The Five Fold Is Already In Your Church; I Sincerely Hope So!

Ways The Church Might Change: Point 10

[In a previous blog I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 10 in the series: God has been reestablishing the evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet, and apostle back into the Church. They are in the Church now!  This generation has to be open to allowing the Holy Spirit to bring them together through submission and releasing one another to operate in their passions, callings, and voices to bring unity to the body of Christ and being effective.]

As you have seen throughout this series, I believe revival in the Church will come through relationships vertically with the Godhead and horizontally among believers while demanding total trust in the Spirit of Jesus Christ to lead the way.   If you have read my series on metamorphosis, you would also know that I believe that the Church is in a time of transformation, a cocoon stage, where the current slow cumbersome caterpillar structure of the Church is being transformed into a complete different structure, a hard shelled resilient structure of a butterfly that will allow it to fly.  The Church is in a period of change, but as members of the Church, the Priesthood of Believers, the Bride of Christ, are we willing to embrace these changes?

One of the changes that is occurring is the reestablishment of the five fold of Ephesians 4 back into the church as passions, gifts, points of view, and voices in individual believers to make them more Christ-like and bring unity within the Church that has not existed for the last 20 centuries.

Every local Christian church needs an evangelistic passion to win the lost and proclaim the message, “You must be born again” of “the water and the spirit”.  With revival is always a powerful movement of new believers in Jesus Christ.  The evangelistic spirit is the spirit of birthing, and every local church needs that spirit in order to grow in number.

Every local Christian church needs a pastoral, shepherding spirit that nurtures, cares, develops, equips, trains, and releases their believers towards ministry, “works of service”.  The evangelist births, but the pastoral/shepherd nurtures these newborns through their spiritual childhood and adolescence to prepare, equip, and train them in Christ-like character development to release them to be able to stand and advance the kingdom of God as mature believers. The pastoral/shepherding spirit is the spirit of development, and every local church needs that spirit in order to grow in character in Christ-likeness.

Every local Christian church needs the teaching spirit. The Word of God, the Bible, is the foundation of all that happens in the Church. Every Christian, without exception, needs someone to help them understand the Word of God for themselves through the tutorage of the Holy Spirit.  Every Christian needs to memorize scripture, exercise the knowledge of knowing or recalling scripture, and bases everything they do upon the Word of God. The teaching spirit sets the foundation for the Church, so every local church needs that spirit in order to stand firm.

Every local Christian church needs the prophetic spirit, the capability to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit for themselves, as well as being able to take the Logos Word, the written Word, the Bible, and make it the Rhema Word, the living Word.  The 1^st Century Church took the Logos Word, what today is known as the Old Testament, and made it the Rehma Word, the living word, as they lived out their new faith and recorded it, thus the New Testament.  The prophetic spirit activates life into the Church, so every local church needs the prophetic spirit to move forward in living out their faith.

Every local Christian church needs the apostolic spirit, the ability to “see” what the Holy Spirit is doing and saying and be obedient to it, the ability to identify giftings in other believers and equip and train them in their Christian development, and the ability to release other believers in their gifting, their calling, their destiny in Jesus Christ.  Instead of administrators in a business sense, the Church needs developers and investors in other Christian believers, people with spiritual parenting skills. The apostolic spirit brings unity, direction, harmony, and stability to the Church, so every local church needs the apostolic spirit for direction and over sight.

Now for the shocking conclusion: I believe all these spirits are already in people in your local congregation. The five fold is already present, seeking to be manifested right among yourself.  All we must do is embrace the Holy Spirit to birth, develop, and release these passions, visions, and points of view among us, the believers in Jesus Christ, the Priesthood of Believers.  They need to be “activated” among the laity in order to be effective. Clergy/laity labels must cease, so all believers in Jesus Christ can be empowered, developed, equipped, and released into their destiny in the kingdom of God.  The key to the next revival is that it will touch “all” believers in Jesus Christ, not just the professionals, nor the old establish believers, nor the chosen few.  It will be a massive world wide movement to remove the “spot and wrinkles” of the Bride, the Church, in preparation for the Groom, Jesus’ return.  It will impact Church structure like no movement in history has, not even the Great Reformation.  I prophesy that the way my great-grandchildren do Church as adults will look nothing like the pew sitting, hymn singing, pulpit preaching church services of my great-grandparents.  Church, if we want REVIVAL, we must be prepared for change, and be open to what the Holy Spirit desires to lift the name of Jesus and establish the Kingdom of God over the entire earth! Revival, come!

