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Kingdom project management, the proper way
I’ve written quite a bit about leadership lately, and I don’t want to give the wrong impression.
Our problem, as I’ve spelled out in some recent posts, is that we’ve come to accept flesh-and-blood leaders as “the guiding heads” (the dictionary definition of “leader”) of projects and organizations within the Body, while in God’s design this place rightfully belongs to Christ alone.
Please don’t read into my statement that I advocate anarchy, indecision, formlessness, or consensus-based governance in the Body. That is definitely not the case. Rather, I fully embrace the notion of God’s people following bold, decisive, visionary men and women who are appointed by Him, for a specific reason and season, to inspire and supervise our efforts. It’s just that these people need to be fully submitted to God, and their authority must be spiritual and not positional.
God often uses authoritarian individuals to serve as His instruments for planning, organizing, influencing and coordinating the activities of groups in the Body. The Bible is full of examples of people who played this role in a God-pleasing way, like Moses and Joshua, the Old Testament judges, and the New Testament apostles.
God worked through them accomplish His divine projects. When they did it right, they knew He was the Head, they did just what He said, and they succeeded. When they went beyond His leading, did things their own way, and/or sought to hold onto power beyond God’s intended term, all sorts of bad things happened.
Just like I’ve wrestled with use of the word “church,” I have trouble using the word “leader” anymore, and I am struggling to come up with the right label for this role. Paul spoke of “apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers.” Properly understood these titles say it all. But I’m afraid that, in the state of The Body today – where we’ve virtually all subscribed to worldly ideas of leadership and decision-making – the generally-accepted meanings behind these titles has changed too much from God’s original intent.
The best I can come up with is “point man,” “chief steward,” or “God’s agent.” These seem to fit. Moses was most definitely NOT a “leader” by today’s definition. Instead, he was God’s designated “point man” among the Israelites. He was the “chief steward” of God’s vision for His people. And, he was “God’s agent” in the project to move the Chosen People from Egypt to the Promised Land.
Proper guidance of Kingdom projects is invariably through a God-called “point man.” It is to this person that God gives His vision, standards, instructions, and authority for any given project. It is obvious in the Bible that God often favors strong, resolute people in this role. To managing volunteers (as we all are, ultimately) in a faith-based initiative can be like herding cats. A firm hand is often needed, and I can’t find any example in the Bible of successful guidance of a Kingdom project being nebulous, weak, or consensus based.
We miss the mark on this big-time in churchianity today, in two different ways. Either we invest all power in a strong leader, whose authority is mainly positional and permanent, or we undermine the potential for a strong “point man” to emerge by embracing the worldly idea of “democracy.” I don’t know which one of these is worse.
Democracy is a great form of civil government but a terribly non-biblical way of running a “church” or ministry. Try as I might, I cannot find one good example of it in the Bible. The five prominent examples I can find of “democratic” decision making – to throw Joseph in the pit, to make the golden calf idol, not to enter the Promised Land the first time, to crucify Jesus and to stone Stephen – don’t paint a very good picture of this leadership model. When the original apostles wanted to replace Judas, they specifically did not want to vote on it, so they cast lots. They knew the dangers of politics and preferred seemingly random chance over the “democratic process” in ministry leadership.
When a project or organization within the Body is led by a committee – “church” council, board of directors, board of elders, whatever you call it – it is not following any Biblical example I can find.
Christian “point men” are supposed to answer to God and not man. My experience with “democratic” organizations is that, despite the words they use, the opposite is generally true. Boards and committees vote – and politics is almost always involved, whether they admit it or not – and the “leaders” follow their orders. This gives a false sense of comfort to each one: the committee can blame the “leaders” if things go wrong and take credit when they go right, and vice-versa.
Name the great men of the Bible. I’ll throw out a few: Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Jesus, Paul. Not one of these men answered to a committee or board of directors. They received guidance directly from God and stewarded their projects accordingly. And – imagine this – their followers followed them, respectful of the fact their “point man” was appointed by God. Yes, these men sought wise counsel. Yes, they held themselves accountable. But the buck stopped with them.
“What about elders in the early Church?” you may ask. Fact is, they were appointed by the presiding apostle and could be removed by him, and nobody could vote to override his decisions! They were not in a position of governance in the way modern “church” councils are, and had zero authority to tell their shepherd what to do.
In The Way, apostles are accepted as God’s “point men.” They serve that role faithfully, under God’s authority, and democracy is never a part of the mix. At least this how they did it in Acts, and look what they accomplished!
Yes, in an organization where the headship of Christ is not understood, in a culture where the rhema of God is not accepted or discerned, where The Way has been lost, I guess democracy is better than the alternative, because a fully-empowered leader in a faith-based organization who is not under the step-by-step direction of the Holy Spirit is a very dangerous thing.
But why settle for less than what God desires? He does not desire leaders (as we define them) OR democracy in “church” organizations! Instead, God wants to call the shots Himself, through the men and women He calls to serve as “chief stewards.”
In a properly-functioning, discerning, submitted Body, under God’s model of governance “voting” has no place.[8]
As long as we demand to have a vote, or submit to committee rule, or accept a “leader” over us, we will never be able achieve the full potential God has in store for His sons and daughters.
Our Father’s long-established model is to work through “point men”— faithful, seasoned, discerning and strong – to steward our efforts along The Way.
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends!
Word for “word” – Part II
In the previous post I referenced some key Bible verses that, when we understand the Greek behind them, are able to unlock for us the next level of faith. Let’s revisit those verses and insert the proper Greek word. I believe this will make them come alive for you in a new and exciting way.
In Matthew 4:4 Jesus said, “Man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by rhema.” In context this is particularly stunning. If you recall, Jesus spoke this to satan after His first temptation in the wilderness. Satan had come to Him after a 40-day fast and tempted Him to turn rocks into bread and eat them. Now let me ask you, what would have been the sin in that? Where is it written, “Thou shalt not turn rocks into bread and eat them?” It’s not! Only a few times in the Bible do we see beyond the veil into the spirit world. No doubt satan dangled temptations in front of Christ over and over again – like when He was walking on water, the enemy must have been screaming, “you’re gonna sink!” – but it’s simply not recorded for us. If this story were like the others, and we only saw the “natural” side of it, we’d simply think it was another miracle if Jesus had finished fasting, turned rocks into bread, ate them, and moved on. Nobody would look at that and say, “See! He wasn’t God after all! He sinned!” – because there was nothing in and of itself “wrong” in the thing He was being tempted to do.
Indeed, our whole human checklist for decision-making was satisfied: Jesus had the power, the right, the freedom – and no doubt the desire and physical need – to do that very thing. So why didn’t He do it? Herein lies the vital importance of rhema. Jesus said, in effect, “Satan, I acknowledge that I need bread, but what’s more important to me is that I follow the step-by-step instructions of God, and He hasn’t told me to do this yet.” Jesus would have rather starved to death than do anything outside of God’s specific, step-by-step, rhema-given instructions for His life! He didn’t live on bread alone, and not on graphe (the written word – because on that basis alone, the thing tempted would have been just fine!), but on rhema.
Here’s another key verse: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” If you have dedicated of your life to evangelism according to our traditional methods this may hurt you in the gut, like it did me, because here’s the truth: The “word” in this verse is rhema. Faith comes by hearing rhema from God. Like in the story of young Samuel, a person can be dedicated to God, live in the temple, observe all the proper religious activities, have a trusting knowledge of graphe, and still not have true faith as God defines it. If we do not, like Jesus, recognize and follow God’s personal, present voice in our lives, we simply are not in His flock.
I admit this is a hard truth. It was painful for me to accept, because of all the years I tried to serve God without this understanding.
