DownshoreDrift

Church as Organic Collaboration vs. Hierarchical Institution

Gateway is starting a community garden this Spring. The purpose is to grow food for the people who participate in it and have enough left over to give to the poor through our food pantry and other venues. But, I have another reason for it. I hope that it will be living metaphor for how the church is to function and through participating in it, we will learn more about God, each other, the church, and our relationship to the world. God has called us to co-labor with Him and to help steward the earth. We see the original mandate in Genesis 1:26-28 and our experience here on this planet is to be lived in an ever growing relationship with God and others as we find ways to be creative, reflect His glory, and display His beauty. Of course, Sin introduced weeds and thistles and blight and pests into God's Creation, but Christ has come to relcaim the land and to establish His Kingdom through His life, death, and resurrection. Spring is the time of year that we think about resurrection and fruitfulness and sowing and reaping. So, we are planting a garden and I think that the garden is an apt metahpor for the church as we live as the people of God.

I have heard a lot about how the church is to operate like a Fortune 500 company with a CEO and business plans and organizational and leadership strategies. We go to the Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit every year and that is pretty much the value system articulated there. I like a lot of this because I believe in planning and structure and goals and organization. We make a mistake when the think that "organic" means "nebulous."  Nature has structure - highly complex structure, actually. So, The Garden metaphor for church is not opposed to structure and organization and planning. It actually requires it. But, the mistake that a lot of people make is that they try to either drive the church like a herd of cattle or they fossilize the church like a statue to preserve it so stays the same and can withstand the changing nature of culture. The correct response, I think, is to position the church in a way that it can grow, adapt, transform, and reflect what God is doing both in the church and in the community and culture.

Last night, we had a small group leaders training meeting and I told them that THEY were the front lines of ministry for our church. They would be the ones who would be aware of what God was doing in people's lives, what the challenges were, and where the ministry opportunities were found. They could lead, initiate, and spontaneously reproduce. They are to collaborate together to engage in the Misson of God as they sacrificially love God and people everywhere they go. How they do that is basically up to them. Our church is healthy when we have branches growing in many different directions as the Spirit leads and produces fruit. But, when a branch doesn't bear fruit or ceases to produce life, it is probably time for us to put our energy elsewhere. Jesus is the Gardener and He prunes us where we need pruninng and He directs us where we need to go as He positions us to offer gifts to God and the world.

So, I like the Garden metaphor and I look forward to what we will learn together in this experience. I think that we will gain insight into Jesus' ways of living as we work together, sacrifice, stick our hands in the ground, and plant, water, wait, and harvest. I think that the church looks more like a Garden than an assembly line.

 Plus, I really like fresh tomatoes.   

Why Christians SHOULD Be Involved in Politics

Over the years, I have advocated a position that I call Prophetic vs. Political when it comes to a Christian's relationship with the political realm. What I have meant by that is that Christians should not be beholden to a political party or be involved in grasping after power on this earth, even if they think that they can use it for good purposes. Having worldly power in the temporal sphere almost always happens through worldly means and eventually, corruption is the result. The Christian siding with one political party or another is eventually led down the road of compromise as his allegiance is used for whatever the Party wants to do. So, I have advocated a Prophetic stance. What I mean by that is that Christians should affirm righteousness wherever it is found and should denounce evil and injustice wherever it is found - no matter which party is doing either right or wrong. We see this when John the Baptist denounced Herod's immorality and when the prophets of Israel called the Hebrew Kings to account for the evil that they tolerated and promoted in turning against God and oppressing the poor and powerless. The Church is to be Salt and Light (Matthew 5:13-16) and we do that best when we are independent of political party allegiances, but we are engaging our Prophetic role.

But, I want to revise this a bit. Being Prophetic does not mean that we eschew the Political arena. "Politics" comes from the Greek word "Politikos" and it means, "of, or relating to citizens" and it applies to the art or science of running government. Politics is simply how a society organizes and governs itself. It involves how a society makes decisions, what it declares to be right and wrong, how it takes care of its members, and how it develops a vision of who/what it is and what the future will look like. Politics involves decisions on justice and economics and how the poor and vulnerable will be treated and how order will be created and preserved in society. These are all important issues and they are all things that are addressed in Scripture. Christians should be a part of making these decisions and, even though we live in a society that does not recognize Biblical truth as authoritative, we should be "Salt and Light" and work to bring the ethics of the Kingdom of God into every area of life, leavening the loaf with the yeast of God's Truth, as it were (Matt. 13:33). Salt gives flavor and preserves meat, keeping it from decay. Light illuminates so we can see where we are going and so we do not wander around in darkness. Christians are to give flavor, to preserve and keep from decay, and to guide the way into the right direction. We are not to dominate or coerce or force our views upon others - rather, we are to be ambassadors another Kingdom - the Kingdom of God which is not of this world (John 18:36).

The way of Jesus is the Way of the Cross. This means that we are willing to suffer and die and lay down our lives for others. We are not trying to grasp power so we can use it to force others to do what we think they should do. Jesus could have taken over the world with a snap of his fingers and turned us all into robots. But, He did not. He came and suffered and died for us, taking the place of a servant, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death on a Cross (Phil. 2:5-8) so He could be our salvation.  So, the way of Jesus is the way that we are to represent Him in the world.  In this, we are called to be witnesses (Acts 1:8).  We are to witness to the Good News of Jesus Christ, which involves not only how we get to heaven when we die, but also involves how we live here on earth (see Matthew 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount for starters). The political arena is a place where we can witness to the truth of Jesus and where we display where our hope lies. Politics is where we talk about life and death and everything in between and Jesus has something to say about that.  He is not just concerned with life eternal, but He also speaks into how we can live life now, and Christians have a prophetic role in witnessing to society the character of God as sovereign over all things. But, we must tread carefully.

We must do this without thinking that getting society to reflect Godly priniciples is going to solve things. We cannot get the Kingdom to come by force or by getting a law passed or by cleaning up corruption. We stand for justice and peace because that is how we witness to who Jesus is. As Stanley Hauerwas once said, as His followers, we can imagine no other way to live. He is the God of Justice. He is the Prince of Peace. But, we know that the heart is wicked and we know what is in a man. We know that we cannot "reclaim America for God" through the political sphere because only when a man's heart is transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ can anyone be changed. Law does not bring change. It only reveals and punishes sin and shows us what righteousness is. We still need the Gospel to bring real change and the proclamation of the Gospel is our great mandate. Salvation only comes through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, not in establishing moral law.  

But, as Christians who are also citizens, we have a role to play in our society. We reflect Godly ways and we bring fairness and ethics and justice with us wherever we go. We reflect mercy and humility and we care for the poor and the weak and the oppressed (Micah 6:8; Isaiah 58; Matthew 25:31-46). In our role as citizens, we witness to the ethic of Jesus' Kingdom and we call upon our social, political, and economic structures to reflect this reality - not because we think that we can usher in some kind of utopia, but because this is part of how we witness to who God is. How does the world know that God is a God of Justice who cares for the poor and punishes the corrupt and the evil doer? Not just because we read those passages in the Bible, but because we, as His people, reflect this attitude in society now and the political realm is one place that we can reflect God's character because it is the place that we all decide together how we are going to live.