Can The Church Trust The Holy Spirit Enough To Have Revival?

10 Ways The Church Might Change: Point 9

[In a previous blog I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 9 in the series: Empowerment by the Holy Spirit will trump positions and offices.  The Holy Spirit fell on ALL, men, women, & children in the Upper Room on Pentecost in fulfillment of the book of Joel.  On that day the royal priesthood of believers was established and the Church, the body of Jesus Christ, was birthed. With revival comes empowerment by the Holy Spirit producing radical change in individual lives and corporate structures.  The only way the Church will see revival is through empowerment by the Holy Spirit.  The Sanhedrin, the Jewish governing body, knew these Galileans, these disciples, were different. They were not educated but were empowered from on high.]

With true revival comes empowerment.  It has been quite a long time since I have attended a spontaneous gathering of believers who have no agenda but to be obedient to the Holy Spirit’s leading, where the Holy Spirit orchestrated the gathering and the direction of their fellowship, worship, and ministry. Gatherings that were highly unpredictable, but created a sense of excitement, a sense of urgency to what the Holy Spirit would say and do through His people.  Even as various spiritual gifts arose during the meeting, there would always be a clear meaning, a crisp direction, a definite theme or message that was pertinent for the group at that time in their spiritual lives. 

No man could orchestrate a gathering like that, but many have tried to recreate it. I recall at Jesus 74, an outdoor Jesus Festival on a farm in Mercer, Pennsylvania, one evening as the keynote speaker was giving the evening message, a thunderstorm was approaching from a distance producing a natural light show. Several campers retrieved their Coleman gas lanterns, fired them up, and laid them in the shape of the Cross on the hillside by the main arena.  It was spontaneous, beautiful, effective, and added to the theme of the evening. The following year the powers that be at Jesus 75 tried to recreate that same atmosphere as they planned and orchestrated candles to be handed out. When properly cued, people were to light them as a plane flew overhead to film the event. At first they handed candles to people who would make up the shape of the Cross, so the Cross would be lit. Then someone changed their mind and wanted the area round the cross area to be lit outlining the dark figure of the Cross.  Soon people were throwing candles in all directions producing confusion, chaos, and igniting tempers.  Finally, upon cue, candles were lit, the plane flew overhead, but the event was never as effective as its predecessor a year earlier because it was man-orchestrated trying to recreate what was Holy Spirit-orchestrated a year earlier.

True revival demands TRUST, TRUST in the Holy Spirit. Most churches are skeptical at what the Holy Spirit will do, because often the Holy Spirit goes outside the bounds of what the church has labeled as normal or acceptable behavior. Revivals are often messy. To prevent that, the church wants to keep “order”; “order” means “control”.  If the Church wants revival, guess who has to be in “control”? The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ!  Jesus is the head of the Church, so the Church has to learn to lose control and give the control back to the head.  “But what happens if…” is the cry I most often hear.  Bottom Line: You need to ask these questions: Who is in control? Can you TRUST the Holy Spirit?

It has been well over a decade since I have attended a meeting that was spontaneously led by the Holy Spirit that was totally unpredictable about what was going to happen but created an excitement of expectancy.  It has almost been that long since I have attended an unplanned, unrehearsed, unorchestrated meeting where the agenda was open and the gifts of the spirit would flow freely among the priesthood of believers, and out of the manifestation of those varied gifts would come a theme, a message.

Now I am not saying that the Holy Spirit is not in today’s congregational church services, for where two or more are gathered, there Jesus is, but I am saying that we now have such preplanned, highly orchestrated, professional sounding and orated presentations called worship services that there is very little time or space allowed for spontaneity by the Holy Spirit through the diversity of the Christians present.  It goes too smoothly, very professionally, and is highly predictable.  Churches with multiple weekend services feature genetically the same format for all services, even down to the exact sermon preached and music sang. Everything is so predictable; there is no room for spontaneity buy the laity.

True revival is lead by believers in Jesus Christ who are willing to listen to the Holy Spirit and are obedient to what they are told, no matter how ridiculous it may sound.  It does not have to be led by high church offices or a professional staff, only by anyone willing to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is incharge and is looking for willing, obedient vessels through which to speak and minister.