Most denominations don’t teach this, but it is the truth, and as such I know that when you accept it, it will give you new life, freedom and power. We can give away cases of Bibles, quote Scripture till we’re blue in the face – and the people we are working to reach can believe every word of it – and yet without a real, meaningful, personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ – a relationship with rhema at its heart – then it is all a waste of time and energy. This is precisely what Jesus meant when He said, “Many will say to me …, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” He just wants to have a real relationship with us – built on intimate communication – that’s all. Nothing else we can do matters. Nothing else can lead to victory.
Before I present one last key rhema verse, I want to make something perfectly clear: I value, honor and revere the Bible more than life itself. I’m old fashioned in that I never let anything sit on top of my Bible – it’s always the top of the stack. I believe it is the infallible, inspired graphe of God, and I base my entire life and worldview upon it. But fact is, the written Word, while fully true, is just a portion of what God desires to communicate to us, and mere intellectual acceptance of the Bible as truth does not save us. Without a real relationship with God through Jesus Christ, based on personal rhema from Him, everything else is worthless.
Of course, God often gives rhema to me through graphe, but rhema is much more than that. He speaks in all the ways He promises: guiding my steps, making sense of things, giving me words to say, and – dare I say it – even telling me what to write.
When you realize the believers in the Book of Acts didn’t have what we call the Bible – the few scrolls they had were hard to access, especially for the Gentiles – and instead, only had rhema, you begin to realize how important it is. Look at what God was able to do through them! They weren’t skeptical of God’s power – they lived in it! If I were in a situation where I had to choose between rhema and graphe, I’d choose rhema, 100 percent of the time. Thankfully we don’t have to choose. But sadly, out of tradition and ignorance, most Christians do choose – they choose graphe alone (“sola scriptura”) and the results are … well, the results are what we have today.
Ok, back to the key rhema Bible verses. And this one is a doozie. In his letter to the believers of Ephesus, who were called by the Lord and shepherded by Paul to maintain and expand upon the transformational work that had been won in their community, the great warrior apostle wrote:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Did you notice – in all of the items Paul lists, there is but one weapon? One tool we are given with which to tear down every stronghold, demolish every argument that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and utterly defeat satan and his kingdom of darkness? What is this one, all-powerful weapon? It is not the written Word.
The sword of the Spirit is rhema.
This has been translated as “word” and interpreted as “Scripture” for too long! You can’t beat the devil by quoting the Bible to him – he knows that Book better than any man ever will, and he believes every word of it, because he was there when it all happened! What satan doesn’t have access to, which we as followers of Jesus Christ do, is the rhema of God – His fresh, relevant, personal word, through which He guides our paths, orders our steps, tells us what to do and when to do it, when to pray and what to pray for, puts the proper words in our mouth, and prompts us at all times in all things to do His will. And when we are in His will, His power flows through us to defeat anything the enemy can throw at us. When we are in His will, the very gates of hell can’t stand in our way!
The rhema of God proves Christianity as the one true faith. Only a Living God can utter a living Word, and no other faith offers this. Practiced without rhema, however, Christianity is just a religion, no better than any other. Without rhema, our faith is merely a collection of holy writings, a prescribed way of living, a system of worship, a community of like-minded people, belief in a distant and silent deity, an avenue for “prayer,” a reason to hope, a basis of ethics and morals, an opportunity for full-time ministers to make a living, and the promise of “heaven” when we die if we play things by the book – just like virtually every other religion on earth. Without rhema, Christianity is empty, ritualistic, legalistic, and ultimately pointless. Without rhema, our religion truly is, as Karl Marx famously wrote, “The opiate of the masses” – a mysterious, superstitious code that keeps the deluded population under control.
Jesus didn’t come to start another religion. He came, ultimately, to reconcile us to a real relationship with our Father. All the other things He accomplished – destroying the works of the devil, reclaiming that which was lost in the garden, setting the coming of the Kingdom in motion – all spring from this one thing: We now, through Him, have open access to a personal relationship with the Living God, and all the benefits that come with it.
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends!
Word for “word” – Part I
Note – This is an excerpt from my book UPRISING: Time for Christians to Stop Waiting and Start Winning.
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WARNING: This is blog post contains a Greek lesson.
Now don’t get scared. I’m not some boring academic type, and this isn’t some intellectual, ivory tower lecture. Instead, if this information is new to you (as I’ve found it is for most Christians), I think it will be one of the most explosive, exciting, faith-expanding things you’ll ever learn.
This is one of those truths that hit me like a ton of bricks when I learned it, and it’s taken my relationship with the Lord to a level I never knew was possible in this day and age. It can do the same for you.
I am shocked and disappointed that I had to learn it on my own, outside the “four walls” of the “church,” after decades of sitting in pews, dutifully doting on the teachings of my pastor and denomination.
Rest easy – it’s not a mystery, it’s not a new pop theology, it’s not an odd mountaintop revelation from some mystic, and I’m not asking you to “just trust me” – it’s simply Greek, and it’s been there in the Bible all along, lost in translation.
The word I’m going to dig into here is just that: The English word for “word.” Bible translators slap this four-letter word on top of several Greek words with vast differences in meaning. Much more than simple nuance is lost. Rather, a vital, foundational principle of the Christian faith has for generations been virtually erased from the Bible by this translational shortcut.
For years I’ve asked Christians what they think of when they read or hear the phrase “the Word of God.” Every single person I’ve asked has the same answer: The Bible. That’s all there is to it: The Word of God is the Bible, and the Bible is the Word of God. Period, end of subject.
So when they hear, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,” they picture a Bible floating in space. When they hear, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God,” “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” or “Take … the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” their minds insert “Bible” and come up with this: We live by the Bible, have faith by hearing the Bible, and fight the devil with the Bible.
I must ask you to pause for a moment before you read on. Please ask God to open your heart to His truth. It’s hard for me even to type this, because I know most readers who (as I do) revere the Bible more than life itself may initially take this statement as shocking blasphemy, but the fact is this: Inserting the word “Bible” into these great verses is wrong, sucks meaning out of them, drains them of power, and robs us of possibly the most precious promise of God in this life.
There, I said it.
I hope you’re still with me (and still breathing normally!). And I hope that seeking God’s truth is more important to you than holding onto long-standing, traditional paradigms that simply aren’t working. If you have difficulty with anything I am presenting here, don’t take my word for it — dig into it! Get a Strong’s Concordance or other Biblical Greek dictionary and see for yourself. I’m not making this stuff up.
Ok, back to it. As I said, there are numerous Greek words, expressing widely divergent meanings, which most English-language translators simply lump under our word, “word.” These include logos, graphe (grah’-fay), and rhema (ray’-muh).
As I dig into the definitions for these, allow me to couch them in a metaphor so they make more sense. Think of God as an architect and us as His work crew. He wants us to complete a building project (His Kingdom) and is seeking to guide our steps as we do it. He has a crystal clear vision for the structure, including every detail, and He must communicate this to us so we can build it according to His specifications.
At its essence, communication is the effort to transfer a thought from one mind to another. There are lots of ways to do this – through writing, speech, pictures, demonstration and much more. When you look at all the Hebrew and Greek Bible words we translate as “word,” you begin to see that God employs all of these means to transfer to us His vision and guide our steps. Yes, the static, printed words of the Bible are a vital and incredible source of divine communication, but they are just a small fraction of what He offers “those who have ears to hear.” As long as we remain stuck in man-made tradition, and continue to view the Bible as the sum total of God’s “Word,” we will never be able to find The Way or complete our Kingdom building project.
Before the dawn of time, God had a vision for His Kingdom, His sons and daughters, and this world. This original, founding vision is best expressed in Greek by the word logos. It is “a decree, mandate or order; what is declared, a thought, declaration, aphorism, a weighty saying, a dictum, a maxim.” This word is used 316 times in the Greek New Testament. It says, “In the beginning was logos, the logos was with God, and the logos was God,” and that Jesus was logos made flesh. Before the dawn of time, there were not little scrolls or books floating around in Heaven; instead God had a vision, a plan, a Big Picture. And Jesus was not a talking Bible with arms and legs! Instead, He was the physical incarnation of God’s vision. (Is it starting to make a little more sense?)
