There’s A Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On (Continued….)

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

It has been a whole week since I last wrote a blog, and sometimes I need just to be quiet.  I love to be in a worship experience and just “listen”.  That occurred last night when Kent Henry came to our church.  I have been in and out of Ken Henry events over the last three decades, and have learned to respect him for his ability to listen to the Holy Spirit and change with times.  I have watched him physically grow from a dark haired “cool dude” appealing to youth to a grey hair of wisdom.  Kent is still Kent; still digging deep for Jesus.

Now you have to understand, Kent Henry concerts are not quiet, band jamming, bass driving, drummer letting loose, background singers singing with all their might, and Kent doing his thing.  In the past I would have been engulfed by it all and just join into the activity, but last night the Holy Spirit drew me in, being aware of my surroundings, but just focusing on Jesus and “listening” to the still small voice as the decibel level increased in the sanctuary.

When Kent read from the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah cried out the doom that Israel was about to face, a woeful song, as Kent actually began to sing the scripture as a Jewish cantor. That is when the Lord again beckoned me again about this “shaking”, reinforcing that in American “institutions” are and will continue to be shaken.  We have seen the financial institutions shaken over the last four years, almost bringing America to its knees.  People learn to “trust” in the stock market, forgetting that it rises and falls, and many financial plans collapsed with the shaking.  Now educational “institutions” are being shaken, not only at the public school level, but also at the higher educational levels.  The family as an “institution” has been attacked and badly battered over the last two decades as what use to be abnormal and dysfunctional is trying to be recognized as the new normal and status quo.

Then the zinger: I heard, “Why would the Church be exempt, particularly when it has become an “institution” too?” Ouch!

I have struggled for years over the questions of how do we allow the Church as an “organism” to become an “institution”, or what is the process needed to free the “institution” to go back into an “organism”.  “Organisms” have life: “institutions” have structure.  How do we put life into our structures?  How do we structure life in our churches so that they don’t become institutionalized (program driven, staff driven, numbers driven, budget driven)?  When we get stuck in a path, sometimes it takes “a whole lot of shaking” to release us from the rut in which we have entrenched ourselves.

Sometimes the very structures that we built that gave form to a movement become the very barriers that prohibit the continual movement of the Holy Spirit.  I have done an in depth study on the “blue print” of Herod’s Temple, the temple at the time of Christ, which vividly displays the “barriers” that structure has produced, prohibiting one from entering the Holy of Holies, the very Presence of God.  Barriers dividing Jew from Gentile, male from female, priest from laity, serving priests from passive priests, and everyone from the High Priest who only once a year had the privilege to enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement.  By the time Jesus arrived, “structure” was in placed; Jesus always challenged the “structures” of his time.  He did a whole lot of shaking, eventually causing an earthquake at his crucifixion, and the freeing of himself from the structures of a sealed tomb at his resurrection.  Jesus knows how to challenge an institution to produce life, an organism. He sent the Holy Spirit to orchestrate the transformation of institutions back to organisms.

So what does the Church have to do? It’s first inclination is to “RE-structure” itself, with “new” programs, “new” staff, “new” personnel.  That is where the Church is missing the mark.  The Holy Spirit is not about “RE-structuring” but “renewing”.  Dumping the old is part of the gospel message, for in Christ Jesus “all things are new”.   Renewal, rebirth, being “born again” is the heart of the evangelistic message, a message that Church better be prepared to hear or it will hear the song of Jeremiah to this generation, the song of lamentations. The evangelistic message is for the “lost”, and as a Church sometimes we must admit that we have “lost” our way, always in need of a Savior, always open to renewal, change, regeneration, rebirth.

There’s A Whole Lot Of Shaking Going On

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

When there is revival, a whole lot of shaking is going on!  Things get stirred up; change is imminent.  Often with revival comes messy situations with all the stirring.  When I cook in our kitchen, I usually make a mess to clean up because there is a whole lot of stirring, a whole lot of shaking, a whole lot of baking.  Getting all those different ingredients into the bowl is one challenge, keeping them from spilling out on the counter is another.  Only after the stirring comes the baking which solidifies all those different ingredients into one solid object, usually to be consumed.

As a public school teacher, I know that there is a whole lot of shaking and stirring going on, politically, and through educational reform.  Facing budget cuts in Pennsylvania, the education system from its State sponsored Universities down to its public schools are facing tough decisions.  Teaching, which has been looked upon as a stable profession, is about to get its legs cut out from underneath them.  As I said in earlier blogs: Teachers were revered in the ‘70’s because of the space program, respected in the ‘80’s due to Reaganomics, but in the ‘90’s it began to be the scapegoat of our society, being blamed for everything and labeled as failing.  That attitude was reinforced at the turn of the century as education was not only to blame, but also looked upon to fix itself.  Now in the second decade of this century it is asked to not only take the blame, fix it, but sacrifice for its good while American society itself is unwilling to do the same. 

While teaching The Diary of Anne Frank this year, I realized today’s students don’t understand the sacrifice it took at home to support our troops in World War II. They have no idea what a “ration book” is, nor the need for one.  We want our Ipods, Ipads, the access of the internet, social networking, and our 72 in. 3D digital TV’s with hundreds of channels for entertainment.  Our houses are measured by the number of bathrooms and how many car garage it possesses. Sacrifice?  We are supposedly in a “sluggish” economy, yet we still live as if in the boom days of the last century.  Americans always want “more”, never satisfied with what they have.  We want the new and improved Iphone, video game, software program, or electronic gizmo as soon as it come out.  Everything is instant; everything is throw away. How can we understand sacrifice?

We were told by Bush to invest in 401 plans in the Stock Market instead of pension funds before its crash during the last months of his presidency.  We are told private health care is better for all, when millions of our own Americans have none and can’t afford any because of low wages.  The rich are getting richer, and the Warren Buffets, Bill Gates, and Donald Trumps are idolized as the saviors of our society, living like fat cats as the middle class disappears. These men won’t preach sacrifice, and I am sure they will not practice it either. There is a shaking going on.

I almost feel like a Jeremiah, or other prophets that saw a whole lot of shaking going on in their time, and it did not look favorable, but they spoke out.  They usually met ridicule and were not popular with the political movements of their day, but they spoke out.  I feel that public education is just a microcosm of American society.  The American church also reflects the mores and attitudes of American society. If the pillars of American society are being shaken, then I am sure the pillars of the American church are also feeling it.

