In the past week my mind has been blown by gifted ministers of the Gospel.
The leaders of a ministry to young and married people are planning a pizza party for other couples in the church. The leaders are happy to pay for the entire event themselves. Lots of young married couple are coming together! (Yes, you're invited.)
I see one car in particular at church a TON. This lady is committed to teaching the Bible verse-by-verse to women at our church (and kids) every week. She is here 3-5 times per week. She has taught countless dozens of women to feed themselves in the Word.
The team planning a missions conference at our church has met several times to ignite a passion in our church for global evangelism--because it is God's heart.
The women's ministries team at our church met to think and pray about leading women's hearts to the Word. "True Woman" Conference, older teaching younger (I use "older" loosely), reaching out to recent guests? Check.
A knitting ministry sent out gifts to people as they sought the Lord. One lady wrote a "thank-you" on Facebook that described how the gift came just at the right time!
Our men's ministry guys are coming together for a "No Regrets" conference this weekend. I see our leader trying to work it out for people who couldn't otherwise afford it through creative payment options and other help. Lots of guys are going to encounter Christ because our guys took some initiative and paid money out of their own pockets.
I filled out a reference for a guy in Cru this week. He's going to "Summer Project" to continue to develop a heart to serve, give and share Jesus. He is from a broken home, but somehow Jesus is putting him all back together.
I heard the snowblower and salter going often this week. One of our guys is out in the frigid cold at ungodly hours so that when you and I arrive at church there is nothing to worry about. And this makes the Gospel go forth in power.
Two ladies I know spent hours shopping for and preparing a meal for people they will only meet once in this world. It involved picky requests and food allergies. They fed close to 50 people and then they cleaned up and went home and moved on to the next thing. Today, there are gluten-free treats in the church office baked by one of those servants.
A lady I work with loves the kids she serves so much! She picked one up this week who is 10 years old and whose life is upside-down. She parked a block from school while he composed himself and stopped crying before re-affirming her love for him and hugging him tight. She saw him later that day and he was still riding high because she loves him in Jesus. She told me this story through tears.
My senior pastor devotes himself to study and preparation each week so I can know truth from error. he cares so much for my soul (and yours!).
A leader in an ABF took initiative by getting involved in his "sheep's" life. How will this sheep make decisions, clean up his apartment and get his bills straight? The ABF family is getting involved and loves this guy.
When it was cold and snowy Wednesday night, a slew of workers came in to teach the Gospel to children. We had a great turn-out and I know that great spiritual work took place in the lives of many--especially my wife's small group who cried and prayed together. I'm glad we didn't cancel. Thank-you, ministers!
I got a call last night from the man who oversees mercy ministries in our church who is helping out an undisclosed family for an undisclosed amount so they can make it another month. You wouldn't believe the generosity I see.
And these stories just begin to scratch the surface of ministries I get to see each week. At the heart of all these relationships--it's Jesus. The mission for all these relationships? Announce the words and works of Jesus.
Christ is everything.
I am reminded to treasure these things as I think of the "Jethro Principle" of Exodus 18. Divide the work up to trustworthy people who God has gifted. Then? Pray and get out of the way. What a great week!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Community and other elusive ghosts
Jesus did not prescribe for his people task of trying to create community. Yet that buzz word is everywhere.
It's understandable, of course. As culture has chosen to raise our kids to be "independent," and technology isolates each of us into a world of small screens and texting as we silently walk past each other--it only stands to reason that we need to create a fake sense of belonging to a group to overcome the real consequences of decisions.
But what is community? Is it just a place where everybody knows your name? That was the the 1980's answer given by Coach and Sam Malone (on TV's "Cheers"). Is it the result of people thrown into relationship because of currently shared trials (college, raising kids, standing against taxes or running a marathon)? This momentary struggle? Is it a choice we make when we buy local and live simply?
I hope not. When I look back at the end of my life I think it would be extremely dissatisfying to reflect, "At least I ran a lot of miles with my Saturday morning group," or "We stood up together and saw democracy at work--and we lowered taxes by 1% for three years." Those are fine accomplishments. But it's not enough. And sharing the same temporary goals is not community, even if we accomplish the goal.
The church is not in the business of trying to create community.
It is instead in the business of making disciples who have Christ in common. We do that by faithful and powerful preaching and teaching and obeying of the Word of God together. When we have Christ in common we put Him first together. When we have Christ in common we struggle and work at the whole community obeying Him. When we have Christ in common we pray to him together--young and old. When we have Christ in common we give generously and sacrifice our own "rights" in order to prefer others. When we have Christ in common we love with a love that the world does not know. And we teach, and submit and confront and cover sin and love with Christ's love (and yes, we raise our kids together and go to Brewers games, and run marathons and eat local tomatoes).
