Church Planter/Pastor Extraordinaire or Total Church?

I am almost done with the book "Total Church" and have very much enjoyed it...some things I question, but for the most part, it speaks to exactly where I believe God has been moving my family and Soma Communities. I thought I would share something from the book to show how it has resonated with me, especially when thinking about church planting and super hero pastors who become the functional saviours of their churches.

I don't feel pressure to "perform" for two reasons. First, "success" and "failure" are common property. We all share a sense of responsibility for what happens. We use first-person pronouns rather than second-person pronouns: "we could have done better" rather than "you could have done better." If I am negligent or ungodly, then people will challenge me. But I do not have to perform. Second, ministry is not an event that occurs on Sunday. It is a lifestyle of word-centered activity. Success is not judged by a sermon or service. It is judged in terms of growing Christians and gospel opportunities.

I have used the first person, but not to trumpet my experience. The reality is that it is often very messy. I have used the first person to show that what I am describing is not impossible rhetoric or unrealistic idealism. I remember talking over lunch with two church leaders. At first they expressed concern that we did not have an accountability structure over and outside us. But as I talked to them about the day-to-day accountability I enjoy from my congregation and from other congregational leaders with its opportunities to share heart struggles, their attitudes changed. Soon they were saying, "I wish we had something like this. Out accountability is so superficial. I feel alone most of the time." True accountability is more about relationships than about hierarchies. It requires community more than structures. The sad thing was that those two church leaders could not imagine their situation ever changing.

Church without programs, structures, or buildings can make you very vulnerable. Leadership in which your life is open can feel scary. But we should embrace this fragility because it forces us to trust God's sovereign grace.

I often describe our church as a group of messy people led by messy people. That is what happens when you take away performance and pretense. They are replaced by messy pastoral issues. But this is how growth takes place. This is how grace is displayed. To paraphrase the opening words of the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are the broken people, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them" (Matthew 5:3). Ministry as performance does not welcome brokenness because it ruins the veneer. But God's kingdom is for broken people. When pastoral problems emerge, I do not think, "Oh no, here's another problem to solve." I think, "What a privilege to be serving broken people. This is where God's blessing is found."

The real tragedy of leadership as performance is that it devalues the work of Christ. Our identity then is not rooted in grace but in the success of our ministry. And so we feel upbeat when we have performed well, and we feel down when things are not going well. We become enslaved to other's people's approval. We are concerned to prove ourselves, and that is just another way of talking about self-justification. We preach justification by faith on the day of judgment but do not practice justification by faith in the daily routine of our lives. Our practical theology has become disconnected from our confessional theology. Our song becomes:

My hope is built on something less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
I trust my skills, I trust my fame,
And maybe sometimes Jesus' name.

But we cannot keep it up. Self-justification is always beyond us. The chorus of Edward Mote's hymn, which I have taken the liberty of inverting, actually goes: "On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand." Leadership as performance is sinking sand.

Tim Chester & Steve Timmis, Total Church, pp. 197, 198.

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Church isn't What You Do On Sunday, or a Building You Go To

It is amazing how much you have to keep saying this. It is amazing how much you have to remind people who claim to follow Jesus that the church isn't an organization, but a people. I have once again been emailed by someone saying that I am spiritually confused because I allowed Muslims to come and pray in our church. Huh? If you actually broke that down, that would mean that I allowed a Muslim to enter into my body and pray inside of me. The term "church" literally means, a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly.

I still remember something that Ravi Zacharias said years ago. He said,

We can thank God, because we are no longer a people who come together at the temple to pray, but, we come as the temples of God to gather together to pray.

Huge difference. There is nothing sacred about the building you go to on Sunday, at least no more than the bedside you pray at before you go to bed. The only thing that makes that place holy is that you are a temple of the living God lifting your voice to the one who created you. You, because of the imputed righteousness of God, are holy, not a place. The only reason that the ground around the burning bush was holy was because God's presence was there.


Church is an interesting cultural term that has been hijacked. If those who followed Jesus understood that church is who you are, not what you go to, our lives would be more of the radiance of the glory of God everyday. The problem is that because the Roman Catholics took the term to mean a religion instead of a people, it has forever confused people and caused people to stumble.

People now, see church as something you go to, a building, a service, a once a week encounter with the living God. Why don't we just be honest...if you believe that, you might as well be Jewish and live in the Old Testament. I am not trying to slight the Jews, I am just saying that they go to the temple, they are awaiting the rebuilding of the temple, they sacrifice at the temple, they worship at the temple, etc. That is a different paradigm altogether than what a follower of Jesus believes, or should believe.

Because of this confusion, Christians have a bad rap for a very good reason. Historically, and today, Christians do what they want 6 days and 22 hours of the week and then they come to worship God and "be holy" for two hours out of the week when they go to church or to Mass. If we believed that Jesus came to live within us, that he sent his Spirit to commune with us and to guide us, then we would understand that our whole life is a life of worship, all the time. If we understood this, we would love people everyday, we would love our families everyday, we would have communion with God everyday, we would seek to worship God everyday.

We wouldn't make bad business deals on Tuesday and then come to worship on Sunday. Instead, we would worship God through that business deal and then come to worship God on Sunday as well as the gathered church.

We wouldn't yell at our wife and kids on Wednesday, and then act like everything is fine when we come to encounter God at church. Instead, we would be repentant when we yelled at our wife and kids and seek to love God through loving them everyday and then come together as the church gathered and seek forgiveness, guidance and truth from our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

I know this sounds pretty basic, but I believe we often look the basic tenets of the faith to try and pursue the "more difficult ones." When in reality, if we focused our efforts on the basic tenets, the more difficult ones would work themselves out.

We will continue to ask our Muslim friends, and any other person seeking to understand Jesus more into our Sunday gatherings or into our building where we meet. We do this because we love our neighbors and seek to bless them. We don't desire to be separated from the world physically, but we seek to infuse the gospel into the world as we await our coming King.

Please know.

You don't go to church, but you are the church if you trust in the work and seek the forgiveness of Jesus.

I just wonder how much people would truly see Jesus if we took our calling to be the church more seriously with our culture. Maybe they aren't denying Jesus, maybe they are denying cultural Christianity that we have so badly misrepresented over the years...To be honest...I desire to deny that as well.

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The Church is Who We Are, Not What We Do

I asked last week how people would define the term "church." The reason is that I have completely questioned what I thought the church to be in the past year. It continued to be questioned, as I have read books from people in other parts of the world where what they do looks a lot different than what we do here in America. If you were to ask me what the church is a couple of years ago, most of what I would say would focus on the functions of the church instead of the identity of the church. I would have focused in on the invisible, visible distinction. I would have focused in on the preaching of the word, the sacraments and discipline. I would have focused in on evangelism or missions and I would have definitely even put forth that how we do it in the West is more of the correct way, instead of a cultural way. Wow, what a difference a year makes. Since attending Harambee, and consequently Harambee and Soma joining forces, my identity, and my community of believers' identity, has been grippingly clear on this huge distinction.

We need to focus in on our identity as the church, those who have been called out. What is desperately shown is that most people focus in on the church's functions instead of their identity.

But, why is this so important? What do I mean by identity?

First, when I say "identity" it means what makes one part of the church and takes that to understand what exactly the church is. Our identity actually is not what we do, but who we are. This is quite important. Our identity as a church isn't found in missions, it isn't found in Sunday School, it isn't found in what day we meet on, how we take communion and whether we take it weekly or monthly, whether we baptize infants or whether we only dunk believers, what kind of building we meet in, what we wear, how long the sermon is, how many songs we sing, etc. etc. etc. While these things might comprise what the church does, it does not make one a church or part of a church.

