But if I can’t send my check, how would I show that I care about people?
Chuck at “Being Filled” asks a very interesting question in his post “What if Ministries Stopped Asking for Money?” Now, in his post, Chuck says that he’s not attempting to condemn the practice; he’s asking a question. (By the way, Chuck works for an organization that asks for money… and I do also.)
Instead of condemning the practice of asking for money, Chuck wonders if the groups are missing something by asking for money.
He says:
Jesus said not to worry about provisions. He said simply seek God’s kingdom, and all these things will be added.
Wouldn’t that apply to bigger ministries as well?
If a ministry truly is seeking God’s kingdom and doing his will, would he not provide for its financial needs?
And if a ministry is not seeking God’s kingdom or not doing his will, would it not be better for it to run out of funds?
It’s definitely true that we can keep something running on our own strength and abilities and fundraising acumen… but that’s not necessarily a good thing.
But, there’s another side of this question. What about the people who are sending in the money… faithfully writing their checks or filling out the online credit card forms.
If these organizations stopped soliciting money…. or didn’t exist… how would these people show others that they cared? How would they help people in need? How would they demonstrate the love of Christ? How would people even know about these needs?
Blog with One Another: A Chain Blog Update
At the beginning of last week, I started a “chain blog” on the topic of “one another.” A chain blog is an event – or process actually – in which several bloggers write about the same topic, one after that other. In this case, we’re writing about the topic of “one another” and various aspects of that topic.
So far, seven eight nine A BUNCH OF bloggers have taken part in the chain blog writing 8 9 10 A BUNCH OF posts (since Greg’s was in 2 parts). I think – if I remember correctly – this is the fastest moving chain blog so far.
Here are the posts in the chain blog so far (with a little tease):
1. “Chain Blog: One Another” by Alan
What does this mean for those of us who are following Jesus Christ? Well, it helps us to understanding the importance of our mutual relationships with one another in Jesus Christ when we read statements in Scripture like “love one another,” “teach one another,” “be kind to one another,” “edify one another,” “forgive one another,” “admonish one another,” etc.
2. “Linking One Another” by Swanny
“Us”conditional love must be avoided at all costs because it sends the message to people that they have no value (or are not right with God) unless they are complying with the demands, the rules, or the “what we believe” statements the local church rulers pulled out of their behinds.
3. “What Does It Mean to Love One Another? by Chuck
For almost every action we take, we have a choice. We can walk by the flesh, or we can walk by the Spirit. If we walk by the flesh, we will act selfishly—seeking our own good. If we walk by the Spirit, we will act in love—seeking the good of others.
4. “The treasure of “One Another” by Jim
To live “in” Christ is to be free from our natural way of dividing, or establishing borders. This indeed makes us vulnerable, yet at the same time secure. We are vulnerable to those that choose to take advantage of our freedom, and lack of borders. Yet our defense is not our defense, but of, and “in” Christ.
5. “This is how the world shall recognise you…” by Kathleen
The world we live in is desperate for true community. Social media is allowing people to be more connected than ever before – but they still need something more. The world needs to see God’s people loving one another – deeply connected, living life together, engaging in the messiness of each other’s lives.
6. “Accepting one another in love by Chris
If I demonstrate love and others copy my example, great benefit and joy and peace will result! If I demonstrate judgement and others copy my example, great misery and shame and angst will result. Why do we find it so hard to go first in love? And why do we find it so easy to go first in judgement?
7. “One Another-ing: A meta-narrative for the church” – Part One and Part Two by Greg
Our one another-ing on earth are really mirror reflections of God’s one another-ing toward us from heaven and this short journey in time we have with one another is the first draft in the unedited script of life together forever.
8. “Individualism and ‘one another’” by Pieter
In living out the “one another” directives of the Lord we need to focus on “putting others before yourselves in honour” in the (Christian) community. The most effective way to do that is to have a servant attitude.
9. “All Alone with One Another” by Jeremy
I always find it interesting when pastors and teachers tell us that we can fulfill the “one anothers” in Scripture by joining a church, faithfully attending on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night, and by getting involved in a church ministry. In my experience–and I don’t think I am “alone” in this–such activities do little to quell the sense of being all alone with one another in church. The solution to feeling alone in church is not to attend more church services and Bible studies.
10. “When it’s OK for Christians to compete” by Joshua
It’s hard for me to imagine God as being competitive. Nor do I find my own competitive urges to be very much in line with the call to love and serve other people. Quite to the contrary, competition lends itself more toward pride and ambition than it does humility and sacrifice. Yet there is one clear instance in scripture where disciples of Christ are encouraged to be competitive.
11. “Jesus Christ, the Corner Stone for One Another” by Peter
This costly, chief Corner Stone is the basis on which, we relate to one another. This Corner Stone unites us. The old creation is full of every division imaginable. But, there is no division in the new creation. In Christ, we are altogether together One.