So I ask, “How should the American church react to all this shaking, all this stirring, all this cry for change?  How much is the Church willing to embrace.  Do they want revival to meet the challenges of a changing society?  It will take a “total surrender” and a “total breaking” of the believers of Jesus Christ if they are willing to surrender to the Holy Spirits lead and directions during this time of change and challenges.

If industry had to retool to survive the changes in this century, and now education faces a retooling, why does the Church feel it will be exempt?  The cry is a cry of a prophet, “prepare ye the way!”  Instead of being reactionary, the church must be a “leader” in this change, so let’s face the music and the time, and begin to accept the fact that America’s church needs retooling too!

What Are You Inheriting?

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

“Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you game me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and fed you, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invited you in, or needing clothes and cloth you?’  The king will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of those brothers of mine, you did for me.’” (Matthew 25: 35-40)

What is the reward in the infamous passage of “the sheep and the goats” found in Mathew 25?  The reward is collecting your inheritance, alias the kingdom of God that was prepared for you since the creation of the world!  If you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, cloth the naked, visit the sick, and visit those in prisons, your reward is the kingdom.  The 21^st Century Church needs to ask “what is the kingdom”?  What is this reward I am working so diligently for?

Today churches strive for big congregations, excellent worship and preaching from the front stage, a professionally looking program, large children’s programs, dynamic high powered youth programs, a vibrant small group ministry, fiscal stability, and growth in numbers.  What is their reward?

“I was a stranger and you invited me in.”  I ask, “into where?” I don’t think this scripture implies into what we think is a church facility today, but into your own home, hospitality is the key. We invite friends in to “Super Bowl Parties” in our homes, but do we invite strangers?  Did you ever make your home a home to the homeless? Are you willing to invite a stranger in for a “coffee” or “tea” just to socialize with them, befriend them?  Did you ever invite an “x-con”, one just released from the hell of prison, to come into your home and be part of a loving Christian family to detoxify them from prison life? When is the last time you have taken care of someone sick who was not a family member?  Have you reached out to a widow or widower or the elderly living in your community?  That is what Jesus is talking about: individuals touching individuals. And the reward is your inheritance of the kingdom of God – changed lives.  When you do these things people see Jesus in YOU!

So programs by the government and church are nice because it looks like a group effort, but it is so easy to hide behind the “program’s” coat tails and let others do it, professionals or nonprofessionals.  If you take your Christian faith seriously, then YOU have been called to do it!  If the 21^st Century Church is to be an effective Church, then YOU have to do it. I have to do it. Together the body of Christ has to do it.  Taking care of the poor, the sick, the hungry, the widows, their hurting has always been themes central to the gospel, not taking care of “business”, no matter if it is “church business” or our own “personal business”. 

What is this kingdom of God Jesus has given us as our inheritance?  Jesus explained it in parables, so only those the Holy Spirit chose to understand it would, and the rest would wonder about its mysterious meaning.  The same is true today.  The Holy Spirit MUST be the agent to reveal the kingdom to us. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, so small, yet when planted becomes a huge tree of expanse.  YOUR little faith, planted in the Word of God, both written and living, can produce branches of fruit. That is the kingdom. There are so many more parable. I challenge you to read them.

The 21^st Century Church has nothing to do with buildings, with programs, with developing staffs, with growth in numbers; it has to do with YOU!  If you have a heart for evangelism, release it and do it!  If you have a heart for nurturing, caring, or hospitality, a shepherding heart, release it and care, share, nurture!  If you have a heart to dig into the Word of God, the Bible, to find revelation and truth, dig, do it!  If you have the heart to commune more with God, seek his presence, seek it, do it!  If you have the heart for the body of Christ, for its development, then let it develop in you, receive it!  If Jesus has prepared an inheritance since the creation of the world for you, receive it!  RECEIVE THE KINGDOM!

Am I “Anti-Clergy, Anti-Staff?

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

At the local church I have attended, we have had three pastors in the last 12 years, all home grown.  12 years ago, a pastoral team of a husband and wife, worked their way up the ranks of leadership to become senior pastors, leading the church into the prophetic and buying a property to build upon.  They never pastored in the new building, for they left for Colorado to participate in an international ministry.  The middle pastor, as the youth pastor, vowed that he had no desire to use the position as a stepping stone, but would remain with the youth throughout their spiritual journey.  He has come and gone as well as almost every youth he vowed to remain beside.  The current pastor started out working with youth, then moved to the church’s business manager before accepting the call to become the Senior Pastor when his former pastor resigned.  All three had attended Bible school, desiring to go into “full time professional ministry”, working their way up the ranks.

There is more fingers on one of my hands than times the first pastor has visited since moving to Colorado.  The middle pastor left the profession to become an insurance man, opting not to attend our church even though he has been invited to do so.  If he did, there would be people in the congregation who would still address him as “pastor” (plus his first name).  We have hired multiple “worship leaders” over the past 12 years, several home grown, one while on a cruise with one of our pastors.  None of them are any longer part of our congregation.  The same is true with those who were paid staff members leading youth or the children’s ministry.  They too have gone.  Often we are told that in order to go “up the ladder” of church leadership, we should start with the serving heart of a janitor.  Amazingly our janitors and secretaries have remained, even though they are at the bottom of the salary scale in the church structure.

So, am I anti-clergy or anti-staff?  Well, I am tired of the “professionals” telling “nonprofessionals” in the church that we, the “nonprofessionals”, are the Church, with the “professionals” producing unity in the “body” or “family”, yet when the “professionals” become “nonprofessionals”, they feel they “must” leave and are no longer part of the “local body” or “local family”.  While in leadership, relationships were built, integrity was developed, yet all that is thrown out with “a resignation”! Why do we have to have estrangement with the severing of professional relationships with nonprofessionals?  Often the severing of the ways of a pastor from the local body produces a schism with the pastor’s sheep feeling loyal to him and not the local body to which they were birthed into.  Why?  Were they engrafted into the “pastor’s” ministry instead of the “local body’s” ministry, a real danger within the church.

A radical change to retool the 21^st Century church would be the acceptance of the five fold ministry as passions and points of view of believers in the local body to equip “the saints”, other believers in the local body, to nurture, care, and develop one another into doing works of service in an effort to “mature” the saints, the local believers, in the image of Jesus Christ and bring unity to the local body of Christ.

