How Does The Church Guard Itself Against False Evangelists, Teachers, Pastors, Prophets, and Apostles?

The Power Of Accountability of the Five Fold

In my last bog I asked, “How can the Church prepare, equip, prepare its saints for the ‘next’ group of false prophets, false teachers, self-proclaimed evangelists and apostles all under the title of ‘pastor’ or elite Church leader?

I have been a Christian for 50 years now, and I have witnessed the rise and fall of several well known, once famous Christian leaders who have risen in power, influence, and affluence, only to tragically fall in shame and disgrace hurting thousands of Christian believers.  Most of these men were very sincere in their Christian faith and beliefs, often starting as humble men, servants, doctrinally sound, but as they grew in stature gaining positions of influence and proclaiming titles and offices, rising up the corporate ladder of the Christian Church, subtle changes began to occur.  Once they gained the “titles” and “offices”, they began to immune themselves from other Christians, particularly those of “lower position”.  They felt “empowered” to “lead” those of less or lower caliber in the family of faith.  Soon they became hard to “get to”, particularly for the common believer.  They had build a cocoon of protection through isolation, self Bible study, individual meditation, and private worship, building even a greater distance between themselves and the “people” of God, their supposedly family.  Soon those “people” would only be needed to “finance” the teachings, the ministry, and their affluence of their leader.   Red flags begin to appear, but who is to stop this leadership, reprimand, correct, or guide this independent leader to bring accountability to his ministry, cause, or platform?

The emphasis of the “Body of Christ” is its “many members”, different parts, different gifting, different talents, different points of view all working “together” for the “unity” of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.  Its emphasis is not on one man, nor on just leadership.  Ephesians 4 calls us to “equip the saints”, not the staff, not just the leadership.  We are to “equip” the “body of Christ” for the “work of service”, not control, not position, not influence or affluence. We need to “equip” or prepare the “saints”, individual members, for “group”, “body”, ministry, not isolated individual ministry for the purpose of “maturing” the saints into the “likeness of Jesus Christ” while bringing “unity” to the “body of Christ”. 

We need to teach the saints the importance of their “new birth” in Jesus Christ, what it means, how it impacted their lives, how to share and tell their story, and how to build “relationships” with non-believers in Jesus Christ, so we can share the “good news”, the gospel.  Then we need to “release” their evangelistic passion under proper accountability of service not control.

We need to teach the saints the importance of “nurture” and “care” in Jesus, how to have a shepherding heart, how to release hospitality to the sick, the afflicted, the poor, the hungry, the wondering, the unemployed, those released from prison or still in prison.  When major disasters hit, like hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc., American’s respond generously.  We need to respond daily to the needs of those around us, not just during disasters.  Finally we need to “release” the saints to “serve”, not as a project, nor a program, nor an evangelistic effort, but as a common everyday life.

We need to teach the saints the importance of daily devotions and Bible reading, teaching the saints discipline themselves to the “manna” of our day, teaching them to allow the Holy Spirit to be their teacher while speaking to them the truth about the passages they read.  We need to teach the saints on how to “dig” for answers in the Bible, how to do effective Bible study.  Then we need to “release” them to share the Word with others.

We need to teach the saints the importance of making that Logos, written Word, the Bible, into the Rhema Word, the living Word, living out the principles taught in the Bible in their daily lives.  We need to take the saints from a theological, academic dissertation of the Bible into a practical, daily, experiential, living out of the Bible through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  We are to not only “talk” the “talk”, but “walk” the “walk.”  Actually we need to “walk” the “talk”, experience the life, the journey, in Jesus.  Then we need to “release” the saints to actually live out their faith journey in Jesus through the Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ.

We need to teach the saints the importance of “Body Ministry” and the “seeing over”, or oversight of the Body.  What we do is for the common good of the body, the Church, not ourselves.  Jesus “died” for the Church, we need to “lay down our lives for our brethren.” (I John 3:16)  The five fold is not only for the “maturing” of the saints into the likeness of Jesus, but also to bring “unity” to the Body of Christ.  The gospel is about “dying to self” in order to “lay down our life” through service to our brethren, our family members of faith through Jesus.  It is not about “me”, #1 as we say in America, but about “us”, the Church, the body of Christ.  After we equip the saints towards this endeavor, we then need to “release” them to bring that unity.

Finally, if each of the five fold passions and points of view would subject themselves to serve the other four and be served by them in their daily lives and faith journeys, there would be established a powerful bond of accountability to serve and be served, preventing the isolation, inwardness, self-seeking, proclaimed self-enlightenment, independent spirit that has brought down so many Christian leaders in the past.

If there was ever a time the Church needs the five fold, it is now!

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 7)

The 21^st Century Church’s Identity Crisis?

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of.....  actually “building relationships, not on likeness, but on different giftings to share in service to one another and to draw on in time of need.  In marriage we often chose opposites to augment our strengths and weaknesses, why not in other relationships?

Let’s look at that question.

When are the many parts of the body of Christ finally going to admit that “we need each other?”  Why do our differences draw us apart rather than bring us together?  Why are they so divisive?  In the natural, as a parent, I have worked hard teaching my children that family is important, relationships with kin is significant, love and acceptance trumps petty grudges and self centeredness.  It must have had an impact because my boys claim they never had a “slug fest”, an all and out fisticuff brawl between them. When raising fists, they laughed at each other.  Today they thrive in peace in a family setting, not division, strife, hurt, jealousies, grudges, etc. that dysfunctional families possess.  I cannot say that is true for the Church for it is strewn with divisions, critical of each other, and are known for shooting their wounded.   How can we be a light to the world, a Bride ready for the return of its Groom if that is its image?

In the natural the mystery of marriage is the bringing together two opposites and making them one.  In the natural it looks like it can’t be done, for it would bring strife.  In the supernatural it is a spiritual principle taught throughout the Bible.  The Church has an identity crisis.  The Groom is telling the Bride that she is beautiful (read Song of Solomon), but today’s bride, the Church, doesn’t believe it because of all of its internal turmoil.  Because of its lack of unity, striving to be uniform rather than united, the Groom is in disarray.  To the Bride, looking at the turmoil with in itself, it looks defiled, but the 21^st Century Church, the Bride of Christ, must begin to look at itself as the Holy Spirit reveals it.  The Holy Spirit will reveal what the Groom looks like, and the Bride will transform into the likeness of the Groom bringing it into union.

Church, we got to stop looking at our differences, our past histories, our vain traditions, and allow the Holy Spirit to give us the revelation of who Jesus Christ is on this earth.  The Church is the extension of Jesus Christ on earth, so we need to get a supernatural revelation of what that really is!  A groom is always dazzled by the bride’s looks. It is breath taking to him. The same is with Jesus, the way He looks at His Church, so we need to get that same vision of who we are in Christ as an individual and corporately as a Body of Christ, the Church.

The purpose of the five fold according to Ephesians 4 is for individual believers to grow into the maturity and likeness of Christ and corporately for the Church to become united as one.  If that is its purpose, then maybe as a Church we should embrace it. Maybe we need to “equip”, “prepare”, “train” the “saints”, the believers in Jesus Christ and release their “evangelistic,” “pastoral,” “teaching,” “prophetic”, and “apostolic” spirits, or passions, or point of view to bring maturity to its believers and unity to its Body.  It is worth a try, particularly since what we have tried in the past has not proven to produce good fruit but hurt among its believers and division among its ranks.

We need to look vertical, heavenward for the inspiration on what to do supernaturally (John 3:16), but we need to look relationally horizontal (I John 3:16) to recognize in the natural the passions, giftings, and the way we view things differently to draw us together by “laying down our lives” for each other.  That, my friend, is the CROSS.  We are at the intersection of the supernatural dissecting the natural in history, I believe, the Cross the 21^st Century Church must face. How will we respond to this challenge?

How is it all to work? Not our problem if we allow ourselves to listen to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and be obedient to His directions and calls.  If there was ever a time for the church to “trust and obey, for there is no other way” as the old 19^th century hymn proclaimed it is in the 21^st century. Let’s quit fighting the Holy Spirit, begin trusting Him, listening to Him, and be obedient to the revelation of Jesus Christ that he will unveil.  This will produce a new look for the Church to prepare it as a Bride.

21^st Century Church….. let’s do it!

(This is the 7^th part, the last, of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 6)

Allowing the Holy Spirit to be the Holy Spirit?

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of.....  actually “cherishing its historical tradition, but allowing the Holy Spirit to teach, guide, and speak to the relevant Church of today, the 21^st Century, in how to be effective in a lost and dying world?” Let’s look at that question.

