DownshoreDrift

Consumer Christianity and Its Discontents

Over the past year or so, I have become convinced that the greatest enemy to the Christian faith and biblical Christianity in the West, and especially America, is the philosophy of consumerism, which basically states that personal happiness can be attained through the acquisition of goods, experiences, or a particular lifestyle.  Bombarded by goods, services, brands, commercials, and incessant advertising, we believe ignorance like "you are what you wear," "clothes make the man," that there is a "right" side of the tracks, and that our identity can be purchased by acquiring items of status based on a particular brand name or celebrity endorsement. This philosophy has crept into every area of life as we have succumbed to the idea of commodification of relationships and even religious experiences in that we use people and even God to satisfy our personal desires. When we no longer find immediate gratification, we move on to something else that promises to satisfy. Everything in our life (even God) becomes a means to an end of our own personal pursuit of happiness and self-fulfillment). Of course, these views have always been present in the human condition (i.e., selfishness and sin), but only recently have we built an entire economy and way of life on the proliferation of consumption. Only recently have Evangelical churches grown based on the whims of the consumer class and their preference and choice for religious goods and services that meet their "felt needs."

My friend, David Phillips, writes an outstanding essay on this issue called Reframing Success: The Jesus Way or the Consuming Way?  If we do not understand how the Jesus Way is in complete opposition to the Consuming Way, or the spirit of our age, then true spiritual formation into the image of Christ is impossible. Discipleship in the 21st century almost wholly consists of learning to discern between the way of Christ and the way of our larger culture which is based and grounded on a worldview that is almost totally opposed to Christ when it comes to an individuals personal choices about life and where happiness comes from. David says, regarding the effect of consumerism on the Church: 

What does this consumerism do to the church in America? Large churches are growing, medium-size churches are declining, and smaller churches are struggling. The larger a church grows, the smaller the kingdom grows, because in America, those larger churches are pulling from the smaller churches who cannot offer the same goods and services as the larger churches. The religious consumer, wanting the needs of their family met heads off to the big church where they are busy with activity and have entertainment for all ages. The smaller church suffers, to the point of having to shut down because it cannot sustain itself.

The churches who are surviving are trying to put together the right programs and activities that will attract those religious consumers. They are spending time, money and other resources on buildings and productions so that people will enjoy (or be entertained) by the show that is put on in the church.

But is this real success? The Jesus goal cannot be achieved unless the Jesus way is followed. The end does not justify the means. God’s goal is that we become like Him, conformed to His image and the image of His Son Jesus. The goal is not heaven, the goal is Cruciformity, or conformity to the Cross of Jesus. It happens through Faith, which for Paul was a “total response to obedience to the gospel (Rom 1:5;16:26). It is also…a death experience in which one enters into the experience of Jesus’ crucifixion.” The Jesus Way is a process where God seeks to re-shape and re-form that person into his or her original identity, and to re-fill that person with His original purpose of relationship with God. In embracing the gospel of Christ, a person embarks on a journey out of brokenness and into wholeness that will only be complete as God works to restore all of creation. The Jesus Way does not have as its goal the creation of people looking to have their own needs met. Why then perpetuate the climate of the consumer church in an attempt to see people conformed into the image of God?

Success then is not following the consuming way, but the Jesus way. Maybe our measure of success should be an expression of people being conformed to the image of Christ, obeying the Gospel, and living the crucified life that is an expression of Faith.

A major conversation is beginning about the effects of consumerism on our faith and it is about 50 years too late, in my opinion. But, we were so "consumed" with success and numbers that we failed to see that we have been buying into a system that actually makes discipleship harder. Yes, Jesus meets our deepest needs, but He redefines what those needs are. He tells us that if we want to follow Him, we must deny ourselves and take up our cross. It is ironic that in America, the richest nation on earth, we have the prosperity gospel (which has infiltrated every denomination in one way or another) because we feel like we do not have enough.

Several excellent resources that address this topic are:

The Divine Commodity by Skye Jethani. I have been reading this book over the past couple of weeks (it was my beach reading) and it is probably the best book on any subject that I have read in the past couple of years.  He uses the art of Van Gogh as a metaphor for what consumerism has done to our culture and the church. A review is forthcoming.

 

 

Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church by Paul Louis Metzger.  Metzger makes the case that racialization is embedded into the church through the vehicle of consumerism, choice, and personal preference. He picks up on the groundbreaking work of Emerson and Smith as they detail how racial, class, and consumer preferences are hardwired into the foundation of modern evangelicalism.

 

                                    

The Big Sort: How the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart by Bill Bishop.  Because of unparalled prosperity and emerging diversity in America, we are using our freedom of choice and economic means to cluster together with people who share our lifestyles, values, and concerns. Bishop argues that this is actually not good for America because when people gather based on homogenous views, they become more extreme in their perspective and more alienated against others. Though a secular book, there is an entire chapter on the contemporary evangelical church and the Homogenous Unit Principle.

                                        

ReJesus: A Wild Messiah for a Missional Church by Alan Hirsch and Michael Frost. Okay, this book rates up there with Jethani's. I read it last fall and it was amazing. Hirsch and Frost make the argument that the evangelical church has lost its way because it has failed to follow after Jesus. It contrasts Jesus with the prevailing culture and shows how we have compromised our vision for what the Christian life should be with a culture that seeks to satisfy itself.

 

                                               

_______________________________________________________

Like I said earlier, I fully believe that those serious about following Jesus in our current world have to begin to use discernment in these areas.  Pastors who want to lead their churches biblically have to become astute at helping their members work through the implications of living in a consumeristic, materialistic world. Emerson says that the religion that most of us have bought into can be defined as "theraputic, moralistic, deism."  If so, then how does that affect the way that we engage in life and ministry? 

I am actually very encouraged, however. Even though there is a lot of talk about what is wrong with us, an understanding of the problem is a first step to overcoming it. I don't know that we have always seen what has derailed us and how joined with the larger culture we really are. We have to understand that methods to proclaiming the gospel and living the Christian life are not neutral. The method becomes the message. Living missionaly in a post-Christian world requires that we understand that world and that we become aware how we are to put it aside. If we love the world the we cannot love God.  More and more people are getting this and I believe that God's Spirit is moving to draw us to Himself. That can only be a good thing.

It is time that we follow Jesus and lay all of this other stuff down. But, that will cost us something - everything, really. Are we willing to pay the price? 

Gateway's 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament Is a Huge Success!

About 9 months ago, we had a big breakthrough in our church when we began to reach teenagers in our community for the first time.  Our youth group went on a mission trip to Houston and came back wanting to reach out to their neighbors. We started a Kid's Club on Sunday afternoons thinking that we would begin to minister to little kids, but instead, teenagers showed up. Hordes of teenage boys. They wanted to hang out and they wanted to play basketball. Previously, we had put up a couple of basketball goals in our church parking lot. The interesting thing is, in the whole eastern half of Montgomery, there are no public courts to play basketball. So, kids started showing up from all over the city. They started coming every day. On an average night, we'd have 40-50 guys hanging out and playing basketball. We had guys coming to church and several got saved. Their lives began to turn around as they encountered the love of Christ and a body of believers who loved them and accepted them. It has been amazing to watch.

A few weeks ago, a LIFE Group in our church had the idea of scheduling a 3-on-3 basketball tournament to give the guys something to do and to develop a platform to minister to them. It was a huge success. We had around 40 people participate and several responded positively to the gospel being presented. A bunch of people from the church volunteered to put the event together and we plan to do it again in the future. Actually, we are starting a summer basketball league on Monday nights in the church parking lot from all of this. The cool thing is that we are building relationships with these guys and they are becoming our family. God is working. (pic taken by my friend, Chris McCorkle)

Our local newspaper, the Montgomery Advertiser wrote an article about the event that appeared in the paper today.   A short video is included. It was very positive and really showed the heart of our church in reaching out to our community. Something amazing is happening at our church where we are reaching a tipping point. No longer are we trying to cast a vision for reaching out and loving others outside of our church family. It is just happening. God is moving in our hearts and it leading us to open our arms to all that we come in contact with. This basketball tournament was a great example of how a simple thing like a few basketball goals can change a church and a neighborhood.

We finished up the tournament today.  I am really excited about what God is doing and can't wait to see what He has in store for us for the future!

Southern Baptist Myopia Reflected in Our Response to the Great Commission Resurgence?

A myopia is a condition of nearsightedness where you can see clearly the things that are right in front of you, but things at a distance are blurry. Southern Baptists struggle with this in regard to our spiritual future and I believe that some of this could be reflected in the response to the new document, the Great Commission Resurgence (GCR).

