The Christian Dilemma: Relationships Versus Religion

10 Ways The Church Might Change: Point 4 – Part I

[In previous blogs I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 4 in the series: Relationships will replace religion. Religious programs, westernized theology, and methodology will be challenged, torn down and replaced by the global movement of the Holy Spirit bringing unity, not division. Denominations and religious sects will vanish, being replaced through relationships with the Holy Spirit and between brothers and sisters in the Lord. The Apostolic will return ushering unity in theology, purpose, direction, and doctrine.  Truly there has been and is only ONE Church, the body of Christ, the priesthood of believers in Jesus Christ.]

The Facebook generation is all about relationships. My generation, the Mr. Roger’s generation sang “Won’t you be my neighbor” with a regional, community, neighborly view of the world. The Facebook generation asks, “Won’t you be my friend” with a world-wide linear view of the world.  Being “part” of something and being accepted is very important to this generation.  Relationships are of the essence.  When in your twenties, relationships are key to one’s social life, for one faces friendships, break ups, relational commitments that are short term and long term, and acceptance and rejection at all different social levels.  Everyone wants to be a part of something and accepted by someone.

So if relationships are the key to understanding this generation, then the church needs to look away from things that appear to them only as being religious and begin to establish relationships instead. Today’s 20-30 year old really doesn’t care if a church is pre-tribulation, post-trib, or mid-trib in its eschatology, or if it is Calvinistic or Armenian in its orthodoxy. They can’t tell you the differences that make Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Evangelical, Fundamental, Eastern Orthodox, or Roman Catholic unique and separate in theology and make up.  In fact, they don’t care, because it is all religion to them, yet the church still spends much of its energy and assets in redefining their labels, heritages, and traditions.  When is the church going to realize that it is all religion? No one wants to get involved in the inner bickerings of religious sects, but one has to if drawn into local church settings.  What people want is relationships over religious activities.

Looking back over my 50 years as a Christian, religious activities have come and gone.  The events are only remembered if recorded as part of a local church’s history. On the other hand Christian relationships established over the years still remain. That says something about relationships.

The internet and the world-wide-web have forced us to look again at relationships and church.  Through internet web sites you can get all the religion you want: church web sites of services, programs, and times, blogs and opinions about theology, access to church libraries even with ancient manuscripts, videos and podcasts of sermons, even Christian chat rooms for fellowship, but the internet now also offers advancement in technical communication skills through emails, twittering, texting, emailing, Skyping, FaceTiming, Google +’ing, etc.  Relationships from the past are easily restored. I now play “Words With Friends”, alias Scrabble in old term technology, with old college friends, retirees, friends living hundreds of miles away, and even relatives.  I don’t have to have them “over to my house” to play “board games”; I can do it on my computer, Kindle, Ipad, or smart phone while watching TV, talking to my wife, and struggling with a conventional crossword puzzle while sitting in my lazyboy chair in my own livingroom.

The way high-tech America does relationships is being redefined. It is hard for me to imagine, but even if someone comes “over to my house”, they sit on different chairs “texting” one another while in the same room! Looking face to face in someone’s eyes is not a pre-requisite that you have their attention. 

So if the Church wants to reach the “world” for Jesus, it will have to re-examine how it is going to communicate with that world to be effective.  Global Revival will be communicated in a different format than my grandparents could even imagine when listening to radio preachers or watching a Billy Graham Crusade on their television.  The internet only relays data, information, electronically across the world.  The Holy Spirit can do more drawing like minded, kindred spirits, toward one another. That’s true fellowship, true relationships. 

The way Christians “relate” to one another is the key to revival. My earlier blogs about I John 3:16 and the relationship of “laying down your life for your brethren” addresses this issue. Christians must also figure out how to “relate” to non-Christians so they do not come across as “religious” but “relational” by providing grace, mercy, and unconditional love to those they communicate with.

Bottom Line: Church – We got to dump all our religious garbage that the world really doesn’t care about, nor find appealing, nor want in their lives, and start building relationships. We talk about having a “personal relationship” with Jesus, but what kind of “personal relationships” do we have with other Christian and non-Christian brothers and sisters.  The answer to that question will show us where we are in being willing to be part of a global revival.

The Next Great Revival: Massive And Messy but Powerful

10 Ways The Church Might Change:

Point 3 – Part 2

[In previous blogs I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 3 in the series: Prophetically the Bible depicts the Spirit of the Lord as having many eyes looking in all directions, like being different creatures with different functions pulling in different directions, yet in unity as one being. His Spirit is not stagnant, but always moving. In other words it is fluid. Just as water covers the earth in all directions, the Holy Spirit covers the earth globally, and it is fluid, moving in ebbs and tides.  Satan is losing his domain, because every time he wins a battle and thinks he has gain territory, the Holy Spirit flows back in from all directions to retakes the land. This domination by the Holy Spirit is again God’s plan to prepare the earth for the return of the Lord.]

When I made Jesus my Lord and was open to receiving the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the first thing I discovered was the reality of the spirit world.  The spirit world does exist and is very real.  In third world countries when the gospel is presented, it raises up a battle between good and evil.  Local religions who have tried to appease the demons of dark are confront with the light of the gospel, and “darkness can not comprehend light”. That is why revivals are often looked upon as being messy, because in the spirit world things are being stirred up.

Before I made Jesus the Lord of my life, I thought of the demonic as almost mythical, figurative, metaphorical, etc., but after my decision I witnessed the manifestation of the powers of darkness but the triumph of the powers of light over them.  It amazed me how blind most of us as Christians are to the reality of the spirit world.  When we are not under allegiance to King Jesus, we are no threat to satan, the enemy, but once we swear that allegiance all “hell breaks lose” and “all heaven” is at our disposal.  The conflict intensifies!

Today there is such a complacency about the Holy Spirit in our churches.  We talk about Him, recognize Him, and have our theology about Him, but see little of His powers manifested. Why?  If the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus Christ today, which He is, I propose that we need to recognize His Kingship and our lordship towards Him and begin to listen and be obedient to Him. When Jesus in the flesh ascended to His Father in heaven, He promised to send His Holy Spirit so that we would not be as orphans. He has kept His promise.  We need to live in that promise.

We need to see spiritual power manifested back into our churches and its gatherings. We need to witness actual physical and mental healings and deliverances.  We need to sense the Holy Spirit’s presence in all of our gatherings that brings brokenness, repentance, healing, deliverance, and renewal.  We need to witness the “awesomeness” of a “holy” and “righteous” God in our midst. We need gatherings where we are “changed” every time we come together.  We need to witness changed lives, healed families, and mended relationships every time we gather under the banner of Jesus Christ.  When we, as obedient servants, allow the Holy Spirit to edify King Jesus, the way we “do church” will be redefined, that is why the organize church is leery about revival. Revivals are messy because you are messing with the spiritual world.  Remain complacent, and everything stays in order, and you are no threat to satan because you are powerless.  When you recognize Jesus as your Savior and Lord, be obedient to his Lordship and listen to His Holy Spirit; you will shake up what was natural and in order with the supernatural because with it is power from on high!

The earth has been satan’s throne since the fall of mankind.  History has recorded the conquering of his domain with the turning point being the Cross!  The beginning of the end came when Jesus died on that Cross; the supernatural vertical plane of God and his relationship to man “Cross”ing, intersecting the horizontal plane of man’s history.  Since that time the Christian faith has moved forward across the known world in an effort to fulfill the Great Commission.

I believe the next great revival will be global, the final thrust by the Holy Spirit coming from all directions to claim the world for the kingdom of light in an effort to make His Bride, The Church, ready for His Second Coming.  This revival will be massive and messy, because it will be stirring up forces of darkness that have ruled the world since the fall of mankind. These forces will fall under the presence of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit.  This will produce challenging times, but exciting times, for the kingdom of God will be moving forward in power and strength no longer remaining in stagnation or complacency.

Church, are we ready and open for such a movement?  If so, Holy Spirit come and move us forward under the direction of King Jesus and His Holy Spirit!  If not, Holy Spirit come and bring conviction upon us, and a repentance or turning of our hearts towards Jesus as not only our Savior but Lord.  Holy Spirit come; do your thing, even if it is massive and messy!

Are Revivals Local, Regional, National, Or World Wide?

10 Ways The Church Might Change: Point 3

[In previous blogs I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 3 in the series: Prophetically the Bible depicts the Spirit of the Lord as having many eyes looking in all directions, like being different creatures with different functions pulling in different directions, yet in unity as one being. His Spirit is not stagnant, but always moving. In other words it is fluid. Just as water covers the earth in all directions, the Holy Spirit covers the earth globally, and it is fluid, moving in ebbs and tides.  Satan is losing his domain, because every time he wins a battle and thinks he has gain territory, the Holy Spirit flows back in from all directions to retakes the land. This domination by the Holy Spirit is again God’s plan to prepare the earth for the return of the Lord.]

Personally, in the 1970’s I had been a Christian for a decade, a college graduate, and active in overseeing my local church’s Youth Activities.  I featured fantastic evangelistic programs, but became frustrated in not seeing the fruit of my endeavors, thus I began a spiritual search.  I knew of Jesus as my Savior, but on Memorial Day 1974, at the Mennonite’s First Conference On The Holy Spirit at the Landisville Camp Meeting Grounds I discovered Jesus as Lord, and what a change that has made in my life.  I also discovered the power of the Holy Spirit to bring “life” into my Christian walk. The Logos Word, the written Word, the Bible became alive as a vibrant Rhema Word, or living Word, where I began to walk out the Christian walk in a new way with greater faith and power. 