I think one of the biggest challenges for the 21^st Century Church is to allow the Holy Spirit to just be the Holy Spirit and allow Him to do what He has been sent to do: Bring glory to Jesus Christ and revelation of Jesus Christ to the saints, those who believe in Jesus Christ.  We so often oppose the workings and leading of the Holy Spirit because we give up control.  It really is a control issue.  Who is in control, you or the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ?  I have repeated over and over again in numerous blogs, “Can you trust the Holy Spirit?”  If you can, then do it!  Release Him to do His thing.

I know there is richness in traditions, for traditions are established by the ways people exposed their faith over centuries of history.  When they were alive it was just living out their faith, but to us it became an acceptable “style”, a “pattern”, a “program” that proved successful, or just the way we always do it not knowing why.  It is nice to know where we have come from, for that established our history, our foundation, but the question remains to where we are going?  What lies ahead?

The American Church today is so different than the founding Pilgrims in Massachusetts, or the Catholics in Maryland, or Quakers with religious freedom in Pennsylvania.  They came seeking religious “freedom” from the dictations of the established church with its traditions in their time.  Americans today still revere their “freedom of religion” although they still think their way of practicing their religion to be the true way.  There is a richness in the historical traditions of these different “faiths” or “sects”of Christianity, but I still pose the questions of where the American church is going now that there are millions in America instead of just thousands?

Culture changes with time.  Today’s fast pace, entertainment centered, internet driven, money driven, multi-tasked American culture is far different than what our Founding Father’s faced, so how is the Church to respond to the change in culture in the 21^st Century?

The Holy Spirit birthed the Church at Pentecost.  Since that time it has been busy trying to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven, often against the resistance of the established church of its time. The early Church grew when lead by the Holy Spirit.  When the established church began replacing the Holy Spirit with rituals, traditions, and dogma, the Holy Spirit’s influence diminished leading the church into what we call today the Dark Ages.  The Reformation brought renewal and life to the church’s acceptance to the Holy Spirit’s leading, and the church began to again flourish. 

Abraham fresh faith established the Jewish faith, full of rich history with Moses and the prophets, but by the time of Christ, that very religion opposed that faith Abraham established.  Instead of the “Order of Melchizedek” as Paul preached about, Jews claimed to be followers of Moses, and opposed this Jesus Movement.  Over history, God had destroyed the Jewish Temple, the system of priesthood from the tribe of Aaron, the sacred genealogies, all sacred and central to the Jewish faith for a new and living way.  Traditional Judahism still opposes that the old testament, the old covenant, has been replaced by a new testament, a new covenant.  The very things God destroyed he fulfilled in Jesus Christ, yet tradition has been the biggest opposing force in allowing the Jew to accept Jesus as their true Messiah.

Today’s Church is facing some of the same issues.  Do we need our temples, our church buildings, our cathedrals destroyed, or our clergy or priesthood system changed, or our historical genealogies of men and movements that now carry their denominational names disbanded? What is the Holy Spirit up to in order to refocus the Church of Jesus Christ back on Jesus Christ and not its traditions as He prepares the Church, the Bride of Christ, for the Groom’s return?  That is the question we should be asking!

The 21^st Century Church needs to ask, “What is the Holy Spirit up to?”  When He tells us, which He always does as a revelation of who Jesus Christ is, then will we be obedient to that revelation and actual “prepare” or “equip” the Church for that moment?  That is a question only we, as the Church, can answer, and to that answer comes the individual challenge to each believer in Jesus Christ, “Can you trust the Holy Spirit?  Will You Trust the Holy Spirit?”  If you say yes, to that challenge, then start listening, start obeying, and start trusting, for the Church will have to cloth itself in Bridal clothing that only the Holy Spirit can provide.

21^st Century Church, believers in Jesus Christ, are you ready to respond?  “Can you trust………”

(This is the 6^th part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs, especially the priesthood, and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 5)

Can “Releasing” Be That Difficult?

 In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of .....  actually “releasing those already in the Church to do the work of an evangelist, or shepherding, being pastoral, or teaching the Word, or bringing spiritual relevancy and life to the Word, or “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit is doing with the corporate body of Christ?” Let’s look at that question.

The last blog we looked at “equipping” or preparing the saints for the work of the service, but what happens if we have done the preparation work?  If we “prepare” but do not “release”, our efforts are in vain!  We, the 21^st Century Church, needs to learn how to “release.”

As a public educator, watching a High School Graduation Ceremony is a challenge.  You have spent 12 years in their life to “prepare” or “equip” them for the real world, but if you don’t release them (graduate them) they will never mature into adults!  Although a senior thinks he knows it all, he is in for a real shock when being released.  A new challenge begins, and he can’t return back to high school anymore? That is right! Now is the real test to see if we really “prepared” the student or not.

In the church world we, too, have often prepared people for ministry, but fear releasing them as if they are not ready!  In a past blog I told of the Lay Speaker’s courses I took through the United Methodist Church when I was young, but very few of those of us who took the course ever got to fill a pulpit to give a sermon.  The pastors were afraid to “release” their pulpits to non-clergy, fearing heresy, false teaching, or something….?  I have often asked, “Why were we even trained if they were not willing to release us upon graduation?”

I have seen churches who have released their members to move on in a ministry with the laying on of hands, financially supporting them, and blessing them by continual correspondence.  That was powerful.  It is far different being sent out as a “Lone Ranger” into a ministry rather than with the blessing of a caring, loving church as a covering.  Even the Lone Ranger had Tonto!  Instead of church splits, we would see church growths without disunity, hurt, and dissention. 

In the natural, the “empty nest syndrome” is tough on a parent who has nurtured and cared for a child, pouring everything physically, spiritually, and financially into their child, only to face an empty bedroom never to be lived in again by that child, for that child is no more; he has become an adult! That child will move on to their own apartment, eventually owning their own home, and maybe even building a grandparent’s suite on to their home to take care of their aging parent!  Children cannot become adults unless they are “released.”  Often, as a church, we have not only enabled other believers from spiritually growing, but we have held on to them too long, unable to release them. This has produced negative results.

As a church we spend countless hours, finances, and resources on our “Youth Groups”, the “future generation” of church leaders as we call them, but lose them when they hit their 20’s.  This is the decade of their growth, maturing into becoming an independent adult, and we, the church, don’t know what to do with them trying to fit them into our molds of the way we think and “do” church when they are looking for their own expressions of faith and truth, though in different ways than we deem “acceptable” or even “reasonable”.  What did we “equip” our youth to do in their teens that we could release them toward maturity in their 20’s?  Most Church Teen Conferences are hyped up to save one’s High School, change the world, and be a history maker.  They are not geared to “equip” or “prepare” those teens for their 20’s, thus they leave the church and search for the meaning of life when I thought the church already gave them that meaning!

If we are truly “equipping” or “preparing” our youth for the “work of the service”, then why are they leaving the church that supposedly equipped them when they work out their maturity, their adulthood?  The 21^st Century Church needs to rethink how it “equips” and “releases” its future generation or it will lose them and the church becomes a spiritual “assisted living” building for the aged.

Again I would like to blog about Doris Dolheimer, who taught me a lot about equipping and releasing. Although an excellent Pentecostal pianist in her own right, she was willing to take those in their early teens under her wing to teach them worship, not as a style of music, but as a principle, equipping them to “hear the voice of the conductor”, the Holy Spirit and to be obedient to the conductor’s leading.  When those youth grew to become good musicians and began to practice some of the spiritual principles that she taught, she released them.  She walked off the stage, allowing the sound of the music to change to their expression, more “rockier,” and even watching her beloved baby grand piano be replaced with drums, electronic instruments, amps and monitors.  The sound and style of worship may have changed, but the principles she “equipped” them with haven’t.  Today she still remains in the pew and worships, while many of those that she has “equipped” have rocked on with Jesus with the desire to create a worshipful atmosphere.

21^st Century Church needs to better equip and then release, let go with a blessing.

(This is the 5^th part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 4)

 The Big “E”: “Equipping” or “Enabling”?

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of.....  actually “equipping”, preparing the “saints”, not church staff’s, for the work of “service” as outlined in Ephesians 4?” Let’s look at that question.

There is an addiction in the American church today, dependency on their clergy or professional staff which often enables them.  The American church has done a poor job at “equipping” the “saints” for the work of service here in America by just “serving” them.  This may sound like a paradox, but by constantly “serving” their congregations, they constantly give out, give out, give out, then burn out!  That is not the fruit of serving.