12. “Be Superficial with One Another” by Jon
Maybe it is best that we all just act superficially with one another. We can smile and be friendly and make small talk about sports, weather, or recent shared experiences. But it is probably best to stick to safe topics.
13. “The Unmentionable One Anothers” by Alan
Love one another. Be kind to one another. Forgive one another. We love these nice “one anothers,” but there are other “one another” instructions that we don’t like to talk about.
14. “Loving More Fully and Widely” by Chris
We’re going to see how much we can draw from a single occurrence of the phrase ‘one another’. I think Romans 13:8 is the particular example I should take.
15. “The One Another Weapon” by Dan
See, the biggest thing to remember is that these passages should not be interpreted through the perspective of how I should act toward others, but how others should act toward me. When you shift your focus from others to yourself you can really start tapping into the power of the “one another” passages!
16. “Corporate One-Anothering” (Part 1 and Part 2) by David
We all know that the “one another” verses in the New Testament are written to individuals and are to be put into practice among the members of the Body of Christ as the fabric of their life together in Christ. Something we also see modeled in the New Testament, however, is various churches or groups of believers putting some of these same “one another” exhortations into practice on a corporate level.
17. “The Last Revival” by Tobie
And so a long and intimate conversation began between the two fingers. They were amazed at how similar they were. They could relate with one another’s frustrations, hurts and dreams. They found it astonishing that they both preferred to touch rather than be touched, and they had many other traits in common. They soon became best friends, and began spending almost all of their free time together, speaking about the things that fingers most like to speak about.
18. “Love: A one another comic” by Dan
The modern church method of loving one another?
19. “I Can Only Love You If…” by Rob
Let’s face it, whenever we are not regarding each and everyone with their unique background, personality and gifting, whether in the body of Christ or not, MORE highly than ourselves, then we are in the FLESH and SIN.
20. “It Was Lost in Translation” by Nelson
This scripture tells us that teaching and admonishing are two way exercises. I don’t know for sure, but it seems to me that ‘teaching and admonishing’ is one thing with two parts. It also seems to me that it takes place as a natural part of being in the same body.
So, who will write the eighth ninth tenth NEXT link post in the chain blog? If you want to take part, jump over to the last post in the chain and leave a comment that you’ll write the next post.
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Chain blog rules:
1) If you would like to write the next blog post (link) in this chain, leave a comment stating that you would like to do so. If someone else has already requested to write the next link, then please wait for that blog post and leave a comment there requesting to write the following link.
2) Feel free to leave comments here and discuss items in this blog post without taking part in the actual “chain.” Your comments and discussion are very important in this chain blog (both this post and the other link posts in the chain).
3) When you write a link in this chain, please reply in the comments of the previous post to let everyone know that your link is ready. Also, please try to keep an updated list of links in the chain at the bottom of your post, and please include these rules at the bottom of your post.
Examining our comforts and traditions among the church
My friend Eric at “A Pilgrim’s Progress” has been blogging about the connections between comforts and traditions among the church and what we consider to be “right.” For example, check out his posts called “Living in the Tradition Belt” and “What We’re Born Into Is What Seems Normal.”
Eric is working through an issue that is extremely important and, at the same time, often extremely difficult to recognize from the inside. What issue is that? Whatever we’re used to is what we think is right, and anything different from what we’re used to automatically seems wrong.
He concludes his last post with this:
Questioning will not lead to the same conclusions for all of us. However, we will at least be seeking the truth. It is a dangerous thing to simply accept what we were born into. Better to seek the truth and apply it.
That’s so true. If we “grew up” gathering with other believers in a special building, then we will think that is both normal and right. If we “grew up” gathering with other believers in a home, then we will think that is both normal and right. And, in each situation, we will probably think the other is “wrong,” or at least look askance at anyone not doing it our way.
Of course, this applies to other practices besides choosing where to meet. And, it applies to those who may not have “grown up” in a particular situation but who have spent a considerable amount of time in that situation.
When we become comfortable or familiar with a certain practice, we typically assume that practice is right and other practices are wrong.
What are some ways that we can move away from these tendencies?
Pulpit Freedom Sunday? But we don’t have a pulpit…
So, apparently this Sunday is “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” At first, I thought that meant more churches were going to set aside the “pulpit” and allow more brothers and sisters in Christ to share Christ and the Scriptures with one another.
But, that’s not what it means.
Instead, it has something to do with American politics, and who will pretend to run (while actually being run over) by this country for the next four years.
To be honest… I’m not interested. Yes, I know that many of my readers are political and have strong opinions about this candidate or that candidate. (And, hey, I even watched the debate last week… well, I listened to most of it.)
