September 8, 2010

It’s been a while since I’ve written about our friends in “The Neighborhood.” There are several reasons for that. One of the main reasons that we haven’t been able to spend as much time with them as we normally would.

In case you haven’t been reading my blog in a while, “The Neighborhood” is a low income, government assisted housing development in Wake Forest. Originally, one of our friends invited us to come meet some of her neighbors there. Eventually, we became good friends with many of those who live there.

One of the ladies that we met was T. When we first met T., she had just had surgery for breast cancer, and she had been diagnosed with emphysema. She’s been on oxygen the entire time that we’ve known her (about 2 1/2 years). For the last year or so, she has had an assistance program coming to her house a few times a week to help her out.

She called me last week. She was very upset. She’s been having an even harder time breathing, and she went to the doctor. She was not able to see her normal doctor. The doctor that checked her that morning told her, “You’re dying. There’s nothing we can do for you. You may have a week or two, or maybe a year, but you will die soon.”

Now, she’s under hospice care.

I stopped by one afternoon to spend some time with her. She actually looks very good – better than she’s looked lately. She doesn’t think she’s as bad as the doctor said. Who knows.

She told me that she knew that God was taking care of her, and that she was trusting God. If God decided she was going to die soon, then she would. If God did not want to die soon, then it didn’t matter what the doctor said.

She said that she wants to get stronger so that she can come meet with the church with us. I told her that coming to our meeting place on Sunday morning should be the least of her concern. But, I told her, I thought the church would want to come to her.

Her face lit up. She smiled really big. “Do you think they’ll come here?” she asked. “I’m not able to clean my house like I want to. I don’t look very presentable.”

I promised her that her brothers and sisters did not care what her house looked like (they would probably even clean it for her), and they didn’t care that she had not had her bottom teeth replaced yet, and they didn’t care that she couldn’t take baths as often as normal. I told her that the church would want to come to her, to encourage her, to pray with her, to sing with her, to help her through this.

I haven’t seen her this bright and cheerful in a long time.

September 4, 2010

Since my post from earlier this morning was about worship, I thought that I would continue to topic by pointing out another (very good) post on the subject.

Mark (from “Called Out in Kansas“) recently attended a 2-day conference about worship. After returning, he wrote a few posts, including one called “After the Worship Conference.” He this post Mark also comments on my post “The Purpose of Participation” as well as Dan’s post “Stirring Up.”

In this last paragraph, especially, Mark adds alot of thought and insight to this discussion:

So, here’s the situation. I’ve been a vocal proponent of participatory style meetings, and very critical of traditional church models. I still believe that the New Testament model is participatory, and that a single pastorate system is unbiblical, and harmful to the maturity of the body. But, as pointed out by Alan and Dan in the above posts, just attending participatory meetings doesn’t guarantee that the end result will be any different than in the system we just left. My concern for this movement, if you want to call it that, is that we will recreate a system, and never achieve the maturity of the body described in Ephesians 4. Like Alan said, the goal is to become like Christ, or to literally become His body and bride, fully matured. Will meeting in a circle instead of in rows with a pulpit bring that about? Unfortunately, in and of itself, no. The question I now pose, after reading these posts, is what do we do IN these meetings that brings maturity? Certainly Hebrews 10:24-25 gives some insight, stating that we are to consider one another to stir up love and good works, which I interpret to mean we are to esteem others higher than ourselves, and care more for their needs than for our own. But I am not sure that this even gives the whole picture.

So, is it important to understand why we meet together? Why or why not? (I hope so… that’s what my PhD research and dissertation is all about.)

September 2, 2010

Speaking of participation (we were, weren’t we?), I forgot to mention a great post by Dan (at “The Ekklesia in Southern Maine“) called “Stirring Up.” (Dan’s comment reminded me.)

In this post, Dan is asking about the purpose of gathering together. Is our purpose just to get together? Or is there something more. He writes:

So more importantly than the question of whether we gather or not we need to ask “are we considering one another, stirring up love and good works?” So, are we? Am I? That should be the question we ask ourselves. That should be our goal in gathering together. We can’t do this without gathering, but gathering doesn’t mean that this is happening either. maybe we should think about this when we go to church on Sunday, and assess our activities during that time through the lens of Scripture.

Hmmm… are we? Am I? Good questions.

