I live my life as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God holding a job as a manager of the front end of a super market. There are about 50 people in our department. I've held a job among these people for nearly six years. I know them, they know me, and we're comfortable among each other to the degree that we let our guard down from time to time and are honest about our lives.
Recently, an older woman who works with me and her husband began to "go to church," after many years of staying home on Sundays.
This event has generated some revealing conversations among my coworkers.
Here are some things I've gleaned from the conversations.
1. The returner, call her Sherry, thinks of going to church as an important spiritual act. Not surprisingly, to me, at least, I've yet to hear her talk about Jesus, or God, but the preacher shaking her husband's hand, and hers as well, was a very important moment which she analyzed very carefully and described precisely.
2. Sherry's return to church has inspired several pointed conversations among our coworkers who are either current or former churchgoers. I'm shocked, if not surprised, to hear accounts, from Sherry and others, of becoming disgusted with church over preachers speaking in a monotone or mumbling during sermons. The stunning thing in this is that it seems to be acceptable, among many people, to give up religion altogether over mumbled sermons. Fierce anger over mumbled sermons is accepted by many as being justified.
3. One coworker who attends the same church appears to bear fruit of an actual faith in Jesus, has protested that simply going to church isn't enough. I'd love to ask him what he thinks is, but I'm waiting for a moment to have a productive conversation.
These realities create a spate of powerful emotions in me, all negative, included among them, gut twisting sorrow and anger.
Sorrow because, as I see it, these are the very people who will one day say, "But, Lord, when did we see YOU hungry or thirsty or a stranger...?" "The preacher mumbled, Lord, what did you expect me to do!? Strain my ears?"
Anger, at the people whose participation in the institutional church's consumerist culture leaves people with the lesson that being a Christian amounts to the whether or not the preacher shakes hands and how firm that hand shake is and how clearly the preacher articulates his sermon.
Sherry and the people who share these values didn't form these ideas in a vacuum.
These beliefs are widely held. And, they are still being conveyed in the churches these people attend.
From what I know, the church Sherry returned to is a pretty good church by the standards institutionalists in my world use. It preaches the Bible, even if words may be mumbled from time to time. I think it puts on a pretty good Sunday morning show which keeps people's attention.
Still, Sherry's never uttered the name of Jesus, as far as I can remember.
That makes me sad for her and mad, well, probably, at you.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
Thursday, March 28, 2019
Making the Case for APEST
In Ephesians 4, Paul says that until we, among the followers of Jesus, "all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God...," Jesus will give some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists and others to be shepherds and teachers. (see GNB)
In 1977, Howard A. Snyder wrote the groundbreaking book, The Community of the King, in which he identified the importance of Paul's teaching in Ephesians 4. If you haven't read it and think APEST is new and faddish and if you think the latest stuff being written is the best stuff, think again.
In 2001, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch published, The Shaping of Things to Come, a book with a section on what they, at the time, called APEPT, that became important among a small band of missional progressives in the CGGC.
Frost and Hirsch's book, and Hirsch's follow up, The Forgotten Ways, fueled a vigorous APEST discussion in the CGGC.
Most of that conversation, dating as far in the past as Wayne Boyer's tenure as General Conference Executive Director, took place on Brian Miller's Emerging CGGC blog and during the last IMPACT gatherings.
For about 15 years, APEST has been a hot topic of discussion in the CGGC...
...among, what one dozen?, maybe two dozen? people?
Sadly, both Brian's blog and IMPACT have been defunct now for years. And, so had momentum for living APEST, at least, until recently.
And, while there's still a murmur of conversation about APEST in the CGGC these days, it's probably among a smaller group of people than were engaged a decade ago and, certainly, with less enthusiasm and conviction than was present when Wayne Boyer was empowering it.
----------------
It's into a CGGC in which very few people even know what APEST is, in which even fewer believe in it and in which even fewer are committed to it...
...that members of the General Conference staff have begun calling churches to put APEST into practice.
----------------
I think it's fair for me to say that no one in the CGGC has produced more fruit of believing in APEST than have I.
No one, in the CGGC today, lives APEST with more intentionality and passion than I do though, certainly, some are my equals.
No one wants our body to live APEST more than I do.
----------------
Yet, I ask you think of the, literally, hundreds of ordained and licensed CGGC clergy who know little or nothing about APEST...
...and, more to the point, were educated to be members of the clergy and to live out the clergy/laity divide.
Now,...
...have compassion on the members of the many aging CGGC congregations who have been taught, for generations, that their role in the church is to loyally and faithfully accept their pastor(s)' spiritual products and services.
Now, understand that, after Paul says that Christ gave APESTs, Paul said that Jesus gifts the body with APESTs for a distinct purpose, i.e., "...to prepare the saints for works of ministry."
How absolutely subversive to the clergy/laity system our pastors and people have been taught!
----------------
The truth is that APEST, in the context of the direction CGGC leaders have been leading since the 1930s, is radical.
For pastors, to pursue APEST will be to abandon much, most? of what they were taught about ministry in their preparation for ministerial credentials in seminary or in other venues.
For the laity, to jump on the APEST bandwagon would be to turn their back on what they've been taught, often by pastors whom they have loved and trusted deeply for all of their lives.
To get from where we are to APEST will be painful at the least. It will take some hard work.
And, as Dan Masshardt said on the CONTAGIOUS blog, it will take a commitment from leadership that is strong enough that CGGC leaders will be willing to lose attendance and even more congregations.
-----------------
I believe with all my heart that APEST is truth.
I believe that, even though John Winebrenner didn't have APEST jargon, our movement was built on APEST practice. (It certainly wasn't built on the pastor-as-parish-priest model we've been using and teaching for the generations of our decline and decay.)
Yet, if our body is going to, eventually, live APEST, someone is going to need to make a case for it,...
...and against the old way.
May the people seeking to lead repentance from the clergy/laity way to living APEST in the Spirit be strong and very courageous.