I think I’ll just share what Keith said (over at “subversive1“) in his post “Pulpit Freedom Sunday?“:
In fact, the irony is that our church family has nothing to fear from the occasional hour-long Sunday morning conversation about politics and the election. But we choose not to waste our time on things like this.
Instead, we’ve made a conscious decision to focus all our time, energy and passion on Jesus. When we get together on Sunday morning, or on Thursday evening, we could easily and freely converse about the candidates, argue over the issues, expound on the merits (or lack thereof) of political parties or campaigns, but why would we do that when Jesus is sitting right in our midst?
We want to hear Jesus speak to us, and surprisingly He seems more concerned about our lack of love for one another, or our need to forgive, or the importance of spending time with Him in prayer, or the hardness of our hearts towards the poor.
So, this Sunday, while hundreds (maybe thousands) of Christian churches around the nation will be hearing sermons about why they should vote for the Republican candidate, or why God wants them to re-elect the incumbent Democrat, we’ll be doing our best to hold hands, knit our hearts together in love, and submit ourselves as fully to Christ as possible so that we can hear His voice and be changed into the people He wants to make us into.
We don’t have sermons, so I know that we won’t have a sermon about politics this Sunday.
But, you know what’s funny… since no one “runs the show” when we gather together, and since people are free to share with one another while we meet, it’s very possible that someone will choose to say something about politics. But, I’ll be surprised if they do.
You see, while several of my brothers and sisters care deeply about politics and the government and America, they care more about what God is saying to us as we follow him together and how we can build up one another in Jesus Christ. And, that rarely seems to be about politics.
When the church discards and overlooks certain people
Apparently, Jim isn’t the only blogger in his family. His wife Marianne has written a terrific post at “Crossroad Junction” called “Apples and Pears.”
In her post, Marianne compares choosing fruit at a market with the way that we choose people, especially looking for those that seem perfect on the outside and inside. But, what happens when we discard people like we discard bruised fruit?
Marianne writes:
Because it is the fall season, apples and pears are in abundance. The number of varieties is astounding! When I go to the market I look for the fruit that is unblemished. If I arrive near closing time, often the bruised fruit are the only ones left. Everyone seems to desire the perfect fruit, not the damaged ones.
Unfortunately, so it is with people. Most people want the unblemished people. The ones with the mottled skin, bruised sections, worm holes or rotten areas are often discarded or overlooked. Each of us, at some point in our lives, has had at least one of these afflictions, yet the Lord has never rejected us.
One thing I’ve noticed in my own life: I expect people to accept me, love me, and share their life with me in spite of my “mottled skin, bruised sections, worm wholes, or rotten areas.” But, when it comes to accepting and loving others, it’s more difficult to offer the same grace that I expect.
Marianne’s post reminded me of this prophecy (that Matthew later said describes Jesus):
… a bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory… (Matthew 12:20 ESV; Isaiah 42:3)
Dissension, Criticism, and the Church
In the last week or so, I’ve read several good posts on the idea of dissenters or critics among the church.
Aussie John from “Caesura” wrote a post called “Honorable Dissenters.” He discusses two different types of dissenters.
Dan at “Cerulean Sanctum” wrote “A Response to ‘Five Types of Critics in the Church’.” He struggles with the top down approach often taken with critics and criticism.
Arthur from “The Voice of One Crying out in Suburbia” gives us “Not a Pastor? Shut yer pie hole! Part Deux!” He suggests that labeling critics is a way to dismiss their criticism.
(By the way, Dan’s post and Arthur’s post are responses to the article “Five Types of Critics in the Church.”)
I think these are all good posts, with some very valuable discussions about dissension and criticism.
But, I wonder, why do we dislike criticism so much? Would you be willing to answer that question, from your own perspective, not about other people.
When you struggle with dissension and criticism that is leveled at you, why do you think you struggle?
Breaking bread means sharing a meal together
Over at “God Directed Deviations,” Miguel asked a good question last week in his post “Does Breaking Bread = The Lord’s Supper?” I’ve commented on the phrase “breaking bread” before, but I thought it would be interesting to visit the topic again.
The comments on Miguel’s post are interesting, with some saying, “Yes, ‘breaking bread’ refers to the Lord’s Supper / the Eucharist / Communion,” and others saying, “No, ‘breaking bread’ does not refer to the Lord’s Supper.”
Here are some of Miguel’s questions and comments from his post:
Let’s go back to breaking bread. What was commonly understood when someone used this term? Was it the Lord’s Supper? Was it a general term for sharing a meal? I don’t think we can definitively say one way or the other.
There are several instances in the New Testament in which the phrase “breaking bread” cannot refer to “the Lord’s Supper”: the feeding of the 5000/4000 (Matthew 14:19, Matthew 15:36, and parallels) and Paul feeding the pagan sailors and soldiers on a ship in a storm (Acts 27:35).
