Micah 6:8

Ha ha

ht: Persecuted Church Weblog

The People formerly known as The Congregation

I found a great article by Bill Kinnon about the trend of people leaving the institutional church because they have become jaded by the corporate success model that so many churches are driven by. There are some great comments and links that follow the article that are also worth reading. The iMonk also has his own insightful comments on the article as well.

I'm not sure why it is that so many people are becoming jaded by institutional churches. I suspect that partly it has to do with the fact that our society has shifted to be less specialist focused. As more people have access to more knowledge our need to depend on specialists has decreased substantially. I think that this has led us to be less trusting of people that claim to be specialists. We're more sceptical of our doctors, researchers, counsellors, teachers, politicians and pastors. The guise of expert is crumbling. Now like never before are people starting to question everything that is around them and ask why we are doing things the way that we are. This is a good thing even if it is scary for the "experts". There really are no expert Christians. Yes, some are called to be pastors, teachers, preachers, apostles and prophets but that should be five people and not one. If we can do away with the idea that one man is the head of a congregation, realize that our job is to love one another, and not to put on Sunday services, then maybe we can see a church where everyone puts in as much as they can and see themselves as responsible for their church as they really are.

Oh how I long to see a more beautiful bride...

14th Century Japanese Christianity

I found an interesting article on the Christianity Today blog. The author goes through a short history lesson of 14th century Japanese Christianity. The church started when missionaries brought the faith to Japan but when they were expelled because of persecution the church went downhill.

Over time the Crypto-Christians confused their Christian beliefs and their Japanese disguises. The result was the emergence of a hybrid religion no longer resembling the orthodox faith of the missionaries. When Europeans regained entrance to Japan in the 19th Century they were astonished to see communities of hidden Christians returning from the hills around Nagasaki.

This amazement waned, however, when they discovered the faith of these forgotten Christians was hardly Christianity. As one historian notes, "Although the faith followed by the underground Christians had the outward appearances of Christianity, the vital content and spirit of the religion evolved into something entirely different...It would be more accurate to call it a folk religion altogether Japanese in spirit and content."

After going through the history lesson author goes on to challenge the church of today.

Have we, like our processors, become Crypto-Christians? Seeking survival and fearing irrelevance, have we clothed our faith with the forms of our American culture to the point that our Christianity has morphed into something entirely different¿a folk religion altogether consumerist in spirit and content? Like the Kakure of Japan, are we holding so tightly to our faith we cannot sense that it is already slipping between our fingers?

By replicating the practices of the nations has the church, like ancient Israel, yielded its imagination to the idols of our day? By heavily adopting cultural forms, like the Kakure, have we forgotten the central teachings and practices of the apostles? Was Walter Brueggemann correct when he wrote, "The contemporary American church is so largely enculturated to the American ethos of consumerism that is has little power to believe or to act."?

I think that he is bang on on this point. One particularly insightful commenter says "In fact it is impossible for a Christian believer's faith to to remain intact when they hide it in a closet. What usually happens is that when the more congenial moment arrives there is no longer any faith left to proclaim. It is impossible to imagine a believer's faith which is not defiant and fearless in the face of the cultural forces that are mobilized to suffocate it." Another says, "Christianity became a lifestyle enhancement or a faith upgrade feature for the Kakure. They chose to save their lives, and frost them with a little Christianity."

We trying to preserve our churches by making sure that there are new converts in the pews. What we are preserving though is only a faint resemblance to all the church is intended to be. Also, I think that often we disguise our own selfish desires for a comfortable life with being seeker sensitive. The cold hard truth is seeker sensitive. It's what they need to hear if they are going to be saved. If the world isn't interested in our message then that isn't our problem. We don't need to cave to their pressures and make the message of truth more palatable. We just need to be faithful in what the Lord has commanded of us, to preach the gospel, feed the widows and orphans, give away our money, carry his cross and forfeit our lives for his mission.

Become Your Own Cult Leader

I found this video on adversaria's site. Alistair has some interesting comments on how some of the tactics suggested for starting a cult are commonly found within standard evangelical churches. Here is an excerpt of what he has to say.

The indoctrination of new converts. There is a difference between teaching and indoctrination. Good teaching should equip the mind to think critically. Indoctrination tends to turn off the mind¿s critical faculties. Indoctrination imposes an ideology upon people, an ideology that often restricts them from giving expression to important aspects of their lives. Teaching grants people the tools with which they can begin to work towards true expression of the world, God and themselves. Someone who has been taught, rather than indoctrinated, is empowered to think in a way that goes beyond their teachers.

One thing that I want to add that I don't think that he addresses is that the amount of respect and submission that people often have to show towards pastors can sometimes become quite cult-like. If want evidence of this I would suggest that you read some of the articles on the Battered Sheep website. Even in normal, "healthy" churches people are often not given enough space to critisize the pastor. He is the teacher and the one with seminary training so who are we sheep to question his knowledge or authority. Pastor's and elders should be considered to be peers but with more experience, similar to the way that you might consider your father, uncles, or grandfather. They should not be looked upon as your boss or like a mini pope who has all the answers and that we need to follow blindly. I think that this sort of power is liable to corrupt any normal person. It's too great a responsibility for any man or group of men.

Great Advances for the Church's Reputation.

A Kenyan evangelist who claimed to have created miraculous pregnancies through the power of prayer has been arrested in London by British police on child trafficing charges. (read article).

