Pillars are Just Crutches

An insightful, subtle piece of satire about the lure of false teachers and why those teachings will eventually fall by the wayside.

I’m reading an amazing book by Eugene Peterson entitled, “The Contemplative Pastor”.  I would suggest that anyone even thinking about going into pastoral ministry read this book.  It’s quite thought-provoking and profound.  Here’s a bit that I appreciated about evangelism (page 79).

The witness points, mute, so as not to interfere with the sound of silence … [Witness] is an important biblical word in frequent contemporary use.  It is a modest word saying what is there, honestly testifying to exactly what we see, what we hear.  But when we enlist in a cause, it is almost impossible to do it right: we embellish, we fill in the blanks, we varnish the dull passages, we gild the lily just a little to hold the attention of our auditors … important things are at stake – God, salvation – and we want so much to involve outsiders in these awesome realities that we leave the humble ground of witness and use our words to influence and motivate, to advertise and publicize.  Then we are no longer witnesses, but lawyers arguing the case, not always with scrupulous attention to detail.  After all, life and death issues are before the jury.

Another quote along the lines of quietness and silence is a quote that I have on my Facebook page which is attributed to A.W. Tozer:

Man has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity, and bluster make a man dear to God

There is a good article on small group myths that I think hits the nail on the head on why small groups don’t really work.  At the beginning however he gives some reasons why small groups in North America are easier said than done:

1. We have few role models, at least in our own culture.

2. The literature on the subject has promoted the idea without offering practical methods.

3. The American concept of home privacy causes such ministries to develop more slowly here than in some countries.

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Back for another year of college!  This semester I only have 3 classes, which means that I am a part time student, which means that a lot of the mandatory things that full-time students have to attend, I can skip out on.  Which I like!

I’m eager to get this all done with, I started my college journey in ‘99 so I’m finishing it 10 years after starting, ouch.  The break in the middle ate up more time than I had originally expected, but hey, life throws curve-balls sometimes.

I’m stoked about the classes that I’m taking this year!  One is Planting Churches and the other is Greek.  I’m excited about Planting Churches because hopefully that’s the direction that I would like to move in after college, and I’m excited about Greek because I would like to get my Masters and I need that language in order to do so.  I’m not too good at the language thing so hopefully doing this while I’m just part time will help me.

At the same time I need to find a job.  blah.  I don’t mind working.  In fact I consider myself a rather hard worker, however the thought of finding a job is akin (for me) to begging.  It’s like making a cold sale, I just don’t like the feeling.  So I have to think about what I want to do, find positions, revamp my resume, and go out.

So that’s where life is heading right now.

I talked about leaders being accountable for the people they disciple before just as the Mike Guglielmucci story was breaking and so as time has past and the leaders have been given there time to speak it’s become clear that what is happening with Mike is the same thing that continues to happen in Christendom, leaders are not being accountable for what their disciples say and do.
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Community has gotten a bad wrap in the last 30 years.  It was all the rave in the hippie movement, YWAM picked it up and has been using it dogmatically since.  Then Jonestown happened and community has never really been looked at the same.

On a side note, PBS did a fantastic documentary on Jonestown which I would encourage anyone to watch!

Our society doesn’t really allow for community to be done in the Jonestown sense, or (unless you’re a deliberate mission organization) in the YWAM sense either.  But still, there is something that is supposed to be communal about the church.  I’m not saying that we should all sell our properties and move at a discrete location together but I think that the church is on the other end of the fence, we’re too private.
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Last time we discussed that churches were for Christians, and we also discussed why breaking away from that (biblical) ideal was a dangerous move for any church.  It produces something that the world has lots of, shallow Christians, the church should be working on digging deeper Christians.

I think Acts 2:42-47 gives us a good idea of what church is for:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers … all who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.  Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people.  And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

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I am in the middle of reading another book by Henri Nouwen.  This one is entitled, “The Wounded Healer”.  Although the book has it ups and downs there are some really insightful moments in the book.  In one part, I have never read anyone articulate the need and dangers of formal ministry training so well.  He says:

More training and structure are just as necessary as more bread for the hungry.  But just as bread given without love can bring war instead of peace, professionalism without compassion will turn forgiveness into a gimmick, and the kingdom to come into a blindfold.