When we do this "mission" together for a long time, we don't need to call it "missional," we call it a "healthy, obedient church," and it is adorned with sacrifice and good works because we are called to Jesus (and we love him!)--not because we have convinced people to join "the community's" definition of belonging.
Yes, outsiders observe the church and see changed lives, sacrifice, love and mercy--many good works which Christ has prepared for us to do. And hopefully they are challenged and even convicted regarding the reality of Jesus because of the authentic nature of the love and good works of his followers. But the followers must draw people to the one they are following--not simply to the group who says they follow him.
And when we do this striving and giving together for a long time we will see that we don't have to "define community," or create it. Community will happen naturally as we share Christ in common. As we work out disagreements. As we mutually submit to one another. As we give, motivated by the love of Christ. As we preach the Gospel and share the only mission Christ gave his church--to make disciples.
Community comes as we give up everything to follow Christ together.
So I am off the "trying to create community" merry-go-round. I am not going to re-consider my theology every few years in light of some cultural trend. I am not going to re-define my terms now and then so I can be relevant. Instead, I am aiming to give up everything over a long period of time in order to embrace the reality of Jesus Christ. I know that it will be easy sometimes, but incredibly difficult at other times. Sometimes I will have warm and fuzzy feelings towards others in this community, and other times they will hurt me deeply, and I will hurt them. Those moments won't make me feel disillusioned (not for long), because my identity, my aim and my comfort comes from Christ himself.
And when we look back, we will see together that community was not about feeling like we have something in common temporarily; it was about the reality of having someone in common forever.
It's understandable, of course. As culture has chosen to raise our kids to be "independent," and technology isolates each of us into a world of small screens and texting as we silently walk past each other--it only stands to reason that we need to create a fake sense of belonging to a group to overcome the real consequences of decisions.
But what is community? Is it just a place where everybody knows your name? That was the the 1980's answer given by Coach and Sam Malone (on TV's "Cheers"). Is it the result of people thrown into relationship because of currently shared trials (college, raising kids, standing against taxes or running a marathon)? This momentary struggle? Is it a choice we make when we buy local and live simply?
I hope not. When I look back at the end of my life I think it would be extremely dissatisfying to reflect, "At least I ran a lot of miles with my Saturday morning group," or "We stood up together and saw democracy at work--and we lowered taxes by 1% for three years." Those are fine accomplishments. But it's not enough. And sharing the same temporary goals is not community, even if we accomplish the goal.
The church is not in the business of trying to create community.
It is instead in the business of making disciples who have Christ in common. We do that by faithful and powerful preaching and teaching and obeying of the Word of God together. When we have Christ in common we put Him first together. When we have Christ in common we struggle and work at the whole community obeying Him. When we have Christ in common we pray to him together--young and old. When we have Christ in common we give generously and sacrifice our own "rights" in order to prefer others. When we have Christ in common we love with a love that the world does not know. And we teach, and submit and confront and cover sin and love with Christ's love (and yes, we raise our kids together and go to Brewers games, and run marathons and eat local tomatoes).
When we do this "mission" together for a long time, we don't need to call it "missional," we call it a "healthy, obedient church," and it is adorned with sacrifice and good works because we are called to Jesus (and we love him!)--not because we have convinced people to join "the community's" definition of belonging.
Yes, outsiders observe the church and see changed lives, sacrifice, love and mercy--many good works which Christ has prepared for us to do. And hopefully they are challenged and even convicted regarding the reality of Jesus because of the authentic nature of the love and good works of his followers. But the followers must draw people to the one they are following--not simply to the group who says they follow him.
And when we do this striving and giving together for a long time we will see that we don't have to "define community," or create it. Community will happen naturally as we share Christ in common. As we work out disagreements. As we mutually submit to one another. As we give, motivated by the love of Christ. As we preach the Gospel and share the only mission Christ gave his church--to make disciples.
Community comes as we give up everything to follow Christ together.
So I am off the "trying to create community" merry-go-round. I am not going to re-consider my theology every few years in light of some cultural trend. I am not going to re-define my terms now and then so I can be relevant. Instead, I am aiming to give up everything over a long period of time in order to embrace the reality of Jesus Christ. I know that it will be easy sometimes, but incredibly difficult at other times. Sometimes I will have warm and fuzzy feelings towards others in this community, and other times they will hurt me deeply, and I will hurt them. Those moments won't make me feel disillusioned (not for long), because my identity, my aim and my comfort comes from Christ himself.
And when we look back, we will see together that community was not about feeling like we have something in common temporarily; it was about the reality of having someone in common forever.
