Evangelism isn’t Rocket Science. 
I am trying to remember how many approaches and strategies to evangelism that I have heard over the years. Maybe, I have heard almost as many evangelism strategies as I have new missions paradigms. When I was younger, I remember that friendship evangelism was big. Anyone still handing out Gospel tracts might as well have been from the Stone Age or pulling their white tube socks up. They were way out of touch with the new way to reach people. Then, that seemed to morph into using the arts and coffee bars. Or, even better, having artists play in coffee bars and then watch the harvest come in. My favorite was the ever so simple cardboard sign with “free prayer” written on it and displayed next to a lawn chair downtown.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against any of those strategies for evangelism. “Friend” people for Jesus if that helps you reach the least, the last, and the lost. I was just impressed by something these last two Sundays at church. Two weeks ago, we had a baptism service where 5 people shared testimonies before celebrating a most public confession. Four of them mentioned one couple’s name specifically as being instrumental in their coming to faith. Then, this last week at church, we had a time to honor a couple who is moving to a new mission location after many years in our community and church. Here are some of the things people shared as they affirmed them:
“When my husband was dying from cancer, you came and sat by me and comforted me.”
“You opened your home every Sunday night to us and would always cook delicious food for us to eat.”
“You helped me train and even joined my triathlon team so that I could accomplish my dream.”
Even more impressive is that all of these things were said in one of the hardest languages to learn; a language that this couple never spoke until they moved to the mission field and started learning it so they could share the Gospel and get to know people.
I know that of Paul’s writings in the New Testament, both Romans and Galatians have some of the most difficult theological passages to interpret. However, it is what looks like a simple passage of application in Thessalonians that has been one of the most challenging to me personally.
1 Thessalonians 2:8
“So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.”
Paul says that they cared so deeply for the Thessalonians that they were determined to share “NOT ONLY” the Gospel with them, “BUT ALSO” our own selves. Sharing the Gospel to Paul was not simply a verbal proclamation only. It was more than helping the Thessalonians understand the one true God’s plan of redemption and rescue. Sharing the Gospel meant that Paul cared deeply for the lost; so deeply, that he ended up sharing his very self with them. What does that mean to share one’s self? Look back at the two couples that I spoke of above.
I wish I had not heard teachings on Christian counseling, because then I could continue in my content denial that I don’t want to get close to people sometimes because I don’t want to have my feelings hurt if things go south. I wish I could keep hiding behind all of my introverted justifications of not being “called” to be an evangelist or a “people” person. Unfortunately though, God keeps bringing this passage in Thessalonians back in front of my eyes so that I will be confronted with the ugly truth that I am a self-centered narcissist at heart. Dang. I am pretty sure the Bible gives us the sobering news that this heart malady is not unique in our human species.
Yet, if I am not interested in the lives of those I share the Gospel with, why should they be interested to hear me share the Gospel?
You see then that evangelism isn’t rocket science, but we do have to love people to the moon and back if it is going to truly show people Jesus.
On our summer trip to the US, a family member blessed us and took our whole family to a famous amusement park. At the end of the a long day of rides and sun, we settled in to watch the nighttime show and fireworks. It was a moment of bliss and calm in a day of crowds and little kids, and I was enjoying the fruit of my labor with a well deserved waffle cone. Suddenly, my youngest son, who has just finished off a mocha ice cream waffle cone with sprinkles, looks at me with a sudden look of panic on his face. Apparently, when you mix soda, hot dogs, fries, churros, cotton candy, frozen lemonade, and ice cream all together in a little kid, then throw them on roller coasters and rides for a day, the result is that all that junk is coming out of one hole or another with explosive force. Who knew? This one was coming in a downward trajectory, so I immediately began to look for the closest bathroom. My wife told me it was far away and we better start making a run for it (before the runs caught us).
In a moment of father son bonding, we began sprinting for the other side of the plaza we were sitting in. In order to have crowd control and good traffic flow, the park had ropes up everywhere to keep people moving in the right directions and area. My son decided that he could not make it to the very end of the roped area and headed directly for the nearest rope. Right as he made it to the rope that he wasn’t suppose to go under, the security guard was standing with his back to the rope and literally holding the rope up for some reason. My son took this as a sign of divine providence and ducked under and kept going. The very moment I made it to the rope, the security guard had turned around and dropped the rope back down.
“Hey, you can’t go through here,” he told me sternly. I quickly pointed to my son running away and said, “That is my son and he is trying to make it to the bathroom.” “I am sorry sir, but you are still going to have to go all the way down to the end and enter the other side there.” Desperate, I tried to appeal to the man’s humanity, “Do you want my son to get lost and hurt without me?” It was my best attempt at manipulation and guilt tripping. “No,” he said, “but you are still going to have to go all the way to the end.” At this point, sheer rage mixed with the animal father instincts to protect my kid. Without any thought apparently whatsoever, I looked the guy directly in the eyes, and yelled, “!?$%&!”
