Boring Churches

Can you imagine adults sitting in a large classroom listening to the same tired old talks about adding 2 + 2 and how to spell c-a-t? Yet we do that in many church assemblies. No wonder so many Christian people stop attending services. They are bored to distraction by elementary teachers repeating elementary teachings to adults.

As an educator I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that for several years of church work I failed to realize that some adult believers are babes in Christ who need milk but others are grown-up adults who can chew meat. I suppose I came by that point of view because I always attended churches that gathered adults together in one big room to be "fed" by the "Pastor/ Shepherd of the sheep." (We were the sheep.) Everybody ate the same food and we all sat with mouths open in anticipation whether we had just come to the Lord or were veterans of fifty spiritual years.

Hebrews 6 gives us a completely different point of view. When I read it I can clearly see that the Spirit who inspired the Bible understood developmental stages of growth and change. God is an educator who develops some teachings for Babes and others for Disciples and still more for us in Ministry. Would we present the same things to my four-year-old grand daughter as we would to her mother?

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

3 And God permitting, we will do so. (NIV)

Any Pastor who wants to really feed his/her people will develop ways to discern where they are spiritually and offer them food that is specifically designed for that stage of spiritual growth. Most people covet large numbers with lots of money and bottoms in the pews. They love fat churches not big, strong, healthy churches. No wonder there is so little long term change happening. Only by making strong disciples will we become effective in our ministries.

Have Pastors Abandoned Ministry?

American pastors are abandoning their posts, left and right, and at an alarming rate. They are not leaving their churches and getting other jobs. Congregations still pay their salaries. Their names remain on the church stationary and they continue to appear in pulpits on Sundays. But they are abandoning their posts, their calling. They have gone whoring after other gods. What they do with their time under the guise of pastoral ministry hasn’t the remotest connection with what the church’s pastors have done for most of twenty centuries.

A few of us are angry about it. We are angry because we have been deserted…. It is bitterly disappointing to enter a room full of people whom you have every reason to expect share the quest and commitments of pastoral work and find within ten minutes that they most definitely do not. They talk of images and statistics. They drop names. They discuss influence and status. Matters of God and the soul and Scripture are not grist for their mills.

The pastors of America have metamorphosed into a company of shopkeepers, and the shops they keep are churches. They are preoccupied with shopkeeper’s concerns–how to keep the customers happy, how to lure customers away from competitors down the street, how to package the goods so that the customers will lay out more money.

Some of them are very good shopkeepers. They attract a lot of customers, pull in great sums of money, develop splendid reputations. Yet it is still shopkeeping; religious shopkeeping, to be sure, but shopkeeping all the same. The marketing strategies of the fast-food franchise occupy the waking minds of these entrepreneurs; while asleep they dream of the kind of success that will get the attention of journalists.

The biblical fact is that there are no successful churches. There are, instead, communities of sinners, gathered before God week after week in towns and villages all over the world. The Holy Spirit gathers them and does his work in them. In these communities of sinners, one of the sinners is called pastor and given a designated responsibility in the community. The pastor’s responsibility is to keep the community attentive to God. It is this responsibility that is being abandoned in spades.”

From the introduction of Working the Angles written by Eugene Peterson

Do you agree or disagree with Dr. Peterson? Are you uncomfortable reading this? Is he just judgmental and out of touch?

Comments?

Idolatry

I posted an interesting article on my other blog Spiritual Healing and Growth about idols. Take a look.

You shall have no other gods before me!

Can Christians be blamed for Everything?

There is a movement abroad in the land to quell complaints by non Christians about the beliefs and behavior of Christians and churches. Many current surveys say that some young people see Christians as "Right Wing Bible Thumpers" who hate sinners.

We who follow Christ are, of course, struck to the core by such charges and we want to defend ourselves from them. One way to stop these accusations is to stop all our preaching and teaching about what we really believe. Non believers love that strategy. This is one reason pro abortion groups attack Tim Tebow's public statements about his mother deciding not to abort him. Will such a plan really work for Christians? Will critics stop attacking us if we stop our commitment to the Bible? NO!

Another way to stop these complaints is to go do good works in the community. If we love people and give them stuff then non believers cannot complain. We can prove that we are good, kind and caring. Will that work? Will we always be applauded if we do good works? NO!