We feed, diaper, and burp our children as newborns. From their birth, parents just give out, give out, give out, but there is the hope, the prayer, the belief that someday the child will be potty trained, feed himself at the table, and say “excuse me” when he/she burps alone!  Part of “growing up” is taking on responsibility, learning to stand alone, and eventually taking care of others.  It thrilled me to see a friend of ours helplessly going through childhood, only to one day stand on his own, in fact, getting married, and today is a “foster” parent, reaching out to others.  That is growing up.

There are members of many of our churches who have not, and often refuse to “grow up” spiritually.  They want the pastor to feed them through sermons and teachings rather than self-Bible reading and study.  They would rather call the pastor for the prayer list so that the pastor or staff can pray for their loved ones rather than nurture a private, vibrant prayer life of their own.  They would rather give financially when they can or what they want rather than practice a disciplined financial life of tithing.  These people frustrate their church leadership, but today’s church leadership style is to take some of the blame, because we are doing a poor job of “equipping”, preparing, developing, and nurturing the “saints”, the ordinary grass root believers in Jesus, to “do” the work of the service.  We have “enabled” them into their present condition.  Most “discipleship courses” in churches have failed.  Often it becomes easier to equip the “staff” than it is to equip the “saints” to “do” it.  I have seen this principle as a public educator where administrators are more into equipping their staff through staff development than releasing their staff to do what they are best at doing, teaching,  equipping their students for real world lessons. In education, students now “expect” the teaching staff to do alot for them, which is sad, but we have “enabled” that attitude. This is also true with the American church.

So the challenge is, “How do we “equip the saints for the work of the service” as a church?  How can we introduce, then develop, care, and nurture believers in their God given talents, then have the “trust” and “faith” in them to release them, allow them to grow up and be “mature” in Christ and eventually become leaders in the Church?

I contend through the five fold!  We need apostles to oversee or “see over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in individual lives as well corporately with in the local body of Christ. Apostles love to “see over” one’s development then “release” them. They are never to control nor manipulate, but allow the Holy Spirit to develop each believer.  Apostles naturally want to “release” one into ministry.  We need shepherds, teachers, and prophets to help in the day-to-day development of a believer to be grounded in the Word, the Bible, yet activate it into a “living”, Rhema Word, with proper nurture and care through daily living experiences. This is what Jesus did to the twelve.  He never sent them off to rabbinical school, or seminary, nor gave a “discipleship course” to his disciples; he walked, talked, and taught them through parables of common life experiences to teach kingdom principles.  We need evangelists to ignite, revive, and bring renewal and rebirth to that which the Holy Spirit is leading.  All five of these passions and points of view would develop believers toward a greater maturity in Jesus Christ.

As a church, we have got to quit enabling, and begin developing.  This takes an investment of our time, our talents, and our resources through establishing personal relationships, not programs as today’s institutional church looks for. “Equipping” or preparing someone takes time, care, nurture, respect, trust, development, and faith.  Are we, the Church, willing to give such a great price for the “equipping of the saints?”  That is the question for the 21^st Century Church.

(This is the 4^th part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs, particularly on equipping, and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 3)

A Different Look At Accountability

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of …… bringing “accountability” to those in the Church through “service” by “laying down your life for your brethren” (I John 3:16)?” Let’s look at that question.

In my private life I feel accountable to the leadership of my local church, but I do not feel them necessarily accountable to me.  I can call for an “appointment” if I need to communicate with them during business hours or if I have a need, or I will email, tweet, or Facebook them, but I never expect them to personally do that to me. Why? Often leadership in most churches is by position rather than relationship.  (Ratio between professional staff and laity can become ineffective for personal ministry when it grows in size.)  I must admit, my current pastor and I get to sit down and square off about once every three months.  I don’t know if that is enough to build a strong relationship of service and receiving. Those with whom I am in daily relationship I learn to respect because of their life style, their commitment to Jesus, their faith journey they display each day and how they portray Jesus to me in their daily life.  Often laity feel “out of the loop” with their professionals.   Personally, over the last 20 years, I have developed a mindset where I didn’t feel I had a personal relationship with our pastor that would warrant an invitation over for supper with his family, nor would I ever expect an invitation from him to dine with his family. I would feel calling him in the evening would fringe on his badly needed family time, but because of my work schedule I could not call him during business hours at the church office.  That relationship has changed with our current pastor, but the breaking of an old mindset is in order!

Accountability for leadership in most churches comes from with in their own structure.  Church Boards, Ministerial Advisory Committees, etc. are created as well as oversight by bishops, district supervisors, etc. for clergy.  But I have discovered that being a pastor, a clergy, is a very lonely position.  What has caused that dilemma?

Some denominations teach their clergy not to get close to their people because they move so often in their career.  I know of laity who have been hurt, learning to mistrust their clergy, because every time they get close to one as a person, build a relationship of faith and trust, the clergy has been assigned to another location, another parish, creating a void that had previously been fulfilled.

Why couldn’t accountability in leadership be built on “service”, “sacrifice”, and “laying down one’s life” for each other through relationships? I know of church boards and leadership that will host “Pastor Appreciation Sundays”, take special offerings to “bless” their pastors, even sending them on a “Cruise” to bless them for a badly needed vacation, but will not yield or lay down their lives for that pastor when diversity and differences arise during leadership meetings and church politics become the “norm” rather than “service”, “sacrifice”, or “laying down one’s life.” That superficial cruise often becomes the Titanic of their relationship.  What would leadership meetings be like if everyone was “free” to minister from their strengths to each other, and receive the strengths of others to bolster their weaknesses?  The power to “release” everyone to be who they are in Jesus and the giftings He has given them as well as “receive” openly and willingly from others their strengths would change how leadership is done in the church.  “Accountability” would occur with the “giving” to others while “receiving” openly from them.  That builds relationships; that builds trust; that builds strong bonds of “service” as featured in Ephesians 4.

There need not be a great divide between those in leadership and those not in leadership in the body of Christ.  We need each other, to serve each other, and to receive from each other.  Part of leadership is allowing a relationship to develop where one will receive as well as give.  This has to be practiced in our daily lives, our daily walks of faith!  How can a believer learn to “serve”, to nurture, care, and give hospitality than to those they are following as well as receive from them?  The church should be a “safe” place of us to practice on one another, so we can be effective when we reach out to others outside our little “safe” church world and be challenged.

Relationship among believes, the giving and taking of our different giftings and strengths is the key to the Church’s effectiveness and affluence in the 21^st Century, and to bringing accountability to the church.

(This is the 3rd part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs, particularly on accountability, and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold (Part 2)

Diversity Can Bring Unity, Not Division

In my May 13^th blog I wrote, “After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of ……  using the diversity with in the Church that historically brought its divisions to become the very strength of bringing its unity?” Let’s look at that question.

The yellow pages of my phone book are filled with pages of subdivided “categories” of Christian Churches in my local city.  It attempts to compartmentalize the different “divisions” with in the Church by topics.  Similar churches are listed under similar titles, but different from other churches in the area, and proud of their differences rather than their similarities. 

There are listed “evangelical” churches with a strong emphasis for evangelism, “pastoral” churches that emphasize small group ministries, more person to person contact and care, “Word” churches that boast how they teach the “Word of God” uncompromisingly, “spirit-led” churches that are open to the prophetic and free style of worship, and even “apostolic” churches claiming to be the “true” church.  All recognize their strengths, boast in it, and emphasize it, but are unwilling to yield to those other “members of the body of Christ” who have strengths that flair up as their weaknesses.  The Church looks as a group that is independent from one another that doesn’t “need” one another, nor want to “fellowship” with those not under the same banner of strength, yet they try to talk a good talk about the “unity of the body of Christ”.  They might be united in heaven, for there is no “sections” in heaven like there are at sporting arenas, but they certainly are not united in any way on earth!  Though they claim to be preaching about the same Jesus, they proclaim different “gospels,” thus emphasizing their differences. What happened to the section of the Lord Prayer that states, “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven?”