Revival always features the releasing of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ!  When the Spirit moves, change naturally occurs for the Holy Spirit brings conviction, holiness, righteousness, healings, wholeness, and more.  The key to the Spirit’s release, for me, was the recognition Jesus as Lord.  Jesus is in control of my life, not myself.  I no longer tell Him what to do, but have learned to listen to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit and then be “obedient” to it.  In the Medieval world the servant is always subject through loyalty and obedience to his master or Lord.  The servant never questions his Lord, only follows and obeys.  Being an American whose freedoms are built on the Bill of Rights, this was an alien concept for me to first learn.  But it is essential to know that for revival to be birthed.

There have been recorded revivals throughout history such as The Wesleyan Revivals in England that came to America in the form of Camp Meetings, the Pentecostal revivals birthed out of Azusu St. in San Francisco that have spread world wide, the Latter Rains Revivals, and the Jesus Movement throughout America in the second half of the last century. These revivals have usually been regional or national, but the Charismatic Movement of the last half of the last century touched the Church world-wide.  Advancement in technology also coincides with revival.  Guttenberg’s Printing Press ushered in the Great Awakening and the Reformation as people could now read the Bible for themselves.  With the revivals of the last century have come television, radio, and massive Evangelistic Services in huge sports venues where the gospel could now be preached to large audiences, even to a world-wide audience.

Today, local churches pray for revival to hit or fall upon their local congregation in their building.  There have been reports of local revivals they have called “Blessings” like the Toronto Blessing next to the Toronto Airport or the Smithton “Blessing/Revival” in Missouri, but usually true revival happens on a much larger scale.

With today’s technology being the world-wide-web, the church has been faced to look differently at the world by the way they can now communicate.  Missionaries are no longer isolated. Research can be done online rather than attending seminaries with their exclusive libraries. I believe with this technology, the next major revival will have to be world-wide.  How that occurs is still a mystery to me, but not to God whom “all things are possible”.

One of the key components to world-wide revival is the recognition of the importance of the Holy Spirit who orchestrates the revival. Church government, church leadership, church orientation, nor church tradition dictates revival; only the Holy Spirit does.  As several previous blogs have pointed out, the question becomes, “Can you trust the Holy Spirit?”  The Church historically looks at revival as wild, beyond the bounds of institutional norms, and unpredictable.  The Church loves control, norms, and predictability. To release them can be scary, but if the Church cannot trust the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who can it trust?

Bottom Line: When revival comes, will the Church be willing to release its control to the Holy Spirit? How will it embrace the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, as He manifests himself in new ways? Will it embrace change?  Is it willing to allow structural change to the way it “does church”? Will it be willing to break down the barriers that have divided it?  Will it accept that the “greater” Church is more important than just one’s local congregation or sect?  If the Church is throughout the world, and if the Great Commission is to go to all ends of the world with the gospel, and if the Church is to be prepared for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, then the next major revival MUST be world-wide. Lord, bring it! Holy Spirit come and lead!

The Two Diagonal Planes of the Cross – Part II?

10 Ways The Church Might Change: Point 2

[In previous blogs I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 2 in the series: The Church has worked hard on its vertical relationship with God through worship and praise (John 3:16).  Now it will be forced to work on the horizontal relationship of brother/sister to brother/sister in redefining how the family of God functions (IJohn 3:16). Where those two planes intersect is at the center of the Cross, thus reinforcing that the Cross is the center of the Christian experience. There is where the Church will find the Presence of God!]

In the last blog, I explained the two diagonal planes of the Cross: vertical being man’s relationship with his God and horizontal being man’s relationship to man.  Both were broken by sin, but restored by the shed blood of Jesus on the Cross.  He hung against these intersecting points, playing the price for sin and reconciling or restoring man’s relationship with his God and with man. In this blog, I would like to examine the horizontal plane, and what it would take to restore man’s relationship with man in Christianity and in the Church as a whole.

I John 3:16 states: “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” I know that United States Marines have been taught this principle, and it is the backbone of unity in their military unit to the point they won’t even allow a dead body to remain on the battlefield to be marred by the enemy. The enforcement of that principle is central to that secular military force, but in Christianity and in the Church I find that principle to be a paradox, for Christians are known for shooting, criticizing, and shunning their wounded, not laying down their lives for them.  I must admit, as a Christian of 50 years, I have more fingers on my right hand than I have Christians who I know who would be willing to lay down their lives for me, not criticize me, but accept me with “unconditional love” in spite my short comings even though I am a Christian. 

How can this healing, this breach of fellowship and acceptance among believers, brethren, in Jesus Christ ever become a reality, for it must become a reality as a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, when his Bride, the Church, will be without spot and wrinkle.  This is the essence, I believe, of the next true global revival that will be established on this earth.  Here are some things that must be done:

I remember when the American Church in the last century faced its racial prejudices when I was at a national Men’s Prayer Rally called “Standing In The Gap” sponsored by Promise Keepers that filled up the Mall from the Capitol Building to the Washington Monument in Washington, DC.  Whites were asking their native American Indian brethren and Black brethren whom they mistreated through slavery or slaughter for forgiveness. It was a beginning, but now the Church needs to begin:

- to embrace one another as brethren, in the same family, the family of God, the Church, not by denominational sectarian labels that divide and emphasize our differences rather than what we have in common: Jesus!  Inbred fighting and bickering is a cancer, a sickness, a disease the Church must rid itself of. The Church knows the true meaning of “RECONCILIATION” in theory, in intellect, but finds it had to practice it in practicality among its brethren. “Let’s not just be hearers of the word, BUT DOERS.” Let’s practice reconciliation among ourselves.

-  to embrace one another beyond our hypocritical phony tolerance image of each other, but begin to extend GRACE, unmerited FAVOR, unconditional LOVE to other brethren of different doctrinal persuasion rather than fighting for one’s elite cause of self-righteousness as if our exclusive group is the only one that has the correct light and understanding of Christian truth and Biblical interpretation. Jesus supersedes denominational doctrine!

- to embrace the five fold in this generation, recognizing the need for the apostolic.  The apostle, in the New Testament Biblical sense “saw over” what the Holy Spirit was doing and recorded it in the Bible as the Acts of the Apostles book. They did not “oversee”, lord over, or control as worldly ruler do, but only “saw over” what the Holy Spirit was doing and were faithfully obedient to what they heard and saw.  That is what the Epistles is all about.  With the restoration of the apostolic will come apostolic teaching bringing unity of doctrine which also kept the Church together in the first century.

- to embrace the importance of “relationships” within the body of Christ, not positions.  The strength of a local body of Christ is built on their relationships.  The pulling together of resources, the equipping, training, and mentoring one another, and the releasing of one another to fulfill their destiny and calling in Jesus Christ is the fabric of that strength.

-  to recognize the trappings of American culture. Americans are too busy to reach out to others or get involved. We are too busy taking their kids to soccer, baseball, and football practice, ballet, dance, or gymnastics, school programs, church programs, and civic programs. Our children’s relationships are built around school friends and Facebook friends in an attempt to be popular. We have to teach our children to love the unlovely, build relationships that will last, not superficial popular ones, and how to build relationships properly. 

These are just a few ideas of how to start the I John 3:16 process of laying down our lives for the brethren.  In order to experience revival to this and following generations we must embrace these concepts if we are to be an effective twenty-first century Church.

The Two Diagonal Planes of the Cross – Part I?

10 Ways The Church Might Change: Point 2

[In previous blogs I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 2 in the series: The Church has worked hard on its vertical relationship with God through worship and praise (John 3:16).  Now it will be forced to work on the horizontal relationship of brother/sister to brother/sister in redefining how the family of God functions (IJohn 3:16). Where those two planes intersect is at the center of the Cross, thus reinforcing that the Cross is the center of the Christian experience. There is where the Church will find the Presence of God!]

The cross is an intersection of two perpendicular lines. In the Christian life, it represents relationships.  I grew up being told that man, Adam, had a fulfilled relationship with God until he sinned. That relationship, horizontal, was broken between he and his God, and soon the depravity of that broken relationship became evident between man and his with relationship with each other when Cain killed his brother Abel.  The relationship was restored when God sent his Son, Jesus to earth to be the sacrificial lamb to break the gulf of a broken relationship caused by sin.  That vertical relationship intersected the horizontal relationship, literally and physically, at the Cross where Jesus died (John 3:16).

Worship is the vertical relationship between God and man.  The Church has worked hard on this relationship over the last half a century, and today most church “worship” services, at least the musical segment, emphasizes their vertical relationship with God.  Styles of music may vary, but the direction of a believer’s adoration is universal.

Where I believe drastic change in the Church will occur is in the horizontal relationship between brothers and sisters in the Lord (I John 3:16).  The Church is known for it’s horizontal relationship as being fractured: denominations, divisions, and sects abound all under the Christian label, yet Jesus prayed for its very unity in John 16, a passage often called the Priestly Prayer.  If His prayer is to be answered and fulfilled, drastic change must occur if there is to be unity among the brethren.  How do we get past doctrinal differences, historical differences, and cultural differences?  Reputations like “Christians don’t heal the wounded among themselves; they just shoot them”, and “The most segregated time during the week in America is when the American churches meet on Sunday mornings,” must vanish.  If anyone should know “grace”, “mercy”, “unconditional love”, “loving the unlovely”, etc. it should be the Church!  The Church needs to practice those principles among themselves, and the results will be unity.