First, the world is often blinded to God's word and His works. We must, of course, be loving and kind and caring whether people God gets credit or not. One of the most powerful statements Steve Sjogren even penned was, "With no strings attached". We serve with no strings attached or it is not serving.

Asking people to affirm us and brag on us for doing God's works is a string. I know people "SHOULD" be appreciative but if that is our demand we are not loving but selling our kindnesses. We love because He first loved us not because we get applause.

Will the secularists, atheists, Voodoo Priests and critics affirm Evangelicals for what is being done in Haiti? Some will but most will not. The Chief Voodoo Priest in Haiti is complaining about the way what he calls, "Evangelical Christians" are refusing to help his flock. He is not criticizing Voodoo leaders from around the world or atheist leaders or secularist leaders. He is focusing on Evangelical leaders only as far as I can tell. Why is that so? Would you like to say what you think?

Grow in God's Love

A list of the Fruit of the Holy Spirit is found in Galatians 5:22ff. It is a way of seeing all the multiple dimensions of Love. Since Love is the greatest attribute of the Christian life, it is important for us to consider how to get more of it in our lives and how to show it in practical ways.

Many writers have explained the various kinds of Love. We know that God's Love is called agape in the Greek Bible. Agape is sometimes explained as "sacrificial love" or "servant love". One of my teachers said it is "Wanting, willing, feeling and doing the best for another person, under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, with no expectation of anything in return. That is a long and complicated explanation but covers all the bases.

Many years ago the founders of America gave a town on the East Coast a name to inspire the citizens. The name means "brotherly love" and was intended to say, "This is a place dedicated to God's love and loving relationships among the people". Do you know the town that received that nice name? (see the end of the story.)

But the most popular use of Love often has nothing to do with sacrifice or commitment. The term Love to describe a strong liking for things. "I love chocolate" is often heard but that really means hunger and lust. And, when sex enters the scene the term gets all mixed up.

Maybe that is why St. Paul came up with a whole list of things that arises out of God's Love and the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The list in Galatians 5 includes the term Love but expands its meaning to include peace, gentleness, kindness, patience, joy, self control, etc. By doing this the Holy Spirit inspired writers of the Bible came up with ways to expand our awareness, understanding and self analysis. Whereas it gets awfully confusing to try to analyze our "Love Quotient" we can get a pretty good idea how we are progressing toward loving people when we check ourselves on a scale of self control and peace.

So, take a look at the chart above and use a scale of 0-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 with 0 as the worst of anyone you know and 10 as Jesus to assess how you are doing today on the various aspects of the Fruit. Think about your behavior with the family, friends, co-workers and strangers to get an idea about where you need to ask the Holy Spirit to nudge you forward a point or two.

A Model of Healthy Growing Churches

There are few congregations that seem to understand what is necessary to build a church that actually transforms Unbelievers into Believers who are fairly functional and above average in mental, emotional, relational and physical health. In fact, it seems to me that there are few Christian leaders who even think such a thing is possible or even desirable. Otherwise there would be Ministers and Elders clamoring for someone to show them how to accomplish growth and healing.

The little image above is an attempt to draw interlocking and overlapping circles that show the major dimensions of church systems. Overall we can think of a church as being system of systems. Each system and sub system has different roles and different goals.

First the church is a Hospital for broken, wounded, fallen and falling Christians. A hospital means that the hurting people come to a place where there are well trained and loving people who will assist them in getting better. Every born again Christian has birth defects that can be healed but healing and growth requires a great deal of hard work, expertise and prayer.

Second, the church must be a school. Every other system depends upon the school system to train people who can carry out their jobs with insight, wisdom and skill.

A church is also an army that must be well trained to repel the enemy of our soul and occupy the Kingdom of God.

At the center of all is the family that provides new babies, care, love and nurture.

All there activities are ongoing and concurrent. When every part works together the congregation becomes a healing-growth community.

Why Are Churches so Dysfunctional?

