Have you noticed that, here in the United States, it socially acceptable to say “MERRY Christmas” but not “HAPPY Christmas” like our European friends? This old-fashioned word “merry” means to be happy, in a fun, festive manner. Do you know that this level of merriment in the context of the local church, with all of its frustrations and enemies, is only possible in a healthy culture (more on that word in just a moment)?

As I thought about the word “merry” and “culture,” the monumental dedication of Solomon’s temple came to mind in 2 Chronicles 7:10-11, “And on the three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away into their tents, glad and MERRY in heart for the goodness that the LORD had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people. Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD, and the king’s house: and all that came into Solomon’s heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in his own house, he prosperously effected.” Solomon postponed the dedication for many months (5:3) that it might coincide with the great harvest feast of Tabernacles. Israel gathered from Hamath on the Orontes, in the far north to the river of Egypt, Shihor, the southwestern border toward Egypt. The special seven-day dedication feast had lasted from the eighth day to the fourteenth day (v. 9), including the great Day of Atonement on the tenth (Lev 16). This then was followed by the regular Feast of Tabernacles from the fifteenth to the twenty-second. Wow! What a time of merry celebration! What a vibrant culture of yesteryear that we desperately yearn for in our respective ministries!

What is encouraging is that we don’t have to be building something as singularly glorious as Solomon’s temple to be merry; we just have to build a similarly healthy culture! At a recent Christmas dinner to love on 40 of our key volunteers at North Life, I mentioned that the number one reason that a church is miserable or merry has everything to do with its culture. 

So the question is, what is “culture?” The best definition I have heard in recent days came from Jenni Catron, “Culture is who we are and how we work together.” With that working definition in mind, our church’s end-of-the-year celebrations will be in direct proportion to a couple of nonnegotiable cultural distinctions.

Our church’s merriment must be fueled by WHO WE ARE! (v. 10)

Note that Solomon’s project is not ultimately about the impersonal structure of gold, silver, bronze and stone; it was about a place…a culture in which God is fulfilling His promises/favor towards David, Solomon, and to Israel “HIS PEOPLE!” A merry culture is shared between people who are appreciated for who God has uniquely created and gifted them each to be!

An organizational environment that is healthy first VALUES who each person is. If we are not careful even church cultures led in ways that are “transactional” or relying on rewards and punishments to achieve only optimal job performance from their subordinates. As Gregg Allison put it, “A transactional church leadership culture has two fundamental problems. This culture prioritizes results and performance over relationships and genuineness.” If your culture lacks relationship and authenticity, this is THE place to start and stay in the new year. By the way, this valuing of each person’s personality and giftedness is not just abstract and sentimental; it allows much to be effectively built and maintained in the name of Jesus.

Secondly, this merry culture will GROW who each person is becoming. Kevin DeYoung put it this way:

“The leadership team never changes or always changes. Both are warning signs. On the one hand, churches become ingrown when there is never any new blood among the leaders. If your elders, deacons, trustees, small group leaders, Sunday school teachers, VBS coordinators, and worship team members are the same now as they were during the Reagan administration, you have a problem. Maybe the old leaders are power hungry, maybe no one is being trained up, maybe no one new has come to your church in twenty years. All are big problems. On the other hand, if the elders are never interested in serving another term, and the staff members never stick around more than a couple years, and the volunteers only volunteer once, the culture of your church may be too confining, too full of conflict, or too unforgiving of honest mistakes.”

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevin-deyoung/9-marks-of-an-unhealthy-church/

This means our leadership teams must always be changing, not just swapping out one leader for another but the leaders themselves are changing…growing! Is your leadership team always or never changing? If either is true, it is very likely that your culture is not everything God intends for it to be!

Our church’s merriment must be fueled by HOW WE WORK TOGETHER! (v. 11)

Solomon and his “team” had just built and dedicated a temple labeled by several leading experts as one of the “7 Wonders of the Ancient World.” Impressive right? But…the perceptive leader recognizes that it was less about what they built and more about the team they had to build to successfully do it. An interpersonal feat that freed up Solomon and his team to effectively prosper in anything that God laid upon their hearts.

The collaborative culture first is intentionally UNIFIED. There is nothing that kills the kind of joy we are talking about in a church quicker than disunity; there is nothing that protects and advances it like unity! In THE New Testament primer on joy, the Apostle Paul challenges the Phillippians, “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Ph. 1:27). 

While this merry work possesses supernatural unity, it also owns generous helpings of DIVERSITY. South African church planter Badi Bandibanga wisely asserts:

“There’s a difference between valuing what someone has to give and actually enjoying their contribution. It’s good to tell someone they’re needed; but do they also feel wanted?  If we let people know they’re loved and enjoyed—both for who they are and what they bring—they’re far more likely to contribute wholeheartedly over the long haul. Cultivating unity in diversity works toward ensuring that people feel appreciated as they labor for God’s glory.”

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/cultivating-unity-diversity-church/

There is a difference between unity and uniformity.  The local church, when healthy, has always been a diverse group from the first century church to the heavenly throng of every tribe, tongue, and nation in Revelation 5 and 7. Garret Kell reminds us on this Christmas, ““Christmas is a most harrowing time for the persecuted church.  Remember Jesus’ bride in…Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Egypt, Syria. Turkey, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia.  Pray for them to have courage as persecution increases.” A team is only as strong as its RANGE OF DIVERSITY that allows them to reach/connect with a wider range of people and ministries. This diversity also allows us to develop a robust sense of deference and grace in the “minor” differences of the day to day to help us navigate the more intense seasons of inevitable turmoil and controversy that will at times threaten to tear apart our sacred union (A systemic weakness of ministries built only on uniformity).

Notice that this merry, gospel-flavored culture is not ultimately about WHAT WE DO but it DOES A LOT! The best part of 2 Chronicles 7 is not the gold, silver, and bronze of the earthly temple but the broader promises of God connected to it who fills heaven and earth and any culture willing to invite Him in. 

2 Chronicles 7:14 offers each of our churches a verse that has some immediate implications that are exclusively Jewish in nature but still very relevant in many ways to our moment in time: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”

This “Merry Culture,” with all of its inconveniences, leads to impacting the culture of God’s people as well as the culture at large in our world! What could God do in our land if we would get back to focusing much, much more upon healthy cultures and much, much less on wearing out our welcome/people by overemphasizing programs, building projects, and overall optics that are secondary at best? This mindset is only possible because of the Originator of “peace on earth and good will towards men,” the Christ of Christmas. Will you lead your ministry and support others who lead your ministry to build a “merry culture” that is less about the WHAT and more about WHO WE ARE and HOW WE WORK TOGETHER?