This is such a disgusting situation. I sure hope that the British churches very publically denounce this scoundrel. This just indicates to me how ridiculously evil so much of the church is. Imagine if a woman in your church who has been infertile for years become miraculously pregnant with a special "no gestation" pregnancy by the prayers of a Kenyan evangellist who is in town. Wouldn't you ask a few questions? Maybe that's how he was found out but why didn't this become a massive scandal after the first incident? Are people really so gullible that they could think that this could be legitamate? Are church people really so comfortable with evil that they wouldn't report something so obviously wrong? Apparently so, shame on them.

Martin Luther King Jr on the Church

Here is another powerful quote by Martin Luther King Jr's "Letter from Birmingham Jail". I think that this is a very prophetic message that still applies to the church today. All too often the modern church is too busy naval gazing to see that they are complicit in some of the horrible injustice in our society. Sometimes by their lack of willingness to do anything and sometimes through direct injustice. Take heed.

In deep disappointment I have wept over the laxity of the church. But be assured that my tears have been tears of love. There can be no deep disappointment where there is not deep love. Yes, I love the church. How could I do otherwise? l am in the rather unique position of being the son, the grandson and the great- grandson of preachers. Yes, I see the church as the body of Christ. But, oh! How we have blemished and scarred that body through social neglect and through fear of being nonconformists.

There was a time when the church was very powerful in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators"' But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide. and gladiatorial contests.

Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an archdefender of the status quo. Par from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent and often even vocal sanction of things as they are.

But the judgment of God is upon the church as never before. If today's church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it vi lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.

Church Services

I’m up in Dease Lake right now with Joel and my kids while he is doing an elective at the medical clinic. It’s really beautiful up here but very cold and remote. We’re seven hours from any town of more then a few hundred people. I’ve been bored still and under stimulated so this entry isn't going to be very insightful. The most exciting thing that I’ve done in the last week and half was attend the little local church here. It was a very typical service in many ways but what was a little weird was that it was only eight people not counting my family. Someone did mention that they did have a few more members that weren’t present at the time. The pastor and his wife led the worship time with microphones and slides on a television screen and then he took an offering and preached. We then ate our little square of bread and had our thimble full of grape juice. Why couldn’t we have had a whole piece of bread and cup of juice, or even a meal?! (There was a potluck afterwards but it wasn’t considered the Lord’s supper.) Why couldn’t we have sat around and shared our struggles with obedience and then prayed for each other? We were only 12 people in total. Instead we got a silly little ceremony that left me wanting something authentic. I’ve become so accustomed to the house church model over the last couple of years that this just screamed bizarre.

I got to thinking about why they were running a service this way for so few people. I’m sure that the majority of the reason is simply tradition and the usual inability of people to think outside of the normal way of doing things. I think that there are many reasons that this model of church ministry has come into place. To start I think that this model of church is the easiest for everyone involved. Nobody really ends up needing to vulnerable with anyone else. The lay people don’t end up having to do anything for the local body at all if they don’t want to and the pastor just needs to put of a little service once weekly and he’s done his duty to the congregation, well, at least mostly. It’s easy to come to church, get your spiritual batteries charged and then go out into the week on your own. It’s hard to be vulnerable and sacrificial with fellow Christians that you may not particularly like. It is plain old hard to live in real community with fellow believers.

I think that the main difficult thing about the typical church model is that it requires a lot of money to maintain a building and pay any staff. One of the announcements was that the church would be starting a finance committee. Why in the world should a church of 15-20 people really need a finance committee? Why couldn’t they just talk about the money that they wanted to spend together? If they met in homes they could have been using the offering money to help the poor rather then provide for their building which was actually just a small trailer then had been redone church style. Surely someone in the church could accommodate the group or possibly people could take turns. I just wish people would start to think about things and being willing to experiment with better models.

Middle Class Christianity

We visited a house church here this morning. We were talking about how middle class most of the western church is and how it's a hindrance to evangelism and godliness. Until I became a part of our current church community I never felt like I could bring some poorer people that I know to the church that I was a part of because there would have been too much of a cultural divide for them to cross.They would have been looked down on because they were poor, broken and irresponsible. How much more should the church be reaching out to these people? It has been something that has really bothered me with the communities that I was involved with before. Our current church is a salvation army cell church that is in the poorest area of town. All the leaders, and most of the other people, live in the neighbourhood. Nothing is pretentious or trendy it's just real community and love. People are loved and encouraged to surrender. They're invited to become Christians and Christians only, not middle class yuppies. I think that this is the way that church is supposed to be.

I think that middle class Christianity also holds back our own spiritual development. The gospel calls for radical surrender of everything. That includes all typical middle class luxuries. I think that typical Christianity brings people into the church and then soaks them in a very comfortable lifestyle. We're taught to be nice people but I think that it usually, sadly lacks the radical fanaticism that God calls us to. How much more can we give to God? If you can give more then do it.

Take warning. Jesus doesn't look to fondly on half hearted devotion. This is what he has to say about it.

So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Rev 3:16

Church Membership

I've been through a number of different church situations and I've recently noticed that my understanding of what it means to be a part of a church has changed fundamentally. Originally I felt that my identity as a Christian was closely related to the local congregation that I was a part of. I'm now coming to see myself as identifying less with a specific congregation and more with the universal church.

I'm starting to feel more that my church community are those Christians that I regularly meet with and share my spiritual life with. If that means that I'm not a member of a specific local congregation then so be it. I've not quit meeting with the body of believers; it's just that my community is more distributed. This also means that if my community happens mostly all be a part of one larger local congregation and I happen to attend their services I don't feel obligated to commit to that church organization. What I feel like I need to be committed to is building up the universal church and building into the lives of my community.