An architect must start with a clearly defined vision. This is the source of all other forms of communication related to the building project. All other methods of attempting to transfer this vision from his mind to others’ – including scale models, drawings, etc. – are derived from this original vision. It is important to understand that nothing less than the finished building itself fully expresses the architect’s vision. Every other form of expression, while accurate, is incomplete.
Once the architect has conceived the vision in his mind, next he drafts a set of blueprints. These are printed sketches, descriptions and instructions intended to guide the steps of the builders. The Gospel writers used the word graphe for this concept. It means, “written word, scripture,” and is used 51 times in the New Testament. We get the word “graphics” from this root. The printed pages of the Bible are graphe. Interestingly, this is always translated as “scripture” in the standard King James Version – and so while this is never called “word” in the Bible, it is the one thing people think of when they talk about the “Word” of God!
Our traditions have led many of us to take the Architect’s blueprints and then just run along with the assumption that they fully and completely express His divine purpose, plan and will. But as anyone who works in construction can tell you, if you simply take blueprints and hand them out to your work crews – with no hands-on, step-by-step supervision from the architect or a general contractor – the building will never take the precise form intended by the architect. A building may come together but it will be plagued by quirks as the different subcontractors interpreted things their own ways, and the look, feel and functionality will differ from what the architect intended. As hired hands for God’s Kingdom construction, we need more than blueprints!
Let me step out of this metaphor for a moment. You deserve more than human reasoning to accept this point so let me spell it out straight from the Bible. At what we call the Last Supper, Jesus told His disciples that His time on earth was coming to an end, and there was of course much more information they needed to know in order to continue His work. “I have much more to say to you,” He said. “More than you can now bear.” But He couldn’t because His time was up. He told them not to worry, however, because “the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things andwill remind you of everything I have said to you.”
Right here, in Jesus’ own words, He clearly said there is much more to the Architect’s vision than He could communicate to His disciples, even after spending three years in their close company; that all the words He spoke and demonstrated to His disciples were but a fraction of the entirety of God’s logos. Then, just a few chapters later in John, the great apostle concludes his book by saying, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” And so my point here is confirmed by the words of Christ and the personal admission of one of the Bible’s primary and most prolific writers: The graphe (written word) – what most Christians assume is the entirety of God’s Word – is but a fraction of a fraction of all that God desires to communicate to us.
Of course Jesus didn’t leave us hanging. As He said, in reference to the Holy Spirit, “When He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth.” Back on the metaphor, Jesus is saying here that the Architect isn’t going to leave us hanging with just a set of blueprints; instead, He will send a jobsite foreman (in the form of the Holy Spirit) to fully and completely communicate His vision to us, every step of the way.
This brings us to what I believe is the most important Greek word for “word” of them all: rhema. This word means, “that which is or has been uttered by the living voice, thing spoken; word any sound produced by the voice and having definite meaning.” It is used 67 times in the New Testament, in some very key places.
Rhema is the personal, conversational, relevant, relationship Word of God. It is God’s voice for each of us, like it was for Samuel as a youth when God called out to him in the middle of the night, saying, “Samuel! Samuel!” Interestingly, in this story it says, “In those days, the word of the LORD was rare.” There weren’t fewer scrolls in the temple than before. Instead, because of the high priest’s disobedient household and nation’s rebellious people, the personal, spoken word of God is what was rare.
This story also says the great prophet-to-be didn’t recognize that voice because “Samuel did not yet know the LORD: The word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.” By this time in his life, he had been fully inculcated into the religious structure, he obviously believed in God, and he had been exposed to the Scriptures. But he still didn’t know God, in the true sense, because he hadn’t yet been introduced to God’s rhema word. Personal communication is the basis of every real relationship. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow.” Prior to hearing and following His rhema, Samuel wasn’t in the flock. But then God’s living voice came to him and he responded – and that changed everything.
Read Part II, where we put rhema back in the Bible.
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends!
Church Burning
To my friend and blog followers –
Some of you already know that I’ve felt called by God to assemble some of my recent writings and publish them as my second book. The working title is Church Burning.
This is a play on words, of course, with multiple meanings. In the Bible, fire is used metaphorically for several clear purposes. On the bad side, it is used by God to judge and punish. On the good side, it is used to purify and motivate.
There is no doubt God wants to bring a fire to His Church. If we are doing things the way He intends, we should welcome this, like the disciples at Pentecost. If we are not, we should dread it.
If you think “church” is a place to go or a thing to do — a building, an organizational structure, a set of teaching and traditions, or an event — then Church Burning may well conjure terrible images in your mind. If you know Church as the intimate fellowship of God’s sons and daughters on earth, then you probably see Church Burning as a glorious thing.
I said that Church Burning is the working title. I’m still not quite convinced, but the more I chew on it, the more I like it. It seems sizzling enough to sell books and yet multi-faceted enough to make people think, but I reserve the right to be wrong about that. I’d value your feedback. Do you like it? Would you pick up, buy and read a book with that title? Or is it so in-your-face that it’ll turn off the average Joe Christian? If the people that most need to read it are repulsed by the title, that’s bad. Please leave a comment or drop me a note and let me know what you think.
ALSO, below is what I’ve written as a draft of the first chapter. My goal is to clearly express my heart — that I am not angry, hostile, or bitter, as so many “church” critics come across — so that the reader will be more prone to seriously consider the things I write.
Thank you for all your comments and feedback over the past several months. I appreciate your prayers as I work to bring this project to completion.
– Mike
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First chapter –
Talk about kicking a hornets’ nest! Writing a critical book about modern churchianity is probably not the best way to go about winning friends and influencing people, but I believe somebody has to do it.
Despite the intentionally controversial title (gotta sell books, you know – and it has multiple meanings, many of them positive), I’ve done my very best to approach this topic with tenderness and candor.
I’ve found there are generally three groups of people who are eager to discuss the problems with “church” today.
First are those who are hostile to our faith and are quick to pounce on and propagate anything they think will get us to question our beliefs. Many of these are deeply wounded folks who come from a “church” background, and who rejected God when they rejected the institutions we’ve build in His name. (Sadly, these formerly-churched people seem more numerous and harder to reach with the truth than the un-churched, which I think is something we must address.)
Second are those who have been wounded by “church” politics, legalism, hypocrisy and religiosity, and yet who still hold on to their faith, and to the often vague hope that there is a better way. These people seem to talk about “church” like a cheated-on wife talks about her ex-husband; they feel betrayed by someone they love.
Both of the above categories of “church” critics often put their fingers on some very real and important issues, but they tend to communicate their points with bitterness and hostility, as if they are trying to win people over to their side of a conflict. As a result, their hard-learned lessons often are lost on those who most need to hear them, who can do something to help fix the problems. While their ranting may draw a flock of birds of the same feather, it tends to compel their “church”-bound brethren to defensiveness, and not much good results.
There is a third group, however, and that is forward-thinking Christians who love God’s Church, seek truth and know there is a better way. These folks have dug into the roots and fruits of our modern “church” system, and into the original intent of our Father, and found that we are terribly missing the mark. Theirs is constructive criticism, for the purpose of calling God’s people to a higher, better, and more God-pleasing express of Church.
Because their intended audience has been bombarded by hostile complaints from both wounded brethren and opponents of the faith, and because the kernels of their messages are often quite similar to those the bitter critics, this third group can have a very tough time getting their points across. Theirs is a challenging calling. I know, because I fall into this third group.
You need to know that I thank God for my mainline, denominational, liturgical upbringing. I have fond memories of Sunday School classes, stirring sermons, inspirational music, fun fellowship, and even service on various committees. Some of my best friends over the years have been pastors, and I nearly went to the seminary to join their ranks. Sure, as I grew up and my horizons broadened, I began to question some things about “church,” and to seek to make improvements from within, but it was always “by the rules” and with deep respect for the institution and the other people involved. I do not consider myself wounded, bitter, or hostile toward churchianity in the least.
