The Question: What Ever Happened To The Priesthood?

The Priesthood Part I:  The Establishment of a Priesthood According to the Order of Melchizedek not Aaron!

I cannot remember the last time that I have heard a sermon about the Priesthood according to Melchizedek.  I remember it was one of the key components taught back in the 1970’s during the Jesus Movement to the masses hungering for revival, but I can’t recall it being taught in a conventional church service. Why?

Genesis 14:18-20 records Melchizedek’s meeting with “father” Abraham. “Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High, and he blessed Abram… Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.” Sounds like the first communion and the first tithe recorded in the Bible, and this was hundreds of years before the Levitical Priesthood was to be established. Melchizedek, some believe, is a forerunner figure of Jesus Christ.

So what is its significance? David, hundreds of years later, writes “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” (Psalms 110:4)  This priesthood is a permanent priesthood that is to last forever, not temporary as the Levitical Priesthood has been.

Hebrews 7 records quite a dissertation about the importance of this priesthood with Jesus Christ as its High Priest and it superiority over the Levitical system.  “The former regulation is set aside because it is weak and useless (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” (Heb. 7:18) “Therefore he (Jesus, our High Priest) is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.” (vs. 22-23)

 Because God wanted to reestablish the relationship broken through sin through Adam, God established a priest hood through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ, “by which we draw near to God.” The purpose of this priesthood is to “draw near to God”.

Laying Down One’s Life

The Key: The Husband in a Marriage Model

Part III

When Jesus died on the cross he bore the sins of the entire world upon his shoulders.  He carried all of mankind’s sins.  He became 100% responsible for those sins and was willing to carry that responsibility because of His obedience to His Father.  None of those sins were “his fault”, for He was without sin, sinless.  He carried 100% of the responsibility with 0% being His fault.  You have to see the revelation that He got from His Father to reveal to the world: 100% responsibility with 0% fault.  There lies the revelation that unlocks the mystery of marriage and the relationship of the Church.

Men, as head of your Christian households, are you willing to take 100% of the responsibility for your wife even when it is not your fault.  This whole business about being “Christ like” has nothing to do with faults and blame.  It is about taking on your responsibility for you and your wife, 100% of it!  When you do that, I guarantee that she will be 100% willing to submit to you.

I can hear you crying even now, “That is not fair!”  True, the cross was never fair.  Everything possible was stacked up against Jesus, the physical, the emotional, the spiritual realms were all in opposition to what He was doing the day that He died on the cross.  The physical and mental torture that He went through from the time that He was in the Garden of Gathsemene until his death on the cross is indescribable, but He did it out of obedience to the Father, to reveal His Father’s heart, and it was totally unfair to Him because He was sinless.  If the cross was fair, then you would have to have died for your own sins, but Romans 5:8 states, “God demonstrates his own love [the heart of the Father] for us in this:  While we were still sinner, Christ died for us.”   So, He died, for your sins and mine, and that wasn’t fair.  Fairness is not part of being Christ like.

Our Christian marriages should also reflect this same Christ like attitude, “revealing the heart of the father” to my wife so much that I am willing to take 100% responsibility for her even though it may not be any of my fault, not because she loves me (which would be conditional love) but because I want to be obedient to the Father and am willing to lay down my life unconditionally.  I am not doing this as a reaction to her, but as an action from the Father.  I love my wife enough to lay down my life for her in obedience to the Father. Now this would mean that as a man, a husband, I have to nurture an intimate relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, so that I would look to Him and expect to hear from Him about every area and every situation in my life, my wife’s, and my children’s.  My acts of obedience to Him would produce only one reaction from my wife, submission.  Isn’t it amazing that usually the times she chooses not to submit is the very same time when I have chosen not to be obedient to the Father and not be Christ like.  I guarantee you that if we men would act out of obedience to our Father in a Christ like attitude, having the mind of Christ towards our wives, revealing the Heart of the Father, they would come running to us obediently, which is known as submission.  But guys, it takes our actions for their reactions.

 Christ loves “revealing the heart of the Father to” you, me, and the Church, by laying down His life for you, me, and the Church because He was obedient to the Father, not you, not me, nor the Church.  Jesus’ actions was purely done in obedience to His Father, so must ours.

Laying Down One’s Life

The Key: The Husband in a Marriage Model

Part II

Let’s look first to the sanctity of Christian marriage before we look at the Church, for their lies the understanding we need to solve this mystery.  Although Ephesians 5:22 starts with an exhortation to the wives to submit to their husbands, I want us to look at what they are to submit themselves to!  What is the role of the husband in a Christian marriage according to this passage in Ephesians?  “(a) Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, (b) cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  (c) In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.   After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the Church -- for we are members of his body.  (d) “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

Let’s look at the first part of this passage:   “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy.”  We need to put John 3:16 beside this passage to understand it.  “God so loved (revealing the heart of the Father) to the world gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  Men, we are suppose to love (reveal the heart of the Father to) your wives, just as Christ loved [revealed the heart of His Father to] the church and gave himself up for her.  Men, our purpose in marriage is to reveal the heart of the Father to our wives, but the question remains, “How do we do that?”

At a church men’s retreat the speaker taught us what that meant through a simple diagram. 

All throughout Jesus’ life, He was always obedient to the Father because He wanted to reveal the heart of His Father to the world.  He often tried to teach his disciples “If you have seen me you have seen the Father, because I and My Father are one”.  Often Jesus would retreat to desolate places to spend time with his Father, only to return and do miracles, because the way Jesus operated in ministry was by looking to his Father, by listening to Him, then by being obedient to what he had seen and heard.  That is the life of obedience, the life style Jesus followed.  Everything Jesus did, everything, was done out of obedience to his Father, so it would be obvious that the two of them were one!  The reason Jesus died on the cross was because his Father told him to do it.  He did it out of obedience to his Father.  He did it out of love.  He did it to “reveal the heart of His Father”.  That revelation came through obedience.

