Archive - April, 2009

By Jeremy Myers Filed Under Ecclesiology, Evangelism, Mission Written on April 24, 2009

Gay Love

Imagine that you are a parent of a teenage son, and one day he comes home from school and blurts out, “I’ve started doing drugs. Am I going to hell?”

How do you answer?

What if he said, “A few years ago, someone at school gave me a Playboy, and I been masturbating to it several times a week. Am I going to hell?”

Or, “My girlfriend and I have been having sleeping together for about three months now. Am I going to hell?”

Most Christian parents, I think, would rightfully be alarmed at such confessions, but few would tell their son that he was going to hell. Most parents would seek to help him through these

But what instead, your son said, “For a few years now I’ve been attracted to other guys, and over the last few months, I’ve started having sex with another guy at school. We love each other very much. But someone told me today that unless I change, I’m going to hell. Are they right?”

Now how do you answer?

Most evangelical Christians, when confronted with this hypothetical scenario, respond by saying, “Oh, that would never happen with my son. You see, he had involved father, a mother who wasn’t domineering, and he was never sexually abused as a child. Studies prove that most gay men have had at least one of these things happen to them.”

This, of course, is not an explanation of how you would respond if your son “came out” to you, but is rather a denial of its possibility. It is a non-answer.

Which is why, I suppose, most Christian families are shocked and completely unprepared when such situations do happen to them. We have been caught unaware and unprepared. We never thought it would happen to us, and so we didn’t think about what we should do or say if and when it did.

However, in a world that increasingly welcomes and accepts those of the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transsexual (GLBT) orientation, Christians must open their eyes and ears to what GLBT people are saying about God, the Scriptures, the church, and human sexuality. This is especially true if we want to minister among them.

Furthermore, the GLBT issue is increasingly being brought up on television and in politics. Numerous states are passing laws legalizing same-sex marriage. Therefore, it is vitally important for Christians to know how to respond to these situations, not only in truth, but also in love.

Andrew Marin is one Christian who is pioneering the way.

In his newly released book, Love is an Orientation (IVP, 2009), Andrew Marin provides an excellent overview of the absolute necessity for Christians to build bridges to those people who are in the GLBT community. As Christ took the initiative and came to us, we must take the initiative in building bridges of hope and love to others.

Thankfully, Andrew Marin is not writing theoretically, but from yeas of experience from living among the GLBT community as the “gayest straight person in the world.”

The book provides excellent insights and guidelines for working alongside and developing relationships with people in the GLBT community. For example, Andrew advises the four of the most important things Christians can do are (1) love, (2) listen, (3) don’t judge, and (4) seek friendship and conversation. Also, he recommends we stop saying “Love the sinner; hate the sin” and referring to those in the GLBT community as “homosexuals.” Both, he explains, are derogatory.

One helpful feature of the book is the answers to the five main questions that are on the minds of most Christians. The questions are:

Do you think that gays and lesbians are born that way?
Do you think homosexuality is a sin?
Can a GLBT person change?
Do you think that someone can be gay and a Christian?
Are GLBT people going to hell?

I imagine that as you read this short review, one or two of these questions crossed your mind as well. I believe that Marin provided some excellent answers to these questions in his book. Sadly, I don’t have room to reproduce the answers here…so I guess you’ll just have to buy and read the book for yourself.

By Jeremy Myers Filed Under Church Planting, Ecclesiology Written on April 20, 2009

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What if… (Part 5)

This post concludes my “What if…” series. I am sure I will have more questions in the future as I try to seek answers to those already asked, but that’s what this process of reimagining church is all about.

I know that most of these questions will come back to haunt me in the future….

What if Prayer were different?

What if when we prayed for something, we concluded every prayer by asking, “How can we ourselves be an answer to our prayer?”

What if we didn’t feel the need to bow our heads, close our eyes, and fold our hands when we pray?

What if prayer was more like a conversation with God than a strange, wordy, repetitive incantation?

What if we stopped saying “Father” after every phrase? (I thank you, Father, for this beautiful day, Father, and for the opportunity to be here, Father….). He knows we’re talking to Him. He doesn’t need the constant reminder.

What if we didn’t backtrack on our prayers of faith with the statement “…if it’s your will”? (I know Jesus prayed this way once, but that’s a subject for a different study.)

What if we stopped using prayer as an excuse for gossip?

What if strategies for getting money were different?

What if we didn’t pass tithe plates?

What if, when someone wanted to give a large sum of money to the church, we had them sign a document saying that they understood this did not entitle them to any sort of recognition in the church, or any power or say over where/how the money was used?

What if we didn’t take “special offerings” multiple times until we got the amount we were “praying” for?

What if we didn’t pressure people into giving “10%” (which is a misunderstanding and misapplication of the Old Testament principle of tithing)?

What if fellowship were different?

What if believers actually cared for each other?

What if we wanted to spend time together? How would we encourage this to happen?

What if we were more interested in loving and serving each other than in being served? But HOW?

By Jeremy Myers Filed Under Church Planting, Ecclesiology Written on April 13, 2009

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What if… (Part 4)

One big issue with church today is where, when, and how we meet. So as we think about reinventing church, there are several questions that need to be asked.

What if the meeting times, places, and format were different?

What if the best time for a church to meet is not on Sunday morning?

What if the best place to meet is not in a building?

What if the best format is not song, announcements, songs, prayer, sermon?

What if believers realized that church has nothing to do with the building on the corner?

What if we didn’t have the financial black hole of a building?