We tend to look backwards well enough, and we also find ways to look at the present critically, but looking forward seems to be a struggle. While the GCR is good and I signed it as a supporter, it seems that Southern Baptists are failing to address the cultural realities that we find ourselves entering and how those realities are presently affecting us now and in the future.

Majority of America's Most Dangerous Cities Are in the South - Where the Majority of America's Evangelical Christians Live

I saw this today. Forbes Magazine ranked the most dangerous cities in America according to a number of factors related to violent crime. 

It struck me that of the 15 cities, 11 of them were in states that were or have been considered Southern states. If you take out Maryland and Florida, then 7 of the 15 cities were in Southern states. At any rate, Evangelical Christianity, especially of the Baptist variety, is most prevalent in the South. Yet, the South traditionally has the most crime, divorce, alcoholism, and the worst education and social factors in the nation. The states of Lousiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Arkansas vie for which state can be last in just about every important social indicator. Here are the cities from the Forbes list:

1. Detroit, Michigan
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Miami, Florida
4. Las Vegas, Nevada
5. Stockton, California
6. Orlando, Florida
7. Little Rock, Arkansas
8. Charleston, South Carolina
9. Nashville, Tennessee
10. Baltimore, Maryland
11. New Orleans, Louisiana
12. Baton Rouge, Louisiana
13. West Palm Beach, Florida
14. Charlotte, North Carolina
15. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Christianity has been present in the South for 200 years in a very strong way. Why has it not changed things in a more concrete way? You can say that the legacy of slavery and racism continue to have an effect. You can say that the devastation caused by the Civil War affected the South for a long time (although when you consider how Germany and Japan were destroyed during WWII, that argument falls apart).  But, doesn't it make sense that if we lived out our faith, things would be more positive, especially among the African American community? What role do white Southern evangelicals have in this?

Recently, I had a conversation with a white man who bemoaned the state of the schools in Montgomery. He blamed integration and said that things started falling apart because of the blacks. Then, a moment later, he talked about how his Baptist church was dying. I told him that the problems in the schools had nothing to do with skin color and had everything to do with parental involvement, family breakdown, and cultural problems that existed among both poor whites and blacks. He didn't seem to understand what I was talking about.  It struck me as interesting that his disparaging remarks about black people would show up in the same conversation that he said that his church was struggling. He did not notice a connection between the two.

Why hasn't our Christianity addressed these things? Do we have nothing to say to our cities? Why don't Christians effectively address crime issues? Why don't we go into neighborhoods that are falling apart and raise up a standard? Why don't we restore schools and rescue young people? Why do we move away to the suburbs or outlying towns whenever things aren't wonderful? Why does racism still exist in our hearts and our churches?

I am not trying to be utopian here. I know that sin exists and that we cannot control people. I am not saying that we can make things perfect. But, if the South cannot become a better place to live for all people because of the Christians who live here and the churches on every corner, then please tell me how we can possibly evangelize anyone? Could it be that the SBC is declining because we have so inoculated people against the gospel by talking the talk but not walking the walk? Why would anyone believe us? Where is our power? Where is the change?

Sometimes, I think that we give in to fear too much. We try to hold on to our own life and we try and make sure that we take care of ourselves. But, God called us to trust Him and engage people. I really struggle to see how we can talk about missions to the world when we won't even engage our own cities effectively. For those that do, keep going. Praise God! You are making a huge impact! But, I am talking about the retreat of the collective whole and the abdication of our responsibility.  If we are the light, then why do we complain about the darkness? Why don't we just shine? 

Praise God that several churches are addressing this in Montgomery through prayer and action, including a stop the violence campaign and 24/7 prayer. But, so much more is needed.  65% of the 30,000 children in Montgomery's public schools live below the poverty line. That's 19,500 children! Is this not a mission field and a place to live out the implications of the gospel? If we can't do it in our own cities, then why should anyone believe us when we say that Jesus is the answer?  If we can do it in our own cities, imagine what the impact would be!  What stops us but ourselves?

I am glad that the gospel has power in spite of us. Praise God for grace! But, imagine if we truly lived it out!

What I Love About Montgomery, Alabama

Joe Thorn got me thinking about loving my own city.  I am not originally from Montgomery. I was born in New Orleans, LA and grew up in South Mississippi. I went to college at Mississippi State University and seminary at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary in Marin County of the San Francisco Bay Area. I have traveled all over the United States and all over the world. But, I live in Montgomery, Alabama and have done so for almost ten years. Let me tell you what I love about this place:

• God sent me here when I was 25 years old - almost a decade ago. I was a fresh seminary graduate, married with one 7 month old daughter. I know that God sent me here and even though I have often wondered if it was time to go, He has reconfirmed that He has me here for a reason again and again. I know that God loves these people because He created them and has a plan for them.  I now have 4 children and can say that this has been a good place to raise them.
• I love the church I serve, Gateway Baptist. It is made up of people from all over the country who have served with the military (Maxwell/Gunter AFB) and it has a lot of young families and singles. When you think of a Southern Baptist church in Montgomery, AL, you might think of a certain stereotype, but Gateway is really more like the churches that I visited in California than it is like a traditional Southern Baptist church. That has helped us in that we have been able to adapt readily to a changing culture, but it has also hurt us in that we have never quite fit the native culture. That is changing as the culture changes, though, and we are pretty well positioned to reach a lot more people, especially cross-culturally.
• Montgomery places a high value on family and children. There are children everywhere. Many parents seem to want to do a good job raising their kids. That is a good thing and it is something that God approves of.
• God desires reconiciliation between people in Christ. There are a lot of people in this city who want that. Historically, Montgomery has been a city of racial and socio-economic division. That still exists here, but what better place to bring the Kingdom of God by addressing those divisions? What better place for God to be glorified in that way? This is a place where a problem can become a praise if we don't run away from it.
• There are a lot of churches and a lot of Christians in Montgomery. There is a lot of religion here. While a traditional churched culture has drawbacks, it also has a lot of positives. When people really get to know Christ and churches really begin to honor God, much fruit can be produced.
• Meat and Three:  If there was a dish or cuisine that was featured in this area, it would be the traditional Southern Meat and Three, which consists of a meat and three vegetables, usually with cornbread or a roll. Restaurant's like Martin's, The Farmer's Market, Eastside Grille, and many others feature this type of food and it is pretty tasty. It is an example of how the farm and the rural South is never more than a generation or two removed from this city.
• Montgomery is a big, small town. With a population of over 200,000 people and a metro population of over 300,000, Montgomery still has a small town feel to it. It actually feels like one big sprawling suburb. There are lots of things that I don't like about that, but it has its positives too in that housing is affordable and there are lots of great neighborhoods to raise a family in.
• Montgomery is becoming more and more diverse. It is the state capitol, has a major military base where every member of the Air Force comes for school through Air University - including many international students, has four universities, and has a major Hyundai plant.  People come in and out of this city all the time and more and more ethnic minorities are moving here. This is a great city to reach the nations from and it is also a great city to model a multicultural church in the Deep South. 

There are other things, I know, but I will stop there. While there are challenges, there are also many opportunities for God to prove Himself strong and to right some generational wrongs. 

What do you love about your city? 

Defending the Cause of the Fatherless, the Poor, the Widow, and the Oppressed

"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked." Psalm 82:3-4                          

"Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatheless, plead the case of the widow." Isaiah 1:17       

"He (the Lord) defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing." Deuteronomy 10:18                       

"Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless." Isaiah 10:2                             

Those are just a few of the verses that tell us how God sees the weak, poor, and fatherless. How do we see them? There is an epidemic of fatherlessness in America. 40 percent of children were born to unwed mothers last year in America. Holiness requires that our hearts turn to the fatherless because that is where God's heart is turned. How can we do less?

We have lost two generations since the Great Evangelical Retreat began 50 years ago. It is time for us to turn and face the wreckage that we have left behind and begin to bring healing though sacrificial love. How can our hearts be different from God's and we still claim to walk with Him?

Questions that I am pondering today in prayer. God help us to join you in your work of redemption.

Inoculated Against the Gospel: Toward a Southern (Bible Belt) Missiology, Pt. 4

One of the major issues in faithfully proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in the South is that so many people think that they know all about it when the really don't have a clue. They've prayed the prayer and gotten the T-shirt.  Last year, I was volunteering at a big ministry event in our city that was giving out food, health care, and other types of services. I was working in the prayer tent and was asking people if I could pray with them before they got their groceries and went home. There was one lady that I started speaking with and she immediately began to show me disdain. She was looking away, rolling her eyes, and making it obvious that she didn't want to talk with me. I was trying to talk with her some about Christ and she would have none of it. Then, I asked her if I could pray for her and she did not want to. I said, "Well, it is obvious that you do not believe in Jesus, but I will be praying for you."  At that point, she perked up, looked at me, and said, "Oh no, I'm a Christian. I go to so-and-so church."  Excuse me?  She had no interest whatsoever in the things of God, thought praying with me was ridiculous, and wanted to get away from me as fast as possible. I would think that it was me, but I had bathed and was being pretty nice to her. Other people had responded much better throughout the day.

