Call Me 'Mikesy'...

I love Banksy. (If you don't know who Banksy is, Google it.) His art just seems to resonate with me and I am not really sure why. It is not particularly beautiful, its colours do not jump out at you and sometimes the subject matters are borderline offensive. But I like it.

The picture above is a Banksy and believe it or not it is a very controversial piece of art. Why is it controversial? It is because Banksy painted over the work of another street/graffiti artist named Robbo. Robbo was THE graffiti artist in London back in the day and the art Banksy covered up was one of the last original Robbo pieces from the 1980's. The art pictured above started a graffiti war between Banksy and "Team Robbo" that is still raging today on the streets of London.

Here is the Robbo art Banksy painted over.

At the heart of the war is "Should the 'new' artist Banksy cover over the art of the 'old' artist Robbo?" and both sides have their proponents. It is up to you to decide which appeals to you more, the new Banksy or the old Robbo.

There is a war raging in society between the new and the old and whether or not the new should "paint over" the old. Should new music paint over old music so that the old is gone forever? Should new architecture paint over the old so that communities loose their distinctiveness? And we could go on and on.

In the church a similar war rages when a congregation enters a revitalization process. Should the new way of doing church paint over the old way so that the old way is no longer visible? That is a tough question and you would be able to find people on both sides of the argument to fight for what they believe to be right.

For me the answer comes down to one word - MISSION. Is the church accomplishing the mission they have been called to by God? If the old church is involved in missional work within their community, then why change it? But if the old church is more concerned with the traditional work in the church rather than the missional work in the community, then it is time to get out the paint brushes! That being said, don't start changing the old with something new if the new will not help the church be involved in mission. Not all new things are missional.

Let me give you a very practical example that most churches have discussed at one time or another - music. The worship wars of traditional vs. contemporary music have been going on for 20 plus years. Some church leaders have argued that they need to change the music in the church to something the younger generation can relate to while others have held firm to the notion that the classic hymns of the church are the only proper expressions of music acceptable in the church. What they are arguing about is musical preference rather than missional objectives. It is possible to have traditional music within a missional church just as it is possible to have contemporary music in a non-missional church. If your church is involved in mission, you will discover the style of music that resonates with the people you are reaching. You have to be willing to change if it is not the style you are currently using.

Change is hard but all great things in the world have come about because change occurred. The difficulty is deciding what to change and what not to; what do we paint over and what do we keep? That is a decision that has to be made by each congregation but I would warn all of them to make sure if you are painting over the old, make sure that the new is concerned about mission. Don't paint over the old to just freshen it up a bit so it looks the same with a new coat of paint.

Blessings!

Not My Gift...

One of the most eye opening experiences I ever had during my faith journey was the discovery that God had supernaturally endowed me with spiritual gifts. The bible makes it very clear that at the moment of conversion we are given spiritual gifts that are to be used to help build God's kingdom. (1 Corinthians 12 for example) This revelation happened while I was working on my undergrad degree and I completed all the spiritual gift surveys I could get my hands on to try and discover the gifts God had given me.

As I completed the inventories, I secretly hoped that I had some gifts more than others (just like the Corinthian Christians)because I saw some as more important than others. I remember that I did not want the gift of "martyrdom" (which was on one survey I completed) because I figured it was a gift you could only use once and I was not anxious in using it! In the end I was happy with my gifts, although I can not remember them now.

When I went to The Salvation Army Officer Training College there was a lot of talk about using your spiritual gifts in ministry, so once more I filled out the survey to see what gifts I had. I scored high in apostleship, leadership and teaching and very low on the caring gifts (not too much of a surprise to my friends). With the understanding of what my gifts were I was now going out into the world to exercise those gifts in the churches I would pastor.

Then something incredible happened... I was appointed to a place where my gifts were not appreciated and really not used. In fact, my ministry was centered more on the caring gifts that I scored so low on. So I had to learn how to be more caring and how to listen and how to be hospitable. I really didn't like it, but I did it.

At my next church I thought for sure that I would get to use my gifts in ministry like they taught us in Training College, and I did. But although I was gifted in apostleship, leadership and teaching; I had never developed the gifts I had. So for the next three years I worked hard on being better. I also discovered that in the course of my ministry I had to do work that was not in my gift mix at all. I had to do administration, counseling, hospitality, evangelism and sometimes what seemed like martyrdom!

A move to Niagara Falls in 2001 allowed me to use my gifts on a continual basis for 11 years and to develop and hone them even more. I attended national conferences on church planting and taught at other events to train future church planters in a variety of denominations. And even while I was doing all that, I still had to do ministry that was not in my gift mix.

Today, I still have the gift of apostleship, leadership and teaching. It is these activities that get me excited to do ministry. But, I am also a pretty good at the caring ministries that I am not gifted in because of the ministry I have had to do.

I encourage everyone to find out what your spiritual gift is because it is the one thing that will bring you the most joy in life. I also want to encourage you to do things outside of your gift mix because God can use you there as well. Never say you can't do something because it is not your gift.