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Monday 18 March 2024

Why should Christian Leaders show Hospitality?

 

The simple answer is to authenticate, by life, the preaching of the local church... but first we stand back....

 The New Era of Internet Influence

We must all recognise that the days of real church leaders teaching real congregations are now over.

Or, rather, the era in which the predominant teaching influence on a church was through the local pulpit.

With the explosion of material available on the web there will be some saints who are more influenced by online teaching than inperson sermons.

The real possibility has now arisen that a church pastor/teacher/elders may not, by any stretch, be the main teacher(s) of the flock of God.

The Blessings of the Web

I once heard someone jest that www stood for World Wide Waste of time, but it need not be. If we are discerning there are reliable teachers we can benefit from.

And it seems incumbent upon church leaders these days to guide their members to reliable faithful websites. Here are just a few that are presently faithful (vigilance is needed because all human organizations - without any exceptions - are prone to doctrinal drift):

1 - Got Questions 

2 - The Gospel Coalition

3 - Desiring God

4 - FIEC

The Dangers of the Web

There are significant dangers surrounding web preaching we need to be aware of.

Danger 1 - False Teachers. The web is alive with false teachers and false teaching. Young believers particularly need to be on guard. Especially beware of those who boast of worldly qualifications / ecclesiological titles / subscriber numbers /  etc - none of which are indicators of truth.

Danger 2 - IES (Itching Ear Syndrome). Anyone with a doctrinal bee in their bonnet can find websites that will keep that bee alive, buzzin' and breeding. The algorithms of the web will take a listener into ever narrower territory until every talk they hear reinforces previous biases.

Danger 3 - Truth by Numbers. "He must be right because he has a million subscribers." We can image many church conversations across the globe have taken the following form, if not the details, "But XYZ believes in dispensational mid-trib premillennialism and he has more subscribers than you!" We need a Christian doctrine of numbers which recognizes that numbers are no necessary test of truth. In fact numbers may reveal just the opposite, for false teachers are far more alluring than truth tellers. 

Even among evangelicals, numbers are no test of truth or value because some evangelicals (both dead and alive) have wealthy backers who pay big money to boost subscriber numbers. A teacher may be popular only because he/his backers are wealthy, not because he is truthful or helpful.

Danger 4 - Truth divorced from Life. High-profile evangelical fraudsters whose lives did not match their truth have arisen and deceived many. Which brings me to the topic of this blog...

...the only teachers we should truly trust are teachers known to us personally, because in Scripture truth and life are inseparably bound together.

Doctrine and Life are One

In Scripture Doctrine and Life are bound together.

We see this supremely through the Incarnation, where the Word (Truth) became flesh to dwell among us. 

God did not send us only words, he sent us a Person. And the Person backed up his words by his Life.

We see this in the basic command of Christ to his disciples, "Follow me." Not learn abstract doctrine, but follow a living Person. 

We see this in the Great Commission, where the command given to the church is to make disciples from the world - in exactly the same way that Jesus made his twelve disciples (that's what making disciples actually means), namely to talk and walk with people. 

We see this in the radical insistence of imitator of Christ, Paul, that people should follow his life as well as / as much as his doctrine. (1 Corinthians 4:16,17, 11:1-2; Philippians 3:17, 4:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:6).

Before we listen to preacher we should watch their lives. They won't be perfect, of course, but they should be godly. 

Here then is the internet problem: we have absolutely no idea what kind of life a web teacher is living. That's a pretty stark truth. 

The greatest Christian internet guru may in point of life-fact be a fraudster. 

You don't know. 

At a distance you cannot possibly know. 

Which leads us to Christian leaders and hospitality...

Christian leaders need to Show (as well as Tell)

Christian leaders must show hospitality - and for more than the reason behind this blog. 

The Greek word behind hospitality means "friend-of-strangers" and gives us one clue as to why leaders must show hospitality. Christian leaders are to go out of their way to love the outsider, the lonely, the lost, and in this way to model the Friend of Sinners.

There's a second reason Christian leaders need to show hospitality. They need  accountability for their own lives. Our homes reveal an awful lot about our lives and priorities. Having people into our homes regularly will help to curb the obsessions that can so easily take over our lives.

A family home that has few people over for hospitality can easily turn into a shrine to one idol or the other. 

Hospitality gives life-style accountability to us all - and especially to Christian leaders.

But the third and main reason leaders must show hospitality - and the purpose of this blog -  is to show by their lives the veracity and example of what is preached.

What does the Bible teach about marriage?  The local church can preach from Ephesians 5, but visit a married leader's home and see how the teaching works itself out. (It won't be a perfect marriage but it should be loving and ordered.)

What does the Bible teach about parenting? A sermon from Ephesians 6 is one way to learn. But visit the home of a Christian leader with kids and see the preaching in practice.

What does a godly life style look like? Visit the home of a Christian leader.

Life and Word go together. 

If a Christian leader does not welcome the flock into his home, we must ask why not? What has he got to hide?

In both 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 hospitality is a requirement for a church elder. For all the reasons above.

When we are looking for the next generation of elders we're not looking for men with lots of knowledge, but men who live godly lives - and their churches know it because they've seen those lives at close quarters. 

And when we are seeking out teachers to instruct us we need to know about their lives as much as their words.

