There are too many words in churches. Christians spend too much time worshipping and meeting for Bible study while neglecting doing anything Jesus did or said to do. As Clarence Jordan put it, "We'll worship the hind legs off of Jesus and never do a thing he said to do." So at Wedgewood people are encouraged to be on a mission team.

We are always open to forming new mission teams. Currently we have a Rain (Regional AIDS Interfaith Network) mission team, a Room In The Inn (Homeless ministry) mission team, and an Earth Keepers mission team which provides and maintains areas on the church's property as a way of teaching the church about being good stewards of the Earth.

 

Words mean different things to different people. Liberal to us, among other things, means being compassionate, empathic, having a thinking faith, open to truth in non-Christian traditions, and honest about the complexities of life and truth. It also means supporting women in ministry and welcoming people of all sexual orientations and gender identities. It does not mean being a Democrat. Christianity should not be tied to any political party or candidate. On the other hand, a liberal Christianity is one which recognizes separation of faith from politics is not acceptable for people of faith. Or put another way, it's not all about heaven. Better yet, check out N.T. Wright's discussion of heaven on earth. (N.T., by the way, is fairly conservative.)

At Wedgewood we try to avoid being a church run by folk who have a lot of money, by people who've been in the church for a long time (Since the time of Moses, for example.), or by deacons, the preacher, or anyone who would start thinking they are more important or smarter or more Christian than anyone else.

If you want to be on a committee or serve in a particular role all you have to do is sign up for it (any time of the year). We don't have a nominating committee that tries to get the best possible individuals on committees. We know God has a way of using the worst possible people. And we don't want to get in the way of anybody who wants to do something for Jesus and the kingdom of God.

For the record, a proposal Wedgewood's Pastor supported only got two votes. His wife didn't even vote for it.

 

Many churches in America have adopted, consciously or unconsciously, a business model of church. Their bottom line is how many people are members of the church, how big their buildings are, how nice their facilities are, how big their budget is, how many individuals are on the staff. Bigness, however, may not be a sign of being faithful or a sign of God's favor. Rather, bigness may be a sign a church is reflecting the values of its culture instead of challenging congregants to accept and live the values of the kingdom of God. Ironically, by adopting a business model of church congregations increase the likelihood they will be run or dominated by rich people (You need money to pay for the bigness.), the very individuals Jesus indicated had the most trouble accepting and living kingdom of God values.

[Note: Just as the bigness of a church is not a sign of God's favor neither is smallness. Smallness or lack of growth can be a sign a church has become a club and is not welcoming of newcomers. On the other hand, what if there were churches which intentionally adopted a model of church which encouraged a congregational size that enhanced intimacy and care, and committed itself to start new congregations when active participation exceeded one hundred people.)

 

For the first three hundred years the Church existed without buildings. One reason for not having buildings was that the Church during part of its first 300 years was persecuted. (If you are being persecuted why draw attention to yourself!) With the Church becoming the religion of the Empire during the time of Constantine it quickly developed an "edifice complex." Some believe becoming the religion of the empire had negative consequences that continue even to the present.

Wedgewood is aware buildings can get in the way of being who God wants us to be. The focus of many churches tends to be on having bigger builidngs, more buildings, nicer buildings, all of which takes a lot of money. Some churches even relocate to get more affluent members to feed their building addiction. To finance its "edifice complex" churches can extend privileges to their richest members, the people Jesus said had the most trouble understanding and living the kingdom of God. A church focused on buildings can also forfeit its prophetic function, being afraid of losing the money of those who want the church to focus on heaven and not on political issues. Earthly matters are too divisive and the last thing a church needs is for people to get upset and leave and take their money with them. (Remarkably, some large chuches with nice buildings are prophetic. It can be done, but it is rare.)

Another disturbing trend is that churches which just have to have buildings are not good stewards of their buildings, fearing their precious buildings might get messed up.

At Wedgewood we try to keep our buildings in good order, but we are not interested in having the nicest church buildings in town. Rather, we seek to be good stewards of our buildings. Currently 9 groups use our buildings, including a Hispanic Church. We also house the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America and a district office for Al-Anon/Alateen. A Korean Congregation was housed at Wedgewood for 10 years. The church in July 2007 was able to move into its own building in Matthews, NC.

 

People who are judgmental.

People who need to control and/or organize other human beings.

People who like a committee-oriented church.

People who are uncomfortable with questions and doubts.

People who want to be special.

People who are always the teacher and not the student.

People who think their wealth provides them privileges in the steeples.

People who are perfectionists.

People who don't want to grow beyond the faith of their childhood.

People who are hard on themselves, causing them to be hard on others.

People who want a forced unity.

People who think they have it all figured out.

People who think sexual orientation and gender identity are a choice. (By the way, and for the record, when did you choose your sexual orientation and gender identity?  In what year?  In what month?  On what day?  At what time? What minute? What second?)