In 1977, Howard A. Snyder wrote the groundbreaking book, The Community of the King, in which he identified the importance of Paul's teaching in Ephesians 4. If you haven't read it and think APEST is new and faddish and if you think the latest stuff being written is the best stuff, think again.
In 2001, Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch published, The Shaping of Things to Come, a book with a section on what they, at the time, called APEPT, that became important among a small band of missional progressives in the CGGC.
Frost and Hirsch's book, and Hirsch's follow up, The Forgotten Ways, fueled a vigorous APEST discussion in the CGGC.
Most of that conversation, dating as far in the past as Wayne Boyer's tenure as General Conference Executive Director, took place on Brian Miller's Emerging CGGC blog and during the last IMPACT gatherings.
For about 15 years, APEST has been a hot topic of discussion in the CGGC...
...among, what one dozen?, maybe two dozen? people?
Sadly, both Brian's blog and IMPACT have been defunct now for years. And, so had momentum for living APEST, at least, until recently.
And, while there's still a murmur of conversation about APEST in the CGGC these days, it's probably among a smaller group of people than were engaged a decade ago and, certainly, with less enthusiasm and conviction than was present when Wayne Boyer was empowering it.
----------------
It's into a CGGC in which very few people even know what APEST is, in which even fewer believe in it and in which even fewer are committed to it...
...that members of the General Conference staff have begun calling churches to put APEST into practice.
----------------
I think it's fair for me to say that no one in the CGGC has produced more fruit of believing in APEST than have I.
No one, in the CGGC today, lives APEST with more intentionality and passion than I do though, certainly, some are my equals.
No one wants our body to live APEST more than I do.
----------------
Yet, I ask you think of the, literally, hundreds of ordained and licensed CGGC clergy who know little or nothing about APEST...
...and, more to the point, were educated to be members of the clergy and to live out the clergy/laity divide.
Now,...
...have compassion on the members of the many aging CGGC congregations who have been taught, for generations, that their role in the church is to loyally and faithfully accept their pastor(s)' spiritual products and services.
Now, understand that, after Paul says that Christ gave APESTs, Paul said that Jesus gifts the body with APESTs for a distinct purpose, i.e., "...to prepare the saints for works of ministry."
How absolutely subversive to the clergy/laity system our pastors and people have been taught!
----------------
The truth is that APEST, in the context of the direction CGGC leaders have been leading since the 1930s, is radical.
For pastors, to pursue APEST will be to abandon much, most? of what they were taught about ministry in their preparation for ministerial credentials in seminary or in other venues.
For the laity, to jump on the APEST bandwagon would be to turn their back on what they've been taught, often by pastors whom they have loved and trusted deeply for all of their lives.
To get from where we are to APEST will be painful at the least. It will take some hard work.
And, as Dan Masshardt said on the CONTAGIOUS blog, it will take a commitment from leadership that is strong enough that CGGC leaders will be willing to lose attendance and even more congregations.
-----------------
I believe with all my heart that APEST is truth.
I believe that, even though John Winebrenner didn't have APEST jargon, our movement was built on APEST practice. (It certainly wasn't built on the pastor-as-parish-priest model we've been using and teaching for the generations of our decline and decay.)
Yet, if our body is going to, eventually, live APEST, someone is going to need to make a case for it,...
...and against the old way.
May the people seeking to lead repentance from the clergy/laity way to living APEST in the Spirit be strong and very courageous.
Sunday, March 24, 2019
APEST 101: A Biblical and Historical Introduction
It appears that I might have been able to log on to the CONTAGIOUS blog.
If I did, I placed a comment on Lance's latest eNews article, which was on APEST.
In that article, Lance referenced opposition to General Conference staff's promotion of APEST, including Lance's revelations that:
1. A congregation has left the CGGC over the teaching of APEST, and,
2. Lance has been told numerous times by "other leaders" that APEST is only a "fad" and that it's a "secondary issue in Scripture."
My comment suggested that:
1. The New Testament "oozes" APEST from Jesus's calling of the first apostles through Acts and the Epistles to the Book of Revelation in which John says Jesus made us to be "a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father." The second half of Ephesians 2 simply summarizes a central Kingdom truth.
2. APEST is part of a theological movement tracing back at least as far as the 1520s. It's the movement the founders of the Church of God embraced when, on the day it formed in 1830, John Winebrenner called for "another great reformation." It's a movement that has always been on the cutting edge of change, revival and, sadly, controversy.
APEST is not a fad. It's here to stay. In the worldwide community of followers of Jesus, APEST is absolutely anything but a fad. In fact, APEST is connected to a way of following Jesus that has deep roots in Christian history.
Whether or not APEST is a CGGC fad remains to be seen. Yet,...
Anyone who sees APEST as a fad in the global community of Jesus followers needs a refresher course in "church" history.
-----------------
Yet, to be fair, it strikes me that Lance and Brandon haven't made these core truths about their teaching clear.
Brandon's series has extracted Ephesians 4:11 from the rest of the New Testament and its constant APEST drumbeat...
...to teach one application of that single verse to church, and not Kingdom, ministry.
We'd probably have been better served had General Conference staff begun at a more basic level.
I am a student of history. For me, the Kingdom history of this teaching is at least as powerfully persuasive as the biblical roots of it.
In reading the APEST literature with which I'm familiar, I haven't seen anyone place the APEST teaching in the context of the history of what the Holy Spirit has been doing in the world for the past five centuries, at least.
Perhaps, Lance and Brandon haven't even thought about that themselves.
It seems to me, though, that, if we're going really to live APEST, we need to start over and go back to the beginning...to the basics.
-----------------
I don't know anything about the relationship between Winebrenner Theological Seminary and the CGGC these days, though I'm a strong supporter of Winebrenner's President, Brent Sleasman.
But, it seems to me that the CGGC body needs to be presented with a biblical and historical introduction to APEST at the depth of a seminary course.
I'm saddened by the reality that leaders of the CGGC could even be thinking that APEST is a fad and that it's a secondary issue in Scripture.