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Keeping it Simple at church
Life can get complex, but it doesn't have to. Everyone is walking around looking at their phones (watch out for me because I am sometimes looking at my phone while walking), avoiding eye-contact and voice contact with the real people. We all want to appear busy because "busy," after all, is the value of this culture. Busy makes me appear important, sought after and even important.
Some people are actually busy--squeezing tons and tons of productivity into every day. They can bring home the bacon and fry it in a pan (confession: I don't know what that means.) But most people are not busy at all. We waste time on everything from blogging to reading blogs (a little dig at me and you). What are we busy doing? Going through the Starbuck's drive through and carting kids around town to music lessons and soccer practice does not exactly equate to "productive." We might be better off with a home brew and letting our kid kick the soccer ball around the school yard with the neighbor kid. That would mean, of course, staying home, not spilling coffee in the car and missing our opportunity to tell the rec department ref what we thought of his officiating. More dreaded yet? We'd be at home with 'nothing to do.' Our self image would take a hit while we aimlessly wandered Facebook being careful not to comment on people's statuses (is that a word?) lest they become aware that we're not busy.
I go to church. I love it. Church can get complex (but it doesn't have to). We could scheme and plan and try to come up with impressive purpose statements or catchy vision pieces that set us apart from other local churches. In my town, one church actually rented a billboard to announce that they were the "largest contemporary church" in the county--specifically pointing out that they, through much sophistication, are now speaking the language of this culture better than other churches. I don't know--maybe they are. But if they are, I'm not certain it's something to celebrate. I guess it depends on what they are actually saying to the culture in their new language.
So yes, churches have to print literature and put up signs and brew coffee on Sunday mornings--I'll let you be the judge if it's gourmet enough for you. But at the heart of things, church is a gathering of redeemed people who are striving to bring the light of the Gospel to bear on their neighbors through self-sacrifice, painful interactions with fellow sinners and an internal war against their own sin. It's not complex. It's hard. And no amount of sweet logos and 3-D video signage is going to change that.
I don't want a church with a 12-part series on how to be all you can be--I want the Gospel--pure and steady, flowing out of the Word of God and the mouth of the pastor. I want conviction of sin and lives being transformed--slowly, and I want to lead the way--simply. I want to learn to pray better at church. I want peace where there can be peace and war where there must be war. I want sinning to feel uncomfortable and for holiness to be celebrated in such a way that there's still hope for the sinner and humility for the holy.
So I love it when churches are simple. I don't want to lead the next revolution in anything (rant: do you agree with me that the word 'revolution' and off-shoots like 'rebelution' must be banned form book titles now??). I want to do the simple thing that Jesus called us to do--yes in a modern culture--"Follow me."
Hard, but simple.
Some people are actually busy--squeezing tons and tons of productivity into every day. They can bring home the bacon and fry it in a pan (confession: I don't know what that means.) But most people are not busy at all. We waste time on everything from blogging to reading blogs (a little dig at me and you). What are we busy doing? Going through the Starbuck's drive through and carting kids around town to music lessons and soccer practice does not exactly equate to "productive." We might be better off with a home brew and letting our kid kick the soccer ball around the school yard with the neighbor kid. That would mean, of course, staying home, not spilling coffee in the car and missing our opportunity to tell the rec department ref what we thought of his officiating. More dreaded yet? We'd be at home with 'nothing to do.' Our self image would take a hit while we aimlessly wandered Facebook being careful not to comment on people's statuses (is that a word?) lest they become aware that we're not busy.
I go to church. I love it. Church can get complex (but it doesn't have to). We could scheme and plan and try to come up with impressive purpose statements or catchy vision pieces that set us apart from other local churches. In my town, one church actually rented a billboard to announce that they were the "largest contemporary church" in the county--specifically pointing out that they, through much sophistication, are now speaking the language of this culture better than other churches. I don't know--maybe they are. But if they are, I'm not certain it's something to celebrate. I guess it depends on what they are actually saying to the culture in their new language.
So yes, churches have to print literature and put up signs and brew coffee on Sunday mornings--I'll let you be the judge if it's gourmet enough for you. But at the heart of things, church is a gathering of redeemed people who are striving to bring the light of the Gospel to bear on their neighbors through self-sacrifice, painful interactions with fellow sinners and an internal war against their own sin. It's not complex. It's hard. And no amount of sweet logos and 3-D video signage is going to change that.
I don't want a church with a 12-part series on how to be all you can be--I want the Gospel--pure and steady, flowing out of the Word of God and the mouth of the pastor. I want conviction of sin and lives being transformed--slowly, and I want to lead the way--simply. I want to learn to pray better at church. I want peace where there can be peace and war where there must be war. I want sinning to feel uncomfortable and for holiness to be celebrated in such a way that there's still hope for the sinner and humility for the holy.
