Sunday, July 31, 2016

Gathering: 7-31-16. Lizzy's First Appearance as Greeter

Our gatherings have not been the same since the passing of our beloved Golden Retriever Maggie, nearly two months ago.  The older people we bring from the home and who are, for all practical purposes, alone in the world loved Maggie in a childlike way and her loss affected them profoundly.

I was determined not to have another dog.  I  figured that we'd had the perfect dog and there was no reason to try it again.  However, it soon became clear to me that Evie wanted another dog much more than I didn't want one.   And, it was also clear that the intimacy of our community had been enhanced by Maggie.  And, on top of that, my mom was far less anxious when Maggie was around and less affect by Alzheimer's.

So, I gave in.

We applied at the Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue to be able to adopt through them.  They performed a home visit,  believe it or not,  and we passed.   On the 21st,  we interviewed five dogs--three Goldens and two Labs.  We called a Golden named Casey back for a second meeting and decided to take her home.  We decided to rename her Lizzy, after Jane Austen's most famous herione, Elizabeth Bennet. Incidentally, she already accepts her new name.

Her greatest attraction was she seemed as gentle and sweet as Maggie had been and it seemed she'd be perfect for mom and the kidz from the home.

It turns out that she is gentle and sweet like Maggie was.  Her temperament is slightly different than Maggie's. She is more energetic than Maggie ever was.  She growls when playing, something Maggie never ever did.  But, she is very, very sweet.

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Today, was Lizzy's first day on the job as church greeter and she was a hit.  The kidz from the home all loved her.  Marian who adored Maggie, almost broke down when Lizzy padded up to her hoping to be petted.  Marian made a sound that was part whimper and part giggle.  They bonded instantly.

The other kidz also warmed up to Lizzy at first sight.

And, she was a hit with the rest of the crowd, all of whom were meeting her for the first time.

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Song time was pleasant today.  Prayer time was earnest and more lengthy than usual.

Time taking the bread and cup focused on our reconciliation with God through Christ.

The meal was tasty and the fellowship was very pleasant.

Friday, July 29, 2016

Lance's First Post-General Conference eNews

I was awaiting it's arrival with anxious anticipation, in order to read Lance's account of and his take on what happened at General Conference.  I didn't get that.  Lance has promised that that material will come in the future but not in this edition.

What Lance gave us was the text of his written report that was included in the delegate's docket.

Here are a few of my first impressions of it:

My take is that Lance's tone suggests that he accepts as reality that he is addressing a body that is in decline.  He doesn't say that in some many words but he seems to say it with each of his words.  He argues that we can not be consumed with a concern for self-preservation.

Also, and startlingly, Lance actually refers to the CGGC as an institution. This may have been inadvertent but it is stunning to me coming from Lance.

Then, the main body of Lance's report contains three words Lance states he believes capture the essence of Jesus' mission.  Interestingly, especially to me, each word begins with the letter R.  The words are:

Reach,
Restore, and
Reproduce.

My friends, what a lost opportunity!

I don't know how many times translations of the Gospels record Jesus speaking those words.   I'm certain, though,  that there are dozens of times Jesus spoke the R word, REPENT.  Jesus calls all people to repent!

The CGGC is in decline.   The Lord is not blessing us. And, in times like this, the message of Jesus has always and will always begin with the command, "Repent."

We have no hope to be restored before the Lord ourselves unless and until we repent. Everything else comes later.

Let us repent.

We must repent.

Obstacles to Disciple Making in the CGGC

There are several and I'll mention one now.

The obstacle that may be the most difficult to overcome is that CGGC has not ignored disciple making in the past but it has been promoting a false definition of what a disciple is for a generation. That definition is the logical fruit of the CGGC's essential doctrinal error that has guided the body for 80 years.  Let me be clear, this doctrinal error is one that is practiced but is not acknowledged in any official way.

The false definition of a disciple was stated concisely, brilliantly and memorably in the 35,000 by 2000 campaign:

More and Better DISCIPLES: 35,000 in worship by 2000.

Despite what Jesus taught, our leaders have been teaching that a disciple is some who attends a church worship service.