It wasn't that she didn't want to talk to me. I didn't have a problem with that. I do not expect unbelievers to always want to engage in discussion about God. But, what shocked me was that she was fine with her behavior until I assumed that she was not a Christian. Of course she was a Christian, she told me!  She attended church. She prayed a prayer. She believed in Jesus (what she believed, I don't know). Isn't that what being a Christian was all about?  Why does behavior need to change? Why do I need to love Jesus? Why do I need to obey God?  If I am forgiven and all is well, then what difference does anything that I think or do make?

I would submit that instead of really giving people Jesus for who He is, we have actually inoculated people against the power of the gospel. We have given them a little of Jesus - just enough to make them think that they have the real thing, but not enough to bring them to repentance. The gospel that we preach is often a means to the end of our personal happiness and a trip to heaven. Jesus is more than that, but we have reduced Him to a religious afterthought. 

The conversation with that woman frightens me. She wasn't just having a bad day. She actually had disdain for any talk about Christ until it appeared to me that she was not a Christian. Being a Christian and going to heaven was far more important to her than following Christ and loving Him. There is something wrong when that happens again and again. What gospel are we preaching? Are we just inoculating people against the real thing?  How do we break through this in people's lives? 

Matt Chandler, a pastor from Dallas, TX speaks about this at this years Desiring God conference. He makes some great points about the need to separate the gospel from the religion that we so often proclaim and believe. Check it out.

  

Bulldozers Are Tearing Up Our Church's Property

Today was the day. I drove up to the church and they were working. The bulldozers or backhoes or whatever they are called (sorry, I'm an idiot) were uprooting trees and knocking them down.  Our church is building a new multi-purpose building and today is the day that I finally saw construction equipment on site.  Wow.

We broke ground on Sunday. It was great. We told everyone to bring a shovel instead of just having the leadership do it. Little kids brought tiny shovels, adults brought big ones. It had been raining a lot so the ground was wet and folks were tromping around in the mud. That afternoon, we had an Easter Egg Hunt for our kids and the community and had a bunch of people come out for that, play, eat, and hear the gospel and experience the love of Christ.

I love our church.

We are really beginning to reach people who are unchurched. We are seeing more and more people from our community come and we are seeing racial barriers begin to come down as more and more African Americans come.

We are also seeing God move in people's hearts as they get free from things that have kept them from truly following after God. God's Spirit is moving and people are following Christ.

This very simple building that we are working on will be a tool to continue to reach our community and make disciples of Christ. I am excited about what God is doing in our midst, about the people being saved and the lives being transformed.  I am excited about the role that we are playing in our city as we continue to pray for God's Kingdom to come. I am excited about what God is doing through our church to reach the nations for Him as we continue to impact Northern India. We keep having people go to China as well. God seems to be stirring our hearts that way too.

I love to see God working. I love it when people follow Him and glorify Him. I love what I am seeing right now and I just thought I'd give God praise. Bulldozers are tearing stuff up outside my window, but they are making room for Kingdom things.  Yes, it is a good day.

The Full Meaning of Holiness - It Might Be Different From What You Think

What do you think about when you hear the word, holiness? Obviously, it means to be separate; to be set apart. But, when I think about holiness, invariably, I think about it from a religious perspective. In other words, I think about holiness as the characteristic that I am to achieve if God is going to be pleased with me. I think about what I need to put on if I am to enter into God’s presence, since God is holy. My religious upbringing has taught me to think about what I am to abstain from and what my life is supposed to look like. The whole, “don’t drink, chew, or go with girls that do,” perspective creeps in.  Often, when I hear about holiness, I look for a rock to crawl under because my first thoughts, if I am honest, point out how I am not holy.  The word itself condemns me and I am undone. Attempts at holiness, however successful I might be in overcoming sin, putting off old behavior, or acting a certain way, always fall short because there is always a new definition of holiness that I am not living up to. I am always falling short of what someone proclaims as “holy.”

                                                       

I think that we have done the word a great disservice, however. We know that God is holy and we declare Him as such. “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty” we sing along with the angels and the multitude from Revelation. God is holy. We know that much. But, what does it mean?  Then, you add in that we are to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:47) and without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14), and we are all undone.

                                                       

So, what do we do to reconcile all of this?  How are we to be holy?  Some, have retreated to the monastery.  They have built walls around themselves and have completely withdrawn from the world. Their view of holiness is shown by what they are against and by what they disagree with. They focus on the “putting off” of Ephesians 4:22-24 and show their holiness through outward things. Others, focus on justification and God’s grace and the imputed righteousness that comes from faith in Christ.  They often do not make it around to actually living like Christ, but that is okay. They aren’t perfect, just forgiven. Both of these views miss the bigger picture of what God’s holiness really is.

                                                                     

Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship tells Martin Luther’s journey to true holiness, and I think that it is a story that bears repeating.  He says,

                                                       

When the Reformation came, the providence of God raised Martin Luther to restore the gospel of pure, costly grace. Luther passed through the cloister; he was a monk, and all this was part of the divine plan. Luther had left all to follow Christ on the path of absolute obedience. He had renounced the world in order to live the Christian life. He had learnt obedience to Christ and to his Church, because only he who is obedient can believe. The call to the cloister demanded of Luther the complete surrender of his life. But God shattered all his hopes. He showed him through the Scriptures that the following of Christ is not the achievement or merit of a select few, but the divine command to all Christians without distinction. Monasticism had transformed the humble work of discipleship into the meritorious activity of the saints, and the self-renunciation of discipleship into the flagrant spiritual self-assertion of the “religious.”  The world had crept into the very heart of the monastic life, and was once more making havoc. The monk’s attempt to flee from the world turned out to be a subtle form of love for the world. The bottom having thus been knocked out of the religious life, Luther laid hold upon grace. Just as the whole world of monasticism was crashing about him in ruins, he saw God in Christ stretching forth his hand to save. He grasped that hand in faith, believing that “after all, nothing we can do is of any avail, however good a life we live.” The grace which gave itself to him was a costly grace, and it shattered his whole existence. Once more he must leave his nets and follow. The first time was when he entered the monastery, when he had left everything behind except his pious self. This time even that was taken from him. He obeyed the call, not through any merit of his own, but simply through the grace of God. Luther did not hear the word: “Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven, so you can stay as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness.” No, Luther had to leave the cloister and go back to the world, not because the world in itself was good and holy, but because even the cloister was only a part of the world.

                                                                              

Luther’s return from the cloister to the world was the worst blow the world had suffered since the days of early Christianity. The renunciation he made when he became a monk was child’s play compared with that which he had to make when he returned to the world. Now came the frontal assault. The only way to follow Jesus was by living in the world. Hitherto the Christian life had been the achievement of a few choice spirits under the exceptionally favourable conditions of monasticism; now it is a duty laid on every Christian living in the world. The commandment of Jesus must be accorded perfect obedience in one’s daily vocation of life. The conflict between the life of the Christian and the life of the world was thus thrown into the sharpest possible relief. It was a hand-to-hand conflict between the Christian and the world.

                                                                    

Because the monastery was a place that Luther had retreated to justify himself and protect himself from the contaminating evils of the world, it actually became a part of the world system. Everything that sets itself up against the knowledge of God is a part of the world system, even if it looks really good on the outside. Luther could only be justified through faith in what Christ had already done for him and he only came to a point of faith in Christ when he quit believing in himself.

                                                                                  

But, here is what really strikes me about all of this:  For Luther, and for us as well, holiness was not found in the monastery. It was found in engaging the world as an emissary of Christ. When he tried to separate himself from the world through withdrawing, he just demonstrated the world’s ways of self-justification. But, when he died to himself, renounced the world’s ways, and engaged the world for the sake of Christ, he was acting in accordance with holiness. It is all upside down from what we thought, isn’t it?  The reason for this is because Christ is holy.  Only Christ makes us holy and we are declared righteous only by faith in Jesus. But, that righteousness plays out in and transforms our lives when we are conformed to the image of Christ in our thinking and our behavior. We reflect the image of Christ when we become like Him.  What did Jesus do?  How did he act?  Who did he care about? What moved him with compassion?  Holiness is not just a state of declared righteousness that comes from faith, but the outworking of that holiness involves doing what Jesus did.  Caring for the sick, the leper, the persecuted, and the downtrodden is holy. Rescuing the sinner is holy.  Proclaiming justice to the nations is holy. Dining with tax collectors and prostitutes to show them the Kingdom of God is holy. Forgiving others is holy. Loving your enemies is holy.  Everything that looks like Jesus is holy.  Holiness is not just putting off certain behaviors.  It is that, depending on what those behaviors are, but more than that, it is thinking about things differently and putting on the character of Christ. Humbling yourself before others and serving them is a holy act.  We could go on and on. Holiness is not just a state of denial of certain things, it is action that demonstrates the in-breaking Kingdom of God.  Holiness means that we live according to the "Otherness" of God apart and separate from this world system.  It is a positive action, not just a negative renunciation.