I hope that I've explained myself adequately. I am committed to my church. While I my feel no obligation to tithe to a local Christian society (church) I do feel obligated to share all that I can with fellow christians. I also think that all believers need to share their spiritual and day-to-day lives with other believers. We are meant to operate as a body and not as individual organs independent of one another. All that I'm trying to say is that being a member of the church means more that you are Christian then that you've filled out a membership form at a local christian group.

Evangelism

There is a very thought provoking essay over on the Internet Monk's blog about non-Christians and how Christians typically respond to them. I appreciated this appraisal of the non-Christians:

The people I know are consumers, not seekers. They consume entertainment, movies, personal events, possessions, experiences and relationships. The idea that God has a claim on them is comprehensible, but virtually meaningless. What they want and what they need is in this world, and is not on the other side of a prayer.

I also agreed with him here:

Today's young people are bored with God. They are not "seeking" God at all, but are living on the hardened surface of a fallen human experience, seeking to make sense of what is incomprehensible apart from Christ. We cannot "create" interest apart from the work of the Spirit. Our calling to be witnesses is not to approach the world like cattle to be herded, but as persons to be loved in the way God loves this fallen world through Jesus Christ.

The first thing that this essay got me thinking about was how I need to be more involved with evangelism. I think that the gimmicky evangelism that he talks about is easier then real relationship based evangelism because then people have less fear of being criticized. Let me explain. If you have a real relationship with someone then telling them that you think that their whole life is headed in the wrong direction takes courage and firm faith that your position is correct. If on the other hand you herd some people into your building for a harvest festival and then put tracts in the goody bags you've expended no risk. If someone doesn't like the tract then they just won't come back the next year. I think that my lack of courage has to do with the fact that I lack strong faith. If I really deeply believed that I held the key information that could change a person's life and eternity then I would have no shame in or problem letting everybody know.

Another thing that I thought about was how too often my spirituality is selfishly motivated. I seek personal transformation so that I can get along better with others. I continue believing in God and the hope that he gives because if I didn't then I would fall into a horrible depression that would likely end in suicide. Once in a while I actually do something just for God but frankly this is rare. My faith is too consumeristic. I guess that this is just a part of the fall and shows yet again how desperately I depend on God's forgiveness and mercy.

I suspect that a lot of other people in the church are involved because it at the moment that is what is the most satisfying thing to do. Once something better comes along they will move on. I think that this is probably why people who seem to be super committed Christians can walk away. Their faith was never truly faith but being a Christian was pragmatic in a worldly sense for a time and then it became pragmatic to leave it behind. I wonder how many people would continue to self-identify as Christian if there was serious persecution in our countries. I bet that that would drive out out the uncommitted. Maybe we should pray that it would come.

It's Easier for a Rich Man...

There is a good post on Under the Acacias about how our perception of God is warped by our level of awareness of the suffering in the world. I've recently realized that the typical things that we call blessings—like food, water, clothing, a parking space, etc.—are not really blessings. Jesus says, "But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort already. Woe to you who are well satisfied with food now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep." Obviously, to some extent, having our needs met is a blessing but the over abundance is definitely not. This is also in line with proverbs 30 when the speaker says, "Two things I ask from you; do not refuse me before I die: Remove falsehood and lies far from me; do not give me poverty or riches, feed me with my allotted portion of bread, lest I become satisfied and act deceptively and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or lest I become poor and steal and demean the name of my God." I think that our wealth and isolation is a disease that is corrupting the church.

I think that the disconnect between the rich Christian view of God and reality is part of the reason that I feel really unsettled in a traditional church. So much time and energy is poured into aesthetic or silly things like the bulletin layout or the pew alignment. When the church here is so spoiled with luxury and so removed from pain how are they really expected to continue focusing on what is important. I crave a church that keeps focus of the kingdom of God.

I certainly haven't figured out exactly what it means to do justice, love mercy or to walk humbly with my God. I hope that my complaints about the church don't sound like I'm saying that. Part of the reason that I crave a better church is because I need it. I long for fellow Christians that can help show me where I've wandered away from holy living. I long for a community to work with. I get bits of it here and there from friends but nothing like what I know that I need.

Trinity Broadcasting Network = Total BS Network

We just had some friends visiting us today that are visiting Canada right now from Zambia. They were telling about Zambia which I find so fascinating because we intend to move overseas someday and I itch to know a little of what it will be like. Anyways, they were telling us that in Zambia there are two television channels that you can pick up without a satellite. One is the local station that is government run and doesn't always have programing available. The other is the trinity broadcasting network (TBN). How depressing. I just wish that my faith could have another name then Christianity so that I didn't have to associate with such an awful bastardization of what I love. It's not just the network that I hate being associated with but all the "Ra ra ra USA" and the "God will give us health and wealth" sort of Christianity that I despise. I think that TBN sort of represents it all and unfortunately is spreading the message to the world that that is what Christianity is all about.

About a year ago Joel and I went out and protested a Benny Hinn crusade that had come to town. It's so depressing to see so many people sucked in to such a crook and his schemes. We handed out pamphlets to people as they approached the stadium trying to educate them about the truth behind what they were about to see. Why are so many people sucked into this crap? The true church needs to stand up and speak out against these false prophets. When they are afraid to do so then people are going to be led astray because the silence of the church is a quiet affirmation of their messages. Also, the silence of the church to speak out against the false prophets means that the rest of the world will come to associate Christianity with the frauds because they don't know that there is anything different or any internal opposition.

