Kinetic Church

We have all heard the song, "Wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round." Ok you get the picture. But have you ever heard that in reference to the body of Christ? I was listening to a pastor of a high profile church this week and archived some things he had said as he was teaching other pastors. He used the bus concept as it relates to the church. As I have thought of that concept the children's song I just sang for you came to mind. As I was singing that I thought of the concept of kinetic energy.
Kinetic energy is define this way: The kinetic energy of an object is the energy which it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes. (Wikipedia)
So when we ask ourselves why the wheels on the bus keep going round and round, we can contribute it to kinetic energy. The bus is maintains this energy at a decreased level of work. Therefore, an object in motions tends (should) stays in motions. It can be classified as momentum.

Momentum or kinetic energy is something that the church as lost! You know it and I know it. What is interesting about kinetic energy is; the same amount of work is done by the body in decelerating from its current speed to a state of rest. In other words it requires more work to decelerate the object than to allow it to stay in motion! Let me bring this into scope. We have over the centuries worked harder to decelerate the object (church), than required for it to stay in motions. That is confusing. WHY? Our churches are working harder to stop the velocity of the church than required to accelerate. To accelerate an object (church) that is already in motion is minimal, due to the velocity. Why, because it is already in motions. The energy required to get from 0 to 60 is greater than the energy required to get from 60 to 100. Again, the object is already in motion. It's velocity it providing needed energy.

Here is what has happening in church kinetics, start - stop, start - stop... Jesus started the church and check this our He did not use kinetic energy, He used divine energy. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." Matthew 28:18 What verse 19, "Go." He propels the church forward giving it momentum and energy. The early church leaders simply allowed what Jesus did to continue to accelerate and it required minimal effort on their part. The object was already in motion. But note the amount of energy required to start the "bus," all divine authority. Man was unable to do what God did, therefore it requires God the set the object in motion, knowing the object should stay in motion.
But we have been exercising a lot of energy to decelerate the object (church). So, when we decelerate what God has intended to stay in motion what happens? Obviously, we are out of what He has intended (His will). That is a big deal and anytime we are out of His will there are consequences that follow. The consequence for this self induced deceleration is having to use so much energy to accelerate what should already be in motion. Does that make sense? It is not God's fault for the deceleration of His church, but we look to Him with wanting eyes and plead with Him to fix what we have messed up! And we ask Him to let us off the hook. We ask Him to restart the object (church) with His energy alone. But that is not how it works in those cases. The consequence for our slamming on the brakes, is the energy or work to restart what should already be in motion. This is why a lot of pastors are leaving tradition / established churches and starting new plants. One, they do not want to be penalized for other peoples deceleration; two, they can let God set the church in motion and simple use the existing momentum. That is why new church plants are growing so rapidly. No one is slamming on the brakes, actually they are pushing the gas further down.
So can kinetics still ably to established churches? Sure. But know this, it will require more energy to go from 0 to 60 than 60 to 100. And 0 to 60 may look more like years than seconds. Years of pleading with God to give the energy required, years of overhauling the engine, years of stripping away all the modifications that look good but have now practical use. Years of actually stripping the bus down to its bare necessities. There is a saying the biker culture, "Chrome don't get you home." There are things we put on the church (bus) that looks nice, but really serves no purpose. It just pleases the eye. In the kinetic operation of an established church, somethings we have to sacrifice the eye candy for direct functionality. There was nothing appealing about the early church, in fact most people were fearful to join it. The church that Jesus set in motion was not appealing to the eye, but was accelerating at a rate that is beyond our modern day comprehension. The work of restarting an established church is hard, it requires more effort on our part, enduring the consequences of others, but it is not hopeless. I remember a time I went to pick up my grandfathers tractor. It was given to me and what a blessing it became. But, I knew that it had been sitting still for years and years. I had my doubts about whether or not it would every crank again. So, I accepted the challenge and prepared myself. I took some new gas, bought a new battery, and took off. I was heading into the unknown. To make a long story short, I drained the old gas, put on the new battery, and hit the button. To my surprised it cranked! It didn't make sense but it happened. And it took a lot of work beforehand. So watch this, I was so excited it did, I protected it from dieing again. I loaded it on the trailer as quickly as I could and we were off, still running on the trailer! Churches that have been placed in the barn can be restarted. It may required draining the bad gas that has preventing it from starting in the past; it may even require restoring the power source, but it can be restarted. The trick is to protect it from being turned back off. Yes, I said protect. If God has given you the energy to restart a church that has been in the barn, He has given you the energy to protect it from dieing again. The tractor I restarted had to be overhauled and repainted, outside of the base structure, it looks like a different tractor which was dead in the barn and forgotten. New life in an otherwise dead church is not bad, it maybe the restart, the energy need to get the object back into motion. God does not expect His church to be in a state of start - stop. He set the wheels on the bus to go round and round. Therefore, He expects it to stay in motion. Every church should be a Kinetic Church. So the question is; are you stomping the brake or pushing the gas? If you continually hit the brake when God wants us to hit the gas, don't be surprised if you find yourself off the bus. God's church is a fearful thing. "Wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round."