Rather than the church as an institution, let’s look at individual believers in Jesus.  Every believer needed an evangelist to “introduce them to Jesus!”  No “rebirth”; no “new life”!  You can’t deny the gospel, the good news, that an evangelist brings.  Every believer needs a “shepherd” with a pastoral heart to guide, nurture, & care for them through their spiritual walk.  Often we call these individuals our “spiritual parents.”  Every believer needs to be grounded in the Word, the Bible, individually, through daily Bible reading and studying allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to them, and with sound Biblical teaching. The 1^st Century called this teaching the “Apostles’ Teachings” that became the groundwork for the new Church.  Every believer needs the prophetic, making their “theological” life a “living, vibrant” life of faith, a daily walking out of their salvation, a daily need to feed and grow on Jesus.  Every believer needs the “over sight” of an “overseer” to “see over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in individual lives and corporately in the gathering of the saints.  I must admit, as a believer in Jesus, I need all five of these passions, all five of these points of view to help me grow into the maturity and image of Jesus Christ while I live here on earth.

Now, as an individual believer, I can admit that I need the diversity of the body of Christ; then why can the Church corporately admit it too?  Why can’t we, the church, embrace one another in Jesus, serving one another in Jesus, and drawing from the strength of other believers in Jesus together?  Only when we drop our prejudices against our own brethren, can we embrace them in the love of Christ.  Individually we need one another; corporately we, the CHURCH, also need one another to full fill the calling of Ephesians 4 to bring unity to the Body of Christ.

Only through diversity can the Church of Jesus Christ be strong.  Let’s embrace that truth, and quit joining in the fight against it! Let’s eliminate the “secular” subdivisions that the Yellow Book, and so many others, believers and nonbelievers, see.  Let’s not only embrace one another, but begin to practice I John 3:16 of “laying down our lives for our brethren,” because that is his definition of true love!

(This is the second part of a 7 part series.  I invite you to look back at the previous blogs and join me in future blogs about the relevancy of the five fold to the 21^st Century Church.)

Relevancy, the 21st Century Church, & the Five Fold

A New Vision In Our Current Time!

Home at 5 in the morning fighting a cold & aches, waiting for the doctor’s office to open to call for an appointment, I went on my Tweet account to see if anyone was talking about the 21^st Century Church, the relevancy of today’s Church, or the five fold ministry in the Church.  There was discussion on the first two topics, but none on the third, when the third topic could be the key to the relevancy of the Church in the 21^st Century.  After writing almost 300 blogs over the last few years about the Church from the perspective of the five fold not being “offices” by “church officials” but “passions” and “points of view” that drive believers in Jesus Christ, why wouldn’t the Church want to examine the relevancy of ……

                  -  using the diversity with in the Church that historically brought its divisions to become the very strength of brining its unity?

                  -  bringing “accountability” to those in the Church through “service” by “laying down your life for your brethren” (I John 3:16)?

                  -  actually “equipping”, preparing the “saints”, not church staff’s, for the work of “service” as outlined in Ephesians 4?

                  -  releasing those already in the Church to do the work of an evangelist, or shepherding, being pastoral, or teaching the Word, or bringing spiritual relevancy and life to the Word, or “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit is doing with the corporate body of Christ?

                  -  cherishing its historical tradition, but allowing the Holy Spirit to teach, guide, and speak to the relevant Church of today, the 21^st Century, in how to be effective in a lost and dying world?

                  - building relationships, not on likeness, but on different giftings to share in service to one another and to draw on in time of need.  In marriage we often chose opposites to augment our strengths and weaknesses, why not in other relationships?

I just may have to re-examine those six reasons in blog entries over the next six days!  Join me, don’t be afraid to comment, and feel free to search any of my previous blogs for information and my insights.

What Does Worship Look Like To The Five Fold?

Different Passions, Point of Views, But One United Vision!

With the different passions and points of view, what does worship look like to the five fold?

Evangelist:  The passion of the evangelist is to “win the lost”, so worship to him/her might look like the lost coming to the foot of the cross and accepting the “evangelistic” offering of the “first fruits” of their lives, resulting in the crossing of the great chasm of belief and unbelief.  Unlike C.S. Lewis’ Great Divorce, those who have rejected the gospel would now accept it in an embrace with their loved ones who have entered the kingdom of God.  To an evangelist the celebration of “new birth” and “newness” would be central to their framework of worship.

Pastor/Shepherd:  To the shepherd, worship would be the daily “living out” of their salvation, their lifestyles.  Their “doing” the gospel would be an act of worship.  The practical daily practice of their faith while releasing it in daily situations and challenges would be central to their form of worship.

Teacher:  The teacher would feel the Logos Word of God, the Bible, is the centrality of all worship.  He/she would feel that everything would evolve around the centrality of the Bible in their lives, thus the reading of the Word would be of great importance in a corporate setting.  The testimonies of the saints living out the Word in their daily lives would augment everyone’s faith.

Prophet:  Prophets think worship is ascending to the heavenlies, experiencing revelation through Spirit and Truth which would unlock the mysteries of God.  They would emphasize making the Logos, living Word, a Rhema, or living Word. 

Apostle:  The vision of an apostle’s view of worship would be corporate, universal, all encompassing the many giftings and diversity within the Body of Christ in unity.  He would want to release the evangelistic spirit in corporate worship, as well as the pastoral spirit of nurture, development, care, and growth.  He would bring balance and unity between the teacher and the prophet in centralizing the worship around the Logos Word, but releasing the Rhema Word for current day revelation of gospel truths.  His view of worship is purely corporate unity in Jesus to proclaim a living gospel allowing the releasing of all the passions.

Together:  What an unique experience worship would be if all five giftings, passions, and points of view were allowed to be released in one setting at the same time!  The Church would experience the lost being saved, the found being developed into the maturity of Jesus Christ, and together unity in lifting up Jesus.  With the Holy Spirit orchestrating our worship, Church would never be the same.  Bring it on…….

Spiritual Parenting

An Analogy: The Five Fold To Parenting

I believe the five fold is in each of us!  We possess the ability to birth, to nurture care and develop, to teach, to bring life, and to oversee.  This is most evident in parenting.  No one ever realizing what parenting is until they are in it and faced with its challenges.  One also doesn’t realize that parenting becomes a life long ambition though its roles may change with the aging of their children, but once a parent, always a parent. So it is also with the five fold.

Parenting doesn’t begin until there is a birth.  Without a birth, there are no parents.  You don’t even think like a parent until a birth occurs.  The birthing process is a joy, but the work of parenting begins when you bring the newborn home and witness long hours without sleep, endless diaper changes, changes to your life style, your feeling of privacy, and trying to figure out who really controls your life, your children or yourself. Parental supervision implies the proper protection of those under your care.

Parenting becomes pastoral as the rest of their childhood lives are under your care to nurture, develop, and keep up with their developmental stages as they work toward maturing as an adult. This is when one realizes that parenting is a life long calling, a life long commitment.

Parents are natural teachers, because little children “imitate” their parent’s behavior.  We learn best by experience. We say we will never “be like my mother/father”, but when we become parents we are shocked to see our parents in our life’s mirror of ourselves, because one of the most effective ways of being a parent is being taught to be one by example.  That is usually why one puts away their wild single searching lives, hopefully not to be dug up by their children when they reach that stage in an effort to “settle down” and be responsible.  Hopefully a “teachable” spirit can be instilled in a child through proper nurture, care, and above all earned respect by what we did as a parent.

Parenting requires a prophetic spirit, a spirit of bringing life into situations.  Parents lay down the law, establish rules with their children, but unless they bring love and life into what can be teachable life situations children only remember the law, not the reason for laws to protect and bring life.  You invest your “life” into your children to bring “life” in them.  Cat Stevens song Cat In The Cradle exemplifies what happens when life is not invest in your children. They give back your investment in them when you are old and they take or don’t take care of you!

Parenting requires over sight.  “Seeing over” what your children are doing is the key to their success.  Parents need to know that their children are doing, thinking, and acting.  If you ignore your children, then proper and effective parenting ceases. If you ignore a garden, weeds take over and the garden becomes nonproductive!  When I first needed a username for my first email account as instructed by my tech-savvy children, I chose “popnozall”, for “pop knows all” so my children were aware that where ever they went on the internet or used the computer, pop would find out, because he knows all.  They believed it when I had to practice it!  Over sight, properly seeing over your children, is monumental in the proper growth and development of your children.  Neglect proves disaster.