God placed Adam on earth to inhabit it, but as we all know, Adam sinned and the rest is history.  The “heart of the Father” was to restore Adam, or man, to the rightful position for which he originally created.  In order to do that satan, who had become prince of the air or earth, had to be defeated.  Only the shedding blood could restore the broken covenant with God, so He sent His Son, Jesus, to die for the lost and rebirth his body, the Church.  God loved the Church so much that he was willing to give His Son’s life for its redemption.  Jesus, in obedience to the Father to reveal His Father’s heart, was willing to lay down his life for his brethren to restore them to what they were originally intended to be, children of God.  At Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection came the redemption and restoration of God’s children with Adam being the first child and now Jesus being the first child through redemption, and the Church as we know it today was born.  Jesus loved the Church so much that He was willing to die for it’s redemption only because he was willing to be obedient to His Father, wanting to reveal the heart of his Father to His creation.

Laying Down One’s Life

The Key: The Husband in a Marriage Model

Part I

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which He is the Savior.  Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.  In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies.  He who loves his wife loves himself.  After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the Church -- for we are members of his body.  “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church.  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:22-33)

“Relationships.....”

 How often have we heard that scripture in terms of horizontal relationships between man and women, husband and wife, but have you ever looked at this scripture in terms of brother to brother, or sister to sister in their relationship to each other in the Church?  It is easier, I think, at times to grasp the vertical relationship between God and fallen man and his redemption than it is to understand the “profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church” both vertically and horizontal in relationship.

I have heard multiple sermons on why Jesus came to earth, dying for the sins of man, and His ascension into the heavens, back to be with the Father, sitting on his right hand interceding for the Church.  I have also heard sermons about the rapture, the time when He is to return to earth to get his church and take them with Him into heaven.  I have also heard the Ephesians 5:22-33 passage read at weddings as instruction to the couple about to be wed in a Christian wedding.  Often in my Church of the Brethren background I heard it coupled with the I Corinthians 11 chapter in sermons about how women should submit to their husbands and justifying the practice of requiring their women to wear head veils at all times as an outward sign of submission.

 I have not heard this passage referred to the Church except for the rapture, when, I was taught, Christ would return for his “radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”   I was told from the pulpit that the second coming of Jesus could come at any moment, “at the twinkling of an eye”, “when you would least expect it”.  Years ago fear was implanted in many believers when told from pulpits that they should never be in bars, movie theaters, or other undesirable places because what if the Lord would return at that moment?  Yes, Jesus is coming back to a “radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” When I see the state of today’s church, I do not worry about the Lord’s return being today or even soon, for the stains, wrinkles, and blemishes of the church are very prevalent to me.  How is the church to rid itself of its stains, wrinkles, and blemishes?  “This is a profound mystery - but I am talking about Christ and the church.  However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”  Maybe the answer to this mystery can be found in the model of marriage as Christ has proposed.

Wine and Wineskins

“Something Just Doesn’t Feel Right”

What do you do when something just doesn’t feel right?  Especially when you tend to do “all the right things”, but you don't see the fruit. When I was twenty-one, right out of college, I headed the youth ministry at my home church, emphasizing evangelism. I did all the right things, said and taught the right things, and did the right programs, but something was missing. Something just didn’t feel right.  I thought I was doing all the right things. Not seeing fruit I desired, I started a spiritual journey that led me to face Jesus not just as my Savior, but also as my Lord.  There I was faced with the reality of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, which I accepted, and it changed my life, taking me in a totally different direction that has produced fruit.

Here I am today, a Christian for almost 50 years, and I again sense in my spirit that something just doesn’t feel right.  I love the church, been raised in the church; the church has been the center of my social life and spiritual life.  I’ve raised my family in the church.  I have invested my time, efforts, focus, and money in the church, and the church has done the same for me, yet here I am fifty years after my spiritual birth in Jesus questioning the structure of the American church, the institutionalizing of the American church, the direction of the American church, even how the American church does church (whatever that means?).

Today I heard a 55 yr. old man share how he was challenged by the statement, “If money was not to play in it, what would you want to be doing with your life?” His answer was, “Not what I am doing now,” so he was willing to retire to begin his spiritual journey. It has led him to Metro Ministries in New York for four months as an “intern” helping with an inner-city busing children’s ministry.  He comes back home to our church which is about to “release” their children’s ministry staff personnel due to budget restrains even though she has been on staff longer than anyone else at the church. Somehow, I sensed that even with his “internship”, this guy seemed not to “fit” into our local church and their structure, staff, or direction.  We have had several youth go to Bible colleges, or short and long term mission’s projects, etc., yet come back home, only to feel a “misfit” into the current puzzle of our local church. Don’t get me wrong’ I am not criticizing the local church, but questioning why people serious about God who move out in faith don’t “fit in” when they return to their local congregations which they have learned to love.  Why do they feel alienated and often rejected?

I experienced the same thing forty years ago, going to Jesus Rallies in the 70’s & 80’s and early Creation Festivals, attending Conferences after Conferences for three decades, spending six weeks during the summer at a Christian Community seeking God’s direction, and going to Parksburg Presbyterian Church for Saturday evenings for spirit lead Prayer and Praise sessions, only to feel alienated when returning to my home church where I wanted so desperately to “give back”.  Something just never seemed right, never the right fit.  Even today I have “earned” a Master’s Degree in Biblical studies at the advice of a pastor so that “doors would be open form me,” yet no door has been opened for over a decade since I have not gone into “full time ministry” as a profession, but opted to remain as a public school teacher for almost forty years. Have I missed the mark?