I grew up in a local church that advocates the multi-leadership “free ministry”, where multiple leaders are developed into “eldership” who do not receive a “salary” for service. Their “calling” is for “life”, thus there commitment is to serve their local congregation for “life”.  Wow, to have “life” sentence to serve a local congregation.  This concept isn’t novel; it has history.

In America, we think we have to run our churches like we run our business.  Our businesses are world renown, influencing the financial institutions world wide.  Why would we not want to model our churches after than? The answer is simple:  The kingdom of God has NEVER been pattern after worldly patterns; in fact, they are usually just the opposite. True Christianity always influences and affects the world too!  In fact, in a more powerful way!

“Affluence” Can Be Replaced By “Influence”

The 21^st Century Retooling of the Church – Part XXXXX = L

The Mid-Century mark of blogging about the “retooling of the 21^st Century Church” is dedicated to the principle of “influence” over “affluence”, the very force that is needed to bring change to the American Church.  “Affluence” is when money speaks, the power of the dollar dictates policy; “influence” is measured by “change” (sorry, not a pun on monetary coins intended here)!  How does the replacing of the dollars in the offering to change bring about change in the way the church does business, or should it even matter?

Budget reductions brings reduction in staffing, in funding projects, re-examining commitments to other outside ministries, etc., which, when we look at as church business, diminishes its “influence”.  Actually it just may make those who attend the church to be more active, more out going in their faith, more supportive of service projects demanding their time, more caring about what the church is doing, creating more “influence” in the community around them.

With budget cuts nationally and locally, those social programs once deemed necessary are liquidated for the cause of saving money.  Programs targeting the poor are slashed.  It is looked upon as it is no longer the government’s problem to take care of the poor.  Property tax funding public schools is under attacked by tax payers who no longer have children of their own in public schools with the attitude of “why should I sacrifice of someone else’s child”. “They (undefined) needs to take care of their (undefined) own! They (undefined) are not my responsibility.”  When pronouns are generally used, prejudice can be detected. 

I hear it’s the “taxpayer’s money, my money, that is funding all this. I should be able to control my money, not the government.” All the while we, the American taxpayer, are living in our large homes with two or three car garages, their value determined by the number of bathrooms on the premise, large screen tv’s and entertainment centers in multiple rooms to fill our thirst for entertainment, children playing video games, Googling on their computers, or texting and tweeting their friends rather than playing with them in their ¾ acre lot of a yard.  The “affluence” of wealth in America has had a direct correlation of the American church’s role of “influence”, paying others to do what the Church, the people of God, should be doing?  The “retooled 21^st Century Church” needs to change its mindset of operating out of “being affluent” to serving by “influencing”.  This needs to be developed not only how it deals with matters within the church, in house, but also outside its walls.  The power of the Great Commission is not to be held within the walls of “affluence” of the church, but by its “influence” of reaching out to a dying and desperate world, looking for help and answers.

So how does the Church gain back its “influence”? Through “sacrifice”, “service”, and “selflessness”, three central themes of the gospel of Jesus Christ which are all contrary to the “affluent”!  If we miss any of the above three when doing something, we missed the target, and missing the target is the definition of “sin”.  

Church Shopping List: What Are You Looking For?

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

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

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

-  A style of music I like during worship

-  A friendly atmosphere

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

-  An excellent children’s and youth ministry

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Retooling: Change vs. Stagnation

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

The business world amazes me, particularly when someone is “on top of the business world” because of an innovative idea they have.  If they just stay with that idea, someone else will challenge it in a free market, improve on it, and soon put you out of business.  “Change” is a basic ingredient in the business world, for stagnation will eventually bring bankruptcy.  If Henry Ford stuck with only his Model-T Ford as the standard of his car, he would still have a market, but only to the nostalgic buyer, a very minimal market.  His business would have closed down by now!  The auto industry has new products, new gadgets, new improvements on their cars every year or they will not survive.  The car radio was replaced by the 8 Track, then by the cassette player, then CD player, then surround sound sub woofer deluxe sound systems, now talking GPS systems, and probably soon no-hand social networking communication capabilities while driving. All these have nothing to do with the engine, gears, tires, transmissions, etc., but all have become necessary products for change to increase sales, to sustain market life.  Change prolongs life in the business world; stagnation eventually spells disaster.

Why do we not think that this principle could or should also apply to the Church, one of the slowest institutions of change on the planet.  The evangelistic theme of the Church is “changed lives”, but should not the evangelist spirit also bring “change into our Churches”?   Should not the “evangelist” not only cry out to the lost, but also to the Church, “you must be born again”?  “Rebirth” is “Change”!  When the church becomes stagnant, it needs the evangelistic cry to bring it life.  Ask Nicodemus, the typical “church-person” of his day, doing all the right things in his religion for his God, even as a leader, but the evangelistic voice of Jesus told him, “You must be born again.”  At first he could not grasp the concept because of its literal meaning, but I am sure he finally “got it” which brought change in his life, or he would not be recorded in the Bible.

As religious people, we are repudiated by the cry of “you must be born again”, because we think we have it all together.  We think our spiritual birth is enough, but unfortunately rather than growth we often choose stagnation, happy at where we are in our lives and in our faith at the moment, and we get stuck!  Growth is not allowing ourselves to get stuck through constant change, or getting un-stuck through repentance, a turning of what doesn’t work to obediently following the Holy Spirit’s direction toward what does.  A body of water has to flow to continue to sustain life in it or it turns into the Great Salt Lake or the Dead Sea, so must we!  Instead of the stagnation of “religion” which we think brings safety and stability, “relationships” bring life flow, so we must ask ourselves, to we need change in our relationships to bring the flow?  Do we need a “rebirth”?

What is the “evangelistic cry” going forth to the Church today?  What is it saying? What is its plea?  What is the “evangelistic cry” saying to you as a believer today?  Let’s just not look at the lost (which is hard for the evangelistic spirit to do!), but lets look within and ask what is the Holy Spirit saying to us, believers in Jesus Christ, through the evangelistic spirit.  I would love to hear your comments on what you hear its cry to be? 

Retooling: Tension Brings Strength

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

Several years ago we had a pastor who claimed he liked to “stretch” us, so he found a six fool rubber band (unstretched) and stretched it until it was almost ten feet long, threatening to “let it fly” when released.  Later as a lay witness coordinator, I gave everyone on my team rubber bands to wear around their wrists all weekend to remind them of how we were going to “stretch” their faith that weekend.