Our identity is found in Christ and his work, not in the corporate gathering and its' work. We have to understand this. If we don't, we miss a huge point in understanding what the church is and then we will try to take the functions of the church and demand other cultures and other ages to do it as we believe it to be fitting. Let's see why this is important to truly understand. Why is it so important to focus in on the church's identity?


1. Identity is Cross Cultural and For All Ages

When discussing what the church is, we should know that our identity is most important because this focuses in on the impact of God's people for all time. There is no discussion on whether one is part of the church because they decide to function differently than we do. If we focus in on our identity we can allow ourselves to meet on a Sunday morning in a public meeting space, while allowing followers of Christ in another country to meet on a Friday in a home. It can allow ourselves to preach behind a pulpit while others preach while sitting down and having discussion throughout the sermon. It can allow us to baptize in a public place while others decide to baptize privately. If our identity as "church" isn't found in what we do, but who we are, we can easily allow the gospel and the church to function in the area, culture, and age God has brought them forth in and believe that the Spirit is working. It can allow the fact that the Westminster Confession is great for those who wrote it for their time, but doesn't necessarily dictate how we are going to function in our culture in the 21st Century.

2. Identity Allows Contextualization

I hit on this in the last point, but if the church allows itself to be defined by identity instead of function, it allows for full contextualization. It allows for other cultures to look like their culture and infuse the gospel within their culture. It allows for Muslim followers of Jesus to look like Muslims and their culture, it allows American followers of Jesus to look like Americans and their culture, Buddhist followers of Jesus to look like Buddhists and their culture. We in the West, love to tell people how they are allowed to contextualize, instead of focus in on trusting the Spirit and allowing HIM to work in the cultures he is in. Know that when I mention Muslim or Buddhist followers of Jesus I am speaking about those who fully embrace Jesus and who he is, but still identify with the CULTURE of Muslims and Buddhists, not belief system. We love to sit over here in our comfortable pulpits and yell at those in other countries and cultures and tell them how it should be done. But, if we truly know that those who have been called out by Jesus have the Spirit living within them, we should allow the Spirit to work out their salvation and trust in God's sovereignty and not our ignorance. But, if we focus in on functions as determinate of a church, we'll always have issues with those people who look different than we do as a church.

3. Identity Will Produce Functions

Because we have been identified as the church because of Christ, we will desire to have functions. But, because we are already the church because of who Christ is, and not what we do, we will work out functions differently depending on where God has called us. While preaching, learning, missions, family, servanthood, baptism, communion and discipline will be a part of any church, it might look very different depending on the culture and the people group. We have to allow this! We have to allow the Holy Spirit to work in and through people and we have to be careful, especially in the West, to not make people do it like we do it. This is why the Regulative Principle of Worship baffles me. It takes away from culture to allow it to live out how God wants them to live out the gospel and throws it into some Western style. Do people really think that how they're regulative principle looks is exactly how the church performed it's functions for all time in all cultures? If our identity is found in Christ and God has given, not only each of us a personality, but our whole culture a personality, why wouldn't he desire for us to live this out and use it in a redeeming way?

When we focus in on the identity of the church, these functions will look quite different. Baptism might be done in a bathtub privately, preaching might happen for only 20 minutes sitting on the floor of a living room, communion might be done over a complete meal, instead of a wafer and a shot glass of grape juice or wine, servanthood might be helping a local mosque build a new building. Who knows? If our identity is found in Christ, as a church, we can allow our functions to truly penetrate the cultures we live in.

If not, then our functions will be our identities instead of Christ. We will continually put forth our ideals on other churches to tell them how to be identified as a church. If we believe in Solus Christus in salvation, we must believe this in the church as well. Again, certain overarching functions will be the same in all churches, but they might look far different depending on the culture and the age they are found in.

If we refuse to allow this, we become a lot like Pharisees. We will be like those Pharisees who believed that if you do "this" then God loves you. We will be like a people who believe your salvation depends on what you do, instead of what has been done for you. If our individual salvation is found in our identity in Christ, then so should our gathered peoples called the church. When we start to focus too much on the function of church, and what that looks like, it is like focusing on the works of someone and becoming a Pharisee. Just as preaching to someone grace and showing how their identity is found in Christ produces fruit, so does preaching identity to the church. When the church's identity is found only in Christ, the fruit will come because the Spirit will be at work and be given all glory.

And when this happens, Jesus words are so powerful:

“I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.
Matthew 16:18

I am afraid that if we focus too much on the functions of the church then this is what we find:

“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:...I have this against you, that you have left your first love."
Revelation 2:1,4

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How Would You Define the Term "Church"?

For the past year, I have really been asking this question. And the question might be also stated as "Who is the church?" not "What is the church?" Yesterday, I grabbed lunch with one of my pastors at Harambee and we were discussing this very topic. The answer to this question, actually has very large implications. I just wanted to throw out the question to anyone out there, Christian or not.

When you hear the term "church", how would you define it?

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Church Programs Suck

Alright, not all church programs suck, but a church that is all about programs ends up usually focusing on the wrong thing, or the wrong people. This post comes off the heals of meeting with one of my pastors and speaking about this. What I found is that our thoughts were right in line with each other as we have both seen programs strangle the spirituality from people within the church. Not only this, but I read an article by Dave Patty called, "Raising Up Disciples." This was some prework for the Missional Community Group Leadership training that happens once a month from my church gathering, Soma/Harambee. I have been thinking a lot about these things since being a youth pastor for close to 6 years and seeing what this kind of program did with the relationships of kids and their parents and also being a part of a church that had more programs than people to lead them. Not only have I seen that part of programming, but since being part of Harambee for almost a year now, I am seeing the benefits of a church that focuses more on organic ministry, instead of forced programming.

Now, this post will focus in on why I have, and am, turning against programming, and have for about 3 years now. With this in mind, I do want to put this disclaimer before you continue to read. I am not saying that all programming is wrong or a sin. I am not saying that all programs are bad for the church. What I am trying to get through is the dangers of programming in the church and how it can become a crutch, instead of a help.

1. Organic Ministry Gets Squashed

Me saying "organic" sounds like I am carrying around a purse and saying that it is a European carry all while drinking an appletini. Let me continue before you beat me up and take my lunch money. When I say organic, I mean that God has given us all personalities that are both similar, yet different than those around us. He has given us desires and traits that are neutral to holiness or sin (different topic than total depravity, which I adhere to), yet definitely show off the Imago Dei. God is very diverse in his traits (i.e. just and gracious), and has created his creation to show off his diversity and glory.

Historically, programming has taken these personalities and tried to force them all together, instead of allowing us to live our lives how God has created us. Meaning. Churches love to have discipleship programs, men's breakfasts, women's bible studies, prayer meetings, etc. All these are usually done in the same way, and leadership has historically asked the membership to show up to these things, on a set day, set time with a set schedule. When members don't show up, or are disenchanted with the program, leadership becomes frustrated. What has happened is that the leadership has told the members how they are to worship God, how they are to study who God is and when to do so. They have taken a diversity of personalities and pushed them into a preconceived setting that leadership has determined as the best one.