Political discussions are ultimately spiritual discussions because they deal with meaning and how we best live life on this planet. Every time we talk or think about politics, we are talking about truth and justice and how we live and organize ourselves. Christians should speak into this with great hope and imagination. All people everywhere are asking the worldview quesitons of who/what is ultimate reality, who/what is man, what is wrong with the world, and how do we fix it? These spiritual questions are what world religions seek to answer, but they are also the questions that we try to answer through our politics. Christians know how to answer these questions. The political realm is just one more arena to witness to the truth of God and we should not shy away from it even when we place no faith in it at all - even when we are persecuted for doing so, because when we are persecuted for righteousness' sake, we are also blessed (Matthew 5:10-12).

Lifeway's Blindside, Cultural Engagement, and Control

A few weeks ago, Lifeway Christian Stores made the decision to pull the movie, The Blind Side, from its shelves because of the protestations of a Florida pastor over some crude language in the film in one of its scenes depicting the urban life that the main character, Michael Oher, was living in at the time that he was found by the Tuohy family. I saw the movie and understood the scene and what was being depicted. There were also warning labels on the movie at Lifeway. But, some people thought that a Christian book store should not be selling it, apparently believing that the depiction of rough urban life was stronger than the message of redemption, adoption, sacrifice, and faith that the entire movie was about. Interesting.

Eric Metaxas, author of Amazing Grace and Bonhoeffer took Lifeway to task for pulling the movie from its shelves saying,

The film’s offense, according to a Florida pastor who started the campaign to have LifeWay stores pull the DVD, is that the movie contains “explicit profanity, God's name in vain, and racial slurs.” It doesn’t seem to matter that the objectionable language is used to depict the palpably unpleasant world from which the young black man, Michael, was rescued by his adoptive family.

What seems to matter to this pastor is that if we “tolerate” the presence of this movie in Christian bookstores, our children and grandchildren will “embrace” this kind of behavior. I’m not making this up – this is the exact reason given by the pastor. And frankly, I think it’s insane. I saw the movie myself. I even let my 12-year old daughter see it. That’s because it is a great film and I recommend it highly.

But sadly, LifeWay caved in and removed the “offensive” discs from their shelves.

For outsiders looking in, the moral of the story is that “there is no pleasing Christians. They always seem to be looking for something to be mad about.”

We complain about the calumnies and caricatures of Christians on the big screen; and then, when an Academy-Award winning film shows us at our very best, we complain that scenes depicting harsh, inner-city reality are too true to life!

We are, in effect, making our participation contingent on all our possible objections being met beforehand. Since there are many people who would be happy if we stayed within our cultural and religious ghettos, it’s difficult to imagine how we Christians can hope to be taken seriously in cultural discussions and debates with this kind of an approach.

Concerns about the language in the film also miss the larger point: what made the Tuohys—the family depicted in the film—such great Christian exemplars wasn’t their non-use of profanity; it was their willingness to reach out and embrace someone in need.

If we Christians can’t get this, then maybe we really should refrain from commenting on culture in the first place.

I agree with Metaxas' critique. Movies like The Blind Side and Soul Surfer are exactly the kinds of movies that Christians need to embrace in the culture because they show how Christian families handle difficult circumstances in a Christ-like, redemptive way. They are also mostly true and therefore, realistic. They deal with difficult things and show how Christians can handle trouble in a different way from the world. I think that Lifeway made a mistake here.

But, I want to give another perspective on this.  While I don't think that Lifeway should have caved to the demands of this pastor, I also want to shed some light on the cultural situation among Southern Baptists. We were heading to a convention where all kinds of strange resolutions and arguments have the potential to be brought up on the floor. Lifeway leadership responded to the protest by saying that they did not want the focus of the convention to be on this and they were hoping to just avoid the controversy - so they pulled the movie ahead of time. Instead of being satisfied, Pastor Rodney Baker of Hopeful Baptist Church in Lake City, FL, decided he was going to bring the resolution anyway to make a statement about the future. Instead of being happy that his concerns were heard, he wanted more. What does this tell us? It tells me that there is an attitude of dissatisfaction within Southern Baptist life in particular, and Evangelicalism in general, that is almost impossible to appease. It is not enough that you listen to our demands. You also need to know the rules for the future and don't cross them.  Lifeway tried to head this off and it did not work. I seriously doubt that they will make the same mistake in the future. At least I hope they won't.

But, the larger issue is that a statement was made that this movie is somehow inappropriate for Christians to watch and Lifeway went along with that statement. That is the bigger problem. We have a lot of serious problems in our culture, but this movie actually tried to show Christians giving their lives away to help someone in need. After seeing the movie, I wanted to show it to every women's ministry in Alabama. We need Christian families to engage the problems in our culture, to take in neglected and abandoned kids, to give hope where there is little, and to help bring redemption instead of constantly separating from the pain and alienation around us. We need to stop running away and being cowards. The Tuohy's gave hope to Michael Oher by sacrificing their lives and comfort and entering into his situation. I am glad that Jesus was not afraid to enter into our pain, but incarnated Himself into our world. The Blind Side shows how Christians can do that and it is a message that all of us need to pay attention to, especially affluent Southern Baptists who like to get away from problems and have their churches support them in their flight by meeting their perceived "felt needs." What we need to do is get over ourselves and care more about the hurting and dying and hopeless than we care about ourselves and protecting our way of life.

I am not concerned if Lifeway carries this movie or not. There are a lot of things that Lifeway carries that I wish they wouldn't - starting with most of the "art" in their stores. But, that is beside the point. I think we need to consider the larger message that we are sending what what we protest and what we do not. The world is watching and we just told them that The Blind Side is not a movie that we approve of because it had a few bad words in it - nevermind that it was about a Christian family crossing racial and socioeconomic lines to change the life of a young man forever.  

Maybe I should bring a resolution next year asking Christians to stop running away from problems in our culture and be more like the Tuohy's. Or to stop straining at gnats and swallowing camels.  

Bonhoeffer on the Kingdom of God and Self

Doing research tonight and I was reading about the German Confessing Church during the Nazi regime of the 1930's and 40's. Of course, I ran across Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Christian, Pastor, and philosopher who opposed the Nazi regime on the basis of Christian fidelity. Here are some quotes that challenged me deeply:

 “Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. 'The kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared' (Luther).” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community

“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children."

“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.”

