In the November 18, 2016 eNews Lance addressed the reality that, while the CGGC has paid lip service to having, as its core goal, making "More and Better Disciples," it is not making disciples effectively.
I found his article provocative and I'm blessed that Lance mentioned discipling at all.
I pile the highest heap of praise I can pile up in noting that Lance is an extremely honest man. In the past, the eNews would never have acknowledged even the slightest flaw in our body. In fact, it would have described a reality in the CGGC that would have made the record of disciples in Acts 1-6 seem pathetic.
Lance's article begins by stating, plainly and precisely, that the CGGC is not effective in making disciples. Thanks, Lance, for your honesty!
This honesty is no small thing. If the cynicism that is core to the CGGC Brand is to be overcome, honest communication from the Mountaintop will help kill it.
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Having said that, Lance makes an assertion about how discipling takes place that is not what I see in the Word.
Lance says, "Disciples of Jesus make other disciples of Jesus."
And, I suspect that that is conventional wisdom in the church today. However, it's not, as far as I can tell, New Testament wisdom.
As I read the New Testament, the truth is that APOSTLES make disciples of Jesus.
The Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John all contain similar versions of Jesus sending followers into the world to make disciples and all of them take place when Jesus is alone with the men He prepared to be apostles. Jesus never sent disciples in general into the world to make disciples. He could have. He would have, I believe, if disciples make other disciples.
The traditional name of the fifth book of the New Testament is THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES. And, that title is accurate. The book is about Apostles making disciples.
I need to ask the people of our body why we have been failing to make disciples.
To me, the biblical answer is that we are parish priest led, by people who are, for the most part, gifted to be shepherds.
As I read church history, the movements that prospered were those who empowered people to function within their apostolic calling, even if they didn't call those people apostles.
Lance, many of us want our body to thrive in making disciples. I am convinced that we won't succeed in doing that until we both empower APEST and disable parish priest dominated leadership.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Embracing Xmas
I suspect that this thread may offend even the readers of this blog who, otherwise, are inclined to be sympathetic to everything I write here.
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I think the, "Put Christ back into Christmas," sentiment that floats around at this time of year is, very simply, tomfoolery. In truth, Christ never has been in Christmas, at least since the first moments Christmas became a big deal.
Until recently in the context of the 2,000 years of Christian history, Christmas either didn't exist or it was a minor part of the liturgical calendar. (I imagine that you've heard this from other bah humbuggers.)
December 25 meant so little at the beginning of of the history of the American republic that, when American Methodists decided to meet to organize after the Revolutionary War, they picked a date when the people prominent in the movement could conveniently travel and meet and they chose December 24 in 1784 to begin their Conference.
The truth is that Christmas became a big deal only after retailers developed a marketing scheme around it in the last century and Christmas took off as a scheme intended to induce people to spend money they wouldn't normally spend.
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But, I don't denounce Christmas simply because I abhor the materialism that is at its core. I abhor for, well, and I hate using this word, for theological reasons.
The biblical truth that there is no evidence that early disciples thought much about the birth of Jesus, let alone celebrate it. When early disciples thought about the coming of Jesus into the world their focus was on the incarnation, or on the reality that God took on human flesh:
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness..."
Early disciples considered the powerful image of the creator of all things becoming human as the inspiration for how they themselves should think about living in the world.
These days, as we focus more on the story of the birth of Jesus, we think of Jesus, not as the inspiration for a life of servanthood lived in humility, but as a cute little thing we want to take in our arms and cuddle.
And, that is how most churchgoers live these days--as believers in a little, helpless Jesus, One who needs us and not as the eternal, holy, righteous Lord Who came into the world not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
As the institutional church makes more of the nativity of its Lord, its Lord becomes smaller and weaker and His church, inept.
The biblical truth is that only two of the Gospels even mention the birth of Jesus and those two accounts do so only to prove the power of the Word in predicting the coming of the Anointed One, proving that Jesus is the Anointed One. There is no suggestion that Jesus should be worshiped as a baby, nor Mary as the Blessed Virgin.
----------------
Having said that about Christmas as a holy day, I can tell you that as soon as I tossed out the Christ in Christmas foolishness, I was able to embrace the sweet, silly, secular Xmas season without guilt and with spectacular pleasure.
And, I do.
I'm not into the gift giving and receiving thing but my brother's family and we adopt a needy family every year and investigate what would make a groovy Xmas for it and buy oodles of stuff to empower that, though much more of what we give is designed to meet geniuine needs, not material wants.