A rubber band is really of no value and no use until it is stretched.  With tension comes strength.  A strong rubber band is one that can be stretched a great distance and hold its tension.  There are a multitude of uses for stretched rubber bands. Unfortunately a rubber band whose tension is too great, being stretched too far, can snap, be dangerous, and cause harm.

Often in church, every thing is done to avoid tension.  Tradition often compensates the fear of change, the fear of being stretched too far.  Church is all about people, people and relationships, and that is the breeding ground for tension, particularly when there is diversity that is unchecked.  So what does this have to do with the five fold?

With the five fold, you have five different points of view, five different giftings, five different passions, and if there is not a system of check and balances, you too have the breeding ground for tension and division.  Each different point of view and passion tugs and pulls, stretching the others.  It would be very easy to dig in, defending ones point of view, creating division, rather than submitting to other’s points of view, creating unity.  What can take the edge off of all the tension that could be created? Answer: service and accountability.

With the five fold, each point of view and passion must lay down their lives to each other in service, or there  will be no integrity in one’s ministry.  When one lays down their life for you, it is easy to submit to them, creating accountability.  If the five fold is to succeed, service, the laying down of one’s life, and accountability will the ingredients needed to succeed.

The 21^st Century Church needs stretched if it is to be retooled.  The tension it can take is the gifting of an apostle who can read the tensions, know to use those tensions for the common good producing productivity while creating unity.  If there is ever a time that the apostle needs to be reestablished in the Church, it is today, while the Holy Spirit is retooling the Church!  That over sight, seeing over how far things can be “stretched”, but allowing tension to be used in a positive manner, can be an effective tool in the retooling process.

How far will you allow the Holy Spirit to “stretch you”?  How far will you allow the Holy Spirit to retool the church you are part of?  How far can you “trust” the Holy Spirit, the true measurement of how far you are willing to be “stretched”.  The Holy Spirit will not allow you to break, to snap.

A church without tension is a safe church that will never snap, but it will never be very useful either!  Come Holy Spirit; come retool the Church today; stretch us!

Retooling: God’s People Gotta Step It Up!

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

I recently heard the fact that only 10% of those attending church do 100% of the work done by the laity, and that does not count the work done by the staff.  That kind of data shows that the church is not practicing the Ephesians 4 principle of “preparing the saints for the work of the service.”  For whatever reason, churches have opted to “prepare the ‘staff’ for the work of the service” because either the saints won’t do it, or aren’t allowed to do it!

If Sunday mornings are any reflection of those statistics, when attending almost any church service, live or streamed over the internet, it is the worship team and pastor who preaches who are the focus of the service, not the those in the congregation.  The worship leader and pastor carry the program.  The offertory and giving offering is about 10% of the program.

I guess the central questions is how the church is to “prepare the saints” and for “what service”?  It is quite the challenge. Does the Church want to face that challenge?  If so, it would take quite a “retooling” of how one does “Sunday services”, how one “trains, equips, or prepares” those attending their church, and defining what “services” they may or may not do.  Change demands new mindset!  Retooling demands drastically new mindsets!

I remember once being told by a clergy that they were on the only ones who could perform the sacrament of communion.  I couldn’t believe that if I had Christian friends over to my house and decided to have communion with them that it would be frowned upon by the church.  The first question asked may be what is church going to allow the saints to do.  The second questions asked may be what are the saints willing to do?  Before those two questions are answered, it would be hard to determine the “preparations” and defining the “service”.

As long as there is a clergy/laity faction, it will be hard to determine a “team” effort that a five fold ministry would require of developing giftings and passions with in the laity, releasing them, and then supporting them.  The “laying down of one’s life” cannot be effective with different distinctions of “position”.  It must be a team of equality; the giving and taking of each one as equals even though their passions and points of view differing.

So if we are to get a larger percent of those attending church to do a majority of the “work of the service”, the Church faces a drastic retooling process, or accept the status quo of the same old, same old.  Are we, the Church, to take Ephesians 4 seriously?  Then we need to address serious “retooling” of how we do “church”!

Retooling: Scrooge and “Restitution”: The How To Do It!

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

So in the last several blogs I have raised the question about who, as a church, are we called to serve?  To whom shall we lay our lives down for ( IJohn 3:16)?  Today I ask the question, “How are we to lay down our lives?”

The key to this answer lies in the word “restitution ”.  Restitution is a word most people have no idea of its definition.  An online legal dictionary (http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/q044.htm ) has defined it as: “An equitable remedy that restores a person to the position they would have been in if not for the improper action of another.  Reimbursements ordered by courts as apart of a criminal sentence or civil or administrative penalty. Restitution is a standard of remedy for breach of contract and for the return of specific property and monies paid.”

I think Charles Dickens in his infamous Christmas Carol tries to depict the definition of restitution through his character Scrooge, for at the end of the novel he says of Scrooge, “Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more.”  It concludes, “It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”  What is this knowledge he possessed.  Scrooge’s “bah-humbug” attitude brought hurt and division among his family (with his nephew), resentment toward him (Cratchet’s wife), an ill reputation as being stingy toward the poor (“Do we not have poor houses, institutions?”), and employee/employer divisions (with Cratchet).  He has hurt and used a lot of people to obtain his goal, wealth. Only when faced with the understanding of his past, those things that molded him, when faced with his current actions and decisions, and faced with the consequences of all of this, does he decide to make a change, a turning point.

In the church world, we call that turning point “repentance”.  He was more than “sorry” for what he did; he practices “restitution” with “repentance”: he gave back more than what was required “legally”.  He not only gives the Cratchets a turkey, but the “prized” turkey; he not only gives Bob Cratchet a raise, but makes him his “business partner” so that when he dies all that he owns is Cratchet’s!  He doesn’t share just sympathy towards Tiny Tim’s illness, but gives him “life” by paying for all the bills.  It alludes to the fact that he goes even beyond that, “and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father.” He was now into building relationships which I am sure his nephew benefited from.  And to those who in the city frowned on his frugality, snide remarks, and sarcasm, “He became as good a friend, as a good master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world.”

Restitution in the kingdom of God goes beyond an apology, goes beyond the legal definition of making it right as if it never happened.  Restitution, in the New Testament Biblical sense, means going the second mile, giving more than your cloak if asked, forgiving 70 X 7, doing more than is required of you. It requires “laying down your life” for others.  The price for our sins was Jesus laying down his life for us, going beyond our sin, carrying all the sins of the world, not only extending forgiveness, but giving “eternal life”, life beyond this earth, with Him.  Amazingly Jesus has given the Church the tools needed to carry out this restitution called “grace” and “mercy”.