So I love it when churches are simple. I don't want to lead the next revolution in anything (rant: do you agree with me that the word 'revolution' and off-shoots like 'rebelution' must be banned form book titles now??). I want to do the simple thing that Jesus called us to do--yes in a modern culture--"Follow me."
Hard, but simple.
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Time to run
Everyone of us must find something to do that stresses our body physically. If we do not, our hearts will rarely pump hard, lethargy will become commonplace, pounds will be packed on, and I believe, depression will set in. A pampered body is the home of a stressed mind.
100 years ago (I LOVE starting sentences with that phrase) nobody sat around--ever. If they did, they died. The advancements of modernity have given us tons more leisure time than we ever had before (Check out this TV show on "time"--it's hilarious, too). People used to have to put forth tremendous physical effort all day long just to have bread and carrots on the table for supper.
Jesus worked hard too, by the way. He walked all over the countryside, he worked hard with his hands (before his "public ministry" began). He worked! The historian Josephus tells us that Jesus had the reputation of building GREAT plows. These plows were built with precision and built to last. They were scattered all over the hills of Nazareth years after his career as a carpenter ended.
In my job, I could sit around all day long. I meet people for coffee, lunch, sodas, shakes and fries. I pay other people to make all this stuff while I sit and talk, having driven my air-conditioned car too and from the appointment. So I must find something that stresses my body and makes a difference.
I love running.
I love thinking about the next day's run when I am going to sleep at night. I love the first few steps of a run when my knees try to tell me to quit. I love running intervals and finishing feeling like I couldn't go much further at that pace. I love when my lungs burn a little on a "tempo" run and I love when my legs feel really tired at the end of along run. I love being alone, preparing to be with people all day long. I love the solitude with the squawking of random birds as I run through their territories. I love the fraternity of the morning exercisers--it's very exclusive, but everyone is welcome. "Good morning" really means, "Hey, you and I have chosen to do something this morning that is good for us--and we are really proud of that."
More than anything, I think, I love being a runner. I love being at my goal weight (I am almost there (again)!), I love being able to eat what I want but still making healthy choices. I love taking my pulse as I prepare to go to bed and counting off a low and strong heart rate. I love the strong mind that lives inside a strong body. I love being the person who didn't make any excuses, but persevered through heat and rain to accomplish my goals.
On my wall in my office is the famous Eric Liddell quote that inspires me: "When I run, I feel the pleasure of God."
My amazing wife is a runner, too. I love talking running with her and our runner-friends. It invariably leads to other fitness discussions, from biking to walking to herbs and healthy food. It's fun. We try to be careful to not overdo it--especially when we have other friends around who don't get it. It often ends in the same place: we love being healthy and sharing life together, serving God from strength and the posture of a strong body and mind. We are all aware that these hobbies will pass away with our weakening bodies. And it's okay. The goal remains the same: to die gracefully in the healthiest possible body.
I have friends who hate running. They laugh and poke fun at the concept of running. I get it. Not everyone loves to run. That's fine.
But in a day when we have far more leisure time than ever before, and far more creature comforts that decrease the amount of time we spend on everyday chores and survival, you are not too busy to do things that are good for you. If you have told yourself that, it's time to stop that soundtrack.
Don't fall into the trap of being sedentary. When someone (even yourself!) tells you they are too busy to do something, remind yourself that there is no way on earth that is true. Find the hard thing that you love to do that stresses your body: walking, gardening, taking care of animals, building or maybe even running. Allow yourself to work hard and sweat like crazy--it's good for you. In fact, a stressed body can be the home of a strong mind.
Time to run? There's always time to run.
100 years ago (I LOVE starting sentences with that phrase) nobody sat around--ever. If they did, they died. The advancements of modernity have given us tons more leisure time than we ever had before (Check out this TV show on "time"--it's hilarious, too). People used to have to put forth tremendous physical effort all day long just to have bread and carrots on the table for supper.
Jesus worked hard too, by the way. He walked all over the countryside, he worked hard with his hands (before his "public ministry" began). He worked! The historian Josephus tells us that Jesus had the reputation of building GREAT plows. These plows were built with precision and built to last. They were scattered all over the hills of Nazareth years after his career as a carpenter ended.
In my job, I could sit around all day long. I meet people for coffee, lunch, sodas, shakes and fries. I pay other people to make all this stuff while I sit and talk, having driven my air-conditioned car too and from the appointment. So I must find something that stresses my body and makes a difference.
I love running.
I love thinking about the next day's run when I am going to sleep at night. I love the first few steps of a run when my knees try to tell me to quit. I love running intervals and finishing feeling like I couldn't go much further at that pace. I love when my lungs burn a little on a "tempo" run and I love when my legs feel really tired at the end of along run. I love being alone, preparing to be with people all day long. I love the solitude with the squawking of random birds as I run through their territories. I love the fraternity of the morning exercisers--it's very exclusive, but everyone is welcome. "Good morning" really means, "Hey, you and I have chosen to do something this morning that is good for us--and we are really proud of that."
