accurately follow the teachings of Jesus. Loads of unsolicited advice for those of us remaining in our local church. We have influential pastors telling us to be more relevant to society. Whether talking theology, politics, or style of service, we know how to rip each other apart for all the world to see. We casually throw out lines like, "The church has largely failed at ..." or "The church is terrible at ..." Just fill in the blank.
But is all of this critique bad? Shouldn't we confront areas in which the church needs to improve? After all, how can we get better at what we do if we don't have those inside critiquing? I mean, at some point we need to confront some of this stuff, right?
I couldn't agree more.
But at what point does the critique cease to be productive? Does painting each other in broad strokes produce the fruit we think it does?
This generation tends to believe that our perception is reality. If we feel like the church is dying and all the stats show that it's in decline, then it must be true.
But is it? Is perception reality when it comes to the church?
As a defense against the critique, many Christians have opted to leave the flawed institution of the church and pursue God on their own terms. Without all the difficulty and inconvenience of working with different generations, political beliefs, or different views on theology. Many have decided to fashion their own, custom church life.
I'LL JUST STAY HOME
Early in my experience as a worship leader I had a pastor who saw through my immaturity and inexperience and actually hired me. He was the first leader to believe in me. My wife and I committed to him and his ministry and quickly found ourselves in a community of people we loved. We started a small group of young married couples, genuinely living our lives together and seeing God move in awesome ways.
But a few years in we were blindsided by the announcement that the leader — whom I loved and looked up to — was moving to another town. He was dealing with a lot of circumstances outside of his control, and I didn't blame him at all. I was and am still so impacted by his influence in my life. But once he left, we quickly found ourselves holding the pieces of a local church in crisis.
We had about one hundred people stick it out as we began to look for a pastor. I was leading worship every week, leading our small group, and preaching occasionally. My wife and I were pouring our hearts and souls into the place week after week. Month after month.
Then one day we found him. A young preacher with a gift for leading and preaching. We liked him, he liked us, and he seemed to fit the bill. After prayerfully walking through the interview process, we hired him. But soon I realized that this guy was a motivated, driven leader coming into our church fresh and ready to go. I was not. I am a very driven leader, but by this point I had nearly driven myself into the ground. And a few heated meetings later, I knew I had to move on.
It was heartbreaking.
As we stepped away from our community, we felt isolated and lonely. Burned. I felt the refreshment of just going to a coffee shop on Sunday and not having to lead anyone. No drama. No bad church coffee. I felt free.
We still got together with our small group. We had some worship and taught each other. Many of them also left the church by this point and were feeling quite satisfied doing a small group but not attending a church. We were in community. Worshipping God. We were serving the neighborhood. I mean, what were we missing by not attending a church?
But Blake and I knew we were missing something.
I genuinely have nothing against the house church movement. On the contrary, I love it. It is a beautiful thing to live in community with others in such a deep way. In a home is where genuine bonds are forged and where we get the opportunity to exercise the gifts God has given us. House churches are a meaningful and beautiful expression of the church.
But there is also something to be said for a large, diverse group of people coming together every week. A group of different people, in the same city, of all generations, trying their best to follow Jesus and love one another. There is a growth and connection that comes when the people of God commit to one another. Through all of the messiness and imperfection.
The years since, my wife and I have had different opportunities that moved us to different churches. We have been led to new churches and new seasons of life. But through it all, we always committed to pouring our heart into the local church. Committing to the local body in front of us no matter how big or small it was.
Committing to a local church changed my life. It wasn't the perfection of those around me, or the same-mindedness that produced fruit. It wasn't the style of worship or the quality of the preaching. It was working with those who thought differently than myself. Those from different generations and social backgrounds. As it says in Proverbs, it was the "iron sharpens iron" situations that brought lasting impact to my life.
And when you commit, there are often times of tension. Times that don't feel significant or particularly spiritual. But the tensions we so often run away from can be the very thing God uses to bring the maturity and opportunity we are looking for.
THE CHURCHLESS CHRISTIAN
Our society leans toward the idea that self-sufficiency is greater than relying on others. The idea that we don't really need others to live a full life. We consider the difficulties and inconvenience of community something that gets in the way of a happy and fulfilled life. Often we are encouraged to remove ourselves from difficult or frustrating relationships to maintain a happy, stress-free life. And this idea has seeped into the church.
There is no shortage of books or articles talking about the burned-out Christians who leave the institution of the church and blaze out on their own to follow Jesus in the way that seems best to them. They seek an environment free from all of the distractions and inconveniences of interacting with all of the frustrating people in their local church.
So, is staying at home the way to combat the perception of the church? Is simply pouring into your personal relationship with God and leaving the difficult situations at a local church the answer?
A personal walk with God is very important and biblical. God often speaks to individuals and guides them on unique paths with unique gifts. But God is also a corporate God, and he speaks to the group as well as the individual.
Most of the letters of the New Testament were written to churches — communities that had their own struggles and issues to work through. They were diverse groups of people that needed to learn corporately as well as individually during the time before printed, canonized Scripture. They had no Bibles for their personal quiet times or small Bible studies. On top of that, most of the people were illiterate, so they relied on a select few to read letters from Paul or John. Every step of the church was taken with deep reliance on one another. The idea that they were self -sufficient in their walk with God would have been alien at best.
We have more resources available to us than any other time in history. We have Bibles, books, magazines, podcasts, blogs, and more. We can fashion our own church experience using the music we like and the theologies we agree with. And if we hear anything we don't like, we can just turn it off!
But ultimately God created the church for a purpose. He created community for a purpose. From the story of Adam and Eve we see that we were created to be in community with others. No amount of blogs or podcasts can produce the same impact on your life as committing to your local church.
That's why OUTCRY began. We want you who are involved in the church to commit to your local congregation. The here and now. We want you to embrace the church and community in front of you. To pour yourself into the friends and leaders that know your name. To commit to the local expression of the global movement of Jesus, knowing that it is imperfect. But it's this local commitment that — when multiplied — transforms the world around us.
UNITED AND DIVERSE
There are many ways the Bible talks about the church. It's full of beautiful allegory on this subject. I love how Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 refers to the church as the "body of Christ" (v. 27). You cannot get closer to someone than their body. It shows the oneness and special connection Jesus has with his church is unlike any other connection. There is also diversity in the body — a diversity that is meant to remain, not to be flattened or blended.
I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different -but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it. (1 Corinthians 12:14–18 MSG)
In most scenarios, the larger an organization gets the less significant you become. You sit in increasingly smaller cubicles. You receive more and more specific job descriptions. Their reliance on you shrinks and, in turn, your passion for the job decreases. It is easy to feel like another face in the crowd. Another easily replaced cog in the machine. But this isn't so in Jesus's kingdom.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Outcry by Ryan Romeo. Copyright © 2016 Ryan Romeo. Excerpted by permission of Worthy Publishing Group.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Foreword by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes,Introduction: In a Single Moment,
1. Does the Church Still Matter? The Roots * Shane Quick (OUTCRY),
2. Can We Be Proud of the Church? Born at Church * David Crowder,
3. His Identity for Us Community Is Kingdom * Jenn Johnson (Bethel Music),
4. She Is Not Perfect Walking by Our Side * Chris Quilala (Jesus Culture),
5. It Will Get Messy The Wrong Question * Pat Barrett (Housefires),
6. One Movement The People * Chris Llewellyn (Rend Collective),
7. Our Story,
Notes,