                                                                                                                               

We need more holiness in our churches.  We need to put off the old life and see the world differently.  Correspondingly, we need to put on the new life, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph. 4:22-24).  Our evangelicalism became destructive when it promoted a life that affirmed withdrawal from the world for the sake of its truncated conception of holiness. Jesus did not withdraw from the world. He engaged the world and brought healing and redemption as He did the will of the Father in all respects. THAT is holiness and that is what God wants from us.

                                                                                   

Instead of feeling condemned by the concept of holiness because I know that I do not measure up to someone’s artificial standard, I now see holiness as being the outworking of God’s character and life in every area.  To see the beauty of holiness in a primarily negative (i.e. what we put off) sense is surely an abomination and it is entirely incomplete.  But, to see holiness the way that Jesus demonstrates and to know that we have been called to be like Him is amazing, creative, beautiful, and life affirming!  It is something that causes me to want to be holy and to violently pursue Christ and lose myself in obedience to Him as He brings restoration to the world!

The Weakness of a Privatized, Individualistic Gospel: Moving Toward a Southern Missiology , Part 2

In my last post, I asked readers what they thought a missiology for the South might look like.  I appreciate the comments, Mike, Bob, Les, and Rick. I was hoping for a little more discussion, but, let's face it, I'm not talking about the latest political brouhaha amongst Southern Baptists or anything exciting like that. I'm just talking about the future of the church in the South over the next generation. Relatively meaningless, I know.  :)

At any rate, as I have been researching the theological weaknesses behind the evils of racism and segregation in the Southern Baptist South of the 1950's and 60's and how those weaknesses continue to affect us today (all for a book that I am trying to write), I have stumbled across an unexpected culprit that has caused me to raise my eyebrows a bit. In my reading, interviewing, studying, and praying, I have come to believe that a major reason that people could fill churches all across the South on Sunday and then treat others horribly just because of the color of their skin without feeling conviction was because of the gospel that was preached and believed. If your view of the "gospel" is that it is mostly a set of propositions that you agree with so that you can go to heaven when you die (i.e., eternal life) and salvation cannot be lost no matter what you do, then the commands of Scripture about loving others will be ignored when they bump up against a culture that ultimately gives you your identity, especially when that culture tells you that the "other" is inferior to you. What is there to fear? You're going to heaven. Of course, fear came in when you committed really bad sins like drinking alcohol, dancing, or broke any sexual taboos. So, belief and lifestyle were connected on some issues but not others, even though those other issues were just as biblical, if not moreso in some cases. This hypocrisy became a major theological problem and it is still embedded in the "gospel" we preach and the theology that we believe. We've never dealt with it adequately. We still face a theological separation between belief and behavior because we desire and offer heaven without the cross. Unfortunately, this separation has weakened our churches to the point of impotence when it comes to standing against the world. This weak, cheap gospel of personal, individualistic salvation without discipleship is what allowed Southerners to be racists while they filled Southern Baptist churches.  It is what allowed the Lutheran church in Germany to turn away from the Nazi brutalities toward the Jews and even accept them as necessary. It is also what allows us today to say that we believe one thing and live a completely different way and feel no shame or conviction.  Isn't hypocrisy a great part of what the baby boomers rebelled against in the 60's? Didn't the church have a stake in that regarding how we treated others while claiming to follow Christ?  

David Fitch in The Great Giveaway says, 

In our doctrine of salvation then, evangelicals must avoid commoditizing salvation into an individualist consumerist transaction, something we have been prone to. There is a reason why it sounds intrusive to ask a stranger the question "Do you know Jesus as personal savior?" We have privatized the relationship with Jesus so as to make him into a gnosticized faith that seems isolated from everyday life. We must un-privatize our faith in Christ and reconnect our relationship with God through Christ to a way of life that we can invite people into and a movement of God in history. Then we can ask, "Do you have a place where you can ask questions about life?" "Do you know a story that can make sense of your life?" When we do this, we focus away from scaring people out of hell to inviting people into a compelling way of life. We realize that making salvation about being saved from hell irrespective of being saved to new life cheapens it into a piece of individualist knowledge, bordering on Gnositicism, that does not take root in embodied lives.

In postmodernity, truth is about character. Religious truth can no longer be relegated to the realm of private feeling or preference. This is because modern science, which pushed it there originally, no longer reigns supreme. Truth is in the living. Any evangelism therefore that separates one's renewed legal status before God from the new life we have in Christ strips the gospel of its power for a postmodern evangelism. For the postmodern world, justification cannot be separated from sanctification and sanctification cannot be separated from a living people of God. The basis for a compelling Christian account of salvation in postmodernity is a changed life among a living community of Christ. (58-59).

Random Thinking

Last night, I couldn't get to sleep. My mind was racing. Finally, I drifted off, but not before I ran through a dozen different subjects. I've been told by friends that I have adult ADD. Maybe so. It would explain a lot. Normally, I write essays for this blog because it is really rewarding for me to lock in on one topic and explore it and I use it as a teaching platform for my church. Today, I'll take you on a random tour of what I'm thinking about in classic, stream-of-consciousness form. Each of these thoughts could be a blogpost all their own and they have been building up in my head. So, I think I'll clean out my brain a little so that I can think more clearly and start over.

I'm going back to India at the end of next month. Around midnight last night, I called Thom Wolf in India and talked with him for awhile. It was almost noon there. He was my professor and intellectual mentor in school back when I lived in San Francisco and he lives in New Delhi. We will go north to the Himalayas and do our normal thing with the ministries there, and then possibly travel with him for a couple of days to the south of India to meet some people doing very interesting things.

I am working through Paul's letter to the Philippians right now in my Bible study and my preaching. I am also writing essays to go along with each topic. Philippians is a great letter to address the "God as a means to an end" syndrome that plagues contemporary Christianity. I am thinking of releasing the essays after I am through with this. It has been really interesting. Today, I am working on one called "Chains" about how Paul volunteered to put himself in less than ideal situations so that the gospel would be spread to others through his life and suffering. Check out Philippians 1:7-14. Am I willing to do the same? 

"According to some estimates, Christians in developed Western countries now represent only 37 percent of believers worldwide. As I travel and also read chruch history, I have observed a pattern, a strange historical phenomenon of God 'moving' geographically from place to place: from the Middle East to Europe to North America to the developing world. My theory is this: God goes where He's wanted." ~ Philip Yancey, Finding God in Unexpected Places. 

I ran across a fascinating article today on urban development in post-Katrina New Orleans on Newgeography.com by Andres Duany.  Duany, of Cuban descent, says that "New Orleans is not among the most haphazard, poorest or misgoverned American cities, but rather the most organized, wealthiest, cleanest, and competently governed of the Caribbean cities."  He says that New Orleans is not really an American city at all. Rather, it is a Caribbean city.  Jimmy Buffett, after Katrina hit, said that the northern Gulf of Mexico is actually the northern part of the Caribbean, not the Southern part of the U.S.  I agree. Being from there, it is different that the rest of the country, and I love it. Totally different way of thinking, worldview, and lifestyle. Maybe this is why Baptists have had so much trouble reaching the Gulf Coast?  Hmmm. 

My two favorite songs on my ipod right now are "Rocket Man" by Angie Aparo and "A Change is Gonna Come" by Ben Sollee. They are both cover songs, but the music and vocals are really intriguing. If you haven't heard either of these guys, check them out.  Here's a live version of "Rocket Man." I think about this when I am travelling too much.

And, Ben Sollee on the cello.  Yes, the cello.  This is amazing.

This week marks the 3 year anniversary of us finding a lump on Caelan's chest that was a cancerous tumor. It has been a hard three years, but I praise God everyday for His faithfulness. Last night, Erika told me that the little 3 year old girl that my family has been praying for since we saw her at Caelan's last scans died last week. Her name was Cassie. My heart was broken over that. Maybe that is why I keep singing "A Change is Gonna Come." Ben Sollee, covering Sam Cooke, says he doesn't know what's beyond the sky. I do, and more and more each day I pray that God's Kingdom come.

