Archive - December, 2007

Winning the War on Terrible Christmas

December 28, 2007 in Life, Mission with 1 Comment

Putting Christ back in Christmas?

Here is something Tia Lynn wrote on her blog recently about this whole war on Christmas:

Wouldn’t it come as a baffling shock if Christians everywhere put down their picket signs, ceased the boycotts, dropped the Christmas lawsuits, and instead, showered politicians, business owners, and ACLU workers that show disdain for Christmas/Christians with thoughtful gifts, invitations to OUR Christmas celebrations, letters of prayers, (not condemning ones), asking nothing in return?

What if Christians took all the money they are spending on lawsuits over Christmas and used it to serve the poor, the marginalized, and sick?

What if we stopped courting the approval and recognition of the rich and powerful and focused on the least, the lost, and the last of this world?

What if Christians recreated our Christmas celebrations and invited the world, instead of demanding the world get it right and include us?

How much harder would it be for the world to label us as judgmental, condemning, intolerant, superficial hypocrites, if we actually lead by example, by service, by radical, ridiculous, unconditional love?

See, Jesus is no naive optimist, He is a genius!

By responding to cruelty with kindness, insult with blessing, neglect with service, rejection with embrace, it proves our opponent wrong. It shows their true colors. It halts their accusations. It could inspire a rethinking of their assumptions. It makes us a people separated unto God. It clears the way for reconciliation, healing, renewal, forgiveness, and transformation.

When we take the bait and repay evil with evil, eye for eye, dollar for dollar, insult for insult, when we demand our DUE, we not only lose in the end, but we becomeour “enemy,” for we are guilty of the same offenses, tactics, and attitudes.

For what good is it if we only show love to those who love us? Do not even non-christians do this? Aren’t we called to a higher standard?

Thanks Tia for showing us how to be truly incarnational during this “holiday season.”

Would Jesus be a Christian?

December 27, 2007 in Ecclesiology, Jesus with 34 Comments

jesus_is_not.jpgI have a friend who looks at all that is wrong with the world, and then looks at the average Christian and as a result, wants nothing to do with Christianity. He says that it appears Christians would rather spend their time arguing and debating theology than helping the poor and homeless, and would rather drive Hummers and build huge church buildings than drill wells in Africa or feed orphans. He doesn’t think that Jesus would be a “Christian” if Jesus were alive today.

The other day, he showed me a YouTube video where a secular rock artist posted his video about this very thing. The artist is very angry. The video and song lyrics show Christians going to church and pastors preaching sermons, all the while ignoring the hungry and needy that are all around them. The basic message of the song is ”Christians need to stop praying and preaching and building huge cathedrals for themselves, and start doing something that actually helps!”

After I watched the video, my friend turned to me and said, “I think there is a special place in hell for Christians.”

Whether you realize it or not, this is the prevalent attitude toward Christianity among those who are ages 18-35. (If you don’t believe this is true, you probably don’t know many non-Christian 18-35 year olds.) How have we as Christians come to this, and what (if anything) can we do about it?

Questioning the Church

December 20, 2007 in Ecclesiology with 4 Comments

I am not persuaded that “home churches” are the only way to do church. I think there is very little in Scripture about the “how” of church. As long as disciples are being made, and we are loving God, and loving others, I can be flexible on most other matters of the church.

However, one website I puruse has a post of 10 questions that all believers need to ask themselves about the church they attend. These questions come from a person who thinks that “home churches” are the only way to go, but I think we all need to ask them. Questioning why we do what we do in church can help us focus on what God says in Scripture, and how we can effectively live it out in our world. Here are the questions:

Here is my List of the Top 10 Questions to ask our caring friends and relatives about Home Church:

1. Well Uncle John, we home church because we see it mentioned in the scriptures like Rom.16:5 and I Cor. 16:19. When you’ve studied out why you gather the way you do, what did you discover?

2. Sister Suzi, when you gather together on Sundays, how do you all fullfil I Cor. 14:26? And how did you personally exercise your to the edifying of others last Sunday?

