Have You Met Chuck? He Knows Church

Have you been new in a church?  Maybe it was the first time you'd been in a church.  You wanted to see what all the fuss was about.  The thing that was most confusing to me was all the special terms that were used.  That's where Chuck comes in.  He knows church, and he's here to help us out.

I love Chuck because he explains things with humor.  He does it in a way that's simple without being simplistic if you know what I mean.

And, I'll clue you in on something.  Those long weird words that you might hear in church?  You may not be the only one who's confused.  There may be a bunch of long time church goers around you pretending to know what they mean.

If you see any of them blow their cover, let them know about Chuck.

How about you.  Have you heard a term or reference in church that you've wondered about?  Share them in the comments below.  Narthex was always a strange one for me.  Soon, Chuck will tell us all about it right here.

Puncturing Our Presumptions

Following is a short presentation that I gave at Pocatello First United Methodist Church's Leadership Summit today.

A day or two ago, when Pastor Craig was asking me what the title of this talk should be, I told him that I had many talents, but coming up with titles was not one of them. But when I saw Puncturing our Presumptions, I knew that it was perfect. Because that is the main thing that gets in our way when we try to connect with people who don’t have experience being in the church.

As you have already heard and seen in our program and guide for today, the Methodist Church’s main purpose is “the formation of disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

One aspect of that is training the people who are here.  As Paul calls it in Eph 4, “Equipping the Saints.”  And when Paul talks about “saints” throughout his letters, he is not only talking about people like Mother Theresa or Francis of Assisi (though they would certainly qualify).  He is talking about all of us, those people who are a part of the church.

But in Matthew 28, Jesus calls us to make disciples of ALL nations.  That can mean going out to show new people about Jesus.  The church has both bad and good example of that in our history.  But it can also mean those people who find their way to us.  It might be a person who crosses our path at work, school, or even the grocery store.  Or, it may be someone or a family who wanders into our church on a Sunday morning.

But Wait, There's More ...

Are You “In the Word” … Jargon in the Church

How Language Isolates the Church from the Wider World

I did not grow up in the church.  When people talked about being a “Born Again Christian,” I really didn’t know what they were talking about.  I knew that people in certain Christian denominations or from particular regions of the country were more likely to call themselves “Born Again” than others, but what did it mean?

Then others would talk about their “Walk,” or the “anointing” of Jesus (or a particular person for “ministry”). The bottom line was that I was confused. I wouldn't be surprised if you're confused too.  However, this kind of language gets used every day in churches all around the United States.  It’s a specialized language that’s supposed to it easier for us to talk to each other. It’s a type of jargon.

When I looked up Jargon at Dictionary.com, I found several definitions.  The primary of these is,

“The language, especially the vocabulary, particular to a particular trade, profession, or group: medical jargon.” 

That really does define how the church often means to use its particular language, but how it’s perceived outside of the church (or by visitors) matches much more to the fourth definition. 

“Language that is characterized by uncommon or pretentious vocabulary and convoluted syntax and is often vague in meaning.” 

 In other words, rather than making things clearer and more precise, it makes the speaker or the group seem pretentious, elitist, and exclusionary.

The funny thing is that this can be found among congregations that want to be the most open and hospitable as possible. These Christians go around blissfully unaware that people unfamiliar with the church don’t have the slightest idea what they’re talking about.

So, what am I talking about?  Evangelism, another one of those $5 jargon words, and a very scary one for people in Mainline denominations. In the case of Christians, evangelism is sharing information about Christianity with people outside of the church.  If they’re not familiar with Christianity, they’re certainly not going to understand Christian jargon.  In fact, it may scare them away.

What’s the moral of this story? When you’re talking about the church or Christianity (regardless of where you are or who you’re with) resist using our technical Christian terminology. You never know who might be listening.

Peace out. ;)