Sunday, March 19, 2017

What's Wrong Here at Faith

Regular readers of this blog will note a different tone to this post from what I normally enter.  Having had a chance to slow down for a week, I'm finding it easier to do some reflecting and big-picture analysis of our own journey. 

So, here goes...

I've lost track of the last time the people of Faith met together in our home.  It's probably been two months, perhaps further back than that. To know for certain, I'd have to check past blog posts.

In that time, we've canceled several gatherings due to our illness or fatigue and the last two times we actually met, we paid for a part of the group to share a meal in a restaurant, something the people who live in the home truly enjoy.

If you read the blog, you know that our community, which has its roots in a "The Phone's for You" telemarketing campaign in the early 1990s, has become something very different from what it was in its beginnings.

There came a time when, inspired by the vision of a church established on the New Testament plan, as described by Ed Rosenberry in what was, for me, a life changing editorial in The CHURCH ADVOCATE in 2009, we determined to leave Seeker-Sensitive church-ism behind and become a community modeled on the beliefs that energized the first apostles. Those apostles took their beliefs directly from the life and teaching of Jesus.

It's been a bumpy journey.

We made that decision during the time Brian Miller's blog was thriving and, at the time, I truly, but naively, believed that, as a participant in the blog, I was a part of a small community of like-minded people who would revolutionize the CGGC and be part of a movement that would transform American, if not Western, Christianity.

By that time, I was already fully convinced that I was called to be a prophet and that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone.

And, being in the blog community, I took first steps here assuming that others in the CGGC community with an apostolic calling would come along side me and balance my prophetic ministry. So, I functioned fully in my prophetic gift without trying to curb my prophetic yearnings.

Looking back, for whatever reason, it seems to me that, by that time, the energy in the blog community had already peaked and was declining. No apostle came along to provide the kind of structure apostles provide and no resources...or encouragement for that matter...came our way through leadership in either Findlay or Harrisburg.

I believe that it was at that moment we lost a first opportunity to achieve something great.

Our journey to become a community living in the Spirit built on the principles that drove the early apostles has always been sincere but I, at least, have never believed that we were on track.

I still believe in the vision as much as I did when I read Ed Rosenberry's editorial in 2009. But, our execution of the vision has failed because we have always lacked an "APEST" community.

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I think that a second opportunity for us to achieve greatness came when Lance Finley became the Executive Director of the General Conference. Early on, Lance promised to empower what he called "fresh expressions of church."

Clearly, Lance has done that, as the last issues of The CHURCH ADVOCATE and of the eNews make clear.

But, for whatever reason, Lance has not blessed our journey with his presence or attention.

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Anyway...

...one of the core beliefs that differentiates us from the Christendom church is that the church is not the gathering (or worship service) itself.

A Christendom church defines itself today significantly in terms of average attendance. It believes that the number of people who consume the Sunday morning show is one important measure of what those people, today, call the health of the church.

Here at Faith, we see nothing of that in the New Testament, AND WE CERTAINLY DON'T SEE IT IN THE LIFE AND TEACHING OF JESUS!

And...

...so, as we've journeyed, the actual gathering has come to mean less and less...

...to the point that, I now believe, the gathering, in our community, has come to mean far less than it would mean if we were grounded in the New Testament plan.

I'm not certain when we veered off track. But, I suspect that the problem is connected to the fact that we are too prophet driven.

What I am convinced of is that we lost something essential when apostolic presence didn't materialize either through the blog or Lance's leadership of the denomination.

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So, specifically, we didn't gather today. Again.

Evie and I only arrived back from Myrtle Beach last night and no gathering was ever planned for today or for last Sunday.

But, Evie and one of our people will meet on Wednesday because that person needs Evie's counsel and the lack of gathering in recent weeks doesn't impede their relationship as daughters of the Kingdom.

We still see what we do between Sundays as our real ministry. And, Evie and I find joy in being on that mission.

Yet, something is amiss as the importance of the gathering in our community continues to decline.

Hebrews 10 stresses, "not forsaking meeting together as some are in the habit of doing."

I take it from that phrase that, in early Christianity, the gathering was not considered central to a disciple's walk but that gathering, at least from time to time, was considered to play an important role in a disciple's life so s/he could be a part of the spurring on of all believers to love and good works and of mutual encouragement.

I am seeking a middle ground with our gathering between the Christendom idea and what it has become for us.

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I'm sensing (fearing?) that, perhaps, something important has been lost here, and that it may be gone for good.

From what I can tell, the ERC will set Faith afloat in a few weeks. So, as far as the institutional CGGC is concerned, what happens here won't matter.

We'll see what the next days, weeks and months reveal.

God is good.  His mercy endures. His Kingdom will be victorious.

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One final observation: One of the drums I beat continually on the blog is that the American/Western church as it exists now must fail because it doesn't empower a diversity of gifts. Jesus empowers APEST, not shepherd dominated ministry.

I've believed all along that, without a balance to my prophetic gift, our ministry here would be imperiled.  Ours is.

As is Christendom's.

We must all implement repentance.

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