But I must tell you, as I have dug into the truth of God’s will for His sons and daughters on earth, and the true potential for His Church, something has changed in me over the years. I no longer feel called to work entirely from within the four walls of the “church.” While I still have love and respect for the people, my respect for the institutions themselves has greatly diminished. I’m just being honest here.
I want to ask you a favor as you dig into this book. Will you please give me some grace, and approach it with an open mind? I know these are sensitive issues, and we can easily become quite emotional, defensive and hostile when we discuss them. We can also jump to conclusions about the other person’s motives. I am asking you to accept that my heart is in the right place here, and I am only seeking to call God’s people to the very best. My goal is to build up, not tear down (although a little constructive demolition is necessary in any remodeling job).
And yet, I am only human, too. Maybe I have been a little wounded and not fully healed, and maybe it does come through a little at places. I don’t think that’s the case, it’s sure not my intention, and I’ve done my best to write with sensitivity and grace. But if anything I write seems bitter in any way, please forgive me, and try to look through it to the heart of what I’m saying. My writing style is often passionate, colorful and to-the-point; please don’t confuse passion and righteous frustration with hostility.
Anyway, just because someone is wounded doesn’t mean they’re a bad person, it just means they’ve experienced something that hurt them very deeply. We should not write off the words of the wounded; rather, we should have compassion for them. If elements of our “church” are hurting people deeply, then we need to bring them to light, however hard that may be, don’t you think?
As God has led me deeper into His Word, and into a greater understanding of The Way that He desires for us to come together as the Body, I’ve taken that understanding and laid it side by side with what I’ve personally experienced, observed and learned about churchianity. At times, this journey of discovery has been like watching a movie, where sometimes you want to laugh, sometimes you want to cry, and sometimes you want to yell at the person on screen. Writing this book has been a very personal and emotional journey, and at various points its content reflects all of these emotions.
This stuff is very important to me, and try as I might I simply cannot approach this topic as a scientific, emotionless observer sitting on the sidelines. Serving God by advancing His Kingdom and building up His people is my deepest passion. I pray that is the common ground on which you approach my writing.
There’s one more thing you should know before you jump off into the rest of this book. I wrote this over the course of about a year, and for most of the time I didn’t even realize I was writing a book. Rather, I was simply keeping notes of my observations, insights and experiences. It was only later that I felt the Lord’s call to pull it all together into one package. As a result, it’s more of a diary than a narrative, and like any diary, you will see a variety of emotions expressed.
There are certainly consistent threads and overarching themes throughout, but each chapter is also something of a stand-alone essay. This book is not a profound theological research volume, but rather a collection of thoughts, impressions and revelations I’ve had as I’ve wrestled with this topic in my own life. If there are chunks of it you simply can’t abide, that’s fine. I’m not trying to sell you anything. But I hope you’ll keep going anyway, because you may just find a few nuggets along the way that will revitalize your faith, bring you closer to the Father, and maybe even spark a healthy dialogue in your own congregation. If this happens, I’ll consider it a success.
On THIS rock: God’s desired foundation for His Church
Folks who know me know I’m a solutions-oriented guy. I don’t think much of bomb-throwers who do nothing but point out flaws and problems but never offer solutions. I agree with Theodore Roosevelt: It is not the critic who counts.
Yes, there’s absolutely a time and place to dig into what we’re doing wrong, but the point isn’t to find fault, lay blame or simply complain. Rather, the point is to uncover exactly where and how we’re missing the mark so we can take the appropriate corrective action. Constructive criticism offers a better way forward. Everything else, as I see it, is pointless and destructive.
Some who have kept up with my recent string of posts regarding my issues with modern churchianity have accused me of pointing out problems without offering solutions.
I would beg to differ. I believe I have presented the fundamental solution all along, but I can see why some folks have missed it. The misunderstanding lies in the fact they aren’t looking deep enough at the problems. Because underneath it all, there is just one fundamental problem plaguing the modern system we call “church” – and there is only one real solution. It’s really quite simple.
Yes, there’s a problem with what we call Sunday “church services.” But the solution isn’t to re-jigger the format or theme of our Sunday morning gatherings.
Yes, there is a problem with who we designate as “leaders,” and the organizational structures we build beneath them. But the solution isn’t a new way of choosing and elevating leadership, or re-mapping the organizational chart.
Yes, there are problems with how we raise and spend money and build useless buildings to house our Christian clubs. But the solution isn’t a new budgeting strategy or building design.
There are problems with what we consider “evangelism” and how we go about it, what we call the “gospel” and how we preach it, the traditions we follow, the teachings we embrace (and reject), and a whole host of other aspects of what we call “church” today. But to address these on the surface, and offer a “new way” of doing them, is nothing more than treating the symptoms without addressing the disease. It is all just re-arranging the deck chairs on a sinking ship.
If that’s what you’ve been looking for from me, I can certainly see how you’ve been disappointed, and how you may think I’m just lobbing bombs. I hope you’ll let me take you a little deeper.
Unless we’re just completely blind or clueless, we all see problems with churchianity. Many of us disregard these by saying, “well, you’ll never find a perfect church,” and so they settle for far less than the best, just seeking to make the most of it. These are the folks that get offended by the slightest fault-finding with the status quo, and discount any criticism that doesn’t come with a superficial “quick fix.”
Others of us just don’t buy that cop-out; we believe perfect Church definitely is possible, here and now. The Bible says Christ is waiting for His spotless Bride to arise, and that someday she will make herself ready. He modeled for us a perfect expression of Church, and that is exactly what He is calling us back to. Our Father has not called us to fail in this endeavor. Yes, a perfect expression of Church is definitely possible, it is God’s will, and I, for one, will not rest until I find it.
Our human nature demands a “plan.” We want quick fixes. We want to have a firm handle on the present and the future. We want a roadmap we can wrap our minds around that spells out exactly how we are supposed to get from Point A to Point B. We would never think of starting a building project without a blueprint. Those who expect me or other critics to offer such a roadmap or blueprint for “fixing” things need to understand that this is exactly the element of human nature that has caused all these problems to begin with!
Here’s the fundamental problem with churchianity: We have taken control of things. In doing so, we have built our “churches” on own understanding, conformed to the patterns of this world – which is the precise Biblical recipe for remaining outside of God’s will. We have – with the best of intentions – done our best to build “churches” for God. This is the opposite of God’s desire, and it is the underlying disease – the malignant cancer – that is causing all the symptoms I’ve written about.
There is only one cure, one fix, one path to a perfect Church, and it’s is really quite simple. It is to remove this mindset from the Body, and return to the day-by-day, step-by-step leadership of the Holy Spirit.
Theological defenders of man-made churchianity for generations have misinterpreted one of the most important portions of Scripture, creating a false, two-sided debate in which both sides are flat wrong. In this passage, Christ clearly spells out the true foundation on which He desires to build His perfect Church. Here it is (Matthew 16:13-18):
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Here’s the $64,000 Question: What is the rock on which Jesus desires to build His Church?
For countless generations, Catholics have interpreted this passage to say that Peter, the man, is the original rock of the “church.” This understanding is the foundational stem cell of their entire institution, and explains virtually everything they do. It is a structure built on positional authority, and on the traditions and leadership of men. This is a dangerous thing!
Contrary to this, most Protestants since the Reformation have interpreted this passage to say that the rock is the words Peter spoke, “Surely you are the Messiah, the son of the living God.” Peter’s statement is indeed true, and the heart of our faith. The belief that this statement alone is the intended foundation of Christ’s Church is the Protestant stem cell. This reliance on a static statement led to the principle of Sola Scripture (by the written Word alone), and explains virtually everything Protestants do. It is a structure built on the goal of having people believe and follow the written word alone (or at least their interpretation of it). This is not enough!