I don't want my blog to become too whiney about the church but I must say that I'm frustrated. There is far too much navel gazing and far to little action. I know that TBN and their brand of Christianity is not true Christianity but I'm frustrated that so few people actually know this when it should be so obvious. The truth needs to get out and we need to spread it.

Networks vs Community

I've been reading John Taylor Gatto's book "Dumbing us Down - The hidden curriculum of compulsory schooling". He has a lot of interesting things to say about the education system but what I found particularly interesting was his discussion on how school are only networks pretending to serve as communities. What I thought was interesting was that his comments on this could just have easily been used to describe and critique churches.

What I dream for in church is what Gatto describes as a true community. He says, "A community is a place in which people face each other over time in all their human variety, good parts, bad parts, and all the rest. Such places promote the highest quality of life possible, lives of engagement and participation."

Networks, however, don't require the whole person, but only a narrow piece. If you function in a network it ask you to suppress all the parts of yourself except the network-interest part—a highly unnatural act although one you can get used to. In exchange, the network will deliver efficiency in the pursuit of some limited aim. This is in fact a devil's bargain, since on the promise of some future gain one must surrender the wholeness of one's present humanity. If you enter into too many of these bargains you will split yourself into many specialized pieces, none of them completely human. And no time is available to reintegrate them.

Unfortunately, this what churches usually become. There is usually the goals of getting the service prepared, the bulletin ready and Sunday school coordinated. There is usually the underlying goal for spiritual growth of some group of people. Fellowship is one component of church. Usually as part of a list of other things to get done. This creates a problem in that love is given a backseat to business. Gatto describes this problem as follows:

It is a puzzling development, as yet poorly understood, that the 'caring' in networks is in some important way feigned. Not maliciously, but in spite of any genuine emotional attractions that might be there, human behavior in network situations often resembles a dramatic act—matching a script produced to meet the demands of a story. And, as such, the intimate moments in networks lack the sustaining value of their counterparts in community. Those of you who remember the wonderful closeness possible in army camp life or sports teams, and who have now forgotten those you were once close with will understand what I mean. In contrast, have you ever forgotten an uncle or an aunt?

If the loss of true community entailed by masquerading in networks is not noticed in time, a condition arises in the victim's spirit very much like the "trout starvation" that used to strike wilderness explorers whose diet was made up exclusively of stream fish. While trout quell the pangs of hunger—and even taste good—the eater gradually suffers for want of sufficient nutrients.

Churches that become spiritual networks are dangerous and can leaves it's members as victims of trout starvation. They suck so much time and energy out of people without feeding them what they really need. Gatto says that the only networks he considers completely safe are "the ones that reject their communal facade, acknowledge their limits, and concentrate solely on helping (him) do a specific and necessary task. But a vampire network like a school, which tears off huge chunks of time and energy needed for building community and family—and always asks for more—needs to have a stake driven through its heart and be nailed into its coffin." The problem that we currently face is that "given our unquenchable need for community and the unlikelihood of obtaining that community in a network, we are in such desperation of any solution that we are driven to deceive ourselves about the nature of these liaisons." People are unwilling to admit that what they have in church is not really community. Gatto adds that "whatever 'caring' really means, it means something more than simple companionship or even comradeship of shared interests."

I think that answer lies in a complete gutting of all things to do with church besides loving God and loving others. Who says we need "services"? Who says that we need bible studies? Who says that we need budgets? Why do we use communion cups? Church should solely be about loving God and loving others. Absolutely everything else is dispensable. We will never see true community in our churches unless we stop running after other silly goals and make our first priority to love. By love I don't mean fondness or occasional small acts of service but messy, involved sort of love that leaves one incredibly vulnerable and exposed. If you think that this is hard then try carrying a cross.

Church Sign

I was passing a church the other day that had a sign on it that said something along the lines of "Since God has forgiven you, you need to forgive yourself". It made me cringe for a few reasons. First off, a church sign is public and everyone see it, Christian and non-Christian. God has not forgiven everyone. John 3:36 says that "whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." Having God's wrath on someone is not compatible with having God's forgiveness. Forgiveness is conditional on faith, true faith that involves repentance and surrender. This sign is harmful because it allows non-Christians to continue to self-delude themselves into believing that they are forgiven and that the wrath of God does not remain on them.

The second thing about this sign that bothered me was the encouragement to forgive oneself. This is terrible advise for a Christian or a non-Christian. We can not forgive ourselves. The truth is that we are awful. Everyone of us. Apart from the grace and mercy of God his wrath justly remains on us just as it should. Encouraging people to forgive themselves encourages them to bypass their need for the cross. Trying to forgiving ourselves is an attempt to escape the conviction of the Holy Spirit. This said, I do need to mention that Christians are freed from sin and death and should live in gratitude to God. Their sin is no longer holding them back and should not be depressing them. This is not the same as self-forgiveness. It is simply acknowledging and appreciating our position before God.

Another thing that I found frustrating is that these words are so similar to Christ's words about our need to forgive others. I think that that could potentially mislead people to think that this is actually a biblical principle. It does sound like something that you might find in the bible so people that don't know the bible very well might think that this as a command to be followed. This criticism on it's own would be insignificant but when coupled with the fact that the saying is not a biblical principle I think that it is dangerous. I'm sure that the creator didn't try to intentionally deceive people but I think that we need to be more careful to analyze sayings and expressions that we're fed by the church.