Then, there’s this interesting passage in Jeremiah, which could not have referred to “the Lord’s Supper” and yet includes “breaking bread” and “sharing the cup”:
No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. (Jeremiah 16:7 ESV)
It seems, instead, that “breaking bread” is an idiom for “sharing a meal.”
Spiritual birth always leads to spiritual life… and spiritual living
Last week, Dave Black posted a little entry on his blog about the gospel. And, primarily, he’s talking about “living the gospel” not the “facts about the gospel.” There is a difference…
While he later relates this comment to teenagers (since he was planning to speak to teenagers soon after writing the post), he also recognizes that the comments relate to all followers of Jesus.
This is what he wrote (Saturday, September 29, 2012 at 5:41 a.m.):
I have long been convinced that there is no substitute for living the Gospel and not just talking about it. Biblical truth (i.e., doctrine) has a built-in power to make us different people. Too many Christians are suffering from theological shellshock. They’ve been taught that doctrine trumps everything else. With all due deference to theologians and Bible scholars (I is one!), we can state as a categorical fact that spiritual birth always leads to spiritual life! We have no right to claim a personal relationship with God unless our lives bear clear-cut marks of being His children. This is the point Jesus is making when He says “Follow me.” The mark of a true follower of Jesus is that more and more of our actions toward our fellow men, including our enemies, is governed by the love that God has poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That is the Gospel.
Being born by the Spirit is a prerequisite for living by the Spirit. In the same way, living by the Spirit is the (super-)natural result of being birthed by the Spirit. Like he said, this is the gospel… new life and new living in Jesus Christ.
Ministry is not something special we do; it is something we live.
Katie at “Backseat Driver” has written another good post called “Questions Continued: What About Financial Support?” The post is a continuation of a series that she is writing about questions raised concerning organic / simple / missional church.
Now, don’t let the topic or the labels concern you. This post, and many of the others that she’s written, can help us think about who we are in Christ regardless of how we organize ourselves as the church. In fact, some of these topics may even help us modify how we organize or don’t organize.
While this particular post is about “financial support,” the basis of the post is what it means to minister to or serve others.
At one point, Katie writes:
When we work at a job/jobs, it means that there is not a lot of extra time to “do” ministry in the way we have thought it had to happen in the past traditional sense. This is where we think of ministry only happening in time slotted meetings, prepared orations of teaching, directed study, preplanned activities and organized events. The Simple, Organic, Missional paradigm is that ministry is not something we do, but rather live, and it fits into our lives naturally in its’ various contexts. It is not something for the “chosen few” professionals, but rather the whole Body of Christ. It is not “slotted” but fluid, and responsive to the direction of the Holy Spirit. We look for opportunities at work, with our families, in our neighborhood, with people we associate with through our children, communities of activity, in fellowship with other Christians, etc. to live ministry and Christ fluidly and naturally in all contexts. I spoke with a guy recently who resigned from a pastoral job and went back to school to become a nurse. He shared with me that he feels he is ministering to others far more through his nursing job, than he did through his weekly church events that were called “ministry”.
What Katie describes is exactly how Scripture uses the term that we translate as “ministry.” It’s the same term that is often translated as “service.” If you are serving someone, then you are ministering to that person. It really is that simple.
Ministry is not about a job, or a position, or a set time, or a special event, or an affiliation, or an education, or a title… it’s about serving others in Jesus’ name… whenever and wherever.
About teenagers and the church… again
Mike at “Internet Monk” has written a very good article called “Yet another ‘Wake Up!” Call.”
Like many posts these days (and over the last few years), Mike is writing about the decline in attendance at church events, especially among young adults. His post is actually a summary of another article.
What’s the problem? Well, Mike summarizes the original author’s points:
- We emphasize decisions not discipleship.
- We have embraced the concept of “market-driven” youth ministry, giving people what they prefer (a road that has no end).
- We bought into the idea that youth should be segregated from the family and the rest of the church.
- We believe that big = effective, and we believe that more programs attended = stronger disciples.
- We’ve created the perfect Christian bubble (that is bound to burst eventually), then we invite people into our Christian subculture, where professionals are responsible to Christianize them.
- We imitated our culture’s most successful gathering places in an effort to be “relevant,” forgetting that none of those are places of transformation.
- We’ve embrace attractional models over missional ones, filling the church and giving us “Sunday experiences” that bear little relation to real life.
I’ll be honest… when I read the list above, I see the same thing: We’re inviting people and attracting people to an event. We’re not inviting people to Jesus, helping them to follow him, and giving them opportunities to learn to serve others together. We think we’re inviting people to follow Jesus, but entertainment will not make a disciple of Jesus… but then neither will a lecture (sermon).
Discipleship is life-on-life work. (And that can’t be programmed…)
I think this is true for teenagers and adults.