Scrooge had acquired the knowledge of the Spirit of Christmas, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit which guided him to go far beyond what was required of him to mend the hurts of the past he had created, the emptiness of the present, and the disappointments of the future.  Cratchet, Tiny Tim, his nephew and others now became more important than he.  He was no longer “Number #1”; others were.  That is the spirit of “laying down one’s life for his brethren”, the spirit of serving, the spirit of maturing into the likeness of Jesus Christ.

How do you “equip, prepare” the saints for the work of the service?  Simply by allowing that Christmas Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, his Holy Spirit, to confront you, change you, and nurture and develop you to go beyond what is expected.  It may also be your defining “turning point”.  That is a good start.  

Retooling: A Visible Model To Examine

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

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

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

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

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

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

Retooling: Accountability, A Radically Different Approach

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Retooling: Skimming the Cream: What Kind Of Milk Do You Have?

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

Back before convenience stores, in the era of milkmen actually delivering milk to your door, there was a time when you could buy “whole” milk.  What a concoction?  You would find a section of cream floating on the top, and you would shake your bottle to mix it with the rest of its contents before drinking.  Another option is to skim your cream and make ice cream from it and drink the rest of its contents. Today we have eliminated the “cream” where only a fraction of our milk contains the fat or cream, thus 2%, 1%, or skim milk, which health advocates claim is healthier for you.

If you would allow me, let’s use the milk analogy to today’s church. If we would “skim” the cream, the pastor and the paid staff from your church, what would be left in your church’s life, activity, and ministry?  Does the rest of those in your church do 2%, 1% or even an anemic less percent of the work and ministry, and is the church considered “healthy” if it does?

I believe the five fold is the opportunity to serve according to one’s passion, desire, or point of view for the saints, those remaining after the “cream” has been skimmed: those saints who want to win their lost and dying generation; those saints who care for the sick, those afflicted, facing dramatic life situations, the hurting, for the purpose of caring, nurturing, and developing them in to mature Christ-like people; those who have faithfully studied the word academically for years, but now yearn to release that knowledge of the Word into a living, vibrant Word through their daily life;  those who have a passion to “know God”, hear from God, be obedient to God; and those who see the big picture of all these passions, wanting to serve them and release them, but being frustrated because of not being allowed because they were not looked upon as being part of the “cream”.

If we then shake the bottle, the church, causing each of these passions to serve each another and be accountable to each another by laying their lives down for one another, we will have what was originally intended at its creation, whole milk, a whole church, a rich church, a healthy church.

The life of the Church is in its people, not is structure or professional staff, for if those are skimmed from the picture, what is left?  Look at the underground Church in persecuted lands where pastors are targeted for prison, persecution, or even death.  With their elimination came even a stronger “believer base”, the contents of their milk of ministry, service, and Christian life was even more enriched.

My call is for the people of God, the believers in Jesus Christ to arise, allow the Holy Spirit to do some “shaking” of our structures, forcing believers to be what they were intended to be in Jesus.  That shaking will cause an infusion of God’s people, not the separation.  When the church becomes stagnant, like pure milk, the particles will separate and a hierarchy of cream will try to arise to take “control”, causing a separation rather than allowing God to continually “shake” our bottle, our structure, so that the body will continue to be infused, joined, united together. Do the saints in your church feel they are part of whole milk, the whole local body of Christ, or only a fraction of it?  What percent of your church participates in the ministry, the decision making, and the serving ministries if the paid staff would be eliminated?

A healthy church is a church that allows a whole lot of shaking to continually happen by the Holy Spirit! Does your cream rise, or is it continually shaken to be part of the “whole” milk? Are there two parts in your mik bottle, your church, the professional staff and the others, producing a clergy/laity division?  Leadership in the 21^st Century Church comes from the shaking by the Holy Spirit, causing infusion of all believers through “serving” one another, dying for one another, and remaining with those of different passions, desires, and points of view in this interweaving concoction.  Leadership is not allowing stagnation, forcing the doers and non-doers and the haves and have-nots to separate, allowing the doers and haves to rise and the non-doers and have-nots to sink causing separation.  All believers in Jesus Christ “have” his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, and all believers are to be “doers” of the Word, so let the shaking begin and continue.

Retooling: Value of Investing, the Cost

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

When you invest in something, feeling ownership of it, you take better care of it, compared to when you work with “other’s” investment  or items.  Do those who attend your church feel “ownership” to it as if it is their own?  What is their part?  What function do they play?  Are they active in the day to day activities?  How does one “invest” in your church other than financially?  Good questions with tough answers!

The price for “investment” in church life is greater than in financial, because the price lies in relationships.  The Church is all about relationships; that’s what makes it a “living organization”.  When the bottom line becomes money, the “living organization” becomes an “institution” and budgeting, building & grounds, and staffing needs become high priorities.  Church, as an institution, always has a business side to it, but what about the price of relationships.

I have contended that the only way a five fold flow of service oriented ministry could be developed through laity, through the believers in relationship as a body of Christ is through IJohn 3:16, that of “laying down one’s life for the brethren.”  In today’s mega-churches, it is easy to be loss, unidentified, blending in, but not getting close to anyone or exposing one’s life or true self.  The same is true if one only “attends a service” once a week.

If one is “investing” in his/her church, it will cost “laying down one’s life” for others.  It not about self, not about what I want in a church, not about what best meets or suits my needs, not about what is most convenient for oneself.  It is about serving others, serving those who are different than ourselves, those with different passions, point of views, desires, drives, etc.  Most churches hang around those of like-mindness, often of the same race, or economics.  Church groups are often cliquish, wanting those outside their camp to conform to their norms in order to be accepted, rather than reaching out to cultures or norms with which they are unfamiliar.

I believe that the Church’s strength lies in its diversity, when those who are diverse are willing to lay down their lives for each other, who are willing to “serve” one another, who are willing to be accountable to one another.  I know this idea is novel, and probably not to be well received by today’s church, but it is the only way to bring unity to a now fragmented church that chooses to isolate itself from the many different “sects” outside one’s camp.  John 16 is Jesus’ priestly prayer for unity in the Body of Christ, but that unity can only come at the same price that Jesus paid, the laying down of one’s life.

