A Loss of Discipline

It's been over two months since I posted on this blog! I can't believe how quickly time passes. I know that sounds trite and cliche, but it's true. Have you ever been caught unaware of time passing? You know how it happens. You get caught up in one thing or another and, before you know it, weeks or months...even years...have passed. Along with the time you recognize lost opportunities. Big and little chances you missed to contribute, comment, impact or be involved. Up until the summer came I was really enjoying my regular posts to this blog. It was part of a discipline I had developed to get up early, share some thoughts, exercise, journal and get ready for a full day of work. These were good disciplines that were very healthy for me.

The reasons for losing these disciplines are all legitimate. My work gets very busy during the summer and, this past summer, included tons of travel all over the United States. My father-in-law died in the middle of summer with a trip to Chicago for the funeral. Once I got home from all my trips my wife and I closed on our new house and moved in. Three days after that my mother-in-law came to visit and stayed for over two weeks! Do you recognize those as compelling reasons for losing track of disciplines that were so helpful?

Here are some things that are also true. While on the road I always had my laptop with me and often had wireless internet access. When I was home my work day never started before 8 a.m. so I still had this early morning window available to me. Other than the few days when we were moving from our rental into our new home I didn't stay up any later than normal. While it would have taken more work to maintain my discipline of early rising, blogging, exercise and journaling, I could have done it. Is it really discipline if, at the first sign of difficulty, you stop doing it? Once you lose track of doing the right thing it's very hard to get back to it. That's what's happened to so many churches in this country.

I'm certain that nearly every church out there started with lots of energy, enthusiasm and discipline to do the right thing. The founders were bent on sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ and having a profound impact on the communities they served. Today, whether it's been fifteen years or one hundred fifty years, many of those churches have lost the discipline it takes to be healthy members of the body of Christ. All for legitimate reasons, on the face of it. The founding pastor died suddenly; they built beautiful buildings for ministry then were overwhelmed by the day-to-day operations; they grew too fast and didn't manage the growth well; they got burned helping people outside the church and began making policies that were exclusive and protectionist, not all at once, but little by little. Eventually almost every church comes to a place of rest from which they look back and see how much time has passed and how much they've lost. In these moments there is a choice. A church can admit the loss of discipline and do the hard work of reclaiming the passion that was theirs at the beginning or they can cling to all the legitimate reasons why they've come to where they are and remain ineffective, undisciplined and dying.

I'm choosing to get back to my blogging, exercise, journaling and discipline. I may lose it again and have to start back at the beginning. It's hard work, but for me, it's worth it. I'm hoping that every church that find's itself at a time of self-awareness and decision will do the hard work it takes to become truly effective for the sake of Christ...again.