What the spirit of revival is looking for is willing vessels who will allow themselves to be empowered by Jesus Christ to perform whatever the Holy Spirit asks them to do.  It can be men, women, and even children. All it takes is a willingness and an openness to be “empowered from on high”, just like Jesus’ disciples were during and following their Pentecost experience.  Holy Spirit come; Holy Spirit empower your believers!

How Prepared Is The Church?

 10 Ways The Church Might Change:

Point 5 – Part 2

[In previous blogs I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 5 in the series: Church offices will be replaced by leadership built on relationships, not position.  Because of what one does, will one be respected or rejected. This will not be based on works, but on grace, mercy, and obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Leadership will be established by those who are willing to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and be obedient to that voice.]

I believe that revival in the 21^st Century Church will demand leadership built on relationship among the local brethren. That was also the pattern of the 1^st Century Church.  Paul, listening to the direction of the Holy Spirit, was lead to a city to evangelize or proclaim the gospel or “Good News” of redemption of Jesus Christ to a dying and degenerate world.  With new converts, Paul then led them through teaching and personal modeling in this new Christian lifestyle of “holiness”, “righteousness”, and walking in faith, grace, mercy, and acceptance that was foreign to their old ways of life and surrounding culture.  As they grew in this faith journey with Jesus led by the Holy Spirit, Paul then trained and equipped them for leadership, so when he left their area, they could stand on their own and grow in faith and in numbers.  He never controlled them, only equipped, trained, and encouraged them in their growing faith, in their studying of the Word of God which where Old Testament Scriptures, and relying on the Holy Spirit to interpret those in light of this new Christian culture for Jews and gentiles.

Can you image how grateful the Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Galatians were to their inbreed leadership who were trained and equipped by Paul and other visiting apostles like Barnabas, Apollos, and Timothy for leading them into the knowledge of the salvation of their souls through the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross and the power of his resurrection, for developing, training, and equipping them to walk a life worthy of Christ Jesus, and release them into the gifting of the Holy Spirit for their personal growth and the edification of the entire body of believers? 

I know that my wife and I have been spiritual parents to three sets of youth throughout our lives.  They still call us Mamma B & Poppa B, but it gives us great pleasure to see their spiritual growth now that they are adults.  They have deep respect for us, and that respect is reciprocal as they continue to grow in Christ.  As spiritual parents, it is hard to describe the satisfaction of seeing the fruit of your investment. I can understand Paul’s letters to those he has trained and equipped as he sees them grow in their leadership skills.

When there is a revival, there is immediate growth, and often the need for leadership is great.  The proper training and equipping of the saints prior to a revival is a necessity, for once revival starts, there is no time for training because so much happens so quickly.  When the cause of evangelism begins to produce new babes in the Lord, those with leadership skills in properly nurturing and care, pastoral skills, are needed to develop and walk out this faith journey with these new converts.  As they grow, they needed grounded in the Word, thus the need for leaders with teaching skills. They need direction, guidance, and to learn to know the voice of the Holy Spirit and how to be obedient on their own, thus the need for a prophet.  Finally, there is a need for someone to pull it all together, to bring together the efforts of the evangelist, pastor, teacher, and prophet for the purpose of spiritual growth and unity in the body of Christ, thus the apostle. 

In a day where many are leaving the professional ministry due to burnout, the Church needs to reevaluate how it trains leaders and for what purpose if they truly want to see and be a part of revival.  The laity, the saints, need to be drawn out of their passive modes that we have enabled with, and train them for the works of service.  Then the Church will be ready for revival.

I truly believe that the Church as a whole has not yet seen revival because it is not ready for it. “Prepare ye the way” is a strong Biblical theme throughout the Bible.  The way is “prepared” before the major event occurs.  John, the Baptist, was the forerunner of the Messiah, “preparing the way”. The Church, the Bride of Christ, is to be without “spot and wrinkle” in preparation for the Groom’s, Jesus’, return.  I believe the Church is in a season of “preparation”, so that will require change.  Change in the way we train leadership; change in the way we worship together; change in our leadership structure; change in how we do “body” ministry; and change in our attitudes toward Christian brethren who do not practice their faith exactly the same way we do.

What is the Church going to do during this transitional time of preparation?  Are they going to continue their current attitude of doing nothing while clinging to past traditions, or are they going to embrace change no matter how radical it may look.