The Church has desperately duirng the last couple decades tried to contain the “revival spirit” within its own structures, but history proves that isn’t the way it works.  “New wine will break through old wineskins; new wine needs new wineskins.”  But what does the new wineskin look like in 2010 for the next decade? When I sense that something just doesn’t feel right, that is probably my sense that God is up to something different and new.  Am I willing to stop what I am doing (which isn’t producing much fruit anyhow) and begin to stop, look, and listen to the Holy Spirit for guidance as to what is the next step personally for me and corporately for the Church?

I question my studies on the five-fold ministry as passions and points of view rather than offices because they make sense to me, but do not “fit” into today’s church structures. Apparently today’s church structures aren’t the wineskins that will be open to take in this new wine, and if they did, they would see their current structures (cast or vats) erupt and break, spilling out this new wine. So my prayer today is “Lord, show me the necessary wineskins to pour this new wine into so that it will produce fruit for your Glory and your kingdom.”

The Simplicity of The Cross

“Supernaturally Natural”

How do you get five different passions, five different points of view to focus in unity on one single purpose or goal or issue and be in agreement? It is nice to study each of the five fold singularly in how they operate and view the world and the Church, but their purpose is to make the Church and each believer more Christ-like, in the fullness of Christ, to bring unity to the body of Christ, not division (Eph.4).  My first reaction is that it is impossible for the Church to do that, for history has proven that.  Then again I know that “we can do all things in Christ Jesus who strengthens us,” so the question is “How can the five of them not only survive or tolerate each other, but augment and support each other in the effort of bringing unity in the Church?”

The questions and the solution seem complex, but the answer lies in the simplicity of “The Cross”.

Our natural life is built on relationships.  Because of sin, most of our relationships lead to conflict, entanglement, separation, and even hurt. We face divorce, strained relationships in our family and with those we love, disenfranchised relationships at work, socially, and even in the Church.  History, generally, is recorded as conflict after conflict, by wars and conquerors.  Sin has become “natural”, conflict “natural”, until it is dissected by the “supernatural”; then all this changes. When Jesus invaded our “natural” world, He “supernaturally” made a way when there seemed to be no way. He gave his life on the Cross, the price paid for redemption for sin, and then rose from the dead to conquer sin and death.

The simplicity of the Cross is that the “supernatural” dissected the “natural”.  Now we can live in the “supernaturally natural” through Jesus Christ who restored relationships through the Cross.

What we need to examine in future blogs is John 3:16, the vertical relationship between God and His people with I John 3:16, the horizontal relationship between God’s people.  Only after examining those relationships can we begin to understand what it means to “lay down one’s life for one’s brethren”, the only way the differences of passion and view of the five fold can be focused in unity: on Jesus and on the Cross. “All things are possible in Christ Jesus”; especially the possibility of Unity in the Church, and the fullness of Christ for His believers thanks to “The Cross”

Can The Church Survive?

If You Take Away Its Buildings And Staff

I have been taught that the Church is not its building; the Church is its people.  Europe adores its cathedrals, the United States its stain glass historic churches.  Today “mega churches” are building edifices so thousands of people can attend multiple services supported by huge staffs. If history repeats itself, what will these mega structures be like when its congregations is whittled down, or the people abandon it, or if a future congregation can no longer afford monetarily to maintain the building? 

"Knock, Knock!" " Who's There?" " No one." "No one who?" "'No-one'-der you are knocking. The Church is not here, but out service!"If you close down the church building and disbanded the staff, would the Church, the people, survive as a body or would they be disband?

History records that the Church would survive! After Judas’ famous kiss of betrayal, the twelve and all their supporters fled, disbanded. To Rome and the Sanhedrin it probably looked like this new movement disbanded because their leader had fallen, yet how wrong they were, for when their leader had risen from the grave, they faced a formable force that would change the world. Pentecost would revive a disbanded group of believers into a powerful world changing eternal force. How did the Church survive? I learned in my Survey to New Testament course with Dr. Carl Zeigler at Elizabethtown College that the “church was formed on the blood of the martyrs.” History has proven that the greater the persecution, the greater the strength of the Church.

In our lifetime we have seen the Church of China go underground due to the persecution against it, but what did God do to prepare his Church for that moment? I enjoy reading Watchman Nee and some of his teachings because they were for forerunner of the China Church going underground.  He was a teacher called to teach at a crucial moment.  I understand the China underground Church is a live and well, but doesn’t “look” at all like its American or Westernized counterpart. What might we learn from them?

If we were forced in American to nailed our church doors shut, closing our edifices, and if we dissembled our clergy and staff system, would the Church in America survive? Sure, because its God’s people, but what would it look like?  Did America’s churches “prepare the saints for the work of the service”?  There is where I begin to wonder?  Do we have to face persecution before we decide to “prepare” God’s people?  Are we Americans arrogant enough to believe that we will always have huge edifices, large clerical support systems, and a vibrant church life? Look at Europe today who once boasted the same! 

I would like to blow the trumpet, call the universal Church of Jesus Christ to arms to prepare God’s people for the work of the service before persecution raps on its doors wanting to shut them.  Shutting those doors may look tragic, but those close doors may produce new doors that will be opened to and by the Spirit of God to move among His people.

Let’s continue to dialogue on what it means to “equip the saints” and how to do it, as well as what it means to “lay down our lives for our brethren” (I John 3:16)! Only by laying them down will we be able to pick each other up!

Follow Or Flee

Leadership By Office or Service?

When you serve, others following your lead and serve too!Leadership should never be based on position, but on service, for you only “respect” the leadership that serves you. You are willing to follow and become loyal to them.  From those who dictate and control, you flee.

If anyone should know “service”, it should be the Church.  Jesus washed his disciples feet to show that even He, the Son of God, the Messiah, came to serve not to be served.  When the disciples fought over who should be on his right and left in the kingdom, Jesus soundly rebuked them, reminding them that His kingdom is built on service, not position; the least is the greatest.