AI Image:
"Draw an informal church pastor eating a meal with friends in his home"

Thursday 29 February 2024

Six signs your church is getting too big

When is big, too big?

Suppose a Bible church is growing - what are the signs that it is becoming too large and it's time to divide and multiply?

Of course, to some, the very notion that a church can be "too big" is heresy - aren't numbers a true sign of "success"? Certainly from a worldly point of view "too big" is not a valid category of thought.

But since the kingdom of God works differently from the kingdom of the world, and since all real spiritual growth in God's kingdom is through meaningful small-group discipleship (like Jesus did it), Schumacher got it right, small, really is beautiful. 

Here are six signs it may be time to downsize by planting...

1. When people attend because of popularity

The moment folks begin attending because they've heard about the church, because the church is becoming "popular" (whatever that means, Biblically), because hits and subscribe numbers are on the up, it's a sign the church is growing in the wrong way - a worldly way.

What value is it if the saints in one city or district are simply recycled, marching from the latest faddy church in town to the next? 

And remember, after marching up your hill, it won't be long before they march back down.

The kingdom is not being extended if the cards are merely being reshuffled.

The growing church might find itself ascending some illusionary ecclesiastical ladder, but what does it profit a church if it gains the whole world but loses its soul?

2.  When it has become a preaching centre

A preaching centre - where all the spokes are connected only to preacher hub - is an institution unknown in the Scriptures. All the justifying myths attached to this common idea, such as "but there is no good preaching for miles around," "why not steward a superior preaching gift," "We can achieve more as a larger congregation" etc, are very easily debunked.

The truth is that the exaltation of one gift and one man above all the other myriad useful, needful, wonderful, Spirit-given gifts of the New Testament is unbiblical - and dangerous. 

Imagine a body made up of just one gigantic eye, one humungous foot, one colossal ear, or one huge hand.  

In one famous London church of the last century it was boasted that members of the congregation could see the exalted preacher in the vestry afterwards to have their spiritual problems solved. A spiritual clinic if you like. I trust in the cold light of New Testament Day the notion that one saint (whoever he be) could or should solve the problems of a 1000 other saints is seen as outrageous. "Carry one another's burdens" is the call of Christ, not go to some Christian guru and have him carry them for you.

3. When you are approaching the "80% rule"

There is a well-known socio-common-sense rule that says that when 80% of the seats in any given auditorium are filled that church ceases to grow. New people want to hide for their first few weeks, but if they are marched to the front row or squeezed into the only available nooky corner on day 1, they may not return.

We get it. Some people hate crowds. Do you? I do.

As a church approaches 80% capacity it's probably too big. 

4. When living organism is replaced by human organization

Most churches look back on smaller earlier days as their "glory days" - and for good reason. With smaller numbers, if they wanted to do something different or exciting they could turn on a pin - and merely by word of mouth.

I heard of a church that decided - on the spur of the moment - to head out to the hills one easter morning  for their worship service, followed by a McDonald's McMuffin, I believe. An impossible joy with a church bigger than 20/30/40.

When small new churches need more workers in one area of church life, they just chat to / phone / email their brothers and sisters. Easy peasey. Nothing formal, nothing "organised."

This relational ethos sits well with the local church described as a family of brothers and sisters.

But once a church requires corporate organizational machinery run by someone with a Masters in business management, you have lost something very precious and human and divine.   

You've moved from organic to organizational.

5. When no-one can possibly know everyone

When it is actually impossible for everyone to have at least some small passing acquaintance with everyone else, again, you have lost something of that precious gift of fellowship. When folk ask people who have been around for a decade,  "is this your first Sunday here?"  

When everyone is lost in a sea of faces. 

When you, the individual saint don't matter any more. 

When you are a number, a mere statistic. 

6. When the number of people not attending small groups is increasing

As a church grows numerically, it is all too easy for the church to attract a non-participatory fringe.  Believers who have no connection to other saints in the body except on a Sunday morning. The "core" has stopped growing even though the periphery expands.

In New Testament body-speak this is equivalent to a collection of disconected eyes rattling around in a box. Lots of legs and feet trying to walk or move on their own. Ears hearing but passing the message to no-one else.

Without radical accountability to other believers through discipleship-size groups, it is impossible to grow in grace. (No matter what the quality of the preaching; for preaching alone never made a saint.)

The moment church numbers swell but the home group population remains static, the church has become too big. 

What next?

When a church grows to this kind of size, a number of responses are possible.

The first is to keep growing in numerical size...

Or else you could take radical steps to make the church smaller to grow even more! To plant a church in a needy area of town or district, nurture it to teenage and then let it go. Then plant another church and let that one go too. Then another, ad infinitum...

(The letting go is just as important as the planting, BTW, for kids who are manipulated into hanging onto mom's apron strings when they should be standing on their own two feet normally rebel).

If a church takes this real or true-growth strategy, reaching out to new communities all the time and staying small, they won't be famous in this world. But who cares about transient illusionary here-today gone-tomorrow earthly glory if one day we hear the Lord's well done?

 AI Art
Dalle  draw a small church and a large church together digital art
(Dalle, ignorant ecclesiologically, thinks that a church is a building!)

Wednesday 21 February 2024

How old is the Earth?