(By the way, “stirring” can also be translated “provoking”… but not toward bad things, but toward love and good works, of course.)

September 1, 2010

For the last few yeas, our church gatherings have been more participatory – meaning, more people take part in the speaking, teaching, edifying, encouraging, etc. that happens during our church meetings.

However, participation is not an end in itself. Our goal is not increased participation from the body of Christ. Our goal when meeting together is mutual edification (1 Corinthians 14:26; Hebrews 10:24-25). We allow and encourage many people to take part in our meetings because we understand that God works through all of his children (mutual) in order to help us all walk in maturity in Christ (edification).

So, a participatory meeting is not our goal, but a tool that God uses to build up his children when the church meets.

August 31, 2010

Frank at “Reimagining Church” has published a letter from Jon Zens to Jim Belcher, author of Deep Church, in a post called “An Analysis of Jim Belcher’s Deep Church.”

Much of the analysis focuses on the manner that churches meet together. For example, Jon writes:

You assert, “Since the Bible does not give us enough information to construct a worship service, we must fill in the blanks” (p.137).  Why do we feel compelled to find a “worship service”?  There is no evidence that the early church had “worship services,” as we conceive of them.  The largest insight we have about a Christian gathering appears in 1 Cor.14.  We have these glimpses because Paul was correcting a problem.  In this passage we see (1) the whole ekklesia gathered; (2) an open meeting where everyone was potentially involved in prophecy; (3) that what was spoken had to be understood by all; (4) multiple expressions from many, “each of you has…”; (5) no mention of a sermon by one person; (6) no pulpit; (7) no leaders.  You mention “the people up front” (p.139), but in the 1 Cor.14 meeting there is no “front,” as they met in homes with simplicity as a family.  Indeed, while the NT does not give a lot of information about believers’ gatherings, my question is: Why have our traditions essentially jettisoned what light we do have from 1 Cor.14 and other passages?

Later he writes:

Again I must ask, is it hermeneutically responsible to disregard the weight of 1 Cor.11-14 and fill in the blanks with practices that fly in the face of what is revealed?

There is much about meeting together that Scripture does NOT tell us. However, Scripture does tell us some things about how the early churches met together, and how Paul specifically instructed some early churches to meet together. Thus, we have a kind of path to follow.

Why would we want to stray from that path? Why would we want to disregard 1 Corinthians 11-14 and other passages that describe some aspects of church gatherings?

I’ve read many books and articles in which the authors defend modern church practices. But, I’ve never seen this question answered.

August 24, 2010

Steve from “Gospel-Centered Living” has published another excellent article called “Confusing Participation with Transformation.” He says that it’s easy for churches to spend huge amounts of time, money, and energy promoting and carrying out big events, and then to confuse participation at these events with authentic Christian living. (I think this sometimes happens weekly, unfortunately.)

He says:

We should ask, “What is our mission, again?”  Is it to make church members or make disciples?  Can I measure my spiritual formation with my calendar?  Can my church measure its success with attendance rolls?

Those are good questions. What do you say? How should the church “measure its success?”

August 24, 2010

When we get together with the church, we often sing songs together. This is not unusual, of course, because many believers sing songs when they gather with the church.

Sometimes we sing old songs and hymns, and sometimes we sing newer songs. This is not unusual either, because many churches sing a mix of older and new songs.

But, when we sing songs together, we will often stop and talk about the songs. This is the only church that I’ve ever met with that actually talked about the songs that they sang.

Last Sunday, when we were meeting together, we sang a hymn called “I Need Thee Every Hour.” After we finished singing, I asked my brothers and sisters about the song. Specifically, I asked if anyone would be willing to share how God was teaching them to rely on him every moment of every day.

Several people spoke up. One brother said that he had been struggling with obeying God. There were several things that he knew that he should be doing in order to obey God, but he always claimed to be too tired or to not have enough time. Lately, he said, he was learning to accept the conviction of the Holy Spirit and rely on God to give him the strength and time to do whatever God called him to do.

A sister shared about something that happened in her family. In fact, it happened to her 13 year old son. She gave him permission to share, because he had shared it with his family. During the past week, while doing some errands with his father, this young man was struggling with his attitude. He said he recognized his sin and began praying. His countenance changed and he began working with joy. His father testified that he noticed the difference, and the reason the family knew that the boy had prayed for help is that the father asked his son what had caused the difference.