It's a commentary on how far we've fallen that a body with our history...and Mission Statement...could have, as Lance describes them, leaders, who think of APEST as a fad and as a secondary issue in Scripture.
From what I know, both suggestions are entirely disconnected from truth...
...but, then, how would people be expected to know that?
-----------------
Part of "leading" change involves defining the reality that forms the context in which change takes place.
From what I know, that's not been done in the CGGC.
I'm chagrined by the resistance that CGGC staffers have encountered. Yet, I'm concerned that, based on what Lance said in his recent eNews, the opposition is dangerously and profoundly ill-informed.
But, then, I can't blame the people in opposition who haven't been exposed to the facts.
I think it's fair to say that, for many CGGCers, a call to put APEST into action has been dumped on them, without warning, out of a clear blue sky.
We must rethink the way APEST is presented. We must repent.
If I did, I placed a comment on Lance's latest eNews article, which was on APEST.
In that article, Lance referenced opposition to General Conference staff's promotion of APEST, including Lance's revelations that:
1. A congregation has left the CGGC over the teaching of APEST, and,
2. Lance has been told numerous times by "other leaders" that APEST is only a "fad" and that it's a "secondary issue in Scripture."
My comment suggested that:
1. The New Testament "oozes" APEST from Jesus's calling of the first apostles through Acts and the Epistles to the Book of Revelation in which John says Jesus made us to be "a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father." The second half of Ephesians 2 simply summarizes a central Kingdom truth.
2. APEST is part of a theological movement tracing back at least as far as the 1520s. It's the movement the founders of the Church of God embraced when, on the day it formed in 1830, John Winebrenner called for "another great reformation." It's a movement that has always been on the cutting edge of change, revival and, sadly, controversy.
APEST is not a fad. It's here to stay. In the worldwide community of followers of Jesus, APEST is absolutely anything but a fad. In fact, APEST is connected to a way of following Jesus that has deep roots in Christian history.
Whether or not APEST is a CGGC fad remains to be seen. Yet,...
Anyone who sees APEST as a fad in the global community of Jesus followers needs a refresher course in "church" history.
-----------------
Yet, to be fair, it strikes me that Lance and Brandon haven't made these core truths about their teaching clear.
Brandon's series has extracted Ephesians 4:11 from the rest of the New Testament and its constant APEST drumbeat...
...to teach one application of that single verse to church, and not Kingdom, ministry.
We'd probably have been better served had General Conference staff begun at a more basic level.
I am a student of history. For me, the Kingdom history of this teaching is at least as powerfully persuasive as the biblical roots of it.
In reading the APEST literature with which I'm familiar, I haven't seen anyone place the APEST teaching in the context of the history of what the Holy Spirit has been doing in the world for the past five centuries, at least.
Perhaps, Lance and Brandon haven't even thought about that themselves.
It seems to me, though, that, if we're going really to live APEST, we need to start over and go back to the beginning...to the basics.
-----------------
I don't know anything about the relationship between Winebrenner Theological Seminary and the CGGC these days, though I'm a strong supporter of Winebrenner's President, Brent Sleasman.
But, it seems to me that the CGGC body needs to be presented with a biblical and historical introduction to APEST at the depth of a seminary course.
I'm saddened by the reality that leaders of the CGGC could even be thinking that APEST is a fad and that it's a secondary issue in Scripture.
It's a commentary on how far we've fallen that a body with our history...and Mission Statement...could have, as Lance describes them, leaders, who think of APEST as a fad and as a secondary issue in Scripture.
From what I know, both suggestions are entirely disconnected from truth...
...but, then, how would people be expected to know that?
-----------------
Part of "leading" change involves defining the reality that forms the context in which change takes place.
From what I know, that's not been done in the CGGC.
I'm chagrined by the resistance that CGGC staffers have encountered. Yet, I'm concerned that, based on what Lance said in his recent eNews, the opposition is dangerously and profoundly ill-informed.
But, then, I can't blame the people in opposition who haven't been exposed to the facts.
I think it's fair to say that, for many CGGCers, a call to put APEST into action has been dumped on them, without warning, out of a clear blue sky.
We must rethink the way APEST is presented. We must repent.
Thursday, March 21, 2019
Wassup with the CGGC CONTAGIOUS Blog?
I'm not able to log on. I would participate were I able but, I, simply can't. Mike and I have exchanged numerous emails and he's attempted to assist me but nothing he's tried has solved my problem.
I must say that he's gone out of his way for me, and I appreciate it.
I know one other CGGCer who's having the same problem I have and I know that that person still hasn't entered anything on the blog recently.
In fact, nothing but Lance's eNews articles has appeared on the blog since the end of January and only one comment, by Lew Button, has been published in quite a while.
Sadly, in his two latest eNews articles Lance has requested feedback. No one has honored his request.
I would have provided feedback and I know of one other person who would have, but was, like me, unable to log on to the blog.
Why haven't others? Technical problems like I'm having? Apathy?
Perhaps some of both?
As I've said earlier, I think what Lance is doing now is good and has value.
He wants feedback.
It's not happening, for whatever reason.
The reality that there is no conversation in a body which values community, in my opinion, to the extreme, bodes poorly for the community, as I say, whatever the reason.
I must say that he's gone out of his way for me, and I appreciate it.
I know one other CGGCer who's having the same problem I have and I know that that person still hasn't entered anything on the blog recently.
In fact, nothing but Lance's eNews articles has appeared on the blog since the end of January and only one comment, by Lew Button, has been published in quite a while.
Sadly, in his two latest eNews articles Lance has requested feedback. No one has honored his request.
I would have provided feedback and I know of one other person who would have, but was, like me, unable to log on to the blog.
Why haven't others? Technical problems like I'm having? Apathy?
Perhaps some of both?
As I've said earlier, I think what Lance is doing now is good and has value.
He wants feedback.
It's not happening, for whatever reason.
The reality that there is no conversation in a body which values community, in my opinion, to the extreme, bodes poorly for the community, as I say, whatever the reason.