 A Good Question

A question as deceptively simple as "how old is the earth?" turns out to contain some deep subquestions. 

Like, Do we just buy into the latest scientific theories?

And, Is the Bible intended to be a scientific text book with answers to such questions?

The Two Books

It's helpful in this enquiry, to think about the Book of Scripture and the Book of Creation. The Book of Scripture, the 66 books of the Bible were given so that we might come to know God personally; the God we already know exists.

The Book of Creation is designed to reveal the God of Creation to us and to glorify his mighty name. "O Lord, my Lord, how majestic is your name through all the earth." "The heavens declare the glory of God." 

Everything we see around us from our amazing bodies and blow away minds to the the furthest biggest baddest quasars scream, "God exists - and isn't he amazing!" 

That's a major purpose behind the Book of Creation.

The Two Books must Agree

Since the two books come from the same Author, they must agree with one another. That is the starting point for gaining an answer to our question, how old is the earth? The Book of Creation cannot disagree with the Book of Creation.

If they disagree, the disagreement must be apparent, not real.

Either we have misunderstood what the Book of Scripture is teaching, or we have misunderstood what the Book of Creation is teaching - or we've misunderstood both.

Add to these starting points, the fact - surely this is true - that Scripture has not been given to yield a precise chronology or science of the history of the earth. If the Scriptures did contain "final science" no-one would be able to understand it, not today nor tomorrow, not ever.

(I'm with the long-dead cardinal who said something like the Scriptures tell us how to go to heaven, not how the heavens go.)

The Big Theories of Science

On the science side, we would be fools to buy into all of its grand theories. The smaller theorems will probably stand the test of time or be proven to be approximations of more accurate theorems, but the big theories - such as the Big Bang with its associated time lines - are likely to be provisional.

(For interests sake, some pretty weird bolt-ons have had to be introduced into the Big Bang theory to make it work. For example the invention of a period of rapid inflation near the start of the big bang, and the invention of dark matter to explain the acceleration of the universe. These bolt-ons raise the suspicion that the BB theory is not going to turn out to be true). 

We would be fools to take the theory of evolution or the Big Bang theory as fact.

(The sceptic should bear in mind that in the last century two enormous theories suffered paradigm shifts - the steady state theory which said the universe was eternal gave way to the Big Bang theory; and the "cooling shrinking earth" theory gave way to plate tectonics). 

There is not a single reason in the world to suppose that the big theories of today's science will not be the subject material of comedians in the not too distant future.

Where does that leave us?

On the surface it would appear that the Book of Scripture teaches the earth is say 10,000 years old while the book of Creation seems to teach that the earth is far older than that. 

Remember the options?

(1) Perhaps the Bible does not really teach that the earth is 10000 years old

There seems little doubt that Adam and Eve - real human beings - only trace back to thousands of years in time. But are the six days of Genesis one, 24 hour days? Can we be sure, especially when they have a poetic (or at least 'elevated prose') form about them?

(2) Perhaps the Book of Creation does not teach millions and billions

Scientists may have rock dating all wrong. Although many "clocks" in nature (presumably put there by God) seem to point to an age much greater than 10,000 years, these dating systems could be completely wrong. 

(3) Perhaps we've got both wrong

The other possibility is that both interpretations are wrong - and no-one knows how old the earth is.

We should be A-OK with such a possibility. It would show how tiny our minds are, and it would force us to ask far more important questions of Genesis 1,2 and 3.

The most important teachings

The most important teachings of these chapters have nothing to do with how old the universe or the earth is. 

Instead they tell us about the nature of mankind. We've been made male and female, we've been created heterosexual. There is an ordered relationship between the sexes. We have been made in the image of God and we're much more important than the animals. 

We've been made to know, love and obey God. 

But now we are fallen, ashamed, foolish and broken, hiding from God.

Yet finding that God in his immeasurable love for us keeps searching and seeking us out. This God rather than abandoning us to the fate we deserve reaches out and promises Adam and Eve a Saviour who will destroy the Tempter and restore us to God and bring us, in time, to a better Eden.

This Good News is infinitely more important than any arguments about how old the earth is.

AI Image:
Draw old earth and new earth

Monday 12 February 2024

Why Preaching is Not Enough

The Importance of Preaching

There are few activities in the life of a healthy New Testament church more important than preaching. It is one of the defining characteristics of an evangelical church. 

But most of us in our tribe know that.

It's an assumption, an unwritten rule, the mood music in all our churches.

Through the Word we are converted, corrected, faithed, encouraged, comforted and warned.

But is preaching enough to grow in grace? Is preaching enough to disciple young believers?

That's the question. 

Put it another way:

Did Jesus ask his disciples to show up once a Sabbath to hear a sermon? 

Did the apostle Paul put on a Jerusalem Gospel lecture tour? 

No and no. 

What is needed to grow in Christ - in addition to good preaching - is close fellowship with other believers.  

Here are some of the major reasons:

Because the incarnation reveals that
God also speaks powerfully through human beings

The first reason we need more than the preached word lies in the doctrine of the incarnation, the coming of God into this world in the Person of Jesus Christ.

The Word was made flesh. The Verbal or Written or Propositional Word or words of God became and came through a real human being who dwelt among us.

