?????? about Church Planting-- or-- Heinz isn't the only one with 57 Varieties

I submit this post to you with both a caveat and a disclaimer. The warning being that this might offend some. The disclaimer being that I don't have all the answers. This is mostly a 'thinking aloud' via blogdom. I feel a little awkward questioning what others feel God has told them to do, but yet I've been in situations before and done things 'for God' that now I feel were probably more of a 'jumping on the bandwagon' than the leading of the Spirit. So I'm not trying to be judgmental. I just don't get it.



So, church planting. Hmmmm. No doubt the activity itself has biblical roots. The apostles planted churches in those days when the good news was being spread into communities and cities it had not reached yet. Then they just had to function as the church (easier said than done).



Today I'm confused by the whole idea of church planting in the United States (not to be confused with sending missionaries into largely unreached countries). When I look at our small town, we have more than a half dozen choices almost within walking distance of my house. If Iwant to travel up to 30 minutes, I probably have close to 100 choices or more. Now, not all of those are places I'd necessarily want to go but many of them do contain real believers serving the Lord with sincerity and gladness.



Here's the event that brought my problem with church plants to the front of my mind. I got an email from a person I've recently been reacquainted with. This person was considering being part of a church plant in (insert large metropolitan city here). The problem is that this person also lives 2/3 of the way across the country having moved there for another church plant, from a church here. Now I guess what I don't get is that this first move was WAY out west. I have a hard time believing that there aren't enough believers out there to reach those around them. Who knows, the believers out there might be sending believers out here to reach the massive Arab population in the Detroit area. Doesn't it seem kind of silly to be 'trading' mission fields? Shouldn't we reach those that God put right in front of us? I know of a particular church in our state that is looking to plant in New York City. Right now the Brooklyn Tabernacle is doing an absolutely marvelous work in the city. They've got groups in all five boroughs. The church is living and active in Manhattan alone, in several different expressions already. NYC is a completely different culture than suburbia or the rural U.S. Who better to reach the people in the city, than those who already love the city as well as live and work there?



I remember when we lived in upstate New York in our apartment. In our little rural community along one particular country road, there were three Baptist churches all within about 3/10 of a mile. It was downright silly. One of them was called Fellowship Baptist Church and we used to chuckle at the name because they obviously weren't up for fellowshipping with the baptists 100 yards in either direction. Since that time it appears that two of those churches are now gone, but yet there are several more plants. In the other town in which we lived, we saw at least two plants come in while there were already a pile of churches in the area.



So, are we just shuffling believers around from church to church or are we actually reaching the lost in a big way? Are we determined to know & proclaim Jesus Christ and Him crucified, or are we wrapped up in our particular way of 'doing church'? I don't know. I have been part of a church plant at one point. We weren't one of the families that moved into the new area, but started attending just after they started the plant. I know that there were several gatherings of believers meeting within a few miles of them at the time. So were we bringing the gospel into an area that needed it? Seems to me like we were taking believers away from an area they were already ministering in and just shifting them into another. You can't tell me that everyone in the area where they had come from had already come to know Jesus. I know for a fact that is not the case. Had these folks already evangelized everyone that God placed in their lives, i.e., their kid's teachers, their work acquaintances, their neighbors, postmen, grocery clerks, etc.? I am all for sending out missionaries to places that haven't heard the good news, but in the good old U.S. of A., it seems like we are more interested in planting our type of church than bringing the gospel to people who have never heard it.

I guess what I'm asking is, "Does there really need to be a baptist plant (or two), a PCA plant, a Plymouth Brethren plant, a Christian & Missionary Alliance plant, a Church of the Nazarene plant, a pentecostal plant, an Independant Baptist plant, etc.........? (what is WITH all those labels anyway?) Are we footing the bill to open yet another plant in an area saturated with churches because we have a difference in the way we worship? Or are we renting or erecting yet another building because the the other churches in the area believes in only the King James Version and we like the ESV? I think the problem is that, although we don't like to admit it, we oftentimes are gathering around a set of distinctives rather than around the Lord. Another reason we plant seems to be an underlying feeling that our group has better methods of reaching the lost or discipling or whatever. Book upon book has been written about methodology from seeker sensitivity to bus ministry to cell groups and everything in between. The Bible only talks about the power of the gospel itself. There is no power in a particular method. In fact, I think when we start trusting in our methods we feel less of a need for reliance on the Head of the Church (um, that would be Jesus....not the pastor--but that's an entirely different post, I suppose)

Please understand that I'm not trying to be negative, controversial, or cynical. I'd love to hear your views. Just yesterday I heard of a church one town away from us, starting a church in another neighboring town (which already has a pile of churches). Go figure.

I Corinthians 3: Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

Re-introducing the Christ

This is something totally different than what I would normally post but I listened to this on someone else's website and thought it was extremely powerful. This woman doesn't mince words. Have a listen.....


On the same blog,Loving Jesus-Leaving Church, there is a link to a transcript of David Wilkerson that I thought was great.

Finally, I received something in my email that brought joy to my heart. If you have read this blog for any time at all, you know that I'm pretty disturbed about the condition of the church and grieved with what she has become. My husband and I have burned out on church programs over the years and we are now spending our time developing intimacy with the Father rather than using our skills in program after program after program in a building we refer to as 'church'. Here I go on my soapbox again.......I'll spare you today. Here's a link to the article. Please keep in mind that I believe Bill Hybels to be an honorable man of God and his honesty here is a testimony to that.

Those three things encouraged me yesterday! I get excited when I see the church fulfilling what she was called to be, standing against sin, walking in power, and relying on the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 16:18......... I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Coming up.....Help Harold find his way to the church! Come back on Wednesday and find out what I'm talking about. Also later in the week I can share some news about what is going on with us. And, no, I'm not pregnant!!!!! Just the Lord doing more than I could ever ask or think. It's almost getting comical.

Have a great day!
Karen

One-Slice Baloney Sandwiches (A Lesson in Hospitality)

Romans 12:13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 16:23Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.
Titus 1:8Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined.

When we were quite newly married, quite young, and I was quite pregnant, we had just moved and were visiting churches in upstate New York. We had visited this one place a few times and about the third time a family asked us over for lunch after church. We went. When we got there, the house was less than perfect, her three small kids were helping her get lunch on the table. They were making baloney sandwiches because that's what was in the fridge that day. There wasn't a whole lot of baloney so it was one slice per sandwich with a little yellow mustard and out came a bag of chips. My sandwich was touched by lots of little hands that may or may not have been very clean, dinner was certainly not deluxe, but I enjoyed that lunch so much because it was borne of true hospitality. This woman wasn't out to impress us with her culinary skills, show off her house, or put on any airs. It wasn't about the meal. It was about fellowship. She just wanted to make us feel welcome in the body of Christ. We had a great time. I've since been invited to lots of places, some very beautiful homes of very wealthy people, some not. The things that make a home a place of true hospitality are not a five-course meal, lots of square footage, and fine things. The things that make a home hospitable are the people who invite you into it, the fruit of the Spirit in their lives, and sharing their lives with you.

I learned a lot that day. I was much more apt to invite someone over for 'whatever' on the spur of the moment than to wait until I had the time or money to put out a 'spread' and impress them with my cooking. The most recent church I was in hadn't quite gotten that concept yet. We were around there for nearly a year before we were given more than a friendly hello. Finally someone asked us over. It made all the difference. We had been on the mend from some serious spiritual burnout and just needed someone to reach out to us. Hospitality is so important and actually much simpler than we've made it in recent years.

Enjoy your weekend!