Now, for those of you who might be second language or not familiar with what someone means when they write a bunch of punctuation marks in parenthesis, it is a kind and euphemistic way to tell you that either they or someone else cussed like a sailor. Some of you even supplied your own cuss word when you saw those punctuation marks or tried to guess what cuss word I would use in that situation. I won’t tell you what I said, but let’s just say that it sounded like the name of a popular new game where you throw corn stuffed bean bags at a board.
I wish that I could say I was at least willing to be logical and pragmatic at the moment of my crises. Instead of wasting time thinking up a cuss word to call him, I should have been using the time to run and make sure I could catch up with my son. “Sorry son, I would have found you sooner, but it was well worth the time to curse that guy! I feel much better even though you were crying and huddled in a corner of the park.” The good news is that I was able to find my son, and even better, he made it to the bathroom before Mount Vesuvius erupted. As I walked back with him, my full intention was to find a park security manger and give him an earful about how their employees should know when a child’s safety is more important than park traffic flow rules. However, I was too embarrassed to do that because I would have to point out the guy, and he could bring up the fact that I cussed at him. So, still inwardly stewing over the experience, I put my head down and walked my son quickly back over to the rest of our family.
As I have thought and prayed about that incident, a teaching and rebuke that Jesus gave in Mark chapter 7 came into my mind. Jesus was having another confrontation with the Pharisees, and wanted to highlight their pursuit of outer righteousness while ignoring their inner heart conditions.
20 He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. 21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Jesus wasn’t faulting the Pharisees for trying to pursue observance of the law and their desire to lead holy lives. The thing that he was trying to impress upon them was that no matter how many rules and regulations they followed, if they didn’t deal with their heart condition and thoughts, they were not getting to the root of sin and defilement.
For me, at the moment of my stress, anger, and concern for my son, what came out of my heart surprised and saddened me. Of course, a good father should be protective of his children and there is such a thing as righteous anger. But is it completely impossible or unrealistic to hope that the first thing that came out of my heart at that moment would have been a prayer? “Jesus, protect my son and help me find him after I run to the other end.” In a split second though, what came out of my mouth is a word I would never allow my children to say. If it hadn’t already been in my “heart”, it wouldn’t have jumped out so quickly in that stressful time. Where did it come from? The television and movies that I have watched. Period.
I have teenage kids, so of course we have discussed the use of cuss words and why it is wrong. They told me that they have heard adult Christians say that cussing isn’t a big deal, and that there are far worse sins out there. (It is amazing how much detail my kids remember about a teaching when it serves their purposes and argument, but the same day not remember I told them to take out the trash three times!) Here is how the “Christian” argument about cussing not being a big deal goes… First, cuss words are just sounds and the words themselves may have had no meaning, or no bad meaning in their original use. I am amazed how often I see English cuss words on t-shirts here in Taiwan. They either don’t know the word is considered bad or it just doesn’t bother them in a second language. I do love how people suddenly become master’s level linguistics when defending a Christians right to cuss.
The second argument is that even Paul the apostle said a bad word in Greek in Philippians 3. In the famous verse where Paul says that everything he used to take pride in, he considers “rubbish/garbage” in order to gain Christ (the knowledge of Christ 3:8). The Greek word that Paul uses here, they say, was considered a cuss word equivalent to the English cuss word for poop. So, now, these people are not only linguistics but have also become Greek scholars. The context of these verses have nothing to do with Paul addressing speech. If you want that verse, you need to study Ephesians 4:29. If you aren’t familiar with this verse, let me summarize Paul’s command: don’t say bad words. To both of these lines of reasoning in support of Christian cussing, I believe that Paul would say: σκύβαλα.
Oh, but wait! The best argument has yet to come. “Sean, you are more concerned with people saying a bad word than you are with little children starving to death in the Third World.” So, If I do cuss or don’t care about cussing, starving children will immediately feel better or get fed? I have a secret: you can care about starving children and cussing at the same time. Try it. However, my real beef with how flippant we seem to be getting in the Western church (including myself) with this has more to do with what Jesus said about the heart. I know that my cuss word was in my heart because of the television and movies that I have watched. I am very careful to avoid movies with the occult or sexual sleaze. Violence and cuss words, well, my view becomes more complicated. I have justified it in movies/tv with thoughts like: “Hey, it’s a war movie. If you get your leg shot off, you aren’t going to say Owie or darn.” or this one, “this movie is not about believers, so it would lose “realism” if they had them never using cuss words.”
I could go on, but I realized that it was a heart problem with where these cuss words were originating for most Christians. 1) action movies with lots of violence: let’s just say there isn’t a lot of “turn the other cheek” in these films. What fun would Terminator have been if robot Arnold had said, “I won’t come back but Jesus will”? The correct outlet for anger in these movies is a punch in the face followed by an expletive (or expletive first, both suffice). 2) low brow comedies that use cuss words for comedic effect. I don’t know why it is funny to hear people drop the f-bomb every other word, but that seems to be the way these comedies go when they aren’t using sex jokes and drunkenness for side splitting hilarity.