Jesus “laid down his life” for us; ought we to also “lay down our life” for our brethren.  Isn’t that Christ-like?  One of the purposes of the five fold is to help the believer become more “mature” in Christ, more Christ-like, as well as bringing unity in the Body. 

The price of investment: “laying down one’s Life”.

Retooling: How Do We Invest In Ourselves?

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

How are we, the church, to invest in ourselves to be more effective, more Christ-like, more mature in the faith, and more productive?

Before many a church offering I have heard the cry to give as “an investment into the kingdom of God”.  I never have taken the time to ask, “What really am I investing in?  What is this kingdom of God?”  Most of what I give goes to the local church, so is the local church the kingdom of God, or is there more?  Is my ‘investment’ paying good dividends?  What am I getting for my ‘investment’ dollar?” the secular investor would ask. The religious sector asks, “What fruit is being produced?”

Maybe we, the Church, need to study all the “kingdom of God” parables again!  No, maybe we should allow the Holy Spirit to teach us the ‘kingdom of God” principles that are hidden in the parables, then “act” on those principles.  The “Good Samaritan” actually invested in the kingdom of God! How?  Through “service”, physically and financially, yet he never gave “through a church”!  Jesus invested in the Woman at the Well, another Samaritan, and it did not cost him financially anything.  The results, a revival in her town!  Jesus “invested” in the twelve, teaching them how to serve, which they did and changed the world.  We, the Church, must examine what we are “investing in” and the results of that “investment”.

Ephesians 4 states that we need to “invest” in the saints; we are to equip, prepare, nurture, and care for them for the purpose of “service”, for the purpose of their “maturity in Christ”, and for the purpose of bringing unity to the Body of Christ.  That is quite an investment producing phenomenal dividends!  How can this be done?  Only through the “kingdom principle” of laying things down and dying can we see resurrection and life.  I John 3:16 states that we are to “lay down our lives for our brethren.”  Laying down, dying to self, for the sake of the Brethren that we are ‘investing” in, is the only way the Church will see a resurrection, a revival.  This is central to the “kingdom of God” principles.  This is the key to what we invest, how we invest, and the dividends we expect to see from our investment.

But this seems impossible with a church known for divisions, for fighting one another in the name of “defending the faith, the truth, and the Bible,” for stoning the brethren not in their camp, still being one of the most segregated institutions in our society.  If not in our camp, we would rather tear each other down than build each other up, strip one another of their dignity instead of praising and encouraging one another, raising the other brother above themselves instead of raising oneself above their brethren.  But with Jesus “all things are possible”, especially if the Holy Spirit is orchestrating it!  We, the Church, have to allow the Holy Spirit to teach us how to “equip”, to “prepare”, to “build up, encourage”, to “nurture” each other toward Christ-likeness individually and corporately.  Only through the leading of the Holy Spirit and the laying down of our lives can we even begin to see how Ephesians 4 can work in practicality.

Again I ask, “Can we trust the Holy Spirit” to lead us?”  But I also ask, “Can I trust my fellow brethren in the faith?”  To the latter, only if I am willing to lay down my life for my brethren, and my brother is willing to lay down his life for me.  To the former, only if I am willing to trust the “Spirit of Jesus Christ” to “teach me all things” pertaining to the kingdom of God.  That takes a lot of “trusting” and a lot of “dieing”!

What is the 21st Century Church Truly Investing In?

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

As a public school teacher, I am told that the tax payers’ dollars are going toward investing in the children of our school district, for they are the future.  As a church-attender, I am also told that the children are our investment, and the youth are the future of the church.  In the 21^st Century, the corner community church of local residents is rare.  People drive by each other on Sundays attending churches every which way but their own neighborhood.  The youth, our so-called future, go off to college then move away from the area to job markets that can support their degrees.  Others slowly drift away while seeking their identities when in the twenties.  It always amazes me how many famous secular musicians were birthed and nurtured in the church, only to out grow the musical limitations placed on them, and leave for greener secular pastures.  We birthed them, trained them, then lose them.

So I ask, “What is the 21^st Century Church Truly Investing In?”  What is its future? It’s direction? Its goals?

Instead of tax dollars, where are “offering dollars” going, for where that money is spent tells what is truly important to that church.  Where are your “offering dollars” going?  What percentage of your church budget goes to staff, staffing needs, and materials for the staff to use?  What percentage for building and grounds?  How much of the budget that is given by those in the congregation directly goes back to the congregation to develop them in their spiritual growth?  How much to missions locally? Nationally? Internationally?

Ephesians 4 says we are to equip, prepare, nurture, and develop the “saints”, those in the church, not just the “staff” for the “work of the service.”  Our investment should be “the people” who are in the church, make up the church, who are the Church!  Any revival begins with “investing” in the “saints”, those common believers who are the Church!  But how many churches look upon their mission as developing their own “people” to do the “work” of the Church through service?  Not every person can minister “full time” as a professional, but every person can “serve” “all the time”, at work, at home, while playing, visiting, fellowshipping, even if it is their spouse, etc.

What do we get for our investment?  I remember having to “buy” the paper back book I used in our local small group Bible study. The church didn’t buy them for us as “an investment”.  Then again, the results of our book study were discussions on the topics outlined in the book and fellowship afterwards.  If the book was on “service”, we discussed it, but did we change and go out and serve?  If the book was about “evangelism”, we again discussed it, but never did we go out into our community evangelizing.  A new book, a new topic with more discussion every 9 weeks, but with the same results, no change in our lives or the way we “did church” because of our studies.  So what does it mean to “equip the saints for the work of the service?”  How are we, the church, to invest in ourselves to be more effective, more Christ-like, more mature in the faith, and more productive?

Let’s take a deeper look at that question.

Retooling: From History To Present – Saul To Paul

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

God, who is the I AM, is THE WORD! 

The early Jewish patriarchs “experienced” their faith.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had to “live” their faith long before it was written down. They had to learn to “live by faith” in a “living” God, something totally different then those who worshiped idols around them.  God then gave that word to Moses in written form.  The Jewish faith since that day has taken the “experience” of their forefathers and the “written” document of the ten commandments and the book of Mosaic Laws in the Old Testament, molding them into the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible.  Then, academically, they created the Talmud, the “rabbinical book of interpretations” “about” the truths in the Torah. The Church has done the same: “experiencing” Jesus is the gospels and book of Acts, to writing commentaries on the “theology” of Christianity.  The only way for the Jew to “know” their faith is the same way the Christian can “know” his faith: THROUGH A PERSONAL “EXPERIENCE” WITH JESUS CHRIST!  Ask Saul who became Paul because of it!  The rock of the rabbinical educational world “experienced” Jesus, and the Holy Spirit “retooled” his mindsets about the church from persecutor of the church to protector.