Unfortunately, the American church has placed much of its priorities and efforts into Sunday morning services.  The programs have become very professional with high quality singers and musicians, excellent orators, high tech theatrics with excellent lighting, sound, and projection. Unfortunately as they have worked hard on their theatrical presentations, the involvement among those in their theatrical seats and chairs that have replaced pews have diminished.  The attending participants are to “follow” the worship “leaders” as robots. They are told when to stand, when to sit, when to give financially, when to shake hands, when to leave, and when to fellowship. They are never asked to “generate” anything during the service except enthusiasm and financial support. Their singing is lost among the mix of the professional sound system.  It’s almost like they lost their voice, because some one, either the pastor or staff, always speaks for them, prays for them, or teaches them.  Things that encourage relationships are usually minimized or not present.  To reverse the trend would be difficult due to the lure of the lights, sound, and professionalism.

But Christianity is all about relationships: a whole and healthy relationship between God and once fallen man because of a personal relationship with a personal Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ; a reconciliation of broken relationships between man and fellow man, and a transformation of a person within themselves going from an old decrepit, sinful self to a new, healthy, whole person in Jesus Christ.

As a professional educator, I know the importance of relationships with my students.  Not to minimize the importance of curriculum, it is the relationships with teachers that students vividly remember: who they loved, who they feared, who they respected, and who they hated. I contribute much of the success that I had as an 8^th grade teacher for 40 years to the relationships I built with administrators, teachers, parents, and my students. 

As professionals in a Church staff, pastors and supporting staff must recognize the importance of relationships not only with those they serve, but relationships built among the laity with each other.  Not to minimize the role of a pastor, or staff, or sermons, or church curriculums, and all things professional, it is the strength of relationships of the common believers among themselves that produces a strong, vibrant, healthy church.  If a church doesn’t have these relationships properly built, all the staff ever gets done is what I call “crisis” counseling, which drains the staff, the laity, and the whole entire church of its enthusiasm, energy, drive, and effectiveness.  I’ve been involved with churches that live on the edge of each “crisis”, basically because there was little if any relationship among their people.

If the church wants to be more effective to this generation, a cause for change will be in relationships.

Revival: Global or Regional?

10 Ways The Church Might Change: Point 1

[In a previous blog I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 1 in the series: 

Like the current technology explosion, the Holy Spirit, and the way the Church sees revival will no longer be looked upon as a local phenomenon (revival to hit my congregation) but globally.  The next Great Revival will be world wide in an effort to prepare the Bride, the Church, for the Groom, the Lord’s return.]

I have been fortunate in seeing the effects of the Jesus Movement of the 1970’s that later became known as the Charismatic Movement.  I attended the East Coast out door Jesus and Creation Festivals for over three decades, attended a huge Holy Spirit led Conference in the late ‘80’s in New Orleans, caught the tail end of the Parksburg, PA experience at the Lower Octorera Presbyterian Church led by Jim Brown, and participated in the only joint Crusade in York, PA history in 1977 where over 350 local churches joined together for that event. 

My friend, Harry Rutt, use to tape and reproduce cassette tapes of hundred of speakers during that time at Jesus Rallies and Full Gospel Business meetings all up and down the East Coast.  “Prayer & Praise” Groups were informally meeting in private homes throughout the U.S. in the 1970’s.  Contemporary Christian music became the forerunner of what today is acceptable worship music in most Christian Churches.  Tongues and interpretation and the releasing of spiritual gifts were prevalent.

Most churches ignored, rejected, or opposed the movement, but you could not help but recognize something was happening to the Church; the Spirit was moving, and it was not only nationally, but globally.

Today many individual churches often pray for revival to come to them, but I have discovered that true revival usually occurs outside the established bounds we, the church, have set.  Revival is bigger than just me, or my congregation or even my denomination or label.  As we find ourselves immersed in the internet generation of the world wide web, we are beginning to understand a “world wide” mentality better as a Church.  Computers, smart phones, Skyping, Facebooking, emailing, texting, tweeting, and a whole myriad of technological communication wonders have brought the global mentality home. Missionaries no longer have to be isolated, but can be in touch with all areas of the world if there is WiFi connectivity. Church Youth Groups who have been disbanded by educational opportunities, career, families moving, and jobs now stay in “contact” through Facebook. I know that many of the hits on this web site come from other speaking nations from around the world.

I see the distinction of what once defined denominationalism being blurred. Most Christians today cannot tell you the difference between a Presbyterian, an United Methodist, a Lutheran, a Baptist, and Independent Bible Believing Fundamentalist, or a Pentecostal.  As church services have reflected cultural and age differentiations, church organs are out; guitar, drum, & keyboard are in! Hymnals are replaced by projected lyrics on huge screens.  Pulpits are replaced by full fledge theatrical stages with sets.  Church bulletins are replaced by emails, tweets, and textings.  In a small area near me there is a Nazarene Church, a Lutheran Church, an Assembly of God Church, and an Independent Church, and all of their “worship” services are generic in spite of their religious labels of distinction. You can’t tell the difference between them theologically nor historically by visiting their “worship service” on Saturday night or Sunday.

When, not if, revival comes, it will not be a local phenomenon at some local church that now has the “inside” touch by God over the other local churches nearby. It will affect us locally, but it will go beyond local, regional, national, and international lines. It will be global.  God is bigger than us! 

I remember people coming from all around the world to attend Jim Brown’s Saturday night Prayer and Praise service at his packed Presbyterian church, but today, the same could be done electronically through the wonders and possibilities of the world wide web and its technologies.  You do not have to come “into a church building” to hear testimonies of believers, nor sermons presented “from an inhouse pulpit”. You can get that on the internet.  The only thing the internet can not supply is in-person fellowship and relationships at a deeper level, thus the need for corporate family of God time locally.  I know of a local church that has high tech services with a professional sounding “band” to “lead worship” and a projection screen to give a full size projection of the pastor giving the sermon as if he is present when in actually he is being simulcast to five different locations at once. You can also hear his sermon on a local radio station, and probably can load down his sermons as podcasts from their web site.  You can get lost in the large crowd coming for the techno-service, or not even attend at all to “hear the sermon”. What is missing is the relationships.

In the book of Acts, believers “broke break together,” ate together, not texting while going through a drive-through fast food restaurant. They gave to those in need because they personally new the person in need. They did not have to look for a web site to “google” a cause they could donate to!  They laid hands on the sick, not researching online about the disease, then finding web sites of medical “services” provided on web pages.

When revival hits, it will effect relationships which we will discuss in an upcoming blog in this series; and it will be world wide, global, not just local.  The “whole Church” of Jesus Christ will be effected, not just our local church having the inside scoop on the Holy Spirit wanting “outsiders” to “come in”!

If the church wants change, they have to accept that it will be global!

Shepherding And Social Networking: Can The Church Capitalize On This New Technology?

How Do You Prepare God’s People For Works of Service? Part VIII

If shepherding is nurturing, caring, and developing, and social networking and new technology is influencing our current society, the church just needs to look reexamine how it shepherds. I read this week that Google is thinking of invading the television business with major capital investments because the 18 to 34 year olds are beginning to watch their entertainment on their smart phones, or IPad devices rather than having to sit in their family rooms in front of their televisions sets.  This “mobile” society is about to see another paradigm shift away from traditional family time, traditions, and cultures and the way we are use to do things.

My age group attends High School and College Class reunions because we have “lost contact” with almost everyone after graduation except for a select few.  That is not true with the younger age group, for they stay in contact through social media formats and tools.  By becoming “friends” they communicate through Facebook and join “circles” to keep in touch with different groups in their social strata. Every time they are on Facebook, they expose what they are saying and doing. You can almost “monitor” what is happening in their life just by following them on Facebook, or Twitter, or other forms of social media. They expose their backgrounds, share current pictures, and post daily comments.  Even the Foursquare software program allows you to “check in” and gain rewards when you notify where you are currently located. All this information and data about people is available, and they are not even in your physical presence.

Mentoring is most effective when done 24/7, but who can be with the one they are mentoring in their Christian growth when you are not in their presence.  Today that can become a reality.  If you are discipling or mentoring a younger believer in the Lord, you can monitor their social patterns, where they hang out, where they shop, who they communicate with, their interests, hobbies, etc. Availability is crucial in a successful mentoring program, and today’s technologies make that possible with smart phones, that not only let you talk to one another, but also see one another. One being mentored can easily and immediately contact their mentor orally, visually, or through written communications like texting or tweeting. If one needs help, prayer, or advice, contact and help can be immediate.  Interactivity is a key to successful social network connectivity.

So shepherding can now be 24/7 and connectivity almost instant.  Part of the Smartphone culture is the need to react to the ding, ping, or sound effect that comes from our phone. It is almost like an immediate response, and instant reaction. Connectivity and availability is crucial.

The danger lies what one does with all this data and information about a person.  In the 1970’s the Shepherding Movement from the Fort Lauderdale Five was birthed out of the need to help younger Christians mature under the direction of older more mature Christians. We have learned through them that unfortunately, it is so easy for the mentor to fall into a “control” mode, guiding every decision of the young Christian rather than teaching them how to make decisions on their own. So far, social networking is not about “control” but “contact” and “communication”, the transfer of information from one to another. That “loose” relationship can actually be a healthy one, for you have to allow everyone to “work out their own salvation”, to “walk their own spiritual walk”, and learn to “hear the Holy Spirit for themselves”, because eventually they will have to walk and stand on their own and hopefully mentor others in future journeys.

The church needs to embrace the power of social networking because it has permeated our American culture. The question is what to do with it, how to effectively use it as a tool for communicating the gospel, and communicating with others in guiding them in their spiritual walk. Many churches are making websites basically to “advertise” their worship service and available services, but they must learn how to make their sites interactive.  If Facebook is only a tool to post information about their church and there is no interactive communication happening on that page, then the church has missed the mark of what social networking is all about.

So pastoral/shepherding skills may manifest themselves in new forms as we enter this social media culture of the twenty-first century. The challenge for the church is how to be open to change, technology, and new mindsets of thought and communication.  