Sampson and Delilah Action Figures!?

A good friend of mine was recently in her local Christian bookstore where she noticed a new action figure section. In the section, which is bad enough for me to comment on, they had, believe it or not, Sampson and Delilah action figures. Why is there a market for these? Delilah looks like a seductive prostitute! She has cleavage! Part of the point of that Bible story is to teach us that if we're not careful to keep ourselves pure we can be tempted to do stupid sinful things. Maybe the fact that there is a market for these dolls is an indication that the church has done so poorly at keeping itself pure that it's become stupid enough to buy these toys and other similar junk.

My biggest beef is not so much the dolls but what they represent. James 1:27 says that "pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep oneself unstained by the world." The fact that people buy things like these shows me that the church has largely failed to teach people both of the qualifications for a pure and undefiled religion. When people waste their money on stupid junk like this they are failing to help widows and orphans with their money. The fact that they are willing to buy slutty dolls for their kids indicates that they have not kept themselves unstained by the world.

Working Together

I remember back from my Bible school days at Capernwray Harbour during a lecture series on Romans the teacher of the series provided an uncommon interpretation of spiritual gifts. He taught that spiritual gifts should be understood as spiritual strengths rather then a one time gift that you receive upon conversion. He explained that this practically meant that strengths and ministries would change through out our lives but whatever we did we should do with enthusiasm and love. I think that he was right. This interpretation makes so much more sense when compared with reality.

I think that as we mature in Christ we naturally develop passions that incorporate our strengths. We also find where we want to focus our service to the kingdom of God. That ends up meaning that some will be apostles, some evangelists, some teachers, some workers of miracles, you can see where I'm going here. We're all in a body together filling different roles because we're all not going to be great at everything that is good.

Something that I've noticed recently is that when people find their passion and strengths they tend to think that everyone else should be diving head long into the ministry that they are passionate about. I know that I'm often guilty of doing this. I care deeply about social justice and it drives me mad how few other people are doing anything in this important area. The problem is that I don't care to the same degree about evangelism or other important things to the kingdom of God. I have a couple friends that care deeply about this and don't understand why we spend so much time on social justice issues. I think that we need to learn to apply the following verses.

For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith. For just as in one body we have many members, and not all the members serve the same function, so we who are many are one body in Christ, and individually we are members who belong to one another. And we have different gifts according to the grace given to us. Rom 12:3–6a

I think that this would not be nearly as common a problem if the church as we know it was less apathetic. I get frustrated when I recognize that most people don't care about social justice because I feel lonely in my cause. If I knew 5 other people that cared I would feel like I had some friends to help me with my cause and that some difference could be made. Also, I have way more grace (but probably not enough) for people that are passionate about some other ministry. I still encourage them to seek justice for the oppressed but I don't end up feeling angry at their apathy because I know that their energy is just channeled into another part of the kingdom of God. People's stress would be eased if they felt that others were doing their part.

I think that helpful comparison might be to think of the natural body. Imagine that you were the left eye. You were doing your job but one day you noticed that the right eye wasn't working. You would get a little panicked when you realized that you had twice the work to do. You might try to enlist in the right nostril to take the place of the right eye. Unfortunately he's taking a rest too. Getting upset you turn to your hard working buddy the right ear. He says he can't spare the time because the left year is sleeping and he's exhausted. He's wondering why you're not helping him. Silly as this story is, it does illustrate that all the parts are needed in action. We have a job to do and their is no time for playing games. Let us seek first the kingdom of God and run the race until it's complete.

Importing Western Culture with the Gospel

I was a Christian dinner and missions talk this last weekend. The main speaker was a missionary doctor in Africa for several years. During his talk he shared several stories and slides and video clips. I love listening to missionaries share about their experiences because I know that someday I will likely be in similar situations. I also love to hear about the gospel spreading to unbelievers. This talk was particularly interesting to me because my husband is planning to eventually become a missionary doctor. There were lots of inspiring stories and it leaves me just waiting to finally go.

There were some things about the presentation that left me frustrated though. The speaker at one point showed a video clip of their first group baptism in a small creek a few miles away from the village he was in. The whole village trekked over to the creek because they were curious to see what was going to happen. All the baptizees and observers were dressed in their traditional garb and but the man baptizing, presumably the pastor, was dressed in western dress pants and a dress shirt! There were also several slides that showed similarly ridiculous imports of western culture such as wooden pulpits, western church buildings and even an artificial Christmas tree! Most the people that they were serving would never have even seen a pine tree before.

Why do western missionaries feel obliged to introduce all sorts of non-biblical tradition into countries that they evangelize? I suppose that it's probably because they don't know any better or differently. I think that the western church needs to seriously contemplate everything that they do and purge themselves of the non-biblical extras. These extras are not only wasting our time, money and other resources but when other cultures learn to associate Christianity with the whole western package as it's often presented, we run the risk of misleading people to believe that Jesus and his message is an irrelevant western superstition. For the sake of the gospel and it's relevancy lets carefully examine what we deem as essential to godly living and throw out everything that slows us down.

They'll Know That we are Christians by our Middle Class Lifestyles

I'm going to really make an effort here to get back into active blogging :)

Recently I've noticed that the non-Christian world notices the lack of social awareness of the church. We have a non-Christian friend that was imprisoned in Iran for being involved in activism. He mentioned to Joel (my husband) that he confronted his pastor on why Christians aren't involved politically. It bothered him that he was willing to lose all his teeth and endure being beaten for what he believed in and yet Christians here are not willing to stand up against social evil. He explained that his pastor gave some lame excuse about the separation of church and state. Joel explained to him why this was faulty reasoning.