"As heretical as it sounds today, it is probably worth telling Americans that you don't need Jesus to have better families, finances, health, or even morality. Coming to the cross means repentance - not adding Jesus as a supporting character for an otherwise decent script but throwing away the script in order to be written into God's drama. It is death and resurrection, not coaching and makovers." Michael Horton, Christless Christianity.

Baseball season is about to start. I really don't like baseball. Too slow for my taste. During the dead of summer, it is almost like there are no sports going on. I'm just waiting for football. Although, our church has formed THREE softball teams with about 50 players and they'll be playing mostly on Monday nights, so I am glad for the fact that a lot of people from our church will be hanging out together and building relationships. Being blind in my right eye caused me to never play baseball because I have no depth perception, so maybe that is why I don't like it. I do plan to play summer league basketball, though. 

The groundbreaking for our church's new building is April 5, right before we have a huge neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. We've been reaching a lot of teenagers in our community lately, and God really moved in their lives at a youth retreat that we had this past weekend. Several came to Christ and many more opened their hearts to Jesus. We have also started tutoring, GED classes, and are helping with job placement.  God is doing some amazing things. The building is just a tool to help us with this, and it should be finished by October. I'll be very happy.

I keep watching Jon & Kate plus Eight. I don't know why. Erika keeps asking why I stop there when we are watching TV and I have the remote and I told her that I really can't believe how mean Kate is to Jon and I can't fathom how they manage eight kids like that. Wow. It's like a car wreck. I have four kids of my own. Do I really need to watch someone else's stress? Strangely, I'm drawn to it. That, and Clean House, which is about people who live in an unfathomable mess.  I guess that it is cathartic to see other people's stress and mess instead of my own.  Normally, these shows come on right after we put the kids to bed. Hmmm.

I turned in my taxes yesterday and I'm trying to get some insurance stuff taken care of. It's a pain and seems to be taking forever. Car tags have to be paid on Monday and I'm doing a TV interview tomorrow for a local religious broadcasting station about our work in India. I lump all of that together because it all feels about the same to me - stuff I have to do that I don't like doing. I'm not just trying to be humble about the TV thing either. I HATE stuff like that. Communication should be two-way and interactive with feedback, not captured on a television for people to pick over and misinterpret as they wish. Maybe I'm just insecure. 

Books I'm reading right now (they happen to all be "Christian" books, which is not good - I need to vary things up a bit and learn from some other disciplines):

• Finding God in Unexpected Places by Philip Yancey - picked it up in the airport last week. Yancey writes essays about where he sees God working in the world. Excellent.
• Christless Christianity by Michael Horton - states that the American church has given itself over to an alternative gospel that he calls, therapuetic moralistic deism.
• No Place for Truth - Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology by David Wells. This came out about 15 years ago, but it was recommended to me by a friend of mine. It is pretty dense, but a good read. Makes some of the same claims as Horton, but from a historical perspective.
• People of the Dream: Multiracial Congregations in the United States by Michael O. Emerson. Just picked this one up.

My church is always heavy on my mind and my heart. I graduated from seminary over 9 years ago. I've been the lead pastor of our church for 3 1/2 years. I'm realizing more and more each day that I am not smart enough, talented enough, entertaining enough, or gifted enough to do what needs to be done, no matter how many books I read. God has to work through me. I need Him. I carry the weight of people's struggles pretty intensely. I greatly desire for people to walk with the Lord and to glorify Him and I want our church to hunger after Christ with their whole lives and to reach people who do not know Jesus. But, I am really having to pray about this and release it to the Lord. I can't make anyone do anything. I am completely powerless to make anything happen. God has to do it.  I have always known that intellectually. I am learning that emotionally and spiritually and it isn't easy, believe it or not.

Ashtyn has started soccer.

I have great kids and an amazing wife who listens to me go on and on about everything that I am thinking about. She is really patient and she always gives me great feedback. I do not deserve her, and I'm not just saying that because it is what I am expected to say. She's really something. She texted me two days ago and said that we should go on the mission trip with the youth group this summer. I told her that I agreed. Not many mother's of four kids would do that. 

My city, Montgomery, just elected a new mayor in a special election a couple of weeks ago. In his election night interview, he said that he hoped that he would "rule" well.  Rule #1 in American politics: Never tell the people that you plan to "rule" them. It doesn't sit well in a democracy. Then, he said that he was pushing the inauguration back a week because he was taking his family to the beach. Rule #2:  When we are in a severe recession, don't tell the people that just elected you that you would begin to rule, er, serve them, but first, you have to go to the beach.  Go to the beach in a few months AFTER you have worked for them for a little while. Wow.

Look, a BUTTERFLY!!!! Sorry, had to get that out. Does anyone ever feel that way? Random as can be.

I've lost 10 pounds in the past two weeks and I don't know how. I guess that I haven't been eating as much. Duh. Stress? Busyness? I don't know, but I'll take it. I could stand to lose a lot more.

____________________________________________________

Well, that's about it. Not really, but I figure that no one is still reading at this point, so I might as well stop. Believe it or not, engaging in an exercise in complete randomness actually made me feel better. So, I leave you with a picture of my kids that I really love. 

God is good, by the way.  And, He's always working in every thing. Big, little, important, mundane. God is always at work.

 

Crumbling Housing Market

My last post addressed how America is going to be reshaped by the financial crisis and I looked at some ways that the church could respond.  Today, I primarily wanted to show you this graph of falling home prices and point you to this excellent article that should scare the pants off of you and cause you to look to Jesus alone if you are a Christian:

 http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/quinn/2009/0218.html (HT: John Stickley)

God has a purpose for His Church in all of this if we would but open our eyes and be salt and light. I believe that He has a purpose for the local church that I pastor in our community as people begin to struggle. Isaiah 58 is a guiding passage for me in all of this.  Unless my hope is in the Lord, I will not be able to offer hope to others. Unless I am looking to Christ, I will not be able to point others to Christ. We need to be aware of what is happening in our nation and help people trust in Christ instead of what is fading away.

More on this later . . .

How Will the Crash Reshape America and How Will the Church Respond?

Richard Florida, the director of the Martin Prosperity Institute at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management and writing for The Atlantic, tells us that America has changed forever with the current economic crash. As a country, we will have to remake ourselves and the future will not look much like the past. Gone are the heady days of manufacturing, construction, and the suburbs. The creative class will group in large urban conglomerations of cities and those areas full of educated and versatile people will drive economic growth in America. This is a fascinating essay and if you want to be educated on what is happening and what is coming, I highly recommend that you take the time to read it.

Florida says,

On one level, the crisis has demonstrated what everyone has known for a long time: Americans have been living beyond their means, using illusory housing wealth and huge slugs of foreign capital to consume far more than we’ve produced. The crash surely signals the end to that; the adjustment, while painful, is necessary.

The result of this, according to Florida, is that the suburbs are dying. Housing wealth is declining at a rapid pace and it will not return. People are going to be stuck in areas because they will not be able to sell their homes. This will lead to rising unemployment and suburban blight. Florida says something that I have been saying for about six months now:  It is smarter to rent than to own a home.  Instead of an investment, home ownership is going to be seen as a liability in the future.  Glenn Beck has an amazing video on that HERE (the average American home was worth twice the historic market value in 2006. A correction has started and will likely not stop until the average American home loses half its value from 2006-2007.).

So, how will this affect the church? 

Too Little Too Late: Baptist Leaders Finally Beginning to Speak Out Against Consumerism

More doom and gloom from Downshoredrift, I'm afraid.  I'm a lot more fun in person, I think. I promise I'll write something funny and trivial soon so that we can amuse ourselves to death as Neil Postman once said, and not have to deal with reality. But, until then . . .

Thomas White from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary writes a scathing editorial against the disease of consumption that has plagued America and especially Christians over the past few decades. Finally. Some of us have been sounding this message for quite some time, but no one listens when your home values are increasing like crazy. We were so intoxicated with our growing wealth that we never realized that it was all a house of sand. We were sitting on top of a bubble that has now burst.

Here are White's comments. I agree with all that he says and commend you to read it:

http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=29952

I do wish, however, that we had had more leaders saying this back in 2004 or 2006 or even early 2008. Apparently, we are only able to understand the dangers of materialism and consumerism when we have lost a lot of money and stuff. But, isn't that just materialism's lament? I mean, if we start harping on the dangers of it only AFTER our 401k and housing values drop, then doesn't that just show how in love with money we really are? The prophet is the one who could question the morality of all this even when things were going well. Of course, no one listens then. Perhaps they will listen now. 

