What is the Church?

Evangelicalism is being challenged by the emerging church. Actually the challenge is to what the Evangelical church has become rather than its premise when it started. Evangelicalism was born through rediscovering the truth that the gospel had to be applied personally before it could address and transform the culture. Unfortunately the emphasis on "personal" salvation has created a hybrid of the gospel that sounds and is practiced as more of a self-help, self-realization, self-transforming message, rather than being seen as a call to become part of God's plan for changing the world through reconciliation.

Over at Out of Ur, David Fitch takes and makes this fascinating and insightful quote:

"The term missional asks this question: what is the purpose of the church? To enfold and warehouse Christians for heaven, protecting them from damage and spoilage until they reach their destination? Or to recruit and train people to be transforming agents of the kingdom of God in our culture? The missional church understands itself to be blessed not to the exclusion of the world, but for the benefit of the world. It is a church that seeks to bring benefits to its nonadherents through its adherents." (Brian McLaren)

It seems that too many of our churches are becoming warehouses for the redeemed rather than training camps for world changers. The goal seems to be to insulate believers from cradle to grave with Christian programming and facilities dedicated to making them comfortable and entertained. This approach funnels too much of the kingdom's resources to non-essential activities while those who need to hear the gospel are left with their noses pressed up against the panes of our Christian country clubs.

I don't want to be misunderstood. I love beautiful facilities built to the glory of God. I believe that there needs to be extensive numbers of groups, classes, workshops and other opportunities offered for equipping believers to live like Christians. But somewhere along the way the trained army must be deployed. We are saved to serve. Not saved to sit or saved to be satisfied. Ultimately all of our energy in discipleship, mentoring, equipping or whatever new buzzword is being used, must result in engaging in the work of reconciling the world to Jesus. That is the essence of being a church

Regeneration Without Transformation

I found this great post at Out of Ur, one of my favorite blogs and thought I'd pass it on to you:

No Transformation Necessary

Why do churches have such low expectations?
Dallas Willard has said, “We fail to be disciples only because we do not decide to be. We do not intend to be disciples.” But which is the greater problem, the person who does not intend to be a disciple or the church that never expects him to be one? Dave Johnson, senior pastor of Church of the Open Door in Maple Grove, Minnesota, shares about a man from his childhood church. Ray was an elder who showed no evidence of transformation, and the church never seemed disturbed by that fact. Johnson asks the obvious question: What’s up with that?

His name was Ray. He sat in the 3rd row on the aisle seat of the church I grew up in. Every Sunday, there he was—watching, critiquing, making sure my father said it right. Ray’s Bible was a thing to behold. Words underlined and circled with arrows pointing to other words—notes in the margin of almost every page. I think he knew the Bible better than God.

Ray was a church guy. When I was 10, he scared me. When I was 20, after my father had begun to share with me the inside story of life in ministry, I came to realize that Ray scared him too. My dad was the pastor of our church. Ray was one of his elders—at least for a time—and he wasn’t a happy guy. The Spirit’s fruit, like love and joy, rarely showed up in him in any discernable way, and he didn’t much like it if showed up in yours.

Sometimes I wonder if I’ve been too hard on Ray. He’s somehow become the composite of every rigid, narrow minded person I’ve ever met in church. No matter—Ray’s dead now—long gone—in heaven, no doubt. At least that’s what we all thought, because Ray prayed the prayer. He believed all the right things about Jesus (His death, resurrection, 2nd coming, all that), and would fight you if you didn’t. Like I said, Ray was a church guy. He just wasn’t a good guy.

So here’s my question: “What’s up with that?” In all his years in church and in “the Word”, Ray never became a different kind of person. He never changed. He never became more loving, gentle, peaceful, or patient. Indeed, he only seemed to become more angry and rigid as time went on. He became harder to be around. What’s more, no one seemed to be bothered by that, as though something were out of the ordinary. No one wondered if maybe Ray had somehow missed the point.

In other words, not only did Ray never change but no one seemed to expect him to. Ray was just being Ray. He prayed the prayer, he believed the right stuff about Jesus, he was irritated with people who didn’t, and he went to heaven when he died. So again the question: “What’s up with that?”

So, what do you think? Why do we tolerate unchristian behavior by those who claim to have been saved 15, 20 or more years? What can be done to encourage and challenge believers to understand that being stagnant is no better than being backslidden?

HT: Out of Ur

Minute Meditation: Rejection

“It took courage to risk descent to a planet known for its clumsy violence, among a race known for rejecting its prophets. What more foolhardy thing could God have done?” (Philip Yancey, The Jesus I Never I Knew, Harper Collins, 1995)

“He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:11-13 (NIV)

Rejection; it is probably one of the saddest words in the English vocabulary. It is experienced by many children in the schoolyard when teams are chosen. It is experienced in the workplace when a group decides to go out for lunch and you’re not invited. It can even be felt in the church when long established groups are found to be exclusive. Rejection is a feeling that stings long after the event and intensifies with each new experience.

Does anyone subject himself to rejection purposely? Jesus did. He came to his own people as Messiah. He was prepared to deliver the very thing they had put so much hope in. He punctuated his message with signs, extraordinary signs, following. His teaching left scholars speechless. He was everything they wanted, everything they needed, yet he was rejected. But he was more than just ignored, or left out. He was scorned, insulted, spat upon, beaten and ultimately put to death. Not only was he not received, he was cast aside.
Yet our rejection of Jesus was not the final word. In a delightful twist, he accepted us, the ones who should have been rejected. Because he has experienced the ultimate rejection, he knows how we feel. In order for us not to feel what he felt, he offers us acceptance. That is why the love of God is so marvelous. Even when we are not faithful, He is.