And, I especially love the seasonal music. It's the only music I listen to on the radio. It's with the music I become sentimental, and amused as well.
Some of the music is about Christmas, more of it is about Xmas but a lot of it is merely an attempt to romanticize and glamorize brutally cold weather. I hate cold weather.
SLEIGH BELLS RING? (I'm listening to that one right now.) Have you noticed how much of the music is about non-church bells?
My three favorite Xmas songs are, without a doubt:
1. HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, which was introduced in the movie, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, and was first sung by Judy Garland. Did you know that the second line was supposed to be, "It may be your last," but Garland wouldn't sing that so it was changed to, "Let your heart be light." This is an amazing Xmas anthem!
2. I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. I'm enough a geezer to have a father who served in World War II. The song was written in honor of the men and women in the military during that war. I can get very sentimental about that as I watch my dad leave us as he slips into dementia.
3. THE CHRISTMAS SONG. Did you know that this song was co-written by the Velvet Fog? I'm not crazy about chestnuts but I could listen to Nat King Cole all day long.
(I also get a special hoot out of the Porky Pig version of BLUE CHRISTMAS, which you almost never hear on the radio. I understand for the politically correct reason that it might offend s-s-s-stutterers.)
---------------
I encourage you to join me. Become sentimental about cold weather and the silly little secular Xmas season.
Don't sentimentalize Jesus. Lift Him up, don't make Him little.
---------------
I think the, "Put Christ back into Christmas," sentiment that floats around at this time of year is, very simply, tomfoolery. In truth, Christ never has been in Christmas, at least since the first moments Christmas became a big deal.
Until recently in the context of the 2,000 years of Christian history, Christmas either didn't exist or it was a minor part of the liturgical calendar. (I imagine that you've heard this from other bah humbuggers.)
December 25 meant so little at the beginning of of the history of the American republic that, when American Methodists decided to meet to organize after the Revolutionary War, they picked a date when the people prominent in the movement could conveniently travel and meet and they chose December 24 in 1784 to begin their Conference.
The truth is that Christmas became a big deal only after retailers developed a marketing scheme around it in the last century and Christmas took off as a scheme intended to induce people to spend money they wouldn't normally spend.
---------------
But, I don't denounce Christmas simply because I abhor the materialism that is at its core. I abhor for, well, and I hate using this word, for theological reasons.
The biblical truth that there is no evidence that early disciples thought much about the birth of Jesus, let alone celebrate it. When early disciples thought about the coming of Jesus into the world their focus was on the incarnation, or on the reality that God took on human flesh:
"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking on the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness..."
Early disciples considered the powerful image of the creator of all things becoming human as the inspiration for how they themselves should think about living in the world.
These days, as we focus more on the story of the birth of Jesus, we think of Jesus, not as the inspiration for a life of servanthood lived in humility, but as a cute little thing we want to take in our arms and cuddle.
And, that is how most churchgoers live these days--as believers in a little, helpless Jesus, One who needs us and not as the eternal, holy, righteous Lord Who came into the world not to be served but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.
As the institutional church makes more of the nativity of its Lord, its Lord becomes smaller and weaker and His church, inept.
The biblical truth is that only two of the Gospels even mention the birth of Jesus and those two accounts do so only to prove the power of the Word in predicting the coming of the Anointed One, proving that Jesus is the Anointed One. There is no suggestion that Jesus should be worshiped as a baby, nor Mary as the Blessed Virgin.
----------------
Having said that about Christmas as a holy day, I can tell you that as soon as I tossed out the Christ in Christmas foolishness, I was able to embrace the sweet, silly, secular Xmas season without guilt and with spectacular pleasure.
And, I do.
I'm not into the gift giving and receiving thing but my brother's family and we adopt a needy family every year and investigate what would make a groovy Xmas for it and buy oodles of stuff to empower that, though much more of what we give is designed to meet geniuine needs, not material wants.
And, I especially love the seasonal music. It's the only music I listen to on the radio. It's with the music I become sentimental, and amused as well.
Some of the music is about Christmas, more of it is about Xmas but a lot of it is merely an attempt to romanticize and glamorize brutally cold weather. I hate cold weather.
SLEIGH BELLS RING? (I'm listening to that one right now.) Have you noticed how much of the music is about non-church bells?
My three favorite Xmas songs are, without a doubt:
1. HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, which was introduced in the movie, MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, and was first sung by Judy Garland. Did you know that the second line was supposed to be, "It may be your last," but Garland wouldn't sing that so it was changed to, "Let your heart be light." This is an amazing Xmas anthem!
