The Church I Don’t Want To Pastor – Part 2

After reading THIS post by pastor Perry Noble, I got to thinking about the areas of our church (The Ridge) that are absolute, DO NOT FAIL AT THIS areas.  I crossed Perry’s post with our core values at the Ridge and broke it down to 6 areas.

To be honest, I don’t think there is a pastor in the world that would want to pastor a church that embraces these 6 things, but for me, I KNOW I wouldn’t want to pastor THAT church.  But it falls on me as the pastor and leader of the Ridge to make sure we don’t fall into these 3 traps.  If we do, let’s just broadcast what we really mean….

• We Stop Caring About Our Community – For the Ridge, we are called to serve others, NOT JUST THE PEOPLE WHO ATTEND OUR CHURCH. When Jesus healed others, he never asked to see a church membership card or their tithing statement.  Our call is to all God’s children, not just the “holy” ones.

• Serving Becomes Inconvenient – I recently heard a worship leader from another local church, who did not grow up in the church, say this when someone mentioned how they have a hard time getting others in the church to serve….”You mean some people in your church don’t serve?  I just thought that’s what you do when you become a Christ follower.”  If serving is viewed an inconvenient, I’m not sure you’re gonna like Jesus.

• “We Can’t Do That!” -  I don’t like to hear those words.  Especially when it comes to the church and the God that I serve.  God can do whatever He wants.  But we like to limit Him by never asking big or by expecting big.  The moment we stop asking and stepping out in faith as a church, is the moment we accept defeat.