Do we want this?
Guy at “The M Blog” has blown all “church growth” strategies out of the water with his latest post “How 29 believers became 110 believers starting 5 house churches–and all in less than a year“. Guy tells the story of one of his local friends and their church. Then, he summarizes like this:
As much as I quizzed Geovanny, the only “strategy” was prayer and proclamation of the Gospel. So much for all the fancy stuff we think we have to do to reach the lost! No surveys taken, no $150 conferences (plus $800 airfare/hotel) to learn “how to”, no $$$ spent on media campaigns, no stadiums rented out, no free concerts or hot dogs…just prayer and proclamation. Sometimes I think we ought to take a year’s fast from all our books, conferences, blogs, internet, and do nothing more than get serious about prayer, allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us in what Jesus would have us do to reach our lost family, friends, neighbors and co-workers with the Good News of Christ.
The interesting thing about this story: anyone can do it. No training required – just a love of God and others, and complete reliance on God.
Another interesting thing about this story: I’m not convinced that many people here want to see something like this happen. We love our own models and methods and structures too much to set them aside to see the church grow like this.
I hope that I’m wrong about that second point.
Live and serve and love others radically
I’m not sure why I continue to read Dave Black’s blog. I always come across nuggets like this that point out my own selfishness (Friday, May 15, 2009 at 9:17 am):
In the church, our opposition is not basically outward and physical but inward and spiritual. It is, in fact, diabolical, led and planned by the devil himself. Scripturally, we are expected to acquire all we can by way of preparation, and then apply everything we acquire in the actual fight. Knowing biblical truth is not enough. We must live it out as well. “By this,” said Jesus, “everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” The Bible knows nothing of a disciple who does not live and serve and love others radically. We are called upon to give our all for the cause; we are called upon to sacrifice ourselves for the blessing of others. “Christian warfare” is hardly bellicose! It does not seek to “win.” It involves “losing” — the sacrifice of self on behalf of other people. It means being willing to deny myself, my own ambition, anything that centers on “me” — for the benefit of others. I am even called upon to lay down my life if necessary.
Did you see what he said? “The Bible knows nothing of a disciple who does not live and serve and love other radically”.
Well, the Bible may know nothing of this kind of disciple, but I know him all too well. In fact, I am that disciple. Well, I want to think of myself as a disciple. But, if Dave is correct… and I think he is… then many times it’s not Jesus that’s I’m following (the meaning of “disciple”). Instead, I’m following my self – my own desires – my own priorities – my own purposes – my own likes and dislikes – me, myself, and I.
To be completely honest, I’m tired of this. I’m tired of living for myself much of the time. I want to follow Jesus 24/7… seriously. But, I don’t do it.
So… you may be thinking… Alan, why don’t you just do more? Why don’t you just follow closer? Why don’t you just act better?
Because that would not help my situation at all. Anything that I do on my own strength will be more of the same – that is, more of Alan. I don’t want more of Alan… I want less of him.
You see, my failures do not make me want to try harder. Just the opposite. My failures in following Jesus make me want to stop doing things on my own (which is where and when I fail), and submit completely to Jesus Christ – to die, as it were, even if I must die literally.
My failures simply remind me of God’s grace. Yes, I am an imperfect follower of Jesus (“disciple”), but I remain God’s child. Why? Because I’m not God’s child because of the way that I follow Jesus. I’m God’s child because of his grace. And, I will remain God’s child in spite of the face that I do not live and serve and love others radically.
Oh, but how much I desire to live and serve and love others radically!! And, I thank God for that desire, and I earnestly pray that He changes me into a followers who continues to live and serve and love others more. But, I will not do this on my own. I can’t.
So, the next time you see me at a time when I’m not living and serving and loving others radically, you can remind me of my desire. Then, together, we can thank God for his grace and for the fact that he’s continue to transform us. Then, we can live our messy lives together.
More on interpreting Acts
Interpreting Acts is often very difficult. Interpreters and methods differ as to whether to understand Luke’s book as “formative” or “normative”.
If Acts is “formative” (or “descriptive”), then Luke was simply describing how the early church developed and how the early believers lived.
If Acts is “normative” (or “prescriptive”), then Luke intends his historical writings to form how we live today.
Adrian Warnock discusses this in a post called “Acts – A Model For Today?” He quotes another blog as follows:
But more importantly why should formative and normative be exclusive categories? If God worked in particular ways to establish churches and the worldwide missionary endeavor, would it be so very strange if he continues to do so? Is it not better to say that what was formative for missions and church-planting should generally be normative for missions and church-planting? If we don’t see it in our situations today, it is our situation and experience that needs to be aligned to the New Testament pattern, not the other way round. The main difficulty I have with the formative-not-normative argument is that it leaves me with the freedom to decide which bits I should apply as relevant today and which bits I can avoid. I don’t think Luke wants us to decide what to apply; I think Luke wants us to apply all of it.
