Re-Think Tank?
A think tank is when you get a bunch of people together, people who are supposed to be smart about the thing you are working on, and they come up with all kinds of ideas about the thing you are working on. In the end you collect their data, organize it into a plan of action, and then go for it.
So what's a re-think tank? A re-think tank is when you come to a point where you realize that what you have been doing with your plan might not be working anymore. You need to stop and re-evaluate everything from the ground up. Everything. Sometimes things can be taken for granted, especially in the church. When that happens, when no one knows why you do what you do, it's time to stop and re-think everything.
What does the Lord want us to do? How do we best build up the people we have now? Who has the Lord put in front of us to reach out to? Why do we worship in the style we do? Why do we teach the Bible in the style we do? Why do we have the ministries/events we have? Why do we do communion this way? Why do we call the things we do by the names we do? Should we stop doing certain things that we have always done? Should we start doing things we have never done? This whole process should all start and end with the same question: what does the Lord want us to do?
When it comes time to re-think things an important distinction has to be made. That distinction is the difference between content and style. Consider the following illustration. Here is some content;
The cow jumped over the moon.
In that example no style was applied to the content. Here is the same content, but bold.
The cow jumped over the moon.
Here it is again underlined.
The cow jumped over the moon.
In these examples the content doesn't change but the style does. Sometimes you want things to be bold. Other times you want them to be underlined. You use the style that works best in order to communicate the content, but neither style is inherently better than the other. The point and focus should always be the content.
Let's transfer this into the church scene. Let's try music. In my grandparent's generation worshipping with hymns was the thing. In my parents generation, applying the contemporary style of music to worship was the thing. A big hassle was raised because while the content of the hymns was (for the most part) very Biblical, the style of the music that came with the hymns became considered to be sacred or holy. Style got mixed up with the content. The content of a hymn like "Amazing Grace" and the content of a worship song like "How Great is Our God" are equally heartfelt and honoring to the Lord. But the styles are very different. One style works best in one situation, the other style works best in another.
This principle of content and style isn't just about music. It's about everything. The style should serve the content. Content should always come from God's word. Not just the text itself, but the principles behind the text, all of the "how to's" we find in scripture, the Spirit of the word and not just the letter. Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us that believers need to meet together regularly in order to encourage and help one another. That's the content. The style is another matter. The way that happens in America won't work in China, so the style of gathering together will be different. Worship at an all-white church in an agricultural community will be totally different from worship at an all black church in Harlem. Yet God is just as blessed by both.
This is where we find ourselves at The Exchange. It's time to re-think everything. What it means to be a church. What it means to be a community. What communion is all about. What prayer is and it's relationship to the power of the Holy Spirit. What the word of God is and it's role in our lives and worldview. What discipleship is and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It's all up for re-thinking. Care to grow with us?
Below are some documents we hope you find through provoking that discuss some things we have been re-thinking. Click on the title for a PDF text file. Click on "hear" and "see" for our audio and video studies where available.
A think tank is when you get a bunch of people together, people who are supposed to be smart about the thing you are working on, and they come up with all kinds of ideas about the thing you are working on. In the end you collect their data, organize it into a plan of action, and then go for it.
So what's a re-think tank? A re-think tank is when you come to a point where you realize that what you have been doing with your plan might not be working anymore. You need to stop and re-evaluate everything from the ground up. Everything. Sometimes things can be taken for granted, especially in the church. When that happens, when no one knows why you do what you do, it's time to stop and re-think everything.
What does the Lord want us to do? How do we best build up the people we have now? Who has the Lord put in front of us to reach out to? Why do we worship in the style we do? Why do we teach the Bible in the style we do? Why do we have the ministries/events we have? Why do we do communion this way? Why do we call the things we do by the names we do? Should we stop doing certain things that we have always done? Should we start doing things we have never done? This whole process should all start and end with the same question: what does the Lord want us to do?
When it comes time to re-think things an important distinction has to be made. That distinction is the difference between content and style. Consider the following illustration. Here is some content;
The cow jumped over the moon.
In that example no style was applied to the content. Here is the same content, but bold.
The cow jumped over the moon.
Here it is again underlined.
The cow jumped over the moon.
In these examples the content doesn't change but the style does. Sometimes you want things to be bold. Other times you want them to be underlined. You use the style that works best in order to communicate the content, but neither style is inherently better than the other. The point and focus should always be the content.
Let's transfer this into the church scene. Let's try music. In my grandparent's generation worshipping with hymns was the thing. In my parents generation, applying the contemporary style of music to worship was the thing. A big hassle was raised because while the content of the hymns was (for the most part) very Biblical, the style of the music that came with the hymns became considered to be sacred or holy. Style got mixed up with the content. The content of a hymn like "Amazing Grace" and the content of a worship song like "How Great is Our God" are equally heartfelt and honoring to the Lord. But the styles are very different. One style works best in one situation, the other style works best in another.
This principle of content and style isn't just about music. It's about everything. The style should serve the content. Content should always come from God's word. Not just the text itself, but the principles behind the text, all of the "how to's" we find in scripture, the Spirit of the word and not just the letter. Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us that believers need to meet together regularly in order to encourage and help one another. That's the content. The style is another matter. The way that happens in America won't work in China, so the style of gathering together will be different. Worship at an all-white church in an agricultural community will be totally different from worship at an all black church in Harlem. Yet God is just as blessed by both.
This is where we find ourselves at The Exchange. It's time to re-think everything. What it means to be a church. What it means to be a community. What communion is all about. What prayer is and it's relationship to the power of the Holy Spirit. What the word of God is and it's role in our lives and worldview. What discipleship is and what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. It's all up for re-thinking. Care to grow with us?
Below are some documents we hope you find through provoking that discuss some things we have been re-thinking. Click on the title for a PDF text file. Click on "hear" and "see" for our audio and video studies where available.
(also covered in audio/video of "What is a disciple?")