A Gathering Force

Is there any logic in believing that God started His Church as a Spirit-filled, loving body with the intention that it would evolve into entertaining, hour-long services? Was he hoping that one day people would be attracted to the Church not because they care for one another, not because they are devoted to Him, not because the supernatural occurs in their midst, but because of good music and entertainment?

Try to imagine what conclusions you would come to if you had no prior church experience. The things in church services might make sense to the American church-attendee, but they don't make sense biblically.

Picture yourself on an island with only a Bible. You've never been to a church-you've never even heard of one. The only ideas you have about church are what you've read in your Bible. Then you enter a building labeled "church" for the first time. What would you expect to experience as you entered that building? Now compare that to what you actually experience when you attend church.

GANG RELATED
A while back, an ex-gang member got baptized at our church. He fell in love with Jesus and turned from his old lifestyle. But after several months at the church, he stopped attending. When we asked him why he stopped attending, he answered: "I had the wrong idea of what church was going to be like. When I joined the church, I thought it was going to be like joining a gang. You see, in the gangs we weren't just nice to each other once a week-we were family."

That killed me because I knew that what he expected is what the church was intended to be. It saddened me because I realized that the gangs paint a better picture of loyalty and family than the local church body does.

But what if the church looked like this?

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

That describes what the ex-gang member was looking for. It describes what the world is waiting for. I used to look at this passage as something that was wonderful but could never happen in the twenty-first century. There are just too many cultural obstacles for the Holy Spirit to overcome. He is powerful enough to raise the dead, but not powerful enough to form a sharing and loving body in our individualistic society. I doubted God's ability to stir a body of believers to love tirelessly and give without restraint. I reasoned that this type of fellowship was probably not intended for our time. Besides, we don't have time to love like this.

Looking back, I wonder if I came to those conclusions because there was a part of me that wasn't sure I wanted it. It's interesting how much our theology is driven by desire.

There came a point where the elders at our church concluded that there was no reason why God wouldn't want the church to look like it did in the beginning. From there we reasoned that if God wants that, then we want it too. But the exciting part came when we resolved not to settle for anything less. We would pursue this for His Church regardless of how many would be turned off and move to other churches. If this is God's standard, then we will one day give an account for how we led His people toward the biblical model.

But where do we go from here? The hard part is answering the question of how. There are probably many who want our churches to function like the early church, but how do we get there?

START WITH WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL
In other words, start with yourself. It's wrong to blame others for the condition of the Church. And it's silly for leaders to blame followers. God wasn't satisfied when Adam blamed Eve or when Eve blamed the serpent.

Our elders started with what we could control. We can't control other people. We can't make the congregation "break bread in their homes" or "sell their possessions." We also can't control God. We can't make Him do "wonders and miraculous signs" through us. I can, however, sell my possessions as people have needs. I do have control over that, so that became the first logical step. As we do our part, we trust God to bring about the "awe" and "wonders" in His time.

It was a beautiful time of sharing as our elders laid "everything" at each others' feet. We surrendered the keys to our cars, homes, and bank accounts. I actually believed the elders who looked me in the eyes and said, "What's mine is yours. If anything ever happens to you, I will support and care for your kids as much as I would care for my own. I will be your life insurance." And because they had a history of genuine sacrifice for the sake of the gospel, I trusted what they said. From there, we began going to some of our friends in the congregation and expressing our commitment to them (something anyone can do).

And now this mentality is spreading. New life is permeating the church as individuals are backing up their words with sacrifice. Cars and homes are being sold or given away. Expensive vacations are joyfully replaced with spending on others. People are being taken into homes-not only for meals, but to live. It's still the beginning of the process, and most people probably still come for the teaching or the music, but there's a growing number at our church who are coming to be with their church family and they don't care about who's teaching or leading music.

THERE MUST BE MORE
Something real was happing in the early Church. It was something of the Spirit, too powerful to be replicated by human effort. Imagine taking a friend to one of their church gatherings. Your friend might not experience a smoothly run, professional service. But one thing he would experience: God. Do we even need to ask which is better? So much of church growth today has nothing to do with the Holy Spirit. The right team of talented people can make any church grow. When people sit through creative services, is it really God they're experiencing?

Don't get me wrong: I'm not saying that we shouldn't give our best to God. If you're a musician, work diligently at your music. If you're a teacher, labor intensely over your messages. I'm just asking you to be willing to rethink what you're doing and ask: How can we create a more biblical environment where people see and experience God?

I'm reminded of the story of Gideon in Judges 7. God tells Gideon, "You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her, announce now to the people, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.' So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained." (Judges 7:2-3)

If you remember the story, God then reduced the army to 300 soldiers. God did not just defeat the Midianites-He was careful to do it in a way that gave Him all the glory. He did not want to allow Israel to boast "that her own strength has saved her."