If we as Christians spend a large amount of time watching these movies, do we really think that the worldview of the movies won’t make its way into our heart? Seriously, the cuss words are part of a package deal and in and of themselves are NOT the main problem. The worldview of returning injustice and injury with violence, coupled with the worldview that praises sexual immorality and scatological jokes that is the cancer of our heart. Look, I am not a raging Puritan who demands all Christians toss their televisions in the fiery pits of Hell from whence they came. All I am trying to say is that I was shocked by what came out of my heart in a moment when my son needed me and a whole crowd was watching and listening. In the times when I need Jesus the most, I want his name to be first out of my heart and on my lips and not a cuss word.
The whole thing has challenged me to look beyond the cuss words to the heart of the matter. If I watch programming with swearing, then the greatest danger is not that I will say one of those words in a moment of stress, the greatest danger is that I will start thinking and acting like the people in those shows. Instead of blessing those who curse me (or won’t let me protect my son), I will verbally punch them in the face (because if I got in a real fight, I would lose in a heartbeat. Bible teaching missionaries aren’t known as good fighters). Instead of calling out the name of Jesus, I will call out names that I would be ashamed to say if Jesus were standing next to me. If you think you can watch all those shows chocked full of cussing, immorality, wanton violence, and sin, and not have it make its way into your heart, well, then I believe you may be full of one of your favorite four letter words…
I knew when the Ashley Madison website hack went public that there would be Christians on the list of people exposed. Sure enough, it didn’t take long for the media to wade through all the information and find a “famous” Christian who is on television. You would think that people would be tired of pointing out hypocrites within the church, but apparently it never gets old dancing on the moral grave of those who were not practicing what they were preaching. “Ah ha!” they say, just more proof that Christians are a bunch of losers who act more righteous than everyone else, but in reality are chasing after adulterous affairs. Some of these “outed” believers have gone into full damage control, trying to explain away culpability or merely confess and ask for forgiveness. I can hear this Ashley Madison deal being used by someone as a reason why they are closed to the Gospel or the church.
The real question is, “how should we respond when non-Christians play the Ashley Madison card on us?” I was instantly reminded of the words of Paul when he was describing himself in the letter of 1 Timothy. Timothy had been assigned by Paul to guide the church in Ephesus and there were some serious issues there. I believe that Paul expected Timothy to read this whole letter to the church as it is full of commands for everyone and not just Timothy. At the very beginning of the letter, the common sense thing for Paul to do would be to establish his authority right away. He needs to remind them that he is an apostle, reinforcing their need to follow his instructions. Instead, Paul goes into testimony mode and shares this little tidbit about his past in 1 Timothy 1:13-16,
“13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.” (ESV)
Paul goes the opposite direction of what we might expect. Instead of establishing his authority, Paul humbles himself by admitting how bad his past was. He was a broken and sick man who deserved God’s wrath but received His grace instead. No matter how long Paul followed Jesus and no matter how much he accomplished for the kingdom of God, he never hid or forgot his past, sinful life. He always gave Jesus the credit for his salvation and rescue. Now, what does any of this have to do with the Ashley Madison question? The world needs to understand that Christians are not professing to be perfect people. As Augustine said, the church is a hospital where sick people go to be healed of their illnesses. Jesus Himself said that He came as the great physician seeking out those who knew they were sick and lost. Though it saddens us to hear about another “famous” Christian being caught in sin, it should not shock us nor surprise us.
Of course, we as Christians have to make sure that we are never passing ourselves or the church off as perfect or as never wavering in our moral fortitude. Our story is the same as Paul’s story: we are sinners saved by grace. The only difference between us and those in the “world” is that we were willing to admit how messed up we are and how much we needed Jesus’ redemption. We have to be quick to humble ourselves and not try to behave as though we have it all together or saved ourselves.
This might lead you to ask a follow-up question, “Are you saying that there is no difference in the lifestyle or morality of a Christian from a non-Christian?” Should we really have no expectations that a Christian acts differently than someone who is not? Do we just shrug our shoulders when we find out our pastor is on the Ashley Madison list? He is just a broken, sick, sinner after all! No, that is not what I am saying. You have to give equal time to another thing that Paul said in his letters. The Corinthian Church made the church at Ephesus look like it had no problems at all. There was division, immorality, and all kinds of gross sin happening in Corinth. Take a look at the application bomb that Paul drops on them in 1 Corinthians 4:15-17:
“15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 16 I urge you, then, be imitators of me. 17 That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.” (ESV)
In the midst of addressing their problems, Paul points out how the Corinthian believers are behaving just like the “world” (in fact in chapter 5, he says they are doing things that are even unheard of in the Gentile world!) Then, Paul challenges them by saying that they should “be imitators of me.” Now, I want you to think about that statement for a minute. Can you imagine yourself standing up in front of your church or someone’s else’s church and saying, “Be an imitator of me.” The first thought you may have is that this sounds too proud. Like you are saying, “I have it all together and I am such an amazing Christian that you should do everything just like me!” I only thought about this later, because the first thought that I had was, “The last thing I want everyone doing is watching everything that I do and thinking that it is an example of a holy, Christian lifestyle!” That is way too much pressure. Can you imagine that much accountability in your life?