When, not it, world-wide revival hits, the Church needs to have prepared evangelists, pastors, teachers, prophets, and apostles by equipping them and releasing them to serve.  It is a monumental task, but world-wide revival is a monumental event. It is the event that will unify the church while removing its “spots and wrinkles” in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the ultimate world-wide revival.

The Christian Dilemma: Relationships Versus Religion

 10 Ways The Church Might Change:

Point 5 – Part I

[In previous blogs I have outlined 10 possible changes the Church may face in the future. This is point 5 in the series: Church offices will be replaced by leadership built on relationships, not position.  Because of what one does, will one be respected or rejected. This will not be based on works, but on grace, mercy, and obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Leadership will be established by those who are willing to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and be obedient to that voice.]

“The Word of the Lord”, the voice, is greater than the messenger.  “The Word of the Lord” can be written, as in the Bible, or spoken, as in a sermon, a testimony, or a prophetic utterance.  The message is always more important than the messenger. Ask John the Baptist who is “least in the kingdom of God” according to scripture, yet he was the messenger of a profound message ushering in the Messiah, the Priestly King, the Son of God.  The same is with relationship in relation to leadership in the kingdom of God. The relationship is more important than any office or position.

Even though Jesus built relationships with each of his twelve disciples, they had trouble at first understanding this principle, for they wanted to know who would be positioned on Jesus’ left and right when establishing rank in the kingdom of God.  Positioning of rank is secondary in comparison to the relationship one has with the person.  Your relationship to Jesus Christ is always more important than any position you hold in his kingdom or in church, yet we have twisted that principle when it comes to church leadership.  In our current church structure position and influence based on profession and offices trump relationships. Church “boards” are often composed of people with job positions and titles: ie. elders, deacons, pastors, pastoral staff, etc.  Often “boards” do not function out of relationships as brethren in Christ, but out of politics by position.  Church politics supersede the washing of one another’s feet when it comes to church business meetings. Like the Jewish Sanhedrin of old, they often become instruments of passing judgment rather than extending grace. I know; I have attended and been part of them on both the passing and the receiving of judgment!

I believe the 21^st Century Church will be confronted by the Holy Spirit on how it conducts it’s “business”. American churches often follow American business models when conducting church budget operating out of projected budgets rather than having “storehouses” (Malachi 3:10). Almost every local church seems to always be begging for money to meet its budget rather than operating fiscally from a “storehouse” mentality. Joseph’s recorded wisdom of storing 7 years of plenty for seven years of famine not only saved the Egyptian empire but made it great and powerful. A large part of many church budgets go toward financing staff and building maintenance. Benevolence and missions has remained only a small percentage of most church budgets.  Often we have treated benevolence and missions as a tithing, only 10% of the budget for things outside our institutional needs.  The way a church conducts its business tell a lot about its ministry.

Twice I have been part of a small home church where almost all of our tithing went to benevolences and missions since we had no staff nor building.  We bought “underwear” as Christmas gifts for the needy families in our group.  Because we had “relationships” with them on an everyday basis, we knew their needs, not only spiritually but physically.  “Relationships” were central to all we did or accomplished since we had not become an “organization” or an “institution” with “institutional needs”. 

I grew up at New Fairview Church of the Brethren where the “free ministry” of seven uncompensated “elders” with lifetime commitments lead their congregation. Their commitment not based on monetary pay has allowed their congregation to give large portions of their finances to benevolent needs and missions, and I have never heard of their leadership ever being in need. The only difference between their leadership and those professional “pastors” in their denomination is pay and benefits.  Another difference is in respect.  New Fairview people respect their leaders because they have committed their lives and ministry to them physically and spiritually for life.  There is consistency in leadership because it is home grown, built on relationships, with a lifetime commitment.  They do not have a “professional” change in leadership every five to ten years. Their change comes upon the death of older elders, and a “calling” of new leadership from amongst their ranks.

In the next blog we will continue to look at this theme in light of the 21^st Century Church

The Need For The Apostolic To Provide True Revival!

10 Ways The Church Might Change:

Point 4 – Part 2

[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.]

