The Uniting Church Unites Nothing!

I'm here in the land down under where the current weekly church population is about 2% of the people. The Aussies are wonderful, hospitable people, but not much for the divine institution. I guess I can't really blame them since many of their mainline churches have opted out of church planting and the gospel, and have chosen to be "Affirming" (Pro Gay) and "Uniting" (Pretty much pro anything), and have tossed away the only redeeming message the church has to offer. This is their response to a culture who has shunned the institution called church. Sounds on the outset like an attempt to reach the marginalized, but it is quite evident that the uniting church has no interest in uniting those that hold to the biblical story of God. I'm all for a good 'ole tweaking of the machine, but mitigating the only thing that makes going to church worth it; Jesus, has neutered it's affect on a culture already skeptical of "Church." They have also alienated many young men who desire to see the gospel of Jesus Christ move into the cities of Oz, and are told that they are "personna non grata." It is no wonder that so many of their beautiful churches have been turned into cafes, and art museums.

It is a reminder that our contextualization always needs to include contending well for the faith, and that religion never saves anyone, but unfortunately many of our own mainline and "Fundamentalist" churches are falling into the same irrelevant condition because they too have attached so much religion and false dogma on to the gospel , mitigating its message and creating a dull theology that no longer moves us to love God and others, which should be the aim of any Christian theology (Matthew 22:37-39). No wonder church attendance has dropped from 64% to 46% in the last 30 years in America, we have become irrelevant and are content to grow churches, but fail to grow the kingdom of God by moving outside of our institutions and engage our culture with the Love of Jesus, and the message that He alone redeems us from the miry clay of our brokenness and sin.

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Not Everyone is Like You...Deal With It

Why is it that we know theologically certain subjects, but in our lives we look like that we have never even read the passage that deals with our practical ignorance? We do this as we worry about things too much even though we believe in God's sovereignty. We do this when we know people will sin against us, yet get angry when they do. We know that we should forgive people when they sin against us, but we usually like to make them run through the gauntlett of shame and "anger stares" first. This list could go on and on, but recently I have been really sinning in this area pretty badly and I just look at myself and see what an idiot I truly am. Now, God tells me I am an idiot, so I should know this, and I shouldn't be surprised, but I am. I am like a little kid that plays with the jack in the box and jumps everytime that ugly clown comes out of his terribly annoying music box.

God must laugh at me...a lot. We sit and watch Seinfeld and The Office when we want a laugh, but the angels Tivo Seth and continue to watch me and my foolish reactions when they are having a bad day.

Anyway, the most recent way that I have been providing good material for the angels that do stand up in heaven, is my thoughts on people who are different than me in the church.

I am definitely a weirdo in my church, which I can see clearly. Whether it is my tattoos, the puffing on a cigar or pipe every once and a while, the love of the urban lifestyle (my church is next to horse farms), non-republican (or democrat), the love of secular music, or just the outright "in your face" leadership that I posses. I am just different than most people in my church. My mom teaches at a jail for kids and so we would go into the most dangerous hoods in the Seattle/Tacoma area to visit them after they got out. I am used to hanging with the most dangerous people in the state, and having no issue just chilling with them. I also have many friends who are atheists and liberal, worked and had fun with many people who were inner city and homeless and also homosexual. This has been my life and I love to be in contact and have so many different friends that always challenge me in my beliefs and convictions. Being where I live now, this isn't the case as much now, which really sucks, but I am dealing with it.

Also, my gifts are different than most in the church. I do a lot of teaching and writing in the church and love to talk to people in general about their beliefs in theology and also in Christianity in general. I love to challenge people to question honestly what they believe and why, and to test it against what the Scriptures teach.

What I have found because of this is that I don't understand why everyone isn't like me. Why not? I know, I am that stupid. I feel like "Which One of These Kids is Doin' His Own Thing?" from Sesame Street. Paul tells us that this is going to be true in the church:

For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. If they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body.
1 Corinthians 12:14-20

So, Paul tells me this, and yet practically I live like everyone should be just like me. I get mad when people don't think like me, I get mad when people don't want to serve in the places I desire to serve and I think I am more mature because of this. When I do this, when you do this, you will be miserable. You will not see the grace in people, but their flaws. You will disregard any huge plank you might have in your eye and see the speck in your brother's eye.

The body has been given to us, notice by who? The body is given to us specifically by the desire of God! So, if I decide that I am important and the others are just taking up valuable space for all the visitors banging down our doors on Sunday to come in, then I am missing the point of the body. They are probably different from me so we don't look like a bar room fight every week. I couldn't imagine a church filled with morons like me, thinking the way that I do.

