Personality
I had a conversation with an NCCer today about philosophy of church and I realized how much philosophy depends on personality. Here are a few of my random thoughts.
I think everybody relates to God through the filter of their personality. We're all wired a little differently. I think John and Peter are a great microcosm. I can't imagine John cutting off Malchus' ear or Peter leaning on Jesus at the last supper. Peter and John related to Jesus very differently.
Oswald Chambers said, "Let God be as original with others as he was with you." I think we've got to appreciate the fact that different people relate to God in different ways.
We have different personalities. I'm an ENFP. That affects the way I preach and pray and counsel and think. It effects everything! And we have different temperaments. I think there are seven primary temperaments: intellectual, emotional, mystical, ritual, sensual, natural, and experimental.
One of the greatest mistakes we can make is to think that God wants all of us to worship him the same way. The truth is that your personality and your past affect the way you worship. Gary Thomas says, the problem is that "we prescribe the same spirituality for the farmer in Iowa and the lawyer in Washington, DC."
I Corinthians 12:4 says, "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men."
Worship was never meant to be "one size fits all." Just as there are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of service, and different kinds of working, there are different kinds of worship.
Spiritual maturity should not result in conformity! Spiritual maturity should result in diversity--different expressions of worship. Spiritual maturity should result in originality.
Paul uses a musical metaphor in Romans 12:16 to make the point. It simply says, "Live in harmony." What's harmony? It's not everybody singing the same note. It's different people singing different notes. The bottom line is that you can't have harmony without diversity!
I think churches have different temperaments. NCC may be an ENFP organism. That doesn't make us better or worse. It's just who we are. I think we need to feel comfortable with who we're not! And we need to feel comfortable with who we are.
We need lots of different kinds of churches because there are lots of different kinds of people. Praise God for churches with different personalities. Can you imagine a world where everyone was alike. How boring!
Posted by Batterson at February 10, 2005 10:58 AM
I think everybody relates to God through the filter of their personality. We're all wired a little differently. I think John and Peter are a great microcosm. I can't imagine John cutting off Malchus' ear or Peter leaning on Jesus at the last supper. Peter and John related to Jesus very differently.
Oswald Chambers said, "Let God be as original with others as he was with you." I think we've got to appreciate the fact that different people relate to God in different ways.
We have different personalities. I'm an ENFP. That affects the way I preach and pray and counsel and think. It effects everything! And we have different temperaments. I think there are seven primary temperaments: intellectual, emotional, mystical, ritual, sensual, natural, and experimental.
One of the greatest mistakes we can make is to think that God wants all of us to worship him the same way. The truth is that your personality and your past affect the way you worship. Gary Thomas says, the problem is that "we prescribe the same spirituality for the farmer in Iowa and the lawyer in Washington, DC."
I Corinthians 12:4 says, "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men."
Worship was never meant to be "one size fits all." Just as there are different kinds of gifts, different kinds of service, and different kinds of working, there are different kinds of worship.
Spiritual maturity should not result in conformity! Spiritual maturity should result in diversity--different expressions of worship. Spiritual maturity should result in originality.
Paul uses a musical metaphor in Romans 12:16 to make the point. It simply says, "Live in harmony." What's harmony? It's not everybody singing the same note. It's different people singing different notes. The bottom line is that you can't have harmony without diversity!
I think churches have different temperaments. NCC may be an ENFP organism. That doesn't make us better or worse. It's just who we are. I think we need to feel comfortable with who we're not! And we need to feel comfortable with who we are.
We need lots of different kinds of churches because there are lots of different kinds of people. Praise God for churches with different personalities. Can you imagine a world where everyone was alike. How boring!
Posted by Batterson at February 10, 2005 10:58 AM
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