Jesus and Your Relatives

Romans 10:14How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them

Sorry to do this so much lately, but I'm going to quote some portions out of Living with Jesus Today by Juan Carlos Ortiz. Again, this is a fantastic book. It is out of print but you can still get one from Amazon as they have them used. This is going to be a loooooong post, but I probably will only post here a few times this week, so break it up if you'd like. I just didn't want to leave out any good stuff from this chapter.

"When my parents came to the Lord, in no time at all we started to fellowship with those in the church which we had begun attending. They became our whole interest.

Do you know what our relatives said? "Since they got into that religion, we lost them."

It was the truth. We were so busy with the church that we lost all contact with our friends, relatives and former acquaintances. We saw our relatives only at funerals. The very ones we were meant to bring to the Lord were suddenly no longer a part of our lives.

Who are the ones who bring new people to the Lord? Those who have themselves just been converted, because they still have friends in the world. but after a few months they won't bring any more new people because they will cut themselves off from all their friends. They will burn their bridges with the world and, instead, will come to prayer meetings and Bible studies, becoming totally absorbed in the church system.

I recall the time when our family belonged to an Italian church. We had meetings every evening except Friday. Six evenings out of the week we were away from our home!

Each evening at 6:30 we left home with our Bibles under our arms. We had no car at that time, so we had to walk seven blocks to take the train. We didn't return until around 10:30 pm. Imagine what our neighbors thought! Every day at 6:30 they watched us leave. They were sorry for us, "poor people, what a religion they have!"

Of course we had no time to make friends with them---we were so busy with the church. Even when there was a holiday, the church held a special meeting. We were always in church, so there was no room for our relatives or our neighbors in our lives. We thought that spirituality was to be in church continually....

.....If you are in a university, you are there first to spread God's kingdom. If you can't preach, you can shine as a light. You can love people, so that they see that Christ is alive today. Suppose you work at Ford Motor company. "Well, I'm there because they pay better, and because they have so many benefits," you tell me. No, you are at Ford Motor company because God needed a missionary there. He simply uses Mr. Ford to support you in the mission field.

If you have two lives--a private life, and a religious life--you can work in a place for many personal reasons. but when you live only one life, God is in everything you do. And wherever you find yourself, you are responsible to those who are a part of the structure of your life.

First, we are responsible to our own family. The pastor isn't responsible; he is just a helper, a counselor. We are the responsible ones. Husbands are responsible to their wives and children....

.....in every household where there is someone who knows the Lord, he is responsible. He is the light to that house....God will ask each of us, "What did you do in the place in which I put you?"

Second after our immediate family we are responsible to our relatives--our uncles, aunts, and cousins. "But it is 20 years since I last saw them!" Yes, and that is very wrong; because you are responsible to them. Third, you are responsible to your friends. Not just your close friends, but also your lawyer and your dentist. If God has saved you, it is because He wants to reach through you all of these people who are a part of the structure of your life. If not through you, then through whom?

Fourth, you are responsible to your neighborhood......yes, you are the 'pastor' of that neighborhood.....every christian has a 'parish' Your block is your 'parish'. You are responsible to that block. Do you imagine that God is going to send an angel from heaven to evangelize your block so that you can go to meetings?

You are also responsible to your fellow workers.....They are a part of the structure which God wants His light to permeate through you. So this means you have something to do. Perhaps you should start by making a list of all the people you are responsible to. But before you begin, I want to draw a very clear distinction between the concept and life. If you have just the concept of being responsible as a priest in your parish, you will either find it a tremendous burden, or you will rush out and try to convert everyone by preaching to him. the letterkills. If your responsibility is just a concept to you, it will either kill you, or you will kill those to whom you witness because you will turn them off!....

...I am not talking about trying to get your relatives, workmates, friends and neighbors to come to church. That is all part of our system. Most of them are not interested in those things, because they are religion and not life. I don't know how to say this....I don't think there is an easy way to say it. I think I just have to say it, even if it seems hard. I believe there is coming a time of great shaking of all of our systems, and only that which is unshakeable because it is the life of Christ will not be torn down...
.......we are not going to have pipe organs, and we may not have hymn books and Sunday School materials. We may even be without our Bibles! But the primitive church didn't have any of these things. The New Testament hadn't been written yet. and most believers didn't have access to the Old Testament. All they had was the Holy Spirit. but because they had Him 24 hours a day, they had the kind of faith that cannot be shaken. As a result, they turned the world upside down! ...
......You see, a church SYSTEM may become a hindrance....We have added so many things that we are caught up in and we don't know how to get rid of them. We even think they are essential.
Let me illustrate what I mean by a hindrance. Our church in Argentina is charismatic. We raise our hands when we sing. (Well, sometimes we do and sometimes we don't.) Now that doesn't appeal to everybody, so the system has become a hindrance for many people. Once we invited a certain family to our church. "No, I don't think we want to come. We don't fit into your atmosphere," they said. Some people feel better in a Baptist atmosphere, or in a Catholic atmosphere, or in an Episcopal atmosphere. I'm not justifying the attitude, but I do wonder if sometimes the things we do in our churches aren't a major reason why the world doesn't want to come to them. Most of these things are just not normal,they are religious.

You know, most of the people you are responsible to will not come if you invite them to church. But did you ever think of inviting them to your house? They will come there. If you bring a person to a Pentecostal church, or a Baptist church, or an episcopal church, he has to overcome many things in order to get to Christ. Perhaps he is anti-catholic, anti-charismatic, or anti-liturgy.....But he is not anti-ice cream! So you bring him to your house. Your home, not the church building, becomes the center of your christian activities. When the church is centered in a home, it is more likely to be centered in people than in a building. The key is that EVERY home starts to function fully as a center. EVERY home, EVERY individual.

I am NOT talking about taking your car out of the garage and driving to someone else's home for a church meeting. No, that is just like going to a church building. I am speaking of bringing to your home all who are a part of your structure of your life---your relatives, friends, neighbors, and fellow workers.

Now I DON'T mean holding meetings in your home with gospel songs and Bible study. Some churches do that.....But that is just another church of the kind that we have in buildings. I am talking about staying in your house to fulfill your duties of priesthood. You begin with your wife. I was the pastor of the First Assembly of God, but my wife was neglected. Start by evangelizing your wife.

What do I mean by evangelizing? To evangelize is to have complete love. It is to have fellowship, communion, full understanding between each other. So evangelize your wife. Love her and meet her needs as the Holy Spirit prompts you. then check your relationship with your children. How are you getting along with them?

What about your relatives?
How are you doing with your cousins and aunts? How long is it since you last saw them? Start to rebuild those burned bridges. I did it and it is amazing how many we won to the Lord without speaking a word. I wrote them, making friends with them again. I didn't preach. I shared love with them. I repented of neglecting them, rejecting them, because I had let the church system take all of my time. I won them just by loving them.

Those women whose husbands don't know the Lord--how many of them go to all the church meetings? No wonder their husbands don't come to the Lord. The church is their rival! They need to evangelize at home by showing the love of Christ as the Holy Spirit leads. He will tell you how to love if you listen to Him and do what He tells you to do. ....


Okay, I better stop there. I've already used most of the chapter. The rest of the chapter is so good that I wish everyone had the book to finish it! Maybe I'll put it in another post next week or something. Have a good week everyone!

Karen










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The Walk after the Talk

About 20-some years ago I heard someone at a conference tell a story about what happened in the church he was pastoring. He grew tired of preaching lovely sermons each and every Sunday seeing that, in all reality, not much changed around the place. He'd give a sermon about joy, for example. He'd get the usual, "Great message today, Pastor!", and "powerful words, Pastor", and "that was really challenging". But the next week would come and the people were no more walking in joy than they were the week before. He decided that he would no longer move onto the next topic until the church was practicing what he had already preached on. Talk about guts. He stood up on Sunday morning, went to the pulpit, and when it was time to speak to God's people, said only, "Love one another. Have a lovely week. You are dismissed." , and then he sat down. It took a while before the people began to 'get it'. Somehow, they figured it out. They started loving each other. It was practical. It was real. It honored God. If I remember correctly, a few months went by before he preached the next 'sermon'. I believe it was , "Love your neighbor as yourself". Wow. So simple yet so hard. We love ourselves pretty much. We treat ourselves pretty well. Do we love our neighbor the same way? I don't think I'll ever forget that story. I just thought it was so awesome.



Like I've talked about before, I think we take a very simple walk and turn it into a maze of programs, complicated sermons, and lists of rules that protect us from breaking other rules. Jesus said, "follow Me".



Quite honestly, there's a whole lot I know in my head about walking the walk. I've been studying the Word practically since I was old enough to think. Life is where the rub comes in. Oh, we can theorize about patience and say," ah...what a lovely sermon on patience" but when we're in the checkout line with a slow clerk and a broken scanner.......or when the car breaks down for the third time in a month and we don't have the moolah to repair it....that's when the walk needs to match the studying. That's when we see if we're allowing God's Word to change us and conform us into His image. We have to practice living in his presence at those moments. We need to DO the things He asked us to do. Hiding his Word in our hearts is necessary to avoiding sin. Studying so that we know what God said in His Word can be useful, no doubt. Unfortunately, many times this has taken the place of living it. Paul did stay on in Corinth to teach them the Word of God for a year and a half.....I'm not against teaching. The people in Corinth didn't know God's Word. The gospel was new. It hadn't been long since Jesus died and rose again. People were pretty much blank slates when it came to what they knew about Jesus. The jews could connect their prophecies to Him and most of them had a great understanding of the torah but didn't know much about Jesus. There weren't Bibles you could just take home and read and study.



Let's contrast that with today. Most believing homes in the developed world have multiple Bibles. Most people in churches today have been there a good portion of their lives. Most of the time, the pastor is giving a sermon that is just slightly different from the last one he gave on that topic a year ago. I really don't think my experience has been a whole lot different than anyone else's but I could be wrong. I can say that just because of the sheer volume of time I've spent "in church", I've pretty much heard lots of variations on the same messages over and over again. I'm not being demeaning to these pastors, I'm merely relating my experience. I rarely learn something particularly new or applicable, nor do I see a whole lot of people reached for the Lord in these meetings. When Paul was in Corinth, it says that he stayed and 'reasoned with them'. To me that doesn't imply a lecture, it implies dialogue. It just seems like we spend a lot of time preaching to the choir, passing along the academics, instead of spurring each other on in our knowledge and love for the Lord and teaching what we have experienced from God's Word.



One of my favorite periods of time I've had with the church, is back in New York when we led a cell group. We had a bunch of new believers in it and we generally didn't have a set text to study from(not that there's anything wrong with having one). Each week we would get together and have coffee, chat for a while, then sit down and go around in a circle, each one answering the question...,"what is the most significant thing that happened in your life this week?" Some weeks it would be nothing more significant than having a birthday or your child starting first grade. Other weeks people would have serious issues like, "I got pregnant before I came to Christ.....what do I do with this baby", or "I just lost my job", "I'm struggling with such-and-such sin." Instead of trying to preach a one-size-fits-all message, we used the Word to minister to each other in each of these situations as they came up. I am still in touch with many of these people. God knit us together. God built us up in His Word as we applied it to our lives. It was exciting. It was awesome. We grew. Unfortunately, we had to stick to the program that the church was dictating and every six months the group had to multiply or divide or whatever. The organic aspect of our friendships was changed and we had to start all over again with a new group. We became a slave to the cell group "program" instead of what was working to change us into the image of Christ. It took me a long time to get over that whole thing and it was very disillusioning at the time. I have since learned a lot, grown a lot, and put it behind me, but I am very determined to never again be a slave to a program, only to the Spirit of the living God. This is much harder to do than I ever imagined. Even in a non-typical church environment, we can become a slave to a different kind of 'program'. Any time it starts to be academic at the expense of practical, we run the risk of just getting bored at best, or 'puffed up' with knowledge. I think these verses in II Peter 1:5-8 talks about what we need to be effective in our Christian walk. 5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The LOCAL Church

In the New Testament, churches were generally identified by their locale. The church at Phillipi, the church of Laodicea, etc.

I don't know about you, but for most of my life, I attended "church" about 1/2 hour away, at least. I know that as a kid, our family did this in order to attend the type of gathering that we believed did everything 100% right (I'm chuckling even as we speak!). As an adult, we did it to find a place that was most in line with what we believe Biblically, best for our family, decent preaching, etc. You know the drill.

But when I look through the new testament, it seems a little more organic than that. What do you think? There had to be something about those local gatherings that were a powerful testimony in the areas where they met. I realize that much of this could just be my imaginings but I'm just picturing the impact it would have, say, in a small town like mine, if the true believers here met together around Jesus instead of a set of distinctives. What would that say to the world? If our head is Jesus and not "Pastor Smith" we eliminate a whole lot of problems.

What if they do this and we don't? What if we sing this and they don't? These things become a problem because most churches today, in my opinion, gather around a preaching service rather than gathering around Jesus. We meet for programs that have been put in place rather than around the Lord. We put a spoon in the pastor's hand and tell him to feed us, contributing to the 'eternal babyhood of the believer', instead of picking up a spoon and feeding ourselves. Until I decide that I am responsible to make sure that I 'eat', nothing is going to really take root in my life. Yes, God has given some to be teachers. I'm just not sure that it's always going to look like one guy giving a lecture to the rest of the body for exactly 30 minutes each week. I think teaching happens in many different settings, a lecture is only one of them. I think those verses in Deuteronomy 6(yesterday's post) give a better picture of effective teaching. What are those lessons you've learned the best? Those you've personally walked through. When Paul said, "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Christ Jesus".......it comes to life after you've walked through need, or when someone who has personally walked through it shares it with you. My children know that "the borrower is servant to the lender" because we walked through getting rid of debt and shared it with them.

Again, I'm not talking about joining a church that doesn't believe that Jesus is the only way. I'm not talking about joining a church anyway! It's so much simpler than that. I'm talking about Hebrews 10:25......assembling together with other believers.

I think if the church was functioning like it did in the New Testament, the church would see more of what they saw in the New Testament. Thousands being added to their number. Right now I believe the church is weak. I think we are merely a caricature of what the church was meant to be. When I read through the New Testament, this group we call the church was a force to be reckoned with. They walked in power. The stuff they saw happening in their midst couldn't be duplicated by the Boy Scouts or the Lions Club or any do-gooder type program. The gates of hell were not to prevail against us.

I believe that if the church was functioning as it should, it would literally alter what our cities looked like. Bars would be closing, strip clubs shutting down, you name it.....not because of legislation, but because of supply and demand. Unfortunately most of what we do 'in church' has become somewhat of an academic pursuit. We spend a great deal of time turning the Bible into merely a text book. Please understand.....I think we need to be in the Word ALL the TIME. But I think sometimes we spend so much time pursuing it academically that we don't go out and live it with each other and with our neighbors. We take a part of our lives that most people look at as boring (sitting in a classroom for 13 years) and take our exciting gospel and put it in the same format. Eeeewww. Don't get me wrong, I love to learn. Just not that way! And I don't think I'm alone. Would you rather hear someone teach about the amazon jungle by standing in front of you relating facts, or have someone sit down with you and share facts about the Amazon through his stories of traveling through it for ten years? Better yet, how would you like to learn about it by taking a guide along and navigating it yourself?

I remember hating history as a kid in school. I grew up. I happened to travel to Boston. Wow! I saw Paul Revere's house, some graves of famous historical figures, walked into the building where the lanterns were placed before Paul Revere's famous ride. Guess what? I was hooked. I love history.

We need to bring Jesus out of the classroom. We need to 'bring Him to life' in front of the world, in front of our kids, and in front of the body.

We need to hide His Word in our hearts. Nobody can do that for us. Then we need to pass what we've learned on to others and they need to do the same.

Another rambling post. Sorry. At least the new name of my blog is accurate.

The Fruit of the Spirit - Or Spiritual Fruitcakes

Now before ya'll get all panicked thinking that I'm hoping we can all just get along and put up with every doctrine that's preached everywhere........ I haven't said or implied that we all have to go join the Ecumenical movement and put practicing gay preachers in the pulpit or put up with "a different gospel." I guess what I am saying is that there are true believers, washed by the blood of Jesus, in many different groups. We don't need to sit around running them down or preaching against all the different groups, as in, "Those charismatics!" , or "those legalistic fundamentalists ", etc.

We need to watch OUR lives & doctrine carefully, not those whom we have no responsibility for or to.


If 'Jane christian' down the street speaks in tongues and I think that is a gift that has ceased, I can still love her & know her by the fruit of the Spirit in her life. The fruit of the Spirit isn't speaking OR not speaking in tongues. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, longsuffering, gentleness, meekness, and faith. Hmmm....did I leave anything out?

If 'Born-again Susie' at Corner Post Independant Baptist believes that we should only use the King James Version and I think that's crazy, that also is an opportunity to love part of the body of Christ. Again, the evidence of the Spirit isn't using or not using the KJV only, it is love, joy,peace, etc.

If we think someone within our realm of responsibility or influence (within our 'church' or someone we're discipling or are friends with) has gotten into some wacky doctrine or some 'new' revelation that 'tickles listening ears', then I believe it is our responsibility to confront it as long as we can do so with scripture. But the wholesale 'flogging' of this group or that, is not befitting the body of Christ. i.e., I am not a Rick Warren groupie but I have seen people verbally burn him at the stake for being a heretic. I would venture a guess that most of the people I've seen do this haven't really read or listened to more than a sound bite or two of his stuff, if that. I don't agree with every word that comes out of his mouth, but I am certain that he believes in salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ alone. Rick Warren doesn't fellowship with me, nor is he part of the local expression of the body of Christ where I live. So why do I need to tear down his ministry? I think some of us will have a lot of 'splaining to do' when we stand before the Lord due to our treatment of other believers who didn't quite line up with our understanding of scripture.

We're not enemies. We serve the same Jesus.

I had the unfortunate displeasure of listening to a certain preacher at a certain campmeeting via the internet. His whole message was pretty much tearing down other believers. None of his complaints were biblically black and white things. He had a problem with:

1)Men who preached without a suit and tie. (definitely the apparel of the apostles, don't you think?)

2)Women who wore cullottes or pants -He said a skimpy bikini was better than pants because women wearing pants takes leadership away from the man in the home. Alrighty then. (Again, if you believe that God would only have you wear dresses, that is between you and the Father....but his argument for it was nowhere near biblical-he didn't even attempt a scripture and the skimpy bikini is pretty blatantly not modest apparel and my wearing of modest pants certainly hasn't taken away from my husband's authority in this home nor my father's in his)

3)People who read anything other than the KJV --He put the NIV in a group along with a sexually transmitted disease, mickey mouse, a lethal pesticide, and a few other things that I can't remember nor do I want to. (However you come down on the side of the KJV only argument---I'm not sure I'd want to stand before God having called a translation of His word the equivalent of a venerial disease.)

4)Preaching without a pulpit---Oh, Is THAT why they stoned Stephen?

5) Church not looking like a church--with carpet and a pulpit ---HUH? Last I checked, the church looked like a group of people, not a building with crosses and pulpits. I wonder if the persecuted church in China or Albania is deterred from worshipping by lack of a 'churchy' looking building. I have this feeling they're a little more concerned about intimacy with the Father or who is knocking on the door to arrest them than they are about having carpeting to worship on.

6) Christians who use projectors & screens instead of hymnals. (Wow is all I can say to that one)

So you see, he wasn't talking about defending the deity of Christ or preaching against someone saying we have to earn our way to heaven. He was angrily ranting about his preferences.

I don't give this gentleman's name or location because I don't want to tear him down publicly .....I only use this as an illustration. I have to be careful, too. When I first started blogging, there were people I wanted to go toe to toe with over a few issues but God spoke to me about that through many verses in Proverbs.

When we turn our guns on each other over preferences, we cease to show the fruit of the Spirit and start acting like......you got it!........ spiritual fruitcakes.

We Cannot Choose Our Brothers

II Corinthians 5:16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.

The following words are not my own. They are from a book I read 20-some years ago by the name of Living With Jesus Today, by Juan Carlos Ortiz. He was an Argentinian evangelist. The book had an impact on me then, but combined with all I've learned and experienced I am enjoying it even more the second and third time around. This is just part of one of the chapters. The book is currently out of print but there are 11 used copies available at Amazon.com for next to nothing, if you feel like reading it. I give this book 5 stars.



"The primitive church was just starting. It was small to begin with, but they conquered. Wherever they went, all over the earth, one desire consumed them: to bring the whole world into the worship of Christ. They preached Jesus, not a systematic theology.

The aim of the primitive church was not to have a bigger church so that they could say, "Ours is larger than that one."

It wasn't to form separate denominations based on certain doctrines, calling themselves "methodists" or "presbyterians" No, their whole purpose was to expand the kingdom under Christ. They had unity because they were centered in Jesus.

Today we are not under Christ, but under other banners. So we have a broken church that is fractured into hundreds of denominations. But Jesus does not have many churches. The church is the bride of Christ, and He is not a polygamist. He is going to marry just one church.

Don't ask me which church I belong to, because there is just THE church. When you say "baptist," "methodist" or "lutheran".....be careful. Those names are bad words in the kingdom of God. Don't repeat them too often, because Jesus may wash your mouth out with soap if you keep on saying those things.



We cannot choose our brothers. All the children of God in the same area belong to the same church, whether they like it or not. We cannot say, "you are my brother but he is not my brother."

Who can choose his brothers in any family?....

.....The church is formed of all those who have the Son within them. Whether they are Anglicans, Seventh Day Adventists, or Roman Catholics---if they have the Son, they are in the kingdom. They belong to the family of God. It's not by philosophical approach, but by the life they have.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Our system of religion tells us that if we believe that Jesus is the way, that's okay. That's enough to be saved.

But it's not okay. Jesus in not the way just so that we can believe that He is the way, He is the way so that we can walk with Him. He is the truth not just so that I might believe He is the truth, but that I may trust Him. And He is the life not just so that I can believe that He is the life, but that I might live that life. We cannot just have a doctine or a concept, we must have the reality. The primitive Christians were called those of "the way." Is the Anglican church way? Are the methodists or the baptists the way?

No, the way is Jesus. It doesn't matter whether you are a member of a denomination or of an independant congregation. To be in "the way" is to have Him who is "the way."

If you are in Jesus, you are in the same way that I am. If you have the Son within you, you have the life of God.

It doesn't matter whether you believe in the millennium, or you don't believe in the millennium; whether you believe in the coming of Christ before or after the tribulation. Those things divide the people of God and have no value for living. They are just an intellectual approach to the philosophy of the Bible. They may be interesting, but they have nothing to do with whether or not we are brothers.

The church has a tendency to be a Christian club. A club is an institution in which all of the members agree to certain principles. If we start a new club, say a non-smokers and non-drinkers club, it's because all of us agree not to smoke and not to drink. So non-smoking and non-drinking is what unites us....

....When we gather together around principles or doctrines, that's a club. Anything that is centered in a set of rules or concepts is a club. But when we gather together around a living person whose name is Jesus, we are a church.....

....When we get converted, we become Baptists, or Episcopalians. We are rivals. It's like two clubs. Before we fought for our politics or for our football club. Now we fight for our doctrines. But it's the same flesh finding new channels to manifest itself.

I used to belong to a church which prayed kneeling down. We never prayed standing or seated. Once we went to visit another church where people stood to pray. We were scandalized. "Look at that!" These cannot be Christians. They pray standing." Today, the issue might be whether a brother is immersed or sprinkled in baptism, or whether he speaks in tongues or not. But all of these divisions are because we are more centered in doctrine and concepts than in life.

A person becomes your brother because he has been begotten by the Father. ......

.....He commands us to repent of our hatred of one another. And when He lives within us and we are led by His Spirit, we will accept each other as members of His body not because of doctrines, but simply because He has accepted us. We will be one church because we all share one common life----the life of Christ in us."

Being Honest

1 Peter 1:8-9
8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

As God's people, the church, we are all about obeying God. Or are we? There's this little matter called honesty. I'm not talking about the usual honesty--certainly we know that it's wrong to tell untruths whether they're little teenie exaggerations or whoppers. I suppose I'm talking about telling ourselves the truth.

Let me give an example.

A)I grew up in the church. I have been attending Sunday school, worship services, the Lord's supper(that was a separate service where I attended), conferences, Bible camp, special meetings, missions conferences, etc.

B)I also came to trust Jesus for salvation when I was a child. I love Him, serve Him, tell others about Him, and try to minister wherever I can. I love the Word. I believe prayer is an unbelievable gift from the Father. I have seen His hand move in unbelievable ways because of prayer.


BUT........

From early on in my adult life, something in the back of my head told me that all those things in paragraph A were maybe not as related as I thought to those in paragraph B. Unfortunately, that was not a feasible way to think so I pushed those radical thoughts from my conservative/compliant/don't-rock-the-boat little brain.

In my early 20's a group of us young adults were all going to go to Florida together. Everyone wanted to go to a Bible conference. All I could think of was how horrible it would be to spend a week in Florida inside an air-conditioned church building that looked just like any other church building listening to someone preach some variation on something I had probably heard a thousand times before. Did I say this to anyone? No, I just didn't go. I could barely say this to myself aloud. What? Are you crazy? Admit that sitting in a service bores me to tears? Not on your life. If I admitted that, there were a whole lot of other things I would have to think to their logical conclusion. My brain would probably have shut down. Once again....I had to give myself another excuse not to go..."I really can't afford this trip".....and then shove those insolent thoughts to the back of my mind yet again.

A bit after Jim and I married, we were involved up to our eyeballs in any church we were a part of. "Busy for God." What could possibly be wrong with that? Except now the truth was more nagging because as we got busier at "the church", we were actually propagating the myth that one's commitment to and love for the Lord was measured (even subconsciously) by involvement in church programs and how many meetings you showed up for. No one would ever say this.....but if I am honest with myself ....I thought it....lots. As in, "I wish so-and-so would be consistent in our Sunday school class---they're not 'sold out' " Those of us in leadership knew who we thought were doing well spiritually. But maybe we were wrong. Maybe we were judging by all the wrong things.

During our time at our last church, I started exploring these thoughts and feelings even more. We had moved out to Michigan on the tail end of being super-mega-overthetop-crazy-up front-most nights of the week-committed to a church in New York. When that involvement was gone, I realized that I had neglected the best (intimacy with the Father) for the good (involvement in church). In fact, it was becoming clear in the back of my mind that involvement in church as we know it today can be (dare I say it?) counterproductive in our journey towards walking in the Spirit and practicing His presence.

Also during our tenure in this last 'church', I observed a few things that either grieved me or made me just shake my head. Mind you, this church was a good one by most standards. Not liberal or 'out there'......it was Bible-centered, we had preaching, Sunday school, and many were active in bringing people to Christ. The problem started for me one time when I noticed in the class we were attending (even though I was bored to tears) that one woman's newly saved husband had shown up. As we went through this fill-in-the-blank Bible study and everyone gave the answers they knew the teacher wanted, I was embarrassed. We were teaching this new believer that the abundant life that he just committed himself to was a matter of sitting in meeting after meeting all week long. The 'inexpressible and glorious joy' that the Word talks about wasn't happening anywhere I was looking.

I knew I needed to start being honest with myself. The churches we all attend don't seem to resemble anything we see in Acts or any of the New Testament for that matter. Jesus didn't give His life so that we could sit in meetings all week. In Acts they met together daily in the temple courts. Do we really think this was a church service? Or was it an extension of daily life? They're in the market place and by the temple....they couldn't wait to be together and share their new lives in Christ. They didn't go home and put on a suit and tie and establish an "order of worship" and have a 'sermon' ---at least from what I can tell. Living for Jesus should be life-on-the-edge/I-can't-wait-to-see-what-He's-going-to-do-next EXCITING! In the New Testament, the church was a force to be reckoned with....causing great fear to come upon the people in Acts because they walked in tremendous power. Now the church is pretty much a joke to non-believers and I think for the most part, we deserve it.

Also at this last church there was this couple. Great people. A little older than us. Didn't see them much. I thought, quietly, that they must not be that strong spiritually because they weren't involved in much. Wow! Now I'm embarrassed that such a thought even crossed my mind. These people were doing the work of the church. I was doing church work. These people had already raised their four children who were all out of the home already---then they turned around and adopted 4 more, one at a time, all with special needs!

I think we need to start being honest about what it means to serve the living God. We have to have the guts to look honestly at what the New Testament says about the church and, just as crucial, what it doesn't say. We have to stop reading stuff into the Word. We have to somehow block out the church as we know it today and evaluate how we live as the church by Scripture and not by tradition. We have to give others the freedom to think and not do all their thinking for them. We have to stop being afraid to step out of traditional thinking and be committed to Biblical thinking even if it goes against the grain.

Again, I've rambled. I just get pretty excited about what I know the church can be. Last night we spent some time with some dear friends of ours over dinner in their home. Talking about the Lord and learning from each other, mulling over what the Word means, and discussing what the Lord is doing in our lives right now was so natural. We accomplished more last night around the dinner table than I believe we ever have in a church service.

Acts2:46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Man of God, Called to Preach

Many of us begin our careers with the goal of achieving success. If we haven't entered our work as a result of God's calling, we will eventually face a chasm of deep frustration and emptiness. Success flatters but does not provide a lasting sense of purpose and fulfillment. So often we enter careers with wrong motives-money,prestige, and even pressure from parents or peers. Failing to match our work with our giftedness and calling is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. If that happens over an extended period, a person crashes. At this time, many make another mistake. Workplace believers think that beginning a new career in "full-time Christian work" will fill the emptiness they feel. However, this only exacerbates the problem because they are again trying to put another square peg into a round hole. The problem is not whether we should be in "Christian work" or"secular work," but rather what work is inspired by gifts and calling. If there is one phrase I wish I could remove from the English language it is "full-time Christian work." If you are a Christian, you are in full-time Christian work, whether you are driving nails or preachingthe gospel. The question must be, are you achieving the God-given calling for your life? God has called people into business to fulfill His purposes just as much as He has called people to be pastors or missionaries. It is time for workplace believers to stop feeling like second-class citizens for being in business. It is time workplace believers stop working toward financial independence so that they can concentrate on their "true spiritual calling." This is the great deception for those called to business. -- Os Hillman

In nothing has the church so lost Her hold on reality as in Her failure to understand and respect the secular vocation. She has allowed work and religion to become separate departments, and is astonished to find that, as a result, the secular work of the world is turned to purely selfish and destructive ends, and that the greater part of the world's intelligent workers have become irreligious, or at least, uninterested in religion. But is it astonishing? How can anyone remain interested in a religion which seems to have no concern with nine-tenths of life? The church's approach to an intelligent carpenter is usually confiined to exhorting him not to be drunk and disorderly in his leisure hours, and to come to church on Sundays. What the church should be telling him is this: that the very first demand that his religion makes on him is to make good tables." --Dorothy Sayers

"There is truly is no division between sacred and secular except what we have created. And that is why the division of the legitimate roles and functions of human life into the sacred and secular does incalculable damage to our individual lives and the cause of Christ. Holy people must stop going into "church work" as their natural course of action and take up holy orders in farming, industry, law, education, banking, and journalism with the same zeal previously given to evangelism or to pastoral and missionary work ."
--Dallas Willard, The Spirit of Discipline, pg 214

What sort of picture develops in your mind's eye when you read the title of this post? For most, I'm sure it will conjure up an image of a guy in a suit and tie, standing behind a pulpit, preaching the Word of God. More than likely, he will be on staff, the 'main man' at a 'church'.

I believe that within the body of Christ, we are all given gifts to help us function as the body. For some reason, that of pastor/teacher has been elevated to almost a priestly role, functioning in a similar manner to the levitical priests or one of the prophets. The other gifts seem to all play a supporting role and I don't see that in scripture. I look around at churches today (and I suppose for the last few hundred years) and see that everyone looks to this 'man of God' as their head rather than the Lord. Few would acknowledge that, but everyone looks at the pastor as the one who knows the word better, has some kind of 'special' knowledge of God, is further ahead spiritually, and is their authority. This is very dangerous both for the members of the church and for the pastor. For years seminaries taught that pastors shouldn't get too close to members of the congregation. It is the only gift that we, for some reason, now substitute for the person's first name. Pastor Jones, Pastor McCarthy, or sometimes we just shorten it to calling him Pastor, as in "Pastor just called and wants to see if you can meet on Thursday during lunch--he doesn't want to use his 'own time' to spend time with you." My husband is an encourager. When we were in a typical church, he was always put in a teaching role, because he has learned to use his gift of encouragement in that way. We don't call him Encourager Jim. He's Jim. He's an encourager, so that's what he does. Others have the gift of giving, yet we don't call them Giver Charlie or Giver Terry. Why do we do that with the role of pastor? I don't get it.

Pastors(as we know them today) rarely have normal friendships in the church because of those things. Since they don't have these 'real' relationships, they have no one to really walk with them through things like grief, doubt, discouragement, depression, family problems, sexual temptation, etc. This leaves them very susceptible to all sorts of stuff. The way we put pastors up on a pedestal is also dangerous to the rest of the church. All we see is this guy a few times a week, dressed up with his family all perfect, and never see his flaws, doubts, struggles, etc. It makes others wonder what is wrong with them when their walk isn't the perfect sinless example that the pastor's seems to be.

Don't misunderstand. I don't think pastors are this group of hypocritical closet sinners. Far from it. I do believe they are just the same as any other group of men who are following the Lord, at different stages of their walk, with sins that 'so easily entangle'. They need to be in relationship with the rest of the body in order to deal with these things. I am certainly not against having pastors or preachers but I think the role we have cut out for them is much different than what it was meant to be.

I am getting off track here. My point is that all Christ-followers are men and women of God and we are all called to preach. Preaching doesn't necessarily have anything to do with a pulpit or a platform or a suit and tie, or even a service in a church building. We are to be ready "in season and out of season" to give a reason for the hope that is within us. Look at preaching in the new testament. It wasn't from a prepared outline with seven points that all begin with P. These men walked with Jesus and they told everyone about it. Pretty simple. Very effective.

Unfortunately, we teach our male children (and adults) that the only way to be truly spiritual is to be in "full-time" christian work. The only way to be truly sold out to Jesus is to be a preacher(in the traditional sense). I illustrate this with the following story....

About two years ago, there was a baptism at our 'church'. Two of the folks being baptized were older teenage twins. The pastor baptized one of them with very little fanfare other than a testimony of salvation and some of this person's schooling plans. The next one came up to be baptized and the pastor told us (with great enthusiasm) that "so and so has a calling from the Lord to be a youth pastor". The place went wild with clapping and amens. I was dying. What is that all about? The reality is that most believers aren't gifted with something that involves preaching. Yet they're just as in love with the Lord. We teach them that the only way to demonstrate that we REALLY love him is to get "The Call". I have yet to see this 'call' in scripture for one gift any more than the others.

I will tell you that with all our years in the organized church, filling every role from A to Z and then some.............most of what we did within the church setting had very little impact until we took it a step further and made it 'organic'. Growth took place in others and ourselves when it happened in relationship. Sunday school class had little impact. When we got together individually with couples from the class and we actually got involved in each others' lives, real growth happened. Cell group had little impact when we huddled around fill-in-the-blank lesson books, but it changed lives when we 'got real' and started talking about real struggles and asked each other questions that kept us up at night. Men's breakfasts can be stilted and phony until they are the result of real friendships rather than assigned groups, where guys really care about each others' marriages and families and they are accountable to each other out of relationship rather than a checklist.

I realized I've rambled here, but there is just so much I could talk about on this topic of the church/giftings/callings. I have seen a few of my friends get saved or come back to the Lord and just assume that the logical next step (if they're really committed) is to become a pastor. I've seen some people really struggle that way because it was neither their call or their gifting....or at least not in the setting we traditionally put the pastor/teacher in. Then if it doesn't happen for them.....they assume they are a spiritual failure.

So now I've revealed my radical self. Sorry, I guess. I hope this doesn't come across as terse, it wasn't intended that way. I must also say that I welcome comments, whether you agree or not. I can't be afraid of being wrong. I need to always look at what I think critically, in light of God's Word.

Ephesians 4:11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

Romans 12:4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

Baseball, The Church, and Hairy Eyeballs

Years ago, as parents of four young boys who were all fairly obsessed with baseball, we were very involved with the sport. My husband coached at least one of their Little League teams every year. (2005 was his 14th and final year......WHEW!!!) The boys loved it. We loved it. There were others who didn't. We have always been very involved in our church ---especially when we lived in upstate NY. Jim was an elder. We taught adult Sunday School classes together (he did the formal teaching - I'm just a sidekick!). I've run VacationBible School. We planned and led the music on Sunday mornings. We led a cell group in our home. Jim ran Boy's Brigade on Wednesday nights. I could go on. I only bring this up to show that we weren't sitting around letting everyone else carry the load in our church.

When late spring rolled around every year, we usually spent a lot of time at the field. Four boys, four different ages, sometimes meant four different teams. Usually three because two of my boys are only a year apart. At any rate.....if you've got that many kids each playing even one night a week, you are pretty much sitting in the bleachers most evenings during baseball season. We were very comfortable with that. Unfortunately, I have seen the "hairy eyeball" out of the corner of my eye from other church leadership during baseball season. I even heard someone address the issue from the pulpit with something like, 'you have to question your commitment to the Lord if baseball or football is more important than Wednesday night service'. Every spring, prayer meeting was out for two months and baseball was in. We planned on it, knew it was coming, felt like that was where God wanted us. Commitment to church programs is not the same as intimacy with the Father or commitment to the Lord. Performance is not righteousness.

I'm sure there have been times when I've given someone else the "hairy eyeball" either overtly or covertly(the chicken's way out). I'm also certain that doing so was sinful behavior on my part although I didn't think so at the time.



Two years ago, my friend, who was married to a crack addict, had weeks at a time when she wasn't 'going to church' on Sunday mornings. She was a part of the Sunday School class that my husband and I taught for young marrieds. She had two very young children and was pregnant.....and was living life quite on her own as her husband had been away in rehab for most of their married life. She was living with her unbelieving family at the time in a less than perfect situation. During this time she was soaking up the Word, praying, and truly becoming a woman of God in circumstances that most of us would crumble under. We usually got together about once a week at my house or the park or whatever. Was she being disobedient in not attending 'church' during that time? I'm sure some thought so. I'm quite certain she was doing exactly what she was supposed to be doing.



My point is this. Sometimes the better choice isn't always the one that others will think is the godly one. We have to look at what GOD tells us and seek Him rather than the approval of others or relying on what we think God wants us to do based on tradition. For instance, we are instructed to pray without ceasing(I Thessalonians 5:17). We are also instructed not to give up "assembling" or "meeting" together in Hebrews 10:25. We are instructed to build each other up, love one another, encourage one another, etc. all through the new testament. The early believers devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, breaking of bread, the fellowship, and to prayer (Acts 2:42) However, we are not ever instructed to have Wednesday night services, be at "church" every time the doors are opened, or not have leisure activities with our families. We are never told to have programs or services. We are told to remember the Lord in the breaking of bread. To present our bodies a living sacrifice. Sunday school is never talked about in the Word but we are exhorted in Deuteronomy 6: 6 "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."



The church system has ordered our lives for us in a sense. It can be dangerous because if we can check off all the things on the list, we think we're doing okay spiritually and being obedient. Sunday Morning, check. Sunday evening, check. Wednesday night, check. Men's breakfast or ladies' meeting, check. Sometimes we go to all the right meetings but it somehow never takes hold in our lives because there is no life outside of that artificial environment called the church building. How many of us are horrified if someone doesn't show for worship service, but we actually spend very little time worshipping the Lord at home when no one's looking. Are we guilt-ridden when we miss prayer meeting (where most of the praying is done by others), but spend little time pouring out our heart to the Father alone or with our family at home? Do we attend every single men's breakfast or ladies meeting when maybe we should have been home with our families that week instead? My dear husband used to take flack because he refused to attend Saturday morning men's meetings. It was the only morning of the week when he could be home with us instead of zipping off to work or piling in the car with all of us and going to church. I loved that decision! It was the right one. With four little kids at home at the time, I needed him home. They needed to be with him. Sometimes it's easier to go to church and listen to someone talk about walking out the Christian life than it is to actually live it.



Back to Little League. Over the years, sports has taken a bad rap in the church. I suppose it is probably because it interferes with church 'programs'. I'm glad my husband has chosen, over the years, to listen to what he knew was right for us in this area. We have established relationships with other families that we never would have had. We have relationships with kids in our community that never would have been there. Our children got to see how we can relate appropriately to those in the world and be "in the world" without being "of the world". They got to see their father handle situations in a godly way with other coaches, people and Little League boards, etc. In Deuteronomy, I think it was talking about that type of thing.....in other words.....talk about the precepts of the Lord as a part of your daily life.....when you walk along (or drive your big old paint van), when you get up (and you're enjoying that skim milk and oat bran on your diet), when you lie down (and pray with your kids for others and thank Him for His blessings, when you sit at home (or are cleaning the basement or doing yardword). Deuteronomy 6:7 wasn't talking about church programs. It was talking about life! The early believers in Acts were meeting together daily in the places that were common meeting places. Their homes and the temple courts.

I'm actually a very compliant, don't-rock-the-boat, just go along with it kind of person (unless, of course, it's something ungodly or sinful). I don't like confrontation or controversy. However, like I stated in a previous post (I am, Therefore I Think, August 6th), I don't want to be afraid to think or evaluate things. I don't want to push nagging issues to the back of my mind. I want to be able to honestly answer questions like "Why do we do this?" "Why don't we do that?" "Is the Word really telling us this or is it really saying that".

I love the church (God's people). I love being with people who love Him. I love talking about Him and His blessing when I walk along the way, when I sit and when I lie down. I don't neglect assembling with others who know Him. It's difficult to even portray some of these issues I have with the church as we know it today without sounding angry or radical or bitter because you don't know me and unfortunately tone can be picked up in print that isn't there in conversation. I am just grieved that the church as we know it today has become a building that we go to that is essentially run by one person rather than the living organism that it is. Church is not something we attend. We don't "do" church. We are the church. He is not at a church building any more than He is in our living rooms Acts 17:24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. Now He dwells in us. The implications are staggering! Sunday isn't the 'Lord's day', they ALL are.

Have a great day! Tomorrow's post......"The Man of God, Called to Preach"

I am, Therefore I Think

I was just thinking today about how unwilling we are to challenge our own thinking. I've determined to stop being so afraid to think things out to their logical conclusion. Why do we do that? Do we even hate admitting to ourselves that we were wrong? Does it make life too inconvenient? Sometimes as Christians I think we even go the other way....almost like it can't be of God if it's not complicated or difficult enough.

An example of the unwillingness we have to grasp the obvious comes frequently in the area of finances. Back when we had car loans and a credit card and no written budget, we obviously were making enough to cover our expenses but it felt like we were broke all the time. We're not big spenders...actually pretty frugal....but somehow I could justify not having a budget and sticking to it. I could still convince myself that I should put something on a credit card and believe that even though I didn't have the money at the time, it would somehow magically appear.

I know this has been true for me, in a large part, with parts of my christian walk. Not with the fundamentals....Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The other stuff. Why Christians do or don't do certain things. Pre-trib, Post-trib, etc. I guess in some way I've always looked to others to do my thinking for me when I didn't want to mess with it. Some of it is not wanting to rock the boat (a personality thing with me). Then I subconsciously hide the truth of a matter from myself so I don't have deal with it. Is this just me or does anybody else do this as well? Does anyone even know what I'm talking about?

Scripture and the Church is another area where I have to really discipline myself to think it out rather than just accept what has been passed down by tradition in different churches, through various leaders, etc. We all want to be like the Bereans and hold up the things we're told against the Word, but actually doing that is very difficult because we tend to read our beliefs(or someone else's) back into the Word, rather than letting the Holy Spirit illuminate it in our own lives.

I don't really ever want to suffer from amnesia, but there are times I wish I could wake up one morning and temporarily not remember anything about the Bible and be able to read it again for the very first time. Without Scofield notes, a concordance, a pastor, preconceived ideas, family bents, or any study aids whatsoever. His Word is living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword. We reduce it to something little more than a textbook that we disect to death. Sometimes I feel like we've gotten so far into our own concepts of concepts of concepts of concepts in the Word that we can't see the simplicity of it anymore. What 'church' has turned into is a perfect example. Many today can't even imagine a church without a pastor in charge, a 'church' building, soloist, worship team or song leader, a service that starts at 11:00, Sunday school, Wednesday night meeting, hymnbooks (or projection screen), dress-up clothes, etc.......and yet none of that is spelled out in the Word.

Behavioral issues are another area we do this....things like, say, smoking (which I can't stand) that we hold up as this huge thing that Christians just don't do. What is the biblical reason we give? Because it's bad for our bodies which are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Okay, then what about being obese? Living a sedentary lifestyle? Eating lots of refined sugars and white flour? Sucking down 8 Mountain Dews every day? I'm not saying any of these things are or are not sin, I'm just pointing out that we treat one of them as this major evil (smoking) while the others get a pass. We determine the level of evil subjectively, by tradition. This is just an example....but we do it in a lot of places...not always having to do with sin, but all areas of our lives.