If We Could Only Be Like Little Children

The Faith Of A Child; The Theology Of An Adult

An inquisitive event occurred at the church I was attending on Sunday.  The Pastor gave a sermon on Justification By Faith.  In an attempt to show an unbiased look both sides of the “Once Saved Always Saved” versus “You Can Lose Your Salvation” arguments although he let you knew what side he favored because “it was his responsibility to portray the ‘truth’”, a woman broke into the flow of debate, not to ask a question, nor to give an opinion.  She wanted to share a testimony.

Her testimony was that she had had headaches and back pain during the service.  Someone from the children’s department asked if she would come and let the children pray for her.  She complied. The teacher of the children’s class had been teaching the children how to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit themselves. As the children honed in on that still small voice, they began to minister to this lady. By the time they were done, she was pain free.  Here she was now telling the adults about this experience as the children released their "child like faith".

That is the beauty of being a child: having child like faith. Adults were discussing “faith”, debating theology, trying to figure out how faith works while justifying their theological positions. The children? They just practiced their faith!  The adults came to no conclusions that united them while the children produced results, a healing!

When is the adult church going to allow the passions of the children of God to arise, that of an evangelist, a shepherd, a teacher, a prophet, and an apostle, and release the children of God to freely exercise them?  The Holy Spirit resides in the temple of God, the bodies of believers in Jesus Christ. Church, let’s allow that spirit to arise, manifest itself, and be released in resurrected life and freedom! 

When is the adult church going to learn it doesn’t have to be theologically correct or kosher all the time; they just need to have faith in Jesus and listen to his Holy Spirit speaking?  Every religious sect thinks the theological “truth” has been revealed to them, and the rest of Christendom is incorrect or missing an element of that truth? Why does the adult church feel it has to “justify the truth” rather than live by the principle of “justification of faith”? Faith in what?

If we have “faith” in Jesus’ power to heal, then let’s just do it: heal!  If we have “faith” in Jesus’ power to forgive, then let’s just do it: forgive!  If we have “faith” in the body of Christ, then let’s just practice IJohn 3:16 and “lay down our lives for our brethren”: let’s just do it! If we have “faith” in “rebirth”, then let’s allow the Holy Spirit to rebirth! If we believer in sanctification, then let’s allow the Holy Spirit to lead us in caring, nurturing, and developing our fellow believers into the image of Jesus Christ!  If we “faith” that God speaks to his children, then let’s listen and be obedient to what we have seen and heard.

When, as adults, are we ready to scrap our prearranged, highly organized, well orchestrated, music and oral ensembles we call worship services, and allow the children of God who attend to just be “children” who want to play, to romp, to sing, to dance, to be free to skip around bear footed, even puddle hop, and maybe even make mud pies while getting dirty instead of always appearing pristine clean? When are we going to allow their passions in Jesus to arise, to help “develop” towards maturing in Christ-likeness, and to release them to be free in the destiny God has for them instead of prohibiting them, holding them back, and controlling them?

I recently observed a parent, who when haggard by their children’s noises of just being kids, playing, sibling rivalries, vying for parental attention, and being fidgety under the strains of having to be in an adult world while still being kids, completely shut down their activity to have “order” for the sake of adult sanity, suppressing any child like life in them for quietness and control. As adults, we do that all the time to our children rather than joining them.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come unto me,” and “unless you are like a little child, you can not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  I want to enter the lifestyle of that kingdom; I want to be a child again; I want to be able to come and jump into the lap of Jesus! Then I got to divert back to my spiritual childhood with child like faith. I got to quit debating, quit trying to be correct, quit trying to always be a portrayer of truth to prove that I am righteous, and just be a kid again!  In an adult world kids are never right; in a kid’s world they just want the adults to join them in experiencing life.

I just want to heal, to forgive, to love, to respect, to honor, to worship, to grow, grow up to be like Jesus! I just want to experieince continual rebirth, to care, nurture, and develop others, to walk our the Word of God in my daily life, live it, to develop my inner ear to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit, to be able to envision the Church as a bride without spot or wrinkle prepared for its wedding day.  As a kid, I want to play, imitating my Father. Ironically, as an adult I have learned to “play church”, but as a child I want to be the church; I just want the freedom and release to just do it!

Why Wouldn’t Your Church Be Open To The Five Fold?

Don’t We All Need Evangelists, Shepherds, Teachers, Prophets & Apostles?

Often the churches that we attend have strength in one gifting of the five fold ministry of Ephesians 4 but also finds themselves weak in other areas.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the local church could offer and supply all five areas and giftings instead of just emphasizing one or two?

Every local church needs an evangelists or they will not grow in number, remain stagnant, and eventually die out; every local church needs a shepherd or their members will not spiritually grow in Christ-likeness; every local church needs teachers to keep their local church anchored on the Word of God, the Bible; every local church needs the prophetic so they can be able to hear the voice of the lord individually and corporately; every local church needs the apostolic to encourage the growth of the other four individually, yet network them together for effective service in unity.  So then, I ask the question again, “Why aren’t our local churches open to all five ministries of Ephesians 4?

Isaiah 57 exhorts us to “remove the barriers from my people.”  Often those barriers are called traditions, those pillars that worked in the past on which the local congregation built their ministry.  It is hard to release old traditions that have worked effectively in the past for newness, for in them we find security, history, stability, and control.

Another barrier can be called the clergy/laity barrier, which distinguishes two distinctly different classes in a supposedly non-distinctive church.  Who do we train in most churches, staff for professional development, or the saints for their sanctification in Jesus Christ and the unity of the corporate body? 

A third barrier can be structure, for today’s church structure is liken to a caterpillar, cumbersome, slow to move, but moves steadily while trying to consume as much as it can to continue is journey and produce rapid growth. It order to become a butterfly, a complete different structure is needed so it will be allowed it to fly. There needs to be a metamorphosis, a spiritual cocoon of change which will restructure, remold the way we currently do church. Remember, caterpillars can fly! Butterflies can! But it will take a restructuring to bring flight, so the Church can “soar as if on eagle’s wings.”

So the bottom line is if the church is to be open and receptive to all five giftings to properly function in their midst, then they have to be open to a restructuring where the local church is equipping the saints for the work of service, not just the staff.  When the local church is ready to equip, prepare, maintain, care, nurture, release the priesthood of believes that meets in their midst, that is the people of God, then it will be receptive to the five fold.  Until then, old wine will break through new wineskins as the Bible teaches. Old structures will not hold new ideas and ideals, only new forms and structures will embrace them. Does the church want “break out revivals” as is its history, or do they want “revival from within” because it is willing to restructure? Those are the hard questions the church has to answer in this 21^st Century.

Are All American Churches “Failing Churches”?

A Result Driven Church?

Rick Warren has had quite a lot of success with his “Purpose Driven Life” book which presents the Christian life as a life driven by purpose. What is the purpose for the Church? Thoughtful question!  It is usually answered by Christians very generally like: to glorify God, to establish His kingdom here on earth, to lift up the name of Jesus, to be the Bride preparing itself for its Groom, etc.  But how do you evaluate the “results” of such statements? Can they be measured? Every Christian church truly feels it is glorifying God, establishing His kingdom, lifting up the name of Jesus, being the bride, etc., but how do they measure their results in reaching these conclusions?  Are they too ambivalent?

We demand “results” from our American public education system, so we “test” everything to collect data to evaluate success.  Data now drives the definition of success in education. Data supposedly “proves” if students are making Yearly Average Progress, if the staff is proficient, if school districts are performing well.  The unrealistic goal is that every student will become proficient no matter of their academic capabilities, and there will be data to “prove” if they are or aren’t.

What would happen if we measure our churches by “results”?

How many people received physical healing at your church this week? (Numbers, data, please!) The Bible states that when people were brought to Jesus “all were healed”. Data results: Jesus = 100%; my church (?)

Sunday church service went long; how many people did the church feed before sending them home? (Numbers, data, please!) The Bible records two such events where at least 4,000 to 5,000 men (not including women and children, a slight data miscalculation).  Data results: Jesus fed 4,000 to 5,000 men; my church (?)

How about longevity attendance records?  Jesus called, nurtured, and developed twelve disciples during a three year internship period. He lost only one, Judas, in order to fulfill prophecy. That is only an 8% loss, a 92% proficiency rate. How many people have left or “church hoped” in your church this year? Data Results: Jesus = 92% proficiency rate; my church (?)

Churches judge success by numbers, usually attendance figures to its programs and financial figures meeting its projected budget. Supposedly a successful church is a church growing in numbers that generate higher financial figures so more programs can be offered and hiring of more professional staff.  A successful church carries a huge staff to support its system. Data Results: My church grew by 35 people this year and increased our budget by $65,000. So numbers, data, does count, huh?

But how do you rate, judge, or evaluate a church’s staff? On performance: how well they speak or preach, if they are people oriented, on organizational skills, etc.?  Public school teachers are evaluated on “student performance” and “student achievement”.  How would the church staff fair being evaluated by “parishioner/congregant performance” and “parishioner/congregant discipleship growth or achievement”? Since most church staffs “enable” their parishioners/congregants telling them when to stand, when to sit, when to pray, when to shake hands and greet, when to financially give, when to receive a church bulletin, when to listen to announcements, when to listen to the sermon, when to take notes, when to respond to the sermon, and when to leave the service, I think most church staff’s would receive “FAILING GRADES” on results.  How many parishioners/congregants are “pew sitters”; how many of them are “active”?