In the field of public education, I have had trouble finding administrators who will serve rather than dictate, especially young administrators who think they have to “prove” themselves in their new position.  Administrators administrate. Good administrators see over their domain of influence, by serving those under their leadership to free them to do what they have been trained to do for the good of the entire building, school district, etc.

In the world of Public Education “professional development” is like “equipping the saints for the work of service”. To become a teacher you have to earn a Bachelor’s Degree, then have six years to earn a Master’s Degree.  To reach the top of most pay scales earn another 60 graduate credits (or two more Master’s Degrees).  What other profession has to earn a Bachelor’s and three Master’s Degrees to reach their pinnacle?  They also have to earn Act 48 Credits of “Professional Development”, which means more conferences, workshops, In-Service Training usually lead by administrators who are trying to teach, not administrate.  In spite of all this training many administrators, school board members, and most of the general public do not look at the teacher as a “professional” because of this mindset that they always need developed and teach in “failing schools”.

I am sorry, but the church has a lot of the same mentality.  Pastors and staff, like administrators, are always trying to develop their congregations, not necessarily equip them.  “Professional Development” in the church is called “Discipleship Training”.  Many a Senior Pastor administrates his church as a Superintendent of School administrates his district.  I am not criticizing the people who are pastors or staff personally.  I am criticizing their “leadership” style, for both the School Administrator and the Sr. Pastor or Pastor is missing the mark if their leadership style is not built on service.

School Administrators are to serve their students, the parents, their teachers, their custodial, secretarial, and kitchen staffs, and free everyone under his influence to do what they have been trained and are gifted to do!  Any administrator who actually “serves” has an awesome task.  The Superintendent is to serve his principals, not dictate and make them accountable to him for everything they do.  He needs to serve his principals, so they can serve their elementary or secondary school staffs.

The purpose of a “serving” leader is never to dictate, but to “free” those under his domain or sphere of influence to do what they have been called to do, and be willing to do anything in his power or sphere or domain of influence to free them to succeed.  I will gladly “serve” any administrator who “serves” me, and I will “serve” any Sr. Pastor, Pastor, or Staff member who “serves” me.  That’s leadership, setting the model that others will follow. You serve; they follow and serve too! Any stand-offish administrator, by his very nature has created a distance by “position”, while any administrator who “serves” draws those under his leadership near. The same is with leadership in the church. 

As we shall see in future blogs, Church leadership is built on service, not dictation or control.  Without service, the church is nothing but another institution where people follow out of fear or control and flee when given the chance.

Equipping The Saints

Who Should Lead The Charge?

In my last blog we ended with the dilemma of the Follow Up Committee during a Lay Witness Missions Weekend: [Actually this committee, unknowingly, was being assigned the task of “equipping the saints for the work of the service” (Eph. 4), but none knew how to do that or felt they possessed the power in the local church structure to initiate and develop it.  This is where most of our churches are today!  Who should lead this charge of developing?  How should it be done? Are there programs out there to do it?  Is a “discipleship” programs enough?]  Let’s individually look at these questions.

Who Should Lead The Charge:  Simple question; simple answer: “leaders”, of course. Should those leaders be the clergy or their staff?  Can leadership come from within the congregation itself?  I have been told that “you are not a leader unless someone is following your lead;” again a simple truth. Often in our churches the pastor and/or his staff leads programs, for the church, at least here in America, has become program oriented. Unfortunately they can become discouraged when discovering that no one is responding to or following their program.  Usually the program is then blamed, then dropped, but it may not have been the program that failed; it may have been the lack of leadership that headed or oversaw the project. When the program ended, if you discover that no one is with you either physically, emotionally, or spiritually, you failed as a leader.

The question still remains: Who Should Lead The Charge:  How about people who have a passion, a vision, a point of view and understanding for what is to be taught?  How about a team approach composed of each of the five fold giftings?  An evangelist majors in birthing; let him birth it.  He will creatively birth it with passion that will catch fire with others. Someone with a pastoral/shepherding heart will sustain it, maintain it, by applying it to one’s daily life.  A teacher can teach the Biblical principles upon which is its foundation, anchoring it in the “Truth”, in the Word of God.  A person with a prophetic mindset will strive to bring the Rhema Truth, the Living Word of God, and direction by focusing and centering it on Jesus.  This is what brings life into the project.  Finally, someone needs to over see these efforts, the apostolic mindset, for they see the big picture of what needs to be done, but can not do it by themselves.  This person IS NOT the committee’s chairperson, as we think of them today, because they do not rule, head, nor control the committee, but just sees over what the Holy Spirit is doing in the committee and reports to them what he sees and hears.

If there is birth, maintenance, development, solid teaching, spiritual renewal, direction, and life, and proper oversight, whatever the Holy Spirit has implanted on the group will come into fruition, producing a following because of this “team’s leadership style”.  This is not a trial by committee, but life through releasing and developing passions, views, giftings, and points of view of people who are probably in your congregation right now!

One of the hardest, but most powerful, lessons learned being in the “leadership” position as coordinator for a Lay Witness Mission was the realization that when you eliminated me, the coordinator, and the local pastor’s presence, the Holy Spirit moved in a mighty and creative way among his people.  Once at a two charge parish the Pastor and I had to leave the first service to attend the second parish. The first had not finished their service yet, so it was given over to the Lay Witness Team who ministered in freedom, witnessing an altar call, the likes which this church had never seen before, and lives were transformed, birthed, encouraged, etc. while the Pastor and I went to the second service at another location.  God’s People have been given gifts and talents from their Creator.  Let’s not stifle them; but encourage them, release them, allow them to lead.

Leadership is not a position; it is a results of what one does and who is now following by “doing” it.  If Pastor, Staff, or other form of leadership is leading something, and no one is following or doing what they are leading, they have failed. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to lead and only be vessels following His leading.

