Churches, Events, and Maturity
Steve from “Gospel-Centered Living” has published another excellent article called “Confusing Participation with Transformation.” He says that it’s easy for churches to spend huge amounts of time, money, and energy promoting and carrying out big events, and then to confuse participation at these events with authentic Christian living. (I think this sometimes happens weekly, unfortunately.)
He says:
We should ask, “What is our mission, again?â€Â Is it to make church members or make disciples? Can I measure my spiritual formation with my calendar? Can my church measure its success with attendance rolls?
Those are good questions. What do you say? How should the church “measure its success?”
I Need Thee Every Hour
When we get together with the church, we often sing songs together. This is not unusual, of course, because many believers sing songs when they gather with the church.
Sometimes we sing old songs and hymns, and sometimes we sing newer songs. This is not unusual either, because many churches sing a mix of older and new songs.
But, when we sing songs together, we will often stop and talk about the songs. This is the only church that I’ve ever met with that actually talked about the songs that they sang.
Last Sunday, when we were meeting together, we sang a hymn called “I Need Thee Every Hour.” After we finished singing, I asked my brothers and sisters about the song. Specifically, I asked if anyone would be willing to share how God was teaching them to rely on him every moment of every day.
Several people spoke up. One brother said that he had been struggling with obeying God. There were several things that he knew that he should be doing in order to obey God, but he always claimed to be too tired or to not have enough time. Lately, he said, he was learning to accept the conviction of the Holy Spirit and rely on God to give him the strength and time to do whatever God called him to do.
A sister shared about something that happened in her family. In fact, it happened to her 13 year old son. She gave him permission to share, because he had shared it with his family. During the past week, while doing some errands with his father, this young man was struggling with his attitude. He said he recognized his sin and began praying. His countenance changed and he began working with joy. His father testified that he noticed the difference, and the reason the family knew that the boy had prayed for help is that the father asked his son what had caused the difference.
A few other people shared as well. And, each one that shared encouraged us to rely on God every moment of every day. They either encouraged us directly or through their stories.
I love it when we talk about the songs that we sing. I love it when God uses those times to encourage, challenge, and even admonish his children.
Do you remember a song that you sang with the church recently? What does that song stick in your memory? What is God teaching you through that?
Sincere love makes the greatest difference
My friend Danny (from “learning…“) met with us for just over a year. Then, a couple of weeks ago, he moved to Williamsburg, VA. In his post, “A Wonderful Body of Believers,” he talks about the time that he spent with us. I can’t think of a better compliment that what Danny says:
During my time at SEBTS there have been many who have befriended me over the years and blessed me in some way. As an encouragement to you I would like to share about some of them and what they did for me . These people did things that are not in some method book for discipleship, community, fellowship, or teaching. They were just simply being themselves in the Lord and reached out to me for the bottom of their heart through the gifts the Holy Spirit has given them and used the World’s Goods that God gave them. It is this sincere love for God and people that makes the greatest difference. It is when they were like Christ to me that they ministered the most to me.
Here is a picture of many of the people who gather as Messiah Baptist Church. They have reached out to me as a brother and a son, taken me into their homes, fed me, encouraged me, fixed my car, helped me move, talked about (walked with) Jesus and the Bible, talked philosophy, showed me how to love others, even let me use my gifts in the Lord to encourage, teach and comfort them, and much much more. With out neglecting structure at the proper times all this was mostly spontaneous.
I would like to say more but our (and “Messiah Baptist’sâ€) real boast is in the Lord, Jesus Christ. It is he that began a good work in us and will complete it. It is he that is working though us to love, to teach, to understand, to spread the good news and build the Kingdom of God: His kingdom.
I pray that we will treat everyone that God brings into our lives that way that Danny felt we treated him… to God’s glory and for the advancement of his Kingdom! I can also tell you that Danny was a huge encouragement to all of us!
By the way, Danny includes a picture of some of the people that we meet with in his blog post.
He went to church
Life was not going very well. He left his recently emptied home Monday morning for his commute to work. The sign in the front of the church building near his neighborhood read, “Come here for a blessing.” He rolled his eyes.
Monday was bad. Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning, he saw the sign again: “Come here for a blessing.” Tuesday at work was worse. Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, the sign derided him: “Come here for a blessing.”
Somehow Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were even worse than Tuesday. And the echoes in the empty house seemed to laugh at him. By Thursday, when he saw the phrase, “Come here for a blessing,” he was ready for a blessing.
So, Sunday morning, he found himself pulling his sedan into the parking lot. The attendants flagged him through the parking lot and into a space. The man at the door smiled and handed him a folded piece of paper. As he was going to say something to the man, the man turned toward the family behind him to hand them some folded pieces of paper.
As he paused inside the door, he marveled at the hive of activity that he found. The family behind him pushed past and found a pew. He sat beside them by the aisle. The husband of the family nodded, then turned toward his folded piece of paper. So, he looked at his paper, too. At the top of the paper were the words, “The Blessing of God.”