This squashes a lot of people who just don't have the personalities to sit in a room for 2 hours in an uncomfortable chair listening to a boring speaker tell them why they suck. This type of programming squashes organic ministry. Why not preach to the heart of your people on Sundays to live out the gospel and allow them to do it in the ways that seem right in their lives and play in the hands of how God has made them? Why not allow them to do this through going to their art class, participating in community efforts, playing sports, taking their kids to sports games, having dinner with neighbors, etc.? This allows the leadership to not get frustrated with having the same four people showing up at every event and complaining about all those other people who aren't mature in the faith. Organic ministry allows for people to do ministry in every part of their lives and not see it as only on Wednesday nights. Organic ministry allows people to get together for Bible study and prayer, or allows them to go out in nature and experience the glory of God. Organic ministry allows leadership to not stress about how much time they have to be in some group, instead of being the pastor to their family first. Organic ministry allows families to give their first fruits to God and their family, instead of the left overs. Organic ministry says, "live your life for the glory of God!" Programming says, "We know how you should live your life for the glory of God: Every Wednesday from 6-8pm."

2. False Worship Can Take Root

Programs, for the most part, usually start to figure out how to worship God and allow others to do so. This can be based on age, sex, marital status, or just similarity in where one lives. What I have seen over and over again is that instead of the worship being focused on Jesus, the program takes over and becomes worshiped. Not only this, but the leadership within this program can be not only worshiped, but can replace the duties of the family. The easiest example is youth groups. I led a youth group for almost 6 years. Honestly, I replaced a lot of dads as the pastor of their family. When the youth had an issue, the kid came to me. When the family was struggling, the whole family came to me. When the kid had an issue, the mom would come to me. I became not only the father figure in homes that had both parents that loved Jesus, but for a lot of people, without them or me noticing, I became their functional saviour. Not only this, but the youth group became my functional saivour. If I failed, or the youth group failed, our joy was stolen and our hope was removed. Now, this wasn't some long lasting thing, but was quite obvious when it did.

Not only can the people themselves become worshiped, but the program itself can become worshiped. In my last church, there was a program in the church that was obviously taking up too many resources, was jacked in the gospel presentation and the people were getting too tied up in it. Plain and simple, the pastor said, "We'll never get rid of (said program) because it has just been here too long and we have nothing to replace it with." That's jacked. The program started to be worshiped. If we were to get rid of it, the pastor mentioned that people would leave and would demand something else. Again, jacked. This isn't this pastor's fault alone, but it is also the congregants as well. The program was seen as so important that if it was to leave, so would many people. The people, and leadership, didn't understand how we could get rid of something that had been in the church for so long. As if Jesus wasn't good enough. And actually, the gospel wasn't even being presented correctly within the functions of this program, yet these issues were put to the side, for the glory of the program.

Church programs become so much a part of the church that they become worshiped and so do the leaders within them. If you change or get rid of these programs, the people don't know what to do. They act as if there is no way to worship God correctly. They believe their children will grow up as drug dealers and prostitutes and that God isn't smart enough when he said that the parents are to be the primary ones that teach about the statutes and glory of God (Deut 6).

3. Programs Take Us Out of the World

This is the most messed up thing of it all. When you add up all the programs in your church that you go to, or expected to go to, when do you have time to serve your family and live life for the glory of God to those around you? If someone has kids, it gets even crazier. You have youth group, community groups, men's group, women's group, discipleship groups, Awanas, and then special church events. When does one have time to just live life? What if this isn't what God wanted? What if he didn't want us to continually live closed off to the world with an "Open" sign on the front door of the church. Basically, if you look at a church bulletin, what it is really saying is, "these are the times we are open for business."

What if instead, we lived our lives in the world with the view of glorifying God in it? What if instead of having our kids go to youth group or Awanas, we had them in swimming classes, art classes, karate, sports, dance, etc. living their lives with a Godward perspective? What if afterwards and beforehand, we talked to our kids about how to live and participate in these activities while worshiping God? What if we had neighbors over for dinner, had BBQ's, fun events in our neighborhood, etc. to show that we aren't closed off to those who aren't like us? What if we just lived normal lives radically for Jesus? What if the teaching of our kids and our families didn't happen in programs, but in every day life? What if our neighbors saw us as just normal people who loved Jesus? What if it wasn't about inviting people to your church event, but instead, invited your neighbor to just live life with you while you show off Jesus?

The clincher is just asking, "How did Jesus do this?" What is funny is that when we look to how Jesus did this, is that he did this with his apostles just by being with them and living life with them and the world. Jesus understood that worship, discipleship and learning didn't happen at a scheduled time on a Wednesday evening, but happened by living life and living life for the glory of God.

Here is an excerpt from Dave Patty's article on discipleship

(Dave's wife is speaking to him about the term discipleship)

“Dave, do you think a lot of people feel pressure when they hear that word?” “What do you mean?”I asked. “It just seems to me that people think Discipleship is some special formula, some program, some kind of neatpackage. If someone takes you through the right steps you can say you have ‘been discipled’ and if you do it to others youcan say you are ‘discipling them’. I just think it has a lot more to do with following Jesus, and pulling some people close to you so they can follow Jesus too.”

In Mark 3:14 Christ appointed twelve—“designating them apostles--that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach.” We see here Christ’s initiative in challenging men and calling them to who they would become. We see his vision, that they would touch others and preach the good news of the kingdom. But before this vision could be realized, we see him calling them to “be with him”. As we follow the disciples from this point on, their training appears a bit chaotic. Christ’s teaching and preparation is intensive, but it often seems to be haphazard, designed to shape and mold whatever raw materials life had thrown at them in a given day. What remains consistent, however, is the characteristic of Christ’s presence in their lives, and their presence in his. They were “with him”, and he “with them.”

Raising Up Disciples by Dave Patty

Maybe we should just see how God has called us to be as the church, instead of trying to make the church an organization that is open for business and we go there to be taught and trained. Maybe we only go as the gathered church once a week to hear the great news of the gospel of grace and the rest of the week we live that out. Maybe this is exactly how Jesus did this and exactly how the apostles did it. Maybe this is why they had so much time to focus in on making disciples instead of memorizing the correct answer that the group leader will ask from the handout he emailed to us. Maybe this is why the church in America is so stagnant. Maybe this is why people hate the church. Maybe we should stop calling the building the church and understand that we are the church. Maybe we should understand that worship doesn't only happen when at that ugly building, but happens all throughout the week as we live our lives.

Maybe church programs suck, because they suck the life right out of us instead of filling us up with joy.

Maybe Jesus had it right and what he did wasn't cultural, but something that could be repeated until he returns. Maybe. Just maybe.

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Characteristics of a Missional Church: Tim Keller

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The Church Sucks: The Response (Part 2)

In the first post, I showed the clear understanding of our condition as the church, namely, that we suck. The idea of this was to be clear and show that we shouldn't be too surprised at this understanding. Most people within the church, have had odd experiences where arguments seemed petty, the vision of the church wasn't focused on Jesus, but self, or have just been treated very harshly within the church. Now, when we get into this response, I am not trying to say that you should just deal with these issues and stay within a certain local church (I will write a post on when someone should leave a church), but what I am saying is that we shouldn't abandon the church gathered altogether.

The rave today is that since the organized church has taken advantage of people, seem to lose focus, has hurt me, has abused it's power, etc. etc. etc. then we should just abandon the church gathered and find Jesus, either on our own, or in small groups within our homes. (I am not arguing against house churches if they still look like the New Testament church discussed throughout Acts and the epistles of Paul). This response is wrong. We don't just leave something because we don't believe it is working. We must look back to the one who is all knowing and all powerful and focus on His work and not our own eyes. We must be as Paul tells the Corinthians:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 15:58

I am not saying that Paul was trying to tell the church in Corinth to "keep meeting together as an organized church", but what Paul IS saying is that although our toils seem to be in vain we must continue to press forward in the will of God knowing that it isn't in vain. George Barna thinks he is starting a "Revolution" by leaving the local church, but what is actually doing is leaving the mission of God that God has within the local church.