More than anything, I think, I love being a runner. I love being at my goal weight (I am almost there (again)!), I love being able to eat what I want but still making healthy choices. I love taking my pulse as I prepare to go to bed and counting off a low and strong heart rate. I love the strong mind that lives inside a strong body. I love being the person who didn't make any excuses, but persevered through heat and rain to accomplish my goals.
On my wall in my office is the famous Eric Liddell quote that inspires me: "When I run, I feel the pleasure of God."
My amazing wife is a runner, too. I love talking running with her and our runner-friends. It invariably leads to other fitness discussions, from biking to walking to herbs and healthy food. It's fun. We try to be careful to not overdo it--especially when we have other friends around who don't get it. It often ends in the same place: we love being healthy and sharing life together, serving God from strength and the posture of a strong body and mind. We are all aware that these hobbies will pass away with our weakening bodies. And it's okay. The goal remains the same: to die gracefully in the healthiest possible body.
I have friends who hate running. They laugh and poke fun at the concept of running. I get it. Not everyone loves to run. That's fine.
But in a day when we have far more leisure time than ever before, and far more creature comforts that decrease the amount of time we spend on everyday chores and survival, you are not too busy to do things that are good for you. If you have told yourself that, it's time to stop that soundtrack.
Don't fall into the trap of being sedentary. When someone (even yourself!) tells you they are too busy to do something, remind yourself that there is no way on earth that is true. Find the hard thing that you love to do that stresses your body: walking, gardening, taking care of animals, building or maybe even running. Allow yourself to work hard and sweat like crazy--it's good for you. In fact, a stressed body can be the home of a strong mind.
Time to run? There's always time to run.
Friday, May 25, 2012
The Ideal Poor
John Piper recently tweeted: "Don't idealize the poor and afflicted. God is merciful, but he is not a refuge to the afflicted who cleave to their idols."
I posted it on Facebook and got some great interaction! One friend said, "Jon, there must be a context to Piper's quote. I don't know anyone who idealizes the poor and afflicted. Most of the people I know want to ignore them. Let me know your thoughts."
Here's my response:
Thanks for your interest. I think that the quote is based on two or three ideas.
1. There's a movement afoot in the church that the mission of the church is primarily to minister to the physical and temporary needs of people. Piper is calling us to recognize that meeting the needs of poor people is not the mission of the church. It is certainly good and right to minister to the physical needs of poor people, but our primary mission is reaching and teaching the Gospel--calling sinners to repentance in Christ. Minister to the poor? Yes, but not at the expense of the Gospel.
2. There is a movement afoot that if we share with poor people they will "ideally" see the light. If we are just nice enough, we will "win" them. But again, winning them relationally (or materially) is not the same as winning them to Christ. So having stuff is not usually the thing that is the final domino to fall in their pursuit of Christ. Again, kindness and love to all? Yes. But not without the Gospel. Poor people who have clean water and are given bigger houses must still repent of their sins and trust Christ.
3. There is a movement afoot to minister to the poor because they are poor. The New Testament says it is harder for a rich man to go to heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. In some ways (this is hard to read), poor people are closer to the kingdom of Christ than the rich because they have less self-sufficiency. But it seems that it is actually morally questioned by some to minister to both poor and rich. We must minister the Gospel to both poor and rich.
Those are the things I meant to imply by re-posting the quote. The poor have indeed been overlooked by the church and society for generations. In some ways, we have always overlooked the poor. To that end, the church must not lose sight of loving all of our neighbors with Christ's love. But I am wary of leaving the gospel behind if we are not careful. And I'm wary of those who are kind and loving and generous in material ways, but think their work is done with good deeds and 'generosity.' We are losing the urgency of preaching and sharing the Gospel.
In the conversations that I read, lots of people are idealizing the poor, saying that they should be our primary aim, that kindly meeting their physical needs is primarily what the church should be doing and that if we just do that, we shouldn't even worry much about if they respond to the Gospel: "Let God take care of that," I hear. The whole mission of the church is the Gospel to every nation!
We must not do the opposite either! If we focus on the rich or those most like "us" only, we equally miss the mark. If we have words, but no deeds our faith is dead! We must continually press toward becoming all things to all men that by God's grace we might win some.
The quote without all that context may be lacking. Sorry!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Book review: "Why We Love the Church"
There's another movement afoot of critics who contend that in the local church, "Everything must change" or everything will die. These voices are just the next wave--following the mega-church wave, the Emergents lapped up on the shore and now the "Missional." Careful. Your feet may get wet. Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck bring us a steady and realistic critique of the cynic of today's local church and also a remedy for the stout-hearted and self-aware.