It seems that the Bible should shape us more than the bottom line if Jesus really is Lord. How many of us gave thought to the dangers of consumerism when we were moving to ever trendier neighborhoods in the suburbs or bedroom communities? How many pastors challenged their church members to NOT run off after bigger houses, nicer neighborhoods, and more genteel living? Or, did we just chase the suburbanites with bigger and better megachurches to "meet their needs?" I know that John Piper was saying this mid-decade but few others joined the chorus. Now that everything is falling apart, people are piling on and acting like a bunch of know-it-alls. Me included, so I need to repent of that attitude. 

So, where do we go from here? Obama gave his State of the Union speech tonight and did not say much, as far as I can tell. But, I have been studying and I think that we are headed for complete economic ruin, unless something dramatic changes. The only thing even remotely keeping things stable for the average American right now is the value of the dollar. Many economists are predicting the collapse of the dollar sometime this Spring. If that happens, all bets are off.  I hope that it does not, and if it doesn't, we might be able to weather this storm. But, from all that I am reading, things are about to get REALLY bad. Like, rioting in the streets bad. 

My wife said to me the other day that this world's system is collapsing and at every point that we have attached ourself to the world, we are going to feel enormous pain. She is right. But, every place that we cling to Christ, we will stand. Jesus is not collapsing. His Kingdom is secure and will not be shaken. But, the world will. We are not to let our hearts be troubled. In this world we will have trouble. Trouble is coming, guys. We are going to be facing some very tough times. But, Jesus has overcome the world. He gives peace that surpasses all understanding. 

I am trusting Jesus. I am also frantically trying to get out of debt and I am putting away a couple of weeks of food for my family and to share with others, just in case. That sounds severe, I know, but if the things happen that many experts are predicting, then we will need it. If not, then I have a lot of extra canned goods. No harm there. 

From what I understand, things will be touch and go with the economy over the next few months. We could pull out of this. Or, things could become Great Depression bad. We need to be praying that God would have mercy on us. I also wish that evangelicals would have had just a touch of discernment about this over the past decade instead of just building bigger churches, buying bigger houses, and buying fancier cars.  What if we had been storing up treasures in heaven instead of building bigger storehouses for ourselves?

I am guilty too. I saw things that were wrong but I succumbed to pressure and went along with the world and other Christians because I didn't trust my own judgment and what I saw the Scriptures to be saying. I repent. Never again. Maybe that is what Thomas White and others are doing now too. If so, then I will give them the same grace that I myself need. No matter what we saw or didn't see, however, from this moment on we need to seek God and obey Him. He is our only refuge.  

Atheist, Penn Jillette, tells Christians to evangelize

I thought that this article was pretty interesting and worth sharing. It comes from Baptist Press. You've heard of the comedy/magic team of Penn & Teller? Penn Jillette is the one who talks and he is an avowed atheist. But, he had an interesting encounter with a Christian and it made a huge impact on him.

LAS VEGAS (BP)--Penn Jillette, the verbal half of the magician duo Penn and Teller, and an outspoken atheist, has posted a YouTube video exhorting Christians to share their faith.

Penn and Teller are headliners in Las Vegas, and their shows generally are marked by foul language and shock appeal. Penn Jillette, though, used no coarse language in telling about an audience member who gave him a New Testament.

Jillette was signing autographs after a show last fall when he noticed the man standing over to the side of the crowd.

"And he had been the guy who picks the joke during our psychic comedian section of the show. He had the props from that in his hand because we give those away. He had the joke book and the envelope and paper and stuff," Jillette said in the Dec. 8 YouTube video.

The man walked over to Jillette, complimented him on the show and handed him a Gideons New Testament.

"And he said, 'I wrote in the front of it, and I wanted you to have this. I'm kind of proselytizing,'" Jillette said. "And then he said, 'I'm a businessman. I'm sane. I'm not crazy.' And he looked me right in the eyes.

"It was really wonderful. I believe he knew that I was an atheist. But he was not defensive, and he looked me right in the eyes," Jillette said. "And he was truly complimentary. It didn't seem like empty flattery. He was really kind and nice and sane and looked me in the eyes and talked to me and then gave me this Bible."

Jillette then stated he doesn't respect people who don't proselytize.

"I don't respect that at all. If you believe that there's a heaven and hell and people could be going to hell or not getting eternal life or whatever, and you think that it's not really worth telling them this because it would make it socially awkward, and atheists who think that people shouldn't proselytize -- 'Just leave me alone, keep your religion to yourself.'

"How much do you have to hate somebody to not proselytize?" Jillette asked. "How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? If I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you and you didn't believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there's a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that."

Jillette reiterated his impression of the man's demeanor.

"This guy was a really good guy. He was polite and honest and sane, and he cared enough about me to proselytize and give me a Bible, which had written in it a little note to me -- not very personal, but just 'Liked your show,' and then listed five phone numbers for him and an e-mail address if I wanted to get in touch," Jillette said.

"Now I know there's no God, and one polite person living his life right doesn't change that. But I'll tell you, he was a very, very, very good man, and that's really important. And with that kind of goodness, it's OK to have that deep of a disagreement. I still think that religion does a lot of bad stuff, but that was a good man who gave me that book. That's all I wanted to say," Jillette said at the end of the short video.

John Mark Simmons, pastor of the Las Vegas-area Highland Hills Baptist Church in Henderson and a member of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee, told Baptist Press that Jillette's video should inspire believers to share their faith even when they think people won't be responsive.

"That episode is a wonderful encouragement for all of us to be salt and light," Simmons said. "If you know anything at all about Penn or his shows, you know he pretty much represents the decayed and dark world we live in, yet someone's obedience got his attention."
--30--
Erin Roach is a staff writer for Baptist Press.

 

Inauguration Thoughts on Obama and Dr. King: America Is Changing. How Will the Church Respond?

America is changing rapidly. A little over 40 years after his death, the dream of Dr. Martin Luther King and others is becoming a reality as Americans of different races and ethnicities learn to live with one another and be one nation. The fact that the holiday that commemorates Dr. King and Obama's inauguration are on back-to-back days is not lost on those paying attention. The inauguration of Barack Obama is just the first major event that will usher in a new America, one very different than the nation that we have previously known. Newsweek has a great article about the changing demographics of our country and it links the most dramatic changes to the immigration bill that Lyndon Johnson signed in 1965 that effectively opened our borders.

Closer to home, public approval of interracial marriages (like the one between Obama's parents) has risen significantly in the past decade, from 54 percent in 1995 to 80 percent today. The percentage of Americans who say they know a mixed-race couple has risen from 58 to 79 percent since 1995, and more than a third (34 percent) say they or a close family member have married or live with someone of another race or who has a very different racial, ethnic or religious background, including a quarter (24 percent) who say it is specifically an interracial marriage or live-in relationship.

By and large, the younger you are, the more assimilated you are in this new tapestry of daily life. The key cohort is the 75 million-strong generation known as the millennials (those born roughly between 1980 and 2000). To state the obvious, the experiences of the younger generation—now voting and beginning their adult lives—are not the experiences of their parents or of their grandparents. Vietnam seems as distant as Saratoga; Roe v. Wade as far off as Dred Scott. That much is self-evident, and perennial. (Every generation is shaped by unique forces; that is part of what makes them a generation, aside from the accident of a birth date.) What was less than clear until the election of 2008 was whether the experience of younger Americans would produce a shift in political attitudes, and would such a shift be felt beyond Facebook and Starbucks? Could Obama count on them to show up?

Yes he could. The disparity between older and younger voters was greater in 2008 than at any other time since exit polling began in 1972, according to the Pew Research Center. Obama won 66 percent of the 18- to 29-year-old vote, 12 points more than John Kerry attracted in 2004. The younger cohort is more diverse than the general population, more female, more secular, less socially conservative and more willing to describe themselves as liberals. Note to the ghost of LBJ: 20 percent of this crucial group are children of immigrants.

And 2009 is only the beginning of the story. According to Pew, if current trends continue, the U.S. population will rise from 296 million in 2005 to 438 million in 2050. Eighty-two percent—let me repeat that: 82 percent—of the increase will be attributable to immigrants arriving after 2005 and to their descendants. By that point, whites may make up only 47 percent of the country, ending centuries of a majority-white America.

Meanwhile, the church in America is in decline. During the same period as the immigrant influx, evangelical churches have remained white and middle class and have begun to decline. We know that the SBC is in decline. Ed Stetzer has some interesting analysis of this in a recent blog post:

In 1978, just before the start of the resurgence, there was one baptism for every 36 members of the convention. By 2007, that ratio was one baptism to every 47 members.

"We are baptizing fewer of our own children, and fewer unchurched people," LifeWay's Rainer said.

More than 9,000 congregations, or almost a quarter of all Southern Baptist churches, reported no baptisms in 2007. And, in that year, only 8.3 percent of the churches were responsible for 49.8 percent of the convention's baptisms.