For hundreds of years this debate has raged, with both sides missing the mark. The current state of churchianity in the world today is the fruit of these two faulty interpretations. We’ve tried both, to an absurd extreme, and both have failed.
There is third option!
Here’s what that passage really says, and what we’ve missed all along: God doesn’t desire to build His Kingdom on a mortal man, or on the words spoken by a mortal man. Rather, Jesus was saying that it is the underlying truth of what had just happened – “This was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven” – that He desires to serve as the foundation of His Church.
What made Jesus so excited, and prompted Him to speak this vital statement, was that Peter had just received and responded to the simple prompting of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was saying, “Yes! Somebody finally got it! He didn’t tell me what he thought, he just listened to the Father and obeyed. I can work with that!”
The key to the Kingdom is simple obedience to the Holy Spirit, the step-by-step leading of God.
Simple obedience is how Moses led the Israelites out of bondage, and how Joshua led them to conquer the Promised Land. When they relied on men, or the statements of men, they failed. When they followed the continual revelation of their Father in heaven, they succeeded.
This is what made David a man after God’s own heart. It is how every single servant of God recorded in Scripture lived, including Christ Himself. They let God call the shots – day by day, step by step – into the great unknown.
Jesus said we must be born of water and the Spirit to see and enter the Kingdom. Paul said that the true sons and daughters of God are those who are led by the Spirit. He also said that we are to grow – individually and corporately – into Christ the Head, who desires to call the shots.
Throughout the Bible it says we are not to lean on our own understanding … we are not to worry about material things, or about tomorrow … we are not to conform to the patterns of this world. When we do, we cannot know God’s will, and we are not on His path. Anything called “church” that is built this way – on our own roadmaps and blueprints – is built on the wrong rock. And the cure for what ails us will never be found in another man-made plan.
Instead, the solution, the way forward, is to simply cease from our works! It is to be still and know that He is God. It is to enter into His rest, take on His easy load, and let Him lead the way. It is to do nothing at all without His specific, personal prompting – and then to simply obey what He tells us to do, step-by-step, day-by-day.
He doesn’t care what we do “in His name” – because there is nothing worthwhile that we can do for Him. Our best works are like filthy rags! Rather, He just wants to know us, to have a real relationship. He wants to be the true center, the true Head, of our lives and our fellowships.
Yes, to abandon our understanding, to scrap our plans, to throw away our roadmaps and blueprints, will be a great adventure. When we do this, He will lead us to forge into the unknown and do things beyond our understanding, as He unveils our plan for us, one day at a time.
This is the walk of faith! This is the path to true, perfect Church. It is The Way modeled by Christ and recorded in Scripture.
Is this disappointing for you? Do you still want a man to give you a plan? I’m sorry, I can’t help you there.
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends.
Blind spots in our spiritual surveillance system
The Lord woke me up at 4 a.m. the other day and showed me a vision of how the enemy can gain a foothold in our lives.
I had been in intense prayer for quite some time for a dear friend of mine, a strong man of God, who is currently being yanked all around by the enemy. It’s like the devil has a hook deep into him and is dragging him through all sorts of heartache. From the outside looking in, it’s clear as day what’s happening. But this guy won’t receive loving input or correction, and my soul is in anguish for him. It’s like this man, who is otherwise blessed with enormous spiritual clarity, has a gaping blind spot, in which the enemy has had free reign to operate.
My prayers have been not only for this fellow’s deliverance, but also for insight into this phenomenon. If a man as spiritually seasoned as my friend is susceptible to giving the enemy such a blatant foothold, then I know I am, too. And I don’t want that in my life!
The vision the Lord showed me was, like most things He shows us, quite simple on the surface, but the more I dig into it, the deeper it gets. It directly answers the question of what’s happening to this fellow, how it can happen to any of us, how we can help each other when it does happen, and how we can keep it from happening in the first place.
What I saw was a robber busting into a bank and going directly to the surveillance camera, where he whipped out a can of spray paint and darkened the lens. After that, he had free run of the place.
As I dug into this vision, numerous Bible verses of “eyes to see” and being spiritually “blinded” came to mind. As I looked them up, I realized this vision unlocked for me the meaning of a very consistent theme in the New Testament.
Here’s how I’ve come to understand it. As followers of Jesus Christ, we each have a deposit of the Holy Spirit living in us. One of the benefits of the Spirit living in us is that He gives us a crystal clear, 360-degree spiritual surveillance system. Only this surveillance system is in our hearts, and in our natural state it is surrounded by opaque flesh. The only way we can see beyond it, to make full use of this system, is to do as the Bible instructs and “crucify” our flesh. When we do that, the flesh falls out of our field of view and the eyes of our hearts can see clearly. Then we can identify and avoid the work of the enemy when he comes close. When we are truly, fully “dead to self” – and “it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” – then we can accurately perceive all of the enemy’s schemes.
Because of this, like that bank robber, the enemy’s first goal in attacking us is to block out as much of that surveillance system as he can. Instead of spray paint, however, the enemy aims to re-animate our flesh. This is what he seeks to do when he dangles temptations in front of us; it’s just like the bank robber spray painting over the surveillance camera. When the enemy can coax us into bringing a portion of our flesh back to life, this creates a blind spot in which he can freely operate. Always ambitious and opportunistic, when he can do this, our enemy will then make full use of his hidden access to our lives, and wreak as much havoc and destruction as he can, in us and through us.
Now, there are multitudes of people out there who are one hundred percent spiritually blind. They live in darkness. The enemy has no problem pushing them around, and he certainly uses them to advance the kingdom of darkness. But these people, ultimately, are not the ones he pursues most fervently. The high value targets, the ones on Hell’s Most Wanted list, are the most mature believers. These are the ones who have access and influence in the Kingdom of God. When the enemy can gain a foothold in the life of a long-time believer, he can tag along with them into all sorts of circles where he’d never be welcome in his own right, and you better believe that he will use that to his full advantage.
If any of us, even the most advanced and mature Kingdom warrior, believes he is immune to this, he’s already a victim of it, because his pride has become a blind spot. The Bible is full of warnings about wolves in sheep’s clothing, and devils masquerading as angels of light. God implores us all to always be self-controlled and alert. While we’re here on earth, we are susceptible to this tactic, and we should all take heed.
It’s been said that our biggest strength can also be our biggest weakness. I didn’t fully understand that until I saw this vision. You see, where we know we’re weak, we tend to be the most vigilant. But we can be lulled into not really paying attention to our “strong” points, and this can give the enemy room to work.
In our “strength” – where we’re most naturally gifted – it is quite easy for us to let our flesh come back to life and not even realize it. Whether it’s pride, or taking our “strength” for granted, or falling into patterns and habits, or dismissing loving correction from people who are not as gifted in that area, it seems the enemy can have an easy time getting that portion of our flesh re-animated, and when he does, he then has free room to function in our lives. He quite literally uses our greatest strength against us, to advance his own ends.
This is what happened to my good friend. He’s a real hero of mine, having spent several decades on the front line of the Kingdom – living on faith and fighting the good fight. All along, he has relied on God to provide for his needs, and the Lord has never let him down.
Then along came an agent of the enemy, masquerading as an “angel of light” (messenger of elucidating information, literally), and he knew just how to spray paint over that part of my friend’s spiritual surveillance system. He did it by posing as someone the Lord sent to finally reward my friend for all his years of day-by-day, hand-to-mouth living. By talking the talk of a “fellow minister,” flashing wads of $100 bills, and making promises of enormous generosity “as soon as this big business deal comes through,” this fellow appeared to my friend as the answer to decades of prayer. Finally, his ship was going to come in, thank God!
My friend’s greatest gift is his absolute faith in God. And yet the enemy came right into the middle of that gift, coaxed a small bit of flesh back to life, and hid right behind it. My friend’s strong faith became his greatest weakness – to the extent that when people questioned the motives of this wolf in sheep’s clothing, even old friends – he would shut them off as if they were questioning God Himself; the enemy caused him to confuse his belief in this fellow for his faith in God the Provider.