I believe that the “apostolic” is the ability to “see over what the Holy Spirit is already doing!”  It is seeing “the big picture” of the Church as a whole.  It is not the apostle that is bringing the “big picture” together, for he does not “oversee” by controlling it; he just has the privilege of “seeing over” what is already happening by the Leading of the Holy Spirit before his eyes and helping to facilitate that picture through releasing others in the Body of Christ towards its fulfillment.  Any believer in Jesus Christ can be apostolic in vision, passion, and point of view if their heart’s cry is the Church as a whole, as a body, as a total functioning entity. 

The 21^st Century Christian with an apostolic leaning will have to be above the fray of sectarian divisions within the body of Christ over doctrine, theology, and traditions.  Saul, later named Paul, who was a Pharisee of Pharisees, a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Religion’s governing body, who debated against the Sadducees, another Jewish sect, had to be reprogrammed, rewired, re-theologized by the Holy Spirit upon his conversion to Christianity in order to have the proper apostolic vision that he would need to take the gospel to the gentiles. Those 21^st Century Christians with an apostolic view, passion, and point of view are currently under the same scrutiny that Saul/Paul faced in his time.

Although this infant first century Church looked upon itself almost as another Jewish sect with Jesus not only as its leading rabbi but Messiah, it took Paul challenging them with apostolic insight at the Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15) for them to recognize the error in their theology toward gentiles, repenting, and not only accepting gentiles but writing letters of encouragement towards their progress.  “Circumcision” was the issue debated in the first century Church, not just tolerance, but “acceptance” of gentiles (people unlike themselves) was the key to the Church’s massive growth after their decision.  The Church has gone from a Jewish sect to basically a major gentile religion.  Today the church must not be just tolerant of other Christian sects, but “accepting” of them as brethren if the 21^st Century Church is to move forward in unity, power, and purpose.  That message of “unconditional acceptance” among brethren is an apostolic theme for today! In fact the 21^st Century apostle takes it further: I John 3:16: You know love by this that you lay down your life for your brethren.  The 21^st Century apostolic teaching will be about “laying down your life for your brethren” just as Jesus did for us on the Cross.

So part of the World-Wide-Revival of the Church in the 21^st Century will be the restoration of the apostolic passion, vision, and point of view, re-establishing apostolic doctrine to bring unity in the Body of Christ, the Church, to fulfill Jesus’ own Priestly Prayer of John 16 before he was to return to his Father in heaven.  “Seeing” the workings of the Holy Spirit toward that fulfillment will be the joy of the 21^st Century Christians with an apostolic calling on his/her lives.

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!

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!

Can The “Church” Face Change?

10 Ways The Church Might Change!

When birthed, the Church appeared as another Jewish Sect with a rabbi, Jesus, whose teachings they adored, but the winds of the Holy Spirit led the Pharisee of Pharisee, Saul, renamed Paul, to take the gospel to the gentiles, and today the Church is primarily a gentile religion and to the Jew a cult.  The Church was originally centered in the Middle East, then in Rome, but today is universal. It has been interpreted through Jewish eyes, Westernized eyes, and today through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. It started in Jerusalem, and like technology, it has gone world wide. The Church has faced change, and is about to do so again as it truly functions globally rather than regionally.

What might some of these changes look like? Here are some that I foresee:

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.

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!

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.

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.

Church offices will be replaced by leadership built on relationships, not position.  Because of what one does, will one be respected or rejected. This will not be based on works, but on grace, mercy, and obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Leadership will be established by those who are willing to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and be obedient to that voice.

Plurality will replace individualism.  The New Testament emphasizes “the priesthood of believers”.  No where does it edify the individual priest (except Jesus as our High Priest). In America, we emphasis the Bill of Rights, the rights of each individual, but that is not the case in the Bible.  In the kingdom of God we have no “rights”. We under the loyal service, the Lorship, of our King and High Priest, Jesus Christ, thus a member of a “royal priesthood”.  Instead we live under the “grace” and “mercy” of our Lord Jesus Christ, always “serving” others.  The Great Commission is always outward, not inward.  Change is coming in the way the Church understands the doctrine of “the priesthood of believers”.

“Laying Down One’s Life”, vertically in our relationship to God and horizontally in our relationship with each other, is central to the gospel. On the Cross, Jesus “laid down his life” for us!  On the Cross, we must “lay down our life” for God and for each other.  Without understanding this principle, we cannot function in plurality, nor as a priesthood, nor as an unified body. 