How do you judge results of a sermon? Are people really changed by them? Do those listening really apply what they have “heard” in the senior pastor’s excellent oration? Can they even remember what the sermon was about last week, or a month ago?  To be polite a parishioner says, “Nice sermon” as they shake the pastor’s hand while leaving the church, but how do you measure the effectiveness of a sermon since it is the keynote of almost every church service: on presentation or on results?

Look at your church. Who is doing all the work on a Sunday morning: the staff or the saints?  How many parishioners were actually part of the corporate Sunday service (excluding ushers & nursery providers)? Divide that number by your total attendance; now you know how many were actually participating in “worship”, giving back to the Lord what they have received.  I am sure it would less than 10% of your congregation, and most of them would be your staff!

In America we are quick to label public schools as “failing schools” because of data, measurable data, of supposedly recorded results of how those they were teaching performed.  If we did the same with the American church, we would have to admit that we would also have to label the American church as a “failing church”, for we have to admit that in most churches there isn’t much measurably getting done by those who are supposedly being “taught” how to live the Christian life unless they are a professional on staff!

A Heart Catheterization Has Opened My Heart & Eyes

A Heart Felt Lesson

Monday I go to the hospital for a heart catheterization to explore if there are blockages in my heart.  According to the prognosis of my cardiologist, a balloon angioplasty or stenting procedure may be in order.  Worst-case scenario would be open heart by pass surgery.  They claim that this blockage may have taken years to get to this point although it has appeared that I have lived a healthy life all along.  They gave me a notebook to read to prepare me for all that is ahead.  What I did not like was the latter part of the manual featuring “Lifestyle Changes” and “Healthy Eating” section.  Not only will this be a procedure that will change the length of my life, but also demand a lifestyle change.

Mostly all these blog pages that I have been written have been about the church, where it is now, and where it might be headed in the future.  The church’s condition is so much like my own: looking healthy, but after centuries of history have formed blockages, not allowing free flow of the blood of Christ and His Holy Spirit.  I believe the church is beyond the stenting and angioplasty stage of improvement, needing a complete open heart surgery called REVIVAL, RENEWAL, and a new REFORMATION!  What it also needs to realize is that with this revival, renewal, and reformation will come a “lifestyle change”, in other words, the way we “do church”.  We may have to “bypass” the way we have always have done church that has caused this condition in order to restore free flow of the Holy Spirit again. If we go back to the old way of doing church, we will end up with the same results we are now facing.  If we embrace a new lifestyle change or way of doing church, we will restore the healthy Christian lifestyle of community in the body of Christ.

I believe the church needs to face a “new lifestyle change” by embracing the power of the five fold as outlined in Ephesian 4, not as church offices or positions, but as personal believer’s in Jesus Christ passions, points of view, and voices that will help them mature individually into Christ-likeness while corporately bringing unity to the body of Christ.

If you are new to this blog, I invite you to go back and read the blogs about “retooling the church”, the current “metamorphosis of the church”, the “21^st Century Church”, “the Priesthood of Believers”, “five fold overall”, “new mindsets”, “accountability”, and others in the category section of this home page.  It will expose a new way to look at the church, will require a new lifestyle of community from the church, will demand “grace, mercy, & acceptance as peers” as some of its pillars.  It will demand a drastic “lifestyle” change for the church with a new diet based on “relationships” rather than programs, procedures, rules and regulations, in other words “religion”.  Spiritual life without relationships produce religion, the blockage of the heart of God.

A fragmented body needs not only a restructuring, but also a fresh blood supply.  The Church as a whole needs open heart surgery.  The heart affects all parts of the body giving it oxygen, nutrients, life.  The blood of Christ has always been the central theme of the gospel.  The church does not need a blood transfusion, for the blood is the blood of Christ, but it does need open heart surgery to clear or bypass the blockages that religion has collected inside the Church’s veins. 

I have faith in my cardiologist on Monday that he will perform the procedures that are necessary for normal blood flow throughout my heart and body, and I trust Jesus, the great Healer, through the power of his Holy Spirit to perform the procedures that are necessary for normal blood flow through the heart of the Church to all parts of its entire body to bring revival.  I also trust the Holy Spirit to bring, lead, and orchestrate the “lifestyle” needed to keep the body healthy for centuries to come or until He comes for His Bride.  Who would have ever thought that His Bride would have had to have open heart surgery before her wedding day in order to be healthy, pure, and without spot or wrinkle?  

Leadership: Position or Service? Dependent or Independent?

What We Do Rather Than Who We Are Is Important

I believe a leader is a person who has people following for the purpose of their equipping, growing, and nurturing with the ultimate goal of their release into independence, standing on their own, and begin equipping others to reproduce themselves. Leaderhip IS NOT creating a following of dependency on you.

I know a church that has seen the size of their eldership dwindle substantially over the years and not replace them. They are a church where on Sundays the staff and elders do everything the congregation hardly anything: Leads worship, gives the announcements, greetings, and offertory, and sermon.  If there is ministry to be done during the service in the front of the church, the elders are called to do it because the senior pastor wants to expose his elders to his people.  Being an usher is the only non-staff exposure of the morning, but the staff church administrator does the rest.

In a church that was strongly prophetic in the 1990’s who trained their people to hear God for themselves and developed prophetic presbyteries, today hardly a prophetic utterance is given during any service.  The sanctuary is full, yet I cannot reiterate anyone’s testimony of their salvation experience since I have never heard it.  I have no idea what God is doing among his people, for there is no time for them to share testimonies of what God is currently doing in their lives.  A large amount of time is given for announcements of upcoming church programs and activities, but not for the saints to share what Jesus is doing in their lives. 

The pastor of this church told the congregation that his goals for this coming year was to enlarge the elder base of his church and begin training leaders.  He threw out the comments to the men of the congregation, “Where are you?” implying that they should be coming forth as leaders. One fallacy of this mindset is that if you enabled a congregation to be passive, don’t expect them to become aggressive leaders. If they can’t serve unless they are staff, don’t expect them to serve as leaders.

Those attending Sunday church service have been “enabled” to not do or initiate anything on their own, only follow what has been preprogrammed by the staff: sing along following projected lyrics to loud music where only the lead singer and his backup band can be heard, stand when told, be seated when told, give financially when told, and greet one another when told, then sit quietly but look inventive during the sermon given by staff. It is like those in the congregation are puppets on a string.

I contend that just because they are following everything the people on the platform are telling them to do; the people on the platform are not necessarily true leaders just because they are being followed.  What is the purpose of leadership? According to Ephesians 4 it is to “equip the saints for the work of service.” The goal for leadership should be to equip those following them to replace them!  Reproduction should be the goal!  If you are producing dependent robots on your command, you will just get robots who know nothing else but follow your command. They will not be able to stand, mature, on their own.  One of the main goals of the five fold is to bring maturity, Christ-likeness, to believers: develop a believer into the fullness of Jesus Christ, not create religious robots.

If leadership is leading through service, not dictation, followers will imitate their modeling of service toward maturity, and eventually have to be “released” to stand on their own.  Leadership through service, not dictation, reproduces leadership.  I contend that the Christian church fails miserably in equipping the saints for the work of service opting to trust and rely on their paid professional staff producing complacency.  Those in the congregation will never develop toward maturity if they are not allowed to participate, initiate, and serve one another. 

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DIE FOR AND LET DIE?

Transition Only Comes With Sacrifice

All weekend I have been wrestling with the caterpillar to cocoon to butterfly process that I have been blogging about and how it applies to the Church, and its been gut wrenching.  I have been wrestling with Isaiah 57 with the “Build up; build up”, but first “remove every obstacle out of the way of my people.” What are these obstacles, how do you remove them.  What happens if the obstacle has been something that has been good, foundational, a real positive, but now appears to be in the way.  That is tough to admit that something so good, can now be the very thing prohibiting ones move forward.  How do you handle that, dispose and let go of those precious things?  There is a lot of good in tradition, foundational principles are embedded there, but how do you singularly as an individual believer and corporately as a member of the priesthood of believers let it go, take a hands-off approach? It’s tough.

Then I remembered the scripture “to obey is better than sacrifice” and all the Old Testament practices that had become meaningful, the central part of Jewish worship: the festivals, the feasts, the intricate system of animal sacrifices, and God tells his prophet that he is sick of them; they are stench to his nostrils.  Wow, all this good, all these meaningful services that appear to be the very backbone of their faith, and God now says in today’s vernacular, “that sucks”, then concludes, “to obey is better than sacrifice.”

I have painfully learned the lesson to place items on the altar as worship.  Even though the Lord will burn them up and consume them, but then has a choice to give them back as is, give them back transformed, give something totally new back, or not give them back at all.  Some things are easy to lay on the altar, like the garbage in my life, which he consumes and gives grace and forgiveness back instead. That is the transforming power of Jesus Christ.  C.S. Lewis’ classic The Great Divorce is an allegory of showing why it is difficult to give up the very things that prohibit us from wanting the offer of eternal life in heaven.  To a sinner, unless he feels he need for a “savior”, he doesn’t want to give up the very life that is holding him back.  But what about good things?

I remember going to my last Lay Witness Mission weekend as a coordinator. I loved those weekends when a team of “laity” from all over Central Pennsylvania and other states would come to a home church upon their invitation to share their faith journey stories, pray together, sing together, stay in their homes, fellowship together, and most of all eat pot luck dinners together.  I have seen people giving their life to the Lord, dysfunctional, torn families healed, marriages saved, hope restored in discouraged lives, and healing of relationships.  It was a powerful ministry!  As I was praying for the upcoming mission, for these missions’ foundations were built on prayer, the Lord told me to lay this particular mission down on the altar.  I knew what that meant: He’d consume it. What would the result be?  He told me:  He was not planning to give it back to me; that this would be my last one as a coordinator.  Although I felt a moment of grief, of lost, I became “obedient”, laid it down, and moved on.