A few other people shared as well. And, each one that shared encouraged us to rely on God every moment of every day. They either encouraged us directly or through their stories.

I love it when we talk about the songs that we sing. I love it when God uses those times to encourage, challenge, and even admonish his children.

Do you remember a song that you sang with the church recently? What does that song stick in your memory? What is God teaching you through that?

August 20, 2010

Three and a half years ago, I ran across a blog post that prompted me to write a post called “The Sunday Thing.” For many churches and for many Christians, Sunday has become the main thing. Perhaps for many, Sunday has always been the main thing. Thinking of Sunday as “the main event” (as some of my pastors once called it) actually distracts the church from the purpose of meeting together and their greater purpose when not meeting together. What do you think?

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The Sunday Thing

It is very important for believers to meet together. That is clear from Scripture. However, is it possible for us to put so much emphasis on one gathering of the church (say, Sunday morning, for instance) that we forget God’s purpose for the church?

Rick at “The Blind Beggar” examines this question in his article “We Aren’t About Weekends“. Most of his information comes from an article in Leadership Journal written by Bob Roberts. Consider this snippet:

If my church is primarily about the Sunday event, then doing kingdom work is secondary and actually unnecessary. If the Sunday event and church programming is primary, then I’ll spend all my time, money, and energy [on] what happens inside the church.

I think Rick (and Bob, of course) is onto something here. Do we focus our time, energy, and resources only on those who are already part of the kingdom of God? Or do we go “out of the camp” in order to engage those around us – in order to be salt and light to the world? (By the way, I realize that the answer to this question is both/and not either/or. However, is it possible that we can lose our focus?)

If we examine the money/time/effort/resources spent on preparing the location for the event, acquiring those who perform during the event, rehearsing for the event, and setting the schedule for the event, we might find that the event is much more important to us than we first thought. Is this what Jesus taught us? Is this what Jesus said was important?

Could it be that the “Sunday Morning Event” could become for us what the sacrifice became for the Israelites?

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. (Isaiah 1:11-17 ESV)

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. But like Adam they transgressed the covenant; there they dealt faithlessly with me. (Hosea 6:6-7 ESV)

How do we ensure that our gatherings become more than ritual? How do we make sure that our lives as the church become more than a Sunday morning event? How do we gather so that our meetings are not simply rituals that are unpleasing to God?

August 17, 2010

Today, Danny (from “learning…“) reminded me (via email) of a discussion that we’ve had about Hebrews 10:24-25… specifically the beginning of Hebrews 10:24.

You see, in the Greek text, the word translated “one another” is with the subjunctive (command) “Let us consider”. But, it is almost always translated with the infinitive (“to stir up”).

So, the ESV (and most other translations), produce something like this:

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works… (Hebrews 10:24 ESV)

But, I prefer something like this:

And let us consider one another to stir up love and good works… (Hebrews 10:24)

Do you see the difference? Is there a difference in interpretation in the two different translations? Does it matter where we put the “one another” in this verse?

August 16, 2010

Eric at “A Pilgrim’s Progress” has come to the same conclusion as me in his post “The Church’s Primary Activity.”

What is that conclusion?

The conclusion is that the particular activity (activities) undertaken when the church meets is less important than the goal (or outcome) of that activity (those activities). That is, whatever we do when we get together with other Christians (activities) should have the goal / outcome of building up one another in maturity in Christ.

Eric gives a good summary:

This indicates that content of gatherings is not nearly as important as the attitude and motivation of those present. If the goal is edification and church people strive for this, then any of a wide variety of things could happen – maybe preaching, maybe teaching, maybe scripture reading, maybe testimony, maybe prophecy, maybe speaking in tongues, maybe the sharing of the Lord’s Supper, etc. However, if edification and the sirring up to love and good works is not the goal, then it doesn’t matter what we do because it won’t be biblical.

A good scriptural example of this can be found in 1 Corinthians 11:17-22 (actually 11:17-34, since the whole section is about the same topic). In this passage, Paul points out that the Corinthians are doing the activity (eating and drinking), but that the result is not the Lord’s Supper because they are not concerned with one another. (Note, there is no “doctrinal” issue involved in Paul’s admonition, only relational issues.)

What is the church’s primary activity? Whatever leads to mutual edification. And, yes, as a commenter pointed out, mutuality is necessary for maturity.