I tend to agree with this quote, with one caveat: I don’t think Luke was intending to tell us what is “normative for missions and church-planting”. Instead, I think Luke was intending to tell us what is normative for those following Jesus – that is, all of us, not just “missionaries” or “church-planters”.
Why not serve?
I saw this post last night from Lionel at “Gospel in 3-D” called “Vessels Of Mercy: DFW Organic Church Connection May 30th Outreach“. Apparently, Lionel is taking part in a group project to clean up yards and do simple repairs in the Dallas-Ft Worth area. In fact, it seems that there will be several churches involved. I can’t wait to hear what happens on that day. (hint, hint Lionel)
If you’re in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, why not take part? Yes, it will be hard work serving others. But, what else do you have to do that would be more important?
If you’re in the Wake Forest / Raleigh area and you need an idea about serving others, get in touch with me (my email address is in the left sidebar of this blog). I’ll be glad to help you find ways to serve people.
Beyond busy nothings
Jonathan is a young, single, college student who is part of our church. He’s started writing articles for our church website at MessiahWF.org. Yesterday, in response to my blog post about Guy’s article “When can we be a church?“, Jonathan wrote the following:
Alan challenged me to get started right away, and instantly a hundred excuses popped into my head. But they were all just the busy nothings I fill my day up with. I do all kinds of things throughout the day that don’t involve people. What if I were to start studying with people, and not for my grade, but for their benefit? What if I were to eat a meal with people, not for my nourishment, but their encouragement?
I eat almost every meal alone. It doesn’t have to be that way. Studying is something we all do (bible and school), and we all do it to the exclusion of others. What if we studied together, sharing what we were learning, challenging one another, and praying for lasting change? (And as a side benefit, “teaching†somebody whatever material you’re required to learn helps you to learn it.)
What if I were to start a Twitter with the various things I’m doing throughout the day, and where I’ll be (even if it’s just relaxing) so that anyone can join me and we can fellowship together?
In a discussion on Facebook, Jonathan said, “What would it take to get us to stop filling our lives with activities and instead fill it with people?”
I’m looking forward to continuing this discussion among the church where God has placed me. In fact, I’m hoping that this moves far beyond conversation.
How would we respond?
I was so encouraged when I read last week’s post by Guy Muse (of “The M Blog“) called “When can we be a church?” Even if you don’t normally follow links and read other blogs, please click the link above and read Guy’s post. It is one of the most challenging and encouraging posts that I’ve read in a long time.
When I first read the post, I began praying that God would raise up the same kind of people here: that is, people who did not know that they were not supposed to gather with other believers daily, to pray together for long periods of time, to help other groups of believers start to gather together, to see lives transformed through the gospel and community, to feel inadequate for the work that God is doing through them. How I would love for people to come up to me with these problems and questions!!!
Then, I began to wonder how other leaders would respond. So, after reading Guy’s post, how would you (as a leader) respond or how do you think your leaders would respond if you or they were approached the way that Guy was approached? Would you be excited about what God was doing? Would you be concerned about possible problems? Would you be disappointed that they were not working through the system? Could there be other responses?
Then, I also began to wonder how everyone would respond if someone suggested that this should be all of our responsibility. How would you respond if someone asked how many people you were meeting and how regularly? How would you respond if someone asked how many groups you had started? How do you think others would respond?
Finally, I began to wonder why this was not common place here.
When teaching is part of the problem
Matthew at “Mt. Tirzah Baptist Church” has written a great article called “Laziness due to Ecclesiology“. His article is a follow-up on my article called “When mutuality is uncomfortable“.
Matthew says that teaching may be part of the problem, and he gives two different aspects to this: 1) when we study Scripture only to teach, and 2) when we exalt teaching as a special activity. Here are some of his comments:
What I’ve seen is that I study the Word of God much more intensely when I have teaching responsibilities than when I do not. This should not be the case. Should I not study just as intensely because the Word of God is always active and living? It is unfortunately a great source of laziness for myself and others when they do not have a teaching responsibility. Why are we not as eager to pick up the Word when we don’t have a teaching engagement?
However, there seems to be a deeper problem than what we first observe. I think the real problem is that we have exalted “teaching†to only that activity that takes place from the pulpit and to only that activity engaged in by a man filling the office of pastor. The problem is that all people in the church are called to teach each other.
Please read the rest of Matthew’s post. Hopefully, we can help one another think about teaching and what role teaching should play in our lives and the church meeting.