What the cynics are saying
From fiction pieces such as The Shack (William Young), to personal stories such as Dear Church (Sarah Cunningham) to seemingly non-fiction prescriptions like Revolution (George Barna), there are many who focus on the irrelevancy, the hurt and the failures of the visible church in recent days. What each of the cynics seem to have in common is their willingness to be incredibly in touch with their own pain and "realness" as they take the local church to task for their part in causing or continuing the pain they and their friends are experiencing. They "Left Church to find Jesus," and some of have developed new ways of doing church such as Leonard Sweet's Gospel According to Starbuck's where he suggests that we can worship just as genuinely (maybe more so) on the golf course as in the pew. Another thing they all seem to have in common (since at least 1990) is the opinion that if the church doesn't do something something drastic soon it will either implode or explode, ending its presence as we know it in this world. The mantra? "Out with the rituals, long, boring sermons, bad worship music, professional pastors (disclosure: the author of this review is a pastor), doctrines, elder teams, policies, creeds, and political right. Up with the short sermon delivered by a regular guy (or girl), community renewal, social justice community projects, art-based and freestyle worship time, organic community, political left and words that only communicate love and acceptance, because after all, that's what Jesus would do."
Summary
DeYoung and Kluck boil the contentions down to four key areas: the missiological, the personal, the historical and the theological.
What is the mission of the church? DeYoung says, "Missional churches are 'in' these days. Social action is hot. Evangelism is regarded as too aggressive (just a sales pitch), modern (cold, logical argumentation), and condescending ('my God is better than yours')" (p. 36). For some of our missional friends, the purpose of the church "is often reduced to one thing: community or global transformation" (p. 38). But, he argues, "the concerns of the New Testament seem to have little to do with explicit community transformation" (p. 39). It's excellent to do acts of kindness and service which help others, but "What makes the church unique is its commitment, above all else, to knowing and making known Christ, and him crucified" (p. 45). "What's missing from most of the talk about the kingdom is any doctrine of conversion or regeneration" (p. 48). And further, his "observation is that as people grow tired of the hearing about the atonement, salvation, the cross, the afterlife, they grow tired of church" (p. 51).
But what about personal hurts that have come from or been overlooked by the church? To summarize the cynic, they are fed up with the local church's "poor leadership, no vision, [old age], inbred, concerned with appearance over action, comfortable in its misery, out of touch with the times, all about money and too political" (p. 73) ways. And to be sure, there is much to be disgruntled about in a church that reflects those criticisms. DeYoung reminds us to listen to the critic and, after prayerfully considering the criticism and the critic, to prayerfully seek the Lord regarding the church's part in the pain. If we follow Christ however, we also see that the gospel necessarily brings a divide when it is preached faithfully. DeYoung puts it this way, "In our self-esteem oriented, easily-offended, suffering-averse world, I fear that the church is too eager to be liked" (pp. 80-81). The 'church is lame' crowd says that the church is boring, outdated, abusive (because Christ calls believers to submit to church authority or hierarchy) and inauthentic. I believe DeYoung's response to these critics is best summarized like this, "If Christians are interested in a Christianity free from doctrine, demands, and damnation, they aren't just sick of the church and its unflattering quirks; they're tired of the Christian faith altogether" (p. 87).
DeYoung interacts with historical objections that church-leavers have by contextualizing and explaining the reality of history surrounding the Crusades and slavery. These chapters are very edifying to anyone and everyone who has had to respond to cynics regarding the history of Christianity; or history in general.
The book closes with theological dialogue with the cynic. "The New Testament knows nothing of a churchless Christianity." Further, one cannot love Christ and hate His bride. The church has been the vehicle throughout the ages with which God has brought salvation, taught the truth, preserved His Word, and through which He has manifested the glory of His name. Through the organized local church we have done great things such as evangelized the world, cared for orphans, housed the homeless, fed the hungry and given to the needy. And much more must be done.
The local church does have problems. We hurt each other, forget to consider other people's needs and get caught up in gossip. Sometimes services are repetitive, predictable or cliche. Some sermons can seem too long or irrelevant. Church can be a place that produces bad coffee and even worse grounds for judgment: inactive and apathetic people. There's plenty of room for constant improvement.