Personally, I like the first point from Paul better. It sounds much better to use the “I am just a sinner saved by grace” line to get out of being an example for anyone. I can simply say that only Jesus is a good example to follow. Imitate Jesus, not me. Sounds humble and right, but that is NOT what Paul just said. He said, “be imitators of me” knowing that he was trying to live a life that imitated the life of Christ. Yes, Paul never stopped telling people that he was broken and saved only by mercy. However, he also wanted people to know that same grace was changing him every day, renewing his mind and sanctifying him. He believed that mature Christians should be able to have new believers examine their lives and find role models.
Of course, Paul knew that he would not be morally perfect this side of heaven. I don’t think we should follow his example in the fight that he had with Barnabas over whether they should take Mark on their second missionary journey in Acts 15. Yet, Paul had a high moral standard for his life, and understood that if Christians did not behave differently from the world on a consistent basis it damaged the effectiveness of their witness. Instead of focusing on the names of Christians whose names were on the Ashley Madison list, maybe we should pay more attention to all the names who were NOT on the list. Let us aspire to be able to say, “My name would have been on that list if it weren’t for the grace of Jesus that saved me and is daily sanctifying me.”
Occasionally, I forget how much the grace of God has changed my life and who I am as a person. I begin to think how great I am, how spiritual I have become, what a wonderful Bible teacher I can be, bla, bla, bla. Then, reality hits me in some form and I quickly recall how fallen I am, and how reliant I am on the mercy and grace of God to be anything other than a complete scum bag. No, this isn’t false humility. I am not fishing for compliments from you the reader as in “Oh Sean, you aren’t that bad” “Sean, you are one of the good guys.” I find that every once in a while, grace seems to “lift” momentarily, and the curtain is rolled back. Time for the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
That is why I love to read the book of Judges. I am using it for a weekly Bible study that I am doing, and someone asked me the other day why I chose it. The concern the person had is that is has such odd stories that often make you question who God is. Why does God allow and seem to cause war? why is there all the violence and killing in the Old Testament? How can God use dirt bags like Samson? Yes, I will allow that these questions and many more arise out of Judges. I am aware that there are people at my Bible study who aren’t even Christians, and that this is their only weekly exposure to the Gospel. Yet, Judges fits most perfectly into explaining the Gospel.
Judges shows us who we truly are, and where we would be without the Gospel. Judges shows us how callously we treat the grace of God, and how easily we forget all that God has done for us. We often live in the same cycle that the people of Israel found themselves in. Judges 2:18-19, “ Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them,the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them.” I don’t think this blog could hold all the posts that I could write about how God has blessed me and my family. Finances, health, salvation, children, and more. I don’t think this blog could hold all the posts I could write about when I was faithless in spite of God’s goodness to me. Moral failings, anger, ingratitude, and more.
How can one truly appreciate the Gospel without first admitting our great need for a Savior? Judges takes us to the logical conclusion of us doing exactly what we want to do. Judges 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” What happens when everyone does what is right in their own eyes? Guys end up with prostitutes, blinded, and with buildings collapsed on them. Fat guys get swords stuck in their bellies until their “dirt” runs out. Concubines get raped and cut up into little pieces. Priests of God end up hawking idols and serving false gods. We are kidding ourselves if we think that man would have “progressed” or become “more civilized” without the Gospel in this world. Roman Empire anyone?
So, I know that we will have some weird conversations in my Bible study this fall. I have no idea how to explain to a second language person what Jephthah did with his daughter (actually, first language doesn’t help with this anyway). We could end up with an interesting conclusion on the value of stealing your wives from a rival clan. All I know is that Judges is the ultimate mirror for the soul of mankind, and without it, we are fooled often into thinking that we are better than we are. We neglect the great salvation, and drift toward relapse, backsliding, or worse. Thank you Jesus, that you are our ultimate Judge, who not only rules, but provides the “not guilty” verdict that we can not provide for ourselves. Bring it, Judges!
Book Recommendation: How to be Evangelical without being Conservative
Posted: September 1, 2012 in Book RecommendationsI grew up during the heyday of the Religious Right. Ralph Reed and the gang had triumph after triumph with Ronald Reagan and the two George Bush’s. Tons of money was raised, and awareness of political issues was brought to the eyes of the Evangelical church. There were even pastors running for presidential office! Being a Republican who emulated Alex P. Keaton (Family Ties reference there, sorry), I was young and was swept up in all the excitement. I graduated with a political science degree, and it seemed like Christianity was retaking America. Then, we all woke up. Abortion law? Never repealed. Same sex marriage? Gaining ground. Morality in politics? Anyone remember Bill Clinton?
