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December 30, 2007

What does an effective church look like?

A while back, I posted on this site a rant, complaining about the state of American Christianity.

The rant, I am happy to say, drew several comments—nice to know someone reads these things—and some questions. So I feel compelled to write a follow up, though this will not be a rant.

There is a question about a church being the church in contemporary American culture. How can a church make a real difference where they are? And why do most churches make no difference in anything?

Question: If your church closed its doors tonight, would the people in your area know or care?

Here are some thoughts. First, many Christians can tell you the New Testament Greek word for church is ekklesia. It means, they will say, a called out or set apart people. And they’re almost right. But there’s the problem. An ekklesia was not just people called out from the population, but a called-out people with a purpose. They were called out for a specific reason. We might say they were on a mission.

Too many churches have a purpose or mission, but one that’s the wrong one. They exist for their own sake, for the convenience and comfort of their members, but not for the community in which they live. A church that exists for its own sake is an unbiblical church, and one that serves no purpose. It is collective selfishness.

Let’s look at some scripture. That’s there we derive our purpose, individually and corporately. We’ll begin where most Christians never go: Genesis.

First, when God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a purpose. They had a mission in life and a job to do. Be fruitful and multiply. Subdue the earth. Take care of the garden. Don’t eat of the fruit of a specific tree.

It wasn’t complicated, actually: Make babies and run the world, making it better. They were sort of putting the finishing touches on God’s creative work. They were to grow in numbers, and be God’s representatives on this earth, managing and protecting it for him. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say their task was to expand the Garden of Eden to cover the entire earth. They didn’t do well.

But what about the New Testament? Well, it’s there too, so let’s look at a couple examples. First, in John 20, Jesus told his followers, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” He sends us into the world with the same task, the same power, and some of the same authority, to make God real to those we encounter.

Then, Paul makes it even more clear in II Corinthians 5: Jesus has chosen us to represent Him. He has given us the good news of reconciliation, and is, as it were, making his appeal to the world through us. In short, we represent Jesus in our world.

But here's a problem: most people in the typical church aren’t interested. They don’t want to hear about representing God. They have no interest in evangelism. They are comfortable where they are, and don’t want to be disturbed.

Why is this? Leadership. It’s a rule that any group reflects its leadership. Very few exceptions. If the leadership of a church is not focused on a mission, the people will reflect that. Selfish leaders bring selfish followers. If the leadership is passionate about the missio dei—God’s mission—and implementing that in our world, the people will reflect that.

So one requirement is focused, missional leaders. But there’s something else that characterizes an effective church. Such churches have a high view of scripture, passionately and effectively teaching the Bible, and they have an expectation of the present activity and work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the people.

Clearly, a church that ignores Scripture cannot be a biblical church. But it is equally true that a church that ignores the Holy Spirit will do no better. It is through the Spirit that God works in and through us. It is through the Spirit we have a "personal relationship with Christ."

If we join the mass of Christians who accept the common definition of the person and work of the Holy Spirit that makes Him utterly irrelevant in the lives of the people, we are doomed to ineffective lives and churches.

There are two forms of any error. You can go off the road into the ditch as well to the right as to the left. So on the one hand, a church can focus on Bible study to the point where it’s an intellectual exercise, with no living relationship with God and no power of God manifest in their midst. The other ditch is where Bible knowledge is shallow, and the focus is on the flashy and spectacular. It’s on what God can do for me today. It’s on making me rich, healing me, working “my” miracle. In both ditches, the focus is on self. One is flamboyant, the other is not, but both are self centered. Balanced churches and Christians are not self centered.

A balanced church is one that holds high both the integrity and authority of the Word and the manifest presence of the power of the Holy Spirit. It has a high view of Scripture, and passionately teaches an in-depth understanding of God’s word. At the same time, it understands that God works in people through the Holy Spirit, and expects the present manifestation of God’s Spirit among the people

When these happen, lives are changed, and as lives are changed and people grow, they change the lives of others. And their world is not the same.

Posted by Avi at 04:26 PM | Comments (16)

December 06, 2007

I'm okay, you're okay. Really?

How do we judge our own spiritual health? What are the indicators of whether we are growing and thriving in our relationship with God and the world, or whether we are falling on our faces? How do we know we are not fooling ourselves?

Many would say, “I’m not where I would like to be, but I’m doing reasonably well. No overt sin, no rebellion, none of the nasties associated with living a ‘worldly’ life.” But am I seeing things clearly? Are you? Are we dealing with reality, or our own wishful thinking?

It’s easy living a “Christian life”—which in most of America means I don’t drink, cuss, smoke or chew, or go with girls who do…too much. Anyone can refrain from the things that “Christians” don’t do. For the most part, it’s simply living a more or less healthy, more or less moral life.

