CCM's: Breaking Down Church Walls

Believe it or not there was a time when churches were at the center of community living. They were valued for their modesty and communal function. Churches had a more organic quality that made them accessible even to the common passer by. It was almost certain that a community with such a church was a tight knit community. Be that for better or for worse, the point is that modern day churches for some reason don’t have the same communal qualities and fail to appeal to the personal spirit. Somewhere along the line they became very introverted and impersonal. A wall was built up around them. How it got to that point, I don’t know exactly.

This past week I had several conversations with people who have made the same observation. We didn’t spend a lot of time talking about how it happened but one thing was pretty clear, we were frustrated and disappointed with it. One person, a good friend of mine and a respectable associate pastor, talked about her challenges in trying to create a sense of community and discipleship within her traditional church setting. She talked about how she encountered resistance among church clergy when it came to ideas that would help people build relationships and find personal meaning in their faith walk.

There could have been several factors contributing to the resistance (perhaps one being that she was a woman minister…oh no!) but I think that’s just a symptom of a deeper problem- the impersonal attitudes of today’s traditional churches. The problem is that the church leaders should have immediately recognized the value of a “personalized” ministry regardless of who suggested it and should have done everything in their power to embrace and support it. Personal ministry should be the number one priority of any church. It shouldn’t just be an idea or a suggestion it should be a principle on which every Christian church operates. But when churches are introverted and impersonal, personal ministry becomes just another good idea that’ll only see the light of day if a church department happens to find it useful. The value of personal ministry is just not easily recognized.

So what needs to happen? These church walls need to come down. But before you go and commit the heretical act of literally bulldozing the walls of your church just to get a glimpse of the outside world, remember it’s just a metaphor! (But you would definitely get people’s attention that way, hmm.) But in all seriousness, to bring down the walls that make a church seem impersonal, people have to make an effort to engage others on a personal level. They can start within their own spheres of influence. Mentoring and discipleship training can also help provide people with tools for building relationships with others. Talk to your church leaders about mentoring opportunities. Ministries like Tikva (read previous post) can also inspire ideas for how to live out Christianity where people live their lives. If you encounter resistance then build friendships with people in your church who might share your same ideas. They key is not to give up or give in. CCM’s, its time to bring down the church walls! Nicely please!

First Official CCM Serves Up Tik-Va

CCM’s are very rare at this point. So you can imagine my excitement when I learned about what one Pastor was doing to create a Christian culture in his community. I just had to visit with him and learn more about his ministry. So here’s the first official real life example of a CCM!

With nothing but a humble paycheck and a steady faith Pastor Mike Cauley and his family moved to the small town of Keller, Texas to start a church in hopes of building relationships and creating a meaningful Christian community.

Cauley is the pastor of a small Seventh - day Adventist church plant in Keller. But this church plant is unlike any church you might imagine. Pastor Mike and his small church family literally purchased a little house in Keller’s cultural district and named the place Tik-Va, the Hebrew word for hope. And in addition to their delicious biscotti snacks and exotic coffee drinks, hope is exactly what they’ve been serving up.

Thanks to Nadene, a volunteer church member and a great hostess (who gave me a refreshing glass of orange juice during my visit!), Tik-Va is open on weekdays and provides a very relaxing atmosphere perfect for anyone who just needs to break away from the toils of life for a while. Weather someone needs a quiet place to gather their thoughts, or needs to express themselves through art or music, or just needs someone to listen, Tik-Va is where they go. As a matter of fact, during my visit a couple of people stopped by just to chat with Pastor Mike and Nadene about how their day was going. That’s when I realized what this place was really about. It was about real people, with real lives, who wanted to know that someone cared. I can only imagine the kind of opportunities there are to share faith and love here!

Although this approach to church and ministry is certainly non-traditional and outside the box of what most people would even consider being “church” (which we like!), while others may call down the hell fire Pastor Mike and his church family firmly believe that they’re simply doing what Christ did, live with everyday people and show them the love of God. Pastor Mike captures the true spirit of the Christian Culture Maker.

Look out for a full-featured podcast interview with Pastor Mike.

CCM Podcast episode 1: 3 Ways to Engage the Post-Modern Culture

Jesse Sias and Pastor Tyler Bower talk about the challenges of engaging the post-modern culture from a traditional church mindset and 3 ways to begin to break down the barriers between traditional church culture and post-modernism.

Click on title to hear podcast.

CCM's: The Flip Side of the Culture Maker

The first time I came across the term “culture maker” was on the cover of the September 2008 issue of Christianity Today. The cover story was titled “The New Culture Makers” followed by this description, “From inner-city little leagues to modern art initiatives, more and more Christians are making something of the world.”

Andy Crouch is a Christian writer and author of the book “Culture Making: Recovering our creative calling.” In his book Crouch encourages Christians to engage their cultural surroundings by creating cultural goods. In other words Christians are called to use their resources and creative abilities to impact our broken culture in a positive way and make a difference in the world.

Crouch’s approach to the non-Christian culture made me think about the flip side of things. What about the Christian culture? Christian culture is just as vulnerable to decay as the world’s culture. Spiritualism, ecumenism, humanism, and other cultural “isms” can do a lot to break up Bible-based Christianity. Unfortunately the decay of Christian culture goes largely undetected. Much of the reason is the readily accepted belief that all Christianity is fundamentally the same and that Biblical differences are really minor and don’t matter.