But, why do I think this? Why do I think that although we are jacked, that we still need to continually pursue the church gathered? The reason is because I think God actually knows the future and is in control over it. God isn't surprised that our churches are a joke at times, abusive in other times and downright idiotic at times. So much so, that even before Paul takes aim at the local church in Corinth, notice he doesn't tell them to find themselves outside of the church but actually encourages them:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1 Corinthians 1:3-9

So, why is it obvious that God desires us to stay in the church, instead of leaving it and doing it on our own?

1. God Knows the Hearts of Man

God knows exactly who we are. We love to wander from authority and wander from the truth. This is what we always do and, although this is mostly spoken of in the form of us wandering from God, it can be seen that this is our make up and what we desire to do in general.

We see this in the Prodigal Son story, which tells of the boy leaving the truth, love and security of his father. We see this in Isaiah 53 that tells us that we are all like sheep who go astray. We love to out on our own and leave the authority established over us. This is why Paul has to tell us to be in subjection to the governing authorities (Romans 13:1), because we naturally don't want to be. We desire to be our own god, making our own decisions. We love to continually commit the first sin in the garden by usurping authority, to become our own. Whether we like it or not, we are all Adam's desiring to become our own God. This is our heart. God knows it.

2. God Establishes Our Leadership

Because of the first, that we are wanderers and love to be our own authority, God has always established leaders and authorities for us. Think about it. He established judges, he established kings, he established priests and he established prophets. Whether it was political or spiritual, God has always established authorities above us to rule us. There is no difference for the church. God establishes pastors, overseers, bishops, elders, deacons and teachers all to give us godly leadership examples. They are there for our good and to lead us. They are there to admonish us, to teach us the precepts of God, to guard us against heresy, to defend the truth and to lead us. (1 Tim 3; Acts 11:30,14:23; Titus 1:5-9; Acts 20:28; Phil 1:1; Eph 4:11-13;Acts 13:1; 2 Timothy 4) So much so, that God tells us to:

Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith...Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
Hebrews 13:7,17

I know we don't like authoritarian people who rule over us. But, maybe that's the point? Maybe the point is that we were not made to be lone rangers, on our own, doing as we wish. Maybe we were made to be ruled over, to guard us, to protect us and to take care of us.

3. Why?

Think of this. Why would God do this on earth? Why would he give us people to rule over us, lead us, watch over us and care for our souls? The biggest reason "why?" is because these leaders are a picture of our God in heaven. Paul puts this plainly, when he states:

Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
1 Corinthians 11:1

Paul, being an apostle and a leader to the Corinthian people tells them to imitate him. This is very closely related to Hebrews 13:7 (from the same root word in the Greek) where it tells us to imitate the faith of those who lead us. The reason is because our leaders are to be showing us Jesus. Spiritually, we have always desired to go our own way, we desire to exchange the truth for a lie (Romans 1:25) and to leave the safety of our God. So, what God has done is given us imperfect saviours and leaders on this earth (i.e. elders/pastors) to show us and have us yearn for our perfect Saviour and Leader in heaven.

God does this in other areas as well, not only in church leadership, but also in marriage. We are told to submit to each other, to know our roles in marriage, but why? Because marriage is a shadow of the perfection of our Christ and his perfect leadership for the church of God (Ephesians 5:22-33). Honestly, because of the rejection of the roles in marriage, it is no surprise that church roles and leadership is now being rejected.

4. Admonishment

So, what have people been doing because leadership has been done imperfectly within the church? They have left it. This is wrong. Hebrews speaks to this when the writer tells us:

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:23-25

The church is the physical manifestation of what is our spiritual hope and promises. Yes, they are messed up, sinners, taking advantage of people and sometimes ruining lives. But, nonetheless, it is how God has guided his people to function. Even with all this, there is still much to praise the church for. It is not all bad, there is much good. We cannot allow some bad apples ruin the whole harvest. This is what I believe happened in marriage. Because some husbands have sucked in leading for the cause of Christ, the roles in marriage have been questioned and thrown out. But, just because it seems as though something isn't working, or we have been burned by it, we can't throw it out if it's been ordained by God.

Where does it stop? The next step from leaving the church gathered, is leaving the people of God altogether. Check out this verse and see how this plays out and the harsh words from John:

If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
1 John 4:20-21

I believe if one says that they hate the church gathered, that they are very close in saying that they hate God. That is a bold statement, but God has given us physical leaders and authority to show us the hope and perfection in God, our perfect Authority. He established this, knowing that this gathered church would screw up a lot, and screw up often, yet he still established it.

We are all sinners. Only when you believe your sin isn't that bad will you decide to leave the church altogether. You have put your hope in people instead of God. You have put people on the throne, instead of God. And, because people have become your god and they have disappointed you, you have left what God ordained.

But, if God is your only hope, your only God, your only Saviour, you will trust in what HE has established, and what he has given us and not in the actions of man.

Don't leave the church gathered, but love it regardless of it's faults. Sounds a lot like what Jesus did for you, or have you forgot?

as it is written,
"There is none righteous, not even one;
There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one."
"Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,"
"The poison of asps is under their lips";
"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness";
"Their feet are swift to shed blood,
Destruction and misery are in their paths,
And the path of peace they have not known."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Romans 3:10-18, 1 Peter 3:18, 2 Corinthians 5:21

In the last post, I am going to give some thoughts on when and why one should leave one church for another.

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The Church Sucks: The Facts (Part 1)

I debated whether or not to title this post, "Church Sucks" or "The Church Sucks", but figured, without the invisible church, there would be no visible church or church as an organizational structure. So, why not start at the root instead of the branches. I know some of you are throwing up in your mouth when you hear me refer to church as an organizational structure, but in some form, it definitely is. But, however I titled this post, the fact is, the church sucks. The reason I write this post, is because in reaction to this fact, people are abandoning the church and deciding to live out their faith without community, or in ways contra to the formal, organized church. Which I find to be an overreaction to the facts laid before us.

If you have been apart of the church for any number of years, you know that this is definitely true. There are petty arguments that we continually have that seem to have very little to do with the mission of Jesus and making him known. Most of us have been totally lost on how some people could act, what certain things are argued over and how some things seem to continually creep in. But, the fact to be argued isn't, "Does the church suck?" because that should be well established. The fact to be argued should be, "Why does this surprise us?"

Tim Keller was the first I heard talk about why the church sucketh so (In his book, "The Reason for God"...which is pretty funny when you think of it). He mentioned, and I am paraphrasing here, that the reason the church is so filled with hypocrites is because the church is filled with the worst of sinners.

Let's work through some of this together on why the church, meaning, the gathering of the elect of God, sucks so bad and sometimes is very hard to be around.