Not only does the CGGC need to teach and practice discipleship as Jesus taught it, leaders need to go to the people of the congregations and confess that, for generations, they have been leading our people on a false path.  And, honestly, that many faithful people in our churches who trusted in the truth they preached and have died will stand before the Lord having practiced a false righteous.

Past leaders will have to be called to the carpet and made either to publicly confess their error and beg forgiveness or they will have to be denounced and, put out of the body for advocating false righteousness and leading people away from Jesus who is the Way.

There will have to be powerfully emotional repentance and confession.  And, forgiveness by those who have trusted the false teachers and followed them.

Can current CGGC leaders turn so radically from the falsehoods of the past?   I doubt it but I hope they will.

Thursday, July 28, 2016

General Conference Sessions

CGGC General Conference sessions for 2016 just wrapped up.  I wasn't present.

I found some images of it on Facebook and saw what I expected to see, i.e., lots of the same old--and, sadly, I do mean old--faces.  Ed Rosenberry,  Bill Reist, Phil Scott and others who have been gathering every three years since the disastrously failed 35,000 X 2000 program was launched.

Generally, they were smiling and appeared to be content and in their element.   This is a profoundly bad sign, since the body is in decline and it is godly sorrow that brings a repentance that leads to salvation--according to the Word,  at least.

To be fair,  there were some new prominent faces in the crowd, most conspicuous among them were Lance Finley and Brent Sleasman.

As far as I can tell, the major push, as advertised, was on discipleship.  I truly hope that a new day has come in the CGGC.   Time will tell.

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As I was looking at the images, I  remembered past General Conference sessions for which I was present.

And, I  remembered that it was during one of those times that I had an important Ah Ha moment about the CGGC.   It was the year that Rick Rusaw was the featured speaker, talking about the content of the the book he'd just coauthored, THE EXTERNALLY FOCUSED CHURCH.

The CGGC people in the audience paid rapt attention.  I myself was inspired and convinced to do the sort of thing Rusaw was advocating.   (And, I did.)

 Then there was a moment when I understood that what Rusaw was teaching, to which we were listening with such interest, would come to nothing in the CGGC.   And, of course, I  was correct.

Beginning at that moment,  I saw our people's resemblance to the people Paul spoke to in Athens in Acts 17, who always loved to hear something new. We do love to hear new stuff,  but, until now at least, we never do anything about it.

So our Atheniens gathered and heard new things about discipleship this week.  Here's to hoping that, this time, they actually do something about it.

What Rick Rusaw said was good stuff.   The fact that it failed to transform us had nothing to do with his failure.  It had to do with failings in who we are.

All that the gang heard this week about discipleship, no doubt, was worth hearing.  The question now is if we are prepared to repent and become different people--people who actually put true ideas into action.

The smiling, content faces I saw in the images from General Conference suggest that we are still happy to be who we have been.   I hope later images, which I have not seen,  revealed faces tracked with tears caused by the godly sorrow that leads to repentance and brings salvation.

I had prayed, from time to time, that this year's Conference would be the beginning of a season of repentance.

We must repent.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Developments and Thoughts on the Depantsing of Faith Community

Nothing significant in terms of actual events has happened.

I have made the point to the Commission that I still have not been informed from any authoritative source that the Conference acted to recall my credentials.   If the rumors passed on to me are based in truth, the Conference acted 95 days ago!

And, I have refused to act on the Commission’s request until the issue of the status of my credentials has been addressed properly.

The guy who is serving as the Commission contact person is offering rumblings to me that seem to threaten that if I don't go forward on his terms, he will simply recommend that Faith be depantsed without any further conversation.

In the conversation we are having, I have made the observation that I support and PRACTICE  (I wrote it caps) CGGC doctrine and it's Mission and Vision Statements and, yet, the Commission is telling me that the Conference has removed my credentials and that, to the best of my knowledge, this sort of action has never been taken in the history of the CGGC.

Think about that!  Ask yourself what that fact is fruit of.

I have also made the observation that, even more remarkably, this Commission has initiated a process in which it may dissolve the relationship between the Conference and a group of CGGC believers who support and practice CGGC doctrine and it's Mission and Vision.

What do you think that action is fruit of!?!

This phrase keeps coming back to me, and I have tested it in the way I do to try to understand if a thought or impression is of the flesh or if it is genuinely prophetic.

