Messy Church

“Everyone has hurts, habits, and hang-ups.” – Rick Warren

If the above statement is true (and it is), it means that every church is messy. I’ve heard the above statement used and abused. For some its a convenient cliche and used as false self-deprivation to give an appearanceĀ  that one relates to people in their struggles when the true motivation is to create a personal empire versus the Kingdom of God. For others, this is a part of their church’s DNA. Whether the principle is presented word for word (Everyone has hurts, habits, and hang-ups) or in like meaning but using other terminology like Cross Point Church does with their view that Everyone is Welcome, Nobody is Perfect, and Anything is Possible. I want this principle to be a core principle of our DNA at New Passion, not just words.

Sunday, we showed our last One Prayer message for 2010. It was on the Unstoppable Church by Scott Hodge. Scott focuses on the fact that if we are going to be an unstoppable church we must be willing to embrace the mess. Check the video out if you have 26 minutes and then think on the questions I presented on Sunday to our congregation:

How would you answer these questions?

  1. What do we (you) do with the messy and broken people that God leads our (your) way?
    1 (a). Are we afraid of the mess?
  2. Are you being honest about your messiness & brokenness?
    2 (a). Are you hiding behind a mask pretending like everything is okay, when it’s not?
  3. Are we a church of prayer?
    3 (a). Are we as individuals and as a church praying for each other? For the church & its leaders? For miracles

Join the Conversation…I’d love to know your thoughts!

What Lion Do You Need to Chase?

I absolutely loved this message by Craig Groeschel that we at New Passion opened our One Prayer series with this past Sunday. It’s called “Unstoppable Courage” and it hits home because I have some friends right now who are staring some Lions in the face and they are either going to have to decide to chase the Lion and kill it, or allow the Lion to destroy them. I pray they have their eyes opened to how big their God is: