I am using the term Voyeurism to describe something we do in the local church. There are several forms of voyeurism yet the type I am attempting to describe is nothing in sexual nature. The definition that I'm working from is this:
Voyeurism is the act of someone who habitually observes others without their knowledge. Voyeurism (from the French voyeur, "one who looks") can take several forms, but its principal characteristic is that the voyeur does not normally relate directly with the subject of their interest, who is often unaware of being observed.
I got into a conversation with a member of our church the other day regarding our church's tithing habits. Now, I'm not talking about the individuals who make up our church and their spiritual discipline and obedient tithe to our local church but the amount of money that our church turns around and gives out to other mission organizations, missionaries, and other evangelistic efforts that are more or less disconnected from our local efforts. We are indirectly related to these missions. And the notion shared with me by this member was that we were breaking some biblical mandated law if we as a church organization did not give to SOME other mission. "We've gotta give to something or someone. We can't just not give to someone and keep all the money for our church." AND hidden beneath this comment lies an issue within the local church. Buried beneath its innocent, good willed, and moral notions, lies a mentality that has been affecting the local church like cancer.
There has been a mentality that has creeped into the local church that if you aren't giving to another mission that you aren't doing what's right. Now don't misunderstand what I'm getting at here. I do support the local church allocating money's out of the budget to support other missions but I'm afraid that out of a social obligation to give, many churches are doing what many Americans have done over the past few decades and that is tithe off of their credit cards. I wonder how many struggling churches continue to tithe to "other" missions while they continually struggle financially and slowly die; only to meet a social obligation. I'm perplexed why these churches do not cut their giving down and focus on their own mission. Its as if we REALLY AREN'T A "REAL" MISSION. But that's the issue. Have we forgotten that we too are a mission?
I do believe that the local church abroad has forgotten that we ARE A MISSION. That we don't need to send out money to others to do what we're supposed to be doing. I wonder if people will feel guilty that NOTHING is being done to spread the gospel message through their church's efforts if we don't pay someone else to do it. I think this is a fair question given the statistics of growth in the North American churches. This idea of hired mercenaries has been around for quite some time but not necessarily in the church.
What I'm beginning to notice is that we depend on their stories of faith in hard times, conversions happening weekly, the holy spirit moving, and the mission growing. We are like individuals who depend on reading the latest hot gossip in People Magazine. I watch people feed off of others' lives and live through their drama, stories, and excitement; simply put, they have no lives of there own to get excited about.
SO we commit CHRISTIAN VOYEURISM, peering into others' lives to feed our appetite to be a part of something important. The people we associate ourselves with really don't know who we are, what we're about; we never meet any of the people who are affected by our money donations but it's enough to keep our pseudo evangelistic efforts going and let us sleep at night. It's a trade off of sorts. They send us neat stories so that we can feel good and they get money to live another day and do the real evangelistic work. What is sad is that this TRUE. Not many people would look at it this way, however, as a pastor, I can see the big picture and the long-term spiritual consequences of people feeding their Christian Voyeurism. And really, I absolutely cannot say with certainty which individuals struggle with this, however, I can say with certainty that it does happen. I see the spiritual consequences of this everyday in the American church.
Churches connect to other missions so that we can at least guarantee that SOMETHING good is happening. And if we aren't living out our mission, the fact that the mission around the world that we're financially supporting is doing positive things will take the pressure off my conscience knowing that my money is at least converting some people.
Now I am not advocating that we do away with supporting other missions. I'm all for supporting those who quite frankly do what I CANNOT do. I'm called to a particular people group and society to minister to and so are the individuals who are ministering around the globe. I understand that there are times in the Kingdom where every church is in need of other church's support. BUT what I am against is the church giving when it cannot financially afford it as if they are not a mission in need; giving out of a heart that abdicates their personal responsibility and calling as a Christ follower to evangelize the lost; and individuals not realizing that the local church is indeed a MISSION.
I believe God is calling the local church to a new understanding of Christianity and their views of the church's relationship to it's community. We are to become missional people who belong to a mission. We each are partners in that mission (not members of a societal club with benefits of inclusion) and have a shared investment in the outcome (hardships and victories) because we are all brothers and sisters in Christ who live for for His glory.
I will continue to wonder what would happen if today's people in the local church realized that WE ARE A MISSION. My prayer is that we might experience that in our church. I AM heartened to know there are people who are beginning to see the big Kingdom picture of what God is doing. My hope is that we will take a hard look at what God has called us to do specifically where we are. I hope that we will not overlook what God is doing right now and attempting to involve us in.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Legalism & Antinomianism
"The Bible is a sword, and the soldier who fails to understand grace will wield it to his own destruction and the death of their hearers, as is sadly done by so many false teachers and cult leaders. They are prone to either legalism or libertinism (also called antinomianism)." - Mark Driscoll from Religion Saves and 9 Other Misconceptions page 114.
I've been accused of being a libertine and it won't be the last time I'm certain. It is sad to see so many men & women led astray by their personal agendas and emotions into a life of legalism. All the way to a point where anyone who opposes them, they will call them liberals. It's as if THEY ARE THE TRUTH. It is so sad. And the TRUTH that they carry is lost in their anger and temper tantrums. They can argue about grace and the theological impact of it while treating you like trash. HMMM. I wonder why people hate the church?
I've asked myself for the longest time, "Why do these men/women get soooo bent out of shape over issues that aren't easily navigated like Math or Science?" They can be so ugly and unloving which has nothing to do with the gospel. Things just aren't as black and white as some would LOVE them to be. I've come to realize that at the end of the day, it's not really the Truth that they are angry about, its about them being rejected from their grade school sweetheart and made fun of in high school. It's about status, inclusion, and exclusion. It's about I'm right and you're wrong. It's about I'm going to heaven and you're going to hell. They begin to retreat into logical battles where they can control the outcome of who is in and who is out. They promote themselves as the gate keeper. This way they can secure THEIR own acceptance. Being Right has more at stake than what meets the eye. It's not because they hurt for those who are far off or those who are burdened by life. They're more interested in being Right and beating people down with Truth. Given the option, if they were given the opportunity to lend a hand to a drowning Nazi or throw a Bible at them, I think 9 times out of 10 they'd throw a Bible at them. And the other one wouldn't throw the Bible at him because it would ruin the Bible. And I say this because event the most obvious wrong doers aren't to be judged by us. We are not their judges and we all most hope for those who are far off that they might be able to receive the amazing Grace that we have also. I don't think these legalists ever could see themselves as the Nazi but in reality, we all, left to ourselves are in the same boat; sinners deserving death and eternal separation from a holy God.
It's perplexing why they are so upset when your opinions differ, but looking a little deeper; If they were to let their walls down of who is in and who is out then they would lose control. They would lose the position of gate keeper. AND THEY MIGHT FEEL THAT SAME FEELING OF BEING A LOSER or AN OUTCAST WHEN THEY WERE IN GRADE SCHOOL. And more importantly, they might have to depend on being nice and friendly to people in order for them to choose them in a relationship rather than congregating around BEING RIGHT. There is way more at stake than meets the eye for these Judaizers. My suggestion, avoid them at all costs and NEVER align yourself with them. It's not worth it. Because the moment you have a different opinion and you begin to think for yourself, they'll stab you in the back with the "sword of Truth" and put you on the "prayer chain of choking out all those sinners".
I've been accused of being a libertine and it won't be the last time I'm certain. It is sad to see so many men & women led astray by their personal agendas and emotions into a life of legalism. All the way to a point where anyone who opposes them, they will call them liberals. It's as if THEY ARE THE TRUTH. It is so sad. And the TRUTH that they carry is lost in their anger and temper tantrums. They can argue about grace and the theological impact of it while treating you like trash. HMMM. I wonder why people hate the church?
I've asked myself for the longest time, "Why do these men/women get soooo bent out of shape over issues that aren't easily navigated like Math or Science?" They can be so ugly and unloving which has nothing to do with the gospel. Things just aren't as black and white as some would LOVE them to be. I've come to realize that at the end of the day, it's not really the Truth that they are angry about, its about them being rejected from their grade school sweetheart and made fun of in high school. It's about status, inclusion, and exclusion. It's about I'm right and you're wrong. It's about I'm going to heaven and you're going to hell. They begin to retreat into logical battles where they can control the outcome of who is in and who is out. They promote themselves as the gate keeper. This way they can secure THEIR own acceptance. Being Right has more at stake than what meets the eye. It's not because they hurt for those who are far off or those who are burdened by life. They're more interested in being Right and beating people down with Truth. Given the option, if they were given the opportunity to lend a hand to a drowning Nazi or throw a Bible at them, I think 9 times out of 10 they'd throw a Bible at them. And the other one wouldn't throw the Bible at him because it would ruin the Bible. And I say this because event the most obvious wrong doers aren't to be judged by us. We are not their judges and we all most hope for those who are far off that they might be able to receive the amazing Grace that we have also. I don't think these legalists ever could see themselves as the Nazi but in reality, we all, left to ourselves are in the same boat; sinners deserving death and eternal separation from a holy God.
It's perplexing why they are so upset when your opinions differ, but looking a little deeper; If they were to let their walls down of who is in and who is out then they would lose control. They would lose the position of gate keeper. AND THEY MIGHT FEEL THAT SAME FEELING OF BEING A LOSER or AN OUTCAST WHEN THEY WERE IN GRADE SCHOOL. And more importantly, they might have to depend on being nice and friendly to people in order for them to choose them in a relationship rather than congregating around BEING RIGHT. There is way more at stake than meets the eye for these Judaizers. My suggestion, avoid them at all costs and NEVER align yourself with them. It's not worth it. Because the moment you have a different opinion and you begin to think for yourself, they'll stab you in the back with the "sword of Truth" and put you on the "prayer chain of choking out all those sinners".
Friday, July 2, 2010
Friendly Fire From Not So Friendly People
Those who are up to speed with the latest books and talks on church movement, post modernity, the emerging/emergent church, being missional, etc. know that the church abroad is not fairing so well. I've read several statistics that I'm not certain I know the validity to but I can vouch for most of them saying that in my experience, the churches I've witnessed are as bad if not worse than what these statistics express.
I've read recently that only 10% of all evangelical churches are growing at ANY rate numerically and that only 1% of the 10% is growing because of new conversions. The other 9% is growing because the 90% of the original 100% is failing/dying/or becoming increasingly irrelevant therefore losing its members to the up and coming relevant church who has a sleeker service. Not seeker but sleeker. So they are growing by transfers. Christian nomads which will be another post for another day. And I'd be scared to know the statistics of how many churches are REALLY growing where it counts, Spiritually; of which we will NEVER really know. God is the only one who will be able to certainly know that.
I've also just heard that it takes 85 Christians, 1 year to evangelize 1 person to Christ. You know the joke, "how many blonds does it take to change a light bulb?" Well, there's a new running joke, "How many Christians does it take to equal one real Christian?" The answer: 85. It's no joke though. I watched this leadership seminar DVD on evangelism where I heard this statistic and the individuals who were on this panel addressed this issue. Some notable individuals were; Lee Strobel, Ewin McManus, Dan Kimball, to name a few. These are highly successful pastors and the tone I got from them was that the church was in trouble. It seemed as though they carried the attitude of Nehemiah when he saw the the wall of Israel lay in ruin and was smoldering for all to see and mock God. The panel had some different views on why the church was experiencing such a downward turn however, most of them agreed to one thing. They took the statistic of 85 Christians converting 1 person in 1 year and calculated that it would take 850 Christians to convert 10 people to Christ in one year. Which then one of them commented, "And really it doesn't take 850 people, it's really 10 people out of the 850 which means 840 of the people aren't doing anything. And all of them paused for a moment acknowledging what had just been said and wondering if it was okay to expose the truth at this time. But without a doubt, everyone on that panel agreed and had a look of disappointment and angst. And immediately when that was said I agreed too.
And breaking this down into reality, it doesn't literally take 85 people to evangelize one person. That's just a statistic. It really only takes 1 person to evangelize another. What the statistic communicates is that there is only 1 person per 85 people who is WILLING to evangelize another. Let that sink in for a second.
Now, we'll address the obvious question that comes after acknowledging such a depressing truth. WHY? And this was asked on the panel. One guy said, "Well the church needs to train their people better." And at that I got angry. I absolutely hated that response. Are you kidding me? Training?!?! You think we're at a place in life, culture, and history where we have a lack of training or access of knowledge. We live in a time that is like no other. If you want to know how to do something, basically like the Matrix when Neo wanted to know how to do Karate, all it took was for Tank to click a few buttons on the keyboard, move the mouse around and upload the program into NEO and whhhaaalaa, Neo knew Karate. We can access videos, sermons, outlines, training seminars, college level classes on every topic at the click of a button. And we aren't limited to where we can access those things. I'm typing this article up in the food court of our local mall while connected to the WIFI of Panera Bread.
SO the question then gravitates to, what keeps us from that information? Well, I believe, (along with those who quickly disagreed with that individual on that panel), that there is another issue that is standing in the way of the 84 who don't evangelize there neighbor, friend, family member. Drum Roll. It is profound. Here it is. CARING OR EMPATHY.
I've always said, I'd rather have 10 people who are jacked up for Jesus who care about others than 800 cultured Christians who have gone to Bible College and know all the answers. I know that for many, AND I WILL STRESS NOT ALL, of those who have been exposed to "Training" in the knowledge of God and His Ways, some of them have a difficult time caring about people. This is why God warns in His word in 1 Corinthians 8:1, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." They tend to approach others as if they were the enemy and the enemy has one option; be assimilated or die. And I say that somewhat sarcastically but for many of these thoroughly Bible trained assassins, converting someone is rather impersonal. And most of them wield their swords, sharpened by years of training, reading, and arguing with like minded people ready to rip up those who have a different outlook on things. They tend to get into "I'm right rally's" and they don't listen. I'd much rather take 10 humble individuals who care. People who care about Jesus, care about others, and care about growing as Christ followers and serving Him. People who have not forgotten the gravity of their sin, people who have no pride in their works for Jesus, people who are sacrificial and want for others.
John Piper says that he can quickly smell the theology of hell in a church by the immediacy in which they carry the gospel message. I love that quote. I'd also say you can smell the level at which people CARE for others in a church by the WAY & immediacy in which they carry the gospel message. You can have a greatly developed theology on hell and still not care about others. It is sad to see people who come into church for 30 years never leading another to the faith that they have proclaimed for so long. It makes you wonder if they really know the Jesus of the Bible. Because if they did, you'd know that they would have different fruit coming from their lives. The Bible does reconcile this issue of church goers who might attend every single week, may even teach bible lessons to children, yet they will go to hell.
Matthew 7:21-23 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
And its usually these people that we build our churches around and cater to. Why? Well, I've witnessed leaderships make decisions, (based on these obese, gluttonous, couch potato Christians who over-indulge on the Bible yet do nothing to give it away), to keep their tithe checks coming in.
I do not believe the church will reverse these trends that we see until the church gets to a very deep dark place. A place that is difficult, a place where it has nothing to offer people in terms of ease and comfort to the flesh. Of course we are offering ease, comfort, peace in the spirit through Jesus Christ, but those who have followed Christ for long know that the true Christian life is not easy and is not without its burdens. I'd argue that if you become a Christ follower, your flesh life, your temporary life here on earth will be attacked more than ever. You will sacrifice much more than ever before. It is not easy. BUT in the greatest paradox ever, it is the most gratifying, fulfilling, satisfying, purposeful, exciting, life you could ever have. When you are created for something and you finally begin to do what you were created to do, your life just feels right. BUT getting back to my original point, I believe that the church will have to go through a period of persecution, hardship, therefore purging in order to weed out those who are there for selfish reasons; any other reason than to glorify the creator will not suffice.
I've been a part of a church replant over the past few months, almost a year, and I've been heartened and disheartened by several things. I would say that I've been encouraged more than discouraged. BUT the discouragement that I've had to face has come from areas I did not expect; but I guess that's the nature of discouragement anyway.
I've been surprised over and over again by the lack of faith in those who call themselves Christians. When arriving, I've had individuals come to me and talk bad about others and then smile and bless them in public. What's interesting is that all the "holy, righteous people" (I say this because that is the attitude they gave off) who were leading the church before I got there warned me about certain individuals; to stay away from them; they're trouble and a waste of time. They'd even say things like this about family members. Well, come to find out, Judas was warning me of Peter being a hot head. I was so discouraged by what I was seeing. The so-called leaders were not and those who were pushed down, out of influence were the ones that God wanted to use. I cannot imagine how many churches this is the case in. It was the case in the last church I was at before here.
The church I currently lead, All the pastors and leaders of ministry have come primarily from the previous church I was at, however, most of these individuals were kept from leading there because the physically older individuals who were in formal leadership positions felt threatened by the young informal leaders. The pain that I've experienced in my life has most often come from so-Christians. When will we get to a point where we can make that a marginal experience rather than the norm? I'm sick and tired of the Christians who lead out of an imperialistic attitude, an "I'm right, you're wrong and going to hell and I'm happy about it" attitude, an "I was here first" attitude, an "I'm saved and that's all that matters" attitude? I'm ready to find people who have the heart that CARES. I don't give a rip if they don't have scriptures memorized like some or that they haven't received a college degree in Bible seminary. I don't care if they "aren't the smoothest speakers" or haven't been in the church long enough. When will the gospel message and the indwelling of the promised Holy Spirit be enough to qualify someone to lead others to Jesus? What is sad is church leaders have read & heard things like this and they usually smile piously knowing they are the ones in control and disregard it as, "well that's not how the real world works." That is sad to me.
It is my calling for the rest of my life to make sure that those who God is calling has an opportunity to join Him in His mission. It is my mission to throw blocks for them all the way to my grave. I holistically feel that my primary roll right now is to protect those who can't protect themselves from the religious community. There are people sitting out there that have no idea that they are going to be a leader in a church in 5 years. Right now they are the furthest thing from a Christian but God has a plan for them. I want to make sure they have a place in our church.
I feel like our church mission is like John the Baptist in a way, paving the way for those who God will use. I know that there is a large group of people who will only be equipped with the love of Christ in their hearts and the Holy Spirit and it will be by His power that others will come to know Jesus through them. And it will be through their weakness God will glorify Himself and shame the wise. I pray that I will see the day that God lifts up His church through the simple gospel message and love and through those who are not "professionals." My prayer right now for my church is that God would give us CARING people.
I've read recently that only 10% of all evangelical churches are growing at ANY rate numerically and that only 1% of the 10% is growing because of new conversions. The other 9% is growing because the 90% of the original 100% is failing/dying/or becoming increasingly irrelevant therefore losing its members to the up and coming relevant church who has a sleeker service. Not seeker but sleeker. So they are growing by transfers. Christian nomads which will be another post for another day. And I'd be scared to know the statistics of how many churches are REALLY growing where it counts, Spiritually; of which we will NEVER really know. God is the only one who will be able to certainly know that.
I've also just heard that it takes 85 Christians, 1 year to evangelize 1 person to Christ. You know the joke, "how many blonds does it take to change a light bulb?" Well, there's a new running joke, "How many Christians does it take to equal one real Christian?" The answer: 85. It's no joke though. I watched this leadership seminar DVD on evangelism where I heard this statistic and the individuals who were on this panel addressed this issue. Some notable individuals were; Lee Strobel, Ewin McManus, Dan Kimball, to name a few. These are highly successful pastors and the tone I got from them was that the church was in trouble. It seemed as though they carried the attitude of Nehemiah when he saw the the wall of Israel lay in ruin and was smoldering for all to see and mock God. The panel had some different views on why the church was experiencing such a downward turn however, most of them agreed to one thing. They took the statistic of 85 Christians converting 1 person in 1 year and calculated that it would take 850 Christians to convert 10 people to Christ in one year. Which then one of them commented, "And really it doesn't take 850 people, it's really 10 people out of the 850 which means 840 of the people aren't doing anything. And all of them paused for a moment acknowledging what had just been said and wondering if it was okay to expose the truth at this time. But without a doubt, everyone on that panel agreed and had a look of disappointment and angst. And immediately when that was said I agreed too.
And breaking this down into reality, it doesn't literally take 85 people to evangelize one person. That's just a statistic. It really only takes 1 person to evangelize another. What the statistic communicates is that there is only 1 person per 85 people who is WILLING to evangelize another. Let that sink in for a second.
Now, we'll address the obvious question that comes after acknowledging such a depressing truth. WHY? And this was asked on the panel. One guy said, "Well the church needs to train their people better." And at that I got angry. I absolutely hated that response. Are you kidding me? Training?!?! You think we're at a place in life, culture, and history where we have a lack of training or access of knowledge. We live in a time that is like no other. If you want to know how to do something, basically like the Matrix when Neo wanted to know how to do Karate, all it took was for Tank to click a few buttons on the keyboard, move the mouse around and upload the program into NEO and whhhaaalaa, Neo knew Karate. We can access videos, sermons, outlines, training seminars, college level classes on every topic at the click of a button. And we aren't limited to where we can access those things. I'm typing this article up in the food court of our local mall while connected to the WIFI of Panera Bread.
SO the question then gravitates to, what keeps us from that information? Well, I believe, (along with those who quickly disagreed with that individual on that panel), that there is another issue that is standing in the way of the 84 who don't evangelize there neighbor, friend, family member. Drum Roll. It is profound. Here it is. CARING OR EMPATHY.
I've always said, I'd rather have 10 people who are jacked up for Jesus who care about others than 800 cultured Christians who have gone to Bible College and know all the answers. I know that for many, AND I WILL STRESS NOT ALL, of those who have been exposed to "Training" in the knowledge of God and His Ways, some of them have a difficult time caring about people. This is why God warns in His word in 1 Corinthians 8:1, "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." They tend to approach others as if they were the enemy and the enemy has one option; be assimilated or die. And I say that somewhat sarcastically but for many of these thoroughly Bible trained assassins, converting someone is rather impersonal. And most of them wield their swords, sharpened by years of training, reading, and arguing with like minded people ready to rip up those who have a different outlook on things. They tend to get into "I'm right rally's" and they don't listen. I'd much rather take 10 humble individuals who care. People who care about Jesus, care about others, and care about growing as Christ followers and serving Him. People who have not forgotten the gravity of their sin, people who have no pride in their works for Jesus, people who are sacrificial and want for others.
John Piper says that he can quickly smell the theology of hell in a church by the immediacy in which they carry the gospel message. I love that quote. I'd also say you can smell the level at which people CARE for others in a church by the WAY & immediacy in which they carry the gospel message. You can have a greatly developed theology on hell and still not care about others. It is sad to see people who come into church for 30 years never leading another to the faith that they have proclaimed for so long. It makes you wonder if they really know the Jesus of the Bible. Because if they did, you'd know that they would have different fruit coming from their lives. The Bible does reconcile this issue of church goers who might attend every single week, may even teach bible lessons to children, yet they will go to hell.