Good. He needed a blessing.
Soon the music started. The band leader told everyone to stand and sing and be blessed by God. So, he stood and tried to follow the words on the big projector screen. Everyone seemed very excited. The words seemed strange to him. But, he tried to sing along, because he wanted to be blessed by God.
They began to pass big metal plates across the pews. The man at the front said that those who gave money would be blessed. So, he reached in his wallet to get some money. He really wanted to be blessed, so he thought twice and gave a little more.
Someone began to give a speech about being blessed by God. Some of the words were strange, like in the songs. But he understood that Jesus and God wanted to bless him. That’s good, because he wanted them to bless him. He needed them to bless him. He repeated the prayer at the end of the speech. He craved a blessing from God.
Then, everyone was leaving. He turned to the husband of the family. The husband shook his hand, and said, “It’s great to meet you.” As he was preparing to ask about being blessed by God, the family made their way past him and out the door. He stood there for a moment and a few people nodded at him. One man shook his hand.
Slowly he made his way back out the door and to his car. He drove back home. He did everything they asked. He went to church. He sang the songs. He gave his money. He listened to the speech. He said the prayer. Was he blessed?
He cried himself to sleep that night in his empty bed.
The next morning, the sign in front of the church building read, “Come here for a new life.” He wondered if that was a lie too.
Leaders with Everyone Else
Today I’ve been talking about leaders… specifically the emphasis that is placed on leaders in today’s church. We don’t typically see that emphasis in Scripture.
Yes, there were leaders in the NT church and there are a few passages that speak directly to or about leaders. But, primarily, the NT authors addressed all believers… whether leaders or not.
I think this passage from 1 Thessalonians is becoming one of my favorite passages about leaders in the church. Why? Because the passage about leaders is directly followed by a passage about everyone:
We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-15 ESV)
Of course, I would translate it a little differently. The phrase that the ESV translates “are over you” is actually the phrase “lead you.” Also, the word translated “brothers” would probably better be translated “brothers and sisters.”
It’s also interesting that Paul writes exhortation in the plural: “We urge you…” instead of “I urge you…”
One more thing… in discipleship terms, the strongest command in this passage is probably “admonish” which is a command given to both all “brothers and sisters” and to “those who lead you.”
Is the Church Top Heavy?
I struggled with what to name this post. I almost called it “Does the Church Overemphasize Leaders.”
A few days ago, I was talking with a friend about leadership among Christians as represented in Scripture. My friend made an interesting observation. He said, “Scripture talks about leaders far less than the church today talks about or relies upon leaders.”
I think my friend is right. So, I started thinking to myself, “Is the church today top heavy?” As I thought about it, I determined that I could answer that question, “Yes,” or I could answer it, “No.”
In one sense, the church is top heavy today because of the emphasis that is place on specific leaders. In many churches, leadership functions are reduced to the giftings and abilities and talents and time and energy and resources of one man (or a few men, at most). In this sense, the church is not top heavy in numbers, but it is top heavy in emphasis. Leaders receive more of the emphasis and attention.
When a decision has to be made (or someone wants a decision made – there is a difference), the church turns to their leader(s). When a question is raised, the leader(s) is expected to provide the answer. When there is a problem or struggle, everyone expects the leader(s) to provide the solution.
This is “top heavy” in the sense that roles and responsibilities are falling on the shoulders of leaders today, while in Scripture we see the entire church tackling these decisions, questions, and problems.
On the other hand (and in another sense of the term “top heavy”), our modern, traditional church structure indicates that the church is not as top heavy as we see in Scripture. Again, we tend to see one person or a few people leading. These people are responsible for the teaching, discipling, admonishing, training… pretty much everything that the church does in Scripture. We relegate other (non-necessary) duties to non-leaders.
In Scripture, we see something different. Everyone takes part in teaching, discipling, admonishing, training, etc. The entire church works together to serve their community and proclaim the gospel to those how are not believers. Thus, many, many more took part in “leadership” in the examples that we see in Scripture. In other words, when it comes to number of people functioning, the church today is not as top heavy as the church in Scripture.
So, yes, today the church is top heavy in the emphasis that is placed on one leader or a few leaders. But, the church is not top heavy when it comes to the functions that every believer should take part in.
In fact, as you can probably tell, these two senses of “top heavy” work together. Since we emphasize one leader or a few leaders, then others are not required to (or even allowed to) function as they should. And (to look at it another way), since everyone is not functioning as they should (to build up one another together), then one or a few have to bear the brunt of the responsibility.
Either way you look it, it’s a problem.
Back to School
So, it’s back to school time for most high schools and colleges and seminaries. Unfortunately, for many Christians – especially Christian college and seminary students – it is also a time when priorities get lost in the shuffle.
Education is important, but it is not most important. Getting an A+ in theology is not the same thing as being a good follower of Jesus Christ. So, while you are studying, make sure that you don’t put study ahead of your calling as a servant (minister) and representative (missionary) of Jesus Christ.