I believe, the Church is about to go through a cocoon stage in its history.  It’s going to be revolutionary, something it has not experienced before.  If it is to be greater, more impactful that the Reformation, what will be happening to the Church once inside the cocoon?  1) Every movement of God is centered at the Cross, so I think the Lord is going to increase our understanding vertically (John 3:16-17) of who He is, how He works, what is His will, and how we individually as believers in Jesus Christ and corporately as a Church are to worship Him. The biggest transformation is coming horizontally (IJohn 3:16) in our linear relationships as “peers in Jesus Christ” toward one another.  He’s asking, “What are you willing to die for?”  Are you willing “to die” for your brothers and sisters in Christ? That will take sacrifice and discipline like the Church hasn’t experienced since its very early years. 2) He’s also asking, “What are you willing to let die?”  What are you willing to lay on the altar for His consumption?  That’s a tough question individually as a believer, but it is magnified corporately as the Body of Christ.  We know the answer should be that we are willing to lay down our "all", aka "everything", but as a Church, are we willing to lay down our traditions, our history, and the way we have done Church?  The ball is in our court, but we see this as a great risk, for if we lay it down, He will consume it! That fact is a given! 

Our lack of faith and doubt arises in the fear of what He will do with it: give it back as is, transform it into something else, give back something totally knew, or the unthinkable, not give it back at all.  We know the last option is not a feasible one, because the Word, the Bible, says that Jesus is coming back for His Church, a Church without spot or wrinkle. So there is our answer to what he will do if we lay the present Church on the altar.  The Church certainly will be different if we get it back “spotless” and “without wrinkles”.   Individually we know the truth that when we gave him our sins, our garbage, that he gave us back a new life that in his eyes is “spotless” through forgiveness, “wrinkleless” through His grace.  If he can do that individually, he can do even greater corporately.

I exhort the corporate Church, who I so dearly love and am a part of, to please, let’s corporately, together lay down this sacred institution that has meant so much to us, been our foundation, a rock in time of turmoil, our hope in time of darkness, our joy in time of resurrection and praise, and allow the Lord to consume it!  Then, while in our cocoon, watch what the Lord does with it, and marvel together at how it all turns out: as a butterfly!

THE NEED FOR TRUE CHURCH COMMUNITY: THE FIVE FOLD

The Five Fold Build On Communal Relationships

In the last two blogs we have looked at a young girl’s cry for a relationship in church she called “life together.”  This life would be a horizontal relationship of community among peers, not a hierarchal community of professional and nonprofessional people.  The church has created “offices” out of the five fold, nouns, titles.  The five fold is usually adjectives describing what believers are doing, verbs.  What today’s generation is looking for is not professional titles and offices, but a vibrant, living community of faith built on horizonal relationships among peers, Christians.

If we begin to look at the five fold relationally, we can see the passion and point of view of a spiritual gifting that is unique to the individual, but can be supportive, supplemental to the other four to fulfill their callings.  There strengths are usually the individual’s weakness, and together they can fulfill the “full” calling of Jesus Christ.  It is a relation built on peer acceptance and peer service, one giving to the other and accepting what the other has to offer.  It is a reciprocal relationship, that over time builds an accountability system of trust, honor, and respect.  It is far better to do something and accept discipline out of trust, honor and respect as nurtured in a horizonal relationship verses out of fear because of one holding power above another.

The church needs to recognize the power of five very strong passions of birthing, nurturing, instructing, guiding, and overseeing, and how, if they work together on a horizontal plain of acceptance and trust can be a very powerful and effective tool of ministry in the maturing of the saints into the fullness of Christ (individually) and bring unity to the body of Christ (corporately).

Up to now, the church has not allowed the five to “live together”, opting for their confinement and separate callings, offices, professions, and institutions, thus bringing division among them and division to the church.  If the five fold was looked upon relationally as five different, strong passions and points of view that were willing to lay down their lives for the other four by serving one another as well as receiving from one another with grace and humility, a bond of trust, honor, and respect would be developed.  We would experience a community, a fellowship of faith of “life together.”  This would produce a “full life” in Jesus Christ, a maturity of being in his image individually, as well as a “full life together” as a unified body of believers, a holy priesthood of believers.

That “full life together” that birthed the church in Pentecost under the guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit needs to be renewed and “released” back into the church.  The church needs the “full life” of an evangelist who gives, receives, and submits to a shepherd, teacher, prophet, and apostle; the “full life” of a shepherd who gives, receives, and submits to an evangelist, teacher prophet, and apostle; and so forth.  This giving, taking, and submitting creates an accountability of trust, honor, and respect with the obedience of the leading of the Holy Spirit that would create a true Christian community of “life together.” 

The gifting and calling of each of the five fold will take on a different look than it has under a structural institutional church format, for it will be based on horizontal relationships of laying down one’s life for one another for the sake of “life together” in Christ.

I know it is a different mindset than from the past, but we as Christians, owe it to the Father, his son Jesus, and to the precious Holy Spirit, for redeeming the Church vertically, but now we need to allow them to develop the Church relationally horizontally among the brethren.  This is the cry of the young girl in my previous blogs, and the cry of my own heart personally.

THE NEED FOR TRUE CHURCH COMMUNITY: YOUNG ADULTS – Part II

Reaction to “The Generation Of Contrast”

Recently, when reading a Christian blog page about the five fold ministry, a comment by a young lady to the article caught my attention.  It read:

"The church that I attend is unusual in that it teaches organic community, but it seems to me that the only organic community that is happening is with the staff who are together just about everyday. They are the ones who get to do “life together”. Sure we have small groups, but, none of the small groups that I’ve been apart of have ever actually done “life together” which is difficult meeting just once a week or twice a month. I’ve tried to “do life together” with people, but everyone is so consumed with their individual lives, work, family, etc. I often wonder ‘do I HAVE a life?’ They all seem perfectly okay with meeting once or twice (1 week day for small group & Saturday or Sunday for church) a week.

I was being discipled by one of my pastors and we used to meet once a month. But we haven’t met on a regular basis since last August. I wondered why, until I saw that she was “doing life together” with a couple of staffers at the church. I was becoming jealous because I wanted that, too. But, reading your blog, I just realized that what I am really longing for is organic community where I can know and be known completely without the titles of pastors, leaders, etc."

Ephesians 4 exhorts the church to “equip the saints” for the work of “service”, not “equip the staff.”  In the above excerpt, I could not help but to hear this young lady’s cry for meaningful relationships through her church, not sporadic, professional, set a weekly or monthly appointment, relationship with a “staffer”.

It did not take this young lady long to realize that in a huge mega-church, it is hard to establish meaningful “life together” relationships. In reality, she could only get a professional/client relationship.   She also realized that since the staff saw each other daily, their relationships reflected that.  She too seeks a relationship that is not just sporadic: a Sunday morning worship service where there are only casual relationships is a huge crowd, or in a small group that probably was more of an organized Bible study than a group to build meaningful daily relationships.

This young lady’s need for “life together” relationships exemplifies the desire of this generations need for horizontal, linear, and meaningful relationships.  Staff to laity/congregant relationship is looked upon as “doing church” rather than a horizontal, relation of “life together”.  I have witnessed a situation where a need was shared to a senior pastor who began to look for a solution as a “human resource” perspective of which staff member should become involved rather than looking to the saints within his church to minister horizontally to each other.

What this generation is looking for is not a “professional” relationship when it comes to church fellowship, but a cordial relationship among peers that would deepen with time and commitment, a sense of community.

THE NEED FOR TRUE CHURCH COMMUNITY: YOUNG ADULTS – Part I

Reaction to “The Generation Of Contrast”

Recently, when reading a Christian blog page about the five fold ministry, a comment by a young lady to the article caught my attention.  It read:

The church that I attend is unusual in that it teaches organic community, but it seems to me that the only organic community that is happening is with the staff who are together just about everyday. They are the ones who get to do “life together”. Sure we have small groups, but, none of the small groups that I’ve been apart of have ever actually done “life together” which is difficult meeting just once a week or twice a month. I’ve tried to “do life together” with people, but everyone is so consumed with their individual lives, work, family, etc. I often wonder ‘do I HAVE a life?’ They all seem perfectly okay with meeting once or twice (1 week day for small group & Saturday or Sunday for church) a week.

I was being discipled by one of my pastors and we used to meet once a month. But we haven’t met on a regular basis since last August. I wondered why, until I saw that she was “doing life together” with a couple of staffers at the church. I was becoming jealous because I wanted that, too. But, reading your blog, I just realized that what I am really longing for is organic community where I can know and be known completely without the titles of pastors, leaders, etc."

During the first century, the church broke break daily, integrating their daily lives culturally, economically, and socially through their new found faith in Jesus Christ.  It was all about “relationship”, a community of fellowship of faith, daily, seven days a week.  Christians met in homes, shared what they had, sold lands to help those in need, etc.  There was no hierarchy of leadership and power yet, only leadership through horizontal relationships of service and hospitality.  Somehow throughout history, the church has lost doing “life together”, at least that is how the young adult generation of today sees it. 

This generation is hungering for relationships.  Not only are they looking for future mates, spouses to share “life together”, but communal, corporate relationships with peers their own age and older.  This generation so drastically wants “to belong.” 

When my one son reached his late teens and through his twenties, he cried out to the church for an older male to “mentor” him, but few older men could afford the 24/7 demands and late nights that are part of hanging out with twentysomething life style.  Today’s young adults are looking for relationships that go beyond just Sunday morning services with their hand shakes and pats on the back, or a young adult church program that meets once a week. 

