The 21st Century Retooling of the Church – Part LXII
I started this series out because of a news article about the retooling of Harley Davidson in York, PA, and the impact it has had on renewing the company and the vision for Harley. This week, Harley came out with its quarterly earnings, now $133 million profit! They are not making any more bikes than they did in the past, but their financial financing sector has increased. The fact of fiscal responsibility of Harley has changed, and the company has gone from deep concern to productivity and profitability.
I am going to conclude this series on the “retooling” of the church with the challenge Harley Davidson has thrown out to the church. Last Sunday, at my home church, Cityview Community Church in York, PA, the vision for this years “Biker Bar-BQ” Rallies were unfolded. The second Sundays of May, June, July, August & September, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., Cityview is hosting a Biker Bar-BQ where they feature a half of Bar-BQ’ed chicken, a pulled pork sandwich, baked potato, cole slaw, applesauce, and drink for $12 with the proceeds going to support an orphanage in Guatemala that our local church has literally help build from the ground up over the years and supported financially. This endeavor will reach out to bikers, churched and non-churched people, while aiding orphans in a third world country. Last year they held Biker Rallies on Saturdays, but “retooled” their efforts to do it on Sundays this year because that is when Bikers ride! I invite you to join us on the Second Sunday of the month for fellowship, fun, and food this summer!
Innovative evangelism, innovative change, lead by the Holy Spirit has been my theme throughout this thread of blogs. The challenge comes when and if the bikers decide to return to Cityview. Will pastoral components be in place for new converts to aide their new spiritual growth? How do we change our teaching away from “church-ism” linguistics, so the unchurched can understand? How can we prophetically speak into their lives, helping to make their new experience in Christ real, a live, a day to day walk, a true turning from the old to the new? Who will be “seeing over” their new walk in Christ so that there will not be “over-sights,” or mistakes? These are the challenges that the five fold can help address if lead by the Holy Spirit. This is the retooling, the revival, the renewal, the rebirth that I am addressing.
This is the experience of the local church I attend, but I want to challenge whomever is reading this blog to also take the plunge and allow the evangelistic spirit, the pastoral spirit, the teaching spirit, the prophetic spirit, and the apostolic spirit to arise in their local church. Allow them to arise, but bond them together through the “laying down of one’s lives”, the service to each other, and the accountability to each other. The weaving of this tapestry will bring a work of art never seen before in your church. One that will help you and those in your church grow toward “maturing in the image of Jesus Christ” while bringing “unity in the body of Christ.”
If the Church is willing to be retooled this way, I guarantee you that the results will even be more profound than those Harley Davidson announced this week, because they will have “eternal” rewards far exceeding the material rewards we face on earth while the kingdom of God is being advanced, and the retooling of the Church continues through the Holy Spirit. This is true renewal! This is true rebirth, the rebirth of the Church!