Lay Witness Lesson Learned

Five Fold Already Exists

Check Out History of Lay Witness Mission through Aldtersgate Renewal ServicesI believe the five fold ministry already exists in our Churches today. When I was a Lay Witness Mission Coordinator, through the board of evangelism in the United Methodist Church, I was amazed to see these five different passions, visions, point of view raise their heads when given an avenue to express themselves in almost all the churches where I participated in different denominations.

Friday night during the first session of the weekend, small groups we asked, “What would you like to see happen to your church these weekend, and what would you like to see happen to yourself.  Before they would talk about their personal life, they would share their vision or passion for their local church or the church’s faults.  Some would express that their particular church should reach out to new people (evangelistic mindset), others wanted it to be more service oriented like starting a food bank (pastoral mindset), some else would express the need for more young people to come, a rebirth of the church (evangelistic mindset), another would chime in the need tor solid teaching in the Sunday School curriculum (teaching mindset), the topic for the need for a vibrant spiritual growth and life would always arise (prophetic mindset), and someone would be concerned about the life of the church as a whole with its components needed a recharge (apostolic mindset).  The mindsets were all there, crying out with the need to either be encouraged, recognized, developed, or released. To the personal question about what each person expected for themselves, a generic answer usually ensued of “getting closer to God” (Which is a major objective of the five fold ministry).

Often the pastoral/shepherding passion revealed itself through small group coffees Saturday mornings, or shut in visitations in the afternoon, or hosting visiting missioners in ones home. 

Saturday night’s small group requested each individual draw a “spiritual map” of their journey in faith that would depict where they were in relationship with Jesus.  If someone did not have a relationship, the leaders of the group could lead them into the kingdom of God for evangelism was the emphasis of the weekend. The small group would then go into the church’s sanctuary, which was low lit, with quiet music or total silence, and could sit in the pew and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to them. There was not set agenda for this part of the evening allowing the most powerful moment of the weekend to occur as the Holy Spirit, being freed of the influence of man, would begin to minister to each person’s uniqueness, their heart’s desires, their passions, their prayer requests, their personal lives that proved life changing.  Often I would see the passion, and vision of each of the five fold be rebirthed during these times of personal confrontation between individual man and the Holy Spirit.

I felt the most challenged committee formed for the weekend was the “follow up” committee, because they felt the need to have something in place to keep the Spirit of the weekend alive and continual. Because the Lay Witness Mission is a program, they would try to instill other programs, hoping that they would be life sustaining.  Actually this committee, unknowingly, was being assigned the task of “equipping the saints for the work of the service” (Eph. 4), but none knew how to do that or felt they possessed the power in the local church structure to initiate and develop it.  This is where most of our churches are today!  Who should lead this charge of developing and equipping?  How should it be done? Are there programs out there to do it?  Is a “discipleship” program enough? We will look at these questions in our next blog.

Five Fold Interdisciplinary Team

What Is It?

I believe that the five fold ministry must be a team ministry, not individual ministries trying to make up a team.  It is five different points of view, five different passions, five different people (apostle, prophet, pastor, teacher, evangelist) who are to work together to equip the saints for the works of “service” in Christ-like unity.  It cannot be five different individuals with five different agendas, for the results of this relationship will surely bring disaster and hurt to the Body of Christ.   I truly believe that this paradigm may be the wave of the future for the Church, a totally different mind set, but there are several things that must occur in order for this team to ever be united or effective.  I will mention them here, but go into more detail on these points in future blogs.

In order to teach, develop, and establish the principle of “service” rather than control, each of the five fold must learn to “serve” one another as well as being “served” by the others.  This will develop a system of accountability never seen before by the Church. Because of their different passions and points of view, they can bring accountability to one who may stray from their own passion and minister to them through love and service to free them in Christ.

Each member of the five fold team will have to face a different mind set of the cross.  John 3:16 defines their personal relationship vertically with the Godhead while I John 3:16 defines their personal relationships horizontally with one another. Jesus laid his life down for us (John 3:16); are we willing to lay down our life for our brethren (I John 3:16).  What does it actually mean to “lay down our life for our brethren”?  We will look at this key principle in more depth in future blogs too.

Each member individually as well as the team will have to always seek “the heart of the Father” in all matters, listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and be obedient to what they have seen and heard.  This modeled by Jesus himself produced effective ministry. That model must again be instilled in the Church.  This will be the process of how the team will lead through service.  They will have to teach and exhibit forgiveness in its purest form, which will take away the blame game and divisiveness and division that currently exists in the Body of Christ.

Can there be actually unity in the Body of Christ?  Yes! But, I believe, it will take a radical different mind set towards ministry based on the priesthood of believers, the freeing, equipping, and releasing of each believer in Jesus Christ, not just the professional leadership as been the history of the Church over the last century. The Groom, Jesus Christ, is getting ready to return for His Bride, the Church, that is to be without “spot or wrinkle”.  I believe that this five fold model may be an instrument to bring unity, maturity, and Christ-likeness back into the Church.

The Point of View of An Apostle

Seeing The Big Picture

The topic of apostolic leadership has had its controversies in the Church.  Apostles are not Sr. Pastors who claimed to become bishops, then prophets, then Apostles because people follow them. Apostles are not Sr. Pastors to the greater church.  Apostles are not like dinosaurs, who are extinct, as some theologians claim, who were no longer needed when the written Word, today’s Bible, was cannonized. Then what are they?

I would like to add to the controversy by sharing a different perspective of what an apostle is. I believe the five fold ministry of the Church is about “passion” and “point of view”, not of office.  It is about what drives a believer in Jesus Christ and how he sees things.  The evangelist is driven to save the lost; he/she is not driven to shepherd or care for the new sheep, nor teach them, or instill prophetically intimacy in them. The apostle may at one time functioned like an evangelist or pastor/shepherd or teacher or prophet, but their passion is for the Church as a whole. Their point of view or vision is seeing the Big Picture. 