Also:

In 1971, there were 1,434,892 children ages 6 to 11 in Southern Baptist Sunday schools. By 2007, the last year for which statistics are available, that number had dropped by about 455,000 to 979,429. At the same time, the U.S. population grew by 46 percent.

Could it be that part of the reason (among others) that our churches are declining is that we have refused to understand and embrace the reality of a racially and ethnically changing America? Up until about 40 years ago, white evangelicals (especially Baptists), were aligned with forces that sought to disenfranchise minorities and keep them out of the mainstream of American life through segregation. When segregation was abolished, many whites (including evangelicals) fled to the suburbs where we built our malls, gated communities, country clubs, and megachurches so we could be with people just like us. Those days are fading. In 40 years, America will have a majority of minority groups. How will the predominately white evangelical churches respond? Will we finally become multicultural the way that God intended? Will there finally come a time when there is neither Jew, Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, Slave, or Free? Will we finally put aside our consumeristic preferences and live out the implications of the gospel and become one in Christ?  If not, our demise will be well deserved. 

Dr. King said that 11 am on Sunday morning was the most segregated hour of the week. It still is. On Tuesday, January 20th, this nation will celebrate the inauguration of its first black president, Barack Obama.  It will celebrate its multicultural promise.  What will the church do? 

The church is not a sanctuary for people who want to hold onto the past and their culture and not change. It is not a place for protection from a changing world. The church is the people of God who follow in the Missio Dei to seek and save the lost. We are not consumers who huddle together to get our needs met and indulge our appetites and preferences. We are disciples, followers of Christ.  We are to live wasted lives for the Kingdom and for those who need Jesus. We live in a rapidly changing world. No one will be left unscathed or unchanged. The time to soothe feelings and make sure that everyone is comfortable is long past. We talk about missions all the time and how we care about the nations. Well, God has brought the nations to our own doorstep. How will we respond?

What will the Church do? 

What Difference Will Christmas Make in our Lives This Year?

Christmas thoughts fill our minds, even as the wrapping paper sits in crumpled heaps in the corners of our living rooms. Meals have been served and children have laughed and danced. The rushing around and the shopping is finally over and we are all slumped in our chairs enjoying a much deserved rest at the end of weeks and weeks of festivities. One question haunts and startles me: Have we celebrated the birth of Christ, or have we celebrated something else?

The Crucified King has come. Jesus emptied himself - made himself nothing. He became a servant. He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He made himself nothing taking on the very nature of a servant.  A servant. He did not come to be served but to serve. He gave himself as a ransom for many. A suffering servant. Broken, beaten, despised and rejected. A man of sorrows. We esteemed him not. God was pleased to crush him. He who knew no sin became sin for us that in him we might become the righteousness of God. He was wounded for our transgression, crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him. By his stripes we are healed. He came to serve, not to be served.

As Christmas celebrations come to an end and we move on with life, I wonder if we are any closer to being anything like Him. We talk a lot about our identity in Christ. Are we serious? Is Jesus really our identity? Are we willing to suffer and serve? To be poured out and broken? Do we consider others better than ourselves? Do we sacrifice ourselves for others? Do we have the same attitude as Christ Jesus? He became poor for us so that we might become rich in Him. Are we willing to be poor so that others might become rich in Christ? Are we willing to give up anything to incarnate Christ? Has Christmas come and gone and left us exactly the same as before? Has anything changed in our hearts and our lives? Do we want anything to change? Tough questions, I know, but these are the questions I am asking myself after considering the birth of our Savior while I live a life of material excess.

The Pope gave his annual Christmas message today. I have made it a yearly habit to pay attention to this message because it usually speaks to issues in the world that the Evangelical Church refuses to touch. We don't talk about war and peace, unless we are talking about America waging war so that we can keep the peace for ourselves. And then, we defend the practice. We do not talk about economic issues or issues regarding the rich and the poor unless we are talking about how we can be rich so that we avoid being poor. Pope Benedict XVI told us that we were headed to ruin because of economic selfishness. He is right. We are selfish to the core. I am simply defining selfishness as a preponderance of thought and activity directed toward ourselves. I admit that I am selfish. I think primarily of my own desires, my own comfort, and my own situation. Not good. Money and comfort and fun and pleasure have become our gods. Maybe it has always been that way, but the sad thing is that it is that way for Christians as well as people in the world. There is little discernable difference between the world and the church in this. There should be, but we cannot seem to grasp it. Maybe we cannot grasp the difference that should exist because our hands are so full of cheap and tawdry things. We cannot grab God while holding onto this world.

Do we hate God? Another tough question. Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 that if we try and serve two masters, if we love money, then we will end up hating God. We cannot love both God and money at the same time. There are a lot of preachers out there that will not tell their church the truth about God and this world because they are afraid that they will be rejected and will lose their comfortable church jobs. They will not lead their church the way that they are supposed to because they are afraid that their people will fire them. A couple of months ago, when talking about addressing issues of racial prejudice in our churches, I had a pastor tell me that he could not call his church to righteousness in this area. If he did, he would be asked to leave. He was close to retirement and did not want to rock the boat. How do we love God and pursue retirement? How do we love God and fear that our church might fire us? Many of us refuse to share Christ with anyone because we are afraid that they will reject us. How can we love God and fear the rejection of man at the same time?

Jesus went through a lot for us. Actually, everything. He put on flesh and made His dwelling among us. He became so very small  - a baby, born in a stable among animals, attended to by shepherds and pagan astrologers. I wonder if I love Him. Do I love Him enough to make Him the center of my existence, to obey Him no matter the cost? Do I love Him enough to want to be like Him? To serve like Him and live for Him? To allow Him to live through me? To join Him in His sufferings? Or, do I just love His benefits? Do I just love what He does for me?  When it comes to Jesus, do I just love the presents? Am I just a consumer, hoping to get something else that makes me feel good? When the wrapping paper is crumpled in the corner and the shine has worn off, do I go looking for something else to satisfy? 

If Christmas means anything to me, I must live differently. I must be the hands and feet of Jesus. I must care about what He cares about, not just a little here and there, enough to get by, but a lot.  All the time. I have not been that person, not like I could be. Because of grace, I do not feel condemned over that fact. I fully trust God's forgiveness and unconditional love. But, I do feel convicted. I am convicted, and that is good. God is kind and His kindness leads me to repentance. I want to die with Christ and live for Him. His grace and love compels me to nothing less.

Christmas must mean something - the real Christmas, not the tinsel and wrapping paper Christmas. So, because of grace and the love of my Savior . . . 

I repent. Or, at least I want to. I don't know exactly what that means in this case, but I know that I want to know the real Jesus more. Maybe I should just ask Him to show me and take it one day at a time. Maybe, I can experience Christ in my heart and my life afresh this year if I ask Him to have His way with me. Maybe a miracle can happen. 

Maybe it already has begun. 

Missional Holidays, Part 2

Eugene Peterson says that it is the role of the pastor to keep the community attentive to God. In speaking of community here, I think that he means the church. He is right and I take that role very seriously, however imperfectly I carry it out. But, I also think that it is the role of the church to make the larger community attentive to God.  God is always working (John 5:17) and He works through us, His body. So, every Christmas season, we have begun looking for ways to be attentive to God ourselves and to call our community to be attentive to God as well.

This year, we have seen some amazing things happen. We had our annual Thanksgiving Dinner where the place was packed and we had 19 nations represented.  Two weeks later, we had our annual Christmas Extravaganza, where we joined with Family Life Bible Fellowship, a predominately African American church for a night of worship, singing, dance, instrumentalists, food, and fellowship. It was amazing to see people from different churches and cultures come together as one in Christ. Christmas is about the Incarnation and we got to experience Christ in our midst through this gathering. I really feel that when we do these things, we are prophetically saying that we live differently from the world. The world divides according to all kinds of things. In Christ, we come together. Where there is strife and struggle in the world and peace is usually false, in Christ, all dividing walls are taken down and we are one. This is our lost witness and it must be reclaimed. I am not talking about oneness based on nothing, but oneness based on Christ and the unity that He has already provided for us.  If Christmas is about Jesus being made flesh to bring us salvation and redemption, then the best thing that we can do is to herald the reconciliation that we have in Christ. We are reconciled both to God and to one another. Praise God!

A few years ago, we also started doing "A Time to Serve." I actually read about a church in Colorado that did this and ripped the whole thing off from them, so I am not claiming originality. Each year, we develop 8 or so service oriented projects and get people to lead them. Then, others in the church sign up for them and carry them out. We will wrap presents for people for free at the local Wal-Mart, have children sing at retirement homes and homes for disabled children, adopt needy families and buy presents for them, pass out Christmas cards in the neighborhood around our church, etc. Each year, the projects vary, but the point is that we encourage people to serve someone else and to share the real meaning of Christmas. It has gone well again this year and I praise God for all those who are taking part.