The “retooled” 21^st Century Church needs a “Saul to Paul” experience again!

Paul was trained under the best rabbinical scholars of his time, but had his “theology” not only challenged, but drastically changed because of his “experience” with Jesus Christ.  All Jesus asked was, “Saul, why do you persecute me?”  Saul had no idea that he was persecuting his God; he thought he was defending his God!  It is a hard lesson to learn that often when we “academically” defend our God, wanting to be its protector, we become the very tool of “persecution”, its attacker and “preventer”!  Amazingly only after Paul “experienced” Jesus could he be transformed from “persecutor” to “protector” understanding his vertical relationship with God (John 3:16) with his horizontal relationship with Jesus (I John 3:16), the body of Christ, in whom he becomes their protector.    Paul never physically saw “Jesus on the Cross” as the other apostles were afforded the opportunity to do, but he “experienced” spiritually “Jesus on the Cross” when a supernatural God knocked him off his horse, retooled his spirit and mindsets, and had him defend Jesus, the Body of Christ, as its protector as an apostle.

The five fold apostles are the Church’s “protectors” because they “experience” Jesus in a different point of view than others.  They see God’s supernatural intervention in the natural life of the Church, in other words the Cross!  Watching, observing, experiencing the dissection of the supernatural into the natural is something an apostles cherishes, for that insight is so unique, so insightful, a gift from God. This vision give the apostle the opportunity to “see over” what the Holy Spirit (the supernatural) is doing in the Church (the natural lives of the believers in Jesus Christ).  He receives insight is “seeing over” the various and different giftings that are in the Church, knowing when to encourage those with those giftings to be “released” for the benefit of the Church as a whole, bringing unity in the Body of Christ, and maturity in the individual believer.

Often, people I know, who have an apostolic spirit and point of view of the Church, were at one time “persecutors” in their early days as a Christian of the very things they later come to “protect”.  A true five fold apostle who starts out as a Saul, a defender of the faith, often has to get knocked off of his “theological” horse, blinded, only to regain his spiritual sight by having his “scales” of the way he “sees things” fall off, only to gain the sight of “seeing over” the very thing he has now been called “to protect”, and be retooled to being renamed.  Saul would never go back to his old name nor theological beliefs when he became Paul.  Saul, the “persecutor” of the faith, became Paul, the “defender” of the faith to which he would be beaten, imprisoned, mocked, rejected, stoned, and even left as dead for!

There is a retooling at how we, the Church, needs to view the apostle.  If there was ever a time we need “apostles”, it is today!  I believe some of those who criticize the five fold, defend that the apostles died when the Canon was established, who persecute new movements of God, the Saul’s of our generation, just may be come the Paul, the retooled “protectors” “looking over” the Body of Christ in an attempt to “release” the giftings, ministries, and points of view that already exist in the Body of Christ, just waiting for their release.  Sauls, go ahead and criticize these blogs I write, for I prophesy that your criticism may be the very tool that will lead you to your road to Emmaus, the knocking you off your horse, the restoration of your blindness to sight, and your renaming of becoming a Paul, a protector of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our midst!

Retooling: Education Reform In Our Churches?

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

How do we retool teaching in the 21^st Century Church?  What would Sunday mornings look like if we allowed the people who are congregating together to “experience” Jesus rather than just “hear about” him?  What does “learning about” Jesus even mean?

Who Is Jesus?

Answer: the Son of God, the Living Word, the Alpha and Omega, the First Fruits, the Sacrificial Lamb, the Resurrection and the Life, Hope Eternal, the Apostle of the Church, the King in the kingdom of God, the Groom coming for his Bride, etc., etc., etc.  All “academic” correct answers, and I can provide scriptures to back every title given above.  Using a Concordance, a “study” of the names of God and the names of Jesus can reveal academically “who Jesus Is”, who “I AM” as God identified himself to Moses. A Commentary on those names would also aide in our understanding of what “scholars” have thought about his names. Through massive amounts of “studying” the true Jesus, the Historical Jesus, the Christian-Judean Jesus, will be revealed to our understanding.

Answer: Jesus is the light that erases the “shadow of death” from the valley in the 23^rd Psalm; Jesus is like the sunrise and sunset of each day, contrasting darkness to the colors of blues, oranges, and reds that splash across the painted sky we call the beginning and the end; Jesus is like the sweet sound of silence, softly singing songs so graceful only the spirit within us can hear. The poet shares through his five senses how he has “experienced” Jesus. The Songs of Solomon, is not just a “hot romance book” in the Bible, but a poetic tribute by a man known as the “wisest” man of his age who “experienced” God as his father David had, who was known for having “a heart” for God for he, too, had “experienced” God.  Solomon was known to be “wise”, not intellectual, in his approach to “experiencing” life!  Who better to write a romance book than a man who “experienced” hundreds of wives!  Would that make for a reality tv show today! 

Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do you say that I AM?”  They reiterate what others have said, “a prophet, John the Baptist, etc”, but Jesus refocuses them again, asking them “out of their experiences” of walking daily with him, “but who do you say that I am?”  Previous Old Testament scripture is not expounded on proving Jesus’ existence, but he wants to validate the “I AM” through their experience!

How would people in your congregation share their “experience” in Jesus? Through “testimony”, prose, the telling of “their story”, or poetically, the internal examining of their story? 

Greg Bachman, my poetic cousin, defined the difference between “prose” and “poetry” as different points of view, or way we look at things.  Prose takes an object as a starting point and “expands”, externally, on it, thus a believer starts with “salvation” experience and expands on how it effected his faith walk, his spiritual journey through life to this current point called today.  Poetry, on the other hand, takes an object and “examines” it “internally”.  The focus is on the object and remains on it, digging for insights, revelation, and new truths about it, thus “salvation” becomes an experience one examines through his six senses, our spirituality being the 6^th sense, discovering all kinds of truths, revelations, and insights of what “salvation” means to “us” through our “experience”.