There are several POSSIBLE answers to this question:

1. Churches are NOT dysfunctional; members are holy

2. It is due to bad preaching or short sermons or poor theology

3. The members are not willing to change by submitting to Christ

4. Sin is worse now than ever before

5. Sin is deep and change is difficult requiring God's direct interventions

6. Women refuse to submit to husbands

7. Husbands refuse to love and lead their wives

8. Parents refuse to disciplining their kids

9. I do not know and do not want to talk about it

10. All or most of the above

What do you think? Write me your answers.

What Must Change?

The biggest challenge for Christians is not sharing the gospel so others can come to faith in Christ. That seems awfully clear. One must recognize that Christ died for our sins and ask God to apply the sacrifice to us. Everyone must come to salvation through Christ.

It is not necessary to know any theology or Bible in order to receive Christ. The Holy Spirit does the work. When I was young I thought getting people saved was my responsibility. I was very concerned about the style, the words and the environment. Then I heard testimonies from people who were deeply touched by the sovereign work of God and came to faith in Christ as a result. They were converted without much if any urging from people. It occurred to me that God does the work of salvation but He sometime allows me to be a witness and midwife.

But as I became a preacher, teacher and Christian Helper I saw that the remnants of the Fallen Nature continued to haunt all Believers. This meant that I needed to know how to help myself as well as others apply the most appropriate biblical remedy to their places of fleshly challenge.

In the last post I mentioned how much I learned from Dr. James Kallas whose model included three aspects of fallen nature. Bondage, Rebellion and Guilt. If that is true, then Christ's sacrifice must have been applied to all three of these horrible problems. Before a doctor can apply a remedy for a disease he/she must first diagnose the exact nature of the problem. A muscle strain is not treated like a broken bone even if both cause leg pain.

Bondage is treated differently from Rebellion and both are treated differently from Guilt.

Bondage means we are dead in trespasses and sins. We did not CHOOSE to be sick sinners but we are. Dead men tell no tales and make no big changes in their lives. Only a power greater than the Bondage can bring change.

Rebellion means we CHOOSE to act disobediently. The themes song is, "I'll do it my way". It is ego, self focused and narcissistic.

True Moral Guilt is not a feeling. It is a forensic fact that when we trespass of the law we are guilty whether we "feel" guilty or not.

So, when Christ came to earth and agreed to redeem us from our fallen natures, he had to take care of all three of these issues. If Christ had made us alive in a New Birth but had not taken care of our True Moral Guilt we would still be in trouble with God. Guilt requires Just Punishment and Jesus took care of the Justice we deserved through Justification or Forgiveness.

And, if had Jesus not also taken care of our Rebellion and turned us around from our obsessive path toward destruction, we would be in trouble. We would continue to be pursuing behavior that rebels against God. But Christ also Converted us and turned us around when He also Justified us and gave us new life through the New Birth. All three problems were solved.

Christ's life, death, burial and resurrection offers a New Birth, Justification and Conversion. He covered all three of the main issues remaining from then Fall. Praise His Name!

Now what? Is that all? I used to think so. But I was troubled. Everyone I met had deep problems from a lack of personal Identity. That went along with a lack of understanding their spiritual Inheritance. Most of us are deeply damaged. What is that called? I read, studied and prayed and came to a biblical conclusion. There was a fourth dimension of the Fallen Nature. I discovered that the Bible called it SHAME.

SHAME! What is that? In the Bible Shame is shown to be theologically, spiritually and emotionally different from Guilt. True Moral Guilt has to do with Justice with condemnation or Punishment. Shame has to do with a loss of Identity and Inheritance. The result is deep emotional scars and relational conflicts.

Adam and Eve were born free of sickness, sin and guilt. They also had a secure sense of who they were as their Identity as God's chosen people was made extremely clear. They had a conscious notion of their Inheritance.

But in Genesis 3 we see that sickness, death, rebellion, guilt and shame resulted from their decision to disobey God. The Hebrew word for shame is bwash and it means "to have a loss of face". Now what is the remedy for Shame?

My Jesus Movement Story on Revival

When I first read the review of Nobel Prize winner Robert Fogel's book, The Fourth Great Awakening, I experienced a range of emotions from stunned, excited, frustrated and fascinated to saddened. Here was an expert in economics from the University of Chicago whose studies convinced him that revivals and awakenings in American history were having an amazingly high impact on our economy, the ways we work and how we see life. That is the exciting part.