But that’s not what being a follower of Jesus is about. Christianity is not defined by the things we don’t do. In fact, as an indicator of whether I am spiritually okay with God, the things I don’t do are mostly worthless. There is far more to life than simply avoiding negatives.

Anyone can live this sort of Christian life under two conditions: first, if things in your life are pretty much going your way, and second, if you accept a definition of Christian that is grossly watered down and bears little resemblance to anything in scripture.

But what about people who don’t want to live on baby food—there actually are some—and the times in life when it seems nothing is going your way? What about those whose hearts long for substance in life, and who can write a book about living in despair, struggling with depression, wondering if God has forgotten them? How do they know if they are doing well or falling flat, especially when everything in them screams, “Failure”?

You have perhaps heard the line in the detective story, when the bad guy says the cops got nuttin’ on him: “It’s all circumstantial. I means nothing.” Circumstantial evidence is evidence derived from interpreting circumstances. And circumstantial evidence in life, as in crime fiction, is unreliable. We should not trust it. Our circumstances lie.

Someone once said, teaching about Job and his faithfulness in the most trying of circumstances, “If Job teaches us anything, it’s this: The fact that your life is falling apart doesn’t necessarily mean that you are doing something wrong. In fact, it might mean that you are doing something right.”

Focusing on circumstances is a dangerous way to live. Our situations are not reliable indicators, because we can see them only from an extremely limited perspective. We can’t see the big picture. It’s also dangerous because it takes our focus off of God and moves it to ourselves and what’s happening to us. It’s certain that our trials and problems look far different from the other side of the sky, where true reality is evident. We can’t see from there, so wisdom suggests that we trust the one who can.

In hard times and in easy times, it is not our task to measure how we are doing. We are not to be engaged in continually trying to take our own spiritual temperature, to measure our own productivity. We can’t do it. Our task is simple: Be faithful. Trust God. Wait on him. This is the lesson of Job: do not deny God. Our focus and our certainty of coming successfully through trials, is in trusting God, remaining focused on him, and waiting for him to bring us through to the place he has prepared for us.

It’s up to him to decide if we are healthy or not.

Posted by Avi at 02:34 PM | Comments (4)