The results have been catastrophic. This fellow ended up being a high-level conman of the worst kind, one posing as a Christian minister. He has been arrested by the civil authorities and is being brought to justice. But before the authorities put a stop to his scam, he had gained access to a number of prominent and wealthy people — under the covering of my friend – and ended up ripping them off for an enormous amount of money.
Lots of people lost money in this guy’s web of deceit. Sadly, however, it looks like my friend may be the biggest victim of them all. While the other victims only lost money, my friend’s hard-earned esteem is being trashed – and it’s easier to get back stolen money than a squandered reputation.
The enemy comes to kill, steal and destroy, and all it takes is one small foothold, one little piece of living flesh to hide behind.
This whole episode has caused me to look at my own life, and led me to be doubly vigilant to “die daily” as Paul did. Wherever even a speck of my flesh is alive, I wish to crucify it with Christ, as painful as that can be. This isn’t just a good idea or a “religious” concept for me anymore. It is life or death.
This is all the more reason for us to join together in full fellowship according to The Way of Christ. When we are stuck in a “church” system that has threads of individuality, competition, popularity, or positional authority woven in, we can easily be led to shut off the words of correction offered by others, even our closest friends.
But we need each other, like a herd of buffalo circling around their young to protect them from a prowling lion, and God knows this. That’s why His Way calls for us to share all things in common and truly knit together as the Body. When we do this, we can watch out for each other – and truly receive the rebuke and correction that is often necessary for each and every one of us to keep our surveillance systems clear. Outside of the Way, we are in harm’s way.
We do have a real enemy, and he does come to steal, kill and destroy. While we are on this earth, in these jars of clay, none of us is immune. Be self-controlled and alert.
He who has eyes to see, let him see…
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends!
The Big Adventure: God’s Kingdom, our Promised Land
Are you up for an adventure?
I am convinced there simply must be more to our faith than what we’re experiencing today, and I can’t rest till I find it.
I mean, we claim that we trust the Bible and strive to follow its instructions. So why is it that, when we read about The Way the early church functioned, it seems so foreign? Why does the way we follow our “religion” seem to have more in common with the Pharisees and Romans who persecuted our faith’s founding fathers – not just in practice, but in results. When’s the last time you saw a real, honest-to-goodness, in-your-face miracle? It was a daily occurrence back then.
Something’s just not right. I mean, we have the same Word they did, with the same promises of guidance, provision, power and victory. We have the same Father, the same Savior, the same Spirit and the same divine destiny. In fact, we’re more advanced in knowledge, technology and organization today than they were back then. And yet, compared to their vibrant, growing, influential, adventurous, miracle-filled Body life, we are by and large languishing in hollow, powerless, tradition-bound, entertainment-oriented, personality-driven social clubs we call “church.”
What’s up?
Is the Biblical record of the early church simply a collection of fables?
Did God change His plans, cancel His promises, or withdraw His Spirit from the earth?
Is The Way no longer how God wants us to function?
Is the enemy more powerful than Christ, and we’re not really “more than conquerors”?
Is our faith irrelevant in the modern world?
If we think we’re doing things “right,” then these are the only possible explanations for the fact our “church” is night-and-day different from the early Church.
If you, like me, reject these explanations, then we must come to the conclusion that the way we are practicing our faith and fellowship today is simply way, way off the mark. This is the only possible way to explain why what we call “church” is so different from what’s clearly spelled out in the Bible, both in practice and results: We have wandered from The Way.
I, for one, believe the Bible is accurate, God is who He says He is, His promises are still true, His Spirit is still present, Christ is supreme, we are more than conquerors in Him, and our faith is every bit as relevant today as it has been since the dawn of time.
And because of this, I march forward with the certainty that we can and should return to The Way God desires for us, and that when we do, our cultural tide will turn, signs and wonders will abound, and the Kingdom of God will once again advance towards dominion on earth as it is in Heaven.
Now I’m no fool. From personal experience and what I read in the Bible, I know that returning to the simplicity and power of The Way will be the most challenging journey we’ve undertaken. The enemy wants us to remain bound up in tradition, ritual, “religion,” and rigid organizational structures. The world wants us to sit nice and quiet inside our steeple-topped boxes. Our “church”-bound brethren will think we’re “rocking the boat” or have lost our minds.
The deck seems stacked against us. Getting from here back to The Way can seem like an impossible journey. But our faith demands we pursue it!
The Apostle Paul made clear that, in God’s eyes, under the New Covenant, those of us who have faith in Jesus are the true Israel. Because of this, I believe the experience of the Old Covenant Israelites in Egypt, and their journey to the Promised Land, is a divine foreshadowing of where we are right now, and where we need to go.
Like they were then, today we are slaves to a religious system that requires us to give up our day of rest to primp and rush to participate in a pre-fab, tradition-based, shallow, Sunday morning show. This system hoards the Lion’s share of our offerings to build opulent edifices and grand pyramids (that is, organizations built under positional authority). It exalts a select group of “clergy” whom we are to obey and bankroll. Worst of all, by controlling our language and traditions, this system has convinced us that to escape from it will mean certain spiritual death.
Yet our Savior came to set us free, and to proclaim a Kingdom to come, that is our rightful inheritance! In Him, we have a grand destiny, with the absolute pledge of divine guidance, power and provision as we push forward to claim it.
Yes, it will be rough. We’ll be forging into the unknown, facing unimaginable obstacles and hostile enemies. There will no doubt be times that some among us will long to return to the days of slavery, when being a “Christian” meant nothing more than sitting in a pew, forgetting how empty and weak we were under that system.
But we can’t go back, and we can’t have both. To pursue God’s Way demands we make a choice, go all-in, and never look back. We must summon the courage to face the unknown. Our loving Father has engineered it this way, so that our journey can make us more dependent on Him, stronger in faith, and more closely connected to each other.
Like the Israelites advancing towards the Promised Land, our quest for The Way is really a long-awaited homecoming. Just as the Israelites dwelled in the Promised Land before they abandoned it, true, organic, dynamic Church is where we come from. Just like their original migration to Egypt, I’m sure our journey away from The Way made sense at the time; as famine drove the Israelites to Pharoah’s land, our early Church fathers were under brutal Roman persecution. And like the promise of property to settle near the Nile, Constantine’s offer of institutionalization probably seemed like a great blessing at the time.
And just like the Israelites in Egypt, the passage of time has brought us to the same spiritual bondage experienced during Moses’ boyhood. How much longer do we have to languish before we rise up and break free?
Staying in spiritual Egypt – that is, sitting silent in pews, stuffing bulletins and slaving on committees as acts of “ministry work,” trying not to sleep during the “sermon,” letting the bulk of our giving be squandered for buildings and staff, going along to get along – is just not a viable alternative. I’d have to flush everything I’ve learned, most of it the hard way, down the toilet. I’d need a spiritual lobotomy, and I refuse.
A great adventure lies ahead. We have a wilderness to endure, a community to forge, enemies to battle, a river to cross, and a Kingdom to establish. We can’t know what it will look like; thankfully, we are promised victory, and we can rely on the Spirit at every step.
Yes the advance of freedom will be hard. But the words of Joshua and Caleb, spoken on the banks of the Jordan as they gazed into the Promised Land, still ring true today: “If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’” (Numbers 14:8)
Will you join us?
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends!
Distinguishing between God and “church”
I remember as kid being forced to sit in a hard pew during Sunday “church services.” My mom would hand me some crayons and a piece of paper, or a small toy, or a snack, so I would be inconspicuously entertained as the music played and the holy man talked. Whatever it took, I guess, to keep me from being a distraction to the people who were there to “worship.” “Be quite,” I was often told. “This is God’s house.”