“To obey is better than sacrifice” the Bible says.  We need to learn and exercise “sacrifice” in our Christian lives and learn to exercise “obedience” to what the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, the Bible, is saying to us as believers.  America’s churches today live in abundance, losing the essence of the principle of sacrifice. America’s churches need to learn “obedience”, not only to the written Word of God, the Logos, the Bible, but to the living Word of God, the Rhema, through the Holy Spirit.

Empowerment by the Holy Spirit will trump positions and offices.  The Holy Spirit fell on ALL, men, women, & children in the Upper Room on Pentecost in fulfillment of the book of Joel.  On that day the royal priesthood of believers was established and the Church, the body of Jesus Christ, was birthed. With revival comes empowerment by the Holy Spirit producing radical change in individual lives and corporate structures.  The only way the Church will see revival is through empowerment by the Holy Spirit.  The Sanhedrin, the Jewish governing body, knew these Galileans, these disciples, were different. They were not educated but were empowered from on high. 

God has been reestablishing the evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet, and apostle back into the Church. They are in the Church now!  This generation has to be open to allowing the Holy Spirit to bring them together through submission and releasing one another to operate in their passions, callings, and voices to bring unity to the body of Christ and being effective.

Change is in the future. The question is: How will the Church respond?  If they listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit, exciting days are ahead. In the next 10 blogs we will look at these 10 points more in detail.

Is An Interactive Driven Church Service Even A Possibility In Today’s Church Environment?

Have We Become Puppets On A String?

Currently:  Sunday morning Christian church services “enable” those attending: You are given a bulletin of “programs” and “up coming events” when entering; see audio visuals projected of “programs” and “upcoming events” on huge screens in the foyer and/or in the sanctuary; are “cued” when the service begins with music by a professional sounding worship team; told by the worship leader when to stand and when to sit; told what to sing through projected words; because of the “audio mix”, you can choose to sing or not because no one will know if you are singing due to the volume of the professionals singing and playing; are told to sit when the worship leader deems worship has ended; exhorted to financially give to support the staff, the programs, and the system as a continual act of worship; have someone give announcements of “programs” and “upcoming events” because the staff does not believe you read your bulletin nor read the projected announcements; are expected to quietly soak in a professionally developed and delivered sermon which requires no feedback pn your part, so you may actually tune out the speaker if you wish or cat nap as some have been known for doing; asked to respond to selected trained members of a prayer or counseling team in front of the church, join in singing a closing song, or chose to leave the premises.

This is what is required of you to be part of a Christian church service in America today. You do not have to bring your Bible for there is either one under your chair or pew or scriptural references projected as outlined in the sermon to justify the senior pastor’s points.  Even if you brought your Bible, there will be no outlet for you to read it aloud or share from it like the pastor or staff will do for you. You do not have to pray, for the senior pastor or a staff member may do that for you during the service, or a prayer team will take care of that before or after the service.  You do not have to sing, but if you do, all is scripted for you, played loud enough so you might blend in with the background singers if you sing loud enough. You are required to come prepared for one thing: the offering, to give “unto the Lord” to support the professional staff and facilities that is producing for you such a glorious professional production.

What do you learn from this experience? You learned what songs the worship leaders like and the interpretation and theology of the Senior Pastor who delivers the sermon. That nothing is required from you if it does not have financial connections. That the voice of the commoner sitting in the audience or congregation is not important, for you will never hear that voice. You have no idea what their spiritual journey’s story is nor what they theologically believe.  There is no interaction among one another beyond social surface greetings, for you may not see one another again for week. 

We have become reduced to puppets on a string.

What would happen if those who came to the Sunday Morning Christian church service were accountable for daily Bible reading and quiet devotional times during the week, and actually tried to hear the small voice of the Holy Spirit to teach them when reading their Bible and for direction in their lives? If given an outlet to voice what they have read, heard, and understood in place of a professionally delivered sermon, church would begin to be personal and relational.  What if those who are musically or artistically gifted sang, drew, or created during the week? If given an outlet to sing, draw, and create on Sunday, anticipation for creativity by the Holy Spirit may become the norm for a church service.  What if “programs” and “up coming” events were not announced, but instead “relationships” shared by the people attending, sharing their spiritual salvation and sanctification journeys with each other.  You might just now know what spiritual life exists in the members of “body of Christ” who are attending. What would happen if those attending would begin praying for one another on a personal and corporate level, laying hands on one another, releasing one’s faith towards each other? What ministry would that create?  What would happen if community were developed instead of weekly “programs” and “up coming events”, so that the members of the body would intermingle with each other daily or throughout the week, and Sunday morning would only be a corporate sharing time of what was happening amongs them six other days of the week.