“Will not the very moment of great disillusionment with my brother or sister be incomparably wholesome for me becuase it so thoroughly teaches me that both of us can never live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and deed that really binds us together, the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ? The bright day of Christian community dawns wherever the early morning mists of dreamy visions are lifting”

“Just as Christians should not be constantly feeling the pulse of their spiritual life, so too the Christian community has not been given to us by God for us to be continually taking its temperature. The more thankfully we daily receive what is given to us, the more assuredly and consistently will community increase and grow from day to day as God pleases” ― Life Together and Prayerbook of the Bible

“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” "Those who love their dream of a Christian community more than the Christian community itself become destroyers of that Christian community even though their personal intentions may be ever so honest, earnest, and sacrificial.” ― Life Together

“But discipleship never consists in this or that specific action: it is always a decision, either for or against Jesus Christ...Christ speaks to us exactly as he spoke to them. It was not as though they first recognized him as the Christ and then received his command. They believed his word and command and recognized him as the Christ--in that order.” ― The Cost of Discipleship

“If any man would come after me, let him deny himself." The disciple must say to himself the same words Peter said of Christ when he denied him: "I know not this man." Self-denial is never just a series of isolated acts of mortification or asceticism. It is not suicide, for there is an element of self-will even in that. To deny oneself is to be aware only of Christ and no more of self, to see only him who goes before and no more the road which is too hard for us. Once more, all that self denial can say is: "He leads the way, keep close to him.” ― The Cost of Discipleship

“No sacrifice which a lover would make for his beloved is too great for us to make for our enemy.” ― The Cost of Discipleship

“The Christian must treat his enemy as a brother, and requite his hostility with love. His behavior must be determined not by the way others treat him, but by the treatment he himself receives from Jesus; it has only one source, and that is the will of Jesus.” ― The Cost of Discipleship

“Bless them that persecute you.' If our enemy cannot put up with us any longer and takes to cursing us, our immediate reaction must be to lift up our hands and bless him. Our enemies are the blessed of the Lord. Their curse can do us no harm. May their poverty be enriched with all the riches of God, with the blessing of Him whom they seek to oppose in vain. We are ready to endure their curses so long as they redound to their blessing.” ― The Cost of Discipleship

“The community of the saints is not an "ideal" community consisting of perfect and sinless men and women, where there is no need of further repentance. No, it is a community which proves that it is worthy of the gospel of forgiveness by constantly and sincerely proclaiming God's forgiveness...Sanctification means driving out the world from the Church as well as separating the Church from the world. But the purpose of such discipline is not to establish a community of the perfect, but a community consisting of men who really live under the forgiving mercy of God.” ― The Cost of Discipleship

“Luther had said that grace alone can save; his followers took up his doctrine and repeated it word for word. But they left out its invariable corollary, the obligation to discipleship...The justification of the sinner in the world degenerated into the justification of sin and the world. Costly grace was turned into cheap grace without discipleship.” ― The Cost of Discipleship

“To deal with the word of Jesus otherwise than by doing it is to give him the lie. It is to deny the Sermon on the Mount and to say No to his word...That is why as soon as the hurricane begins we lose the word, and find that we have never really believed it. The word we had was not Christ's, but a word we had wrested from him and made our own by reflecting on it instead of doing it.” ― The Cost of Discipleship

All quotes can be found here: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/29333.Dietrich_Bonhoeffer

The Apology of Aristides, Fasting, and the Lifestyles of Early Christians

At LIFE Group this past Friday night, we were sitting outside by the fire and talking about prayer and fasting and how the discipline of fasting has a two-fold objective, which is to put away distractions and dependencies to bring us to God and then to give ourselves away to others.  Gabe Posey, a member of our group, brought up The Apology of Aristides, which was a 2nd century writing by the Athenian philosopher, Aristides, that he delivered to Emperor Hadrian as a defense of Christianity.  I had never heard of this, so I asked him to send it to me, which he did.  This is really interesting:

But the Christians, O King, while they went about and made search, have found the truth; and as we learned from their writings, they have come nearer to truth and genuine knowledge than the rest of the nations. For they know and trust in God, the Creator of heaven and of earth, in whom and from whom are all things, to whom there is no other god as companion, from whom they received commandments which they engraved upon their minds and observe in hope and expectation of the world which is to come. Wherefore they do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor embezzle what is held in pledge, nor covet what is not theirs. They honour father and mother, and show kindness to those near to them; and whenever they are judges, they judge uprightly. They do not worship idols (made) in the image of man; and whatsoever they would not that others should do unto them, they do not to others; and of the food which is consecrated to idols they do not eat, for they are pure. And their oppressors they appease (lit: comfort) and make them their friends; they do good to their enemies; and their women, O King, are pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest; and their men keep themselves from every unlawful union and from all uncleanness, in the hope of a recompense to come in the other world. Further, if one or other of them have bondmen and bondwomen or children, through love towards them they persuade them to become Christians, and when they have done so, they call them brethren without distinction. They do not worship strange gods, and they go their way in all modesty and cheerfulness. Falsehood is not found among them; and they love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he, who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the spirit and in God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free.

And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food. They observe the precepts of their Messiah with much care, living justly and soberly as the Lord their God commanded them.

Every morning and every hour they give thanks and praise to God for His loving-kindnesses toward them; and for their food and their drink they offer thanksgiving to Him. And if any righteous man among them passes from the world, they rejoice and offer thanks to God; and they escort his body as if he were setting out from one place to another near. And when a child has been born to one of them, they give thanks to God; and if moreover it happen to die in childhood, they give thanks to God the more, as for one who has passed through the world without sins. And further if they see that any one of them dies in his ungodliness or in his sins, for him they grieve bitterly, and sorrow as for one who goes to meet his doom.

This gives us a great picture of the lifestyles of the early Christians. Apparently, they were dramatically different from the pagans around them. What I find of particular interest here is the statement above in bold that says that if there were any who were poor and needy among them who had no food, others would fast for two or three days to supply what was lacking in the poor in their midst.  Those who had food would sacrifice for those who did not.  This goes along with the injunctions about true, Biblical fasting in Isaiah 58:6-9.

⁶ “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
   and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
   and break every yoke?
⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
   and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
   and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
   and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
   and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

The perspective of the early Christians was that their life was not their own and that they were to sacrifice for one another. May we have the same perspective.

 

Christian Vocation and God's Benevolent Care

When we think about our "calling," we often think of someone being "called" into full-time ministry. But, that is a very truncated view of what our calling is.  From the Latin word for "calling" we get the concept of Vocation. Everyone has a God-given Vocation, a role to play in their family, church, workplace, and the larger society. God has uniquely shaped, equipped, and placed each one of us to contribute to His overall plan and care for Creation.  We all have gifts, talents, and abilities that God uses as He sovereignly places us in spheres of influence to display His glory and influence. I often say that God is not a character in our story, but rather, we are characters in God's Story. He has a plan for each of us and He exercises His rule through us. It is remarkable, when you think about it.

With this as a backdrop, we are able to look at the concept of work differently from the rest of the world. "Work" is not a way to establish ourselves as independent from God or anyone else. Nor is it a way to accrue wealth so that we will have safety and security. Work is not primarily about money nor is it something to hate or to get away from whenever we can. Many want to be wealthy so that they will not have to work and so they can do what they want when they want to - in other words, independence from others, from society, and from any real sense of responsibility to anyone or anything. All of this is from the Fall where work/labor became associated with the Curse related to sin (see Genesis 3:17-19) and it became something that was often seen as tedious and life denying.