We need to bring the two worlds together in the 21^st Century Church:  The “experiential” spiritual world of the Living, Rhema, Word is in danger of becoming heretical if not grounded on the Writing, Logos, Word.  On the other hand the “educationally” sounded and grounded academic world of the Written, Logos, Word is endanger of stagnation and death if it is not vitalized by the Living, Rhema, Word.  JESUS IS THE WORD, both written and living!  He is the “living” embodiment and total fulfillment of the “written” word!  Only until the 21^st Century Church embraces and accepts both the written and living “words” and written and living “worlds”, can it begin to be effectively united in word and deed.

The Westernized church fights to remain the academic defender of the “original meaning” of the 10 Commandments, like America fight to be the academically defender of the “original meaning of the founding fathers” when molding our Constitution.  The church needs to “live” the 10 Commandments; Americans need to “live” the American dream or ideal.  Without “experiencing” the 10 Commandments or the American Dream in our lives, we never really “own” the vision or purpose of its “original meaning” no matter what that may be!

As teachers in the five fold in the 21^st Century Church, we need to allow those we teach to “own up” to their experiences of their faith in Jesus, not only “expressing” but “living” that faith.  True, that “experience” will be grounded in the written Word, the Bible.

What would you think Sunday mornings “church services” would look like if we unleashed the believers to share their “experiences” in all kinds of forms rather than listening to our academic exegesis on Jesus and other religious topics!  Could we handle a Sunday morning if it became a release time for believers to minister to one another, through one another, sharing with one another traditionally or creatively, than just being a music & sermon lead service?  What if……. Daydream for Jesus!

Retooling: Education Reform In Our Churches?

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

As a public school teacher it hit me this week that No Child Left Behind is killing the creativity of the American student from “experiencing” life and true learning.  We “teach about” subjects, so that they can reiterate correct answers on standardized tests which supposedly judge our worth and effectiveness as educators, but we do not allow the students to “experience” subjects any more.  I am teaching a poetry unit, being pressured by the Administration to teach about “figurative language” because it will be on the P.S.S.A. Test and is a State Standard, so I have vocabulary tests, worksheets, and reading assignments because the P.S.S.A. Test, oops, Assessment, is only TWO weeks away! I must get this material “in” before testing time.  In TWO weeks my students should be able to “reiterate”, “spew forth” the knowledge I gave them “about” figurative language, but in the process they never “experienced” it.  Due to the deadline, we didn’t have time for that!  We must get over all the State Standards prior to testing, for the results supposedly measuring their “Yearly Progress” in an effort to make EVERY student “Proficient”, no matter what academic ability they possess.

This week I had a “monkey wrench” thrown into my fast track of P.S.S.A. data driven lessons; my cousin, Greg Bachman, came in to my classroom, read his original “Poems My Cat Wrote”, explaining that shy people are great poets because they look inward, middle-schoolers are great poets because they know conflict, peer pressure, the power of relationships, topics the general population can relate to, reinforcing that everyone has a poem; they just need to write it down.  Students were fascinated as a poet “shared his personal stories” through the point of view of his cat in his poems, giving practical tips on how to “daydream” in school effectively (a novel concept), and then being “released” to experience the power of allowing that “daydream” to flow onto paper as their own unique poem. They EXPERIENCED Poetry! Not only that, they were “allowed” to daydream in school, something they already did, but to do it in a non-destructive manner. These “daydreamers” became focused because of “experiencing” the lesson.

The shy student blossomed producing powerful similes, majestic metaphors, awesome alliterations, creative forms of onomatopoeia, words that rhymed at the end of the line or in the middle, poems that followed form or broke “free” in verse.  Students, who did not have to recite the definitions of “figurative language” terms, produced figurative language in and through creative forms of poetry.  The P.S.S.A. Tests on Reading or Writing do not have sections for displaying one’s “creative experiences” through the application of figurative language, opting only for multiple-choice questions in an attempt to identify or interpret them.

The Church is not too far away from that model too!  Sermons professionally and formally teach “about” topics; Sunday School lessons basically do the same only through a layman. We talk about topics like “forgiveness”, “prayer”, “loving your neighbor”, the “Cross”, “redemption”, “salvation”, “sanctification”, etc. usually reiterating or spewing scripture passage after scripture passage to “justify” our “knowledge” of the topic so that it appears “Biblically based”.  But after the sermon or class, how many of our students can reiterate or re-spew those scriptures back to us without reading their notes if they took any?  The so called “Bible” teacher hopes their students will “apply” the head knowledge, scripture driven, lesson just taught, but never has a tool for measuring the success or failure of the lesson.  As a teacher we feel good if the lesson is well organized, scripture supported, well presented, and what appears to be well received by our passive listeners who never move and often never flinch when in their chairs.

I propose that the 21^st Century Church has to retool the way it looks at teaching and being a teacher.  We have taught “about” Jesus way too long!  We have taught “about” the Bible way too long! WE NEED TO EXPERIENCE JESUS, EXPERIENCE THE BIBLE!  We need to make the “historical” Jesus the “current” Jesus in my life.  We need to make the written word, the Bible, the living word, the Rhema word!  If our sermons or teachings do not allow our students or parishioners to “experience life in Jesus”, then “we have sinned”, for we have missed the mark! As powerful as reciting scripture is, if all our students, parishioners, can do is spew scripture mechanically but do not “live out” or “experience” those scriptures in their own lives, we have missed the mark. 

Americans are quick to judge the public schools as “failing schools” because of the results on “standardized tests” while “failing” to realized they are killing the creative spirit, the work ethic, the power of problem solving, the spirit and drive to excel that made America great, opting to only focus on the lower end of the bar to make “every student proficient” by what ever date.  Maybe we should also label most American church as “failing churches” because they are killing, or at least minimizing, the desire, nurture, and development of their common believers to “experience” their faith in Jesus, opting for the Western civilizations view of intellectual, academic, education of knowing “about” something rather than “experiencing” something.

I know my students will do well now on their P.S.S.A. test in figurative language, thanks to Greg Bachman, because they have now “experienced” it, “owned” it in their personal lives, and that ownership and experience will translate into the “knowing” the right answers on their test.  As a Church, we need to “experience” our personal faith in Jesus and own up to it before we can even understand corporately what it means to be the body of Christ. As the 21^st Century Church, we need to “experience” Jesus, the Rhema living Word, instead of just reciting the Logos written Word individually and corporately.  We need to quit talking “to” people about Jesus, but allow them to “experience” Jesus! That is the Church’s challenge as teachers for today!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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