So it is with the Church!  Spiritual parenting cannot begin without a birth, a new birth, a spiritual birth of one accepting Jesus as their savior, king, personal, hopefully, best friend, confidant, etc. Without a new birth, there is no need to parent.  The pastoral role is the nurturing, caring, developing role of parenting, the day to day living out of one’s spiritual walk.  Parents need help from their families in this walk, and what better family than the family of God, the Church, to aide in proper parenting spiritually and physically in everyday living!  Although the Church can supply spiritual teaching, it is still the individual parent’s responsibility to teach their child how to read the Bible on their own, how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, how to trust the Holy Spirit, how to walk out one’s faith journey, etc. by example, but the corporate body of Christ, the Church can aide in that walk.  The Church should be prophetic, applying the living out of the principles that are taught.  With out this prophetic spirit, this walking out physically what truth lies spiritually, there will be only limited spiritual life if a believer.  The Church should also provide oversight, the “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in the lives of its children, its believers in Jesus.

So the five fold is natural in the parenting in life, and natural in the parenting spiritually.  I will continue to challenge you and encourage you to embrace the five fold in your spiritual life and in the life of your church.

The Rewards of Retooling, Renewing, Revival, Rebirth!

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part LXII

I started this series out because of a news article about the retooling of Harley Davidson in York, PA, and the impact it has had on renewing the company and the vision for Harley.  This week, Harley came out with its quarterly earnings, now $133 million profit!  They are not making any more bikes than they did in the past, but their financial financing sector has increased.  The fact of fiscal responsibility of Harley has changed, and the company has gone from deep concern to productivity and profitability.

I am going to conclude this series on the “retooling” of the church with the challenge Harley Davidson has thrown out to the church.  Last Sunday, at my home church, Cityview Community Church in York, PA, the vision for this years “Biker Bar-BQ” Rallies were unfolded. The second Sundays of May, June, July, August & September, from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m., Cityview is hosting a Biker Bar-BQ where they feature a half of Bar-BQ’ed chicken, a pulled pork sandwich, baked potato, cole slaw, applesauce, and drink for $12 with the proceeds going to support an orphanage in Guatemala that our local church has literally help build from the ground up over the years and supported financially.  This endeavor will reach out to bikers, churched and non-churched people, while aiding orphans in a third world country.  Last year they held Biker Rallies on Saturdays, but “retooled” their efforts to do it on Sundays this year because that is when Bikers ride! I invite you to join us on the Second Sunday of the month for fellowship, fun, and food this summer!

Innovative evangelism, innovative change, lead by the Holy Spirit has been my theme throughout this thread of blogs.  The challenge comes when and if the bikers decide to return to Cityview.  Will pastoral components be in place for new converts to aide their new spiritual growth?  How do we change our teaching away from “church-ism” linguistics, so the unchurched can understand?  How can we prophetically speak into their lives, helping to make their new experience in Christ real, a live, a day to day walk, a true turning from the old to the new?  Who will be “seeing over” their new walk in Christ so that there will not be “over-sights,” or mistakes? These are the challenges that the five fold can help address if lead by the Holy Spirit.  This is the retooling, the revival, the renewal, the rebirth that I am addressing.

This is the experience of the local church I attend, but I want to challenge whomever is reading this blog to also take the plunge and allow the evangelistic spirit, the pastoral spirit, the teaching spirit, the prophetic spirit, and the apostolic spirit to arise in their local church.  Allow them to arise, but bond them together through the “laying down of one’s lives”, the service to each other, and the accountability to each other.  The weaving of this tapestry will bring a work of art never seen before in your church.  One that will help you and those in your church grow toward “maturing in the image of Jesus Christ” while bringing “unity in the body of Christ.” 

If the Church is willing to be retooled this way, I guarantee you that the results will even be more profound than those Harley Davidson announced this week, because they will have “eternal” rewards far exceeding the material rewards we face on earth while the kingdom of God is being advanced, and the retooling of the Church continues through the Holy Spirit.  This is true renewal!  This is true rebirth, the rebirth of the Church!

“Walking Away" From The Walk?

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part LIX

I have been reading about early Church history of the first three centuries and the writings of the early Church Fathers.  I can only imagine the second century Church’s challenge of facing change.  The believers are several generations away from the original apostles and believers who actually saw Jesus on the earth.  They could not go back to the Paul’s, Luke’s, Peter’s actual face-to-face encounters with Christ unless they were written down.  “Faith”, the believing in the unseen, now became stronger because the Church was removed from first hand accounts of Jesus.

Now was the time for change; now began theological debates about the person and divinity of Jesus and the Trinity.  The “experience” of “walking with Jesus” was being replaced by reason, thus theology (Theo = God. -ology = study; thus study of God). Doing theological exegesis on doctrine became the norm by prominent church leaders.  The “walking experience” with God became the sitting on one’s butt “studying” about God.  Wars have been fought over theology, major schisms developed, heresies born, challenged, then crushed, and historically, fragmentation of the Body of Christ, the Church, became its fruit.  “Power” over who runs the church, alias church politics, over came the inverted pyramid of service that the kingdom of God appropriates.  Several centuries after Jesus’ death and resurrection, the major split between the Eastern Orthodox Church centered in Constantinople and the Western Church centered in Rome became prevalent.

What happened to the personal walk of each believer?  What happened to the Road to Emmaus experience several disciples experienced shortly after the resurrection?  What happened to the daily walk by faith?  Matters of the mind, reason, took over matters of the heart, the Jewish Lamad way of perceiving things?  Intellect and reason now superseded experience and faith.  We, the Church, still face this battle even today.  People with earned intellectual religious degrees lead the church over older Christians who have spend a lifetime faithfully experiencing Jesus in their lives.  At least in the Western world, knowledge still supersedes faith in church structure and leadership.

How can the Church return to the teaching of “service”, the inverted pyramid of one carrying a lot of people on their shoulders than ruling over a lot of people?  Historically, the most effective form of evangelism is when there is one-on-one sharing of one’s “experience” of Jesus Christ in one’s life.  Even though Jesus had to question his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”, he still chose to “walk” with them for the last three years of his life so that they could “experience” him.  Even though he did a lot of “teaching” to them those three years, it was still the “walking out of their experiences” with him that would prepare them for apostleship,

They saw and experienced the one-on-one evangelism of Jesus talking to the women at the well and the revival it created in her hometown. The feeding of the 5,000 and the raising of the dead of the women's only son, and "Jesus wept" when hearing of Lazarus's death displayed the pastoral spirit in Jesus. They sat under Jesus’ teaching, though they had trouble understanding it until the Holy Spirit had been released to become their instructor.  They met and walked with the prophetic living Word, the living Son of God, the fulfillment of scriptures where again they did not realize its truths until the Holy Spirit later revealed it to them.  Finally their three-year “walk” with Jesus and later their Emmaus “walks” with the Holy Spirit would prepare them for apostleship.

God had established the five fold, the passions of servanthood, through service, to prepare His Church.  The passion of spiritual birth was born through evangelism, the passion of nurturing and caring was fulfilled in “walking” and providing for His disciples, the passion of teaching was released through Jesus, the Living Word, as he attempted to instruct his disciples how to “walk” out their faith through daily experiences, the passion of the prophetic was released in the fulfillment of the Messiah, the Living active Word in mankind, right before their eyes, and the passion of the apostolic was birthed through these “walks” with Jesus and fulfillments through the Holy Spirit.  I propose that this is the pattern the Church should seek if it is to “equip” or “prepare” the “saints for the work of the service.”

Unlike the early Church fathers, two centuries removed from Jesus’ appearance on earth, we, the twenty-first century Church are two millennium removed.  We should have learned that a walk of faith through “reason” and “knowledge” only brought on a long period called The Dark Ages which had its grips only broken by the Reformation when God’s spirit was again released on God’s people for the works of “service” to the kingdom of God rather than the religious kingdom of the church.

History has proven the Church needs change, yet is slow and reluctant to embrace it.  The Church was birthed and built on principles of the kingdom of God, sacrifice and service.  Power and might produced by the Holy Spirit were replaced by political power and might.  The church changed from an agent of “serving” to an institution “to be served.” 

“In the last days, I will pour out my spirit on your sons and daughters,” boasts the book of Acts of the Apostles.  That pouring has begun at the closing of the last century.  Now it is time to allow the Holy Spirit to take that “new birth”, that evangelistic out pouring of the Holy Spirit, and begin to develop it pastorally, through nurture and care, while teaching its believers through day to day experiences, grounded on the Word of God, the Bible, and released into a living work known as the Church, through the reestablished apostolic over sight.  The five fold is about to be developed no matter if you believe it or not! Are you willing to embrace it?

Accountability Through Diversity: Little Boxes, Little Boxes Made of Ticky-Tack?