We have all had those times where we can't believe what is going on in the church. Whether it is figuring out a budget, the color of the carpet in that weird room in corner of the building that's called "the prayer room", whether or not we should "support" a missionary by giving them $50 a month or $75 a month, or whether or not the bulletin should have a picture of an old country church or sun rays coming through clouds. These arguments all seem retarded when thinking through the mission of God. But, since most of us aren't oddball Regulative Principle Wackos (that's a jab for all my friends who are...which I am sure they'll comment, and if they do...it better be funny or I won't accept the comment ;)), there are many things we aren't told in regards to what to do as the Church gathers. We aren't told:

- What day and time to come together as the church gathered (notice I didn't say worship, as this should be everyday)
- What kind of building we should be in
- What songs to sing
- How many songs to sing
- How long to preach
- What we should wear (although the NT only talks in the negative for those who dress up in church, and I'm pretty sure that Jesus is against those shirts with bible verses and sunsets)
- How to set up the chairs (or the pews if you are a Reformed Baptist)
- Which instruments to use and whether or not we should allow that lady to sing who's voice sounds like a used up car horn
- How often to take communion

I could continue this list for a while. The point being is that we are living in the NT, we are the church continued, and many details are left out, which means many chances for sinners to fight over weird stuff.

Not only are we not told many specifics, but look at how God refers to us:

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29

For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:7-8

There are other passages that sing our filth and show our utter failures. But, God calls out the idiots of the world so that he is praised and we are not. Think of 1 Cor 1. He says we are dumb, weak, fools and the opposite of noble can mean vulgar, common or lowly. Not only this, but God shows in Romans 5 that he didn't come for those who believe that they are righteous, but those of us who know we are sinners and vile. Not only this, but the church gathered has always been a mess. The letter to the Corinthians should be enough for us to realize that we are a mess. Look at how Paul describes the Corinthians:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Look at that list! Is there any surprise that this church is a little crazy and off point? This church was such a mess that they were allowing family reunions to be date night, using communion as a way for free booze and using the gift of tongues as a reason to get up in the middle of the sermon and yell craziness. The same is with us. The problem is that for some reason, we go to a church and believe it is some sort of perfect country club with no issues instead of crappy sinners who have been saved by grace. The problem is that we think that heaven is realized now, instead of a not yet future perfection. We go to church and live in community with our church as though Revelation 21:3-4 should be our church now:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:3-4

Revelation is a beautiful picture of what will happen as the bride is called to be with the groom in perfect worship of the Perfect One. I am sure you have seen Revelation 21 depicted on a t-shirt on that dude who won't stop smiling and shaking hands during the "turn and greet the people next to you bit after the first praise song where the same verse was repeated 19 times." I'm pretty sure that there is a verse somewhere against this. But, for now, we have to know that we are merely sojourners, living in the flesh as sinners with other sinners who are just as messed up as us. When we start losing focus of our sinfulness is when we see the church as more jacked up than it really is.

My second post will be what our reaction should be to this messed up, crappy gathering of sojourners. The answer is not to run, but to fight alongside and support. This is made clear in the Bible and I will show it's fullness tomorrow.

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The Big Red Tractor: By Francis Chan

Saw this over on Missional Church Center...any thoughts?

The Big Red Tractor from Jacob Lewis on Vimeo.

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Why Harambee Convinced Us to Stay

So, now that we have visited Harambee because of all the reasons stated in my last post, what is keeping us here? I want to just put up some of our thoughts on what we have noticed about the church as a whole after we have attended Sunday morning, missional groups, met with elders and leaders and attended the men's retreat. These observations are God's ways of calling us to stay and dig in at Harambee.

1. Christ Centered, Heart Gripping

This is the biggest thing we have noticed. It is all about Jesus. The sermons are full of the glory of Christ instead of just tagging him at the end of the sermon. Christ, the cross and the glory of the Trinity are shown as the fulfillment of every sermon and how it should impact our hearts, minds and actions. These things aren't just put at the end of the sermon as a quasi alter call for those sinners in the audience to repent. The whole sermon is a calling for believers and non-believers alike to repent and live a life of repentance by peeking into the throne room of Christ and his completion of each passage or topic preached. Because of this focus, your heart is assaulted and you leave knowing your shortfall, but with the hope of the work of Christ for you. The cause for change isn't because I desire to make God happy with me, live a better life, get rid of this sin or that sin, the cause for change is happening because I desire to live for the sake of the One who incarnated himself on a rescue mission for my soul. Quite the difference and one that is not just found in the sermon, but in the very lives of the congregants and shown in the music, the discussions and in the kids gospel classes as well.

2. Purposeful to Exalt Christ

I used to scoff at those churches that were emerging and missional. Was told that they didn't know how to do church. I have to say that Harambee is the most purposeful church I have ever been to. Each week for the Sunday gathering the service is scripted to show the flow of the Christian walk. This is what has historically been called liturgical worship. Now, when most people hear this, they think boring and repetitive. Not so here. The service is set up like this:

Songs of Repentance (with corporate Scripture reading)

Songs of Hope (with corporate Scripture reading)

Scripture reading for our sermon and prayer for our kids

Sermon

Reading of Nicene Creed

Communion with songs of confession

Songs of Celebration with all of our kids present with us to see the glory and joy found in the fullness of the gospel

This is a gathering with a purpose. Not to mention the preaching and music are simply amazing.

Not only is the Sunday gathering purposeful, but if you ask why the church does anything, it is always purposeful. From church planting, community development, family Sundays (where there is no childcare to have the whole family present during worship to show how church is done worldwide), partnering and taking overseas trips to develop local churches, to the individual member taking ownership for the purpose God has put them into the church for. It is astounding to see what this church does without care if the attendance will go up. They keep planting churches with members, sending members off to team up with new plants, etc. because they care more about where Christ is calling them, than what the attendance is week in and week out.

I have yet to find something that Harambee has that is done just because they have "always done it this way." They truly are men and women who gather under the flag of Semper Reformanda: Always Reforming. All for the Glory of God Alone.

3. Gospel Saturated Transparency

We have only been at the church for 3 months but this has been interesting to see. No apologies for past sinful lives. No apologies for struggles within the person. Just honest discussion on how God has restored, or is restoring the sinner for the glory of God. We have seen this from the pastor preaching, unveiling struggles he has, to the time of testimony where real lives have been exposed to show the glory of the Gospel and its transforming power. Women have shared past sins and past/present struggles openly and honestly so that the church as a whole can come alongside them and love them and see the work of the Spirit in their lives. They open up because they know that they aren't going to be judged, but are going to be loved. This is because this church has been saturated with the gospel and the response is found in lives that desire community with a family.

We have seen it in the Sunday gathering but we have also seen it within our interaction with individuals. Whether it is from our missional leaders to discussions with men on the retreat, it is apparent that these Christians desire deep relationships to penetrate the heart with gospel living. It has allowed myself and my wife to open up and expose our hearts like we have not done in a long time, knowing (or hoping at this point) that it won't be used against us, but will be used to pray for us and come alongside us.

This is where we are with Harambee. We are excited to see what God has in store for us here. We are still in the infancy stage with them, but already see a huge difference and see the gospel clearer and clearer the more times we interact. Our hearts are already being drawn to Christ closer because of their witness and we thank God for them, and can't wait for God to continue to show us his greatness through them.

This is why we are not sneaking out the back door. This is why our journey is just starting with them. This is why God has already started to knit our hearts to them.

May God be glorified and Harambee be humble always seeking out the will of our God for the sake of the cross.

Amen.

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Why We Chose Our Church

As of last June, my family decided to leave our church of over 5 and half years. I served in many different capacities in the church, but we felt as though it was time for us to move on. I am not going to air my "dirty laundry" here, but know that I take leaving a church very seriously, so that alone should tell you that we left over some things we felt were a huge deal in the scope of things.

For these posts I am going to delve into why we chose the church we are currently attending and then also why we are going to stay here and become members. So it is sort of "Why we walked through the front door?" and then "Why we aren't sneaking out the back?"