Sunday, March 17, 2019
What's Right and What's Wrong with Lance's "Where are We Now?" Series
I've been following, with great interest, Lance's eNews series: Where are We Now?.
And, I have to say that I'm impressed with Lance's honesty and forthrightness.
The CGGC is in decline. It is decaying spiritually.
It is impossible to deny those realities though many have chosen to ignore them.
What's Lance is doing is, in my opinion, good.
Here's what it's lacking: APEST.
From the first word of the series, I've been asking myself: What APEST fruit is Lance producing.
I saw, from the beginning, that it wasn't typical CGGC Shepherd Speak.
While, in the beginning, Lance ended his articles offering some brief words of comfort, he didn't offer the comfort that a shepherd would. He always identified a problem or failing of the body and he always, also, concluded leaving the impression that the problem is real and must be solved, or else. This is not shepherd speak.
In recent articles, Lance hasn't offered comfort. He's left the problem exposed and bare.
And, that's all good.
Six articles into the series, its clear to me that Lance is bearing fruit of being an APEST Teacher.
His articles are scholarly. By CGGC standards, they are intellectual. They are erudite and carefully considered. They convey information.
These are all fruit of a legitimate APEST Teacher.
What Lance's articles lack is what is always lacking in the CGGC today:
APEST balance.
In most of the articles, my conclusion was that what Lance lacks is an answer to the question, "And, how did we get here?"
That's the prophetic question. Another way of asking it is, "What do we need to repent of?"
I'm convinced that all of the information Lance is passing on will come to nothing, other than an institutionally produced Strategic Plan which, will, in the end, come to nothing apart from changes in the structure of the institution.
No.
What must be added to Lance's description of where we are is the, honest, Spirit-empowered word of prophets detailing how we got to where we are, or, what we must turn from in order to reverse our decline and decay.
----------------
And, that's not all that must be added.
After a Spirit-voiced called to repent and to turn from sin, there must be:
An apostolic description of how we move forward.
This needs to come from an apostle who's not been cowed by the shepherd dominated leadership culture and who is walking in his/her gift.
----------------
Lance claims to believe in APEST.
What he's doing in his articles describing where we are now will absolutely come to nothing unless and until he empowers APEST to function.
He may believe in APEST. Until he begins to live it, though, we will only continue to decline and decay.
We must repent.
And, I have to say that I'm impressed with Lance's honesty and forthrightness.
The CGGC is in decline. It is decaying spiritually.
It is impossible to deny those realities though many have chosen to ignore them.
What's Lance is doing is, in my opinion, good.
Here's what it's lacking: APEST.
From the first word of the series, I've been asking myself: What APEST fruit is Lance producing.
I saw, from the beginning, that it wasn't typical CGGC Shepherd Speak.
While, in the beginning, Lance ended his articles offering some brief words of comfort, he didn't offer the comfort that a shepherd would. He always identified a problem or failing of the body and he always, also, concluded leaving the impression that the problem is real and must be solved, or else. This is not shepherd speak.
In recent articles, Lance hasn't offered comfort. He's left the problem exposed and bare.
And, that's all good.
Six articles into the series, its clear to me that Lance is bearing fruit of being an APEST Teacher.
His articles are scholarly. By CGGC standards, they are intellectual. They are erudite and carefully considered. They convey information.
These are all fruit of a legitimate APEST Teacher.
What Lance's articles lack is what is always lacking in the CGGC today:
APEST balance.
In most of the articles, my conclusion was that what Lance lacks is an answer to the question, "And, how did we get here?"
That's the prophetic question. Another way of asking it is, "What do we need to repent of?"
I'm convinced that all of the information Lance is passing on will come to nothing, other than an institutionally produced Strategic Plan which, will, in the end, come to nothing apart from changes in the structure of the institution.
No.
What must be added to Lance's description of where we are is the, honest, Spirit-empowered word of prophets detailing how we got to where we are, or, what we must turn from in order to reverse our decline and decay.
----------------
And, that's not all that must be added.
After a Spirit-voiced called to repent and to turn from sin, there must be:
An apostolic description of how we move forward.
This needs to come from an apostle who's not been cowed by the shepherd dominated leadership culture and who is walking in his/her gift.
----------------
Lance claims to believe in APEST.
What he's doing in his articles describing where we are now will absolutely come to nothing unless and until he empowers APEST to function.
He may believe in APEST. Until he begins to live it, though, we will only continue to decline and decay.
We must repent.
Being Bypassed by Revival
I understand that, especially, the title of my post: Figuring Out what to do with People Like Me may have seemed conceited and narcissistic.
Certainly, it was audacious. (But, then, it strikes me that audacity is often a characteristic of the prophetic.)
Still, I felt a much stronger impulse to enter that post than I do with almost everything that I put on the blog.
And, as I reflected on Dan Masshardt's comment and, my reply to it, I've had several thoughts worth of posts, some of which I consider to be important.
Here's one:
One aspect of what happens before a revival is that the visible, or organized, church becomes incapable of engaging and satisfying the spiritually passionate people Christ gives to it.
There can be two types of people l lost to the church: One is the unbeliever. The other? The believer who is out of sync with the church.
As you think about my post, understand that it's about what the church does with People Like me, not with me myself.
There is a chasm, a gulf, these days, between what's being done by the influencers and decision makers of American institutional Christianity and the yearnings and desires of many spiritually passionate Jesus-followers. They love Jesus, but not the church.
I see a significant, and increasing, number of people, these days, who love and who follow Jesus who are not, as Hebrews 10 says, stirred up (ESV) "to love and good works" by today's church, i.e., they are not being fed by the visible, institutional church. They starve, spiritually, when connected to the church.
For the most part, these are people who struggle, in every moment of daily life, to know what it means to seek God's Kingdom and His righteousness...and, actually, to do that.
And, they see today's church trying to save itself first, and not empowering its people to be men and women of the Kingdom, not, as Paul says existing "to prepare the saints for works of service."