Then he goes on to describe exactly what I use to be like:

The man who does not know where he is going or what kind of world he is heading toward, who wonders if bringing forth children in this chaotic world is not an act cruelty rather than love, will often be tempted to become sarcastic or even cynical.  He laughs at his busy friends, but offes nothing in place of their activity.  He protests against many things, but does not know what to witness for.

I have found that the book is quite good at explaining the human condition still, even though it was written over 30 years ago.  Nouwen, to a large degree, manages to look past culture and talk about man.

I would recommend anyone in ministry or thinking about ministry to pick up this book.  If you can make your way past the first chapter the rest is quite insightful.

There is a new blog that’s asking people to rant on why they hate church … which is pretty fun and exciting … except the blog is being done by a church … which kind of makes me think it’s an attempt at some sort of sermon illustration … which isn’t as fun …

anyways …

If you’re dieing to live through all that hurt and pain again to tell them your story go here.  I did!

In thinking about Church (I mean the local church, unless I state otherwise) the obvious question – for me, at least – that needs to be settled first is, “Who is church for?”

If this seems like a dumb question to you, that’s because it is.  But it’s evident that a lot of churches are not asking themselves the question when they consider major church decisions.  And your audience is always the first thing that should be considered!

Who is Church for?  Christians. (Well, technically God, but we’ll get to that)

Is it a place where seeking people can find God, Yes.  Is that it’s purpose, No.

Is it a place where people can bring their unsaved friends, of course.  Is that it’s purpose, No.

Is it a place where everyone should feel comfortable, No.

I would challenge anyone to find a Biblical passage that indicates the church is for non-Christians.  The only verses I’ve found are ones that indicate if a non-Christian happens to be in the building (1 Corinthians), it’s always the exception, never the rule.

We are preoccupied with this idea that EVERYONE should be comfortable in church and that it should apply to non-Christians as much as Christians.  But what does it say about the churches answer to ‘Who is church for?’ when they start having church services that are primarily aimed at, not spiritual growth but making sure that non-Christians feel welcome.

I think this is incredibly damaging to the Church for a number of reasons:

1. It leads to ‘Fat’ Christians.  For some reason Christians come to church and take.  They take and take and take and don’t give anything.  They are not disciplined in their spiritual lives and therefore become spiritually lazy and fat.  But, lots of Christians do not know how to become fit because the messages are always tailored to trying to get people interested in fitness, not fitness itself.

It’s like I told my wife (who loves working out and the gym), I’d go to a gym, but once I get there I would not know what to do, how much to do and where to do it.  A lot of Christians suffer from the same ignorance because the pastor is a recruiter, not a trainer.

2. Although church is for Christian in a worldly sense, in another sense it’s not for Christians at all, it’s for God.  There is something about taking church away from Christians and giving it to non-Christians that makes it about the individual and not about God.  I don’t know if you’ve noticed.  Sermons aren’t about God, Worship song aren’t really about God anymore the focus has shifted, largely due to the Churches focus shift from Christians to non-Christians.

3. It has created the Celebrity Pastor.  You may think it’s not the case, but if point 1 and 2 are true I think point 3 has to be true as well.  The Christians aren’t disciplined, don’t know how to read their Bible, pray, or fast so all of their insights have to come from the pastor.  Therefore, the pastor is held in esteem because the Church was never shown any other way.

I’ve heard the defense before too: “Well, my church is ’seeker sensitive’ but they do bible study on Wednesday nights”

My question is always, “Oh, how do you like those?” – I’ve only met one person who has actually gone.

I wonder how well those services would do if the roles were switched.  So on Sunday the pastor has a bible study with the congregation and on Wednesday it’s ‘bring your friends day’.  I’m betting both would fail (in the worldly sense) miserably – at least in the short term.  Here’s why.  A lot of the congregation would leave either because a) they are being convicted (real Bible teaching will do that) OR b) it’s not about them anymore.

Very few would show up to the Wednesday nights because – very few showed up in the first place and those that did were interested in the Bible, not bringing their friends somewhere they probably didn’t want to go.