Discipleship in Chunks

Chunk from the Goonies

With the advent of simulcasting, especially with Beth Moore and David Platt’s Secret Church, I am starting to notice a developing pattern in Christian discipleship.  I call it “Chunk Discipleship.”  Chunk in that it is event-oriented happening in a one-day, 5 to 6 hour chunk, instead of weekly meetings such as small group Bible study or Sunday School.

Chunk discipleship is not new by any means.  There are plenty of examples in church history where Christians gathered for long periods of uninterrupted time to study God’s word and be challenged in their obedience to Christ. 

In more recent days, it was called a “spiritual retreat” where an individual or a group would go away for a long weekend and communion together over the Word.  Out of this movement youth camp which was held for 5 days in the summer instead of 3 days over a weekend.

Before weekend retreats, you had “camp meetings” where folks would set up shop for a week or two out in a field somewhere with a tent and a picnic table.  They would have preaching services morning, noon, and night interspersed with prayer, meals, and games of horseshoes.  Even before those times, Christians would take 2-3 day pilgrimages out into the woods to experience silence and meditation seeking to hear the voice of God without distractions.

Chunk discipleship has its benefits such as focused attention, more exhaustive Bible study than can be accomplished in 1 hour setting, stretching into a particular topic which might otherwise be skipped because of its complexity, intensity of spirit and determined motivation to “get it done.”  You have to be serious to spend 6 hours on a Friday night or Saturday morning to delve deep into God’s word on topics like the Church, the Cross, Possession & Wealth, or the Old Testament.

I have only one concern about chunk discipleship.  Is the Christian only gaining knowledge of the Word?  Is it only a transmission of content?  Is it only intake from the Master-Teacher via simulcast or projection screen?  What about the necessary component in Christian discipleship of life transformation which comes through personal connection, accountability, and community?

Can I watch 6 hours of David Platt or Beth Moore and walk away the same because no one is calling me out, no one is walking alongside of me as an older brother or sister in Christ, no one is sharpening me as iron sharpens iron.  To grow don’t I need someone exhorting and redirecting me in my daily walk. 

Undoubtedly I will be more knowledgeable about a subject matter after my 6 hours of chunk discipleship, but will I be changed more into the image of Christ.

5 Things Millennial Pastors Despise about Church Administration

For the past 3 years, I have witnessed over 300 young pastors and church leaders, youth ministers and theology students walk across the stage to earn their diplomas at Campbellsville University.  They range in age from 22-32.  They are known as the Millennials (born between 1980-2000).  In many ways, they are changing the Christian church culture faster than any generation before them. 

As I have witnessed them, taught them and interacted with them, testing their views on the Bible, Christianity, and especially church leadership, I have found there are a few things they can’t stand.  In particular, there are 5 things they truly despise and they all revolve around church administration.

5 Things Millennial Pastors Despise in Church Administration

Adidos Mr. Robert's

1.  Robert’s Rules of Order and the dreaded church business meeting.  Many Millennial pastors and church leaders talk of church business meetings as the biggest waste of time, energy and effort in all of Christendom.  They don’t like the format and especially the lack of biblical and spiritual insight shown in following parliamentarian procedures.  Now to date, they’ve not offered much in the way of decision-making alternatives, but you can be assured they are never happy listening to a moderator entertaining a motion, calling for the first ballot or stopping the discussion to look something up in the constitution and by-laws. 

2.  Sitting on hordes of cash in church bank accounts.  The Millennial pastor is confronted daily with the need for social justice and the plight of the oppressed.  Their hearts ache for orphans, widows, the poor and neglected.  So when churches choose to stockpile hundreds of thousands of dollars in CDs and mutual funds, their heads explode.  Most Millennials despise significant debt AND significant surplus.  They believe if God has given them resources, they should be spent on kingdom purposes, not to pad accounts.

3.  Multi-million dollar facilities being used twice per week.  Let’s say you have a church in a major city or even in a rural town square that cost over 1 million dollars to build.  The Millennial pastor wants that building to be used 7-days a week.  Monday through Friday, morning, noon and night, people coming and going.  They want the building to be open to community groups, outside organizations, business luncheons, Christian schools and daycare.  This means higher utility bills and maintenance cost, but the Millennial pastor can not stomach having a huge facility and only turning it ”on” Wednesday night and Sunday morning. 

4.  Leadership boards of any kind, especially elder boards, deacon boards and trustee boards.  This dynamic is interesting because in the non-profit world and in secular business, a leadership board is quite natural and viewed as a necessary leadership structure promoting accountability and integrity. But younger Millennial pastors and church leaders are very anxious about the word “board.”  They prefer terminology like a body, team, or community.  In their minds, people get abused by “boards,” especially pastors and their families so they usually steer clear of them.

5.  Finally, Millennial pastors despise institutionalism for the sake of the institution.  When Millennials get a hint that the church has become overly institutional, meaning leaders on the various boards and committees are working only to support and propagate the institution to the neglect of the community, the lost, the prostitute, the addict or any collection of outcast, they become viciously irate.  They want nothing to do with country club Christianity or members-only gatherings.  They want to know they are serving and growing God’s kingdom, not a singular institution that happens to have the name Church on the sign.

Things are never going to be the same again in Church Admin.  Who knows, that might be the best thing for us all.