Sadly, if and when those people attend a worship service they are not stirred up to love and good works. They feel as if they are being entertained not edified to live the life. And, they are frustrated. And, at least one of those people I know feels sick to the stomach in a so-called worship service.
As far as today's church is concerned, they are, at best, dissatisfied and restless, at worst, they've completely given up hope in the organized church
That second group of people, the completely given up hope people, will not be won back to the church unless the church changes,...
...which is the point of my original post.
Those who've given up on the organized church respond in a variety of ways. Sadly, some have even lost a clear focus on Christ, as Dan Masshardt notes, but most haven't.
Most truly do struggle to follow Jesus. They do, as Paul admonished the Philippians, "work out (their) own salvation with fear and trembling," and, sadly, they do that without reference to organized Christianity.
And, please understand. I'm not one of those people. This blog itself proves my love for the people of the institutional church, if not for the institutional church itself.
----------------
Now, as far as the title of the post is concerned, here's the thing:
A revival is always a radically new and different way.
When a revival takes place, what passes for establishment Christianity i.e., Churchianity, is left behind.
Historically, the organized church is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, scandalized by the new ways of revival, which it deems to be too radical, and, honestly, offensive and unchristian.
It always, ALWAYS, holds on to its traditions.
Blow the dust off of your church history books, if you doubt that...
...and, the spiritually passionate people, yearning for what Churchianity can't and won't provide, will drop the organized church like a hot potato to join in a work of the Spirit.
In the future, history always looks back favorably on the people who dumped the organized church for the new ways.
It always does.
----------------
So, why try to figure out what to do with people like me?
The Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing today's organized Christianity.
Organized Christianity is declining. Organized Christianity is decaying. It's people talk change but the change it actually puts into action is minor.
I've said many times here and as far back as the days of Brian Miller's Emerging CGGC blog that, when I was in school studying the history of revivalism, one way to understand the history of revivalism is to think of it as the History of Paradigm Change.
The people I know of who are attempting to lead the institutional church out of its decline and decay are people who are committed, first and foremost, to saving the current church paradigm.
In my body, this reality is made vividly clear by a recent and aborted series of teachings from its Director of Transformational Ministries on APEST.
He sees the local church pastor, or parish priest, as a, what?, facilitator? Director? of APEST in the local church.
This is totally old school, old paradigm. This is an attempt to redeem, for the future, the role of the pastor, to gently tweak the pastor dominated leadership culture. This is church, not Kingdom, focus.
This is a stab at being progressive in the old paradigm.
Historically, efforts of even the progressives among old paradigmers, fail.
Historically, all people loyal, first and foremost, to the old ways:
1. Are scandalized by the new ways ways of a revival,
2. Are left in its dust, and,
3. Are understood by history as visionless opposers of the work of the Spirit.
The lesson of history is that if you are not cordial toward people who are restless and yearning for new ways, you will be out of step with the Spirit when He moves and calls people to move with Him in a new way.
And, He has always moved.
And, revival has always been a radical departure from the established ways.
----------------
I, personally, have a history with today's institutional church.
Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that a small part of today's institutional church has a history with me.
I'm writing this post, but, please, forget me.
Don't, however, forget the people like me.
There are gobs of people who love Jesus who are either not connected to the visible church or are distantly connected to it.
As the Builder and Boomer generations fade away, the proportion of people in America with little, or no, connection to institutional Christianity increases, and it increases more and more rapidly.
I can't say prophetically that a new paradigm, a revival, is about to take hold.
What I can say is that, without repentance, most of the people in today's organized, visible, institutional church will miss out on it.
Certainly, it was audacious. (But, then, it strikes me that audacity is often a characteristic of the prophetic.)
Still, I felt a much stronger impulse to enter that post than I do with almost everything that I put on the blog.
And, as I reflected on Dan Masshardt's comment and, my reply to it, I've had several thoughts worth of posts, some of which I consider to be important.
Here's one:
One aspect of what happens before a revival is that the visible, or organized, church becomes incapable of engaging and satisfying the spiritually passionate people Christ gives to it.
There can be two types of people l lost to the church: One is the unbeliever. The other? The believer who is out of sync with the church.
As you think about my post, understand that it's about what the church does with People Like me, not with me myself.
There is a chasm, a gulf, these days, between what's being done by the influencers and decision makers of American institutional Christianity and the yearnings and desires of many spiritually passionate Jesus-followers. They love Jesus, but not the church.
I see a significant, and increasing, number of people, these days, who love and who follow Jesus who are not, as Hebrews 10 says, stirred up (ESV) "to love and good works" by today's church, i.e., they are not being fed by the visible, institutional church. They starve, spiritually, when connected to the church.
For the most part, these are people who struggle, in every moment of daily life, to know what it means to seek God's Kingdom and His righteousness...and, actually, to do that.
And, they see today's church trying to save itself first, and not empowering its people to be men and women of the Kingdom, not, as Paul says existing "to prepare the saints for works of service."
Sadly, if and when those people attend a worship service they are not stirred up to love and good works. They feel as if they are being entertained not edified to live the life. And, they are frustrated. And, at least one of those people I know feels sick to the stomach in a so-called worship service.
As far as today's church is concerned, they are, at best, dissatisfied and restless, at worst, they've completely given up hope in the organized church
That second group of people, the completely given up hope people, will not be won back to the church unless the church changes,...
...which is the point of my original post.
Those who've given up on the organized church respond in a variety of ways. Sadly, some have even lost a clear focus on Christ, as Dan Masshardt notes, but most haven't.
Most truly do struggle to follow Jesus. They do, as Paul admonished the Philippians, "work out (their) own salvation with fear and trembling," and, sadly, they do that without reference to organized Christianity.
And, please understand. I'm not one of those people. This blog itself proves my love for the people of the institutional church, if not for the institutional church itself.
----------------
Now, as far as the title of the post is concerned, here's the thing:
A revival is always a radically new and different way.
When a revival takes place, what passes for establishment Christianity i.e., Churchianity, is left behind.