Occasionally, my father would give me some pocket change to “give to God” by putting it in the offering plate. I still recall a mental image of some guy behind the scenes stuffing all the offerings into a big bag and taking it to “God” in His office at the top of a tall building. What He did with it after that, I never knew.
The “services” were long, boring and way over my head. One time, I counted all the times I thought the pastor should have said “amen” during a long prayer. As I recollect, he could have finished that flowery oration more than a dozen times, but he just kept going on and on and on, until the long-awaited “amen” finally came, freeing me from the uncomfortable hands-folded/head-bowed position.
Often on the way to “church” my parents would argue, or yell at us kids, or say bad things about some other member they were at odds with. The anger and frustration would be thick, yet as soon as we stepped out of the car, we had to smile and act like everything was just great. “We’re at church,” was the reason given for the sudden suppression of true feelings. Of course we had to be “nice” and put on our Sunday best whenever we visited “God’s house,” didn’t we?
I was too young to know the details, but I recall my father many times coming home fit-to-be-tied after some or another “church” committee meeting. “They” were all a bunch of self-serving, incompetent idiots, and just didn’t “get it,” was basic gist of his reports.
Sure we kids sang the little song, “the church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is the people…” But we did it in a building, with a steeple, that we called “church,” so this quaint little ditty really made no sense at all. Even back then, I think I knew what “hypocrite” meant. “The medium is the message,” Marshall McLuhan said. True that.
When I grew older and finally moved from home – after all the Sunday school classes with sugary, goody-two-shoes teachers … all the V-BS arts and crafts, flannel graphs and Kumbaya sing-alongs … all the gold stars for getting my memory verses right … all the youth functions with some dorky, over-the-hill dude who tried too hard to be cool to “connect” with us kids … all the countless “services,” and “sermons,” and potlucks in the fellowship hall – I was finally given a choice of whether or not I wanted to get up early on Sunday morning to “go to church.” Of course, my reaction was not just “no” but “hell no.”
Who really wants a God who is distant and dull? I mean, if His “house” is so boring and fake, His designated holy men are so namby-pamby, His “services” are so repetitive and rote, and His “church”-going “children” so superficial and divided – and if, in the end, after all our effort and expense to be active in “church” we’re really no different than our neighbors who actually get to sleep late on Sundays – what’s the real point of it all? I sure as heck didn’t see it.
I still don’t see the point. Thankfully, however, I’m now able to distinguish between the reality of the Living God, and the box we’ve put Him into after 2,000 years of tradition … between the things God truly does for and through us, and the things we’ve done ourselves “in His name” … between His true children (those who are led by the Spirit), and those who simply claim to “believe” … between God’s organic design for Church, and the clergy-led social clubs we call “church.”
But back then, however, the very thought that the true God was way different from (and also displeased with) “church” as we know it was not in my frame of reference. So I walked away from “church,” and pretty darn near walked away from Him, too. Had I only known then what I know now, I would have been spared loads of heartache.
Thankfully, my Good Shepherd left the 99 others and came after me. He had to chase me halfway across the country, and through quite a few dark places, but He got me, and I’ve been with Him ever since. Now, I haven’t been in “church” so much – I sat through a “service” only a handful of times during a recent decade! – but I’ve been blessed with an ever-closer walk with Him. Odd, isn’t it, that the further the “organized church” gets in my rearview mirror, the closer I get to Him? Maybe that’s not so odd after all.
You see, a big problem with the way we practice “church” today is that we can be so adamant in claiming our way of practicing “church” is the only way to connect with God, that when people reject our way, they end up rejecting our God, too. This happens way, way more often that most “church” people realize.
(“Well, they never came to my ‘church,’” you may say. You must realize, I’m not just talking about the specific way it’s practiced at “XYZ Church,” I’m talking about the whole dadgum thing we call “church” today – the whole show-up-at-the-designated-time, face-the-front, sing-the-music, listen-to-the-lecture, put-the-money-in-the-basket thing – because that sure as heck isn’t “church” as God designed it. I don’t care how much your “church” dresses it up or claims to be “non-traditional” or “relevant” – or, on the flip side, how diligently you’ve kept the traditions of your denomination’s founders – if you recognize a distinction between “clergy” and “laymen,” you think a “service” is a pre-set time and way of meeting, or you think funding your local “church” is equal to giving money to God, then yes, I’m talking about your “church.”)
Fact is, whether they leave from burnout, woundedness, boredom, a subconscious realization that our traditional practices are hollow and man-made, or seeing that we Christians can’t agree on even the smallest things with the folks at the “church” down the road, “back-door losses” are a big issue in churchianity. In all my efforts at evangelism, I must say, this seems to be THE primary reason most of the “lost” in our culture don’t want to get found: They, or someone who influences them has been there, done that, and got the bloody t-shirt to show for their experience in “church.” Truly, I do believe that what we have done “for” God all these years has driven more people away from Him than the devil himself. The devil can only offer emptiness, shallow “solutions,” and short-term “pleasure.” We’ve been doing the same, only we’ve been stamping Jesus’ name on it.
The fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, kindness, mercy, self-control – is what everyone in the history of the world has ever looked for. And it can only be found in an authentic relationship with God through Jesus Christ. And this can only be fully experienced in Body life as He designed it. Jesus Christ – as manifest through His true Body on earth – is the authentic hope of the nations, and the true, deepest desire of every human being. When we finally get this, we will be an unstoppable force.
But to get it, we must learn to separate God from churchianity, and choose which one we will serve. Because the two are NOT the same.
Introducing people to God through Jesus Christ is entirely unrelated to inviting them to “church.” In fact, inviting them to “church” is quite often the very worst thing we can do for them!
We must learn to truly trust God. If we do our job and personally introduce people to Him, He certainly reserves the right to lead them to plug into a “church” and participate in “services.” And if He does, more power to them! If He doesn’t, then we must realize that Father knows best.
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends!
Unity? On what basis?
I believe it is clear that God desires a new expression of Church today. The tired, man-made, tradition-bound system of “church” buildings, committees, clergy, ritualistic Sunday gatherings, etc., is just too far removed from His written Word, and too far out of touch with the needs of people today.
I am a die-hard optimist. By nature, I usually see the best in people, I sympathize with and overlook their shortcomings, and I tend to put hope in them long after others write them off as hopeless. Where it comes to the possibility that the leaders of “churchianity” can lead our institutions to change from the inside-out, my hope is fast fading.
My pastors have always been my heroes. But for the intervention of God, I nearly followed their footsteps to seminary and professional pulpiteering. I have great respect for the giftedness, passion and sincerity of most “church” leaders I know. I am thankful for my Sunday School and confirmation experiences. Many old hymns, modern praise songs, liturgical prayers, and fiery sermons can still stir me to spiritual euphoria.
But I realize now that my fondness for these things is borne from tradition, and that not one of these things has any relation whatsoever to that which God calls Church. From pastors to pews, from steeples to “services,” and from committees to pre-fab curriculums, every single thing we know as “church” is manmade, and virtually all of it comes from our forefathers’ efforts to emulate the practices of paganism.
As the Lord has brought me on a long-term journey of gradual understanding of these things, I’ve had great hope that my friends and heroes who are stuck in churchianity would be similarly motivated to pursue God’s truth, and would allow Him to lead us together to make the changes He desires in how we relate and function as His Body.
I’ve patiently and passionately sought to speak cautiously when called upon, bite my tongue when necessary, encourage, edify, and gently correct at the appropriate times. I’ve sat quietly, sung along, and prayed much. I don’t know, maybe God has led me down this trail so I could see that there indeed is no point in hoping for true reformation and revival to come from within the “churchianity industrial complex.”
What I’ve consistently seen is this: Even the most “non-traditional” leaders in “church” today are so personally invested in the status quo that they believe “unity” is found in everyone agreeing to do things “the pastor’s way.” This is something they just can’t seem to let go of. If we could all just act like we enjoy the music, his sermons and the flow of the “service,” then everything would be peaches and cream. If folks would come to their senses and sign up to give their time to the committee positions he deems necessary, then the work of the “ministry” could finally get some traction. If we all grew up and put ten percent of our income in his offering plate, then God could really get something done around here.