First, the church that we have decided to dig into is called Harambee in Renton, WA. Harambee is simply a Swahili name meaning, "Together Pushing Forward." It is located in the heart of downtown Renton, about three blocks from one of the most, if not the most, diverse High Schools in Washington State. Renton High School is 36% Black, 33% Asian, 16% Hispanic and 15% White. This is actually one of the reasons we chose Harambee is because of the diversity that is found in the area that they minister. That is a little about where they are, but let's get into why we chose Harambee in the first place.

First, they are affiliated with Acts 29. The pastor that started Harambee, Mike Gunn, was one of the three that started Mars Hill alongside Leif Moi and, of course, Mark Driscoll. Mike is still an elder and our primary teaching pastor, but gets paid as the Acts 29 International Director.

When we left our church we really wanted to be associated with Acts 29. We had another opportunity to look into a church plant in downtown Bellevue, a suburb of Seattle where my business is located, but decided that it wasn't what we were looking for and it was just too far from our community where we live. As we searched the area for Acts 29 churches, there were some others, but none were as close as Harambee (little less than 20 min from house), nor as urban as Harambee.

First, we wanted to be a part of Acts 29 because they are Reformed, missional, complementarian and hold those things that are essential in a closed hand and those things that are secondary in an open hand. The Nicene Creed (closed hand) is read each week at Harambee showing those things that we fully embrace to be orthodox Christianity. Harambee and Acts 29 are very dedicated to the word of God and being theologically astute without giving up what it means to be immersed into culture every day of our lives.

We also desired to be associated with an Acts 29 church because of the focus of glocal missions. Meaning, they fully believe that we need to be missionaries to the communities we are a part of, to show them Jesus, and we also need to be equipping foreign people to make an impact on their own communities through church planting. They don't ask the white dude to go and set up shop in Africa, they send the white dude to help raise up local guys to plant churches in their own areas abroad. This is a huge difference and one that I fully support and see supported through the whole book of Acts in the life of Paul.

The way that Harambee specifically showed us how they are impacting the community around them came about in three ways specifically.

1. The Hall

The Hall is an after school program (held at the church building) for the local high school kids to hang out, be mentored, get help with school and just old school discipleship. There is no secret message of Jesus being forced to them. There is no helping in English class by making them read the Bible. It is just a place to serve the community, specifically the youth of Renton, that usually find themselves in trouble if left to themselves. Below is a video of the Hall and what it is striving to do. It has just been taken over by Matt Topping who is going to take it to new heights and also is being joined up by a Christian Hip Hop artist named Celestine (video below) with a ministry (Cry Out) that aids inner city youth through music and mentorship. To put it bluntly...we are very excited in what Matt and Celestine have in store for The Hall.

2. The Refuge

The Refuge is a place that aids the area's homeless. The Refuge takes place at the church building on Saturdays to feed, give health care and just a place to chill out for the homeless in the community.

3. Missional Community Groups

This is not small group Bible study. This is a time to come together to pray for each other, to disciple each other, to go over biblical questions and studies and also to strategize how to impact the community that each one meets in. This is the extension of the church. This is where one will find aid spiritually and physically and one that becomes family instead of merely a group that meets to go through a study and part ways. These people will serve together and grow together. When someone is in the hospital from the group, the group supports, when someone has a baby from the group, the group comes alongside. There is no need for a churchwide program to "deal" with these issues, but these issues are handled like a family would handle them. We have just started one with an elder at Harambee and have enjoyed our time together and have already been able to start to aid our community. Not only is this going to be made up of people from Harambee, but also those who attend church elsewhere and those who just want to know more about who Jesus is. The groups function as the hands and feet of the church to the local communities spread throughout South Seattle.

4. Right Focus

We chose Harambee because it has the right focus when dealing with the day to day in church life. Instead of having program after program that was formed in the mid 50's, it allows the missional groups to function organically on how they want to serve. Harambee doesn't have a different program for every little thing or every person that attends church. Harambee, instead, makes the parents responsible for the upbringing of their children, so they teach them how to do so. Harambee makes the husband and the wife responsible for their actions and roles, so they drive them into missional groups together, instead of studying separately. Harambee drives the singles into missional groups to study alongside married people and others so that they learn how to be Christ centered.

By doing this, the main function of Harambee is Sunday morning and the night of your missional group. They are very simple. They don't have program after program that takes up all your time, making it impossible to love your family and your community.

Through all these things, Harambee got us in the door to see what they were about. Little did we know that this would be the place that we would dig our heals into and try and call family. We have only been at Harambee for 3 months, but it feels like Christ has been doing open heart surgery on us since we started.

These four things were the central reasons we chose Harambee. The next post will deal with why we are so excited about Harambee and why we are starting to find it a place to call home.

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Vintage Church

Vintage Church sets up to be the continuation of where Vintage Jesus left off. Vintage Jesus upset some people as they thought that Driscoll took too many liberties in describing who Jesus was. Although I disagree with them, it is hard for me to see where those same people will have issue with this book. This book is set up to be an open an honest discussion of what the church is. At some point, if you are a pastor of a church, you will be challenged by Driscoll and Breshears and even rubbed the wrong way in their description of what a church should look like.

This is not because they are purposely trying to demean churches, but they are taking the modern church and testing them to Scripture. Driscoll himself even shows in some places that he wishes that they were better at, or where they have corrected Mars Hill over the years. Again, this is exactly what makes Driscoll so attractive, he is honest with his mistakes while pointing out others. He hammers on emergent church designs and also the traditional fundamental churches, to make sure they return to the true calling of the church as a whole.

What I believe this book will turn out to be is a handbook for church planters or those who are desiring to test what they are doing within their churches. The book is set up like the others that Driscoll has done in recent years. Meaning, he puts forth a topic through the Scriptures and culture and then Breshears answers commonly asked questions on that topic of the chapter. Vintage Church sets up everything from answering questions on preaching, ordinances and church discipline to how to utilize technology as a church. This book is very practical and reminds me of "The Deliberate Church" by Mark Dever and Paul Alexander. The difference is that Driscoll and Breshears cover more ground and looks more into the culture and missional aspects of the church.

In the end, the readers for this book will be pastors and elders, and not as many congregants will enjoy this book like they did with Vintage Jesus. This doesn't make the book bad, it just makes it targeted. I felt that the book was really a grown up version of Confessions of a Reformissional Rev. That book told the story of the beginning of Mars Hill, and this tells the current story. This is my only "gripe" with this book is that it seems to more of a polemic for the current way that Mars Hill is doing things. So, when you get to topics like "What is a Missional Church" and "What is a Multi Site Church" the descriptions are more of what Mars Hill is doing and less of a general look into these topics. But, should I really expect anything less of a book written by a pastor who believes (as do I for the most part) his church is doing the correct mission of Christ?

I also did enjoy the reminders to big churches that not all churches should be big, and the reminder to small churches, that not all churches should be small. Criticism of each other usually comes from each side of the issue, but Driscoll and Breshears really exhort each one to do the calling that Christ has called them to. But, because Driscoll's church is huge, some of his practical wisdom on how to live out church are going to fly over the head of those pastors in small churches. Some of the things discussed in technology and multi site are just not going to be able to be utilized by small churches. This is fine though, because the book is for all to read, not just big churches or small churches.

Although this book could have been titled, "Vintage Mars Hill" or "Confessions: Part II", the book delivers a very good understanding of the church. My favorite part of the entire book was simply, "What is a Christian Church?" Driscoll puts to shame those who believe that online churches, or coffee shop churches are true churches. Driscoll walks through what a church should include to be a true Vintage, or Scriptural, church. I very much enjoyed this description so that one does not get together with a friend for coffee and call it church, or a church gets off target and loses focus of what a church should encompass.