If only pure Word or words were needed, God could have remained in heaven and spoken pure words, perhaps received by earthly prophets, written down in books and then distributed across the world.

But instead, God enshrined his Word or words in a living breathing human being, the Son of Man. We have seen his glory, we were eye-witnesses of his majesty, wrote the apostles.

And through that living human being he imparted his words. In the last days God has spoken through his Son. Not merely as sound waves from the lips of the Son of God, but through a powerful, gracious and truthful life. 

Jesus speaks not only with words, he speaks through human actions. This is the point.

New Testament communication is much more than verbal propositional sentences, it also comes, incarnationally, through the actions of the speaking person.

Life as well as lip.

What have the scholars discovered? In communication, we're told, 55% is transferred nonverbally, 38% vocally, and a mere 7% by words alone. These clever chappies may have their percentages all wrong, but I doubt if they are perfectly wrong.

The incarnation teaches us that when it comes to communicating New Testament style, with New Testament Truth, words are not enough. Embodied life is also required.

Because the Great Commission is all about
one disciple making another disciples through human contact

How did Jesus disciple his Twelve?

Did he command them to show up at a lecture every Sabbath?

Watch an additional YouTube video during the week?

No, the way Jesus taught was by life as well as by lip. The disciples not only heard Jesus speak truth, they saw truth demonstrated through his life. Love your enemies, they heard from him, and loving his enemies they saw in him. Have faith he taught them, and having faith they saw.

When Jesus gave his great commission he commanded the Twelve to make more future disciples by teaching them to obey. Not merely teaching them - a cerebral activity - but teaching them to obey. Helping them to work out what it means to live out the new life.

And how did Jesus do this practical part? By showing them through his life what he taught them with his words.

Show and Tell. 

Show as well as Tell. 

If we had asked Jesus, "What do you mean by the command 'make disciples'?" He would have surely said, "Do for the world what I have just done for my disciples over the last 3 years."

Spend lots and lots of time with them. Show them by life as much as by lip God's new and gracious ways.

So well were they discipled by this lip-life combination that everyone noted that they had been with Jesus. Not that they had been taught by Jesus (alone) but been with him.

Paul followed his Master and spent lots  of time with converts, urging them to "Follow my [life] example, as I follow Christ."  

(Kierkegaard, out of interest, someone I would not normally quote, suggested that Show was actually more important than Tell, when he said: "Order the parsons to be silent on Sunday. What is there left? The essential thing remains: their lives, the daily life with which the parson preaches. Would you, then, get the impression by watching them, that it was Christiantiy they were preaching?")

We may disagree with some of this quote, but SK is surely not far off the mark.

The great commission is not merely to Tell, but  to Show and Tell.

Because Christians only grow when they are connected 
 to the Head and to His body as well

The third reason we need living words as well as written ones is the doctrine of the church as a body, where one believer is a hand, another a foot, another an eye, and so on.

And where we each grow, the Head supplying the grace and power, as we are in community and connection with our brothers and sisters in Christ. 

We grow as we are with one another. 

Not by Word alone, but by brotherly and sisterly incarnational (small "i") word. 

If we neglect the influence of life upon life and try to build the saints by word alone (preaching alone), we're likely to end up with lopsided saints. Full of knowledge but lacking in the graces that are forged in saint-to-saint iron sharpening iron fellowship. 

If we try you build up the saints with knowledge only, we're likely to end up with religious people whose domestic lives are largely untouched by the transforming power of the Gospel.

So where has "Preaching is enough" come from?

But we should ask, Where does this preaching-only idea come from since it is nowhere found in Holy Writ?

One source is human pride. People, even Christian people, love to boast about doctrine.

Doctrine sells, Christ-likeness is a marketing flop. So often evangelical churches mimic the university model where knowledge is number 1.

A second source of this imbalance between Show and Tell is spiritual laziness. It's easier to listen to deep and wide doctrine than to love the unlovable, or to deny ourselves, take up our crosses or put sin to death. 

Anyone can hide unChristlikeness under the cloak of sound preaching.

A third source of  preaching-only inbalance is the numbers game. 

The other day, I came across a Christian bloke on LinkedIn who styles himself "Trainer of 10+ million leaders."

Jesus managed to train 12, but this guy has managed to train 10+ million leaders.

You can only delude yourself into thinking you have trained 10+ million people if you think that training involves words alone - and virtual words at that.

As long as we chase the numbers game we'll fall prey to the preaching-only myth. 

But the moment we realise that influencing others in the Jesus Way means spending a lot of sacrificial time with young believers, we'll settle for tiny little numbers, anonymity in this world, and heaven's well-done reward.

The need of the present hour is not more or better preaching but a revolution in our understanding of biblical discipleship. 

If every believer made it their life aim to disciple say just two people, spending much time with them, teaching them to obey everything Jesus has commanded, the world would be won in not that many generations.

AI Image:
Draw a picture of a bloke surrounded by his friends.

Tuesday 16 January 2024

Mega Questions for megachurches

 

If the apostle Paul returned to earth....

If the apostle Paul, the New Testament's great church-planter and ecclesiological expert, was to return to earth I wonder what he would make of the ever-increasingly popular megachurches, and just as importantly, of the leaders of these megachurches.