What if when we had “service” we actually did some service?

What if our only “service” of the week was service? (Meet. Eat. Teach. Serve.)

Ministries
What if we started ministries based on what spiritual gifts were present in the church, not based on what the church down the street was doing?

What if we didn’t feel like we had to offer all things to all people?

What if we had fewer ministries, and did not expect people to be involved or present in all of them?

Church Planting
What if our goal for church planting wasn’t to plant churches, but to make disciples?

What if our goal wasn’t to get a crowd together, but to change the world, to turn the world upside down?

What if our way of “doing church” was so simple, basic, memorable, easy, reproducible, that anybody could do it, no matter how long they have been a Christian, or how much they know, or how much training they don’t have?

By Jeremy Myers Filed Under Ecclesiology Written on April 9, 2009

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What if… (Part 3)

Here is Part 3 of my imaginations about ways to reinvent church. This post deals with leadership in the church. I know that various congregations around the country are already practicing several of these ideas, and so there is really not much new here.

What if leadership structure, requirements, and functions were different?

What if we didn’t promote people into leadership just because they had letters after their name, or lots of donations in the tithe plate?

What if elder’s meetings were more about prayer for the people and ministries of the church than discussing the myriad and minute problems and issues of the church?

What if leaders didn’t have to “dress up” in order to show they were the leaders?

What if, when a new person visited our gathering, it wasn’t immediately obvious who the leader was? Would this be possible?

What if decisions were made, not based on what other churches or doing, not based on what the church has always done, not based on what the numerous church policies say, but instead only made after people had sought the truth of God through Scripture, the timing of God through prayer, and the leading of God through reliance on the Holy Spirit?

What if leaders were chosen, not based on who gave the most money, who was the most vocal complainer or critic, who had been at the church the longest, but on the spiritual characteristics of humility, teachability, servant hearted, and had respect for authority?

What if we didn’t have committees?

What if people didn’t need permission from the pastor or a committee to go serve and meet a need?

What if leaders were chosen from within the current fellowship, rather than being recruited or hired from outside?

What if all local churches were autonomous…meaning they were not part of a denomination?

What if all local churches were part of a denomination?

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Feel free to answer these below or provide questions of your own.

By Jeremy Myers Filed Under Discipleship, Evangelism, Mission Written on April 3, 2009

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What if… (Part 2)

Reinventing church requires looking at all that we are and all that we do and asking ourselves, “Is this biblical? Is this the best way of accomplishing what the church is supposed to be and do? Is there a better way?” One key area that such questions need to be asked is in the area of Outreach and Evangelism. (You’ll see by the way I’ve worded some of the questions below that I feel very strongly about this issue.)

What if Outreach, Evangelism and Missions were different?

What if the pastor was not seen as the one who does the evangelism through his sermon?

What if evangelism wasn’t often defined simply as “inviting someone to church for a special event or to hear a special speaker”?

What if the people in church viewed themselves first and foremost as missionaries? How could pastors help them develop this paradigm shift?

What if we viewed supporting missionaries as more important than building a new building or upgrading our existing one?

What is “mission” anyway? Who are “the missionaries”?

What if all our people knew how to share the message of eternal life?

What if there was more to evangelism than simply sharing the message of eternal life (or the four spiritual laws, the Romans Road, or whatever)?

What if we don’t have “evangelism events” but instead trained people to simply love others?

What if we didn’t have “revivals” but instead focused on 1-to-1 discipleship?

What if we stopped praying for revivals and the “evangelization of the lost” and actually went across the street and served somebody?

What if we stopped trying to plan and program our own “serve the community” events, and just joined in the events which the community was already doing? (For ideas, go look at the bulletin board in the Town Hall or the Supermarket. Call the Courthouse, the Fire Department, or the Police. Contact your mayor for a list of events.)

What if evangelism took place in people’s homes as we invite them over to our houses, and us to theirs?

What if we showed as much grace toward believers and unbelievers as God shows toward us?

What if evangelism was just as much about right living as it is about right believing?

Would more people want to become followers of Jesus if we lived life with more joy, laughter, love, patience, kindness, and gentleness?

What if we didn’t care about people using profanity in our presence, or if they smelled of alcohol and cigarettes?

What if, rather than trying to impress our views upon other people, we tried to learn about their views instead, and asked them what they believed?

What if, rather than trying to get people to act like us, talk like us, look like us as soon as they “get saved” we let the Holy Spirit work in them at their (and His) own pace?

What if we stopped saying “Praise God” and “God Bless You” at the end of every sentence?

What if we stopped telling people “I’ll pray for you” and tried to help them instead?

What if, instead of practicing “apologetic evangelism” where we are always trying to defend the faith against the heresies of the heathen, we loved people and served people?

What if we let people get involved in church who weren’t sure yet what they believed about Jesus or God?

What if evangelism and discipleship were the same thing?

What if we didn’t focus so much on evangelism, but on discipleship?

What if the gospel was more than just a set of doctrines, but an all-encompassing claim on life?

What if nearly everything in life could be redeemed for discipleship?

What if we stopped using Christian music, Christian movies, Christian literature and started watching and reading the same things that our neighbors and coworkers are?

What if, instead of starting Christian Coffee Houses, Christian Work-Out Centers, and Christian Bridge Clubs, we started just going to these places that were already in our community and meeting the people who go there?

What if we stopped “having church” in our Christian buildings, and instead went down to the local beach, or the local restaurant, or the local bar?

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Feel free to provide your own questions in the comment section below.