In the midst of all of this, I have struggled to escape the opinion that many non Christians have that all Evangelicals are Fundamentalists (in the most negative, Jerry Falwell sense of the word). Bible thumping, intolerant, ugly signs wearing people have often put us deep in a hole when trying to share the Gospel of Jesus. Yet, as soon as you say that you are an Evangelical Christian, some people will simply lump you into the camp who make routine guest appearances on talk shows, because the host knows they are good for at least a few outrageous comments. That is why I appreciated Roger Olson”s book How to be Evangelical without being Conservative. Though he is a little older than I am, I connected strongly with Olson’s experience and struggle with the term “conservative”. What many of us Evangelicals mean by conservative is not necessarily what the world thinks it means.
Olson looks at several different topics and discusses how the term “conservative” has been hijacked and applied to one view of Christianity or the church that isn’t always positive. He explains that the opposing view is not “liberal” in any sense of today’s usage of that word, but rather a differing view WITHIN the Evangelical circle. I don’t agree with all of his points (other than the Bible, how many books do we totally agree with?), yet I love his approach to create a new category he calls post conservative. Yes, I know, just like with my last post on “missional”, some of you may be tired of people just adding “post” to a term and acting like it is a cool new word (post modern, post evangelical, postman… opps, not the last one).
In the book, he also clarifies what he views as the defining characteristics of the term “evangelical”, which he backs up with church history and personal experience. Though I have called myself an Evangelical for years, I don’t think I thought in detail about what that actually meant. To me, it was just a way to say I was not part of an older, mainstream denomination. I could lump all the “non denominational” churches into this one category. In the hopes of seeing greater unity in the body of Christ, I believe definitions like his are critical to establish the foundational beliefs, while separating out the secondary ones.
I realize that some people will fear or hate this book, seeing some of Olson’s comments as “liberal” or non patriotic to his own country. He is definitely not getting invited to any of the religious right’s conferences, nor will many churches in the south of the United States feel comfortable with some of his conclusions. However, I still recommend his book to get you thinking about labels that both we and non Christians use such as evangelical and conservative. I still am a strong believer in Christians voting, being involved in social and political issues, and caring about the health of their nations. We should squeeze everything we can out of a democracy for Jesus (if you live in one). We do need to take care though that the face we put forward to the world isn’t one full of hateful, prejudicial, or judgmental voices. The Gospel is good news after all.
Blog side note: Speaking of book recommendations, I am currently beginning work on a book of my own entitled “The Next Reformation”. Due to this endeavor, I won’t be able to post as much on this blog as I have in the past. I know there is nothing sadder than checking a blog and seeing the last post was in 2007. I promise to keep plugging away and do at least one per week, and I appreciate so much everyone who has been reading the blog and sent me encouraging notes. Let us all continue to be hungry for God’s Word and press on to study, apply, and teach its riches to the world.
I am tired of the word “missional” (Emerging part 4)
Posted: August 31, 2012 in Emerging Church, The ChurchI know that in every movement there are buzz words which always end up being used so much that I almost barf when I hear them. The funny thing is that I am not even sure “missional” is a real word (Microsoft Word spell check doesn’t seem to think so, which of course is always right! Thanks Bill!) Basically, when people use that word today, they mean that the church should get up off the pew, head out into the streets, and do something to make this world better. It is not necessarily direct evangelism, but the thought is that if we are out there doing “good deeds”, that is the best witness of Jesus. From picking up trash to providing clean water, emerging churches are rolling up the sleeves on their Old Navy shirts and digging in. Sometimes I feel more like I am in Green Peace than serving the King of Peace.
You know what is coming next. We must look BEHIND what we see on the surface of the Emerging Conversation so that we don’t miss a key piece of our time in church history. In the Seeker movement, many churches’ goal was to create a place where non Christians felt comfortable coming to a service. Polls were used to ascertain in what way that could be done best. The Emerging church says that instead of trying to get people to come to us, we should go out to them, where they are. It is more than that though, in that there is a strong push to live out a “kingdom” lifestyle in the here and now. The traditional church is accused of only caring for people’s eternal state, and downplaying any significance of our lives before heaven.
Though Jesus clearly talked quite a bit about salvation and the eternal destination of man (for example Matthew 25), Jesus’ teaching on His kingdom clearly placed an importance on how we live our lives now. Even more importantly, His miracles showed His care for improving people’s lives here on earth. Some people say that Jesus never started a soup kitchen, but how about the miraculous feedings? Mark 8:1-3 says, “In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” This passage shows the essence of mercy ministries such as feeding programs and aid to countries with famine.
How about the healing miracles of Jesus? Matthew 4:23 says, “And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.” He could have just focused on proclaiming the gospel and providing eternal salvation only, but He healed people, immediately improving their quality of life. Christian missions has often been in the forefront of developing clinics, hospitals, and teaching medical knowledge because these people understood that the mission of Christ was both eternal and immediate.