Historically, the organized church is ALWAYS, ALWAYS, scandalized by the new ways of revival, which it deems to be too radical, and, honestly, offensive and unchristian.
It always, ALWAYS, holds on to its traditions.
Blow the dust off of your church history books, if you doubt that...
...and, the spiritually passionate people, yearning for what Churchianity can't and won't provide, will drop the organized church like a hot potato to join in a work of the Spirit.
In the future, history always looks back favorably on the people who dumped the organized church for the new ways.
It always does.
----------------
So, why try to figure out what to do with people like me?
The Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing today's organized Christianity.
Organized Christianity is declining. Organized Christianity is decaying. It's people talk change but the change it actually puts into action is minor.
I've said many times here and as far back as the days of Brian Miller's Emerging CGGC blog that, when I was in school studying the history of revivalism, one way to understand the history of revivalism is to think of it as the History of Paradigm Change.
The people I know of who are attempting to lead the institutional church out of its decline and decay are people who are committed, first and foremost, to saving the current church paradigm.
In my body, this reality is made vividly clear by a recent and aborted series of teachings from its Director of Transformational Ministries on APEST.
He sees the local church pastor, or parish priest, as a, what?, facilitator? Director? of APEST in the local church.
This is totally old school, old paradigm. This is an attempt to redeem, for the future, the role of the pastor, to gently tweak the pastor dominated leadership culture. This is church, not Kingdom, focus.
This is a stab at being progressive in the old paradigm.
Historically, efforts of even the progressives among old paradigmers, fail.
Historically, all people loyal, first and foremost, to the old ways:
1. Are scandalized by the new ways ways of a revival,
2. Are left in its dust, and,
3. Are understood by history as visionless opposers of the work of the Spirit.
The lesson of history is that if you are not cordial toward people who are restless and yearning for new ways, you will be out of step with the Spirit when He moves and calls people to move with Him in a new way.
And, He has always moved.
And, revival has always been a radical departure from the established ways.
----------------
I, personally, have a history with today's institutional church.
Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that a small part of today's institutional church has a history with me.
I'm writing this post, but, please, forget me.
Don't, however, forget the people like me.
There are gobs of people who love Jesus who are either not connected to the visible church or are distantly connected to it.
As the Builder and Boomer generations fade away, the proportion of people in America with little, or no, connection to institutional Christianity increases, and it increases more and more rapidly.
I can't say prophetically that a new paradigm, a revival, is about to take hold.
What I can say is that, without repentance, most of the people in today's organized, visible, institutional church will miss out on it.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
Doing What is Right in YOUR OWN Eyes
Last week, I noticed that George Jensen had a note on Facebook regarding his church's recognition that March 3 was Transfiguration Sunday.
I entered a comment suggesting that George puts "the high in CGGC high church," and, I added, "haha."
I'm pretty certain that George was not amused.
------------------
Then, I began thinking at a 40,000 foot level.
One of the Characteristics of the CGGC Brand, is, To Talk is to Walk-ism, i.e., that, in the CGGC, "faith is disconnected from action."
And, without question, on one level, that's true.
The CGGC Mission Statement statement declares that the CGGC is committed to "establishing churches on the New Testament plan," a phrase that has deep historical roots in the Church of God, dating back to the very day that the Church of God was formed, in 1830. Since its first generation, to this day, the denomination declares the Bible to be its "only rule of faith and practice."
Yet, these days, that primitivist talk is not reflected in the actions of its General Conference and Regional leadership.
So, then, what's a pastor/parish priest to do?
If, on the level above the local church, talk and deed are at odds with each other, what's a local church to do?
George is typical. Enola is, too, with George as its parish priest.
Certainly, there's no authority for the observance of, in this case Transfiguration Sunday in the Book of Acts nor any place else is the New Testament (plan).
Still, if, in its action, denominational leadership disregards its own word, why shouldn't he, they?
George grooves on playing around the edges of high church-ism. No doubt, he sees value in a sort of hybridized low church, high church-ism.
And, as is the case with most CGGCers, as a pastor, George does what is right in his own eyes.
And, our Enola Church does Transfiguration Sunday, the New Testament plan and the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice be damned.
-----------------
Twice, to describe times of chaos among the people of Israel, the Book of Judges says, "...everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
In doing so, the Word is not praising the Israelites.
After all, in those days, the people had an authority beyond their own conscience. In those days, the people had the Word, the Law. Still, they did what was right in their own eyes.
Today, in our body, we also have more than our own consciences.
We have the Word, Old and New Testaments. And, as members of this body, we have the authority of the Conference, the Eldership, in writing, which forms the basis of our community.
The authority that forms the basis of our community says, "New Testament plan." It says, "only rule of faith and practice." It reaffirms those principles which can be understood in their meaning with roots in the earliest days of our history.
This doesn't allow for anyone to do what is right in his own eyes.
In our movement days, when we walked our radical talk, when we lived "New Testament plan" and "only rule of faith and practice," we thrived.
These days when we individually do what we think is right, we decline and decay.
The Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing us for doing what is right in our own eyes.
We must repent.
I entered a comment suggesting that George puts "the high in CGGC high church," and, I added, "haha."
I'm pretty certain that George was not amused.
------------------
Then, I began thinking at a 40,000 foot level.
One of the Characteristics of the CGGC Brand, is, To Talk is to Walk-ism, i.e., that, in the CGGC, "faith is disconnected from action."
And, without question, on one level, that's true.
The CGGC Mission Statement statement declares that the CGGC is committed to "establishing churches on the New Testament plan," a phrase that has deep historical roots in the Church of God, dating back to the very day that the Church of God was formed, in 1830. Since its first generation, to this day, the denomination declares the Bible to be its "only rule of faith and practice."
Yet, these days, that primitivist talk is not reflected in the actions of its General Conference and Regional leadership.
So, then, what's a pastor/parish priest to do?
If, on the level above the local church, talk and deed are at odds with each other, what's a local church to do?