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part LVIII

I remember the song in the ‘60’s called Little Boxes by Malvina Reynolds. The lyrics read, “little boxes, little boxes, little boxes filled with ticky-tacky; little boxes on the hillside, little boxes all the same.  There’s a green one, and a pink one, and a blue one and a yellow one, and they are all made out of ticky-tack, and they all just look the same. 

And the people in the houses all went to the university where they were put in boxes, and they all come out the same. And the doctors and the lawyers and business executives, and they put them all in boxes and they all came out the same. 

And they all play on the golf course, and they drink their martini’s dry, and they all have pretty children, and all the children go to school, and all the children go to summer camp, and then to the university where they put them all in boxes and they all come out the same.

And the boys go into business and marry andraise a family in boxes made of ticky-tack, and they all look just the same. There’s a green one, and a pink one, and a blue one and a yellow one, and they are all made out of ticky-tack, and they all just look the same. ”

Churches are no different, for Baptist produce “Baptist boxes”, Lutherans produce “Lutheran boxes”, Pentecostals produce “Pentecostal boxes”, Non-denominationalist and independents produce “Independent boxes”, etc.  No matter what label the church group, they produce “their own kind”, their “little boxes”.  All these different boxes boast of being under the same label called “The Church” because they all try to produce the same image, but they look different because they look only as their own kind.

Can an individual local church produce different boxes?  It is tough, but it can only be done if there is diversity in the church itself.  My blogs have been about that diversity, known as the five fold: the recognition of evangelists, shepherds, teachers, prophets, and apostles in every church.  There are believers in almost every church who have the burden to win the lost, who want to nurture and care through hospitality, who want to teach the Word, the Bible, who want closer living, intimate spiritual walks with Jesus, and who have a burden for the Church as a whole.  They are already there! What a diversity of points of view or passions, but how do you get these diverse dialects to speak the same language, the language of the Church, the language of the active, living Word of God?  I propose only through relationships and accountability to one another.

It is amazing that opposites attract in marriage; what was the weakness of one they find to be the strength in their spouse.  Diversity is often the very strength of a marriage though it does bring it own conflicts when it seems the two are not speaking the same language.  Communications is a key to a successful marriage.  Even though each spouse can be coming from a different point of view, a different passion, what seems like a different language, only through constant dialogue, communicating with one another can a strong lasting marriage be molded, formed, or bonded.  The same is true with the Church.  Diversity is its strength, and only through continual communication between God and His people through the Holy Spirit and between God’s people to each other can meaningful, successful relationships be established in the Family of God.

An evangelist can give new birth to others, a shepherd can give nurture and care, a teacher can give the foundation of the Word of God, the prophet can give spiritual life, and the apostle proper over sight seeing over the other’s gifting while drawing their diversity into unity.  This unity through diversity can only be done when each and every one of them is willing to give to the other, but also receive from the other, from their strengths.  This giving and taking by “laying down one’s life” for each other brings accountability like has never been seen in the Church for centuries.

The Church’s calling has not been to produce “little boxes” labeled with their groups identity, but reproducing, developing, and equipping its people to grow into the image and maturity of Jesus Christ, bringing unity to this diverse body.  People should see Jesus when looking at a believer, not a Baptist, a Lutheran, a Pentecostal, an Independent, etc.  The Church needs not to major on the minors, producing little boxes, but major in the birthing, nurturing, and developing of people into the image of Jesus Christ, a major undertaking!  Only through this development will come true accountability!

Is The Church Our Brother’s Keepers?

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part LVI

We count on the government for programs, programs to take care of the homeless, the poor, those without medical insurance, those with mental, physical, or learning handicaps, those struggling with drugs, those released from prison, the elderly, preschool, public school, fire and police protection, etc., etc.  As a Christian, I ask what do we count on the Church for here in America? Spiritual guidance, of course, is of essence, but the church is no longer the social hub of American society, nor supplying “services” to the poor, the sick, the aging, and hurting as it once was.  Many hospitals and institutions of higher learning boast the name of past church influences. With all the government budget cuts, what influence can the church reclaim?

People are looking for someone who cares, who will give guidance, hope, answers to tough questions, and courage to face tough situations, but doesn’t demand a monetary payment for their kindness.  They are not necessarily looking for professional services, but acts of kindness from every day people, friends, neighbors, Christians who care.

If the church embraced the five fold they would have an evangelist who would give hope, offer a new birth or a renewal spirit.  They would have pastoral gifting, individual believers reaching out with care and faith when helping people through difficult situations reassuring them that they are not alone as they face and walk through their struggles.  They would have a foundation of faith through the Word, the Bible. They would have spiritual guidance of learning that the Written Word can become the Living Word, walking out spiritual principals through the prophetic.  They would have the assurance of over sight, someone seeing over their welfare and the welfare of others as a whole body, a family. 

So the Church needs to reevaluate its role in American society, retool itself to be more effective to those in need, and rethink how it does church.  The challenge is will the church continue to just rely on tradition to get it through, or become innovative and creative, allowing the Holy Spirit to retool it to meet the needs of the hurting and lost, and exposing the Kingdom of God to the world.

Church Shopping List: What Are You Looking For?

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXXIX

While sitting in a restaurant this weekend, I could not help but overhear the people at a neighboring table discussing their spiritual lives, and what they were looking for when “church shopping”.  It made me stop to think about how American’s “shop” for a church like they shop for groceries or a new outfit. The list could included:

-  A good pastor who preaches “the Word of God”

-  A style of music I like during worship

-  A friendly atmosphere

-  One that has “life”, a mixed age group church

-  An excellent children’s and youth ministry

Today, all those “wants” on this list are fulfilled by a “staff” rather than by the congregation itself: A pastor, a worship leader or choir director, children’s & youth pastors, small group pastor or administrator.  The bigger the staff, the more appealing it becomes because less is demanded of the one attending.  One can get all these dividends without much being required.

Would church look different if the five fold were in effect, if the church actually prepared “the saints” for the work of “service”? 

The church would have to prepare the “saints” to read the Word, the Bible, themselves, and study the Word through the leading of the Holy Spirit, birthing the “teaching” spirit within it.

Worship would true “body ministry” time with all five passions present: teaching through the teacher, ministry through the pastoral, activation through the prophetic, and birthing through the evangelist, while over sight and order is established through the apostolic.  “Worship” would be defined by the make up of the congregation giving back to the Lord what he has given them.

The pastoral gifting within the body would not only create a friendly atmosphere, but develop one beyond that level, one of caring and nurturing.

Life would be created by activating the Logos, written Word, into the Rhema, living Word, as believers would live out their faith, walk the walk of their faith journeys together, sharing with one another, developing community.

Gifting in the five fold is developed across all ages from the self-centered small child, through the rebellious youth stage, through the seeking of finding oneself in their twenties, through developing families and parental skills, through development of character and leadership.  The equipping of the “saints” is developmental.  Church, in the past calls it sanctification.

So instead of looking for a church that will bring me comfort and meet my needs and likings, maybe we should look for a church that would “prepare” or “develop” my spiritual life and growth for the “work” of “service”.  That is a different mindset maybe we, as Christians, should develop.  

Retooling: A Visible Model To Examine

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXXIV

In my last blog, I proposed a challenge to embrace a different form of church structure that would promote “accountability” and “service”, embracing both control and the moving of the Holy Spirit.  If it is a pluralistic model, not of offices, but of believers “serving” through a God given passion or point of view, how can it work if pluralistic leadership has not been embraced by most of the Church over the last twenty centuries?  Again the key to any pluralistic leadership is I John 3:15, the principle of “laying down your life for your brethren.”   That is what Jesus did for us, and a model of what we should be doing for one another.

I also proposed that no one of the five fold points of view or passions of service is ever “the head” of this pluralistic team, not even the apostle.  Only the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, can be the head. I proposed that any of the five fold passions can be aroused by the Holy Spirit’s call to meet a specific situation at a specific time with the other four passions beside them to bring unity, stability, and accountability.  As a different situation arises, a different passion can arise to effectively address that situation, again with the other four passions support, encouragement, and covering.  Leadership can be a rotational things as the Holy Spirit rises among individuals and the group.  (Thus in my diagram, the star is in a circle, and the circle can be rotated at any time by the leading of the Holy Spirit.)

In my diagram, each point of the star is created by the “relationship” of each of the five fold to the other four.  Each relationship is reciprocal: as one serves, one becomes accountable to the other, and vice versus.  The “laying down of one’s life” produces the heart of service and the acceptance of accountability to passions and points of view that are so drastically different from one’s own.  The power of the star is its diversity, the many faceted ways it can look at and approach situations. The unity of the five is its strength due to the power of the cross (See earlier blogs: where the “supernatural” (John 3:16) dissects our “natural” world (I John 3:16) forming the Cross.)  with the “laying down one’s life” becoming the central principle of unity.