Paul seems to catch this “kingdom lifestyle” teaching, as he often repeats the importance of “good deeds”. In Titus 2:11-14 , Paul connects his theology of salvation with the good deeds of a believer. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”
Of course, eternal salvation and forgiveness of sins is the MAIN Gospel benefit and goal of Jesus, and Scripture clearly teaches an eternal perspective. However, even if I complain about the over usage of the word “missional”, I can’t argue with placing more emphasis on the church reaching out into their communities, countries, and the world with mercy ministries. What does it profit a church if they have the coolest college age ministry ever, yet ignore the cries of the hungry and homeless around them? When we serve, we do it clearly as believers, not trying to blend in with Earth loving hippies or Starbucks drinking post modern activists. We do so because Jesus brought reformation to His people who had forgotten their God’s love for the “orphan, the widow, and the children”. So, let’s go be mercyministrysional (patent pending on this new church word).
Is your church a spectator sport? (Emerging part 3)
Posted: August 25, 2012 in Emerging Church, The ChurchThe maze is a bit odd. I have to admit that out of all the creative, interactive, Emerging worship ideas, this one takes the cake. It doesn’t make it any better when they call it a labyrinth. You walk along the path to different stations, candles and incense everywhere, and trippy monk music fills the background. If I just experienced this for the first time, I might think I was in some New Age meeting and later we would hear how to tap “our inner self” to “actualize our god self”. Many Emerging churches don’t stop with worship, but keep going with their new teaching styles. Imagine sitting in couches, surrounding the speaker in a circle, where you all “discover the truth of Scriptures together”. I keep thinking about my Bible school where there was always that “guy” who dragged class out for hours just to hear himself talk.
We must again look BEHIND all the new worship and teaching models to understand something crucial for our generation of church history. The bottom line is that people feel that church has largely become a spectator sport, where the “professional” church leaders do all the speaking, and Joe layperson sits there like he is watching a performance. We have all these educational studies now about the need for interaction and individual thought to create true learning, yet we don’t see these applied in most services today. Not all Emerging churches agree on HOW interactive this service should be. The simple, organic church meeting is almost entirely interactive, with no pastor or worship leader at all. Others use interaction in worship and teaching, but still have worship leaders and pastors who direct and prepare the core of the service.
It is hard to argue that there are ample Scriptures which point to the body being involved when the church gathers. Both 1 Corinthians 14:26 and Ephesians 5:18-19 seem to point that direction. “When you come together, each of you has a hymn,or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.” “Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord” The point that Paul is making is that when the church meets, it needs the whole body to encourage each other and share their gifts. In fact, he spends most of 1 Corinthians 12 building the body analogy to drive this point home.
This doesn’t mean that there weren’t parts of the service that were not interactive. Paul also says that the service needs to have both teaching from the elders and order (which often comes from planning and leadership). 1 Corinthians 14:33, “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace —as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.” 1 Timothy 5:17, “The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.” The New Testament service wasn’t a free for all, where everything was spontaneous and interactive. Paul believed in the importance of sound doctrine being taught, and this requires study, preparation, and gifting.
I grew up in a charismatic church (others might use the word Pentecostal), where for many years we had under 100 people total in our congregation. Our worship was led by teams of church members, but every week had interaction from different members. People would share a prophetic word, vision, or revelation that God had given them. There was order as an elder or the pastor directed this along with the worship leader. The worship team itself was mostly made up of “laypeople” so that too was interactive. Even though we didn’t use mazes, poetry readings, or art, we still knew that worship had to be interactive and participatory if we wanted to hear all that God wanted to share with us. Who knew each week who God would speak through?
I will have to admit that I have never been in an interactive sermon. I don’t think the old “turn to your neighbor and say….” really counts as interactive. I am a Bible teacher by call and experience, not a preacher, so it is always odd to me not to have interaction when I preach. I am so used to posing questions and having discussion, that I often leave preaching feeling unsatisfied. What I mean is that the interaction shows me as a teacher that people are learning (or not!), following with me, and guiding the teaching occasionally to a great area of need that they have. I train new teachers 0n all the interactive teaching methods I know, but then toss them out the window for preaching. I realize in churches with hundreds of members, interactive teaching seems not possible, but I believe we have to look at this issue as a church.
So, I don’t think you should run out and fire your church leadership, abandon your normal liturgies, and have a 100% interactive service. I do think though that the Emerging conversation has a valid point here, that we aren’t going to a show. Coffee bars in our churches are one thing, but if we start serving popcorn and slushies, then we may have a problem. Our churches reach full potential when the whole body is involved. That doesn’t mean everyone gets to teach or lead worship, but it does mean that we need to pull apart how we do church and seek to create space for involvement and interaction. Otherwise, there will be no reason to go to church in person when you can sit in your chair at home and watch the live stream on the internet. No, I am not recommending that!
If your church doesn’t have a cool name…(Emerging part 2)
Posted: August 22, 2012 in Emerging Church, The ChurchThe Trek. Journey. Expedition. Imagio Dei. Solomon’s Porch. Mars Hill. If your church doesn’t have a cool name today, you might as well lock up the doors and call it quits. Seriously though, if you were thinking about naming your new church “First Baptist” or “Parkville Methodist”, you might want to rethink that decision. Emerging churches, for the most part, have chosen “non traditional” names that express their mission statement more than their location or denomination. Often, you are left scratching your head at exactly what their name means (especially when they chose Latin names, tre chic). People have been in emerging churches for months before realizing that they are actually in a Assemblies of God or Baptist church!