George is typical. Enola is, too, with George as its parish priest.
Certainly, there's no authority for the observance of, in this case Transfiguration Sunday in the Book of Acts nor any place else is the New Testament (plan).
Still, if, in its action, denominational leadership disregards its own word, why shouldn't he, they?
George grooves on playing around the edges of high church-ism. No doubt, he sees value in a sort of hybridized low church, high church-ism.
And, as is the case with most CGGCers, as a pastor, George does what is right in his own eyes.
And, our Enola Church does Transfiguration Sunday, the New Testament plan and the Bible as their only rule of faith and practice be damned.
-----------------
Twice, to describe times of chaos among the people of Israel, the Book of Judges says, "...everyone did what was right in his own eyes."
In doing so, the Word is not praising the Israelites.
After all, in those days, the people had an authority beyond their own conscience. In those days, the people had the Word, the Law. Still, they did what was right in their own eyes.
Today, in our body, we also have more than our own consciences.
We have the Word, Old and New Testaments. And, as members of this body, we have the authority of the Conference, the Eldership, in writing, which forms the basis of our community.
The authority that forms the basis of our community says, "New Testament plan." It says, "only rule of faith and practice." It reaffirms those principles which can be understood in their meaning with roots in the earliest days of our history.
This doesn't allow for anyone to do what is right in his own eyes.
In our movement days, when we walked our radical talk, when we lived "New Testament plan" and "only rule of faith and practice," we thrived.
These days when we individually do what we think is right, we decline and decay.
The Lord of all authority and power and blessing isn't blessing us for doing what is right in our own eyes.
We must repent.
Figuring Out what to do with People Like Me
It strikes me that, as time goes on, the reality that there are people in our culture who love Jesus but either hate, or are uncomfortable with, the organized American church continues and expands.
And, from what I can tell, the number of people who are on fire for Jesus and are unconnected to organized Christianity is growing...and doing so at a quickening pace.
In fact, if there's exponential growth in American Christianity at all, it may be in the expansion of the group that follows Jesus apart from involvement with organized religion.
It's becoming an issue for the organized part of American Christianity that considers itself to truly be the "church," that there is a rapidly increasing number of people who believe in Jesus, and who follow Him passionately, yet who don't think of organized and institutionalized American Christianity as the church at all.
Many of those people have at least some degree of hostility toward the organized and institutional church, as do I, but many more, I believe, who are, by now, simply, indifferent to it.
I'm constantly reading about how the organized church can reverse its declining fortunes...or save itself...as if Jesus following will die out in America if the institutional church fails.
More and more, I doubt that that is so.
And, what's more, I'm convinced that if the organized church is going to have a future, it's going to have to humble itself and acknowledge that there's a growing number of passionate and radical, genuine Jesus followers who find organized American Christianity to be a detriment to a life of obedience and righteousness.
More and more, I think that the organized American church will have to seek an accommodation with people like me, people who love Jesus and may even hate or, at least, dislike organized religion.
(The people who love Jesus but are already disinterested in institutionalized Christianity may be a lost cause.)
Interestingly, if rumor's true, my own body's response to my passionate and radical life of obedience and righteousness has been to exclude me.
As the number of people like me expands, in five or ten years, it strikes me that the institutional church won't be able to do that any longer.
After all, the number of people who don't believe in Jesus and who think the church is irrelevant is also growing. The growth of that group truly is exponential.
Can the organized church write off believers?
And, from what I can tell, the number of people who are on fire for Jesus and are unconnected to organized Christianity is growing...and doing so at a quickening pace.
In fact, if there's exponential growth in American Christianity at all, it may be in the expansion of the group that follows Jesus apart from involvement with organized religion.
It's becoming an issue for the organized part of American Christianity that considers itself to truly be the "church," that there is a rapidly increasing number of people who believe in Jesus, and who follow Him passionately, yet who don't think of organized and institutionalized American Christianity as the church at all.
Many of those people have at least some degree of hostility toward the organized and institutional church, as do I, but many more, I believe, who are, by now, simply, indifferent to it.
I'm constantly reading about how the organized church can reverse its declining fortunes...or save itself...as if Jesus following will die out in America if the institutional church fails.
More and more, I doubt that that is so.
And, what's more, I'm convinced that if the organized church is going to have a future, it's going to have to humble itself and acknowledge that there's a growing number of passionate and radical, genuine Jesus followers who find organized American Christianity to be a detriment to a life of obedience and righteousness.
More and more, I think that the organized American church will have to seek an accommodation with people like me, people who love Jesus and may even hate or, at least, dislike organized religion.
(The people who love Jesus but are already disinterested in institutionalized Christianity may be a lost cause.)
Interestingly, if rumor's true, my own body's response to my passionate and radical life of obedience and righteousness has been to exclude me.
As the number of people like me expands, in five or ten years, it strikes me that the institutional church won't be able to do that any longer.
After all, the number of people who don't believe in Jesus and who think the church is irrelevant is also growing. The growth of that group truly is exponential.
Can the organized church write off believers?
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Realizing that a Predictive Prophecy was Realized
I've posted about this, in a very general way, a little in the recent past. I do it again...with more focus and vigor.
----------------
Most of last year was a bit of a loss for me.
From the time Evie's health began to decline, through the meetings with cardiologists and the surgical team, through the wait for the actual surgery and the touchy moments in her first days and weeks of recovery, through the lengthy, still ongoing recovery, I became spiritually disoriented.
I struggled to maintain focus, but mostly failed.
For much of the time, the best I could achieve was, "I will fear no evil, for you are with me."
And, I've been fighting to get my prophetic, well, groove, back. It's been a battle. It continues to be a battle.
-----------------
Last night, in my nightly insomniac moment, I had what I hope will be a continuing breakthrough.
My most prayed prayer is my plea that the Lord will help me to be faithful to my very specific sense of my calling. Sadly, it's a prayer that I'd not been praying very faithfully lately.