I regularly visit a forum on line for people discussing simple living principles and consumerism. On a recent thread people were discussing how the church doesn't seem to do anything to discourage consumerism and globalization. Shouldn't it bother us that non-Christians can see that the church is failing at it's calling?

The world is watching us. A lot of people can clearly see that the church is not living up to the standards that God has set for it. They can see that collectively are goals are very middle class. Bottom lines is that we want to be comfortable. We're not living the radical lives that Jesus called us to. We're living worldly lives of comfort and entertainment and the world can see it.

What Would the Ideal Church be Like?

Our church is trying to compile a document of what we envision the ideal church to be. We're doing this so that we don't get trapped into simply avoiding things that we dislike in the traditional church without moving on to bigger and better things that God might have for us. I've found that this task is harder then I thought that it would be at first. I've had a fuzzy idea of some things that I wanted to see emphasized and pitfalls that I wanted to avoid but I'm finding it difficult to picture what I think God wants in the ideal church.

Some of the difficulty in this task is that I'm forced to work within human limitations. What I'd really like is to be in heaven where there won't be any more sin, interpersonal conflict or short-sightedness. Unfortunately (and fortunately) I'm still on this side of heaven. I'm trying to think through ways in which God's laws and expectations for us can be practically obeyed without blind legalism or simply skirting around the command.

What are your visions of the perfect church? The document that our church has compiled thus far can be viewed here. Please note that it is a very rough work in progress.

Sexual Immorality and Sin in the Church

Over the last year I've been aware of several different incidences of sexual immorality within different churches. In one situation a new immigrant was living with a girl friend here while his wife was still back in his home country. He told his pastor that the woman was only a roommate. The pastor believed him and was willing to baptize him as a new believer. The crazy thing about this story is that the pastor knew that they were sharing a bed together.

In another situation a friend of mine told me that her sister had become a Christian. When I asked her if she had moved out from her boyfriend's place (and his bed) she tried to assure me that her sister wasn't having sex. This girl had even been caught with birth control on hand and had come up with some excuse as to why she had them. This story is really hard for me to swallow.

Also, my best friend (besides my husband) became pregnant while engaged. Her church's response was to remove her from her role as a Sunday school teacher. She was fairly sure in the situation that the reason that she was removed was because it would upset the parents if she was to remain the position. Nothing else was done or said about the pregnancy.

In the situations where people were claiming to be abstinent I recognize that it is a theoretical possibility. It just seems either very naive to believe that or very wishful. I think that we need to have more nerve to face people when they present us with these tales.

I think that this lack of concern about sexual immorality is just a symptom of an underlying problem. I think that the underlying problem is that most of the church as we know it is afraid to deal with sin in any substantial way. What I mean by this is that we are unwilling to purge the rebellious that are among us and those in roles of preaching are often unwilling to speak against sin that is common in our society. Consider, when was the last time that you heard a sermon about greed, sexual immorality, obeying traffic laws or downloading mp3's? So much of the focus of sermons seems to be about the different blessings that God offers us who believe.

When I've confronted people with sin it's often been excused on the basis that no body is perfect. While I acknowledge that that is true, our standard is perfection. God commands us to be perfect. I recognize that nobody can achieve this standard but we shouldn't except this as an excuse for not trying in ourselves or in others.

I think that the heart of this issue has to do with how we view God's holiness. When we view God as our chum who helps us we tend to forget that he is a holy God that despises sin. We need to remember our place before him. We are wretched, pitiful little worms that were forgiven only because God had mercy on us and was willing to suffer in our place. When I remember this I am more willing and able to acknowledge that my sin spits in the face of that gift. No amount of sin is too small to ignore. It's repulsive to God and it should be to us as well.

Is the Emergent Church a Fad?

Short answer: I think so. I just read a blog entry over on Thin~Spaces that summed up most of my concerns with the emerging church. I hope that it is the community focused element of the emerging church that takes root and not the artistic and culture focused aspects. My dream for a church is to have community of believers that is seeking to radically and actively surrender all areas of our lives for the cause of Christ together. I'll try to unpack that. I want a group of believers that I can come to and share my struggles to surrender with; a group that will understand why I'm giving things up; a group that will help me give up more. I want to be in a group where our focus is on the poor and needy and not on our service style. I want to be in a group where people will seek to spend less of the their resources on themselves and more on those in need. Whether that is people within our group or outside or whether it requires time or money I desire a group that is seeking to love others more and love themselves less. I guess you could say that I desire a group of Christians who are willing and are actively trying to do all that they can for Jesus.

House Churches Have No Sex Appeal

I read an interesting article on the Tall Skinny Kiwi blog. It's about some of the issue with house churches. I'm not sure that I agree with all of it but it worth the read anyways. Christdot had a discussion going on the article a little over a week ago. You can check that out here.

"Tickle Our Ears Prophet"

I mentioned in my last post that I have noticed that many churches seem to focus their sermons on encouraging messages that make the flock feel good without encouraging deep change. I was thinking about this a little more and I think that the following verses applies:

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge; Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage - with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of the evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Tim 4:1-5

I've had people label me militant, negative and extremist in the past. Often what I say is negative because often what I see is negative. We live in a sick world and the church is very sick as well. I'm not about the start telling people that the church is doing a good job when I just don't think it is. I'm going to correct, rebuke and encourage righteousness. The prophets carried a negative message because the situation that they were in was negative. I imagine that they were labeled militant, negative and extremist from time to time too. Giving comforting little "chicken soup for the soul" type messages only make people feel comfortable and content. Why would I want to do that?