But, there is a different way to see work. We can go back before the Fall and see that God created mankind to work in relation to His will and to be a part of how God rules over and cares for His Creation (Genesis 1:28-2:3). And, we know that in Christ, God is restoring all things to His intention for us and that He is renewing Creation. So, if we are in Christ, we are free to work with meaning and purpose in God's economy as His representatives and co-laborers.  Christ has destroyed the curse of sin so we are free to be creative and to add value to all that we do as we reflect and give thanks for the glorious freedom that Christ has provided us. The concept of Work as been redeemed and retrieved from the effects of the Fall and has been restored to God's original purpose as the way that we live out our calling in this world.

Why Racial Division in the SBC Is a Gospel Issue (#sbc2011)

Supposedly, the SBC meeting in Phoenix will issue a new declaration on racial discrimination within the Convention that will be multifaceted. This is really important and I am glad that my denomination is continuing to see this as a gospel issue.  Dave Miller at SBC Voices explains how he has pushed for this and is excited to see what the SBC is doing here.  I responded to Dave with the following comment that I wanted to lift out post here. I think that racial division in the body of Christ is a gospel issue, not just a social issue (but, of course, the two are related).

The last strong vestige of racism in the SBC is found in the realm of “personal preference” and “worship styles.” That has become code-language for, “I don’t want to be with “those” people.” We will be with them if they become just like us, but that then becomes a kind of circumcision-separation in the body of Christ. If they take on our culture, our customs, our vocabulary, our way of doing church, and our music, then we will fellowship with them. That is just like the Judaizers saying that the Gentiles had to be circumcised, obey dietary laws, etc. to be accepted with the people of God. Of course, we don’t make our preferences soteriological like the Judaizers did, but we do make them ecclesiological and even missiological, and if you understand the implications of the gospel in Ephesians 2:11-22, Christ is our peace and tears down the dividing wall – there is neither Jew, Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, male, or female. We are all one in Christ. So, that Oneness must be our priority, not our preferences, styles, methods, and approaches. All of those divisions are products of the Fall and are erased in Christ.

The only way through this is Agape – Sacrificial Love. If I truly and sacrificially love my black brothers and sisters in Christ, I will recognize that the divisions that we have are all from the institutional and cultural sins of racism, slavery, and segregation – sins that my Baptist ancestors promoted and codified. So, love for God and others requires that I not wait for them to come to me and become like me – rather, it requires that I go to them and identify with them, bringing the Incarnation of Christ into the still-existing broken relationships.

Could the healing of America be found in white, Baptist (and other), Southern Christians going to black, Baptist (and other) Southern Christians and laying down their lives sacrificially to communicate something other than our personal preferences? What if we truly laid down our lives for them in every way – for the health of their churches and communities and their future? What if their concerns became our concerns? What if we did not leave the cities because there were problems, but instead joined together with our black brothers and sisters and pastors and churches to identify with them and to carry their burdens? Might we then see the healing that we so desire. Isaiah 58 seems to say so.

Yes, Dave. This is crucial, but true healing requires much more of us than we can imagine. This is the work that we are doing in Montgomery, AL and it requires every bit of our lives. But, the witness of the Kingdom is at stake and Christ demands it of us.

I sincerely hope that we will see the tearing down of racial divisions in the body of Christ in America in the coming years to the point that we no longer consider a church to be a "white" church or a "black" church, but simply a church made up of followers of Jesus.  May it be.

Haiti's Suffering: One Year Anniversary of the Earthquake

A year ago today, a massive 7.0 earthquake rocked Port-au-Prince and the surrounding areas of impoverished Haiti and killed an estimated 230,000 people, injured over 300,000, and left over one million people homeless. When the news reports began to filter in from Haiti, most in America were shocked at the devastation that we saw.  The human suffering was on a level that was almost unimaginable.  I really want to credit Anderson Cooper from CNN for telling the story in a way that held up the human catastrophe for all to see. He was relentless with it and mobilized a lot of people to try and help.

A week after the earthquake, I was glued to the continuing story of suffering that was unfolding. I began to feel like I should go to Haiti. I had no idea how I would get there or what I would do, but the feeling got stronger and stronger.  Through a series of events, I found myself in Port-au-Prince by the afternoon of January 26, just two weeks after the earthquake. I went with an organization called Helping Hands from North Georgia and we were there to assist with a medical clinic and other relief activities.

Port-au-Prince was devastated.  We set up shop right next to the governmental palace downtown and we found ourselves in the midst of 600,000 refugees living in makeshift tents, basically piled on top of each other.  The smell of feces and a sweltering mass of humanity was, at times, overwhelming.  Hundreds of people lined up for basic checkups and free medical care. The more serious cases we transported to the University of Miami field hospital.  We did what we could with the supplies that we had, but it seemed like just a drop in the bucket when you considered all the suffering and pain.

Orphans were everywhere.  Thousands upon thousands of children had been orphaned.  We pulled one little girl away from a woman who was selling her on the streets to anyone who would give her money.  We sent her up into the mountains to an orphanage that we were working with.  The number of people wandering the streets who had lost spouses, children, and other family members was overwhelming.  People were devastated.

The tent cities were deplorable.  Hundreds of thousands of people were stringing sheets together to escape the heat of the sun in unending swaths of tents and makeshit dwellings.  When the UN would come by and throw food out of the back of a truck, riots would ensue.  We saw one half a block away from where we were.  We later heard that a couple of people had been trampled to death.  We were thankful for the armed guards that we had hired to provide security as we did our medical work, but we knew that our real security came from God.

I also saw amazing hope and resilience.  People had not given up.  They prayed. They sang.  They cried out to God.  I got to share the gospel with so many people that week.  At one point, someone in the crowd asked me if they were being judged because of Haiti's sins.  I told them the same thing that Jesus said when he was asked such a question.  What happened to Haiti was a lesson to all of us - we should all repent and turn back to God.  In response to the message of hope and salvation through Jesus Christ, I was also privileged to see hundreds of people give their lives to Jesus that week.

Now, one year later, the devastation and despair continues.  Cholera has broken out and violence is growing.  There are fears of a civil war breaking out after the coming election this next week.  Children are still orphaned and alone and gangs are roaming the streets looking for victims.  Very little of the international aid that has been promised has gotten there, and even if it had, there is no functioning government to really do something with it.  Long after the rest of us have moved on to other things, Haiti remains in desperate need.

Let's not forget to pray for Haiti and do what we can to help.  If we can go and/or give, we should continue to do so.  There are thousands of aid organizations down there, however, and many of them are not doing much good at all.  While we should be generous, we should also be smart and do what is effective to help Haiti recover from the rubble.  We need to remember that God can save Haiti. There is hope. 

 

How Should We Use Numbers In the Church?

 

I read 1 Chronicles 21 this morning and it really got me thinking. It says that Satan incited David to take a census of the people to see how many fighting men he had. David did this even though he was warned not to and it was a detestable thing to do it. God ended up punishing him for it, causing David to repent and buy the threshing floor of Araunah as a place of worship and sacrifice. This place eventually became the site of the Temple.

