the End of The Ministry of Doom and Gloom

Over the last few weeks I've thought about a character from The Old Beetlejuice cartoon named Prince Vince.  He was a notoriously gloomy and sad tortured soul in the Netherworld (I could have a whole discussion about the demonic properties of gloom but I digress.)

Prince Vince decides that the answer to his problems is to become a famous singer. Prince Vince writes a tune called "Life is a Meaningless Misery".  It's the most depressing and awful song you can imagine. 

(See Clip Below)

When Prince Vince starts singing cars drive off the road, birds die, and the people collapse in depression in the streets.

To be honest I feel that we've had far too many "Prince Vince" type of leaders in the church in the last few years.  

We've had people attempting to lead others in the church who were suffering from their own troubles and issues but they had little to no victory in their lives. Unfortunately, they thought the answer to their problems was to become leaders in ministries. 

Is it any wonder that when Covid-19 hit, we found ourselves in short supply of hope and victory and many leaders were simply incapable of meeting the moment? 

How The Church can learn from Peloton

"We can do hard things because we do hard things" - Jess Sims, Peloton

I am a fitness enthusiast and fitness professional by trade so fitness is a major part of my life.  When Covid-19 caused the gyms to close down, I had to find something else to keep me going. My own workouts were okay but I needed another push. 

I had heard so much about the Peloton app that I decided to try it out and I fell in love!

I enjoy the Peloton app because the instructors are the real deal.  I can tell they are competent and qualified trainers.  The program design is excellent and grounded in science. The instructors motivate and exhort participants to not just get through the workout but to apply the challenge of their workouts to their real life.

"We can do hard things because we can do hard things," says one of my favorite Peloton instructors Jess Sims.

As a participant during the Peloton workouts, we want to keep going because we know that by not giving up and finishing the workout that we're overcoming challenges and getting stronger.  

Imagine if we showed up to a fitness class and the instructor was visibly low energy and clearly out of shape but had appointed themselves as the instructor because they thought it would help them get into better shape.  Even though this person didn't know much about fitness nor had they been trained on how to lead people in exercise they wanted to be the leader and so here they are teaching a group class.

At the beginning of class, the instructor says, "Well you can do the class but I don't know if it will make any difference.  We're going to keep doing the same old routine we've been doing because why change?  It's comfortable and we already know it."

Now imagine that the coaching during the class especially during the hard parts was, "Exercise is good for you. Believe it.  Isn't this a great song? I know you're barely breathing right now but I'm in good shape...Get like me.  Don't forget to buy my book and T-shirt after class."  

This type of approach would not be very inspiring nor encouraging.  I would not go back to a class like this but sadly this is the approach many have with ministry and serving others.

It's doom, gloom, low energy, and self-promotion.  This doesn't sound like the ministry of Christ.  

In his first sermon in the synagogue which I like to call Jesus gives his "Who and Do What" statement that was accurately prophesied in Isaiah

Luke 4:18-19 (NLT)

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
19     and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.[a]”

That doesn't sound like doom and gloom to me.

What set Jesus apart even from the religious teachers like the Pharisees is that he wasn't just teaching about rules.  He taught with POWER which amazed the people.

Mark 1:22 (NLT)

The people were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority—quite unlike the teachers of religious law.

I think we could use some of that kind of teaching these days!

The Doom and Gloom Ministry

Merriam Webster defines Doom and Gloom as:

 sad and tragic events: a feeling or attitude that things are only getting worse

The Covid-19 pandemic was a giant wake-up call for the church. 

It brought up so many questions

What have we been doing?  

Is it effective?  

Were we focused more on programs than serving people?  

Is our Sunday worship experience the highlight for our local church body or is it personally connecting with others?

Who are our leaders and should they be leading anybody?

The same old boring songs, prayers, and sermons are no longer compelling people to show up to our services whether online or in person.  

The Reality of Post Covid Church

I read an article in the Washington Post about a church that is facing the reality of the Post Covid church. 

Senior Pastor Owen Lee of Christ Central Presbyterian Church in Centerville, VA said a survey showed about 20% of people had stopped attending altogether during COVID.  

While that number was heartbreaking, Pastor Lee said that the church was going to take more of a no-frills approach to their ministry.  

“I think we’re realizing, people who were there just for the frill, they’re gone,” he said. “And those who are staying are committed to our mission. We may be smaller and stronger.”  - Owen Lee, Senior Pastor, Christ Central Presbyterian Church (Source: Washington Post)

This church and many others are coming to grips with the fact that the frill and giving members the ole razzle-dazzle is unsustainable.

Likewise, the ministry of Doom and Gloom is also not sustainable.

