"Direct Competition"

I posted today on a discussion board asking about the area of Charleston, SC. I was looking for some advice on an area of Charleston that would be more conducive to the style of church that I would be interested in creating. I posted something about relevant music, media and teaching and how this would be an important part of the church.  I just wanted to let people know the type of person that would come to the church I am creating in my brain.

Within a few hours I received a post that stated:

"You should come visit (big church in the area) before you take the plunge. They would be "direct competition"...(This church) has a huge following in the area, with satellite "campuses" all over the Charleston area."

I began to think about what this poster was saying.  "Direct competition".  Seriously?  It reminded me of my favorite coffee place where I live now.  They are independent, eclectic, less about profit and more about creating a place in their community for people to connect and relax.  As soon as my little coffee place started seeing success a Starbuck's franchise popped up right across the street.  That is "direct competition".  It's a part of living in a free market economy.  I'm not happy about it but I get it.  The job of the big corporation is to grab market share at all costs.  At the end of the day all the corporation cares about is how much money its stockholders stuff in their pockets.

But a church?  I don't think this is the way Jesus intended churches to view each other...as "direct competition".  I don't care that there is a bigger church down the road with expensive lights and a nice sound system.  It doesn't bother me.  When I look at demographics from the Charleston area I notice one obvious fact: No matter how many churches there are, there aren't enough!!!!  50% of the people in the area don't even claim a church, not including those who do and only go to church every once in a long while.

Churches were not ever intended to be in competition with each other.  But when you grow up in a society that teaches you free market economics before it teaches you how to tie your shoes that is what you get.  Competition.  Even in the church.  You see it all the time when a church subtly says how much better they are than the other churches.  Or when your pastor scoffs when you mention that little storefront church down the street.  

I didn't sign up to participate in free market churchonomics.  I didn't dedicate my life to serving God just to create a "one-stop shop" where every Christian can get all of their needs met in an hour a week.  Churches should be diverse in who they are reaching.  They should find their niche and embrace it.  I want to work together with the churches in my area.  I want everyone in my community to know that The Church is bigger than any church.  I want them to know that God gets glory from all of his followers not just the ones who go to the nicer or bigger or hipper churches.  Biblically speaking, Christianity was started as a movement of people who weren't rich, or accepted, or up and coming in the world.  Isn't it about time the church reflected that a little?

God help me be a facilitator of cooperation and support.  Please heal the church from its infatuation with our free market economy.  Protect me from selfishness and small mindedness when it comes to how churches should operate.  You are worthy of glory and honor from all of Your creation.

In the beginning...

In college my friends and I would get together and talk about our experiences growing up in church.  This wasn't too uncommon since we were all going to a Christian school and were there to learn how to work in a church.  We would talk about how the music at our church stunk or how the preacher was really boring or how bug of hypocrites the congregants were.  We were in school because we were excited to make a difference in the world and we thought the church was a good place to do that. We thought the "idea" of church was good...you know, a place where all people are accepted and people pitch in to help each other out, all the while doing it for someone bigger than themselves (God).  This was a beautiful idea.  This was the idea that Jesus himself talked about in the Holy Scriptures.

The problem was that the churches we knew weren't anything like what we thought Jesus was talking about.  Sure, my church had some things right and some things wrong, just like all the rest.  But at the gut level something just wasn't right.  So we began to dream about what it would be like to start a church together.  This would be a place where people were authentic about their lives.  A place were people loved each other no matter their background or who they were friends with.  A place were the poor weren't looked down on because they didn't have "enough" and the rich weren't outcast because they had "too much".  People would show up on a regular basis longing to be more connected to their Creator.  Of course, the music and teaching would be good because no body wants to have to pretend to have a good time while they are there.  All of these ideas (and so many more) were chatted about in a smelly dorm room on a small hill in Cincinnati.

Those ideas laid there in the room next to unwashed clothes and bags of Doritos for months.  The sad thing is they never made it off that floor.  We all had good intentions but as we talked we knew that the world doesn't work that way.  Everyone knows that there aren't a lot of independently wealthy fat cats looking to throw money at a church run by five oversleeping, unprepared and undereducated college guys.  When it was time most of us left college, bottled up our dreams and looked for steady jobs in established churches.

I couldn't let those dreams end up at the bottom of the clothes hamper never to be seen again. Even though its been 9 years since those conversations, somehow I manage to dream those same dreams on a weekly basis.  I've worked at 3 established churches since those days and for some reason I still have those ideas in my head.  So right now I am letting them out.  

Over the next few months I am going to boldly lay out how I think God wants to use me to plant a new church in downtown Charleston, SC.  I have lots to say and  I am sure this post leads to tons of questions both from you and from me.  Many of these questions I don't have the answers for....yet.  I won't pretend to have a fully developed plan or even a undeveloped plan. That is what this blog will become over the next few months.  

Here's what I do know: God is calling me and maybe I've been ignoring it for a while.  Or maybe I have followed the exact path He has laid before me.  Either way, I know I am on the edge of something huge.  So starting now I am pulling my dreams off the dorm room floor and asking God to show me what He wants.