It wasn't that a census was wrong in and of itself (Exodus 30:12). There is nothing inherently wrong with knowing how many people you are responsible for or how much money is in the treasury. Those figures are important when you are talking about leadership, shepherding, and stewardship because each number represents a person/family that God has placed in your care. But, that is not why David took the census. Even though God had given him victory in all of his battles, he wanted to know the number of fighting men he had. Most commentators believe that this was pride and self-sufficiency arising in David's heart. Instead of trusting in God for protection and victory, David was looking to his own resources.  God wouldn't allow David, whom he loved, to become prideful or self-sufficient, so He disciplined him.

The ministry applications here are obvious. Pride and deriving self-worth from wealth, success, popularity, or self-sufficiency is a very dangerous thing. It takes our eyes off of Jesus. If you feel like you are worth more when you have more, then you are not looking to Jesus. If you feel like you are more valuable or affirmed when you worship with or lead thousands as opposed to dozens, then perhaps you are focused on the wrong things. I belong to a denomination (Southern Baptists) that is obsessed with numbers. They say that those numbers represent souls and they are just trying to be responsible. Perhaps. But, the extreme focus on growth, numbers, size, scope of ministry, and money can be confusing for some and can end up obscuring the humility of Christ and what faithfulness in the midst of suffering or opposition looks like.

I learned a lot from David's mistake this morning.  Trust God. Rely upon Him. If you do count, do so for the purposes of blessing and shepherding the people, not so that you can feel more secure or affirmed.

Does the Church Have a Future in Montgomery, Alabama?

Of course, the immediate answer is yes. But, I am asking the same question I asked about a year and a half ago in this post:  http://www.downshoredrift.com/downshoredrift/2009/07/can-the-christian-church-help-montgomery-alabama.html.

Not much has changed in Montgomery in a year and a half except that more people have moved to bedroom communities and more Christians have congregated in megachurches. It will be interesting to see what the new census numbers reveal about regional migration. White flight and middle class flight continue to take hold in Montgomery and Christians continue to run away to nice, safe, secure environments. I really wonder about this. Jesus didn't run away to environs that were safe for Him. He ran straight into a deadly situation out of love for us. Yet, we continue to run away from problems in our community and make decisions based on "what's best for us and our family."  Is that a Christian response to the problems in our neighborhoods, our schools, and our community?  If there is crime in a neighborhood, where is the church?  Can't we run in and address it?  If there is family breakdown, fatherlessness, and hopelessness, shouldn't the church be there?

Anyway, read the post above, if you like. It was written last year, but is still pertinent for today. I think that the days are urgent and we have a generation that will be lost if we don't engage them with the gospel.  If the church does have a future, it will be a future of missional engagement instead of entrenchment for our own safety and security.

In a follow up post on White Flight/Middle Class Flight, I said this:  "we should not just cede other people to the enemy without collective engagement."  It is hard to take the gospel to people who are set against it. It requires sacrifice - maybe even our lives. But, isn't that what we're called to? Where does the church call for that?  Scripture does - but, do we?

Alan Hirsch has a great message on the need for the church to be a community of missional engagement with the powers of darkness. I posted it on Facebook the other day.  Check it out:

 

How NOT to Help the Poor (HT: @timmybrister)

I saw this video over at my friend, Timmy Brister's site. He is also reading the book I mentioned in my post yesterday. In light of initiating a discussion on poverty and Christian solutions, I thought I'd repost it here.

Thoughts?

 

What Are Christians to Do to Help the Poor?

Our church is sending a team to Haiti next Spring and a lot of our youth are going. We have also been very active in India over the past few years and have also done a good deal in our own community to try and alleviate poverty and give aid to the poor. Jesus commands us to do this (Matt. 25).  Still, it is good to think through how we are to really help the poor and not make things worse. Lots of times, our best efforts can be things that we do to make us feel better instead of things that really provide long-term solutions for long-term problems. Plus, we need to consider what our view of "poor" is.  Economic inequality does not necessarily mean that someone is poor. Compared to Bill Gates, I am very poor. But, my basic needs are met, my quality of life is good, and I do not consider myself to be poor, even though I can in no way match his lifestyle. The presence of wealty people in the world does not mean that everyone else is poor by comparison.

At the same time, if basic needs are not met related to food, water, health, housing, clothing, etc., then we have issues. Becoming a real source of help for the poor in these situations means that we need to think through things and provide real solutions that make a real difference. More money, education, and services can be helpful, but if a dependency mentality is created, it does little long term good. At the same time, if someone is sick, hungry, thirsty, or dying, you don't stand over them and preach about long-term solutions. This is what Jesus was getting at in his parable of the Good Samaritan. You help right then.

I am reading a book called "When Helping Hurts:  How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor . . . And Yourself."  You can join me in reading it if you like.  Here is the website for the book that expands the discussion. I think it might have some good insight on how Christians are to really be involved with the poor and help bring transformation. At least it will initiate some good thoughts and discussion.  Along with Tim Keller's Generous Justice that I am also reading, this focus might be a good way to discipline our minds during the Christmas season, where so much buying/spending/feasting seems to be focused on ourselves.

Another great resource is Walking With the Poor by Bryant Myers.

 

More on the Need for Church Structure/Ministry Teams

I'm fairly organic when it comes to the nature and function of the church. The church is a living organism, not a corporation or assembly line. Modernity changed the nature of the church and pastoring from a pastoral perspective to a business model with the pastor as CEO and the church as a business that needed to market goods and services effectively to the consuming masses.  Leadership changed from soul care and spiritual formation to management principles in the search for efficiency, growth, and validity.  You were only valid and needed if you could offer goods and services cheaply, efficiently, and with great excellence and speed. Many (including myself) have rejected this mentality and have moved toward a more organic, Spirit-led approach to church life. I wrote about this yesterday.

So, I come at this from an organic perspective. But, I am also really beginning to see the need for structure, leadership, vision, and focus.  We are supposed to be one in spirit and purpose (Phil. 2:2).  Instead of getting rid of structure and organization because we are reacting to abuses or too much focus on it, perhaps we should see the need for church structure, ministry teams, and focus in a different way. What if the organization existed to serve the movement, instead of the other way around?  When things get messed up, it is when the organization becomes self-perpetuating and exists for its own ends. No one wants that. But, what if organization and church structure could be used well to serve and assist in the movement of the Holy Spirit in the life of a body of believers?  Isn't this why some would have gifts of administration and leadership?  I think so.

This post went to Facebook yesterday and a brilliant friend of mine, Phillip Hannam left this comment. I want to reproduce it here:

Philip Hannam

I think there is a strong parallel connection between form-spirit and works-faith.

Faith without works is ___________________. Spirit-filled life that does not incarnate into something visible in the world is worthless.

Religion is not God. R...eligion is not just a pathway to God. It is the incarnational form we give to faith. It is also our language of faith.

But of course these structures can, and do, become dead--on a daily basis. But isn't that true of our own lives?