2. I'LL BE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. I'm enough a geezer to have a father who served in World War II. The song was written in honor of the men and women in the military during that war. I can get very sentimental about that as I watch my dad leave us as he slips into dementia.
3. THE CHRISTMAS SONG. Did you know that this song was co-written by the Velvet Fog? I'm not crazy about chestnuts but I could listen to Nat King Cole all day long.
(I also get a special hoot out of the Porky Pig version of BLUE CHRISTMAS, which you almost never hear on the radio. I understand for the politically correct reason that it might offend s-s-s-stutterers.)
---------------
I encourage you to join me. Become sentimental about cold weather and the silly little secular Xmas season.
Don't sentimentalize Jesus. Lift Him up, don't make Him little.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Drawing a Line in the Sand Between God and Us
That's what the ERC is doing in creating a new Strategic Plan after Dr. Richardson had the insight to admit that this kind of planning is foreign to Scripture because, after that, he said, in effect, yet all of us know better than to live by the wisdom of the Word, at least in this case.
Key to the vision Dr. Richardson cast for the creation of the new Strategic Plan is his plea that all of us join together in prayer, asking God to fill the strategic planners with His wisdom in developing the plan that we, nevertheless, understand is foreign to the wisdom of His Word.
That is saying, in effect:
"Lord, we're drawing a line in the sand between You and us that WE won't cross over. Please, Lord, defy your own wisdom and step over that line we have drawn and come to us and bless our planners as they defy your wisdom. "
Can anyone see how self-focused, tradition-bound and foolish this is?
It's akin to faithless people in the Old Testament trying to figure out where to put the altar to Baal in reference to the temple and then asking the Lord to bless them as they gather at Baal's altar.
This is a radical image but, based on the Lord's continued lack of blessing on the CGGC, we need to consider it seriously.
Does anyone think that the Lord will bless this Strategic Plan?
Key to the vision Dr. Richardson cast for the creation of the new Strategic Plan is his plea that all of us join together in prayer, asking God to fill the strategic planners with His wisdom in developing the plan that we, nevertheless, understand is foreign to the wisdom of His Word.
That is saying, in effect:
"Lord, we're drawing a line in the sand between You and us that WE won't cross over. Please, Lord, defy your own wisdom and step over that line we have drawn and come to us and bless our planners as they defy your wisdom. "
Can anyone see how self-focused, tradition-bound and foolish this is?
It's akin to faithless people in the Old Testament trying to figure out where to put the altar to Baal in reference to the temple and then asking the Lord to bless them as they gather at Baal's altar.
This is a radical image but, based on the Lord's continued lack of blessing on the CGGC, we need to consider it seriously.
Does anyone think that the Lord will bless this Strategic Plan?
Sunday, November 20, 2016
Gathering: 11-20-16
At this moment, the time is 8:24 and we, mostly Evie honestly, are preparing to host our first house gathering in, as far as I can tell, slightly more than three months.
The house looks fairly nice. All of the detritus of my parents' move is safely out of sight. And, because Evie's preparing a classic Thanksgiving meal, it smells wonderful.
One complication: Our heat pump went on the fritz a few days ago and the guy we use to maintain it is, inexplicably, on vacation until after Thanksgiving and we've decided to tough it out. We have a fireplace that makes a pretty fire more than it produces heat and we figured that the heat produced by cooking and body heat will keep everyone comfortable. Yesterday the high temperature was 69 but, by about 8:00, it was snowing and now its in the 30s, cloudy and windy and the temperature inside is currently 67.
I'm looking forward to gathering because I think that one reason Evie and I haven't been sacrificing enough lately is that the gatherings we have had have not been in a home and, therefore, have not lent themselves to the spurring of each other on to love and good works.
I pick up the folks from the home in about an hour...
---------------------
Well, the temperature peaked inside at 70 degrees, the meal was tasty and it was nice having the gang back in our home.
Two of the guys from the home missed. One, the guy I call Bennie has a very bad cold. Our friend Ward, though, has had a mild stroke and is in a rehab setting.
Our Word time, which is usually very powerful, wasn't today. It was interactive as usual and centered around the theme of thankfulness.
Sadly, our sixth grader, was filling us on the real, politically correct, story of the first Thanksgiving, which he accepts.
Bizarre!
With that in the background, it was difficult to get to a biblical concept of giving thanks.
Still, being together in our home base was sweet.