The phrase is ecclesiastical thuggery. 

And, at this point, I think it is ecclesiastical thuggery.  The guy from the Commission has offered no biblical rationale for what it proposes and, honestly,  I can't imagine any.

This seems to me to be a Commission attempting to foist unbiblical Conference traditions on a group of CGGC people more committed to the CGGC Mission and Vision than it is.

If God is willing, I'll offer more on this drama later.

Friday, July 22, 2016

A New Dog

A mere six and a half weeks after the death of our beloved Golden Retriever Maggie, we traveled, yesterday, to the Delaware Valley Golden Retriever Rescue campus and interviewed five rescue dogs ranging in age from six to eleven years old.

When all was said and done, we came home with a nearly nine year old Golden who had the name Casey--which we will almost certainly attempt to change.

This was not my plan initially.   My thought was that we'd had the perfect dog in Maggie and that we didn't need to have another.

But it soon became obvious to me that Evie wanted another dog much more than I didn't want one.  In addition, Maggie became such an integral part of our ministry to the least of these people who are a part of our Sunday gathering.  And, even more than that, Maggie soothed my mom's anxiety and eased the effect of the Alzheimer's on her.

So,  I agreed to a new dog, even though I will never get over the loss of Maggie.

This one is nearly as gentle as Maggie was but seems more energetic than Maggie ever was.

It seems to me that she will probably adapt easily to a life in ministry,  such as ours is.

Thursday, July 21, 2016

Recalibrating the CGGC's Focus: Prophetic Voices

One reality of life in the Kingdom, according to what Jesus taught, is that in and amongst the people of the Kingdom of God there will be many prophets speaking.

Jesus warned that there would be false prophets.  He spoke famously about them in Matthew 7 saying that false prophets come in sheep's clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.   He explained that a prophet will be known for what s/he is, not by what s/he says, but by the fruit s/he produces.  And, immediately after that, He spoke about a (true) prophet doing the will of His Father.

I ask, therefore, based on what Jesus taught, who are the prophets the people of the CGGC regard as speaking the Word of God to them?

Clearly, they reject me.

Yet, I'm not certain that it is I that they are rejecting.   I suspect that they are rejecting the very notion that God may be alive and engaged with them, speaking to them, attempting to lead them with wisdom that comes to them through a human voice other than that of a leader of the institution.

The biblical truth is that, in teaching about the Kingdom, Jesus made it clear that there would normally be prophets speaking to His people.

Paul taught that God's household would be built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone.

If we are going to become people of the Kingdom,  we are going to have to come to grips with what Jesus taught about prophets in the Kingdom.

If we don't, we will never hear His voice spoken to us in our time and place and we will be rejecting Him and standing against His will.

And, we will never be walking in His blessing, as is the case now.

Sunday, July 17, 2016

Gathering: 7-17-16: In the Face of the ERC'S Ultimatum

We had a small group today, as is often the case in the summertime.  The quality of the fellowship was sweet, as is often the case in those small summer meetings.

We spent quite a bit of time in praise and discussing the idea, that someone read, that as the world gets darker, we must become lighter.  Evie and I have relatives who are missionaries in Turkey who are in the midst of pretty terrifying times.  We talked about how difficult it must be for them to be light in that darkness.

As the gathering progressed,  I began to think about the email I received from the ERC Commission on Church Renewal giving the group what seems to me to the ultimatum to have a pastor or have its relationship with the ERC dissolved.

And, I was imagining this group with someone telling them when to sit and stand and having the role of controlling when and how the gathering happens.  And, having met with no humanly devised plan for do long,  relying on the moving of the Spirit,  I can't see the people going back. But,  we will see.

I didn't bring up the email with the group today, though I will have to mention it before long in some way.

Saturday, July 16, 2016

De-Pantsing Faith Community

For more than a year, I've used this blog, as much as anything, as a journal of what takes place in my spiritual life and ministry.  What follows will, for me, more than anything else, serve that purpose.  Because others will certainly see this, I will keep references to other people as anonymous and generic as possible.

I received an email a few days ago from a member of the ERC Commission on Church Renewal informing me that the community of gatherings that I know as Faith Community had been the focus of the Commission’s attention at its most recent meeting.