Under this structure, the Church would remain Biblically “sound” under the guidance of the passions of the teacher, prophet, and apostle, preventing heresies and restoring the “apostle’s teaching” back into the Church restoring its unity.  Under this structure, the Church would become Biblically “alive” as the teacher bases everything the group does on the Bible, the Logos, the written word, translating it into to Rhema, or living Word, the shepherd instructs the believers in Jesus how to daily walk out these Biblical principles, the prophet living out the written Word, the Logos Word, the living Word, through the Rhema Word, the evangelist exposing this Rhema Word, grounded in the Logos Word, to an unbelieving generation through power and truth (as they did in the book of Acts), and an apostle “seeing over” how the Holy Spirit is orchestrating unity and ministry through this group through “service” and “accountability” by releasing and with holding those passions and points of view when needed. 

Wow, the 21^st Century Church would become “Acts”-ive again like the 1^st Century Church did.  A community of breaking bread together, meeting one another’s need, a Church without want, a Church with power, would again be established.  “Relationships” between brethren would again be the key of what “Church” is!   But at what price? The price of the Cross: the “laying down of one’s life”.

Retooling: Accountability, A Radically Different Approach

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXXIII

The Church has always struggled over control asking to whom is it to be accountable? Of course, the answer is always to the head, Jesus Christ, but in practical terms, to whom is it accountable?  As it institutionalizes, a hierarchy always develops which assumes the responsibility of bringing accountability to the structure. Laws, By-Laws, Tenants, and theological position papers establishing “laws” to govern morality and doctrine within the structure are created to prevent heresies.  More control diminishes the fluidity of the Holy Spirit moving within it.  Control versus the Spirit has become an age-old tension within the Church for centuries.  The question I am posing is, “Can there be a structure that would bring accountability yet allow the movement of the Spirit?”

I believe there is a structure which the 21^st Century Church should at least look at, observe, discuss, and possibly embrace, but the structure is a radical change from the traditional structure set forth by the Church fathers over the centuries as they embraced the Western Roman Catholic approach of hierarchy. So what is this structure?

First, I believe that God is restoring the five fold back into His Church.  He wants his believers to be evangelists, those that birth the kingdom of God in individuals and the Church, to be shepherds to nurture, care, and develop his sheep to be mature in Christ, to be teachers of the Word, making the written Word a living Word, to be prophets, people who listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and then wish to be obedient towards that voice, and to be apostles to see over the Holy Spirit’s movement by developing, encouraging, then releasing the other four giftings or passions of service to bring maturity to the individual believer and unity in the body of Christ.

Second, I believe the restoring of such radically different points of view of ministry can bring division, as history has proven, unless those who practice each of the five different passions is willing to “lay down their lives” for the other four through service.  Through serving one another, accountability will be established. It is natural to listen to and follow someone who is willing to sacrificially serve you.  As you serve one another, a bond of accountability is created.

Third, the presence of four different points of view at the table (evangelistic, shepherding, teaching, prophetic, and apostolic) will bring stability and prevent heresies as each point of view becomes a check and balance through service and accountability, again with the emphasis of sacrificially laying down one’s life for one another. 

I know this sounds idealistic because today those different points of view have produced divisions, denominations, church splits, schisms, etc. in the Church, but that is because those in the Church are not willing to “lay down their lives” for one another.  We preach that we need to lay everything on the altar and allow the Holy Spirit to consume it; the giving it back restored or renewed is an option but not a given, yet we are unwilling to “lay down our lives” for those Christians who are not in our “camp” of theology.  We will never see true revival in the Church until the Church is prepared to “repent” of what has divided it.  “Repentance” means the turning away of what was wrong, so if the Church is to turn away from the very structure that has divided it for centuries, what should the 21^st Century Church turn toward?  I propose the five fold structure of “service” (through one’s gifting or passion) and “accountability” (laying down of one’s life sacrificially).

Fourth, this then becomes a “pluralistic” leadership where no one gifting, passion, or point of view is the head, the chief administrator, the C.E.O., the pastor, bishop or the pope.  The apostle is not even the “head” for he is only one of the five passions of service; Jesus is the head over all five passions. When the five get together the gifting or passion that is most needed rises at that moment, at that time, to face that situation with the other four supporting that gifting or passion through their service.  The next situation could be totally different with a different passion of the five fold rising.  Only the moving of the Holy Spirit would dictate which passion of service may rise and be supported by the others in unity.

I know this model is drastically different from today’s church boards, professional hierarchical structures, but if the Church is to be “without spot and wrinkle” as a “preparation” for the Lord’s return, then maybe the 21^st Century Church should embrace a system that is to “prepare” the “saints” for the work of the “service” to develop believers into the maturity of the “full measure of Christ” brining unity to the Body of Christ, the Church, in preparation for Jesus Second Coming, a prophesied event that will happen!  Come on 21^st Century Church, let’s start the “preparation” period and begin to move toward “service” and “accountability” through a fluid model of leadership under the direction of the Holy Spirit!  That is my challenge.

Retooling: Who Should Know The Poor Better Than The Church?

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXV

Jesus said that we will always have the poor, but he always hung out with the poor, the misfits of society, the outcasts.  His selection of the 12 men, every day people, to be his intimate disciples wasn’t very kosher compared to what a Jewish man had to do if he went through the rabbinical system of Jewish training and the weeding out of “undesirables”.  Even Mother Teresa found herself immersed in the poor, taxing her faith.  Who is responsible for taking care of the poor?

I just returned from an in-service day at my school district where we looked at the bias, prejudice, and stereotyping in our district as well as those facing poverty.  The poverty workshop made me think.  The presenter asked, “Recently, a family in our district had their house burned to the ground.  What resources do you know would be available to them?”  “The Red Cross” became the immediate response of the group, then “churches”, and after some pause of silence, “maybe the local community”. 

The first thing we thought about was what government agencies are available to meet this need.  Our first inclination was social services and the Red Cross.  “Church” came up, but what happens if the ones burnt out did not attend church?  Who becomes their advocate?  Of course the response, the “community”, made me question myself, “who is their community”?

The Christian faith is all about relationships, personally with our Savior, Jesus, and corporately with the Church, the body of believers in Jesus.  A church should be a community of believers.  If relationships are being built, it is a lot easier to reach out to our neighbor if we share the resources we have.

What resources does the church have?  Temporary shelter, food, and clothing met through a Benevolent Fund?  What about long term?  This is where the pastoral passion of service becomes effective, meeting every day needs with every day solutions while teaching every day spiritual principles of trusting in the Father to meet our needs while building up trust through faith.  The evangelistic spirit can bring hope, a newness, a rebirth after the devastation of a tragedy. The teaching spirit and prophetic spirit can work together by guiding one through life’s trials with spiritual principles, allowing the written Word, the Bible, to become the Rhema or living word.  The apostolic spirit can take one in need under his wing, under his covering, seeing over their circumstances, and releasing those to serve them who can best meet their needs.

If the Church is to have an impact with power and influence in the 21^st Century, the five fold thrust of ministry is a viable option!  Many different needs can be met through many different passions if done in unity with the purpose of service.

Retooling: What’s In Your Toolbox?

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXIV

What’s in your toolbox?  Usually old tools, tools of stability, screw drivers, pliers, a hammer, a vice grip, a level, etc.  Recently specialty tools have invaded my box, special screw drivers with special tips, bent tools to reach in hard to get places, and multiuse tools.  Tools that were used on m 1971 Chevy Nova are useless on a new 2011 car.  If you buy an “ensemble yourself” piece of furniture, unique screws, bolts, and tools are included.  Why, as a church, do we still use “medieval tools” or even “last century tools” when facing the 21^st Century when we do church?  Why is the Church known as one of society’s institutions that does not embrace change quickly or effectively?  Only a few decades ago did the Roman Catholic Church allow mass to be done in a native tongue rather than in Latin, yet maintains the same structure for centuries?  “This is the way we have always done it,” is often the mantra for those who do not embrace change within the church.  Often the church boasts of rich “traditions” rather than effective ministry.  

So what should the Church’s toolbox contain if it is to be retooled?