Matthew 7:21-23 21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'
And its usually these people that we build our churches around and cater to. Why? Well, I've witnessed leaderships make decisions, (based on these obese, gluttonous, couch potato Christians who over-indulge on the Bible yet do nothing to give it away), to keep their tithe checks coming in.
I do not believe the church will reverse these trends that we see until the church gets to a very deep dark place. A place that is difficult, a place where it has nothing to offer people in terms of ease and comfort to the flesh. Of course we are offering ease, comfort, peace in the spirit through Jesus Christ, but those who have followed Christ for long know that the true Christian life is not easy and is not without its burdens. I'd argue that if you become a Christ follower, your flesh life, your temporary life here on earth will be attacked more than ever. You will sacrifice much more than ever before. It is not easy. BUT in the greatest paradox ever, it is the most gratifying, fulfilling, satisfying, purposeful, exciting, life you could ever have. When you are created for something and you finally begin to do what you were created to do, your life just feels right. BUT getting back to my original point, I believe that the church will have to go through a period of persecution, hardship, therefore purging in order to weed out those who are there for selfish reasons; any other reason than to glorify the creator will not suffice.
I've been a part of a church replant over the past few months, almost a year, and I've been heartened and disheartened by several things. I would say that I've been encouraged more than discouraged. BUT the discouragement that I've had to face has come from areas I did not expect; but I guess that's the nature of discouragement anyway.
I've been surprised over and over again by the lack of faith in those who call themselves Christians. When arriving, I've had individuals come to me and talk bad about others and then smile and bless them in public. What's interesting is that all the "holy, righteous people" (I say this because that is the attitude they gave off) who were leading the church before I got there warned me about certain individuals; to stay away from them; they're trouble and a waste of time. They'd even say things like this about family members. Well, come to find out, Judas was warning me of Peter being a hot head. I was so discouraged by what I was seeing. The so-called leaders were not and those who were pushed down, out of influence were the ones that God wanted to use. I cannot imagine how many churches this is the case in. It was the case in the last church I was at before here.
The church I currently lead, All the pastors and leaders of ministry have come primarily from the previous church I was at, however, most of these individuals were kept from leading there because the physically older individuals who were in formal leadership positions felt threatened by the young informal leaders. The pain that I've experienced in my life has most often come from so-Christians. When will we get to a point where we can make that a marginal experience rather than the norm? I'm sick and tired of the Christians who lead out of an imperialistic attitude, an "I'm right, you're wrong and going to hell and I'm happy about it" attitude, an "I was here first" attitude, an "I'm saved and that's all that matters" attitude? I'm ready to find people who have the heart that CARES. I don't give a rip if they don't have scriptures memorized like some or that they haven't received a college degree in Bible seminary. I don't care if they "aren't the smoothest speakers" or haven't been in the church long enough. When will the gospel message and the indwelling of the promised Holy Spirit be enough to qualify someone to lead others to Jesus? What is sad is church leaders have read & heard things like this and they usually smile piously knowing they are the ones in control and disregard it as, "well that's not how the real world works." That is sad to me.
It is my calling for the rest of my life to make sure that those who God is calling has an opportunity to join Him in His mission. It is my mission to throw blocks for them all the way to my grave. I holistically feel that my primary roll right now is to protect those who can't protect themselves from the religious community. There are people sitting out there that have no idea that they are going to be a leader in a church in 5 years. Right now they are the furthest thing from a Christian but God has a plan for them. I want to make sure they have a place in our church.
I feel like our church mission is like John the Baptist in a way, paving the way for those who God will use. I know that there is a large group of people who will only be equipped with the love of Christ in their hearts and the Holy Spirit and it will be by His power that others will come to know Jesus through them. And it will be through their weakness God will glorify Himself and shame the wise. I pray that I will see the day that God lifts up His church through the simple gospel message and love and through those who are not "professionals." My prayer right now for my church is that God would give us CARING people.
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