Critique/recommendation
In my life plenty of movements have come and gone. Various seasons in the life of the church such as the 60s with its Youth For Christ, the 70s with its Contemporary Christian Music; the 80s with its events (such as Billy Graham crusades), the 90s with its Promise Keepers and now the 2000s and 2010s with its Emergents and Missionals. All these were reactions to needs that the church was not responding to. We needed youth ministries! We needed acceptance of differing kinds of music! We needed fresh evangelism! We needed men to lead in the homes. And now we need churches to have more "deed" with their "creed." In my opinion, this book is showing us why the emergents and the missionals will be a lot like the Promise Keeper movement and the parachurch youth ministries of yesteryear. Will they incite some action in the church? I think so. Will they catch on as a new way of doing life or church? I don't think so.
Church is not supposed to be a nice sermon for fun and the pastor's ego. The preaching of the Word of God and the glory of His name is the reason we meet. God uniquely moves when His Word is preached with power. That's not an archaic idea--that's God's plan for "building His church." Furthermore, Satan is not the father of poverty who will be combated with the re-distribution of wealth. He is the Father of Lies who will be combated with the proclamation of the truth: preaching.
Who should read this book? Youth Pastors. Anyone who is so in touch with their own pain that they have used it as an excuse to fall out of touch with the local church. Anyone who is "bored" with church. Anyone who thinks "Missional" is the next great movement in the history of the church. Anyone who has made being disgruntled what they are best at (ask yourself, "What am I NOT disgruntled about?").
Christ loves the local church. We should too--warts and all.
I know this is way long. Sorry. Thanks!
What the cynics are saying
From fiction pieces such as The Shack (William Young), to personal stories such as Dear Church (Sarah Cunningham) to seemingly non-fiction prescriptions like Revolution (George Barna), there are many who focus on the irrelevancy, the hurt and the failures of the visible church in recent days. What each of the cynics seem to have in common is their willingness to be incredibly in touch with their own pain and "realness" as they take the local church to task for their part in causing or continuing the pain they and their friends are experiencing. They "Left Church to find Jesus," and some of have developed new ways of doing church such as Leonard Sweet's Gospel According to Starbuck's where he suggests that we can worship just as genuinely (maybe more so) on the golf course as in the pew. Another thing they all seem to have in common (since at least 1990) is the opinion that if the church doesn't do something something drastic soon it will either implode or explode, ending its presence as we know it in this world. The mantra? "Out with the rituals, long, boring sermons, bad worship music, professional pastors (disclosure: the author of this review is a pastor), doctrines, elder teams, policies, creeds, and political right. Up with the short sermon delivered by a regular guy (or girl), community renewal, social justice community projects, art-based and freestyle worship time, organic community, political left and words that only communicate love and acceptance, because after all, that's what Jesus would do."
Summary
DeYoung and Kluck boil the contentions down to four key areas: the missiological, the personal, the historical and the theological.
What is the mission of the church? DeYoung says, "Missional churches are 'in' these days. Social action is hot. Evangelism is regarded as too aggressive (just a sales pitch), modern (cold, logical argumentation), and condescending ('my God is better than yours')" (p. 36). For some of our missional friends, the purpose of the church "is often reduced to one thing: community or global transformation" (p. 38). But, he argues, "the concerns of the New Testament seem to have little to do with explicit community transformation" (p. 39). It's excellent to do acts of kindness and service which help others, but "What makes the church unique is its commitment, above all else, to knowing and making known Christ, and him crucified" (p. 45). "What's missing from most of the talk about the kingdom is any doctrine of conversion or regeneration" (p. 48). And further, his "observation is that as people grow tired of the hearing about the atonement, salvation, the cross, the afterlife, they grow tired of church" (p. 51).
But what about personal hurts that have come from or been overlooked by the church? To summarize the cynic, they are fed up with the local church's "poor leadership, no vision, [old age], inbred, concerned with appearance over action, comfortable in its misery, out of touch with the times, all about money and too political" (p. 73) ways. And to be sure, there is much to be disgruntled about in a church that reflects those criticisms. DeYoung reminds us to listen to the critic and, after prayerfully considering the criticism and the critic, to prayerfully seek the Lord regarding the church's part in the pain. If we follow Christ however, we also see that the gospel necessarily brings a divide when it is preached faithfully. DeYoung puts it this way, "In our self-esteem oriented, easily-offended, suffering-averse world, I fear that the church is too eager to be liked" (pp. 80-81). The 'church is lame' crowd says that the church is boring, outdated, abusive (because Christ calls believers to submit to church authority or hierarchy) and inauthentic. I believe DeYoung's response to these critics is best summarized like this, "If Christians are interested in a Christianity free from doctrine, demands, and damnation, they aren't just sick of the church and its unflattering quirks; they're tired of the Christian faith altogether" (p. 87).
DeYoung interacts with historical objections that church-leavers have by contextualizing and explaining the reality of history surrounding the Crusades and slavery. These chapters are very edifying to anyone and everyone who has had to respond to cynics regarding the history of Christianity; or history in general.