In this setting, it’s perceived as “divisive” for “church members,” outside of his earshot, to discuss any alternative ways of functioning. (“If you don’t like the way we do things, then you should just leave…,” is the general mantra. Does this attitude please God?) In this setting, activities not sanctioned by the Central Coordinating Committee (by whatever formal title it goes by) are rarely considered to be true ministry.
And sadly, in this setting, the headship of Christ is a foreign concept.
When the Apostle Paul spoke about unity, he talked about unity of the Spirit, and unity of the faith. He did not talk about nor seek to establish unity in the gathering format, or music styles, or committee structure, or the “clergy’s” way of organizing things. He knew that we can only grow together when we are each – individually and communally – growing into the headship of Christ.
If we take Jesus as our model – the Man who said that He came to bring not peace but a sword – then we get a glimpse of what Paul meant. The only unity Jesus practiced was grounded upon the truth of God’s Kingdom. He spoke vehemently against the Pharisees who sought “unity” through religious practices.
We should seek unity in truth, and nothing less. If the truth threatens the “church,” then maybe that “church” needs to be threatened!
I say it’s time we all spoke openly about the status quo, and whether it is indeed the best way we can honor God with our time, talents and treasures. Questioning the “order of service,” or the style of music, or the organizational structure, or committee decisions, or how the “church board” was selected or put in charge in the first place, is not a personal attack on anyone, so why should it be taken as such? Why should truth-seeking people who are hungry to please God be wrongly maligned as divisive gossips?
If this truly is God’s work, then let God’s people talk about it. Let’s get it out in the open! Let’s let the Spirit move! Let’s search for the truth together, so that we can unify around it! What are we afraid of?
If enough of us engage in productive, healthy, God-pleasing (yet possibly tradition-threatening) dialogue, then something’s gotta give. If “they” kick us out of their “church,” then fine; we must trust God has a better way for us to get together, and trust His Spirit to lead us there.
What we can’t do is wait indefinitely for them to “get it.” Because, as history shows, they’re just not gonna. They’d rather crucify us first.
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends!
Ready for true Church? Then let’s give God the steering wheel!
If you keep up with my blog, you know that lately God has been doing some serious re-wiring of my mind, especially in the area of “leadership.” I’ve come to realize that the modern idea of a leader – by definition “the guiding head of an organization” – is not a role any person is called to play. Instead, God desires that we come under the headship of Christ and allow Him to call the shots, through His Holy Spirit. God certainly does call coordinators, instigators, administrators and agitators from time to time, but every Biblical example of this shows these people are to serve for a reason and a season, under step-by-step direction from God, and they are not to solidify their authority or seek to hold onto it beyond the term of their specific project.
This is 180 degrees contrary to the way we have built “churchianity” today. As a Body (or, rather, as a widely fragmented assortment of “church bodies”), we have chosen a “leadership” model which is nothing like what God desires, where we designate a flesh-and-blood man to serve as the “head” of our congregation, most often under the authority of a voting board of directors.
When the Israelites, in rebellion against God, demanded an earthly king, their stated reasons for wanting one were: 1) so they could be like all the other nations, 2) to judge them, 3) to go out before (represent and guide) them, and 4) to fight their battles for them. If you get to the heart of it, this is exactly why we subscribe to the traditional “churchianity” leadership structure today – and we do it unashamedly.
Sadly, for the vast majority of Christians, this man-made, not-God-pleasing organizational structure is the very definition of “church” – even though it has absolutely nothing with that word as God defines it! For them, anything else simply is not “church.”
Along with my posts I have recently had several good conversations on this topic, some with folks who are staunch defenders of the status quo. Often, when they run out of Biblical legs to stand on (because there IS nothing in the Bible that justifies the status quo) they turn to the practical and ask, “so…what do you propose as an alternative?”
Great question!
My answer is this: It’s something we haven’t seen on this earth in more than 1700 years, and it’s so far outside our frame of reference that a lot of folks will throw stones and say, “that’s not church!” (Remember, Jesus said, “the old wine tastes better.”) At the same time, I believe God will lean forward on His throne with a smile and, looking down, say, “Aaaah, finally someone is starting to get it again!”
True ekklesia/koinoneia (the Greek words we translate as “church”) is nothing more than a deep, intimate fellowship of those who are called out by God to advance His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. It was called The Way by the earliest Christians, and it is a “religion” without ceremony, or professional clergy, or dedicated assets, or a specific meeting time, or a mailing address. Instead, it is a bottom-up, inside-out, Spirit-led movement with the power to transform individuals, families and whole communities.
It is a growing family of people who have a personal relationship with God through the Holy Spirit, who frequently gather in each other’s homes to praise Him and report on His daily interactions with them, who bond together to serve each other so that nobody in the family lacks anything, and who freely pool all their earthly resources to truly serve those in need.
True Church, as God intends it, is fully under the headship of Christ. What I mean by this is that each and every member has a personal connection with His Holy Spirit, and receives their direction from Him alone. They each recognize their God-given giftedness, and give it fully to each other, so that the Body is infinitely stronger than the sum of its parts. (Yes, administration – as in, serving the Body by coordinating efforts – is a lesser spiritual gift, but that does not justify building all our “church” structure around this single function, as we have.)
And so, when I’m talking with folks who have asked this question, this is where they tend to jump in and say, “You can’t really believe that, can you? That sounds like utter chaos to me! People most definitely DO need an earthly leader … otherwise, what’s to keep them all from going different directions?” (Very similar to the Israelite reasons Nos. 2 and 3 for demanding a king, wouldn’t you say?)
Bingo! This is where the heart of the issue lies. It’s all about trusting God! You see, I, for one, have never seen the Spirit of God contradict Himself. If He gives me a direction, and He wants us to work together, then He’s going to give you the same direction. God is not the author of confusion!
If we are doing our job, and helping our brothers and sisters grow closer to Him and discern His Living Word – and if we truly have a real relationship with God ourselves – then we simply must trust that He knows what He’s doing. “His sheep know His voice,” by the way, and “whoever is led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.” This is what we’re supposed to be all about!
The next issue that comes up is, “well, how are we going to pay for all that, anyway? If everyone is off doing what they think God wants them to do, it’d be very expensive!” Are you kidding me? You really asked that? So 1) you DON’T think people should do what God directs them to do because it might be beyond the “church” budget, and 2) if they do seek to be obedient to His calling, you question God’s ability to pay for it all? Last I checked, it was Jesus Himself who told us to seek first His Kingdom and righteousness, and that if we do, God will provide everything we need and then some. I, for one, believe that His Word is true!
I hate to say it but it’s inescapable: For someone to throw out these issues as reasons not to pursue The Way of true Spirit-led fellowship makes me question whether they truly know the leading of the Spirit themselves. If they truly knew His personal voice, trusted His profound promises, and experienced His divine provision, then they would passionately want others to experience this Way of life for themselves, and would not be afraid that “it won’t work.”
Sadly, these objections have come to me mainly from those who have a vested interested in preserving the status quo. I’d chuckle at the irony, but it’s really not that ironic when you think about it. Makes perfect sense, really.
As for resources, why should a “church” settle for trying to squeeze 10% (with the average being much less than that) out of its members? When the early Church followed The Way, they literally received 100% from those who were involved – they sold all they had and pooled it to keep advancing His Kingdom! And the Lord added to their number daily!
If we want Book of Acts results in our world today, we need to do it The Way they did back then. God’s been waiting a long time for us to get it. What are WE waiting for?
Yes, it’ll be a big adventure. Yes, we’ll be forging into the great unknown. But I, for one, trust our Guide. Do you?
– You are the salt of the world. Stay salty, my friends!