I was frustrated because it took my over ten years to even hear of Dr. Fogel and I think I am well read about such things. Even more frustrating was the fact that I have never even met another Christian leader or scholar who has heard of Fogel or the Fourth Great Awakening. Wow! No wonder the church is losing its impact on the culture. We are unaware of one of the most important works about contemporary society that has ever been written.

Here is the third reason for my sadness and frustration. I am a product of the Jesus Movement and it was that national and international move of the Holy Spirit that spawned The Fourth Great Awakening. For many years I had a hunch that the move of God among Baby Boomer college students and young adults was a significant event in God's overall plan to redeem the world but Fogel gave me a historic perspective as well as economic insight into how God moves nations and their institutions.

I am a microcosm of how God works and how God did work to change millions in the Jesus Movement. Reading that book gave me an understanding how God used organizations, movements, governments and churches to push a larger agenda in the world and how long it takes to move all the pieces around on the chess board to accomplish His will. (For example, how many generations it took to rid America of slavery through revivals, education, books, magazines, marches and awakenings.)

I came to Cincinnati as an Associate Dean in 1967. God's Spirit was moving on me but I was so young and unlearned that the inspiration He offered me was not focused or wisely released. I was asked to leave my church because I was actually but unknowingly practising one of the most important tenets of an awakening.

I started Bible study groups in homes and that radical step of independence from church authority scared the leaders who gave me "the left foot of fellowship". These groups focused on encouraging members to 1. Seek God directly in prayer; 2. Hear God directly through the Bible. 3. Take actions directly o witness, serve, care for each other, etc because all Christians are called to be ministers.

These are the primary marks of the Fourth Great Awakening and they were great threats to the clergy and religious power brokers. They still are. Especially in the large mega churches and the mainline churches.

Unleashing God's people to do God's work in the world led to the most powerful and far reaching Awakening in history and I was excited to be part of it. I still am.

On October 2 Equipping Ministries International had a big reunion weekend with a time of honoring me and others who were involved in founding the organization in 1979 at College Hill Presbyterian Church in Cincinnati. I left EMI in 1994 to found Sweeten Life Systems but the ministry keeps moving along and says that over 500,000 people have graduated from our programs. Every class, groups and talk is based on what I learned in the Jesus Movement. We must "Equip the saints to do the work of ministry."

The church is sometimes gathered but it is most powerful when it is dispersed. When ordinary Christians realize they have an extraordinary God and take Him at His word to do His works. This is the essence of The Fourth Great Awakening and why Fogel won that prize in Economics.

Pass these articles on to you family and friends. Thy need to know what God is up to. If you know of a non-defensive, open to learn clergy person also ask them to read up on these things. If you are really brave, read Fogel's book. It will blow your mind.

Flush the Viagra!

London’s Daily Telegraph reports on a frightening trend:

With every passing month, another 870,000 people turn 65 and the world’s cohort of pensioners becomes larger still. Thanks to rising life expectancy, their ranks will soon be growing by almost two million a month and, by 2040, their numbers will have doubled to 1.3 billion. . . .

People over 80 are multiplying faster than any other age group, with their ranks are set to grow by 233 per cent.


Man, there is too much Viagra around so these old people are reproducing too fast.

We need more Seasoned Believers to help us.

New Grant Coming for Marriage Mentoring

Sweeten Life systems and Hope for Cincinnati will co-sponsor another all day seminar on August 20. Tune in for more information as it develops.

Nathaniel Lett of Beech Acres asked us to consider another training session like the one we did two years ago and we said, "YES SIR!"

If you or one of your friends wants to learn how to Mentor Marriages and help them get healthier, contact me.

gary@sweetenlife.com

Seminar on Faith History

 

May 28 was a great day to interact with God and one another while learning about ourselves. The all day seminar led by Jens-Petter Jorgensen, our dear friend from Norway, touched deeply the hearts and souls of sixteen Christian leaders who sacrificed a day to grow in the love and fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

We received positive comments from a high percentage of participants. Most wanted more on this topic so they can lead others in the sam process.

Go to www.sweetenlife.com for more about us.

We shall follow up with other day long events to facilitate the growth and healing of lay and ordained leaders. Send your suggestions for topics to gary@sweetenlife.com