Because of this unique vision and point of view, the apostle can empathize with each of the other four passions or points of view because he/she cannot do all of them by themselves.  The apostle needs the other four in order to function properly.  If he/she tries to do it all, he/she will burn out and be no use to the Body of Christ.

One of the functions of an apostle is to prepare the Bride, the Church, for the Groom’s coming, the return of Jesus Christ.  He is to come for a Church that is without spot and wrinkle.  I can testify of the many spots and wrinkles that I have even created, might as well other believers. I believe that the prophet and apostle together will be the “spot” and “wrinkle” removers in the Church in order to prepare the Bride, the Church, by seeing the Big Picture.

Another function of the apostle is to equip the saints for the work of the service.  He alone cannot do it, so he needs to use his evangelistic skills, his pastoral skills, his teaching skills, and his prophetic skills to teach, develop, and establish the believers in Christ to do the work of “service”.

“Without vision the people perish,” and the Church so drastically needs believers among themselves who have the vision to see the Big Picture and strive to equip God’s people to fulfill it.  That is the point of view of the Apostle.

The Five Fold Point Of View

It Is Just The Way You See It!  

I truly believe that the five fold is basically passion and point of view.  When you are passionate, that passion drives you.  I was passionate to get a room in my house built from scratch to finished project. Because of that the dry walling and sanding, the tedious cutting in for painting, etc. were not so bad.  I was driven to get it done the best of my ability.

The beauty of the five fold is “vision” and “Point of View”. The way one perceives his world and his place in it is his passion and point of view. It is no different for the five fold. Let’s briefly look at these “points of view”:

The evangelist is driven by the desire to see birth and rebirth, taking the lost (those not knowing Jesus) to becoming found (finding Jesus as their Savior). General Booth of the Salvation Army is an excellent example. Winning the lost became all consuming to him, thus he founded an army to proclaim salvation to the lost. Unfortunately, when the lost is found, a new birth or rebirth proclaimed, nurturing their growth is not the evangelist’s top priority, for he/she is ready to move on and win yet more for Jesus.

The pastor/shepherd is driven to care for the sheep. Shepherds nurture, feed, and care for their sheep, which becomes a tedious task, for they teach a believer how to make their new found faith into a lifestyle. A pastor’s vision is to hear the words of Matthew 25:35-36: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you invited me in, needing clothes and you clothed me, sick and you looked after me, in prison and you came to visit me.”

A teacher’s passion is to validate the Word of God, the written Word, the Logos Word, into the lives of every believer.  They want to validate the believer’s walk with the Word.  The teacher wants to validate this new found faith and lifestyle through the Logos Word, making it a Rhema, or living Word. John 1 says the “Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” The teacher wants that word, now in Spirit, that dwells in each believer to teach that believer the truth and fulfillment of the Logos Word through faith.  Study the scriptures is powerful, but dangerous, for if it is done without the Holy Spirit, believers can become Pharisees, those who knew the Word in Jesus’ time, but opposed the truth and spirit of his teachings.

     If a prophet had his/her way, they would spend all day in worship, in reading their Bible, in intercession and prayer, in intimacy with God the Father, His Son, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.  Adam and Eve lost their intimacy with God when they sinned, but Jesus’ death and resurrection restored the intimacy lost through sin. Sin has been conquered, death defeated.  A prophet is trying to make up for lost time. Their drive, their passion, their point of view is to be intimate with Jesus. Nothing else matters to them.

An apostle has experienced the pain of seeing the lost and the passion to win them to Christ, has experienced the over whelming passion to feed the sheep physically and spiritually to have them walk the walk in their lifestyle, has experienced the power of teaching with authority the Word of God, has experienced that intimacy with his/her God through Jesus, but unfortunately can not to all of them himself unless he wants to get burned out, which happens to many a man of God who takes on more than he can handle. An apostle’s point of view, his vision, his sight is seeing the Big Picture, the Church as a whole.  Since he cannot do it all himself, he is commissioned to encourage others who have the other four passions and “prepares God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Eph. 4)  His job is to “see over” the Big Picture, not “oversee” it, for that is the Holy Spirit’s job, and to prepare God’s people for the works of service.

     The five fold is five distinctly different points of view that can divide the Church if not led by the Holy Spirit, or be the very tool to unify it.

Is Church A Safe Place?

Let It Be A Training Ground

As a Lay Witness Coordinator, I use to tell God’s people that the altar is a safe place.  I truly believe that!  You and God together cannot go wrong!  I ask though, “Is today’s church a safe place”?

As family, my children learned how to grow in the safety of their family and their home.  Toddlers walked into end tables when learning how to “walk”.  They often made mistakes while learning valuable lessons under the tutorage of loving parents, but is that how the family of God works in our churches?

As church people we shoot our wounded rather than offer healing, which is what the Gospel is all about.  We condemn our brethren rather than offer grace, which again is what the Gospel is all about.  We bring conflict, disagreement, and division amongst each other rather than peace and unity, which is what, supposedly, the church is all about.

Why not allow God’s people to do God’s work rather than the clergy, the paid staff?  And why not equip them so they can do it right?  Then why not release them with the church’s blessing to be free to do the work without tight controls allowing the Holy Spirit to be their guide?  Can’t we trust God’s Holy Spirit?

Is the church a safe place for believers to grow?  Can those not “up front” on the platform be free to minister during a service? To lay hands on others? To prophesy to people? To give monetary gifts secretly to help people in need? To teach or preach if gifted? And if they make mistakes along the way, is the church going to “pastor”, “nurture”, “shepherd” them?  A shepherd will stop what he is doing for one lost sheep, one sick sheep, one wondering sheep, not shoot the sheep and have lamb-chops instead.