I ask this question in the wake of the latest megachurch scandal. 

Here it is from the BBC website (notice how the BBC delights to include the word "evangelical" in the description of this megachurch, so as to tarnish all who might cherish that label):

"TB Joshua, a charismatic Nigerian leader of one of the world's biggest evangelical churches, secretly committed sexual crimes on a mass scale, a BBC investigation spanning three continents has found. Testimony from dozens of survivors suggests Joshua was abusing and raping young women from around the world several times a week for nearly 20 years."

Mr Joshua is only the latest in a long string of fallen megapastors.

Is it not time to ask some uncomfortable questions?

Do megachurches have any legitimacy in the light of Scripture? 

Can they really be called churches? 

Is there such an office as megachurch pastor?

Is it time to call an end to megachurches?

Some people define the megachurch as a congregation of over 2000 people, but a better description might be a congregation whose numbers have become such that it is impossible for anyone to know everyone anymore. 

Metropoltian Tabernacle

When we begin to explore the history of the megachurch, we stumble upon an uncomfortable beginning, the 6000 seat Metropolitan Tabernacle led by the good and godly Charles Spurgeon. We're talking 1860ish.

This auspicous origin could easily deflect us from "test all things" analysis.

"If Spurgeon did it, it must be OK."

Which is where we must always remember: Charles Spurgeon was a good man, but he was not an apostle. 

And we must remember that the Metropolitan Tabernacle was no modern mega commuter church:

“The Metropolitan Tabernacle was not, as some have assumed, merely a highly popular preaching centre. It was not a church whose people largely came in from some miles around, and after listening to a marvellous exercise in Christian oratory, returned to their homes and seldom thought about the place again until the following Sunday morning…. The Tabernacle was a great working church. The vast majority of the members lived in the heavily populated area of London… many so near that they could walk… Apart from the sick and infirm, there were very few who came only on Sundays…” (p.153, Spurgeon, Arnold Dalimore)

Let's consider the megachurch question with a few other queries:

Do mega-pastors exist?

The most fundamental question is whether the New Testament ever hints at the notion of a mega-pastor.

Does any pastor have such superior skills and gifts so that he can actually pastor thousands?  

And that begs the further question - what is the actual work of a pastor?

In the New Testament pastoral ministry is always a person-to-person thing (that is one reason the incarnate human Son of God pastored only 12 in his earthly ministry).

It is not feasible for a pastor to care for thousands since he has only 168 hours per week (unless he lives on Venus, in which case he would have some 40,000 hours per week. Perhaps megapastors are from Venus...).

A megachurch pastor must therefore, by the very nature of the numbers, stand at a very considerable distance from the actual flock. That's not what New Testament pastors are called to do.

And then he must appoint some kind of pyramid structure made up of real pastors to do the actual work of pastoring. 

(Of course, a large band of elders together could do the pastoring of a large congregation, but then there would be no need to define the leader of that church as the "pastor," since he isn't the single pastor and that congregation would not possess a megapastor. But there is no megachurch known to me that is not in very large measure defined by their megapastor - often with dolly-bird pastoress in tow).

To build a megachurch, therefore, a pyramid structure must be introduced into church life that is unknown in the New Testament.

A pyramid structure that is exceedingly dangeorus.

A pyramid stucture that Satan gainfully uses to tempt the megachurch pastor to sin in one or more of the classical megapastor sins, power, lust or greed. 

Let's be straight: the only way one man can 'pastor' a megachurch is by introducing into that church an alien - and dangerous - pyramid system of church government.

In contrast with these distant megapastors, the apostle Paul spends time with the people in the churches he plants, he knows them and their problems intimately, then he always appoints elders to lead the new churches he plants. Paul knows (Apostle though he is) that one man cannot actually pastor lots of people.

And so we find, that apart from the glorious risen Head of the Chruch, there is no office in the New Testament to correspond to the megachurch pastor.

But there is more against the megapastor. Without any known exception to myself, megachurch pastors live the "life of Riley." They live like worldly royalty, often with more than one home and vast income streams.

Do the great of the New Testament live such lives?  

Merely asking the question evokes the plain answer.

The greatest church leader in the history of the church was the apostle Paul. And everywhere he went and everywhere he ministered, life was painfully and triumphantly difficult. Read his descriptions of ministry in 2 Corinthains 11. He was not loved by thousands, but hounded and hated wherever he went.

The mark of greatness in Christian ministry is never the number of YouTube or X subscribers or followers one has, never the number of people in your megachurch, but always the amount of sacrifices, difficulties and enemies one accumulates for the cause of Christ. 

The "cross" element of ministry marks out the genuine servant from the fraud.

So by the lifestyle of these megapastors we can safely say, they do not reflect the godly heroes we are called to imitate.

But, someone asks, what if a man has exceptional preaching or administrative skills (the only two non-corrupt ways of building a megachurch)? If the reason people are attending a church - any church - are the giftings of one person (and that Person is not Christ), you have ipso facto, a rather big problem. 

Because the church, according to the NT has only one Head and He is risen and ascended to heaven. The visible members of the local church - including all pastors - are merely an eye, an ear, a foot, a hand, all each needing the other. 

None of us, in the end, are all that important.