To continue our series on the Emerging Church, we must look BEHIND all the names to see what the movement is expressing, so that we don’t miss something key for church development. A common complaint about the Seeker and mega church model is that is more about form than it is about the function of the church. Change was needed, but these models only changed musical styles, preaching strategies, and the look of the church. Coffee bars and trendy bookstores can’t be what Jesus had in mind for His reformation. The names these new churches have chosen represent their desire to address the functional changes needed, putting the focus on the gift instead of the gift wrapping. At first glance, you would assume that these hip names are continuing the marketing strategies of the church, but in reality, they are distancing themselves from that.
Most people use Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well to talk about how Jesus brought reform to worship. While it is true that worship is mentioned, the core of the issue is more in line with the function over form argument. The woman wants to know if the Jews in Jerusalem have the correct form of worship, or if she can continue in her Samaritan’s traditions and location. The Jews had the Second Temple, Levitical priests, and their worship was located on Mount Zion. The Samaritans had their own temple on Mount Gerizim, had created their own priesthood, and carried out sacrifices in their own way. Jesus as always gives much more than a simple answer to her question in John 4:21-24.
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” The place and form of worship was not what was important here, it was how they worshiped. Led by the Holy Spirit and grounded in the truth was the key for worship, not just in the New Covenant, but the Old as well. Both the Jews and the Samaritans had lost sight of this.
What does this have to do with function over form? My conclusion is that if we as the church are worshiping in Spirit and truth, then you will see that evidenced in how we live our lives both inside and outside of our church meetings. The church functions as a body of encouragement and fellowship if we are living in the Spirit and applying the truth of God’s Word (1 Corinthians 12 – 14). Empowered and guided by the Spirit, we can not help but to share the witness of Jesus as the early church did after Pentecost (Acts 1 -2). You can change from Gerizim to Jerusalem, use Jewish or Samaritan music, or even create a new position of leadership, and still not address WHAT the church is supposed to actually do when they gather and go out into the world.
I realize that the context of this discussion is deeper when you consider how the Samaritans were disobeying many Old Testament laws in their worship (building another temple, creating own priesthood, syncretism with idolatry), which makes it even more impactful how Jesus steers His reformation. He wasn’t interested in making worship more “Jewish” or “Samaritan”, He was wanting a “race-less” church that was more well known for their adherence to the truth and fruit of the Spirit. The Emerging church is trying for the most part to cut through to that question, and not just respond to the latest poll findings. A cool church name looks great on a coffee mug and t-shirt, but if it doesn’t represent a body of believers actively building each other up and reaching out to the lost, it is just another form gimmick. I am still working on my own idea for a church name, but can’t get beyond “Bunch of Jesus People”. Pretty cool, huh?
Do you like going to church? (Emerging part 1)
Posted: August 18, 2012 in Emerging Church, The ChurchYou definitely get the feeling that some people don’t like going to church. Just taking a stroll through some of the Emerging Church book titles gives you that nagging feeling. “Unchristian”, “They like Jesus but not the Church”, “Lord, Save us from your Followers”, and “A New Kind of Christian”. After reading through many of the most popular Emerging Church books, I could pretty much guess what the first few chapters were going to be (especially if it was the author’s first book on the issue). Chapter 1: Why I don’t like to go to church. Of course, it takes many paths and gets more complicated, but the core is that these people love Jesus, yet struggled with their church experience. Are they just disgruntled, self-centered Christians, or is there something more to this?
Clearly with the traction that their books have gotten, there is the something BEHIND the movement that we need to see. There will always be people who complain about the church and leave it to start their own thing. That is not what we are witnessing in our generation. What we are witnessing is a large movement away from the traditional, mainstream, historic churches. It didn’t start with the Emerging guys either, but rather with the whole “non denominational” trend beginning with the Jesus Movement of the 1970’s. It is funny that we think of churches like Calvary Chapel and Four Square as “established” denominations, when in reality, they are relatively new expressions of Christians leaving denominations. The next wave hit with the Seeker church (sometimes known as the mega church model) when even more people left their old Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, or Lutheran home. The Emerging church is simply another stage of the larger exodus away from the historic denominations.
This isn’t just a theory, but statistics will back that there is a radical change happening in our generation of church history. Mainline Protestant denominations continue to decline, according to the 2012 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches. The United Methodist Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Presbyterian Church USA, and the United Church of Christ, all reported decreases in membership in 2011. For several years now, the Southern Baptist Convention, a conservative evangelical denomination, also lost members. Who is growing? (other than Mormons) The non denominational, evangelical church (in these churches who have over 1,000 people, the growth rate was around 83%!!!) It isn’t that these people are walking away from God, but they are walking away from their “old” churches to new ones. Why?