What would it be like if a visitor had no idea who the “Sr. Pastor” is when visiting a church because everyone else is ministering out of their passion, gifting, and point of view?  Body ministry from the Body of Christ to the Body of Christ would make an awesome service, and prepare those ministering for training to do it outside the confines of our church buildings in our daily lives, but today’s church is reluctant to allow that mentality because what would happen is something went wrong? Or someone makes a mistake? Control is the best way to prevent error and mistakes, and that is what today’s church opts for instead.  I would like to challenge the church’s leadership to allow their sheep the freedom to make mistakes in order to learn. We do it in almost every other aspect of life, but we could do it in a safe environment of a loving church family in the safe confines of our church buildings.

But we don’t!  I plead to you, the church, to take the challenge, the plunge, and allow those in your Body to grow, make mistakes, but do it in the safety of a loving family in a safe place, the church.  If we cultivate that atmosphere, maybe we will actually begin to equip the “saints”, the common believers, for the work of the service.

Freeing God’s People

Allowing God's People To Minister

The church that I am currently attending has gone to a three “service” format on Sundays of 1) An Intercessory Prayer Time; 2) A Teaching time on basic doctrines; 3) and a Standard Church Service.

The first service has been a time of intercessory prayer, and praying for one another.  Last Sunday people were allowed to share personal testimonies of answered prayer, which were awesome.  One lady shared about praying for her loved ones that did not know the Lord.  I am sitting there thinking, “This woman has an evangelist’s heart”; church activate it!  Another woman, a massage therapist, shared of getting a new job with a doctor who approved that she could pray for patients while laying hands on them.  I am thinking, “Wow, a healer using the power of laying on of hands; church activate it! Another lady shared how the Lord has met her husband and her provisions by having a landlord who was actually dropping their rent.  The Emcee for the morning then said the session was over and dismissed everyone.

I sat there and pondered, “What would have happen if this occurred during the regular worship service when most of the congregation meet, the worship leader led, and the pastor preached?  What would happen if we allowed the lady with the evangelistic spirit to release that spirit on the congregation, inviting those who did not know the Lord to respond by coming forward to her, and she would personally lead them to the Lord. What would happen if we allowed the lady to release her hands and actually lay them on the sick that morning?  What would happen if the lady and her husband had people come forward, and they minister to them to break through spiritual barriers and pray for freedom in the realm of finances?

Why must the Church insist on having an ordained, clergy, evangelist to give an evangelistic sermon instead of releasing God’s people to minister?  Why must the Church have only the clergy lay hands on the laity, and not the laity on each other?  Why must people with financial crisis go to professional Christian Counseling Services, when their brethren can help out?  Is it not the Church’s job to equip the saints for the work of the service (Eph. 4) rather than just leadership doing it?

If common people, the laity, see other common people empowered with an uncommon, supernatural power of the Holy Spirit working in them, would they not want the same for themselves? Let’s begin to free God’s people, equip them, and allow them to be free to use what we have equipped them with?

Failing Churches!

Can This Be?

I’ve been haunted over the past 24 hours with the image I saw Sunday: a huge sanctuary in what was once considered a large denominational church with only a handful of people.  It brought back the image of the National Cathedral in Washington when I visited it, a beautiful, magnificent edifice of granite, marble, and stained glass, but hardly any people in it, a place where the sculptures of past church leaders over their tombs surpassed the live of the saints who were alive.  In the midst of architectural beauty was the absence of life.

As a public school teacher, since the 1990’s, all I have heard was the mantra about “failing schools”.  American society has learned to blame institutions for their failures. Conservative talk radio blames everything on the President, liberals, and Democrats.  People are always blaming the government.  Locally the schools are targeted as the ill of society, yet as Americans we fail to look at ourselves in a mirror, or better yet, within ourselves.

Young adults in their 20-30’s claim that they do not want to do church, or are tired of church, yet they strive for relationships.  Relationships are important to them, but they have to go elsewhere other than the church to find what they are shopping for, the consumer mentality of America.

Can we admit that maybe the church in America is failing too as an institution?  In my area of America, there is a church in almost every block of the city, and every mile in the country, yet few if any are even half full. In fact, attendance is still declining. Or is criticizing the church a “sacred cow”? As institutions, churches always criticize other churches. They have it down to a science.  I have heard it from the pulpit since my childhood how “they” aren’t following the Bible like “us”.

In the midst of our country in a “health care” battle debating if we should be taking care of the sick in this country who can not afford it, I find it hard to believe that once the church was very active in building hospitals, soup kitchens, food and clothing distribution centers, etc. Gosh, the Holy Spirit Hospital is only 30 miles from me!  We did not need the government, or capitalism, etc. when the church clothed the naked, fed the hungry, visited the sick, etc. The church, for whatever reason, has abandoned many of the institutions they have founded.  In the spirit of the critical mindset we have in American, should we also be wondering if, as an institution, the church too is failing? 

Maybe the church should not be the “scapegoat”, but we should look to and for the “Savior”, Jesus Christ, to save us, you, me, from the relationships we have allowed to slip through out fingers resulting in institutions instead.

Relationship To Religion!

Sunday School Orchestra of the early 1900's.Increase To Decrease

Several years ago I attended a Law Witness Mission at a church that once boasted a “Sunday School Orchestra” of 90 members! That was just the orchestra.  In their “Sunday School Section” there were balconies so that several classes could be held in one general area.  Today there is less than 90 members in the entire church.

Once a local church boasted of over a 1,000 who crammed into their service and even had Billy Graham in his early days preach there.  Today they are less than 200.

 Today, I attended church in a huge sanctuary that use to host hundreds on a Sunday morning, but today they have three services, two with only twenty-five each attending, and one with ninety!

So what does this say about the lasting power of large churches with great numbers in the wake of the mega-church movement?  Many questions rise instead: Why the incline?  Why couldn’t these churches maintain the numbers they had? Is church life “cyclical”?  Did the buildings that housed the masses become the albatross to maintain in later years? These are all questions needing to be asked in an age where the number of people attending a church defines their “success” to many.