My daughter drives me nuts because she is a social creature who wants to “hang out” with someone every moment she gets away from her strenuous, daily, demanding job that is helping her to become self sufficient.  She yearns for fellowship, but finds herself swallowed up in her job, her work, in order to pay her bills at the price of a “social life”.  Opting to work on Sundays for financial reasons of survival, she has lost contact with the local church, who has not reached out to her.  She sees that the expectations is that she is to “go to church”, not the church “go to her”, particularly when she is in need. Like the girl above, she too yearns to find a church whose believers practice “life together”. 

The institutional church has tried to target young twentysomething adults through ministries and programs.  A church plant in a movie theater targeted this group, but when relationships among these twentysomethings began to be entangled, and became a breeding ground for dating, then break ups, causing strained relationships because everyone was in their twenties, “life together” crumbled.  How does the church face the mindset of “hanging out” of the later teens and early twenties age group to become “life together” corporately to young struggling adults who are trying to find meaning in life, direction in life, and acceptable peers in which to share relationships. 

So the battle of these mindsets, and the desire for “life together”, and the need for social acceptance has caused this age group to questions the validity and definition of what is “church”.  They wish to keep their faith in tact, their personal religious convictions, but struggle in how to do it corporately.  It is hard enough for them to find an individual to spend “life together”, but they are also finding it extremely difficult to find a group corporately to spend “life together”, which they would redefine as “church”.

MISSIONS: RELATIONAL OR STRUCTURAL?

 The Clash Of “Mindsets”: Structural Versus Relational

The way one looks at church, structural verses relational, will effect they look at missions.

Most of us, who have grown up in the Church, look at missions as a place “missionaries” go or a thing do.  Missionaries are people who go around from church to church to raise (actually forced to beg for) money, so that they can be a “professional”, having an income to free them financially while “ministering”.  Unlike Paul, who was a tent maker on his missionary endeavors, a missionary goes forth as a paid professional.  What he builds is a kingdom that depends on him, for he usually remains atop of the pyramidal structure he creates.  A true missionary, like Paul, would move one, allowing those he “equipped” locally to maintain the new work, freeing himself to move on and start, plant, or birth a new work.  A good way to tell if missionary endeavor is relational or pyramidal in structure is by seeing who is leading.  Is the missionary over them, or are the natives ministering relationally to their native neighbors, brothers and sisters, families, and communities.  If missions were structured as a pyramid or hierarchy, the structure will want to stay to keep its structure and maintain its positions.  If the structure is relational, then there is no need for a hierarchal, pyramid, institutional structure because spiritual life flows horizontally among the participants.  The banned underground Church in China is an excellent example when placed beside the institutional Church in China that the government permits.  There are no westernized missionaries “overseeing” the spiritual life of the Chinese Church today, yet it is a vibrant, living organism rather than a highly structured organization partially due to persecution.   A persecuted church is often forced to abandon its structure for survival.

As a person growing up in the American church, I believe that missionaries eventually open up either missionary hospitals or Bible Schools.  The Bible Schools are to train future “pastors” to go out and start, develop and maintain new churches.  That is structural religious thinking.  Relationally, I believe, Ephesians 4 outlines how we are to “equip the saints”, not “equip a staff”, for the work of “service”, not necessarily paid professional service, to bring “maturity” to the saints in being more Christ-like, into the image of Jesus, and to bring “unity” to the body.  Bible Schools preach the doctrine of the churches that finance the endeavor and propagate their uniqueness and correctness of theology doctrine compared to other “sects” of the Church, bringing division in the Body of Christ.

If someone came in and relationally developed and released those believers in the body of Christ to be evangelistic, reaching those in their culture who are lost to find Jesus in terms that their culture understands, to be shepherds, caring physically, mentally, and spiritually to the context of their cultural community, to be teachers of the Word, the Bible, by not only interpreting, but applying the written word to their culture world (in a way like Wycliffe Bible Translators do today), to be prophets so the native people in their own land can hear the voice of God for themselves and claim God to be the God of their nation, region, and community, to be apostles releasing their own people according to their spiritual gifting to their own people in the culture of their own country but under Biblical principles, written and living.  Someone has already done that: Paul, and how he did that is recorded in most of the books in the New Testament after the four gospels.

Saul, like us, first went to where he was familiar when entering a new town, a new culture.  He went to any existing synagogue, to God’s people like his own, only to be rejected by most of them, often thrown out, even stoned by some thinking him dead.  Rejection forced him to then look to the native culture, the gentiles, who accepted his evangelistic message, received and developed his pastoral, shepherding care towards one another, got grounded in the written scriptures of his day through the unified message of the “apostles’ teaching”, grew in the intimacy of a personal relationship with their God through Jesus prophetically, and acceptance the “seeing over” what the Holy Spirit was doing through the apostolic.  Then as one of their “apostles”, Paul “released” them to do the work “of service” for which he had trained and equipped them and moved on.  Other “apostles”, “prophets”, and “teachers” in the body of Christ would pass through to help to continue to “equip” THEM and “release” THEM.  Never did Paul nor any other apostle, prophet, teacher, etc. rule over or control them, or remain there to dictate “apostolic oversight” that controlled a pyramidal, hierarchal, institutional structure, contrary to what the Roman Catholic, pyramidal, institutional church claims.

Paul set up relational “networks” throughout his known world at his time with whom he loved, nurtured, encouraged, and longed to see and be with, but whom he never “controlled”, opting in allowing the Holy Spirit to flow freely and birth, develop, and maintain His Church in a culture through those living in that culture.  The “relational” mission mind is far different than the “structural” mission mind, and the Church needs to allow the Holy Spirit to “teach us all things” in how to birth, maintain, and develop such endeavors through His people in His/their locality.

A QUESTION OF HAVING “VOICE”!

Caterpillar to Butterfly: Voice By Position TO Voice By Your Identity To Jesus

From Caterpillar to Cocoon to Butterfly – Part XVIII

In this series we have been asking the question, “What happens with metamorphosis during the cocoon stage?”  How, structurally, do you get a butterfly from what once was a caterpillar? In my Aug. 20, 2011’s blog, I listed several forms of transformation that I see occurring inside the cocoon of change for the church.   Today we will look at the principle: Identity lies in who or what you are in the system (Caterpillar) TO Your identity lies in who or what you are in Jesus individually & corporately (butterfly).

Caterpillar: In the church today, position means political influence.  Who you are, or better yet, what you are in the church’s pyramidal system determines the influence you are allowed to have in the institutions programs, development, and leadership structures.  In every church, the youth have a voice, but usually not influence in the affairs of the church.  Those older too have a voice, but also have influence because of financially supporting the church system.  Often the lack of vision, and not listening to the voice of youth bring decline, decay, and eventually devastation to the local church.  One of the greatest frustrations among laity is that they have a voice, often are allowed to voice it, only to be ignored, snubbed, or rejected.  Those in “position” have the power of influence, affluence, and supposedly become the “voice” of the church, forgetting that those there are preaching to also have a voice. 

Butterfly:  Voice is also important to those seeking a relational, horizontal, peer accepting linear church structure.  In fact that is what their whole social networking world is about, having a voice that is as valid as everyone else’s voice.  This linear flow of communication has no hierarchal filters to limit it, control it, dictate to it, nor censor it.  Freedom of Speech is a legal right in American because of the Bill of Rights, but the internet is expanding the scope of that freedom to go beyond America’s borders to a world wide audience.  Your identity “on line” will not be by office or position, but in who you are.  How will you conduct yourself among your “peers” of believers in Jesus Christ and your peers of non-Christians who are also “on line”?  How can relationships be established beyond surface communications on line to deeper levels of serving others and receiving back from them? 

The Differences: Old Mentality:  Voice determines who and what you are in the church system.  Who “speaks” from the pulpit, or “speaks” with power and influence a church board meetings, is determined by position and office, not relationships.  In a pyramidal structure people do not want to give up their voice, for fear they will lose it and become with those who have no voice, thus fighting to retain power.  New Mentality: Having “voice” gives one the power of persuasion, dialogue, and distributing facts which is what the linear, horizontal peer relationships are all about with social networking through the internet.   

Implications Today: Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?”  I would ask, “Who are you?” One thing this linear communication does is expose who you are through your biography, photos, Facebook comments, tweets, texts, emails, and blogs.  If you are a Christian, I would ask, how do you portray your self individually as a believer in Jesus Christ and corporately as a member of “the priesthood of believers”?  If you don’t have a hierarchy over you, then how do you conduct and portray yourself as a Christian?  How are you presenting the gospel (the Great Commission) to your peers relationally?  How can you project your “voice” to be corporate as a member of the body of Christ, the priesthood of believers through the internet?

Conclusion:  The way a Christian uses his/her “voice” is dramatically changing the church scene of who and how the gospel is presented.  The “voice” of the church, historically, came from those in power and influence, not those in the pews with little power or influence.  With the social media and networking world, “voice” is now defined by anyone and everyone on a linear, horizontal plain.  With that new freedom also come the responsibility to every believer, every member of the priesthood of believers, to speak properly, effectively, and with the gospel of truth through Jesus Christ.  There is now a new challenge for every believer to fulfill the Great Commission by sharing their faith stories, telling their faith journey, and networking with others in their efforts to walk out their walks and journeys, creating their own stories.

WHO DEFINES WHAT WE ARE TO BELIEVE? – THE WIKIPEDIA PHENOMENON!