Bottom lining the content of the email considerably, and for the purpose of this particular post, now that I have been defrocked, the Commission has decided that the time has come for it to act as far as Faith is concerned.

The Commission has considered a number of options.  However, the email mentions only two that are on the table as far as we are concerned: That the congregation choose to have a credentialed pastor or that the relationship between Faith and the ERC be dissolved.

Now, how big is the valley between those two peaks?

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Here's the thought going through my mind.  It's going to take me to place far down the road from that email.

When Lance ascended to the top of the highest CGGC mountain,  he wrote about embracing what he called,  "fresh expressions of church."  And, no matter what Faith may be, it is fresh, at least to the degree that it breaks the traditional mold for a church.

And, what's the ERC's view of that?  Faith can call a pastor or its relationship with the CGGC can be dissolved. I suppose that the "dissolved" part would be fresh.

Fine.  What happens to and with Faith is insignificant in the scheme of things.

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Here's what's big:

This is precisely why Lance's call for Kingdom focus will come nothing...unless there is serious repentance soon.

The actual people on the lesser hills of the CGGC don't take notions such as fresh expressions of church seriously.  And they will do the same with the call for Kingdom service:

Nothing.

Mark my words.

As is clear from the email I received,  here in the ERC at least, there are two possible realities.  The traditional pastor led church or nothing.

We must repent.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Recalibrating: Pastoral Leadership

Just a  quick note about Kingdom verses church:  Based on what Jesus taught and the ministry He lived, there is no kingdom role for a church pastor.

It seems to me that if we are going to recalibrate,  we are going to have to come to grips with the reality that the role of congregational pastor has no root in the Gospels or even in the New Testament after the time covered by the Gospels.  In both time frames, humanly speaking,  the story centered on Apostles.

The pastor/parish priest is a human invention.


Sunday, July 10, 2016

Gathering 7-10-16

Once or twice a summer, we fire up our cheap charcoal grill that we bought for a song at Big Lots and do burgers and doggies for the gang as a part of our, uh, Agape Meal.  This is one of those days.

Today's gang was only Evie, the gang from the home and me and the song time always goes well with this group.  Time in the Word can be a bit of a challenge with these people.  We spent a lot of that time today talking about Jesus saying that if we don't forgive those who sin against us our heavenly Father won't forgive us of our sins.

This is a challenge for all of us but it is especially difficult for some of them who have difficult roommates at the home.

I noticed that one of the guys was paying especially close attention that truth.

The bread and cup time was focused on the reality that we are responsible to practice forgiveness in order to be forgiven.  It was a moving time for me.

They really did appreciate the food.

All in all,  a blessed time.

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One side note, we are becoming bit concerned about the guy I call Bonnie on this blog.  He has the mind of about a five year old.   But, he is really about 70.  He seems to be having memory issues that are a recent development and are wondering if this is an early sign of dementia.

It's so hard to tell with someone with his mental  disability.

Thursday, July 7, 2016

How Conference Bureaucrats Killed What You Probably Think of as Leadership Development in my Tribe

I'm a geezer.   I began my career as a parish priest in 1976.  I've seen many changes in American Christianity,  nearly all of them for the worse, as the decline of American Christianity today makes indisputable.

Among the most destructive changes is the decline of the involvement in ministry of people who are not ordained or licensed.

Here's the most important way that happened in my Conference of my tribe:

Back in the day, when the time came for a change in, uh, pastors in a ministry where two or more congregations were yoked together, i.e., sharing the same clergyman,  they would meet with the Commission on Church and Pastoral Guidance  (now Church and Pastor) and the Commission would say to the leaders of one or more of the congregations,  "We have some good news for you.   We've been studying your statistical reports and do you realize that your church can support your own full-time minister,  just like the biggest churches in the Conference?"

Invariably,  those small church people would puff out their chests and say, "Really?!?"  And, at least one new opening for a full-time pastor in the Conference would created.

The dark side of that reality is that important ministries that had been performed, usually very well,  by members of the congregation were professionalized and men and women who had been participants, even leaders, in ministry became passive consumers of religious products and services provided by a professional clergyman.

And, now, 30, 40, 50 years later, we have declining/dying congregations filled with pew sitters and leadership development is the fad of the day.