It's delusional to think we are somehow closer to a life-giving God if we can reduce 'form' to almost zero--and just have autonomous, organic, individuals, expressing the life of God. We are just as prone to turning our personal prayer life into a dead idol as we are to do the same with a denominational structure.

Structure seems dead when it seems to serve only itself; when it turns all energy in on itself; when it creates a culture that keeps people out or disconnects from the broader world; when it disempowers members of the structure; when it loses integrity (it is not consistent with the faith it expresses); when the structures fail to carry-out life-giving ministry; when leadership is not being nurtured and multiplied through the structures.

If one believes God created us as anarchists or hermits--than one might argue that religious structure is anti-god. If we are to incarnate God's love within a society--within networks of relations--within a highly complex, bureaucratized, organized, specialized, structured society--there are going to be highly structured forms.

We are undergoing dramatice changes in social structure giving rise to much of the anti-structure mood. But it isn't really anti-form. It is calling for a transformation of forms.

Have you ever reflected on these words:

formed
conformed
transformed
informed
reformed
performed
deformed

I find it interesting to just think of the words in relation to faith and structures.

Good words.  What do you think?  How can we use church structures, focus, and ministry teams in an organic, life-giving way to advance the Kingdom and still be led by the Spirit?

How Much Structure Is Needed In Church Ministry?

In many ways, I can't believe that I am writing this post. I'm not that guy. I'm not the guy that thinks that having a good structure for church ministry will solve things.  I firmly believe that ministry is mostly a matter of the heart and that people work best together when they are motivated intrinsically and come together organically. I would much rather have people spontaneously gather, minister to others, and live out the Christian life without church structures getting in the way. I also do not believe that there is some magic bullet of church organization or management theory that will solve the inefficiencies of human social enterprises. You won't see me reading the latest leadership book or spouting off the latest church growth/organization theory.  If church is not organic, life-giving, free, and hopeful, then it is not really church, in my limited opinion.

I've always been the non-institutional, organic, free church guy who happens to pastor and serve in a somewhat more institutional church setting in the VERY institutional church oriented American South.  In other words, not always the best fit geographically, even though I have been blessed with the church I get to pastor. As time has gone by, I've seen more and more people overall start thinking the same way. We are now at the point that much that smacks of organization, structure, programs, discipline, or commitment is being seen by many as being not Spirit-led or stifling. It is not organic enough. Many mature Christians think that they do not need local church structure/ministry to do the ministry that God has called them to.  In the past, I tended to lean in this direction because I firmly believe that God's Spirit that lives inside each Christian is completely capable of guiding believers both individually and collectively and that intrinsic motivation is much better than extrinsic motivation that comes from church structures.

However, I have come to the point that I am beginning to think that we are throwing the baby out with the bathwater, to use an old cliche.  More and more, I am beginning to see that structure, organization, and commitment to an on-going ministry is way more important than many of my generation think.  It is easy to say that we all need to be free when we are living off of the benefit of the structure that existed all around us. But, when everyone is free and there is little organization or commitment beyond what one feels led to do in the moment, you can begin to have some problems. Maybe the individual Christian is fine because they don't think they need a lot of reinforcement.  They've been around enough and have a small circle of friends and know how to find the Sunday worship gathering just fine. But, the problem comes in when you begin to try and minister to others or when people try to connect with your church and they don't already know everything. Organic and Spirit-led to them often looks like a disorganized mess. Can "organic" ministry become another way of having church just for us? 

We need ministry teams.  We need for people to come together and develop structures that others can participate in without having to already be best friends with people. We need to keep the relational aspect flowing, but if we don't have the strength that ministry teams provide, then how do others get involved?  How do they know that they could connect with a local church?  I am all for personal ministry. We need people to engage in that. But, we also need for people to come together, make commitments to one another, sacrifice, pray, and begin to carry out ministries that will reach and disciple people beyond their own personal relationships. We need to do this relationally, no doubt. The problem in the past was that we relied too much on the programs and structure to produce disciples. It didn't work. But, now, I wonder if shifting to a full relational, organic paradigm isn't making the same mistake, just in the other direction.

More on this tomorrow . . .  In the meantime, what do you think?  How much structure is needed in church ministry and how to you call people to commit to something that they don't think is life-giving and exciting all the time?

Deacon Ministry, Generous Justice, and Caring for the Poor (Tim Keller)

I just got Tim Keller's latest book, Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just. If it is like the rest of his writings, I am sure that I am going to learn a lot. At the beginning of the book, he talks about his motivation to consider the Biblical view of justice. He recalls how he was greatly affected by the hypocrisy of white Christians in the 1960's when they defended segregation instead of siding with those fighting for justice. He thought that "justice" was a secular concern until he was taught more fully on what the Bible taught about justice and God's concern for the oppressed.

While getting a Doctor of Ministry degree, he was challenged to write his thesis on deacon ministry in the church.  His concept of the role of deacons, God's concern for justice and the poor, and the role of the church in all of this was radically changed.  He says,

Deacons had historically been designated to work with the poor and needy in the community, but over the years this legacy had been lost, and instead they had evolved into janitors and treasurers . . . I did historical research on how church deacons served as the first public social service structure in European cities such as Geneva, Amsterdam, and Glasgow. 

What if deacons in our churches revived the role of being ministers of justice and mercy to the poor and needy in their community?  This happens in some churches, and to a great degree it happens in our church. But, I didn't know that this had been a formal approach to how deacons functioned. Keller is right. In many churches, deacons serve as an administrative council for the church and primarily function as custodians of the church building and grounds. But, what if they led us out in mercy ministry to those in need all over our community?

Gateway has a very vibrant benevolence ministry. We have been privileged to help people in all walks of life, from the sick, to stranded travelers, to those needing food, shelter, and basic provisions. We have helped lift people up from the clutches of poverty and have seen them regain a place in society where they are able to take care of themselves and begin to help others. Our deacons have led this ministry and have prayerfully administered the gifts of God's people to the poor and needy.  In December, our deacons will lead our entire church in our annual multi-event outreach effort called, "A Time to Serve."  We will have 6 or so service oriented, outreach events that enable us to give to others during the holiday season instead of just focusing on ourselves. 

I am really excited to read more of this book. I just wanted to stop and acknowledge the ministry that our deacons do concerning the poor and needy in our community as well as those who are in our church.  It is good to know that they serve in a long, historical tradition of deacons who have been a blessng to others as they reflect the heart of God for the poor. 

How Republicans Can Win the 2012 Elections

With the sweeping victory by Republicans over Democrats yesterday in the congressional races, all eyes now turn to 2012 and the presidential and congressional elections. Don't you wish that political parties would actually focus on governing instead of just positioning themselves to win elections and amass more power for themselves?  But, everything is about power these days: who has it, who doesn't, and how you can get it.  That is the name of the game in Washington and anyone who thinks that there is any real substantive difference between the parties when it comes to amassing power for themselves and their special interests are fooling themselves, I think .  Idealism is a thing of the past.  I disagree with many of Obama's policies and am glad that he has a check to his ability to enact legislation with the newly elected Republican-controlled House, but I do admire that, in many ways, he governed according to his principles.  I think his principles were wrong, but he was the first president I've seen in some time who pursued policies that were unpopular because he believed that they were right.  Apparently, according to yesterday's election results, Americans disagreed with him and replaced his huge majority with a balance of power that should reign things in. That is the beauty of the American system of government. If you don't like who is power, you can vote them out if you can get enough people to agree with you. That is what happened yesterday and it has me thinking about the future.

