A "Ninevite" Revival

I am fascinated, yet also perplexed, by calls from CGGC mountaintoppers for change in our churches.

Lance has talked about the need for repentance several times in his eNews articles.  And, in the last issue of The CHURCH ADVOCATE, he referenced the need for change several times.

A few days ago, the people of the ERC, at least those who read the mailings that come from ERC staff, read what I consider to be an important article from Dave Williams to which I responded and said, among other things,

...it may concern you to know that I see many hopeful signs in what you have written.  It may also concern you to know that, from my point of view, your are moving toward values and principles I stand for and am attempting to put into action in my own setting.

Dave hasn't replied to my note yet and I sincerely hope he's not cowering in the corner of a darkened room at the mere thought that I see him as moving toward the values and principles I stand for.

In my note to Dave I highlighted this passage from his article:

Thriving churches honestly seek out how they have sinned against God individually and corporately then repent of those sins. They have a humbleness and brokenness—we can’t do this alone. Anything good will come only by the grace of God and through the power of His Holy Spirit.

I don't actually agree with this because I see, in it, the sin of Ecclesiolatry (which is one of the Characteristics of the CGGC Brand) but I would agree if Dave had used the word, disciples or saints, or if he had mentioned followers of Jesus, for example:

Thriving disciples/saints/followers of Jesus honestly seek out how they have sinned against God individually and corporately then repent of those sins. They have a humbleness and brokenness—we can’t do this alone. Anything good will come only by the grace of God and through the power of His Holy Spirit."

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I have some thoughts about this rising tidal wave of calls for change in the CGGC:

1.  I am blessed by Dave's insight that godly change comes from awareness of sin and of repentance of sin that is the fruit of humility and brokenness.  What Dave has written, is, to my knowledge, new from mountaintoppers.  To this point, as my pastor friend noted in the blog I entered the other day, self-styled CGGC leaders normally think of change in terms of our churches' implementation of a Conference's new endeavor or program.  What my friend, and now Dave, say is that we need to begin with a change of heart.

While Lance may also think that, I don't read that in what he has written, at least when he writes about change itself.

2.  Dave, in my opinion, hits on an essential biblical truth that was core to the heart of the ministry of the Church of God in Winebrenner's generation: Conversion of sinners (Winebrenner) or thriving in the life of the disciple (Dave)  has its root in humility and brokenness.

Paul says that it is godly grief that produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret.

Hence, from his early days, Winebrenner employed the mourners' bench.

Our Shepherd Mafia has always defied this core truth in favor of mellow relationships and the conviction that there can be spiritual gain without pain.  There is no biblical foundation for the shepherds' conviction.

I applaud Dave for his courage in defying the Shepherd Mafia in praising awareness of sin, repentance and humility and brokenness.

3.  Having said that, I also note that I think that our leaders are being typically tone deaf in the way they are calling for change.  They are calling for change as if the call for change is something new in the CGGC.  The truth is, however, that the Shepherd Mafia is always calling for change.  Every year, often more than once in a year, there is a new fad coming down from the mountaintops calling for change!  "Hear the Call."  "Transformational Church."  "Missional Leadership"  "Natural Church Development."  "Spiritual Gifts."  "35,000 by 2000."  As Seinfeld said, "Yada yada yada."

A core characteristic of our brand is, indeed, Faddism, as the last sentence demonstrates.

Our leaders are tone deaf because they seem to be unaware that our people have been hearing calls for change continually for decades and, based on the failure of each and every new initiative that comes down from the mountaintops, our people are now too cynical to hear those calls.  Many, in fact, resent them.

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4.  Finally, and to the point suggested by this post's title, I am convinced that the only way there will be change in the CGGC is if the leadership culture changes first--and dramatically.

When I praised Dave, I said this:

As I understand CGGC history, our congregations are what they are today because their Conference and General Conference leadership has led them to be what they have become.

 

For years now,...the Spirit has been telling me that any revival that may take place among us will be the sort of revival described in the Book of Jonah where the leader, the King, openly repented and turned from sin, putting on sackcloth and led all of the people--even the animals of Nineveh--in a way of living that way a cry for God's mercy...

 

I am certain, in the Spirit, that no revival will take place in the CGGC until people leading our General Conference and our Regions do, before the entire body, what you are saying thriving churches do.  That, I believe, is the only way the CGGC will, as you say, thrive.

 

You and others in positions similar to you will have to display the openness and brokenness you describe and you will have to do it transparently before our people.  You will have to do a 21st century version of putting on sackcloth. 

 

People in our congregations won't humble themselves until they see that the people asking them for humility are willing to practice humility themselves.

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I say this with a considerable degree of prophetic confidence.

Our people have heard calls for change bellowed into their ears so many times and for so many years that they are deaf to them.  Lance can call attention to the statistics and beg for change but his call will fall on deaf ears.  Dave, for all his insight, can point out the importance of awareness of sin and repentance and of humility and brokenness, but our people will be unmoved.

The problem is with the mountaintop.  And the solution will be there as well.

I'm serious.

...our congregations are what they are today because their Conference and General Conference leadership has led them to be what they have become.

The Shepherd Mafia created our debacle and decline.

It is they who will have to repent first.  They will have to do it from the heart.  They will have to do it publically and openly in tears.  They will have to confess sin--sin which they do not yet acknowledge.  They will have to confess it to the Lord and, then, to the body. 

Then they will have to live repentance.

Then, and only then, will they be able to ask the body to change.

This is the pattern of what happened in the Book of Jonah.  It would be a Ninevite revival.

We must repent.  From the top down.