The plea is exactly 71 words in length. Often, when I pray it, I'm overwhelmed by it and can't complete it because I become lost in it.
Last night, as I wasn't sleeping, I prayed it repeatedly...
...and, I've never been so profoundly overwhelmed by it.
The prayer incorporates Jeremiah 1:10, Romans 1:1 and Ephesians 4:11. To pray it is, also, essentially, to meditate on those Scriptures.
I've stated what I believe to be my calling several times in the past.
The calling, but not the prayer, is:
To uproot and tear down and to destroy and overthrow the church's pastor-dominated leadership culture and to build and to plant a servant community in which apostles, prophets, evangelists and shepherds and teachers are all empowered to live within their callings and, therefore, to prepare the saints for works of ministry.
Last night two thoughts reoccurred several times.
1. This is very much about what Christendom theologians call the Doctrine of the Priesthood of all Believers. It's not about parish priests providing religious products and services for a consuming laity but about equipping all disciples to be priests.
------------------
And,
2. It is precisely and very directly opposed to the central idea in Brandon Kelly's curiously uncompleted series of articles in both The CHURCH ADVOCATE and the CGGC eNews on APEST.
Brandon, and assumedly, Lance and the whole gang in the CGGC headquarters building, hyper-emphasized the absolute centrality of "the pastor-dominated leadership culture."
Brandon's last articles, on the shepherd gift, made that vividly clear.
----------------
I've had this sense of calling and I began to pray this prayer, I believe, before Brandon was even a CGGC parish priest and certainly long before Lance was CGGC CEO and before Brandon assumed the position of being a General Conference mountaintopper.
It struck me how powerfully prophetic...
...in the sense that prophets foretell, i.e., predict, the future...
...this is.
----------------
The Spirit was actually leading me to stand up against, and to pray for the failure of, what Brandon and CGGC staffers were promoting, with clear intentionality, for nearly all of 2018.
I was praying against it since long before what Brandon was preaching could have been a twinkle in his theological eye.
I'm certain that Brandon, Lance and the other boys in the band hadn't yet had the idea but the Lord knew they would have it and He was calling me to pray against it years in advance.
That's powerful to me.
I couldn't have guessed that Brandon, Lance, and the gang would preach the sort of pastor-obsessed doctrine they were touting last year. I myself don't have that good of an imagination! But, the Lord of creation knows. He knew.
And, the Spirit had me praying in reference to it YEARS ago!
This moment of realization has been one of the sweetest gifts the Spirit has ever given me.
----------------
Have you ever wondered how Moses could stand so confidently before Pharaoh or Isaiah or Jeremiah against the Kings and High Priests?
I think this is how.
----------------
Most of last year was a bit of a loss for me.
From the time Evie's health began to decline, through the meetings with cardiologists and the surgical team, through the wait for the actual surgery and the touchy moments in her first days and weeks of recovery, through the lengthy, still ongoing recovery, I became spiritually disoriented.
I struggled to maintain focus, but mostly failed.
For much of the time, the best I could achieve was, "I will fear no evil, for you are with me."
And, I've been fighting to get my prophetic, well, groove, back. It's been a battle. It continues to be a battle.
-----------------
Last night, in my nightly insomniac moment, I had what I hope will be a continuing breakthrough.
My most prayed prayer is my plea that the Lord will help me to be faithful to my very specific sense of my calling. Sadly, it's a prayer that I'd not been praying very faithfully lately.
The plea is exactly 71 words in length. Often, when I pray it, I'm overwhelmed by it and can't complete it because I become lost in it.
Last night, as I wasn't sleeping, I prayed it repeatedly...
...and, I've never been so profoundly overwhelmed by it.
The prayer incorporates Jeremiah 1:10, Romans 1:1 and Ephesians 4:11. To pray it is, also, essentially, to meditate on those Scriptures.
I've stated what I believe to be my calling several times in the past.
The calling, but not the prayer, is:
To uproot and tear down and to destroy and overthrow the church's pastor-dominated leadership culture and to build and to plant a servant community in which apostles, prophets, evangelists and shepherds and teachers are all empowered to live within their callings and, therefore, to prepare the saints for works of ministry.
Last night two thoughts reoccurred several times.
1. This is very much about what Christendom theologians call the Doctrine of the Priesthood of all Believers. It's not about parish priests providing religious products and services for a consuming laity but about equipping all disciples to be priests.
------------------
And,
2. It is precisely and very directly opposed to the central idea in Brandon Kelly's curiously uncompleted series of articles in both The CHURCH ADVOCATE and the CGGC eNews on APEST.
Brandon, and assumedly, Lance and the whole gang in the CGGC headquarters building, hyper-emphasized the absolute centrality of "the pastor-dominated leadership culture."
Brandon's last articles, on the shepherd gift, made that vividly clear.
----------------
I've had this sense of calling and I began to pray this prayer, I believe, before Brandon was even a CGGC parish priest and certainly long before Lance was CGGC CEO and before Brandon assumed the position of being a General Conference mountaintopper.
It struck me how powerfully prophetic...
...in the sense that prophets foretell, i.e., predict, the future...
...this is.
----------------
The Spirit was actually leading me to stand up against, and to pray for the failure of, what Brandon and CGGC staffers were promoting, with clear intentionality, for nearly all of 2018.
I was praying against it since long before what Brandon was preaching could have been a twinkle in his theological eye.
I'm certain that Brandon, Lance and the other boys in the band hadn't yet had the idea but the Lord knew they would have it and He was calling me to pray against it years in advance.
That's powerful to me.
I couldn't have guessed that Brandon, Lance, and the gang would preach the sort of pastor-obsessed doctrine they were touting last year. I myself don't have that good of an imagination! But, the Lord of creation knows. He knew.
And, the Spirit had me praying in reference to it YEARS ago!
This moment of realization has been one of the sweetest gifts the Spirit has ever given me.
----------------
Have you ever wondered how Moses could stand so confidently before Pharaoh or Isaiah or Jeremiah against the Kings and High Priests?
I think this is how.
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