The Effects of the Big Sort: The Polarization of America and the Breakup of the Church

One of the most groundbreaking books that I have read in some time has been Bill Bishop's The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart. As someone involved in church leadership and community development approaches, this book is very enlightening.  The main premise of this book, is that primarily since 1965, and especially since 1990, Americans have become increasingly mobile and have been sorting themselves geographically according to their personal preferences and lifestyle choices - not just because of economic necessity. The book is full of statistics to back it up and I have no intention of reprinting them all here. But, what I would like to do is to think through the implications of Bishop's thesis on the Christian life and church leadership over the next several posts.

While this is not a religious book, Bishop devotes chapter 7 (Religion: The Missionary and the Megachurch) to the emergence of the Homogenous Unit Principle in the rise of the megachurch.  The idea presented in this book is that affluence has allowed Americans to do what they want, and what they want to do is to be with people like themselves - even in church.  The more that people are educated and the more resources that they have, the more that they segregate themselves according to their personal preferences. So, you have the rise of cities like San Francisco that has become full of cultural creatives. In 1976, 44 percent of San Franciscans voted for the Republican candidate for president, Gerald Ford. In 2004, only 15 percent voted for George W. Bush. As time has gone by, liberal creatives have pushed out conservative value-oriented voters and those groups have moved to areas where they are able to live with people more like themselves.  These groupings have happened all over the country. People have done this in every walk of life, even in churches, as megachurches have arisen to cater to the desires of people who have similar socio-economic and value orientations.  Just like the denziens of San Francisco move their because of the cultural values, people choose churches based not on theological or denominational distinctives, but because of cultural values.

The more that people gather together with people like themselves in larger groups, the more safety that they can secure, or so the thought goes.  A reviewer on Amazon was nice enough to relay Bishop's interview with Republican strategist Matthew Dowd, who explained the thinking behind the 2004 re-election strategy of George W. Bush:

Dowd understood that "American communities were 'becoming very homogeneous'. He believed that to a large degree, this clustering was defensive, the general reaction to a society, a country, and a world that were largely beyond an individual's control or understanding. For generations, people had used their clubs, their trust in a national government, and long-established religious denominations to make sense of the world. But those old institutions no longer provided a safe harbor. 'What I think has happened,' Dowd told me (Bishop) early in 2005, 'is the general anxiety the country feels is building. We're no longer anchored'." Bishop decodes this further, saying "Unsurpassed prosperity had enriched Americans---and it had loosened long established social moorings. Americans were scrambling to find a secure place, to make a secure place...Most Americans have done that by seeking out(or perhaps gravitating toward) those who share their lifeworlds---made up of old, fundamental differences such as race, class, gender, and age, but also, now more than ever, personal tastes, beliefs, styles, opinions, and values."

So, we are no longer necessarily experiencing "White Flight." Rather, we are experiencing "Middle-Class flight," "Liberal Flight," "Conservative Flight," "Religious Flight," "Educated Flight," etc., etc. People want to be with people like themselves. So, they are moving en masse to communities where they can share the same lifestyle as their neighbors. As Bishop says, "Americans joined communities, churches, and political parties in a manner that was almost tribal."

What are the implications of this for the church?  Is this thesis even true?  As Bishop states in Chapter 7, many used this to appeal to people on the basis of their preferences or lifestyles when it came to the discipline of church growth. The church itself is becoming more tribal as churches form around personal preferences and the place that congregants are in their life. So, you have "niche" churches based on lifestyle choices begin to emerge. Is this a good thing?  Personally, I don't think so. The Body of Christ is not to be divided based on economics, interests, race, or personal preference. We are to be one in Christ, not in our hobbies or political persuasions. But, this clustering is happening faster now than ever. Smaller, community based churches are giving way to larger churches based on the preferences of people.

Bishop's research is also showing that people are not being shaped by their beliefs as much as they are being shaped by their geography, at least eventually. The more that like-minded people cluster together, the more that their beliefs harden and keep them from interacting with others who are different from them.  People are finding their safety and security in an ever-changing world by grouping together with people that they share common lifestyles with and America is becoming ever more polarized.

But, what if there was a community where people different in many ways could come together and exhibit a unity that would be shocking to a world that was breaking apart?  Could it be that Jesus' command for His followers to love one another in a way that the world would know that they were His (John 13:34-35) - could it be that this is exactly what America needs right now?  I think so, and I am going to be exploring this thought more throughout the week. 

Are Multi-Site, Video-Venue Churches a Good Idea?

I have thinking about this quite a bit over the past few months and have decided to weigh in with some thoughts. I'd appreciate any other opinions on this as well. The new trend in church growth is for successful churches with popular pastors to start new congregations in other places by broadcasting their preaching via video to the new site. These sites usually have a campus pastor and small groups. Sometimes, they have live worship and sometimes it is simulcast in as well. Multi-site churches are springing up all over and I have to admit that I don't get the appeal.

I understand the desire for good preaching and to be connected to a successful, well-resourced church model. Americans love to be around and hear from "winners" and successful people. But, getting up on Sunday morning week after week to watch a guy in another city preach on a video screen? You cannot possibly know him and he cannot possibly know you. His message is not contextualized to your context, your community, or the gathering at the satellite site. Sure, you have a campus pastor, but why can't he preach? If he did preach the message and person of Jesus Christ, would people not come because he wasn't the celebrity preacher? If that is true, then why are they coming? I am not against a hub church doing this for conferences or on occasion to disseminate information or vision, but every week?

If we are appealing to America's desire for celebrity now in the local church, that is a problem. Why can't we raise up leaders who can preach and lead? What does it do to the faith of people who are a part of a video-venue multi-site church? Would it reinforce passivity and spectator Christianity? How are the dynamics of biblical community affected by this approach? I agree that it might seem appealing in the 3-5 year span, but how can this be sustainable in the long run?

My wife says that she doesn't see much difference between the video venue church and the megachurch. Good point. If people like megachurches they will probably like video venue churches. But, what does that say about our view of church? At least in the megachurch the man preaching is around. He is a real person, not a TV character. But, if the average person can't know the pastor of the megachurch either, then that is also a problem.

Anyway, I obviously have a lot of questions about this and my opinion of the multisite video venue church is not good.