Last night, we danced, ate, laughed, and laughed some more. And, we ate. Our LIFE Group had our Christmas Party at our house. We had almost 40 people come over (adults and children) and we had a great time. Christians don't seem to have a lot of parties, or if we do, we tend to be pretty stiff about it. But, not this group. I love our group because they are made up of real people that know how to share life together, laugh, cry, give, and minister to one another. We have seen God do miracles in one another's lives and we have been able to intervene and intercede for one another. There is little pretense. Basically, this small group of people acts as the church within a larger church and it is a blessing to be a part of it.

I really do want to brag about my church. Gateway Baptist is the finest church I have ever been a part of. It is not perfect and it is not made up of perfect people. But, they know that they aren't perfect and they depend on God's grace. They also really want to follow God and make Him known to others. I have a lot of friends that are pastors and I hear stories about the struggles with their churches. Honestly, I can say that Gateway does not struggle with the vast majority of things that other churches do. We give God the glory, but I think that the reason is that we have kept following hard after God a top priority in our fellowship. People who have other agendas or who don't want to do that either repent and live for God themselves (that is always what we work toward and there is much love and grace for people to do just that), or they don't stick around very long. I was telling some folks last night that it is a blessing to know that there is a church that is supportive in what we are trying to do so that we can all face a broken, needy world together, instead of us all having to focus on unnecessary problems within the church. Jesus living through His people is a beautiful thing.

I just wanted to praise God and thank Him that in this time of Christmas celebration, He causes us to be attentive to Him and enables us to represent Him to others. That's about all that I want for Christmas and I have already received it. God is good. 

The Church as Missionary: A Global Networking Dialogue

The Church as Missionary: A Global Networking Dialogue
January 12, 13, 2009-St. Louis, MO

The world is changing. Actually, it has already changed several times over in the past decade or two. Technology and globalization are creating quantum change instead of the linear progression of generations past. But, when it comes to the local church and mission, things plod along as they have for decades. Many churches still primarily engage in mission through sending their dollars off to a denominational agency or parachurch ministry while their own people remain passive in the task that God has given them. With the world nearing 7 billion people, the rise of the indigenous Church of the global South, and America emerging as one of the greatest mission fields in the world, we believe that the local church has a more vital role to play now than ever before in proclaiming and living out the gospel, both globally and locally. It seems, though, that few churches really step into the purpose of God in this area. What if local churches networked together to pray and find out where God was working, share opportunities and best practices, and encourage one another along in their God-given task? What if the Church became the missionary, instead of farming out our calling to others? What if we partnered together to directly engage in global missions and domestic church planting?

Some of us believe that this is possible. We believe that God is igniting the local church to step to the forefront of His work in the world. Each local church has gifts, talents, vision, and people who are already engaged in the world around them. Each Christian and church has a God-given purpose to fulfill. What if a network formed that encouraged each participating church in the task of impacting the world globally and locally by maximizing what is already happening the lives of the people in our churches? If churches in the network partnered together to share vision, people, and resources to impact lostness, couldn’t we do far more together as the engaged people of God to transform the world, than we could separately? We’d love to join with some other folks who are thinking about the same things.

On January 12-13 in St. Louis, MO, a group of pastors, leaders, and thinkers, will come together to engage in guided discussion regarding the possibility of networking to specifically engage in global and local mission by putting the local church on the forefront of the task God has given us: discipling nations. Some of us are Southern Baptists. We have our own missions agencies and cooperative giving program. This is not meant to take away from that, but we recognize that just sending money to denominational agencies and passively waiting for them to initiate work will do little to fulfill the Great Commission. Local churches must be engaged in the task in a more direct way. We’re thinking that we would be more effective at that if we partnered with others.

We are specifically inviting you to join a few dozen leaders to engage with this concept and see if God is wanting to link some folks together to help one another become more effective. This is not about starting an organization or collecting money-the last thing we need is more bureaucracy. If this goes well, the local church will be at the forefront and the network will exist in the shadows. We don’t have a name for what we are wanting to do. We might just call it, “that missional thing.” But, we believe that God is up to something and if we can help one another engage the world more effectively, then we will have accomplished our task.

This is not a standard conference or seminar where a lineup of speakers download terabytes of information to process later. Discussion initiators will be brief and on point leading to dialogues directly related to network building. Real value will be added to your ministry objectives and church mission as a result of your participation.

If this resonates with your heart, plan to be in St. Louis so that together we can help one another move our churches to the front line of Kingdom work in this world!

For more information, please leave your email address in the comment section (use this format: name[at]provider[dot]com to avoid spambots). You will be contacted in short order.

Grace and Peace,

Marty Duren, Lead Pastor
New Bethany Baptist Church
Buford, GA

Alan Cross, Pastor
Gateway Baptist Church
Montgomery, AL

Missional Holidays: The Nations Came To Our Church For Thanksgiving Last Night!

Every year, we have a huge Thanksgiving Dinner, the Sunday night before Thanksgiving. We bring tons of food and pack out the sanctuary, which also serves as our fellowship space. Each year, we are almost filled to capacity with our members and their friends. We eat, sing, and people share from the floor what they are thankful to God for. It is really a beautiful time as the Body of Christ is on display and we see the beauty of Christ at work.

This year, our Thanksgiving Dinner promised to be a little different. Over the past couple of years, we have been praying about how we could reach across ethnic and cultural lines and we are starting to see that happen. We are seeing African Americans and Hispanics come to our church. Our youth group has doubled in size, primarily with African American boys who are coming to Christ and being discipled. God is at work and it is amazing to see.

Also, we live in Montgomery, AL where Maxwell AFB is colocated. So, we have a lot of military personnel in our church. Every member of the Air Force will come through Maxwell at some point in their career because Air University is here. All of the schools for the Air Force are located here. This also means that international officers and their families from the nations of the world come to Maxwell each year for Air Command and Staff College. Over the past couple of years, people from our church have been adopting these families and have been spending time with them.  When a lady in our church told us that she had invited about thirty of them to our Thanksgiving Dinner, I was happy, but I was also thinking, "Where are we going to fit everyone!"  Our youth minister had already invited the families of the 20 or so new youth that were coming to our church.  We are already usually packed for this event. I am always talking about outreach and missional living, and here was a prime example of how our church had been doing and they wanted to bring everyone together. But, we just don't have much room!  My excitement over the evening was mixed with the implications of a looming disaster as people would not have seats and would bump into each other all night.

I met with my administrative assistant and we just decided that we'd make it work and we weren't going to worry about it. Somehow, it would work out, we hoped. So, we set up every table and chair that we possibly could, started serving early, and trusted God for the rest. And . . . it all worked out!  Somehow, we fit everyone in, and people didn't mind sitting in corners and along the walls and down the hall. It was our largest Thanksgiving Dinner ever!  People shared with one another, gave praise to God for His work in their lives, and enjoyed being together. At one point, I asked people to shout out what nation they were from. There were people there from America (obviously), Mexico, Peru, Brazil, The Philippines, The Ukraine, Germany, India, Egypt, Jordan, Bangledesh, Pakistan, China, Turkmenistan, and other countries that I cannot remember. There were people from 19 countries in all.  We also had a great number of African Americans that are coming to our church now and are getting involved in our body.  That is notable because we are a Southern Baptist church that was lily white just two years ago, and I understand how difficult it is for these barriers to be broken down. 

Jesus was represented and the gospel was spoken by people as they shared. It was beautiful. At one point, an international officer from the Middle East stood up and said how happy he was to be here. He thanked us for inviting him and his family. He also said something very interesting: He said that he was amazed and honored to be in a place where Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and many more could come together and gather in peace. He couldn't believe it.  For many of these people, this was the first time that they had been in an environment like this. Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Through Him, we, as Christians, can respect and love others, even though we know that there are differences. We believe and represent that Jesus is the only way to the Father. But, unless we build relationships with people and love them, they will not hear that message. Jesus also enables us to love people different than us because we recognize that each person is made in the image of God. 

In two weeks, we will have our Christmas Extravaganza. We will join together with Family Life Bible Fellowship, an African American church in our city and have a mass choir, singing, praise dance, poetry readings, and other artistic expressions of worship on display. We will celebrate our unity in Christ.  We will eat lots of good food together and we will laugh, pray, and celebrate. The international officers and their families will be invited again and the place will be packed out.  I can't wait!  

Christmas is the celebration of the Incarnation of Christ, where Jesus took on flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14). He is doing it again in churches and communities all across the world.  We'll make room for Him, no matter what it takes, or at least we should. I praise God for people in our church with great imaginations and faith to believe God for great things!