The house looks fairly nice. All of the detritus of my parents' move is safely out of sight. And, because Evie's preparing a classic Thanksgiving meal, it smells wonderful.
One complication: Our heat pump went on the fritz a few days ago and the guy we use to maintain it is, inexplicably, on vacation until after Thanksgiving and we've decided to tough it out. We have a fireplace that makes a pretty fire more than it produces heat and we figured that the heat produced by cooking and body heat will keep everyone comfortable. Yesterday the high temperature was 69 but, by about 8:00, it was snowing and now its in the 30s, cloudy and windy and the temperature inside is currently 67.
I'm looking forward to gathering because I think that one reason Evie and I haven't been sacrificing enough lately is that the gatherings we have had have not been in a home and, therefore, have not lent themselves to the spurring of each other on to love and good works.
I pick up the folks from the home in about an hour...
---------------------
Well, the temperature peaked inside at 70 degrees, the meal was tasty and it was nice having the gang back in our home.
Two of the guys from the home missed. One, the guy I call Bennie has a very bad cold. Our friend Ward, though, has had a mild stroke and is in a rehab setting.
Our Word time, which is usually very powerful, wasn't today. It was interactive as usual and centered around the theme of thankfulness.
Sadly, our sixth grader, was filling us on the real, politically correct, story of the first Thanksgiving, which he accepts.
Bizarre!
With that in the background, it was difficult to get to a biblical concept of giving thanks.
Still, being together in our home base was sweet.
Friday, November 18, 2016
Not Sacrificing Enough
I have pointed out many times in the past that I believe that a core characteristic of the CGGC brand is "To Talk is to Walk-ism."
That means that actions count for almost nothing in the CGGC.
In the past, especially in Findlay, big, radical talk was common but all action was bland, moderate and tradition driven.
Honestly, I'm not picking that up from Lance. His talk is forward-looking and what he himself does matches his talk.
Recently, here in the ERC, we've witnessed some serious talk-ism from Kevin Richardson, co-writer of WE BELIEVE and its radical position on the authority of the Bible in the CGGC, in his promotion of a new Strategic Plan even though he admits the idea of a Strategic Plan is foreign to Scripture.
While I continue to defend the authority of the Conference in the face of Kevin's defiance of its position on the authority of the Bible, I have to acknowledge that, here at Faith, we are struggling against Talkism in our own setting.
One of the, well, Characteristics of the Faith Brand is that, in the New Covenant, worship has nothing to do with gathering and singing and hearing a sermon. For us, true and proper worship is to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.
We believe that passionately.
This morning Evie said to me that, lately, she and I have not been sacrificing enough.
And, as soon as she said it, I was convinced.
But, I will say this in our defense. Evie and I will change this deviation from our core belief immediately whereas, previously in Findlay, there was no intention to live out radical talk. The talk itself, truly, was the walk. And, with Dr. Richardson, I'm convinced, based on past actions, he thinks he possesses the authority to lead the Conference in doing something that is foreign to the teachings of Scripture, even though, in doing so, he's defying Conference authority as well as the Word.
As the NIV says it, in Jesus, "true and proper worship" is about personal sacrifice.
We will begin to do that again. Now.
That means that actions count for almost nothing in the CGGC.
In the past, especially in Findlay, big, radical talk was common but all action was bland, moderate and tradition driven.
Honestly, I'm not picking that up from Lance. His talk is forward-looking and what he himself does matches his talk.
Recently, here in the ERC, we've witnessed some serious talk-ism from Kevin Richardson, co-writer of WE BELIEVE and its radical position on the authority of the Bible in the CGGC, in his promotion of a new Strategic Plan even though he admits the idea of a Strategic Plan is foreign to Scripture.
While I continue to defend the authority of the Conference in the face of Kevin's defiance of its position on the authority of the Bible, I have to acknowledge that, here at Faith, we are struggling against Talkism in our own setting.
One of the, well, Characteristics of the Faith Brand is that, in the New Covenant, worship has nothing to do with gathering and singing and hearing a sermon. For us, true and proper worship is to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice.
We believe that passionately.
This morning Evie said to me that, lately, she and I have not been sacrificing enough.
And, as soon as she said it, I was convinced.
But, I will say this in our defense. Evie and I will change this deviation from our core belief immediately whereas, previously in Findlay, there was no intention to live out radical talk. The talk itself, truly, was the walk. And, with Dr. Richardson, I'm convinced, based on past actions, he thinks he possesses the authority to lead the Conference in doing something that is foreign to the teachings of Scripture, even though, in doing so, he's defying Conference authority as well as the Word.