If you are a church planter, or one that is about to engage in new church plant, pick up this book. If you are a leader in a church that is looking to restructure or desire to test yourself to make sure that you are a biblical church, pick up this book. If you are a dated church that desires to reach today's generation, pick up this book. You will not be disappointed. I would also highly recommend that one pick up The Deliberate Church and The Master's Plan for the Church
alongside Vintage Church for great study and great resources on the Christian church according to Jesus. Highly Recommended.

Link to Buy

Crossway

Westminster Books

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Christian Mission in the Modern World

It's been a while since I have read John Stott, but this was definitely a book that will make me read more of him. This book is a necessity for anyone that considers themself a missiologist or is wanting a deeper look into what it means for us Christians to be in the world. Stott hammers away in only 190 pages so much depth that any review will leave the subject at hand wanting in a desperate way. It is still hard to believe that this was first written in 1975 as he hits some people today straight between the eyes with his theological and practical conclusions (myself included).

Stott hits on five subjects and really pinpoints them further for great discussion.

The Five Subjects that he hits are:

1. Mission

Stott breaks down the two movements that are most abused, which are evangelism only ministries and social action only ministries. After breaking down why neither of these are correct, he blends the two to show the biblical aspect of how these two need to work together, not separate.

2. Evangelism

Stott lays out what must be considered in evangelism. He shows the priority, the meaning and then unpacks what must be included while presenting the gospel according to Christ and the apostles.

3. Dialogue

In this chapter, Stott again shows the two extremes in dialogue. One where the dialogue is so open that you can't tell that a Christian is in the conversation and the other being where the Christian believes that no dialogue should be had with other religions. Stott shows a balanced view to this and gives great examples how this can work and has worked.

4. Salvation

Stott works to find the biblical answer to what this term means in the Scriptures. He works through what salvation truly is and the areas of difference within this. Some of these would be salvation from political oppression, salvation of sickness and poverty, etc. Then Stott answers the question of salvation theologically and shows why salvation is more than just what we see, but is really the salvation of what we don't see. Namely, salvation from God's wrath in regards to hell.

5. Conversion

In this chapter Stott gives a precedence for conversion to the Christian faith. He fights against the universalists and also those who believe that there is no need to be converted to Christianity because Christ can be found in other religions as well. After this defense, Stott then shows what one is converted to when converted to Christianity.

This book is so well rounded and Stott unpacks the extremes in each case above to even the heretical. He then gives the biblical reasons to balance the extremes or to deny the heretical and comes to conclusions. The arguments are very well thought out and linear so that the reader can follow very easily and understand the concepts and defenses put forth by Stott. I would urge any pastor or missionary to pick up this book. This book is something that would have helped the start of my study on the church's mission before going to deeper studies that I have already looked at. I would hope that people that are in the emergent circles (Rob Bell, Tony Jones, Brian McLaren, etc) and also in the IFB circles would pick up this book to see their errors in the thought of Christian mission. Overall, this "introduction" is a great balanced approach to our mission as Christians as we work, minister, educate and evangelize the world as we know it today. Whether one is abroad or in their own back yard, this book lays a great foundation so that one sees their errors of extremism in any of the above named topics. Highly Recommended.

Buy at:

InterVarsity Press

Westminster Books

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Faith Based Super Bowl Parties

I got this small article from Christianity Today. Thought I would post it here and see what everyone thinks of these happenings. Do you like them? Do you hate them? Why? What would do different or the same if you had one at your church? Talk amongst yourselves.

Here is the article:

A pastor explains why his church likes to be host for football's biggest event.
Interview by Jeremy Weber posted 1/30/2009 10:03AM

John Newland, the senior pastor at Fall Creek Baptist Church in Indianapolis, received the "cease-and-desist" letter from the NFL that led to many churches canceling Super Bowl outreach events in 2007. The NFL has announced it will allow church viewings.

How did you feel when the NFL reversed its call?

We were gratified because common sense prevailed. The NFL flagged us because our website asked members to donate money for food for the event. They were not prohibiting us from sharing our faith; they were prohibiting us from showing their product in the way we wanted to show it. So we met in homes in smaller groups.

We learned two things. One, God clarified for our country an event that churches all across the country were doing and what the purpose of it was. And two, our church was challenged to be more aware of copyright law.

What are you doing this year?

Our Super Sunday outreach event will have a lot of free food, giveaways, and games, and will have a gospel presentation and personal testimony at halftime. We have scrutinized the NFL's policy change and will make sure we are in full compliance. For example, the NFL has taken away the restriction on the size of the screen, but it has to be in your normal place of worship.

What makes the Super Bowl a better outreach event than, say, the season premiere of Lost?

It crosses so many lines of community and brings us together in a way that has mass appeal. We try to take advantage of things that draw people's attention across socioeconomic, political, and cultural lines — the things that divide us in this country.

Any advice for other churches hosting Super Bowl outreaches?

First, define your purpose. Second, find out what's legal and what's not legal. Free is the key. And be careful with your use of the words Super Bowl. Understand that if you are using somebody else's product, you have to follow their rules. Churches cannot cut corners. We must be above reproach.

Copyright © 2009 Christianity Today

Here is also a video from Perry Noble's church, New Spring Church, on what is going on for their church on Super Bowl Sunday. Note this is only for the 6pm service, not the whole day.


Super Bowl Promo 2009 from NewSpring Media on Vimeo.

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How Do You Define the Term Pastor? Part II

In the first post on this topic I tried to pack in as much as possible to show why the terms elder/shepherd/pastor/overseer/bishop are all synonymous when speaking of the New Testament church. I will also say that I believe in the plurality of elders/pastors in a church as well. I grew up in SBC churches where there was a Pastor/Elder and then the rest were deacons, which I do not believe is the biblical standard set by Paul to Titus (Titus 1:5) and also in regards to seeing the church's council led by James and the other elders (Acts 21:18).

To continue with this post I wanted to draw on the understanding of what deacons do in the church and then answer the question of whether I would attend a specific church that was brought up by Melissa here. To understand what a deacon is supposed to do, it would seem that we need to understand what the elders are to do. We find that in the descriptions that we laid out in the last post, the elders/pastors are to watch over the church, this is why they are also called overseers. They are to be the leaders of the church and Paul says that they are to be able to teach sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. Explicitly, in 1 Timothy 3:2, they are said to be able to teach. So, we see that elders are to be sound teachers of doctrine and also able to contradict the crazy people who come through the doors trying to parade around like a sheep with their wolf tail sticking out the back of their suit.

So, then, what does a deacon do? The first time that we see what is probably deacons, is found in Acts 6. What was happening is that the apostles and other disciples were so busy that they weren't able to keep up with the demand of growth in the church. So, they said that they needed some people to step up and help. The apostles needed this to happen so that they could perform the duty of an elder, namely, to pray and teach. The first deacons were merely distributors of goods to the congregation. They did this so that the apostles could stay on task of teaching and praying.

The term deacon is a tricky word in the Greek. It seems the closest we can get to the term is someone who is a waiter. What we can then derive from the term is that a deacon is a servant of the church that does the things to make sure that the pastors/elders are focused on the ministry of the word and prayer. What one finds when they look to 1 Timothy is that the only differences found between elders and deacons is that a deacon doesn't have to be able to teach and the deacon can also be a woman. Whereas, elders are only men and must be able to teach. If you would like to read more on this topic from my other posts, click here.