What do you think? What are the implications of this? Why would people want this? What affect will this have in 10-20 years? Interested to see what others think.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

:Update: I wrote this post this morning and after engaging in discussion with readers in the comment stream, I am learning a lot. I pecked the post out on my phone and just intended to present my initial impressions on the growing surge of multi-site, video-venue churches and some questions that I had about it. Going back and reading it now, those questions presented in machine-gun-fire-staccato makes it look like my opinion against this is much harsher than it actually is. I tend to start from a strong position on something, which is what inspires me to learn more about it while trying to keep an open mind. I'm weird that way. Thanks to all those so far who are attempting to answer my questions and help me see a broader view on why this is working well for many people. No doubt, the way that we have done church in the past has problems and I definitely do not want to shut down creativity. I just wonder where this will lead long-term.  

Haitian Orphans and UNICEF's War Against International Adoption

On Wednesday of last week, I found myself traveling through the rubble strewn streets of Port-au-Prince on my way to the US Embassy. We went there to inquire about bringing 50 Haitian orphans to the United States. A ministry that I am familiar with called Bridges of Faith in Alabama has the facilities and the desire to take care of up to 50 Haitian orphans on something that the State Department calls a Humanitarian Waiver. When we got to the embassy we were told that the Haitian government was allowing orphans to leave the country last week. But, then things changed. Inexplicably, they changed direction and now no orphans were leaving Haiti. The 10 Americans who are now being detained in Haiti got caught up in this confusion, it appears. Some reports state that they had permission but they needed one more piece of paperwork to leave the country. What they did was not wise, but the rules have kept changing in Haiti regarding the orphan situation. Apparently, UNICEF (United Nations Childrens Fund) is playing a huge role here.

According to reports, UNICEF has a standing policy against international adoption (see HERE).  According to missionaries in Haiti and other reports from those trying to adopt, UNICEF has pressured the Haitian government to adhere to their policies on international adoption and cease releasing children to adoptive parents that have already been approved. The U.S. government is trying to get the children released and a stalemate has ensued. This is what we were caught up in at the US Embassy in Port-au-Prince and it is why the policies changed. The UNICEF perspective is that children in poverty-stricken condiitions are better off if they stay in orphanages in their native culture than if they leave their native culture and go to families in other countries. You can debate this all you want, but that is what is behind the fact that Haitan orphans are not being allowed to leave right now. UNICEF saw an opportunity to spread their philosophy to Haiti and they have a lot of money that the Haitian government needs. At least that is the story that is being reported by people in Haiti who are in the know.

As for the 10 missionaries from Idaho, the media is presenting this like they are bunch of sex traffickers that got caught. Did they make a mistake? Yes. Were they foolish and ill-informed? It appears that they were. However, it is easy to speculate that an example is being made of them to send a message that children are staying put, despite the best intentions. One report stated that they had full approval from the orphanage and the parents of the children that they were taking. 21 of the 33 children had parents and those parents actually put them on the bus to get them out of Haiti and to the Dominican Republic. I don't know the full story. It is doubtful that anyone does at this point. I fully understand the need to have things documented and for the proper paper work to be done. Actually, I fiercely support things being done the right way when it comes to children. There are many ill-intentioned people out there that would take advantage of a situation like this and it is possibly that the group from Idaho was in that number. But, when international power plays begin to get involved in things like this, then the story is not always as it appears. 

The role of the church is to be an advocate for justice and righteousness all over the world. The Haitian children should be protected from predators that would seek to exploit them in this time of disaster. At the same time, children that can be taken care of and provided for in these types of situations should be. If they cannot leave Haiti, then we should go to them and help care for them there. The 11 year old orphaned girl that we rescued from sex slavery last week is burned into my mind. Fortunately, she is in an orphanage that we are working with and is not being prostituted on the streets of Port-au-Prince. But, how many more are suffering? What else can we do?

My heart aches. 

White Christians, MLK, and the End of Racism in the Church

Things are definitely changing. We celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday today in an America that is moving beyond its racist past. Sure, racism and prejudice still exists, sometimes disgustingly so. But, it is obvious that things are changing.  I am primarily talking about the Church. I don't know exactly where America is headed in regard to racial prejudice. I have a suspicion that things will always be difficult in that area and perhaps increasingly so as America becomes more diverse. But, in the Church, I am seeing real progress, and for that I am very glad.

In the church that I pastor in Montgomery, AL, we continue to see blacks, whites, and people from other countries worship together. The racial diversity in our church is growing. I praise God for that. Dr. Martin Luther King asked us to imagine a day when people would be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. That is happening in our church, as it should, and I am grateful. The Church of Jesus Christ is the only place where we have a real chance of seeing racism end, in my opinion, because it is the only place where grace can truly be experienced and proclaimed. We are all sinners and we have nothing within us to merit the merit of Christ. How can any real church separate on the basis of race, skin tones, culture, economics, or class? How can there be elitism of any kind in the church? How can we ever think that we are better than anyone else on any basis?  We are all alike in desperate need of the grace of God. If not for Christ, we would all be lost. How can we separate from others?

Dr. King was a prophet and a great leader who pointed to a better way of living that was based on the equality that can be found in the midst of the beloved community. Neither he nor his theology were perfect, as has been documented by his adversaries repeatedly over the years. Still, he had the courage and vision to call us to a way of life that was very biblical when it came to racial justice and equality. The gospel does not allow there to be divisions based on race or people groups. Christ died for all.  Ephesians 2:11-22 tells us that Christ Himself is our peace.  The Civil Rights Movement in America was a movement that was born in the church and was victorious because it was on the right side of history and on the right side of God's will. Dr. Russell Moore from Southern Seminary eloquently made a case for the righteousness of the Civil Rights movement and why it ultimately prevailed over white racism today. I urge you to read it.

I have become quite a student of the role of both the white and the black church in segregation and the Civil Rights movement. I am convinced that there are valuable lessons for us today that we must learn or we are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past in different forms. Here are some of the questions that haunt me:

• Why was the white evangelical church so blind to the evil of its racism?
• Why was the true gospel subverted under a false gospel that caused people to look down on and separate from others because of the color of their skin?
• What would have happened if the Evangelical Church would have righted itself and led the Civil Rights Movement against a Southern culture that was steeped in deplorable practices?
• How would America have been different from the 1960's onward if the Southern church would have led the way on the issue of racial equality?
• In what area are we now being affected by a blindspot prophetically? What are we missing today that could affect future generations?
• How can we be more aware prophetically so that we can throw off the trappings of cultural Christianity, not subvert the gospel to false concepts, and boldly proclaim the biblical Jesus?

I have been trying to answer these questions for some time now and I believe that they are very important in developing a missiology for the American South and for America as a whole. People like Dr. King, Nelson Mandela, Fannie Lou Hamer, Phule in India, and others have had the vision to see what was wrong and what needed to happen to make things right. God has been working through people like this since the time of John the Baptist and earlier in the lives of the prophets of Israel. How can we recover their voice and apply it to our own times? What would that look like? 

If we are to truly celebrate the birth of Dr. King, let us praise God for the progress made in the area of race while also asking Him to show us how we can continue to proclaim truth from the rooftops in a world groping in darkness.  I am looking forward to the day when the Church leads the way in restoring the world to God's intentions. I think that I am seeing that beginning to happen and for that I am very glad.