Evangelist:  Instead of the old tool of mass evangelism as “Crusades” in sports arenas or special events held in church buildings, the retooled version may look like mass evangelism through social networking and the internet, but the power of personal evangelism through one on one communication and care is still the most effective.  In an age of impersonal electronic communication, actual one on one, face to face friendship and care is still the most powerful. Also the evangelistic tool must be a “creative” tool, being adaptable to new situations and change rather than already defined strategies to be copied.

Pastoral:  The term “pastor” will be retooled from being defined as a “professional Christian” to a passion or gifting to care for the development and nurture of believers toward being more Christ-like. Everyday believers can exhibit their “pastoral” gifting of service to help develop the new converts birthed by the evangelist.  It will be common believers reaching out to new and developing believers in an effort to grow together in to the maturity of Christ.

Teacher:  As an educator by profession, I have been taught and experienced that lectures are the most ineffective way to teach, particularly in an era where unlimited information is a click away on one’s computer. In an intellectual, data driven, test oriented, educational degree based society today, culturally and theologically the Western world needs to move away from teaching by lecture (sermons) “about” subjects to “experiencing” subjects by living, or actual application, of the principles to be learned.  Jesus never founded an intellectual theological institution to educate his followers, but he walked and talked with them personally for three years, teaching them kingdom principles for their practical lives. The sermon may become a relic of a tool replaced by field trips outside the established church building into the world the Church has been commissioned to serve.

Prophet:  Instead of thinking as a prophet as an isolated old testament figure hiding in the wilderness or causing waves that would want a king to banish him, or even an isolated new testament figure giving prophetic words, the new retooled prophet would look like a believer in Jesus Christ who has learned to listen to the small voice of the Holy Spirit, knows the heartbeat of the Father, and is willing to be obedient to what he has seen and heard.  Also the retooled prophet is not “isolated” from the body of Christ, but an integral part of the body of Christ by aiding through prophetic evangelism, aiding the pastoral effort through worship, prophetic teaching, and being the spiritual eyes and ears for the body as a whole.

Apostle:  Some teachers in Christian circles teach that the apostolic died when the last first century apostle physically died. I am sorry, but the Holy Spirit has resurrected the apostolic with power.  The apostolic will not be a “mantle of office” occupied by Senior Pastors or self proclaimed Church leaders, but a passion, a gifting, a point of view that would “see over” what the Holy Spirit is doing in the body of Christ, and encouraging and releasing the other four passions of giftings to prepare, equip, and develop Christians to be more Christ-like while bringing unity to the body of Christ, something the Church has not experienced in centuries.

So the tools in the Church’s toolbox may need restructuring for today’s specialized world, diverse cultures, and differences in a society that is beginning to think world wide instead of local.  Local corner churches with their spiral steeples are being replaced by practical multi-use buildings, or no buildings at all in a Facebook, MySpace, web sited, internet world.  Apple II E computers are dinosaurs, lap tops are being challenged by I-phones, and software changes yearly in a technological savvy world, yet the Church drags its feet to retool itself to meet this changing world.  We need to reevaluate as a Church what is in our toolboxes and how effective those tools are, then being open to add new, specialized tools to meet the needs of the 21^st Century generation.

Retooling: A Changing World; A Changing Church?

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXIII

I remember the late 1960’s and early 1970’s as if it were yesterday.  It was a turbulent time.  I thought the moral fabric of America was not only being tested, but torn apart.  The jeans worn by the youth of the time, tattered, torn, and filled with holes, symbolized the fabric of America.  J. F. Kennedy, our President, Robert Kennedy, a Presidential candidate, Martin Luther King, and Malcolm X all died by an assassin’s bullet while George Wallace became a quadriplegic.  Beatniks gave way to Hippies as America went from getting high on poetry and literature to getting high on LSD and other drugs as their heroes too began to fall and succumb from drug overdoses. Unlike the Women’s Suffrage movement at the beginning of the millennium, the Women’s Liberation Movement burnt bras and brandished breasts in a cause challenging the morals and structures that had defined the fabric of the American family and society.  Gays and Lesbians, for the first time took to the streets, coming socially “out of their closet” demanding rights and changes.  The Civil Right’s Movement not only showcased peacefully led, but violently received, demonstrations through peace marches, but also experienced riots and looting in the Watts area of Los Angeles leading to violence and the burning of cities across America.  Tens of thousands began marching in protest of the War in Vietnam, the first unpopular war, the first war America would come home defeated rather than the victors, a war defined by the tens of thousands of body bags returning America’s youth literally back to its native soil.  Music reflected a new mantra: “Parents, you don’t understand, for the times they are a changing,” to “If you aren’t with the one you love, then love the one you are with.”  The youth of America did not trust their government calling it the “Establishment”, watching its Vice President resign over a scandal, then its President step down in disgrace rather than be impeached because of the Watergate scandal only to be replaced by a the only President who would not be “elected” as a President or Vice President into office. The “Father Knows Best” TV show image of the typical American family gave way to Archie Bunker and “All In The Family”. Those were changing times!

In the midst of all this the Church tried to remain and appear to be a constant, steady, unmovable rock in the midst of what looked like a turbulent ocean, thwarting off the waves of cultural change that were breaking on its beaches.  The “Bible Belt” that ran through South was now faced its hypocrisy as the Church was exposed as one of the most discriminatory institutions in America with Black churches, white churches, but few if any racially mixed churches.  Even in the North, churches too displayed this division not only theologically, but racially.  Church life of two Sunday services, a mid-week service, choir practice, youth groups, and Bible Schools were yielding in influence for the social fabric of America to public school activities, Sunday soccer leagues, organized youth sporting events, the collapse of Sunday “Blue Laws” making Sunday shopping routine, NFC and NASCAR becoming the gods of Sunday afternoons rather than “visiting” or doing family activities.  Image is important to the “structure” of the institutional church, and it “appeared” to be a rock, but these societal waves were beginning to erode its influence.

What the institutional church feared the most were the waves from within its structure for change, which it felt it had the influence or control.  The wave of revival always is opposed by the institutional church, but eventually  erodes formal structures, and whose ripples affects not only Christendom, but the world.  Believers with an evangelistic spirit, wanting to reach those caught in this change, the lost, birthed the Charismatic Movement and the Jesus Movements.  Those concerned with the shepherding/pastoral spirit birthed the Shepherding Movement.  Teacher arose out of nowhere producing cassette “teaching tapes” for the masses to hear, spewing forth a multitude of doctrinal and theological differences.  The voice of the prophetic spirit began to arise, something new to an institution that had lost its “ears to hear”.  What was missing was the apostolic spirit to oversee all this, thus 20^th century revival was messy, producing many mistakes, even casualties. Yet in the midst of all of this, each of these “five fold spirits”, points of view, and passions influenced the Church during this time. These spirits changed the way the Church worships today, its music, its attitudes toward discrimination and prejudice, its way of viewing social injustice, and even in its structure as new churches were established but not under the banner of denominationalism.

All that was the last century, the 20^th century, but now we are in the 21^st Century.  How is the Church responding to: a  global world, opened up by the internet and world wide web? Social injustice locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally exposed by twenty-four hour world wide news networks and images from smart phones transmitted by ordinary people in the midst of conflicts?  the change of community from local “town meetings” and “town churches” to relationships built around Facebook and other social media tools?  starving people  who sought “foreign aide” from governmental relief organizations that have been cut back due to budget cuts and a collapsing world wide economy?   a strong Islamic influence? Eastern religions left their talons of religious influence in American society in the second half of the 20^th century, how will the Church face the Islamic influences of this century?  and a generation reading their Kindles, I-Pads, and I-phones rather than their King James, 1600 and something edition of the Bible?

Beautiful but empty cathedrals in Europe are visible epitaphs of the resistance to change of the Medieval Church to the changing Renaissance, Reformational Church movement of its time.  Beautiful but empty church buildings with their wonderful architecture and stained glass windows dot the American landscape have become the epitaph of a Church unwilling to face change in our generation.  Our mega-churches, loosely formed bonds between institutional religious groups, and over all church structures too will fall and crumble, leaving only beautiful but empty tombs if the Church doesn’t embrace change now.

I propose that the 20^th Century Church has seen the evangelistic birth of all five passions and points of view of the five fold during its century.  Now it is time for the 21^st century Church to embrace them, allow the Holy Spirit to develop them bringing maturity to individual believers in Christ-likeness and unity as a body of believers to prepare the Church for the Lord’s return.  The Church is to be “without spot and wrinkle” for Jesus’ return. The 21^st Century is a time for the Church to face its “spot and wrinkle” remover, through the Holy Spirit, and through the five fold.