3. Yes, Aunt Jenny order in the church is very important, I truly agree. And since the Bible is our source of understanding church order, can you help me to find the scriptures that identify a single, pastor OF a church? I see that pastors are one of several different given to the church, but I can’t seem to find where they are in charge of a church…

4. Cory, you bring up a good point about assembling together with other believers. So that we’re both on the same sheet of music, how many are supposed to gather together (minimum) before Christ will be in the midst of them? And also which verse tells me which building we must gather in?

5. Just so I understand you Cousin Andy, are you saying that if I don’t go to YOUR church I’m not in the will of God? What was the verse on that again? And also, which book in the Bible tells me how to create a 501(c)3 non-profit organization?

6. You’re absolutely right Neighbor Gene, we don’t have a Praise Team, a Vacation Bible School, and we don’t send our tithes to headquarters. Can you help me find the verses that direct me in these matters so I can walk in obedience like you?

7. How do we pay our tithes? Good question Ronnie. If I remember right, we live in the New Testament. Can you show me one place in the New Testament (which is after the death of Christ because that’s when Testaments come into effect) where I’m directed to tithe? Now if you’re asking about our giving, we give as unto the Lord (often times above 10%) to the poor we meet on our way, to ministries the Lord has directed us to give to and to our neighbor who is a widow and a godly woman. Reciepts? Well whether or not we get a tax write off isn’t the point is it…?
8. Accountability is important Brother Doug. And since accountability has in it’s definition rewards or punishments for our actions that we’re accountable for, could you tell me how you personally practice your weekly accountability where you fellowship? Who were you accountable to and what has been your weekly reward or punishment? I guess I thought I was accountable to the Lord (Rom.14:12)

9. Of course we care about our children Sister Edna. But if I’m not mistaken, the Bible tells us, as little Joey’s parents, that WE are responsible for diligently teaching and training our children in the knowledge of God. We didn’t know we were supposed to delegate that to a Youth Pastor. That’s very interesting. Can you show us that scripture or any scripture that talks about Youth Pastors, Youth Camps, Praise Teams, Youth Leaders, Sunday School… Not these aren’t helpful perhaps, but are they required?

10. Stan, we’ve been praying and seeking God for several weeks about our direction as a family, like you have for yours I’m sure. And with fear and trembling, we feel that we are walking in obedience to the Word of God concerning meeting together as a church in our home. I know you’re asking me the questions you’re asking because you care about us. Do you see something in what we’re doing that violates the scriptures? Can you show me?

I hope these thoughts are encouraging (and maybe a little humorous). I find that most folks haven’t really studied out why they do what they do, so when I ask for answers according to the scriptures, I usually get “uhs” and “Well, I’ve always heard that…”

We all should know why we do what we do. I’ve had to come to grips with each of these questions myself – according to the word. And it’s the word that is our direction, stability and authority. Anything else is opinion, heresay and rumor.

The Heretic in Me

December 19, 2007 in Theology with 50 Comments

Burned at the stakeI’m beginning to scare myself. Why? Long held doctrines that I’ve held unswervingly to for years and years are beginning to teeter in my mind. I can’t decide if this is good or bad, but one thing is for sure…it’s making me more humble. (You know you’re humble when you can brag about it.)

I’ve been noticing this shift for a while, but I was bowled over by it this morning on my walk to work. I was listening to a message by Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz, and I found myself agreeing with nearly everything he said (He is a fantastic speaker, by the way). I remembered the first time I was introduced to Don about 5 years ago. Someone gave me his book and told me I must read it. I got through twenty or thirty pages before I tossed it in the garbage can. Literally. I think his book is the only book I have ever thrown out. I have books on my shelves written by Muslims and Mormons, and I haven’t thrown them out. Miller’s book got thrown out.

Now, I find myself laughing and agreeing with what he is saying. So I asked myself this morning, “What has happened to me in 5 years?!?” Some would answer “You went to seminary.” That might be true. Seminaries (sometimes) have a way of making heretics out of us all. But just as one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure, so also, one person’s heresy is another person’s cardinal doctrine. But I find these days that I have fewer and fewer cardinal doctrines.

“What doctrines?” you ask?

Not the “core fundamentals” like the Trinity, the inerrancy of Scripture, the deity of Jesus, and justification by faith alone in Christ alone. If I ever start to have misgivings these, please, somebody come kick me in the head…hard. I will defend these to my grave.