New churches feature relationships when they are infants, but as churches grow in numbers, it is easily to get lost in the crowd unless there is a “pastoral”, or “shepherding” component in the church’s ministry.  Often churches that were evangelistic at birth grow quickly in numbers, wane when unable to nurture the new babes, this is why having a “shepherding” ministry is so crucial.  If we do not learn lessons from history, we are doomed to repeat it.  We need all five of the five fold ministries. We need the shepherd no matter how small or how large the congregation is.

Why We Need Ephesians 4

Equipping

I know of a current congregation that is losing its current pastor after growing under his leadership and becoming quite attached to his teaching style, vision, and leadership. In a recent question answer forum he instructed the congregation the procedures that would lie ahead as they seek a new pastor when he leaves.

One person asked, “Since there are other teachers in the congregation, could they fill the pulpits some Sundays.”

“I never thought of that,” was his reply. “That would be awesome. Can some one do it next week?”

During his term as Senior Pastor, he apparently did not equip the saints for the “work of the service” as for developing teachers since that was his strong suit. His in-house teachers never got to preach when he was there, why would it be awesome to let them do it now?  I am sure the next pastor will want his pulpit back.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if the saints were equipped and “doing the work of the service” and the new pastor would wonder what his role is when he arrived!  Churches offer “Discipleship” courses, but I hardly know of any that truly equip their saints to become evangelists, teachers, shepherds, prophets, or apostles for the life of the local congregation. Leadership should work themselves out of a job, not create vacuums so they are needed and “outsiders” must come in to fulfill them.  

If the next pastor isn’t a “teaching” pastor, but a true “shepherd” or an “evangelist”, will the congregation be disappointed? Often local congregational visions are those of the pastor. Emphasis and focus of ministry change with the change of a pastor.

Wouldn’t it be neat if a congregation had their own evangelist, pastor/shepherd, teacher, prophet and pastor from among their own who were birthed, nurtured, and developed by their elders.  We work hard as parents to “equip” our children with what they need to face life as adults.  Why should the leadership of the church not “equip” their “children of God” to face the future?

We need new mindsets of what we are doing as leaders.  "Reproduction" is not just birthing! Are we equipping others to replace us, and then are willing to step back or be sent out when they mature?  We need to think about that!

Worship: Part VI

Me Accountable?

Whatever the Lord has given you, give it back!

*Go Back to Part I and read the series.

What would happen if I, Joe Christian, felt accountable for what happened on a Sunday Morning?  Would I be prepared?  What would happen if the Sunday Service was a time of total silence unless someone came with something to give?  We, I know I, usually feel uncomfortable with silence if I know there should be noise!

Some people come Sundays to get lost in the crowd, some to “be fed”, some to be part of the “community” of believers, whatever that means.  Most come to receive for themselves, for their needs. How selfish!  Would “church attendance” drop off if every believer was accountable to give something, somehow on a Sunday morning? Probably, and we measure a church’s success, often, by the number of people who attend. How sad!

Could someone else other than the pastor or staff “hear from the Lord”? Yes, of course!  Could someone else receive “a word” and give the sermon, lesson, or teaching on a Sunday morning? Yes, of course! Could someone else have a “new song”, an original song they wrote other than the choir director, director of music, or worship leader? Yes, of course. Then why not release that potential, that power, those gifting? Could someone pray an original prayer than a staff member or a reading from a bulletin? Yes, of course.

If a congregation has a vibrant private devotional life, spiritual life can not help but arise.  What comes out of that private devotional time, can be the very catalyst for a corporate experience that is vibrant, relevant, dynamic, and powerful, for it is body ministry, for the Body from the Body.  The people in the congregation are some of the most untapped natural, or supernatural, resources a church has that needs to be released to minister to the Body and to the hurting world. 

Could a Sunday morning service be a “safe place”, for the body to practice the giftings they want to release on the world when the Great Commission becomes a reality?  Yes, of course! Then let the church get a different mindset of creating a “safe place” for body ministry to release their faith, develop their gifting and skills, and prepare themselves to be “sent out” by the laying on of hands by the Body. 

Wow, to let the Body function on a Sunday morning in its own sanctuary! What a novel idea. Really!

Worship: Part V

 Accountability In The Pew?

Whatever the Lord has given you, give it back!

*Go Back to Part I and read the series.

What is required of a believer who graces the pew or chair weekly during the Sunday morning service? Usually not much, because, I feel, that the church does not allow you to give back anything except your tithe or offering unless you are gifted musically or part of the staff helping with the service.  The worship leader or choir director leads the music, the pastor or member of the staff preaches the sermon while Joe Christian just sits in his pew and follows.  In some churches they even supply road maps called church bulletins to make it even easer for the dumb sheep to follow their shepherds.

After church the staff discusses why there seems to be no life in the service, blaming those in the congregation for lack of participation. The pastor wonders why not one responds to this preaching.  Well, maybe it is because the congregation did not come prepared to respond, nor allowed to respond if even given a chance.

Maybe as a church we need to nurture a different mindset that allows the congregation to prepare for Sunday Services rather than the staff prepare Sunday Services for the congregation. If a church has a vibrant private prayer and worship life through its individual members, then we need to allow for a corporate expression allowing them to give back what the Lord has individually given them during the week: a scripture, a testimony, a teaching, a new song, a poem, a painting, or even a dance.

     The church where I grew up at one time allowed no instruments in the sanctuary. When they built a new sanctuary, they got a piano and organ, but no other form was allowed. Youth with drums, electric guitars, moog synthesizers were not allowed to share their musical talents. If I would have remained in that environment, both of my sons would have not been permitted to give their musical talents back to the Lord (drums and bass) in the sanctuary. How sad, and the church wonders why their youth go to secular music? It is because there they are allowed to express their musical talents.

What would happen if we just allowed the worshipers in our congregation to worship, actually allow them to express their forms of talents by giving them back to the Lord.  I think we just might see life.