Caterpillar to Butterfly: Systematic Definitions– TO – Relational Definitions

From Caterpillar to Cocoon to Butterfly – Part XVII

In this series we have been asking the question, “What happens with metamorphosis during the cocoon stage?”  How, structurally, do you get a butterfly from what once was a caterpillar? In my Aug. 20, 2011’s blog, I listed several forms of transformation that I see occurring inside the cocoon of change for the church.   Today we will look at the principle: Definitions that have been created by scholars (caterpillar) TO the Wikipedia phenomenon (butterfly).

Caterpillar: The institution has defined one’s belief systems over the centuries.  Councils, church leaders, scholars, historians, patriarchs, and others have labored over their tenants of faith, attempting to place on paper what they believed.  The Jewish faith wrote the Talmud to interpret the Torah, their central text of faith.  Christianity has filled libraries with commentaries and theological dissertations to interpret the Bible, their central text of faith.  The Bible, a collection mainly of letters, poems, proverbs, and historical works, became books, chapters, and numbered verses for the purpose of organized scholarly study.  Many versions of the Bible have been translated from Latin, Greek, and Hebrew to be used in present day culture.  The westernized influence of producing learned scholars has fueled the need for Bible colleges and seminaries throughout Church history.  Denominations script official “church papers” to define their beliefs and stands on many social, cultural, and religious matters.  During sermons you will hear the pastor quote great church theologians.  Definitions of what you believed defined the difference between different religious groups or sects.  You knew if you were a Calvinist or Armenian, a pre-, post-, or mid-tribulationist, a pacifist, a predestinationalist, a fundamentalist, or an evangelical, or Pentecostal, or main line denomininational, etc. by how you “defined” your statement of faith.

Butterfly:  With the linear, horizontal, relational internet crowd of today, peer communication and linear acceptance is the norm.  This has affected the world of “definition”, no longer controlled by unabridged printed dictionaries and volumes of encyclopedias.  The “Wikipedia” phenomenon has hit where definitions are presented, not just by scholars, but by anyone.  Footnotes at the bottom of pages give the text some validity, but a slanted scholarly approach is not set in stone as “the” definition, as others with personal experience and personal knowledge on the topic can also add to the definition.  As an educator in language in the public school system, I warn my students of the accuracy and authenticity of Wikipedia, but students go their first because of electronic convenience.  I tell them that Wikipedia is a “starting point” for internet research to other websites, passages, links, blogs, etc. to dig deep into the true meaning of the definition.  Today, this linear crowd of peers not only relies on Wikipedia for their definitions, but helps define them.

The Differences: “Definitions” use to be compiled in printed dictionaries, abridged if shortened, unabridged if a large volume.  Definition of words were compiled by “scholars” of language, linguistic, etymology, etc. The “highly educated” P.H.D.’s did the defining for us.  We only had to look up their definitions in dictionaries, something everyone owned.  Today “scholars” are still fighting for literary and historical accuracy by citing sources, but definitions through Wikipedia, an –ebook compilation of definitions from various sources, also allows average individuals to be part of the defining process in helping to define words, events, famous people, etc. from a personal, or cultural level. Today, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, has over 3,724,00 different articles or definitions in its unabridged source. The question becomes “who is the authority” in the process of defining?

Implications Today: I feel the Wikipedia phenomenon has a huge impact on the way people will look at Bible interpretation in the 21^st Century.  For centuries the masses of believers have counted on the interpretation of scriptures from their pastors, priests, rectors, parsons, etc. as the official “word of God” as delivered from their pulpits or from scholarly interpretations from the great theologians of their day.  Interpretation of belief was always dictated to the laity from the clergy.   Today, believers in Jesus Christ, can read for themselves the Bible, while relying on the Holy Spirit for interpretation of how those scriptural truths need to be applied and activated in their daily lives rather than just being a academic exercise.  Sharing beliefs, relationally, horizontally, through written form, verbally, or electronically, now holds weight.  My interpretation is looked upon as being as valid as yours as we communicate them back and forth to one another.  We can share our experiences that have come out of our scriptural studies and how it has affected us culturally, personally, and corporately.  Collectively we, together, have begun to “redefine” our definition. 

Conclusion:  I believe we, as a church, are in a process of change where what we believe and how we are to live it out will not be dictated systematically from those in leadership above to be followed without question or opposition.  The “priesthood of believers”, those who believe collectively in Jesus Christ, will begin to “redefine” much of what has been historically instructed to us hierarchally, flushing out dogma in a quest to simplify the gospel and go back to the roots of simplicity of the apostle’s teaching. Instead of every wind of doctrine being blown around us by every different theologian, pastor/teacher, or religious group claiming their point of view to be “THE” truth, there will be an united, corporate effort for simplistic truth, shedding religious interpretation of the past. This will be a radical transformation, a radical reformation in the way we will build our corporate belief systems. I personally believe that the points of view of the five fold (evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet, apostle) will be a powerful in the way we teach, apply, and oversee our beliefs, as well as preserve scriptural “truth”.  Redefining will keep the truths of its historical past, but will add a flavor of the “culture” to which it is impacting.  Paul “redefined” many beliefs as he traveled throughout different cultures in his known world during his time period. The same is about to happen today, but on a grandeur scale.

WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR INFORMATION?

Information Comes From Clergy TO Information Is A Click Away From Any Search Engine

From Caterpillar to Cocoon to Butterfly – Part XVI

In this series we have been asking the question, “What happens with metamorphosis during the cocoon stage?”  How, structurally, do you get a butterfly from what once was a caterpillar? In my Aug. 20, 2011’s blog, I listed several forms of transformation that I see occurring inside the cocoon of change for the church.   Today we will look at the principle: Information comes from clergy or staff (caterpillar) TO Information is a click away thanks to search engines. (butterfly).

Caterpillar: “The Dark Ages” were aptly named because of keeping people “in the dark”.  Only the wealthy or clergy were literate and educated, the masses were not.  This allowed the hierarchal structure of the Roman Catholic Church to dictate its doctrines and dogma to the masses.  The masses were instructed to “trust” their clergy to give them correct interpretation of the Bible.  You didn’t question a priest.  With the invention of the printing press, literacy grew throughout Europe birthing the Age of Enlightenment. At first these newly printed Bibles were banned and their printers even martyred, but as the masses learned how to read, the Bible became their main source of text. They soon discovered the church dogma that presided over their lives had little Biblical basis, thus the birth of the Reformation, where people read the scriptures themselves, and “protested” by breaking away from the mother church, being tagged as “Protest-ants”.  Martin Luther became one of the first to lead the charge, discovering salvation by grace not works, and advocating the “priesthood of believers”, yet when it came time to establish church government, he copied the same hierarchal, pyramidal structure of clergy (instead of priests) and laity (non-trained or uneducated).  This structured has been followed from Luther’s day into the present with little if any modification.

Butterfly:  I believe that the “priesthood of believers” that Luther advocated will be the structure of the future church on a linear, horizontal plain of relational peers.  Luther’s seed will sprout to this generation.  The emphasis will not be on relying on the clergy and their staff as professionals to “teach” them the word through westernized theological preaching nor being pew sitters nurturing apathy, but will rely on the Holy Spirit to teach each believer as they individually study the word, walking out what they have read in faith in their daily lives, and becoming very active in practicing and sharing their faith in their present culture.  The emphasis of church structure will change as it goal changes. What will now be important is the “equipping of the ‘saints’”, not the clergy and the “staff” for the purpose of “service”.  That reciprocal service of give and take will create accountability through deepened, established horizontal relationships.

The Differences: The differences are obvious:  Under the old system, the trickle down effect was emphasized.  Leadership heard from God and relayed it down to the people through sermons.  Professional leadership’s interpretation of the scriptures always superseded those of the saints in the pews, for they were the “learned”, the “educated”, the studiers of Latin and Greek.  The “sermon” by the educated clergy became the keystone to most church services.  Even Bible studies were highly scripted and guided studies written by clergy, often lead by clergy, and approved by the denomination or sect with which one belonged.  Under the new system, personal inquiry is encouraged; seek the scriptures yourself, ask the Holy Spirit to “teach you all things” about the passage, and access all the Biblical commentaries, etc. available through one click of the mouse through search engines on the internet.

Implications Today:  Today, one can get the Bible in printed form and through the internet on their lap top, IPad, and even Smart Phone in printed and oral form.  Today we are facing the linear age, where communications occurs on a horizontal plain of peers.  Biblical discussions can occur in internet chat rooms, through Facebook entries, through tweets on Twitter with attached links to websites about the discussed passages, and through blogs.  All this electronic communication by passes the screening of today’s clergy.  They use to be able to control the printed material, but today they can’t touch nor control the vastness of the internet. When in the past, when there were carefully planned and taught curriculums supporting one’s religious group or sect, today the average person is faced with an ocean of information at their fingertips through the internet.  The church needs to teach its people how to discern “truth” through “false” or “heretical” teaching.  This will be part of “equipping the saints”. The Bible will still be the standard, but how to sift through all this interpretation will be the challenge.

Conclusion:  As the masses obtain the power to read for themselves, study for themselves, discern for themselves rather than counting on “church professionals” interpreting everything for them in their “expertise”, I believe there will be a sifting out of religious “dogma” imposed by centuries of church indoctrinations, and the “apostle’s teaching”, the simplicity of the gospel, the good news, will again be restored to the church as it had been birthed in the first century.  Systems produce massive amounts of interpretive literature.  The Jewish religion went from the Torah to add the Talmud, interpretations of the Torah.  The Christian Church went from the cannon of scriptures to multitudes of commentaries filling library shelves of their interpretations.  With the age of the internet, that massive amount of information and  everyone’s interpretations are out there.  It will be the job of the “priesthood of believers” to sift through all of it, and restore the apostle’s teachings of simplicity.  The gospel is simple; we, the church have made it complex.  We now need to reverse that pattern.