So, deacons have the same moral qualifications that elders have and are chosen by the congregation or elders to aid the church in whatever capacity is needed.

One might now ask, "What is a director?" Some churches have the term "director" in their titles. So, you might have a Music Director, Youth Director or Children's Director. The only time we see the term used in the Bible is in the Old Testament, and most of the time we find it in the Psalms when referring to the choir director. The term is also translated as supervisor, overseer or to lead. My guess is that churches aren't using the term because of it's biblical understanding but more because of traditional usage of the term within the church.

Is the usage of the term a sin? I don't believe so, but I just don't believe it is as accurate as it should be. I believe that if the church were to stay in line with Scripture for the New Testament church, it would be better to turn all the "directors" into deacons or deaconesses. There is really no need to use the term director and when using an ambiguous term it is hard to have restrictions on conduct and moral qualifications. But, when you turn the term director into deacon, now you have qualifications listed in the Bible that pertain to all leaders in the church. Now you have Scripture to go to for qualifications for those positions that are filled with the leaders of the church. If you think about this, this is actually a very good thing. What I have seen in the past is that someone is chosen because they can breathe, to lead a ministry. That can be very dangerous. If one is held to the standard of deacon, it should actually keep the position more pure and keep from making a careless, quick decision.

Tradition is probably the only thing that holds us back from doing this. We are used to deacons being the guys that take out the garbage and clean the gutters. That's not the complexity of the way that deacons were used in the New Testament. The complexity of the deacon in the Bible, are those chosen to do whatever is needed to keep the elders praying and teaching. Think of everything that has someone as a lead in your church that isn't done by an elder. Those in leadership and ministry positions should be held to a high standard.

Now for the last question. Would I attend a church that had a woman pastor? The quick answer is no. The longer answer is that if I felt compelled to attend this church, I would gather with the leadership to ask them about their titles and have them biblically define them. If in the end they were still not convinced that women cannot be pastors or that they still defined pastors and elders differently, I would have to abstain from attending. Does this mean that I don't consider them Christian brothers and sisters? Not at all. But my conviction to Scripture would withhold me from joining them for weekly worship as a community of believers.

As far as the specific church that Melissa asked about, it would seem that I would need them to give me reason why this woman was called a pastor. Is she teaching or preaching adult males? If so, then I wouldn't attend. If not, I would simply challenge them in their definition of terms and show why they are in error with making a distinction between pastors from elders. I would tell them that to get back in line with the Scriptures, they need to simply name her as a deaconess. If this were to happen, I would have no problem attending the church based on that information.

I hope this discussion has helped. If you have any questions or need clarification, please comment or email.

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How Do You Define the Term Pastor?

So, yesterday Melissa asked a question about a church in my area that has a woman as a pastor. Melissa’s question was simply,

How would you define “pastor”? and…Would you then not attend this church because of this female pastor?

As I went to the church’s site, what I found was a conglomerate of positions that needed to be defined. They had elders, pastors and then directors. It seems as though they have the terms confused and very poorly defined within the confines of the local church.

What I will try to do in this series is to simply give the definitions as seen in the Bible and then give the correct definitions of what the roles should be for their church and then answer the question of “Would I attend this church?” This is not meant to be exhaustive, so if you have comments or further discussions please ask away.

You will see right off the bat that I define the terms pastor, elder, shepherd, overseer and bishop in the same breath. They are equivalents and defined in the Bible as such. Let me just give you the quick Greek definitions of each of these:

Elder: This is either an elderly person in regards to age, or one who is a leader in the church. Because Paul tells Titus (Titus 1:5) to “appoint elders” one would seem to think that the latter is the better usage as a whole. The Jewish elder was one who had authority and was usually old. Because Timothy and Titus were elders or shepherds we can see that to be older doesn't necessarily mean in age, but probably more in that of wisdom and knowledge. If we translate that into NT usage, an elder would then be an appointed man to be in authority of the local church, both physically and spiritually.

Pastor: this means to be a herdsman or a shepherd and is only translated as pastor in Ephesians 4:11 .

Shepherd: One who has authority, watches over and entrusted with a flock

Overseer/Bishop: One who has authority over something and is in charge

Now that we have laid out some very quick definitions let’s take a look at how this plays out. In the Scriptures the OT would define those who led God’s people as the elders or shepherds of God’s people. The imagery in the OT refers to God’s people as his sheep and the leaders over them as his shepherds:

For the shepherds have become stupid
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they have not prospered,
And all their flock is scattered.
Jeremiah 10:21

You can also take a look at (Nm 27:17; 1 Kgs 22:17; Jer 12:10; 22:22; 23:1, 2)

What we soon find out is that the transition from the rulers of Israel being called the Shepherd to the coming Messiah being called shepherd:

Hear the word of the Lord, O nations,
And declare in the coastlands afar off,
And say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him
And keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock.”
Jeremiah 31:10

Not only will God give us the Messiah as our Chief Shepherd, but he will also give us mere men as shepherds who will watch over our souls:

Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 3:15

As Jesus then comes as the Messiah he takes on this name of the great Shepherd as was promised:

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
Hebrews 13:20

So, we can definitely see this picture from the Old Testament to the New Testament, in that, the rulers were a picture of Christ and Israel was a picture of the true flock of God, those in Christ.

A couple of verses will help us with this understanding of how overseers and elders are also referred to as shepherds or pastors. One must also know that the only time that the term “pastor” is used is found in Ephesians 4:11 and all other times the term is found to be synonymous with the term “shepherd”. Because a shepherd and elder have the exact same function, which is to be the one that is in authority over the church and oversee it we can see that all elders are pastors, and all pastors are elders. There is no difference. They both are to teach, they both are to lead the congregation, they are both to shepherd the flock of God. To separate the two would seem to confuse the terms and how it was used in the OT imagery for the NT. Further, they are used synonymously in the NT:

Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Acts 20:28

The term “overseer” in this verse is given the same definition of an elder or bishop of a church. They are to watch over the church, they are to shepherd the flock of God that has been entrusted to them. You can also see the same usage of terms when you read the qualifications and interchangeability of each in Titus 1:5-9. The point being though is that they have been entrusted with the flock of God and should point to the greatest Shepherd and his leadership as found in 1 Peter 2:25

For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.
1 Peter 2:25

This puts shepherd/pastor, guardian/overseer and elder in the same breath, making them synonymous. So, there is really no difference between an overseer, elder, shepherd or pastor.

We do the same thing to show that Christ is God.

…by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ:
2 Peter 1:1

We use this verse to show that the person who is both God and Saviour is Jesus Christ. So, when we see that shepherd and overseer are used in the same fashion, we can see that
they are just different words to complete the picture of the one that is leading the church of Christ.

Another example. If one were to describe myself, they could say that I am a father, son, husband, brother and friend. These all give more insight to who I am as a person on this earth, but I remain the same person. With the Scriptures, it gives different names to describe the same person so one can know more clearly what this person of the church is called to do.

I don’t see any reason to separate the office of overseer, elder, pastor or shepherd. This is a very short argument, so it is really to open up the study of the positions, not convince those in opposition.

If you want to see why I do not believe a woman should be in any of these positions, you can read the following post on that topic. Tomorrow we’ll continue with this and we will define what a deacon is and also try and answer what a church means by “director” when they use it for the term “Youth Director” or “Mission’s Director” and such. Then, in the end I will answer the question, “Would I attend a church who had a woman pastor on staff?”

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