May people see our churches and know that mere human beings could not have created what they experienced. May we seek the priorities of the early church and trust God to once again produce the fruit of the early Church.

"And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:47)

 

5 Comments »

1. I’m tracking with you, Francis. I’ve been pastoring a small body in the North Georgia mountains and have managed to maintain that church-start feel for…eight years.  We’ve had great music and, some would say, good teaching, and we’ve moved some people into an experience of community, but there’s always been this thing in my gut that we were missing out on something Father wanted to do among us when we were together.  So, on December 14, we laid out the page we wanted to be on, moving away from providing Sunday services to having more of a family gathering.  We’ve taken our hands off the controls in some ways and are looking for others.  We’re creating space for people to interrupt, ask questions, offer insights, share needs, pray for one another, give testimony, and speak truth into one another’s lives as the Spirit prompts.  You can’t get in and out in an hour, but there’s so much love, so much intimacy, so much anticipation, people don’t seem to mind.  I’m beginning to get a taste of what I’ve always suspected was available, but never had the guts to let go enough to find out.  How sweet it is!

   Comment by Tim Harrison - Jan 15, 2009 @ 09:46 AM

2. I help Pastor a church my parents started in Mid-Ga over 17 years ago. My father died of cancer at age 51 in 2005. We have a new senior pastor and he and I both have been feeling the Spirit of God move in our hearts the same way as described in “A Gathering Force”. My family is from a Nazarene background and our senior pastor is pentecostal. God has brought us together forcing us back to His word to challenge what we both believe. The Spirit of God has brought harmony and a mind-of-Christ like we have never experienced before. We are going to have a new approach to our Sunday morning worship service on Sun. Jan 25, 2009 called “God Link” where we hope to facilitate an atmosphere of freedom for the Spirit of God to work through us as we will address questions submitted by our congregation from the Word. We will have the bible on hand (of course) and a laptop for quick bible search with e-sword.com software. I ask for your prayers in this fresh leading of God for our congregation to help them connect the Word with their daily lives.

   Comment by BryanG - Jan 15, 2009 @ 12:20 PM

3. Not logical at all.  Nor is it at all Biblical!  With the theological brainiacs and biblical scholars that can be found in every church on the block, and with the spread of information unlike any time in all of history - is it not absolutely mind boggling how the enemy has so deceived the body in America and most all of the modern church into a completely unbiblical practice of body life?  Self proclaiming biblical scholars ordained by and praised by other self proclaimed biblical scholars are a dime a dozen, and yet they most all seem to miss the absolute simplicity of the gospel and the amazing blessing of community and body life Jesus provided with his death/resurrection and the sending of Holy Spirit to us!  I so long for the body in all its fullness with Christ as our head.  Thank you for your important words.  May God fill you with the Spirit continually!

   Comment by ScottGiet - Jan 15, 2009 @ 01:20 PM

4. The church in North America is dying.  This is according to Tom Rainer in an article, which originally appeared in The Rainer Report newsletter.  Rainer, an astute observer of the church growth scene, noted that by the year 2010, 50,000 American churches would close.  Others report that pastors leave their parishes at a rate 1200-1600 per month.  In some denominations, one third of pastors resign within three to five years after seminary graduation, another one third before retirement, leaving only one third to complete an entire career in Christian ministry.  Pastors leave churches for a variety of reasons and churches who are taking the beating are frantically scrambling around in order to find a pastor who will make a long-term commitment, as well as with whom the church board and congregation are happy.

   With this in mind, the church board convenes in order to put a search committee together.  This committee is charged with the responsibility of finding someone who can do the job - a pastor with the right personality and good communication skills that will bring life back into the church.  The tragedy is that the search committee, in many cases, does not have the experience to do so.  Mark Lauterbach writes, “Search committees … are not usually populated by people with past experience.  Most are not skilled in hiring, but must serve as human resources directors.  They are not theologians, but will ask theological questions.  They do not run a church, but have to evaluate someone for their ability to do so.  They usually operate on the basis of what they ‘like’ and ‘do not like.’”  In addition, the likes and dislikes of the congregation play a role as well.  Search Committees try to find this out by distributing questionnaires among the congregation members in order to establish what the congregation would like to see in a prospective pastor.  Moreover, as it sometimes happens, when the likes disappear, or when the performance of the pastor does not meet expectations, the search committee takes the blame, the pastor becomes dispensable, and the process begins all over again. 