As the NIV says it, in Jesus, "true and proper worship" is about personal sacrifice.
We will begin to do that again. Now.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
A Report to My Commission
The most outrageous item for me to report is that the Conference still neither confirms nor denies the flurry of rumors, that surfaced during the spring, that my ordination was recalled.
And, more to the point, if the rumors are based in fact, Dr. Richardson and his staff are insubordinent to the authority of the Conference by not following its directive to recall my ordination.
If the rumors are based in fact, the inaction of Conference staff is suggestive of one important dysfunction that goes far in explaining why this Conference of the CGGC is in, especially spiritual, decline.
Jesus teaches that those who would be great in the Kingdom would be slaves of all. That attitude of hyper-servanthood is entirely missing from ERC mountaintoppers. They view themselves as leaders, not slaves.
I'll ask what I frequently ask. Is it any wonder that the Lord of all power, mercy and grace is not blessing us!
A second item: I've heard nothing from the ERC Commission on Church Renewal about the possibility that they may recommend the depantsing of Faith Community.
For all I know, they've already recommended it and, for all I know, Faith has already been depantsed. That would be true to form. The Ad Council already defrocked me before I even knew that the status of my credentials was under review.
I'll repeat the question about the Lord's blessing.
One final note, I have become aware that some heavy-duty lies about me were spoken on the floor of Conference last spring and the person who spoke them has, perhaps inadvertently, acknowledged speaking them. I'm doing my best to follow the teachings of Jesus in approaching a person who sins against you. So far, it's not going well but I am resolved.
To be fair to the person who spoke untruthfully about me, that person believes that his misrepresentation of me was justified under circumstances he recalls being in place. As I say, I am resolved.
And, more to the point, if the rumors are based in fact, Dr. Richardson and his staff are insubordinent to the authority of the Conference by not following its directive to recall my ordination.
If the rumors are based in fact, the inaction of Conference staff is suggestive of one important dysfunction that goes far in explaining why this Conference of the CGGC is in, especially spiritual, decline.
Jesus teaches that those who would be great in the Kingdom would be slaves of all. That attitude of hyper-servanthood is entirely missing from ERC mountaintoppers. They view themselves as leaders, not slaves.
I'll ask what I frequently ask. Is it any wonder that the Lord of all power, mercy and grace is not blessing us!
A second item: I've heard nothing from the ERC Commission on Church Renewal about the possibility that they may recommend the depantsing of Faith Community.
For all I know, they've already recommended it and, for all I know, Faith has already been depantsed. That would be true to form. The Ad Council already defrocked me before I even knew that the status of my credentials was under review.
I'll repeat the question about the Lord's blessing.
One final note, I have become aware that some heavy-duty lies about me were spoken on the floor of Conference last spring and the person who spoke them has, perhaps inadvertently, acknowledged speaking them. I'm doing my best to follow the teachings of Jesus in approaching a person who sins against you. So far, it's not going well but I am resolved.
To be fair to the person who spoke untruthfully about me, that person believes that his misrepresentation of me was justified under circumstances he recalls being in place. As I say, I am resolved.
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
My Calling
I've written this up here several times over the years.
I came to understand this in almost exactly in these words for the first time nearly ten years ago.
I pray over this more than anything else I pray about, always asking the Spirit to show me I'm off base, if I'm off base.
It derives from Jeremiah 1:10, Romans 1:1 and Ephesians 4:11-12. This is it:
To be a servant of Christ Jesus called to be a prophet and set apart 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.
From early on, I've struggled with the words, "to destroy and overthrow." These are words that appear over and over again in Jeremiah. Jeremiah carried them as a part of his ministry for decades. They are especially challenging in a shepherd dominated spiritual world.
But, I'm taking them seriously today more than ever.
I came to understand this in almost exactly in these words for the first time nearly ten years ago.
I pray over this more than anything else I pray about, always asking the Spirit to show me I'm off base, if I'm off base.
It derives from Jeremiah 1:10, Romans 1:1 and Ephesians 4:11-12. This is it:
To be a servant of Christ Jesus called to be a prophet and set apart 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.
From early on, I've struggled with the words, "to destroy and overthrow." These are words that appear over and over again in Jeremiah. Jeremiah carried them as a part of his ministry for decades. They are especially challenging in a shepherd dominated spiritual world.
But, I'm taking them seriously today more than ever.
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