Let these so-called exceptional men do what the apostle Paul did, travel around the world and plant churches. Let them prove their true godly credentials when they get beaten up, hounded, slandered and hated in the process. 

In this way they will demonstrate conclusively, their true Christ-like, Paul-like greatness. 

The only way we can possibly justify the phenomenon of the megachurch pastor is if we have already imbibed, hook, line and sinker, the concept of the Christian Celebrity and we worship at the shrine of B.I.G.

Do mega-congregations exist?

Next up for New Testament scrutiny must be the mega-congregation. The idea that a single congregation of believers should be made up of thousands of people, who therefore cannot possibly know one another.

All the churches of the New Testament were relatively small, because they met in homes.

The only megachurch of the New Testament was the orginal Pentecost Church in Jerusalem. It was big (3000 then 5000) to demontrate the dramatic Holy Spirit origin of the church. 

It grew to these vast numbers from a humble 120. 

Only God can do that. 

And it is highly significant that God allowed that megachurch to be scattered not long after Pentecost. Why? So that the Christians in that large church would become more useful gossipping the Gospel as they radiated out from Jerusalem!

You see a common argument used by megachurches (and also by many large churches) is "we can do more for God's kingdom if we are large." But that's Babel-talk. It is not how God thinks. By scattering the Jersualem Church to the four winds, the Gospel spreads more effectively - not less. 

(I am pretty sure that if all the megachurches were abolished today, the Gospel would be granted brand new wings.)

The smallness of New Testament congregations, however, is not a limitation imposed by house size: it's far more theologically, doctrinally fundamental than that. 

What matters in church life is discipleship, the day to day life-influencing of younger believers by older believers so that they become like Jesus. Small groups relationally close facilitate this small-group pattern that Jesus himself set with his Twelve.

What matters most in the Kingdom of Christ is brotherly and sisterly relationships, being part of the family of God, which necessitates smaller maneagable we-know-each-other numbers.

What matters is living friendly living organism not cold distant functional organisation.

So does the notion of a megacongregation have any traction in the New Testament? 

I would argue, No, none at all.

So why do megachurches exist at all?

The first reason is the ugly pursuit of fame, power or wealth. In evangelical churches we naturally and openly despise the third but there is plenty of the first two floating around our circles.

There can be very little doubt that many megachurches are often little other than  temples of idolatry to to the founder(s). One man wants his name or his church to be immortalised. 

Or he wants lots of dosh. 

Or he wants lots of power. 

Where does a desire for fame, wealth or power figure anywhere in the list of Holy Spirit qualities for church leaders?

The second reason for the existence of megachurches is a profound misunderstanding of the nature of the church's task. 

The task of the church is to make disciples. And disciples are not made by preaching alone ("come hear some big shot preacher every Sunday morning") but disciples are made by many hours of difficult joyous interpersonal spiritual relationships, such as those that take place in small groups.

Some Christians really believe that preaching alone grows our faith. Therefore, if you have someone with exceptional speaking gifts, then put him on stage every week, pull in the crowds and they will all grow. 

Someone needs to say it: no-one grows into Christlikeness by sermons alone.

The incarnational aspect of Christian ministry, "follow my example as I follow the example of Christ" is absolutely essential for true spiritual Christ-like growth.

A second misunderstanding which leads to the existence of megachurches is a naive view of human nature.

No-one, not one person in the world or the church, can be trusted with power. It does not matter what circles of accountability surround him or her, no-one can be trusted with power over others. 

We are all too sinful, too corrupt, too biased, too parochial, too tribal, to be trusted with power.

But the only way to create a megachurch is to entrust vast power to an individual.

You would have thought, from the never ending river of megachurch scandals we'd listen to providence: God shouting in our ears this is the wrong way to go. 

But we don't listen and even we conservative reformed evangelicals secretely and not so secretly admire our own tribe's megachurch pastors.

An end to megachurches?

Since everything is wrong with megapastors and their megachurches, is it not time to put an end to them?

Perhaps their members should be scattered and their congregations divided into small little groups living in real loving community and with real we-know-you pastors. What an explosion of Gospel witness that would lead to!

Perhaps we should avoid calling these groups "churches." "Megacrowds" or "megameetings" or "megahuddles" but not megachurches. 

Perhaps we should avoid honouring the big-shots who lead these outfits. (I am guilty of this myself). 

And when our churches happen, by the grace of God, to grow beyond the size where anyone can know everyone, let our first thought be, not, "how can we keep these people and make our church the biggest show in town" but how can we release God's people into smaller churches where they and the Gospel can truly flourish.

Megachurches just could be the Devil's biggest deception in a celebrity-soaked culture. 

And the end of the megachurches could well spark true revival. 

AI Image:
Draw the destruction of an American megachurch

Wednesday 3 January 2024

Of Paradigms, Parrots and Prophets

 

A paradigm is an unquestioned belief, tradition or way of doing things.

A parrot, no offence intended, is one who assumes, believes, repeats and practices paradigms unquestioningly.

A prophet (always small p) is one who questions paradigms.

The value - and danger - of paradigms

Everyone runs their lives by paradigms or traditions. Habits of mind or customs of practice that have been assumed over time or borrowed from communities.

We often imbibe paradigms by osmosis, from the assumptions of our families or core communities.

A few examples...