But what if they do? What if those differences end up contributing to an overall weaker and less effective form of Christianity? I believe this would grieve the very heart of Christ who laid all on the line to give us an unblemished and uncompromised picture of the nature of God and His kingdom.

I love Crouch’s approach to the non-Christian culture because it passionately embraces one of the fundamental principles of Christianity- to reach out and make a difference. Just like a culture maker is someone who makes something of the world, a CCM is someone who looks out for the world around them but most importantly the spiritual kingdom they belong to.

Christian Culture Makers Keep It Simple

If one were to go down into one of the basement rooms at Argonne National Laboratory, one of America’s major atomic research and development centers, one would find a glass case next to an electronic computer which bears the inscription, “In case of emergency, break glass.” Inside the glass case is an abacus. That’s right, this most primitive and simple calculating instrument reminds the scientists that not even the most advanced scientific instruments can handle every emergency of life.

The same can be said about ministry. Even the most "advanced" outreach programs cannot successfully handle every aspect of creating a Christian culture. In and of themselves they are not culture makers nor do they possess the ability to influence. That’s why CCM’s (Christian Culture Makers) don’t burden themselves with creating outreach programs. CCM’s rely on the most simple and natural method for creating culture- building relationships.

Relationship-building is as primitive and simple as the abacus when it comes to cultivating Christian culture. The more CCM’s engage people and genuinely share their Christian experience with them the bigger their sphere of influence becomes. CCM’s influence others by their true and honest efforts to serve in even the smallest matters with natural simplicity.

So how does a CCM begin practicing simplicity? A CCM begins where they’re planted. Starting small is the key to overcoming the paralyzing fear of Christian culture making. CCM’s start with their “local.” The local is simply your sphere or circle of influence. It’s the spot that only you can fill. It’s not governed by the monolithic social forces or a handful of people in power; it’s the place where you’re free to exercise your unique influence and make a difference.

Another part of a CCM’s success is their ability to recognize and acknowledge other Christian people who use their Christian lifestyle to participate in the culture around them. Typically, church members recognize other church members for fulfilling their church roles but CCM’s take it a step further and celebrate the roles of church members outside of church walls.

Christians who return to the basics of ministry and outreach will discover that simplicity opens the doors to people’s hearts and generates the greatest results in cultivating a Christ-centered Christian culture.

Culture Making Only As Good As Your Partnerships

No. I'm not part of a group that's advocating for an "Idiot Free America." Although the thought of living in an idiot-free culture does have its perks, how boring is that! In any case, the message hits on an important ingredient for creating culture; partnerships.

I used to think of ministry solely as an act of service to others. Whether it was ignorance or the appeal of the rugged individualistic nature of the lone star hero who single handedly saves the day, whatever the reason may have been, I had never thought of ministry in terms of partnerships.

Over time I’ve learned that ministry is also about creating partnerships. I've been blessed to have several people in my life who I consider partners in cultivating ministry. In turn I wanted to share that knowledge with others which is why I've started mentoring.

The more successful you want your ministry to be, the more successful partnerships you need to create. If you’re out to create and cultivate a certain culture you’re going to have to surround yourself with people who can help you till the ground. This is especially true if you’re trying to create a new culture in an environment where culture shifts are looked upon with skepticism or rejection.

In addition to helping prepare the way, creating partnerships also helps make ministry more meaningful. There’s plenty to learn from the people around you and the more tools and insight you can acquire from, them the greater impact your ministry can have and the deeper your culture can take root.

So where do you start looking for potential partnerships? Start at your own church. There are plenty of qualified and experienced people who are dying to sit you down for 8 hours a day if they could and fill your head with delicious ideas. Ok, maybe that doesn’t sound very appealing, in fact is sounds a little creepy.

In any case, look for those people in your church who have successful ministries and have created a culture around those ministries. If you don’t know them personally find someone you know who can introduce you. Express your desire to learn from them and ask them to help you create a culture-making ministry for yourself. In time you’ll discover that your network will grow along with your opportunities. It may take some guts to do that at first but in the end it will be a rewarding and spiritually fulfilling experience.

Creating Culture Begins with Cultivating Experience

I recently started a mentoring program with a couple of friends called, The Christian Culture Maker. One of the first topics we covered was the importance of using one's own life experiences to reach out to others. Here's a couple of short stories that I think illustrate this point very well.

Catherine Rohr is a private-equity investor and Christian who after visiting a prison was impressed by the number of inmates that really knew God. This led her to start the Prison Entrepreneurship Program. Through this ministry inmates committed to leaving a life of crime behind have learned valuable business skills that have helped them rebuild their lives and strengthen their faith.

Makoto Fujimura, a renowned abstract artist and Christian, was inspired to create TriBeca Temporary, a space for local artists to create experimentally in order to restore wholeness following the terrorist attacks of September 11. He also launched an international arts movement to ‘re-humanize the world.’ His love for visual communication came from his childhood frustration of having to learn English.

Creating culture often begins with cultivating and nurturing one’s life experiences wherever there’s opportunity and need. Once those experiences take root in the lives of others then culture begins to flourish. There is a need in our world to have people with positive and spirit filled Christian experiences to cultivate those experiences in the lives of others. Culture makers usually make a difference because where they’ve been helps them determine where they’re going and who they’re reaching.

- Stories taken from Christianity Today, Sept 2008

What are the experiences in your life that you believe God can use to reach others?

Where might there be opportunities or needs for you to cultivate your Christian experiences in the lives of others?