Is ‘Elishacare’ a good middle ground model?

 

“Springs will burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert…and a main road will go through that once deserted land, it will be named “The Holy Highway” (Isa: 35)

 

“It’s my opinion that most people are only (faltering) steps away from stumbling into the kingdom; so close it brushes up against there soul, but these same people are a world away from stepping inside any Church, and would see these two as mutually exclusive, I would also argue that these faltering steps are usually made in the middle ground (look no further than your own life!) This by the way was where Jesus birthed his ministry…he proclaimed it inside the synagogue, but lived it outside the temple!” (B Garbett ‘Pseudo Church & Plastic Faith: 2008’).

 

 

 

Having spoken to many hundreds of ministers from all denominations, and having spoken at dozens of Churches, it is my opinion that Churches have failed to address the vast chasm called the middle ground, this middle ground is the sacred wilderness between the Church and the lives of those who are looking for Jesus.

 

Programs that fail to take the church into this ‘great divide’ should be abolished. No longer is the attractional model or the seeker sensitive model a viable option, it may have worked in the US but has largely failed here. I think we need to be reminded how incredible difficult it is for pre-Christians to step foot inside our Churches it takes an act of pure courage, and if you happen to be from the wrong side of the socio-economic divide this step is near impossible, if you doubt this statement I challenge you to go and visit a Mosque, temple or Synagogue next weekend.

 

This great divide, this forsaken middle ground resembles a ghost town, its is rarely inhabited by Christians, sometimes they are seen scurrying across this great divide looking for the safety of there own Church. No longer will it do to put signs out the front of Churches saying ‘all are welcome’ (when our actions fail to support this ideal) we do this of course because we know that people feel anything but welcome. 

 

Like the children of Israel we need to pull up tent and follow the cloud, this same cloud is likely to take us to the most needy centers in our neighborhood, we need to forget about programs and our obsession with the same, we need to toss ‘the (purpose) program driven church’ in the bin, forget about buildings because these are the worst symbols of the ghettorization of Christianity, we need to embrace the spirits love of organized chaos. Forget about praying for ‘souls’ sadly, this is largely a waste of time, if this sounds disrespectful, I can site countless examples of praying Churches that are also dying Churches.

 

Make it our mission to find a few people who are willing to do something…anything! Now this will be the real challenge.

 

The only thing that is needed is that people understand or at least are willing to understand the ‘centered set’ and forget about the ‘bounded set’ if your not sure what the ‘bounded set’ is, its more than likely what your Church has being doing since it started sadly, it hasn’t worked nor is it likely.

 

To use a metaphor of sorts, if you have a large grazing property filled with cattle, you set up the watering hole in the middle of the property, in due course the cattle will know where the ‘watering’ hole’ is and will live in close proximity to it. It doesn’t matter how big this watering hole is, if it’s in your Church it’s in the wrong place, this watering hole needs to be taken and placed where communities live and breathe.

 

If the farmer fails to provide a watering hole (most Churches) his only other option (bounded set) is to build strong fences to keep the cattle in. The church has mastered the latter model and worked it to perfection and largely by default has kept out all and sundry in particular those that need this message the most…the ‘undesirables’

 

The only qualification needed, is to have people who understand the principle that this life of Jesus, was always meant to be caught (center set), and never, taught, (bounded set) nothing else is required…. no nothing!! So put away those books on ‘how to build s middle ground church in 10years’

 

This does not mean giving out gospel tracts, this does not mean quoting John 3:16 ‘parrot fashion’…God forbid! It is not witnessing (which usually creates an even greater divide!) it is letting Christian people loose who are willing to take chances, empowering them to love and to liberate others (hopefully dropping all remnants of the christianese language!). The goal is a ‘seek and search’ mission, focusing where God is working in the lives of others, and then tactfully and cautiously with wisdom pointing this out to others, remembering that God is always working in the lives of others, we simple need to find that point. Our role is simple, we are observers and whistle blowers to Gods presence in peoples lives, now this requires great wisdom, we are not to use a ‘megaphone’ but a ‘whisper’ this can only be done at the right time, and this right is always earned, which will mean walking with the person for a while, and then with great caution and wisdom, asking the spirits help we respectfully point out (like a good whistleblower) where God already is! Not where he’s not! This for many would mean the Church.

 

The old model of ‘Jesus up there and somehow having to drag him down by force into the lives of others’ is well and truly obsolete. Rather than inviting Jesus in! We should point out where he has been locked up in people’s lives already, and then encourage people to let him out! Or maybe a better phrase might be to show people how to let him ‘loose’ and then watch the beautiful organized chaos that follows, knowing always that this is the work of the spirit, never my work or your work, and so we stand back gentle leading and guiding, now this in itself will be very hard for some and easier for others, this is not the place for control freaks its best for them to go back to church. By the way when we understand this dynamic it is incredible liberating, why? Because we also become spectators to what God is doing, never the controller, this unfortunately is why it is so hard for so many Churches. This is the new post-modern paradigm of ministry.

 

This doesn’t require any mission or vision statements, doesn’t require endless church board meetings, it requires little prayer (what good has this done? when was the last real convert!!). It simple requires action, and this is the real problem we have never been given permission to go out. Preferring of course to have a six month ‘soul winning’ course or just resorting once again to the safe religiosity of doing Church its ends up being ‘business as usual’ when will someone have the courage to point out that your prayer meetings are largely ineffective.

 

The liquid Church was meant to leak out, not be sealed inside some vacuum, staring at the passing world through the glass bowl windows of the church.

 

 

It’s my opinion that Elishacare has been the trailblazer in this regard and will continue to be. I see great parallels with the ministry of Jesus and Elishacare, he lived in the middle ground and visited the synagogue not the others way around, he understood the great divide, John the Baptist lived and breathed and made his permanent home in the great divide. Geoff Marsh has taken this role and in the process (as one would expect) has been largely rejected. like a voice in the wilderness this ministry calls out to others to follow, he has preferred to speak into the lives of those who have been rejected by the Church! How? Mainly through indifference, his own denomination has largely ignored him; they have preferred the comfort of the fishbowl with its warm holy water, one that largely produces sanctified apathy and indifference.

 

But then this denomination (in some qaurters) is the by product of modernity, its come to optimize the worst elements of the same, obsession with programs, the obsession with measurable outcomes, the secularization and the creation of a culture that one can find in the corridors of ‘Collins St’ it has significant atheistic elements, even though it sounds and looks spiritual (with its vision statements) the outcomes are just the opposite, it ends up driving people underground or away, these programs always demand black and white absolutes, the need to have boxes that can be ticked. Look around our cities! This preoccupation has lead to the demise of many Churches; thankfully this model is finally dying, and the only thing that remains are the last rites.