I'm still in the process of looking at exactly what He did say about His church....again, without adding the 20/21st century mindset back into His words. There wasn't much he told us about form or when, how often, or where to meet. He told us we shouldn't give up meeting together. We know what the early believers committed themselves to (breaking bread, the fellowship, the apostles' teaching, and prayer). We know the body has pastors, teachers, prophets, evangelists, those with the gift of mercy, healing, giving, etc. We know that when they came together they each had a word or a song. What should that look like today? It gets me excited to think about what it could be.....how organic and real it could be. I look forward to the day when I have my believing friends over for dinner and afterwards we break bread and remember the Lord together. I'm excited to get together with the church at Starbucks or Caribou Coffee and others overhear what we're talking about and want to get to know Jesus. I look forward to not worrying about a building fund or new sound equipment, paint, etc. but being able to help missionaries, the sick, and poor with my giving directly. You see, we ARE the house of God. Ephesians 2:19-22. That's pretty exciting. All believers together make up the church. It's not the size or the place of the gathering that labels it as a 'church'. It's not something we go to, it's His people, together.

Thoughts?

The Peril of Seeking Truth

"I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives."

--Leo Tolstoy

I thought this was an amazing observation. I have found it, unfortunately, to be pathetically accurate as I have walked through my journey of seeing what God's Word says about the church.

I've spent most of my adult life propping up the failed(in my humble opinion) system we call "church" that really shouldn't even be a system, but a people. I guess I've questioned its weaknesses (not the Church, the system) from early on in my marriage but always wanted to improve on what was there....being scared (for lack of a better word) to really think some of the things I've come to embrace in the last 6 months or so.

My dh and I have found tremendous freedom in our decision to spend more time with the church rather than attend meetings in a building. However, the one peril to seeking the truth is letting anybody else in on the journey. When we left our "church", we left quietly, sowing no discord or hard feelings, and keeping our opinions on the state of the church pretty much to ourselves. On a few occasions we have been either pushed to give our opinion or views on these church matters, or it has naturally come up in conversation with close (or so we thought) friends. In at least three of these instances, the reaction to our views was defensive at best, and bitter, hostile, and nasty at worst. Mind you, neither of us has had any particular desire to convince anyone that we are 'right' on all of this. Some of these conversations were just musing aloud....trying to get others' takes on the whole thing, seeing how they saw certain things in the Word. We like what we are experiencing and we think this is what God desires for us. We don't have any desire to push our views on anyone, or tell anybody that they're wrong. We don't believe the Christian walk is a cookie-cutter ordeal. One-size-fits-all just doesn't cut it in the church. Hallelujah!

Anyway, if you're on the same journey we're on, just be prepared. I suppose we knew that this stuff would happen, but we just didn't expect such hostility from some or blind denial from others. So expect it......but don't give up seeking what God wants for you and how He wants you to function as the church.

It's Sunday, and the church went to Starbucks

I know this little part of the church had a great morning eating breakfast down in the village with my daughter and my husband, enjoying a quick trip into Starbucks, then spending some time in the park on the playscape and wading in the river. It was about 70 degrees out with a slight breeze. No one had to nudge me to keep me awake, my stomach wasn't growling waiting for a service to get over, I wandered in and out of quiet conversation with the Lord about my husband and his employment prospects, some of my kids who aren't home today, the people next to me in Starbucks, and a friend who is very ill. My thoughts of the Word weren't on a preprinted handout. I believe that my relationship with the Lord is more down-to-earth and real than ever before and I don't set aside a big portion of time to "be with the Lord" these days. I am with Him every minute, and I'm enjoying "practicing" that presence.

THE CHURCH AND DRIVER'S EDUCATION

If driver's education was like the church as we know it today.......

At 16, each person would have the opportunity to decide whether they
would choose to devote time to learning how to operate a vehicle. If
they chose to take that first step, we would enroll them in driver's
ed classes, every Sunday and Wednesday, FOR THE REST OF THEIR NATURAL
LIVES.

Every class would start with exactly 20 minutes of songs about how cool cars
are and why we like them so much, followed by a soloist singing about cars. It would be assumed that this person was rather intimately acquainted with the workings of cars & driving, even though singing in front of other people about cars isn't really any indication of anything other than a love of performing.

Next on the class agenda would be an offering of sorts.....primarily to pay for the professional driving instructor, to construct a more modern and cushy lecture hall for the driving school and flashy programs to keep future drivers more interested in the school-like babysitting program that existed during all the lectures. Since the parents never really drove at home or had time to talk about driving with their kids, they would let the driving school assume that role with their children.

Next would be the lecture. Even though the only way to really learn to drive is to get in a car and drive while a veteran driver instructs you, driver's education would be taught by lecture only. Students would be expected to attend lectures at least twice weekly, other meetings and seminars about cars, recruitment meetings to try to win others to the joy of cars, ---almost anything that would keep the students so busy that they would have no opportunity to actually drive or enjoy driving with others outside of the driving school.

Every Sunday and Wednesday, the teacher, or someone on his staff, would drive the students all home, for fear they wouldn't be able to do it themselves. Even after years of lessons, most people would still drag themselves to the lectures and allow the teacher to take the wheel on the way home every week. Driver's education would take the place of actually driving. Driving was for the professional teachers.

None of the students would actually drive a car during class--which would consist mostly of lectures, or ask any real questions about driving a car. That would be rude and who knows what a free-for-all they'd have if students started voicing their questions and fears---and actually discussing the finer points of driving! They could even start interpreting the manual for themselves and next thing you know they're careening their way down Main Street.

None of the instructors would have much driving experience other than driving back and forth to class from homes that were usually on the same property as the driving school. Their jobs would be incredibly secure unless they stole or totalled a car, started advocating train travel, or something equally serious.


That's all for today....

'Nerak'

Our Dirty Little Secret......sshhhhhhhhh!!

In late 2006, after spending nearly 48 years going to what we call 'church', my husband and I decided to call it quits(on going to church--not our marriage ☺). When we made this decision, we were doing very well spiritually (still are) and we weren't in the middle of any controversy, split, or anything of that nature whatsoever. One week we started talking, looked at each other, and we both just knew that we would no longer be getting up early Sunday morning to GO to 'church'. I'm sure there will be times when we'll be in one of those buildings again to visit someone, etc., but we both decided that our growth has taken place outside those walls thoughout our walk and for the most part, the flurry of activity associated with being a part of a church (as we know it today) seems to do more to pull us away from intimacy with the Father and makes it nearly impossible to build relationships with people in our communities in order to point them to Jesus.

I've been wanting to write this series of blogs for a long time, but I really don't want to seem angry and negative. While I am not angry at all, some of my views on the church AWKIT (As We Know It Today) are negative ones.....but that, in itself, doesn't make my opinion wrong. I would like to speak what I see as the truth, in love, but I ask that you know the underlying message is that I love the church and I would love to see it functioning in a way that brings people into intimacy with God.


One of the benefits of not having any readers at this point, is that it doesn't really matter what I say here. I can just practice writing! If anyone does happen by.....please feel free to comment. I enjoy the discussion. There is a lot to say and I'll try to answer the questions I get most often, such as---"What if you get into error?", "What about leadership?" , "Doesn't the Bible say not to forsake the assembling of church?", "Where will you get your teaching?". If there are any more out there, please add to the list---then at least I know someone is reading!

That's all for now,

'Nerak'