The book closes with theological dialogue with the cynic. "The New Testament knows nothing of a churchless Christianity." Further, one cannot love Christ and hate His bride. The church has been the vehicle throughout the ages with which God has brought salvation, taught the truth, preserved His Word, and through which He has manifested the glory of His name. Through the organized local church we have done great things such as evangelized the world, cared for orphans, housed the homeless, fed the hungry and given to the needy. And much more must be done.
The local church does have problems. We hurt each other, forget to consider other people's needs and get caught up in gossip. Sometimes services are repetitive, predictable or cliche. Some sermons can seem too long or irrelevant. Church can be a place that produces bad coffee and even worse grounds for judgment: inactive and apathetic people. There's plenty of room for constant improvement.
Critique/recommendation
In my life plenty of movements have come and gone. Various seasons in the life of the church such as the 60s with its Youth For Christ, the 70s with its Contemporary Christian Music; the 80s with its events (such as Billy Graham crusades), the 90s with its Promise Keepers and now the 2000s and 2010s with its Emergents and Missionals. All these were reactions to needs that the church was not responding to. We needed youth ministries! We needed acceptance of differing kinds of music! We needed fresh evangelism! We needed men to lead in the homes. And now we need churches to have more "deed" with their "creed." In my opinion, this book is showing us why the emergents and the missionals will be a lot like the Promise Keeper movement and the parachurch youth ministries of yesteryear. Will they incite some action in the church? I think so. Will they catch on as a new way of doing life or church? I don't think so.
Church is not supposed to be a nice sermon for fun and the pastor's ego. The preaching of the Word of God and the glory of His name is the reason we meet. God uniquely moves when His Word is preached with power. That's not an archaic idea--that's God's plan for "building His church." Furthermore, Satan is not the father of poverty who will be combated with the re-distribution of wealth. He is the Father of Lies who will be combated with the proclamation of the truth: preaching.
Who should read this book? Youth Pastors. Anyone who is so in touch with their own pain that they have used it as an excuse to fall out of touch with the local church. Anyone who is "bored" with church. Anyone who thinks "Missional" is the next great movement in the history of the church. Anyone who has made being disgruntled what they are best at (ask yourself, "What am I NOT disgruntled about?").
Christ loves the local church. We should too--warts and all.
I know this is way long. Sorry. Thanks!
Friday, November 11, 2011
You're so 'real' and other cynical lies I sometimes believe
Why do we hate good people?
For instance, the Orlando Sentinel is asking "What has Tim Tebow done to deserve all the hate?" and suggesting that maybe we hate him BECAUSE he ‘practices what he preaches,’ or maybe we hate him because so many other people love him. The world around us is convicted by the love (and moral goodness) that flows out of a true Christ follower. The life of a good person puts those outside of Christ "to shame."
It’s normal for people outside of Christ to hate those who practice moral goodness (John 15:18), so we all expect it. But within the Christian church we expect something different: to love goodness, to celebrate victory and to desire to live holy lives (Ephesians 5:1). One would think that the church would celebrate this kind of life and those kind people, wouldn’t you? But we usually don’t.
For some reason people who strive to walk in obedience to Christ (and are having some measure of success at it) seem to be intimidating to the rest of us. We can’t seem to relate to their success or moral goodness and that makes us begin to secretly hate them. When we finally do hear of some area of weakness (or sin), there’s actually relief somewhere inside us because we found out that they’re “real,” too. “At least I’m not THAT bad,” we think, or “See, it’s normal to sin.” (Isn’t that a twisted mindset!)
The disclosure of sin is not a joyous thing—ever. When David’s sin was disclosed (2 Sam 12), he first burned with anger about the sin (v. 5 when he thought Nathan was describing someone else’s sin) and then Nathan provided a hot rebuke, exclaiming, “You are the [sinning] man.” The story continues with David weeping on the floor because he has realized the depth and breadth of his heinous sin “against the LORD.” And Nathan did not end the story with good feelings and a, “You’re so real, David. Thanks, I feel better about myself.”
Sometimes when I am struggling to obey God in a certain area I find happiness when I hear about someone else struggling, too. I feel better knowing I am not alone. There is a word for that: sin.
There is joy in heaven because of repentance, not disclosure. There is joy in heaven because of the reality of forgiveness that flows from our merciful Savior at the cross. There is joy because of Christ.
Nobody in heaven ever apologizes for Christ’s perfections or secretly hates Him.
The next time I hear about the imperfections of a fellow Christ-follower, I want to weep with them and for them (and I hope you’ll weep with me for my sin), longing that at least in the “fellowship of believers” we expect victory, not defeat. Obedience, not disobedience. Maturity, not excuses. Then we’ll be men being transformed into the image of Christ.
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