   Search committee members mean well.  They try to please the congregation as much as possible out of fear for possible criticism.  To try to please everybody is not possible. When people try to, they normally do it out of their own need for approval or they do it not to look bad in the eyes of others.  With this in mind the Search Committee spend time in prayer and ask the Lord for wisdom.  Sadly, this is where it stops.  Of people who “sincerely” want to do the Lord’s work the Lord’s way, Nancy Pearcey writes, “They give cognitive assent to the great truths of Scripture, but they make their practical, day-to-day decisions based only on what they can see, hear, measure, and calculate.  When confessing their religious beliefs, they sit in the supernaturalist’s chair.  But in ordinary life, they walk over and sit in the naturalist’s chair, living as though the supernatural were not real in any practical sense, relying on their own energy, talent, and strategic calculations.  They may sincerely want to do the Lord’s work, but they do it in the world’s way - using worldly methods and motivated by worldly desires for success and acclaim.”  Where is God in what we do if we use the same “guaranteed” methods to evaluate a prospective pastor like any secular organization would who evaluates a candidate for a certain job position?  Questionnaires, written and audio sermon evaluations, previous work experience evaluations, recommendations from supervisors, etc.  How does relying on these secular methods persuade a watching world that God is at work in a church?  J.I. Packer says that churches are being ruined by their attempts to “play catch-up with the culture” by adopting whatever “is the in-thing.”  We are to catch up with the business world if we are to make a success of our church.  How sad to see this same modus operandi in the working methods of Search Committees. 

   Search committees normally look at what works for other churches.  They look at people like Joel Osteen and other charismatic preachers on TV who have big churches full of people, and say to themselves, “This is what we need.  If we package the gospel correctly, have the right kind of worship service, and have a person with the right personality and pulpit appearance, people will be drawn to the church in great numbers and be saved.” This whole entertainment approach to the church corrupts Christianity and caters to the lusts of the flesh that are part of the very essence of this world’s system (1 John. 2:15- 17).  We have a society filled with people who want what they want when they want it.  Recreation and entertainment dominate our society today.  When churches appeal to the selfish desires of people, who are mostly interested in recreation and entertainment, they only fuel fires that hinder true godliness.  The result of this approach is that our churches breed a shallow brand of Christianity where taking up one’s cross, and living in the right kind of relationship with God and our neighbor, is optional, or indeed, even unseemly.

   This entertainment idea of doing pulpit ministry has unfortunately also blown over to our seminaries.  Professors of homiletics encourage this idea.  In an article from a leading seminary magazine, a professor of preaching writes as follows, “We have a new lead pastor at our church and we couldn’t be happier. Yesterday, the pastor (name omitted) offered us a dramatic recitation of the entire book of Philippians, from memory!  The pastor’s (name omitted) presentation was masterful.  He began, early in the service, with a brief setup to the book, helping us appreciate its broad themes.  Later in the service, he actually recited the book.  He was dressed in ordinary casual clothing.  His only prop was a heavy chain.  His presentation was deeply felt, communicating with conviction, enthusiasm, and sensitivity.  Like an actor, he made the ideas in the Scripture come alive for everyone present (italics mine)”

   I listened to the on-line presentation and it was masterful indeed.  To recite Scripture from memory is a good model for the way we should harbor the Word of God in our hearts.  I also believe that we need to be innovative and creative in the way we present the gospel, as long as we validate our methods with the profound spiritual truth we are trying to convey.  However, what happens when the preacher is no longer entertaining?  Does he become dispensable?  Will his message have the same impact?  Furthermore, will this entertainment preaching draw the numbers?  It will, for a while, but as Ecclesiastes will attest, even noble work at the expense of relationships proves meaningless.  Research has revealed that no matter how innovative worship services, or how attractive church programs, if there is no relationship development that is nourishing and fulfilling, people lose their interest after a maximum period of approximately six weeks.  These people leave the church disillusioned, and disappointed, and some lose their interest in Christianity completely.  Clever approaches or high profiled personalities in the pulpits to get people to come to church will work only for a short while.  What works better, in making people feel at home in a church, are right relationships.  Preaching the truth, planting the seed, and being involved in a ministry of genuine care, where people feel they are being considered of worth is the type of ministry that God is expecting from us.  God is not into religion.  He is into relationships.  That is, he not only wants us to have a close, loving, warm and intimate relationship with himself but also with each other. 