Much of the western "church" in the middle ages accepted the Aristotlelian view of nature. Largely without question they welcomed the natural philosophies of their secular peers: that everything was made up of air, wind, fire and water for example. And as further example, that the earth was the centre of the universe.

Those good men Luther and Calvin assumed that church and state should be inextricably connected - of course! It had been going on for so long.

John Wesley believed that you should only preach in a church building (until George Whitfield challenged his paradigm).  

For many years I personally assumed there was only one 1500s reformation - the one Luther, Calvin and the likes were involved in. It was the paradigm taught by my tribe. And then I discovered a hidden Reformation, just as significant, if not more so, made up of little known despised saints who were given derogatory titles designed to write them off, such as 'anabaptist' or 'radical.'

Such are paradigms. 

The value of paradigms is that we need them: we have to assume something or we would be all at sea about everything. We all need working models. 

The danger of paradigms is that they very easily assume the status of The Truth, with few people prepared to question them.

Since they are so deeply entrenched, for the sake of peace, most people parrot paradigms. 

The necessity of prophets

This is where prophets come in. A prophet sees through paradigms. A prophet discerns. A prophet sees what only the school of prophets can see.

And because a prophet questions what everyone else assumes is Ze Truth, a prophet is annoying.

In Scriptural categories, a prophet is only prepared to accept something that is in the Word. No matter what famous preacher pushes it, prominent movement pronounces upon it or illustrious publishing house prints it. 

If it ain't in the Bible, it needs calling out.

And more, a prophet does not give a hoot what others think of them. Including those in his own tribe. Faithfulness to truth trumps all other considerations. (Therefore, as I say, prophets are rather annoying.)

Without prophets the church easily goes astray.

Here are a few examples of prophets (small p, always small p) in the history of the church.

Martin Luther for sure - unable to accept the nonsense that passed as commonsense in the Roman Catholic church.

Anabaptists Conrad Grebel and Felix Manz - men who were unable to accept the erroneous connection between church and state that the otherwise good reformer Huldrich Zwingli refused to shed.

AW Tozer - An American prophet of the last century who was able to see that so much of the apparently 'successful' American evangelical scene of his day was mere hay and stubble.

Today's False Evangelical Paradigms

False paradigms will always plague the church. Here are four examples that need deconstructing.

1. "To be a proper church you really need a church building."  We find as a prime example of this evangelical paradigm, church plants who begin life in rented premises yearning for a building.  And only when they acquire one do they believe they've finally arrived and become a 'proper church.'

What complete nonsense, this paradigm! The New Testament church met - with no exceptions - in homes, not "church" buildings. The brief early meetings in the temple forecourts were a temporary bridge from Judaism to its true fulfilment. After the stoning of Stephen the use of the temple as a meeting place came to an abrupt divine end.

The very nature of the New Testament church - as a people called out of the world - necessitated the end of special-buildings for worship; the end of brick synagogue and stone temple worship. 

We, the redeemed people,  are now the flesh-and-blood temple of the Holy Spirit. 

Church buildings are simply irrelevant to the work of God's eternal kingdom. 

2. "Tie 'em up in Legalese." There is a drift in the UK, at least, encouraging the church to tie itself up in legal knots. Don't do anything unless you have first consulted a lawyer, or have a legal document to protect yourself.

This trend arises from two sources, first an aping of the ways of the world: Legalese is how the present world works (and boy is it a jolly lucrative business for lawyers.) 

The deeper spring of this trend is a lack of faith in God: we are terrified of taking any risks and Bible-wash our fears with the sugary sound-bite, 'it could jeopardise the Gospel if things go wrong.'

One result of this judicial trend is that few Christians or churches take the sort of risks that are just standard fare in the book of Acts - and in the 2000 year history of the church. 

Can you imagine the amount of legal stuff Paul would be encouraged to get done before embarking on a 21st century missionary tour if he followed the legislative habits of today's churches? 

Insurance for ship-wrecks and beatings, a solicitor for slander, a lawyer in waiting for imprisonments, etc., etc.  

We're always to obey the law, but we need to take bold Gospel risks. 

3. "You can only reach university students through the Christian Unions." You may not have heard this one, but it is received wisdom in many churches who won't share the Gospel  with a student apart from the CU. 

There's not a line of Scripture that remotely supports such a foolish paradigm. 

The world is our parish, and if a church worships in an area filled with students it should reach out to them. While CUs often do a grand job reaching students, their resources and numbers are normally far too limited to reach the whole campus.

This binding evangelical paradigm could be one of the cleverest deceptions of the Evil One, by restricting evangelistic outreach to the small group of Christian students that happen to belong to a Christian Union. 

4. "Big churches are more important than small ones." One of the fastest drifts in the early church away from the Scriptures was the race towards the office of bishop which happened scarce before the first century was out.

Aping the standard thinking of the world, that bigger (whether militarily, financially or numerically) is better / more important / etc.,  big churches, especially in significant cities, came to assume authority over smaller ones, and the blokes who led these larger churches were given the jazzy title 'Bishop.' 

(In New Testament terms the interchangeable words Bishop, Elder and Pastor describe the same office, a male church leader, but the word Bishop was hijacked by High Jacks to denote a new extra-biblical superior office).