I used to believe… Now I believe
My friend Lew from “The Pursuit” started a new meme with two posts called “This I Used to Believe” and “This I Now Believe“. I decided to do Lew’s meme, but discuss things that I once believed and now believe concerning the church – since this blog is primarily about the church. So, here are some things that I once believed with what I now believe:
I used to believe that preaching a 30-45 minute sermon on Sunday morning or night was the epitome of the Christian life. Now I believe that neither preaching nor listening to a sermon on Sunday morning should be the center of a Christian’s life. Instead, serving and loving others in the name of Christ is much more important. Plus, many times, a five minute personal exhortation is much more effective than a general sermon.
I used to believe that leadership was the greatest type of service. Now I believe that service is the greatest type of service. However, I do believe that we should follow those who serve. But, those who serve are not so concerned about gathering followers. Instead, they are concerned with serving.
I used to believe that the 501(c)3 organization was the church. Now I believe that the people are the church… really… no, really. The church can organize, but the organization is not the church.
I used to believe that the senior pastor (and the staff under his direction) was responsible for all teaching and discipleship. I now believe that while elders (pastors) should teach and disciple, this responsibility is for every follower of Jesus Christ, regardless of the education, gifting, training, abilities, positions, etc.
I used to believe that discipleship was a 1-2 hour per week class with a workbook to be completed by those who were very spiritual. I now believe that biblical discipleship occurs 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. We must live life with one another in order to disciple one another. This cannot happen in a classroom alone, or in a programmed event alone.
I used to believe that it was the leaders’ (elders/pastors) responsibility to “run” the church meeting so that the church benefited. I now believe that it is every believer’s responsibility to think about the others in their community, and speak/serve during the meeting in a way that encourages others towards love, good works, and maturity in Christ.
I used to believe that education and knowledge were the same as maturity. I now believe that education and knowledge often have very little to do with maturity, and can be a source of pride and immaturity.
I used to believe that if I could sit quietly during and learn from the pastor’s sermon, then I was spiritual. I now believe that if I can listen to the Holy Spirit and obey him, then I am spiritual.
If you’d like to take part in this meme, please leave a note here, or on one of Lew’s posts.
When mutuality is uncomfortable…
Yesterday, in my post “What does not come naturally“, I quoted Dave Black as saying, “Some of this work is beyond what comes naturally to me. There is much growth and grace in that,” and “But if I am a serious Christian, I cannot do only what comes easily to me”.
Arthur, at “the voice of one crying out in suburbia“, wrote about something similar in his post called “Speaking of mutuality“. But, in the case of Arthur’s post, he was talking about something near and dear to my own hear: mutuality. Arthur shares his experiences of meeting with a church which practices mutuality. He says:
Where we are gathering for fellowship has taken some getting used to. It has been jarring to have someone different bring the primary message each week. It is hard to get comfortable with the idea of lots of different men contributing to the teaching instead of the typical model of one man teaching and everyone else listening…
It is a far cry from the single individual giving the message Sunday AM, PM and Wednesday PM that we are used to. That is familiar and comfortable. I don’t think it is Biblical but it is what we have always known and it is the cultural norm in the civic religion of America.
So, why does Arthur put up with this “uncomfortable” feeling when he meets with the church? He says,
I think it is healthy to have so many different people getting involved. The tendency of people is to get lazy. Why study for myself when the pastor will do it for me?
He continues to say that he thinks (from reading the New Testament examples) that this is how the early church met together. So, Arthur is willing to meet in a way that is “uncomfortable” to him because he recognizes the benefit. And, as Dave said, “There is much growth and grace in that”.
What does not come naturally…
A few days ago, Dave Black wrote the following on his blog (Thursday, April 23, 2009 at 8:53 a.m.):
It’s good to be back on the farm. Today I’m helping Nathan and Jessie spread manure, working on a book manuscript, and beginning construction on a new hay shed. It is all work and it is all ministry. Some of this work is beyond what comes naturally to me. There is much growth and grace in that. I find writing more congenial to my personality than pounding nails. I am more delighted to be a facilitator than a leader. It is more natural for me to execute than to plan. Like you, I am sometimes put into positions I did not chose and for which I am not naturally suited. I have more than a little empathy for the student who finds Greek drudgery. Some students clearly have more language aptitude than others. But if I am a serious Christian, I cannot do only what comes easily to me. I don’t enjoy traveling. By that I mean I don’t enjoy cramped airplanes and long lines at airports. But I still accept many invitations that require air travel because, like Paul, I use travel to serve the kingdom.
Did you catch this: “Some of this work is beyond what comes naturally to me. There is much growth and grace in that”… and later, “But if I am a serious Christian, I cannot do only what comes easily to me”.
It is often uncomfortable to grow spiritually, but we are led to do things that do not come naturally or easily to us. But, if we desire to grow in maturity, we do them anyway, trusting God’s grace always – not our own abilities.
As I mentioned a few days ago, hospitality is something that do not come naturally to Margaret and me. But, we do it anyway, and we can see that God is growing us in this area.
What does not come naturally or easily to you? Are you willing to do it anyway?