2020 had a LOT of challenges. Was the church on the front lines declaring there was hope in Jesus?  Was the church stepping up to help their communities and letting them know people cared about them?  My church Shiloh in Oakland, CA did by sponsoring a weekly food drive for neighborhood families.  I saw other churches as well providing for their community and that is awesome.

How was the church caring for people's spiritual needs?  So many of us in the church struggled with anxiety, hopelessness, and fear due to the pandemic and chaos around us.  

Church members looked elsewhere for answers because the church of Jesus didn't seem to have the answers for pandemic response, social unrest, and forget about the political chaos.

Where was the hope?  Where was the encouragement that we could make it through the storm?  Who did we have to motivate and exhort us to keep on keeping on?  

If we in the church felt like this, then how do we think unbelievers felt?

Seasons Change: The end of the ministry of Doom and Gloom

Before Covid, I found myself frustrated at the quality of leadership in many "ministries".  

These "leaders" weren't people I would follow in a parade let alone spiritually.  During the pandemic, many of these leaders found themselves unable to meet this moment.  They were still posting the same shallow drivel that they always did because that's all they had to draw from.

Psychologist Jordan Peterson says in his book 12 Rules for Life that without proper character development when crisis comes we will not be able to meet the moment.

When everything has become chaotic and uncertain, all that remains to guide you might be the character you constructed, previously, by aiming up and concentrating on the moment at hand. If you have failed in that, you will fail in the moment of crisis, and then God help you.

I thought about Jesus' criticism of the religious leaders because they were unable to meet the moment they were facing with stifling oppressive rule of the Romans and the weariness of the people.  They were more focused on being performative and titles than the actual needs of the people.

Matthew 23:1-7

Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses.[a] 3 So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. 4 They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.

5 “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels.[b] 6 And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. 7 They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’[c]

Jesus told the people not to follow the religious leaders because they didn't practice what they teach and they crushed the people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.  

I think there's a lot to be said for this with the current group of religious leaders.  They crush us with unbearable religious demands that we do this, that, believe this, believe that, and on and on. 

It's harvest time and we're promoting the Abundant Life

Many of us believe that there is a great harvest and great revival on the way.  If this is going to happen, then we cannot continue on the way we've been going.  We cannot have doom and gloom people leading the charge.  

Who would want to sign up for the Prince Vince "Life is a meaningless misery" lifestyle?

Jesus said in John 10:10 that he came to give us abundant life!

Abundant life doesn't mean there are no problems.  It means that Jesus is with us through the problems and that the Holy Spirit is energizing us through our lives.  

One of the things that attracted me to Christianity in my 20's was all of the supernatural stories that I heard and even supernatural events that I've experienced.  This is only right because we serve a supernatural God.  We shouldn't be able to logically explain everything that's happening or rationalizing and reason. 

The abundant life means a life full of inexplicable and extra-ordinary events.  No longer will we promote doom and gloom and act as if ordinary is normal.

We will expect the supernatural 

New Move: We're not encouraging people to become leaders if they're not ready

Just because you want to do something doesn't mean you're called to do it.  I want to be a Praise Dancer but I know that I am not called to do that so I don't.

Like the character Prince Vince I think many people think the answer to their gloomy lives is to do something that will cause others to admire them or they want to find their healing in trying to help others heal.  This does not work because we will never find our healing in trying to lead others.

We will never find our healing in trying to lead others.  

We can only find our healing in our own personal journey with the Lord and through the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.  

It is dangerous to have people who have not been called and people who are not ready to be leaders.  When the need arises for real leadership like during the pandemic these people will simply not be ready to meet the moment because they are unprepared and haven't developed the character for the moment.

The first wave of bad leaders was out in 2020.  These were the obvious poor performers.  

The next group to go in 2021 are the pretenders and phonies. 

This may hit some churchgoers hard because the pretenders and phonies are folks who have built a personality cult based on charisma and not anointing.  This is the group that really worries me because this would include your popular preachers who have a major following but mainly attract lukewarm believers with pop psychology and motivational speaking.  

It's over for them.

The end of the ministry of Doom and Gloom

Many people have left the faith in the last ten years.  

They've left because they don't see the point.  They see what the world is offering them and they assume it is better and more enjoyable.  

So many in the church make being a Christian seem like we are all pathetic victims who sit around complaining all day and life is a meaningless misery.  

When I see giants in the faith, I see people who have seen some rough times but I also see people who have had incredible life experiences and have truly had encounters that say, "Victory totally belongs to Jesus"

This is the end of the ministry of doom and gloom.  

This is the beginning of the ministry of the harvest

In Jesus' name, Amen