No, my doctrines of ecclesiology, eschatology, angelology, and a few others are being undermined by the weight of exegesis. I am even going through a radical shift on how to study Scripture, especially prophetical Scripture, and how to teach it. Here are a few areas that I feel toppling. Note that they haven’t toppled yet; they may right themselves, or like the Tower of Pisa, just lean over a bit. But I do not hold to these things as firm as I once did. I still believe these things to be true and Biblical, but I am now aware of different ways of approaching these doctrines which require further study on my part. Here is my current list of leaning towers:

  • A literal, six-day-24-hour creation 6000 years ago. (Was Moses really writing a scientific treatise?)
  • “Messianic” prophecy in the Old Testament. (It’s not all about Jesus. But see #3 below).
  • Biblical Hermeneutics. (It’s all about Jesus, even the entire OT.)
  • A future seven-year Tribulation. (Some of the passages used to teach this may not do so after all.)
  • Church. (The way we “do church” today is at best ineffective, and possibly sinful.)
  • Eternal, conscious torment in hell. (I am NOT a universalist or an annihilationist. I’m just not sure hell=torture.)
  • The fall of Satan and his angels. (The Bible doesn’t seem to clearly talk about this.)  

These are just a few. Now you see why I have to go into church planting. There are many churches in the country that would not hire a pastor who has misgivings about this list of doctrines. Just wanting to investigate them further will probably cause some to brand me as a heretic. In fact, in some churches and ministries, if I started to investigate alternative explanations for these doctrines, I’d probably get fired or cause a split. Maybe I should just sell cars.

Planting Sterile Churches

December 17, 2007 in Church Planting, Ecclesiology, Mission with 0 Comments

Last week I wrote about sterile preaching. Today, I want to direct you to a site I discovered today about church planting which has an excellent post on “Sterile Churches” that is, churches that don’t reproduce. Here is an excerpt from the article that put into words what I have been thinking:

I want to show you the difference between what I call a “growth culture” in which we’ve all been trained and a “reproduction model.” Because I believe to plant a church is a different animal than to plant a church-planting church. In fact, I’m convinced that the skill sets we learned in ministry training will actually insure that things don’t reproduce.

In our growth culture we’ve learned to focus on individual conversions, while a reproduction model focuses on group conversions.

We’ve started on believer’s turf. But in order to reproduce, we must start on unbeliever’s turf. If we want group conversions of family members, co-workers, neighbors and friends, those people are not going to come to a stranger’s house or into the strange setting of a church. They will come to turf where they are always involved. In our culture we teach Scripture for information. With the reproductive model it is taught for application, so that people are watching the power of God.

We’ve begun by finding Christians. But if you want a really powerful church start, find people of peace. Bar the Christians; don’t let them in. They mess things up in the early stages.

We’ve begun in facilities. This takes money and expertise, which are not readily available. If you begin in homes or front porches or yards or parks, there are always more of them.

We’ve tended to start with celebration in a large group. For reproduction you start with a small group. Very few people actually have the ability and gifts to do a large group well. It takes more expertise, more preparation, more everything. A lot of people can facilitate small groups. They were already doing it in their own natural network before they were saved.

We build programs and buildings. To reproduce, you build leaders.

Leadership is also different. Traditionally we import professional clergy. But what we need for reproduction is to have indigenous and convert-emerging clergy. Where are the future pastors for this setting? They are in the streets, they are beating their wives, they are ripping off their employers.

Also, the leader tends to see himself as the leader for all the participants. In a reproducing church, the leader is the equipper for the emerging leaders. That is how they see themselves, and that is how they stay focused. We are used to funding the church starter. But for churches that will start other churches, you need to have bi-vocational church starters. If we are going to see the cities reached, it is going to be with bi-vocational people. Otherwise, it takes too long to actually fund.

In my own experience, every time we got ready to plant a church we felt like we couldn’t afford to lose those people, their tithes and all that. But every time we did, we actually didn’t skip a beat. God supplied. I found the most powerful thing is that connection with another church who cares.

In fact, in every church that I see planting churches, I find that some of their own issues begin to dissolve. I don’t know what it is. They are giving themselves away. I am convinced you cannot out-give God. The more you give, the more God does.

You can read the rest of this article here.

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