Conflict

We were talking about conflict in our church group yesterday about how conflict is handled within our culture and within the church. Within the church we have a morbid fear of conflict. Our consumeristic approach to church leads people to leave a church when interpersonal conflict arises. Because of this many church leaders fear creating conflict and desperately work to produce a sense of peace within the congregation. Sin is not dealt with in many of these situations because it means that conflict will arise. In many churches that I have been in, sermon after sermon is about God's love, grace, peace or other good things but without equal attention given to our sin and responsibilities this lead to lazy sinful Christians. Then when someone is actively sinning they are often excused to avoid conflict. There are definitely some sins that get attention and for the most part will be dealt with such as adultery or alcoholism but when was the last time you saw someone disfellowshiped for greed? 1 Cor 5:11 says that they should be.

Another problem is that we keep people at an arms length because when people get too close then conflict will inevitably rear it's head. This weakens our ministry to others. We are to be united in Christ and this unity is a powerful witness to the world. As people are hungry for community united inviting Christians are a powerful way to draw people to the gospel. I know that it was the loving nature of Christians that drew me to Christ. Imagine how much more powerful our witness would be if we were united in deep love for one another.

What I don't know is where the line between confrontation and accepting the other the person where they are should be. My family never had any problem confronting each other over anything that even slightly annoyed us (usually in a not so nice way). I'm trying to learn when to bite my tongue and when to speak up for the truth.

Authentic Praise

I stumbled upon what looks to be a very good blog today called the house church blog and found a great article on worship within a house church setting. My only concern is that I'm not completely comfortable with the use of the word worship to describe something that is better described as praise or adoration. I miss the emotional experience that I used to get singing in the traditional church but I've recognized that it isn't necessary for my relationship with God. This sounds so much better. I think that spending time doing this a group would help us grow together emotionally. As well, it would draw us closer to God because we are choosing to be vulnerable before him as well as others.

The Beautiful Bride of Christ?

There is an interesting excerpt on the the dying church blog that came from the desert pastor's blog that got me thinking. Here are some of my thoughts on it.

I do understand where this is coming from but I feel uncomfortable with it. I left the traditional church and am working with my husband and some other people to start a new church because all our efforts to bring about change were shot down. We felt like we were beating our heads against the wall. We were told things like "that's not the way our church does things" when we suggested simple changes. We think that fundemental changes need to be made but when we couldn't even effect simple changes we felt like we could accomplish more by starting over. When the church won't consider singing the hymns from a transparency instead of the hymnal in order to improve the flow between the choruses and hymns do you really think that they will listen to us when we suggest that maybe they should give up having nice homes and a comfortable lifestyles for the sake of the kingdom of God?

I do love the bride of Christ and I will never give up on the church completely but I think that sometimes when the institution that has grown up around her is so infested and corrupted with bad theology and ecclesiology there comes a point where the structures need to be torn down in order to make way for the new. Consider when God sent Isreal into exile he did it because they were so corrupt that nothing else would bring them to repentance. He didn't write them off completely and start again rather he saved a faithful remenent to rebuild his people from. Similarily, I haven't writen off the church and I don't think God has either. I think that the church's culture and attitudes need to be rebuilt by the faithful who are willing to die to self and live their lives and build the church in what ever way will best bring glory to God.

An Upside Down Church

I've been looking for fellow Christians out there on the web that are willing to follow Jesus where ever he might take them. I've found a lot of emerging church discussion but little discussion on the extremities to which the gospel calls us. I've also found people out there that are dissatisfied with the current state of the church. I've found that often these people only recognize one or two of the weaknesses in the church that I perceive or they are more focused on the outward manifestations of deeper problems.

In the emerging church group I've found that there are a lot of people that recognize that the traditional church is steeped in tradition that repels the average secular person. They recognize that Christians need community and that genuine community will be more attractive then an average service will be to the unreached. While I recognize that these things are true and that work need to be done to fix these problems I think that the more core problem is an issue of selfishness. The traditional church has not adapted to the culture because they are too focused on what feel most comfortable to them. I don't think that most of the emerging church has overcome this problem. They've changed their style of doing church but have they realigned the heart of church back onto Jesus? How is the emerging church all that different then its father? They still have to have services; they still usually have a sermon; they still have praise time that is called "worship"; they still have transparencies or power point; they still do "Sunday school". I argue instead that the church needs to turned upside down.

I'm sure that there are people out there in the discussing extremities but I can't seem to find them. I feel a bit lonely in my journey. Do any of you know of groups or individuals that are looking at being extremists? Please let me know.

Our Missional Assignment

Here is an interesting exert that I found on the Dying Church.

The North American Church is suffering from severe mission amnesia. It has forgotten why it exists. The church was created to be the people of God to join him in his redemptive mission to the world. The church was never intended to exist for itself. It was and is the chosen instrument of God to expand his kingdom. The church is the bride of Christ. Its union with him is designed for reproduction, the growth of the kingdom. Jesus does not teach his disciples to pray, "Thy church come." The kingdom is the destination. In its institutional preoccupation the church has abandoned its real identity and reason for existence.