discussion forum study guides ministry news reviews church history new testament theology sermons online quizzes e-texts online internet resources theoweb newsletter quodlibet journal about theoweb foutz.net	« November 2007 \| Main \| January 2008 » December 30, 2007 What does an effective church look like? A while back, I posted on this site a rant, complaining about the state of American Christianity. The rant, I am happy to say, drew several comments—nice to know someone reads these things—and some questions. So I feel compelled to write a follow up, though this will not be a rant. There is a question about a church being the church in contemporary American culture. How can a church make a real difference where they are? And why do most churches make no difference in anything? Question: If your church closed its doors tonight, would the people in your area know or care? Here are some thoughts. First, many Christians can tell you the New Testament Greek word for church is ekklesia. It means, they will say, a called out or set apart people. And they’re almost right. But there’s the problem. An ekklesia was not just people called out from the population, but a called-out people with a purpose. They were called out for a specific reason. We might say they were on a mission. Too many churches have a purpose or mission, but one that’s the wrong one. They exist for their own sake, for the convenience and comfort of their members, but not for the community in which they live. A church that exists for its own sake is an unbiblical church, and one that serves no purpose. It is collective selfishness. Let’s look at some scripture. That’s there we derive our purpose, individually and corporately. We’ll begin where most Christians never go: Genesis. First, when God created Adam and Eve, He gave them a purpose. They had a mission in life and a job to do. Be fruitful and multiply. Subdue the earth. Take care of the garden. Don’t eat of the fruit of a specific tree. It wasn’t complicated, actually: Make babies and run the world, making it better. They were sort of putting the finishing touches on God’s creative work. They were to grow in numbers, and be God’s representatives on this earth, managing and protecting it for him. In fact, it’s not a stretch to say their task was to expand the Garden of Eden to cover the entire earth. They didn’t do well. But what about the New Testament? Well, it’s there too, so let’s look at a couple examples. First, in John 20, Jesus told his followers, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” He sends us into the world with the same task, the same power, and some of the same authority, to make God real to those we encounter. Then, Paul makes it even more clear in II Corinthians 5: Jesus has chosen us to represent Him. He has given us the good news of reconciliation, and is, as it were, making his appeal to the world through us. In short, we represent Jesus in our world. But here's a problem: most people in the typical church aren’t interested. They don’t want to hear about representing God. They have no interest in evangelism. They are comfortable where they are, and don’t want to be disturbed. Why is this? Leadership. It’s a rule that any group reflects its leadership. Very few exceptions. If the leadership of a church is not focused on a mission, the people will reflect that. Selfish leaders bring selfish followers. If the leadership is passionate about the missio dei—God’s mission—and implementing that in our world, the people will reflect that. So one requirement is focused, missional leaders. But there’s something else that characterizes an effective church. Such churches have a high view of scripture, passionately and effectively teaching the Bible, and they have an expectation of the present activity and work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the people. Clearly, a church that ignores Scripture cannot be a biblical church. But it is equally true that a church that ignores the Holy Spirit will do no better. It is through the Spirit that God works in and through us. It is through the Spirit we have a "personal relationship with Christ." If we join the mass of Christians who accept the common definition of the person and work of the Holy Spirit that makes Him utterly irrelevant in the lives of the people, we are doomed to ineffective lives and churches. There are two forms of any error. You can go off the road into the ditch as well to the right as to the left. So on the one hand, a church can focus on Bible study to the point where it’s an intellectual exercise, with no living relationship with God and no power of God manifest in their midst. The other ditch is where Bible knowledge is shallow, and the focus is on the flashy and spectacular. It’s on what God can do for me today. It’s on making me rich, healing me, working “my” miracle. In both ditches, the focus is on self. One is flamboyant, the other is not, but both are self centered. Balanced churches and Christians are not self centered. A balanced church is one that holds high both the integrity and authority of the Word and the manifest presence of the power of the Holy Spirit. It has a high view of Scripture, and passionately teaches an in-depth understanding of God’s word. At the same time, it understands that God works in people through the Holy Spirit, and expects the present manifestation of God’s Spirit among the people When these happen, lives are changed, and as lives are changed and people grow, they change the lives of others. And their world is not the same. Posted by Avi at 04:26 PM \| Comments (16) December 06, 2007 I'm okay, you're okay. Really? How do we judge our own spiritual health? What are the indicators of whether we are growing and thriving in our relationship with God and the world, or whether we are falling on our faces? How do we know we are not fooling ourselves? Many would say, “I’m not where I would like to be, but I’m doing reasonably well. No overt sin, no rebellion, none of the nasties associated with living a ‘worldly’ life.” But am I seeing things clearly? Are you? Are we dealing with reality, or our own wishful thinking? It’s easy living a “Christian life”—which in most of America means I don’t drink, cuss, smoke or chew, or go with girls who do…too much. Anyone can refrain from the things that “Christians” don’t do. For the most part, it’s simply living a more or less healthy, more or less moral life. But that’s not what being a follower of Jesus is about. Christianity is not defined by the things we don’t do. In fact, as an indicator of whether I am spiritually okay with God, the things I don’t do are mostly worthless. There is far more to life than simply avoiding negatives. Anyone can live this sort of Christian life under two conditions: first, if things in your life are pretty much going your way, and second, if you accept a definition of Christian that is grossly watered down and bears little resemblance to anything in scripture. But what about people who don’t want to live on baby food—there actually are some—and the times in life when it seems nothing is going your way? What about those whose hearts long for substance in life, and who can write a book about living in despair, struggling with depression, wondering if God has forgotten them? How do they know if they are doing well or falling flat, especially when everything in them screams, “Failure”? You have perhaps heard the line in the detective story, when the bad guy says the cops got nuttin’ on him: “It’s all circumstantial. I means nothing.” Circumstantial evidence is evidence derived from interpreting circumstances. And circumstantial evidence in life, as in crime fiction, is unreliable. We should not trust it. Our circumstances lie. Someone once said, teaching about Job and his faithfulness in the most trying of circumstances, “If Job teaches us anything, it’s this: The fact that your life is falling apart doesn’t necessarily mean that you are doing something wrong. In fact, it might mean that you are doing something right.” Focusing on circumstances is a dangerous way to live. Our situations are not reliable indicators, because we can see them only from an extremely limited perspective. We can’t see the big picture. It’s also dangerous because it takes our focus off of God and moves it to ourselves and what’s happening to us. It’s certain that our trials and problems look far different from the other side of the sky, where true reality is evident. We can’t see from there, so wisdom suggests that we trust the one who can. In hard times and in easy times, it is not our task to measure how we are doing. We are not to be engaged in continually trying to take our own spiritual temperature, to measure our own productivity. We can’t do it. Our task is simple: Be faithful. Trust God. Wait on him. This is the lesson of Job: do not deny God. Our focus and our certainty of coming successfully through trials, is in trusting God, remaining focused on him, and waiting for him to bring us through to the place he has prepared for us. It’s up to him to decide if we are healthy or not. Posted by Avi at 02:34 PM \| Comments (4)
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