“Oh,” comes the cry, “but there must be order. There would be no order,” is the fear! Order through fear of losing control shows lack of FAITH in the leading of the Holy Spirit by those in leadership. Bottom Line: Who is in control here? God has given “gifts” to “see over” what the Holy Spirit is leading and doing when God’s people gather, instead of man’s control through “offices” “overseeing" what is happening to establish order instead of freeing the Holy Spirit and their congregation to worship.

Whose service is it? Really, the Senior Pastor’s, his staff, and the worship leaders, or is it the people of God’s who have assembled together?  “Where two or three are gathered, there I AM.” God, the I AM, is in the midst of His people, so let’s allow Him to manifest Himself there! That is His desire! That is His plan!  If we truly want to worship God, let’s give Him His desire: to be manifested among His people.

So I ask, “Is an interactive driven church service even a possibility in today’s church environment?”

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. 

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”.

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.

WHERE DOES YOUR LOYALTY LIE - WHAT HAPPENS IN A COCOON?

Caterpillar to Butterfly: Loyalty Lies In Submission To The System– TO – Loyalty Lies In “Laying Down Your Life For Your Brethren”.

From Caterpillar to Cocoon to Butterfly – Part XV

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: Loyalty lies in submission to the system (caterpillar) TO Loyalty lies in “laying down your life for your brethren” (butterfly).

Caterpillar: My parent’s generation was very loyal to their denomination.  You could find a Methodist church on one corner, a Lutheran church on another, and a Presbyterian church on yet another.  Never did the three meet together, and every church “member” remained loyal to their denomination.  Though not as strong as in the past, there is still a loyalty toward one’s local congregation.   Loyalty coincided with “membership”, with belonging.  To be a part of the system, denomination, religious group you had to accept their belief system of theology, adhere to their code of conduct, and attend the systems functions regularly in order to “belong”, to “feel accepted”, to “be a part of that group or family.” If you did that, you were a “loyal” follower or member.

Butterfly:  To the butterfly generation, loyalty means more than just attending service, participating in programs and activities, reciting the tenants of faith, or following dress codes or proper church social etiquette; it means building relationships with those in one’s fellowship circles and beyond.  Although surface relationships may be at first acceptable and beneficial, it demands a deeper commitment of relationship to the point of not only tolerating one another, accepting one another, to laying down one’s life for one another.  In a five fold model, one will “lay down his/her passion, point of view, or spiritual gift” to “serve” those with different passions, points of view, or gifting than theirs as well as receive gratefully from the others. This reciprocal giving and taking in love and service will build up tremendously deep relationships.

Differences: Loyalty through systems will produce works, and works produce Pharisees (see previous blog); loyalty through relationships forces one to die to themselves and live for others as well as receive from others.  There are no Lone Rangers or Pharisees in these relationships because they are linear, horizonal relationships with peers, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.  You can be loyal to a system, but you will soon discover that the system may not be loyal to you; while if based on relationships, built on laying down one’s life for their brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, the reciprocated love returns to develop even deeper, longer, and more meaningful relationships.

Implications Today:  Corporate America demands loyalty to the system and those above you in this pyramidal structure of business when “taking care of business”, but when “downsizing” occurs, often the system is not loyal to its employees, releasing them, not “taking care of them”.  The bottom of the structure that is doing the work is to be loyal to the top, yet the very existence of those at the very bottom can be in jeopardy when faced with the bottom line: efficiency to produce profit for the system. There is no linear loyalty in a pyramidal system where you have to compete and back stab your peers to get to higher paying, elevated positions of power in the corporation.  This system breeds mistrust among peers.  The butterfly generation is building relationships linear, as peers, as equals, not in competition but in communication.  As this linear communication grows, so does the commitment level toward one another, as relationships grow stronger, deeper, more trustworthy, until one is ready to “lay down their life” in that commitment.  Marriage is a good example: today in corporate America we are losing what “laying down your life” for your wife or husband means, thus an enormously high divorce rated with children being groomed in single parent and step parent homes.  Hope for marriage as an institution can grow with this linear, horizontal relationship of total sacrifice of “laying down one’s life” producing solid, long lasting relationships in marriage.