God did not give up on his mission in the Old Testament, when Israel refused to partner with God. God is a reckless lover. He decided to go on with the mission himself. We do not need to be mistaken about this: if the church refuses its missional assignment, God will do it another way. The church has, and he is. God is pulling end runs around the institutional North American church to get people in the streets. God is inviting us to join him on mission, but it is the invitation to be part of a movement, not a religious club. (Reggie McNeal, The Present Future)

I agree with what is said here but I want to add a few things. I think that the reason that the church is suffering from "missional amnesia" is that the individuals within the church are suffering from the same condition. The individuals have forgotton why they exist. We have been called to join God's redemptive mission to the world. We were never intended to become Christians for our own benefit. We have been chosen to work towards the expansion of God's kingdom. Jesus did not teach his disciples to pray, "Thy blessings come". The kingdom is the destination. In our self-focused preoccupation we have abandoned our real identity and reason for existance. If we do not learn to focus our attention and lives on building God's kingdom he will do it without us.

How Suburbia has Polluted Christian Community

Thin~Spaces has an excellent commentary on why Christian community has become such a buzz within the emmerging church movement. I think that it is worth considering within the context of our own lives. Here is a exert from it but is worth reading all of.

The suburban mindset has invaded our churches. Our desire for peace, rest, and refuge become the subtle subtext behind what we do. We wish to maintain the illusion of community at all costs. We forget that the reality of community is often messy and larger than our suburban "wish dream" (Dietrich Bonehoffer's term) of and idealized Christian community.

True community cannot exist in such a context. Like a family, it requires the honest interaction between people. It allows for conflict and confrontation within the bounds of Christian love. The suburban quest for community becomes a subtle idolatry. (This holds true for the emerging expression of church as well.) We have forgotten that true peace and rest is in Jesus alone as we look for it in our relationships with one another. Our idea of a deep Christian community becomes a trap. This corporate illusion of what christian community is must die if we are to develop into the community God intends us to be.

Bonhoeffer speaks of that death when he says,

"...[a] fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what is should be in God's sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given to it. The sooner this shock of disillusionment comes to an individual and to a community the better for both. A community, which cannot bear and cannot survive such a crisis, which insist upon keeping the illusion when it should be shattered, permanently loses in that moment the promise of Christian community. Sooner of later it will collapse. Every human wish dream that is injected into the Christian community is a hindrance to genuine community."

Just as bloodlines are the connecting tie in a family, the bloodline of Christ is the glue of Christian community. i do not have the answer to the dilemma of the suburban mindset. i'd be lecturing throughout the country and getting rich if i did. i do know this: God has bound us together in Jesus and as His family we must live a common life with each other. Disillusionment with the body of christ helps us to transcend our notions of community as we begin to live in the reality of a shared life and biblical community.

Deficiencies Within the Church

Warning: This post may unintentionally offend Catholics, Evangelicals, Emerging Church folk, or Liberals

I've noticed for a while that within the different branches of the church they are missing out on key aspects of the gospel that I find within the Bible. I would love to find or create a church that is strong in all areas. The main areas that I'm thinking of are orthodoxy, moral purity (by this I mean more then just sexual purity), social justice, the pro-life cause (not that this should really been separate from social justice), genuine community, and evangelism. Maybe some of you have noticed other areas that are often neglected.

I'll give some examples of what I am talking about. The Catholic church seems to be the only group around that is strong on both social justice and defending the unborn but I don't think that they are very orthodox. They care about purity to a degree but I think that their structure lends itself to everything but genuine community. They also fall short in the area of evangelism.

The Evangelical church put a huge emphasis on orthodoxy and evangelism. To some extent they care about purity but I think this is changing. They seem to leave social justice to the missionaries or para-church organization and are often only pro-life in name. As far as community goes there is a wide range. Some churches have great cell group communities while others don't encourage anything more then formal church meetings.

The Emerging church crowd seems to be little more aware of social justice then their evangelical parents although they haven't picked up the ball on abortion. They put a huge emphasis on community which is great but they seem to be slipping a bit on orthodoxy and purity. Evangelism also remains a fairly strong focus although I think that it can sometimes be next to nothing more then getting the people into the community

The liberal churches also seems to be better at social justice but is poor at everything else (including defending the unborn).

Of course I'm painting with a very broad brush. There are certainly activists for social justice within the evangelical church as well as orthodox emerging church folks. I'm trying through this entry to point out general trends that I've observed. I hope I didn't offend anyone out there.

Radical Christianity

I found this quote on the The Dying Church but it's original source was the Backyard Missionary. I don't know if the rest of what Mike Yaconelli writes is any good but this is very inspiring. I'd love to see a beautiful church of God that was willing to throw off everything and I mean everything for the advancement of God's kingdom. Bring it on!

What happened to radical Christianity, the un-nice brand of Christianity that turned the world upside down? What happened to the category smashing, life threatening anti-institutional gospel that spread thru the first century like wildfire and was considered (by those in power) dangerous? What happened to the kind of Christians whose hearts were on fire, who had no fear, who spoke the truth no matter the consequence, who made the world uncomfortable, who were willing to follow Jesus wherever he went? What happened to the kind of Christians who were filled with passion and gratitude who everyday were unable to get over the grace of God?

I'm ready for a Christianity that ruins my life that captures my heart and makes me uncomfortable. I want to be filled with an astonishment that is so captivating that I am considered wild and un predictable and... well... dangerous! Yes I want to be dangerous to a dull and boring eligion. I want a faith that is considered dangerous by our predictable and monotonous culture? (Mike Yaconelli, Dangerous Wonder)