   Search committees rather need to look for the quality of leadership in their potential pastors that will foster relationships and not be blinded by what they see from dramatic preachers.  Christianity is all about relationships after all.  Pearcey attests, “If you want to know what a Christian leader is really like, don’t ask his peers or board members or adoring fans.  Ask how he treats his support staff.  That is a lesson Jerram Barrs presses upon seminary students at the Francis Schaeffer Institute at Covenant Seminary.  ‘When I come to visit your church someday, I will not ask people about what a great preacher or leader you are,’ Barrs says. ‘Rather I will talk to the secretaries, the office staff, the janitors and cleaners and ask them what it is like to work with you. That will tell me far more about the kind of ministry taking place in the church, and whether you are the kind of leader Christ desires for His Church.’”  The pastor’s relationship with the members of his congregation is also of vital importance in determining his spiritual leadership qualities.  It is amazing to see how a congregation follows their pastor in his behavioral patterns.  If he is caring and compassionate, they will be too.  If he is a people’s person, they will be too.  The relational dimension of a church is what makes people from outside the church interested in joining. 

   Moses was definitely not the people’s choice, neither was Paul, and so were many other leaders in the Bible.  God chooses his own people to do his work, however foolish and unentertaining they might look to the “wise.”  “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong” (1 Cor. 2: 27).  Jesus did not ask us to build his church for him, he said, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matt. 16:18)  We however must line ourselves up with his agenda and his choice of people for his church.  To do this, prayer must be of utmost importance.

   When visiting a new destination one will not easily find one’s way around without the help of someone who has been there.  This is also true in the spiritual realm and in church work.  For us to get our directions from God, we must be there in his presence in prayer.  The unseen world must be for us just as great a reality as the seen world.  “Being with” Jesus in prayer is what empowered the twelve apostles to make the bold decisions they did and to be effective in their use by the Lord.  For God to make His will known to us and give us directions, we need to be in His presence, live in His presence, and remain in His presence in prayer and not only use him as a 911 call whenever we need a quick solution from him.  But, do we still believe that the God who did miracles in Moses’ time is the same God we worship today?  The following story speaks for itself.

   According to an article in The Recorder, “A 19-year-old girl by the name of Khun Paot, escaped the Khmer Rouge rule in Cambodia after an arduous journey with 100 others through miles of jungle, canals, mountains, and rivers.  Standing between them and freedom were communist soldiers, the elements, and a stretch of jungle ground covered with thorns.  Most of the escapees were barefoot or wore flimsy thongs.
   A midnight-like darkness hampered the struggling group as it crossed a valley between two high mountain ranges. ‘We could see absolutely nothing,’ Paot later told a missionary, Maxine Stewart.  ‘We didn’t even know where to step.’  Suddenly hundreds of fireflies swarmed into view.  Their glow made enough light for the people to see the path.  The refugees reached the next mountain by firefly light, said Mrs. Stewart.
   After Paot was transferred to Kham Put refugee camp, she was invited to a Christian meeting.  ‘I know that old man,’ she exclaimed at a picture on the wall of the chapel.  ‘He is the one who led us and showed us the way to Thailand and freedom.’  She was pointing to a picture of Jesus.”
   This is a hard one for members of the church to swallow.  We would rather come up with all kinds of excuses to explain why this could not be the modus operandi in the day-to-day running of a church.  The overarching reasoning would be that we have to use the gifts that God has given us.  “No wonder outsiders see little in the church that cannot be explained by ordinary sociological forces and principles of business management.  And no wonder they find our message unconvincing.”
   A good preacher is a great gift to a church, but the question remains, “What makes a pastor the kind of leader Christ desires for His Church?” Furthermore, what kind of ministries does God have in mind for a particular church?  How does the potential pastor “fit” into God’s plans?  We simply do not have the answer to these questions no matter how well we do our evaluations.  Therefore, we need to let the choice of God’s man for God’s work be someone that cannot be explained from the naturalist chair.  Allow God to do his work in a miraculous way.  We however should remain in his presence through prayer.  God knows people and he knows whom he wants for a particular church.  The Lord promises in his word, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” (remaining in his presence through prayer.) (Jer. 29:13).  Let search committees afterwards say, “We cannot explain this.  This must be the work of God.”  If we are not relying on our own wisdom, we will find direction and we will find the right person that God desires for his church if we completely trust Him to show us. (Prov. 3:5).  The God of Moses is indeed the same God we worship today.

   Mart Griesel is a graduate from Regent College.

   Comment by Mart - Jan 15, 2009 @ 03:22 PM

5. Thanks for the thoughts on church. Francis - I love your heart and sincere love (and slight dissatisfaction) with the church. I heard you speak back at the NYWC in Nashville and have been a fan ever since. Keep doing what you’re doing.

   Btw, noticed a typo - “happing” under the “THERE MUST BE MORE” section header.

   Comment by Jeff Goins - Jan 19, 2009 @ 10:30 AM

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