Wearisome pyramid structure stuff. See it everywhere...

In Scripture there is no indication that big is best. Indeed hints to just the opposite are profuesly given. The Old Testament is full of examples where God rebukes trusting in numbers and commands armies to whittle down numbers - so that God himself can do the winning.

And the only big church in the New Testament, the church in Jerusalem, is by God's design scattered to the four winds after its big-size-purpose has been fulfilled (which purpose was to demonstrate the supernatural origin of the Church.)

Let us honour small church leaders and their congregations, and give no greater weight or honour to large church leaders or their congregations - even though they may wish to be regarded as superior 'bishops.' 

(Or increasingly in our day as 'Apostles.")

The role of pastor-preachers

Paradigms must be examined. We are exhorted to test all things.

One aspect of all genuine preaching is the prophetic. Questioning the received paradigms that blind and bind the church. 

The preacher who is weekly imbibing the Word by the Spirit will see the world in a different light, and that altered light is the prophetic. 

Such divine visions must affect his preaching if he is to be a genuine pastor and preacher instead of a mere parrot.

AI Image:

"DeepAi draw a picture of traditions, prophets and parrots."

(DeepAi doesn't have a clue how to incorporate paradigms into a painting. But then, neither do I.)

Sunday 24 December 2023

The (true) Joys of Christmas!

 

The emperor has no clothes

Sad it is to say, but none of the sources of Christmas joy offered by the world each December will yield true or enduring happiness. 

Indeed, the birth of Jesus shows us that solid joys and lasting treasures are found by turning the worldly ones on their head. 

True joy is being known by God
(...not known by millions)
 
With the annual rise of celebrity-hysteria at this time of the year, the subliminal message is that if you attain fame and popularity, if lots of people follow or like you, then you'll be happy.

But the nativity teaches us the very opposite: that fame does bring upon us the blessing of God. Mary was an unknown Jewish girl, Joseph a humdrum carpenter, shepherding an everyday occupation and Bethlehem a run-of-the-mill Jewish village. 

In the great reversals of the Gospel, God deliberately chooses and values the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and the weak things of this world to shame the strong. 

Knowing we have been chosen by God - though anonymous to Google Search and to the world - is the key to true happiness.

True Joy is possessing heavenly treasure
(...not lots of money)

Classic FM, one of the UK's favourite secular radio stations has just run a "win £20k for Christmas" campaign. Thousands of people lost their £2 to the one person who collected it all. The radio Ad asked hearers to imagine what an amazing Christmas would ensue in the wake of gaining and then blowing £20K.

From the occupation of Joseph, the song of Mary and the sacrifices Joseph and Mary brought when they presented infant Jesus at the temple, we can be pretty sure that Jesus was born into an ordinary, if not poor, home.

Where did  Joseph, with an ordinary carpenter's wage, get the money to undertake the family's perilous escape to Egypt?  If I am not mistaken, it dd not from savings, but from the providential gifts of the wise men.

The God of heaven did not deem wealth a prerequisite for his Son's happiness or joy. 

Even though this God owns the cattle on a thousands of hills and so Jesus could have been born in a palace, God chose humble beginnings.

True happiness is found in possessing the Pearl of Greatest Price, it's found in storing up treasures in heaven, not in winning the lottery.

True Joy is found in belonging to God's eternal family
(...not in our transient earthly families)

Dare I mention this one? Without being misunderstood or offending? 

When crowds pressed around Jesus one day someone informed him that family members were calling for him. Remember the story?

Everyone expected Jesus to stop what he was doing and give immediate wholeherated attention to flesh and blood.

Of course he would!

Family always come first don't they?

Instead of bowing to the universal expectations of the world Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” Then he pointed to his followers and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother!” (Matthew 12).

In other words Jesus said "I have another family too, an eternal one, and I must think about them also."

We're called to value and honour our flesh and blood - indeed if we fail here Scripture tells us that we are worse than unbelievers. Jesus in the hour of his greatest need made provision for his mother.

But in a season where the brokenness of earthly families is all too evident, and where too much hope is placed in the happy families that cannot be we remember both that in heaven sits the Man Christ Jesus of whom it was true...

 In life, no house, no home
  My Lord on earth might have;
In death, no friendly tomb,
  But what a stranger gave.
    What may I say?
    Heav’n was His home;
    But mine the tomb
    Wherein He lay.

And remember too that our true and eternal family consists of the family of faith (of whom, we pray all our flesh and blood would one day belong.)

With this eternal glorious family of faith we will truly banquet with our Elder Brother at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Here's a wonderful contemporary song which exchanges the lies of this world with truth of the Gospel:

My Worth is not found in what I own

My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love
At the cross

My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose, in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed
At the cross

I rejoice in my Redeemer
Greatest Treasure,
Wellspring of my soul
I will trust in Him, no other.
My soul is satisfied in Him alone.

As summer flowers we fade and die
Fame, youth and beauty hurry by
But life eternal calls to us
At the cross

I will not boast in wealth or might
Or human wisdom’s fleeting light
But I will boast in knowing Christ
At the cross

Two wonders here that I confess
My worth and my unworthiness
My value fixed – my ransom paid
At the cross

AI Painting:
"Dalle paint a gaudy bright Christmas tree growing  upside down, pop art"