How do you do this? Serve people and make disciples. Make this your primary goal through the semester. Don’t wait until you graduate to start serving (ministering to) people. Start now… or continue if you’ve serving people.
A great GPA may be important for finding a job later, but it does not demonstrate obedience and faithfulness in following Jesus Christ.
Don’t let school and academic concerns distract you from your primary objective: serving people and helping them mature in Jesus Christ.
Of course, this is true for students (elementary school, middle school, high school, college, university, seminary, continuing education – all students) but it’s also true for teachers and professors, business people, stay-at-home moms… even web developers.
Serve people.
Mutuality: Just to Reiterate
In my previous post (“Church Activities“), I briefly stated that mutuality is necessary for maturity.
Arthur, at “The Voice of One Crying Out in Suburbia,” makes the same point in his post “Muzzling God’s people.” He says:
The church as we see portrayed in the Scriptures is a place for Christians to come together to minister to and be ministered to. It is a place of participation and mutuality without hierarchy and where Christians can edify, pray, sing, teach, exhort and admonish one another. That phrase “one another†appears so often in Scripture but practically speaking we see the church as “one and all the othersâ€. How have we perverted the very vehicle designed to provide “one anothering†and mutuality into a barrier to Christians ministering to one another?
It’s really sad. We’ve turned a time of mutual talking and listening and teaching and serving and caring into a time of one person talking and everyone else listening.
In Scripture, maturity in Christ comes through every part of the church speaking and serving one another. It doesn’t matter how great your hermeneutics or oratory skills: if you are the only person speaking, then the church is not maturing.
Evangelism from the Other Side
Mark from “Called Out In Kansas” has written a very good article called “Evangelism at its Best?” Mark tells the story of a patient in the ER where he works. After the patient has been cared for, the patient begins to share the gospel with a nurse.
Mark knows the nurse, but the ER patient does not. In the article, Mark wonders about he benefits of trying to share the gospel with someone with whom you do not have a relationship. Obviously, there are times when this is necessary. But, should it be normal?
For example, Mark knew that the nurse believed in God but held spiritual beliefs that were more atuned to Native American spirituality. The patient did not know this.
It was interesting for me to read Mark’s story, because I got to see a glimpse of evangelism (especially “cold call” evangelism) from the other side. I’ve been on the side of “sharing the gospel” with a stranger, but I haven’t seen the other side of it.
What do you think?
Labels, Adjectives, and Division
Three year ago, I wrote a post called “Labels, Adjectives, and Division.” I was just beginning to study and consider how much the church is divided and fractured in the way we live. We are united in Christ, but we fail to live in that unity.
————————————————–
Labels, Adjectives, and Division
Assemblies of God church… Lutheran church… Baptist church… Presbyterian church… Methodist church… Anglican church… Catholic church…
Denominational church… nondenominational church…
Evangelical church… Liberal church… Orthodox church… Conservative church… Emerging church… Missional church…
Mega-church… house church… seeker church… simple church… cell church…
Traditional church… Progressive church… Cutting-edge church… Alternative worship church…
I have read that these labels are very important. The labels and adjectives tell people something about the people that form that particular church. But, to whom are these labels and adjectives meaningful?
Are the labels meaningful for nonbelievers? For the most part, no. There are some people who do not follow Jesus Christ, but who nevertheless know the difference between the various flavors of the many Christian denominations. Some unbelievers probably even know the slight differences between the various types of Baptists, Methodists, Anglicans, etc.
But, primarily, these labels and adjectives are used to distinguish one type of Christian from another type of Christian using terms and descriptions that are only meaningful to other Christians. Thus, these labels and adjectives tend to divide God’s family into various groups.
When people use these labels (Please, notice that I said “when”) to exclude brothers and sisters because they do not fit the “label”, then those people are being divisive and are not maintaining the unity of the family of God. Usually, this occurs because people want to congregate with those who are like them. This is not scriptural. We are part of the body of Christ with everyone who has been indwelled with the Spirit of God, whether or not they look like us, talk like us, smell like us, think like us, do like us, etc.
Excluding people because of labels also removes the responsibility and privilege of discipleship from believers. Instead of accepting others who are different from us (like Jesus accepted us) and teaching them how to walk with our Master, we exclude them from fellowship. Yes, discipleship can be difficult and messy this way. But, is anything else really discipleship?
Look at the variety of people that Jesus called disciples: fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, a friend of the high priest, a thief, even women… unclean women… prostitutes. Jesus welcomed them and encouraged them to follow him. What would have happened if Jesus had excluded people based on labels? He would have ended up with a group of Pharisees following him… and the Pharisees would have been very pleased with this.
The next time you hear a follow of Christ referred to by a label, remember that the person is your brother or sister. You are part of the family of God with them. You need that person and that person needs you. Yes, teach them… but also, listen to them. You may find that God wants to use that person – the person that you might intend to exclude – in order to help you grow closer to him.