There is no single answer, yet the voice of the Emerging Church writers accurately captures the dominant reason: people don’t “like” going to their old church. This could be because of the music, the lack of community involvement, legalism, fire and brimstone preaching, lack of women in leadership, boring services, etc… You can’t make everyone happy in a church, and we shouldn’t be trying to anyway. We should be staying faithful to the Bible and Jesus’ heart for the church. BUT, when this many people walk away, there is something these churches were not seeing. As we talk through the issues of the Emerging Church, we will have to ask ourselves the question: are the older churches hanging on to dead, lifeless tradition just like the Jews of Jesus day, or is our materialistic, me centered, post modern generation creating a church to fit their needs, not God’s?
All I know is this, people in Acts sure appeared to “like” being a part of the church. Acts 2:46, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.” Seriously, every day they wanted to meet? I see people struggling to go just for one hour on Sunday. Acts 4:22, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” Wow! I see pastors begging for people to tithe to keep the church from going under. Acts 11:26, “So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.” A whole year? great numbers? proud to be called followers of Christ? Now that sounds like people who “liked” going to church.
Emerging Church Movement: Saviors or Heretics?
Posted: August 17, 2012 in Emerging Church, The ChurchI know, I know, once again I am weighing in on a subject that has been talked about and beaten to death. Views on the Emerging movement range from those who see the Emerging Church as the salvation of the church, to those who see it as the front man of all that is wrong with postmodern culture. It seemed for a while that if you didn’t have black, pseudo-cool glasses, semi-shabby dress, a church that met in a warehouse (or pub or coffee house), and weren’t writing about how the church needed to change or die, that you weren’t “in” (whatever “in” really means, probably having a million hit website, best selling book, and getting quoted a lot as in “Sean Ellis a true prophet of our times”.)
Why discuss it now? again? My fear is that it will be labeled as a passing fad or “stage” in our church history like the Toronto blessing or intimacy movement. Whether or not you agreed with books that were popular in the Emerging crowd is irrelevant. We all need to understand what was BEHIND the discussion and why those certain topics were considered “hot”. Underneath the authentic diary style diatribes lays the seeds and need for a new reformation of the church. As the reformers themselves said, “Reformed and always reforming”, though it sounds much better in Latin. “Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda” Don’t I seem smarter already?
The concept of bringing reformation to our faith is not new. As many books have keyed on, Jesus was the ultimate reformer. He established the model of not simply accepting tradition for tradition’s sake, and asking penetrating questions to reveal where man had hijacked the faith from God’s intent. In Mark 2, Jesus was challenged by some people who noticed that John’s disciples were observing traditional fasts while His were not. Jesus reply in 2:21-22 is telling, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old, making the tear worse. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”
Jesus was making sure that they didn’t see what He was bringing as “Judaism” as they knew it; not even high powered Judaism. Some elements of the old covenant were coming to an end (sacrifices, priesthood), and Jesus was preparing them for radical change. However, when you think about it, Jesus affirmed many of the aspects of old covenant law and Judaistic life. The two great commandments were STILL to be the two great commandments (Matt. 22:36-40). Many who call Christianity a revolution don’t understand how true Old Testament Judaism was the foundation and foreshadow of all that Jesus came to do. I would argue that Jesus came to reform the Jews, not revolutionize them.
This is never more clear than in Mark 7:8, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” There was nothing wrong with God’s commands, it was that they had replaced them with their own rules and traditions. The Protestant Reformation sought to do the same by cutting through the traditions of the Catholic church that had replaced the Gospel and God’s Word. Of course, what Jesus did was much more than a reformation in that He provided forgiveness of sins and was the fulfillment of God’s Redemptive History. Yet, in the day to day life of followers of God, much of what He said was simply echoed by Luther, Calvin, and others 1,500 years later.
I believe that the Emerging Movement was part of a wake up call from God that we need to continue to live out “reformed, and always reforming”. The Seeker Movement, Toronto Blessing, Intimacy teaching, and now the Emerging Discussion are all signs of the desire to see some of our “tradition” be challenged and changed where it has strayed from the heart of God. Reformation is messy, let’s face it. There were some very weird teachings that came during the Protestant Reformation, yes, even from some of our beloved forefathers like Luther and Calvin. Perhaps you don’t feel that any of the recent movements I mentioned were “all good”, but I challenge you to ask why they took hold and what they might tell us about the whole time in church history. In Jesus day as well as the reformers, most of the established leadership were not happy about asking tough questions about why we do what we do and believe what we believe.
The next few posts will look at what I believe the Emerging Movement showed us about this time of reformation. My goal isn’t necessarily to evaluate the movement or discuss the merits of all the teaching that came out of it. Instead, I hope to explore the causes behind the issues so that we can see we cannot simply dismiss this as a fad in church history. I won’t make any dire predictions to urge you to read on like “and if we don’t discover the causes of dissatisfaction, we are dooming the church today to a continued slow death!” as that would be just a cheap (but sometimes effective) parlor trick. Rather, I will ask you the question, do you want to be part of the Next Reformation?
The Bible Nerd 