One lesson from this for the moment is to take stock of how a theologically corrupt policy practiced by well intentioned people can--HAS--created a serious problem where there was once no problem at all.

Sadly,  most of American Christianity still operates on the same values that created this serious need for leadership development today.

We must repent and we must begin on this level of theologically corrupt actions by leaders and church Bureaucrats.

And soon,  before it's too late.


Wednesday, July 6, 2016

A New Phone

We live very frugally,  as we believe people of the Kingdom do.  So, we no longer own a computer.   We do both own smart phones and, with them, do nearly everything a computer would allow us to do.

A number of years ago,  we bought our first smart phones.   We were wet behind the ears,  as far as those things are concerned and we bought Windows phones, which we came to believe was not the most wise choice.

I am very hard on phones and mine just wore out, due to abuse, I'm certain.  So, yesterday we bought a new phone for me--an android.

So, quite a bit is changing for me.  I don't enjoy dabbling in technology so the next few days and weeks will not be a barrel of laughs for me.  But, in the end, I'msure I'll get there.

Monday, July 4, 2016

Recalibrating the CGGC's Focus: APEST

It seems to me that we are ignoring the power and plan of Jesus in the way we are attempting to achieve recalibration.


Read Ephesians 2:19-22, especially 20. Read Ephesians 4:11-16, especially 13.


The Lord knew that times like these would come to His church and He promised to provide the means through which, to use today's fad word, transformation, could happen.


The choice is ours: Go our own institutional way or walk in His grace and power.


We must repent of our own way and walk in His will, and way and power.

Sunday, July 3, 2016

Recalibrating the CGGC's Focus: Sorrow and Change

Perhaps the greatest obstacle to recalibrating the CGGC from church obsession to Kingdom focus is our leadership's need to keep feathers unruffled, even [especially] the feathers of the people who are church-obsessed and, therefore, on the broad road that Jesus says leads to destruction.


What the Word demonstrates, and what it teaches, is that human change from its own way to God's comes only from a broken heart, hence David, in his sin, prayed, "Create in me a pure heart, O God."


Paul says it clearly, as the NIV has it, "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation..." (2 Cor. 7:10)


The lives of the prophets and the framers of the Gospel story in the New Testament, John the Baptist and Jesus who cleansed the temple, make it apparent that for the change that leads to salvation to occur feathers have to be ruffled. Our hearts must be broken.


To this point, in his eNews series, Lance is attempting to teach us that Kingdom focus is a better way than church orientation. And, in the end, he may convince many that he is correct and they may intellectually agree with him but he will not lead change unless the hearts of CGGCers are broken.


Godly sorrow brings repentance. It was necessary for the prophets to work to achieve that sorrow. John pursued that sorrow. So did Jesus.


How foolish are we if we think we can create the change that is salvation without breaking hearts first, as they did.


The gentle, nurturing way of the shepherd/teacher is not suited to the challenge of this day.

Friday, July 1, 2016

73 Days

According to George Jensen and Travis Jarrett, both of whom posted on this blog, it was 73 days ago from the day I am writing this post that the ERC in session voted to recall my ordination.


At the time, both brothers wrote encouraging notes, expressing the hope that reconciliation and restoration may still be possible between the Conference and me. For my part, I thanked both for their encouragement and expressed my willingness to cooperate with any attempt to effect reconciliation.


However, seventy three days out, it seems to me that those both of those guys may have been playing a practical joke, taunting me--torturing me--making up stories about Conference discussions focused solely on me and my alleged dastardly deeds.


I've received no word, from the Conference, of an action taken against me or of a call for my ordination. I'm still holding on to my ordination. Tightfistedly, I will add.


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It seems to me, that on the Day, people will be judged based on what they actually did. (See the so called Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 25 and Ephesians 2:10, among many biblical authorities). Faith is known to be what it is by its fruit--the action it produces.


If you ERCers have any hope for the future, it seems to me that you should begin to pay close attention to what the people on your mountaintops are actually doing.


In this case, after what I've been told was a direct act of the Conference in session, initiated by the mountaintoppers themselves?


Nothing.


I have no idea what this inaction means, but I can't help but see real insubordination, on behalf of leadership, to the authority of the Conference.


It is any wonder we are in spiritual and numerical free fall?