Conclusion:  Bottom line: Where does your loyalty lie” in your work, in your church life, or in your marriage?  Does it lie in the institution where you work, the religious institution you attend, or in the institution of marriage, or does it lie in the relationship with those you work with, those you worship with, and the one whom you are committed in marriage with?  As a Church we have to realize how important relationships are compared to institutions and systems.  The church is all about relationships, yet we have institutionalized them.  Church is going through a structural metamorphosis from systematic institutions to relational and will see that loyalty will be shifting from institutional to relational.

DEVELOPMENT: PAHRISEES OR DISCIPLES - WHAT HAPPENS IN A COCOON?

Caterpillar to Butterfly: Developing “Pharisees” – TO – Developing Disciples

From Caterpillar to Cocoon to Butterfly – Part XIV

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: Develops “Pharisees” (caterpillar) TO Develops Disciples (butterfly).

Caterpillar: I must confess: “I am a recovering Pharisee!”  I truly believe that the longer you are in a religious system, you can’t help but become a Pharisee of that system.  A Pharisee is one who becomes a zealot of their religious faith, who does “everything right” according to their religious code, and takes their religion seriously, effecting every area of their life.  I grew up as a church kid, active in the church youth group, went to a church sponsored college, and have been active in many different ministries in my life. Jesus’ most severe criticisms were directed to the “church” people of is day, the Pharisees, comparing them to infected yeast. (See earlier blogs)  Pharisees fervently supports a religious system. They appear squeaky clean; Jesus called them “white washed tombs”. 

Butterfly:  Jesus chose twelve uneducated men from different secular trades to train and develop into what would be the foundation of his kingdom.  For three years he built a relationship with them, training them, nurturing them, instructing them, and revealing His Father to them.  They become known as his disciples, his followers.  Every good rabbi had a following of disciples.  Amazingly, when push came to shove, with Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion, they fled with Peter actually denying that he knew him.  After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, He sent His Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit transformed 12 disciples into apostles who would “see over” what the Holy Spirit was about to do.  After the four gospels, the next book is the “Acts of the Apostles”, recording the actions of the apostles as they followed the leading of the Holy Spirit.  This would be the pattern of this newly birthed church built on relationships vertically with the Father, through Jesus Christ, by the leading of the Holy Spirit, and horizontally among the believers of Jesus Christ, the Church.

The Differences: Again, the difference between the two is established in where one’s loyalty lies: in an institution or in relationships with others.  Pharisees are zealots about what they believe, think, and do.  They are driven to follow the law or code of their group to achieve acceptance of advancement.  Saul, the Pharisee of Pharisees, had followed every Jewish code possible and even lead the zealous crusade to rid Judaism of this new “sect”. That would all change when he literally gets knocked of his horse, and meets Jesus. With that relationship, his life is changed, and the rest of his life is now dedicated to his vertical relationship with God and his horizontal relationship with the other believers in Jesus.

Implications Today:  How did I know when I became a Pharisee?  When I became defensive, justifying my every action and belief. I always believed my way of thinking was the correct way.  When the Holy Spirit brought it to my attention, my first defensive response was, “prove it to me.”   We care not to admit it, but today’s church is filled with Pharisees who follow their church codes to a tee and are zealous for what they believe.  Listen to Christian radio some time, and you will hear dozens of different preachers all preaching their own doctrine, some times the opposite of one another.  Pharisees nurture division just by their words, attitudes, and actions.  The Church will never be united, one body, as long as the Pharisees get their way. 

Conclusion:  Where is your loyalty: to the religious institution to which you belong or to relationships with the priesthood of believers?  Pharisees always line up with their institution’s guidelines and code of conduct, yet they were the targets of Jesus’ most severe criticisms.  He attacked their mindsets and established traditions calling them “traditions of man.”  On the other hand, the priesthood of believers is all about equality of position and influence, linear, horizontal relationships where one believer has to “lay down his life for his brethren”, another believer.  Pharisees never lay down anything, only defend what they are holding on to!  Are we willing to lay down our traditions, our past, and our very lives, those things we hold on to, at the altar, at the feet of Jesus, before our very brethren for the sake of relationships that the Lord wants to establish in our individual lives and corporately as a priesthood?