I need to work on my practical understanding of the church and its members. I shouldn't disregard theological error or laziness disguised as "waiting on the Lord." But, I should be longsuffering and be willing to bear one another's burdens. I feel bad that my church members have to bear with me, because I don't just have burdens, but I am one. The more I realize this, the more I will see the grace that God has shown for those in my church.

Oh, and you want to know which part of the body I am?

Look to Genesis 49:14 out of the King James. You could just insert my name instead of Issachar :)

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5 Guarantees by the Church

This past week I got another really lame flyer in the mail about how the Bible and the church is all about me and how I am destined for greatness. As I was throwing up, I noticed that on the back, under the late 30-something pastor in clothing from Abercrombie and Fitch, that this "church" had five guarantees to the visitor if they would come to their church. At some point I feel like these guys are used car salesmen, "What do I have to do to get you in our church today?" Funny, yet sad, one church in our area was handing out gas cards if they would just come to the church. Then, on my way to work the other day, I saw a huge sign on a Honda dealership promising free gas with a new car purchase.

This whole flyer never mentions the name of Jesus and the only time that they mention God is when they say, "Your kids will learn about God's love!" Yet they have the gall to name themselves with the name "Christian" in the title.

Here are the five guarantees of this "church":

1. A Casual & Relaxed Atmosphere!
2. The Music will be Contemporary!
3. The Kids Will Love it!
4. You are our Guest! You will be Welcomed and Accepted!
5. The Talk will be Positive & Encouraging!


Yes, they did actually put exclamation points at the end of each point like a guy with a bullhorn at the circus. This two page car ad, I mean church ad, had 18 exclamation points! Didn't they watch Seinfeld? Too many exclamation points is just overkill. But, look at what they are promising. They promise nothing about Jesus. They promise nothing about God. They promise what you would expect from a dinner and a show, not a church whose focus is on the blood of Christ and the redemption of a sinful people. When are we going to understand that the church is not about the glorification of people but of glorification of God? Plus, what if my kid hated it? What if someone doesn't say hello? What if the pastors talk isn't encouraging because I am looking for hope because my wife just got cancer? What if I don't like the Dove Award winners being sung in church? Not only are these guarantees completely people oriented but they are empty and cannot be guaranteed to everyone that gets this ad in the mail.

What had me thinking is, what would my church guarantee if we were to send out this type of postcard? What would your church guarantee if you were to send out this type of postcard? Here are my five guarantees to anyone who wants to visit our church:

1. God will be glorified
2. The Word of God will be preached
3. The proclamation of the Gospel will be heralded
4. You will know that you are a sinner in need of salvation
5. We will show you the hope found only in Christ

Every week that you come to our church these five will be shown in every area of our ministries. From Sunday school, to children's church, to worship in song, to worship in the word, to fellowship and to the corporate worship, these five are promised week in and week out.

Is this a casual and relaxed atmosphere? Sometimes. But, sometimes those who are in sin and hear about judgment might not be so relaxed until they here about the hope in Jesus. Is the music contemporary? Sometimes. More importantly our music is Christ focused and God honoring. Will your kids love it? I don't know. Probably depends on how you prepare them for worship on Sundays. Do you prepare your kid to be entertained the entire time? Then they probably won't like it. Do you prepare your child that the Lord's Day is about learning about Jesus? Then that will be accomplished. Are you our guest? Are you welcomed and accepted? Sure. Are we going to change our service to make it all about you? No, that is idolatry. Our church is about glorifying Christ, not the sinner. Will the talk be positive and encouraging? Maybe. Sometimes I walk out of our service wondering why Jesus loves me. I see my sin, see my struggles, but I am always encouraged because of the hope found in Christ.

I get frustrated everytime I get one of these in the mail that focuses so much on people instead of on God and Jesus Christ. The church is for the glory of Christ, not the glory of man. It disturbs me to see that these churches will do anything to get people to come in the doors. It also causes me to examine myself to make sure that I am doing everything that I can do to leave the doors of the church and proclaim the word of Christ to my neighbors and to encourage them to join us in worship.

So, what are the five guarantees of your church?

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Bethel Baptist Church

Ok, so I've been pretty slammed this week, and today looks about the same. But I didn't want to miss two days of posting (take it easy, Seth). Knowing that the next installment of the Systematic Theology is going to take a bit of time to do it right, I wanted to highlight a friend of mine who is a Pastor in Delaware at Bethel Baptist Church. Clay and I attended church together for a few years in Issaquah, Wa. I also had the privelege of attending some seminary classes with him in Southern California. He is a godly man who loves the word of God. Check him out:

Bethel Baptist Church

As an interesting side note, I noticed that Tony Capoccia recently spoke at their church. He heads up the Bible Bulletin Board site.

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