Author: Frank

Are you a member of a cult?

Frank

Scary title, but bear with me for a moment. The term cult is thrown around a lot to disparage churches whose doctrine we don’t agree with. I don’t want to minimize real Jim Jones-like cults, but I want us to think about the definition for a moment. What are the three main attributes of a cult?

  1. Religious devotion to a single individual who alone defines doctrine and lifestyle
  2. Separation from the world, including family and friends
  3. Unorthodox theology and practice

Now consider the following:

  1. John 14:6
  2. Luke 14:26
  3. John 6:60

The notion in Chapter 4 of Mere Churchianity is that our churches actually don’t want to follow Jesus. After all, wouldn’t that make them a cult?

So my question this week is, Is Your Church a Cult?

Please come back later today for more discussion on Mere Churchianity.

Weekend Reading, 4 September

Frank

As always, there are more quality blogs than I could possibly link. These are what I found via Twitter and there, it’s just a matter of timing- if I see a link while I’m on, I’ll click it. So my apologies if I missed you. I hope to catch you next time. Best (worst?) example was the effort of @ivoryjohn to raise money for Blood: Water Missions via retweets on Twitter. I retweeted the announcement that he was going to to this yesterday and then totally spaced it last night. I hope he does it again and I hope then I’m less flaky.

I also want to lead off with this post from Maurilio Amorim on the narcissism behind blogging and social media. It is a definite temptation, which is one of my main motivations for doing the “weekend readings“. I’m not in it for my glory, or even to hype these other bloggers, but for God’s glory. My hope and prayer is that through these links you might read something you might not have otherwise or catch a post you missed, and through the thoughts, convictions, and writings of others grow in your walk with Christ. Ok, on with the show…

A common theme I’ve found over the weeks is that of pastor burnout.

  • Perry Noble credits his wife and daughter for their encouragement and stresses that family remain a priority.
  • Ron Edmonson gives tips from his marathon training to avoid burnout by pacing yourself. (I personally love this, with my wife being a marathoner!)
  • Darryl at DashHouse posted on the value of sabbaticals to avoid burnout. A welcome suggestion and something I’m going to pursue for my own pastor.
  • Amy Sorrells challenges us to think like a Chilean miner when we get stuck. Good advice, pastor or not.
  • Johnathan Pearson reminds us that we need to continue to add fuel to our fire if we want to continue giving light and heat without burning out.

A couple of how-tos for pastors and lay leaders.

  • Steven Furtick reminds us not to be ashamed to call others higher, in fact it’s a compliment to do so.
  • Scott Couchenour offers his usual input to leaders and offers some additional links on don’t stop growing. (It helps to link to others who have lots of links ‘causse it saves me space! Yes, that’s cheating)
  • Nick Croft (aka Nick the Geek), guest posting at Make a Difference to One, encourages us to pray not only for our own children, but also for the children in our church and to not take children’s salvation for granted. (As a former youth leader, I really appreciate this post)

Another common theme is rethinking Church.

  • I’m participating in a discussion on Michael Spencer’s Mere Churchianity. You can follow that conversation over at Bend the Page (with links back here and to other bloggers in on the discussion). We’re only on Chapter 3, so there’s time to catch up and join us!
  • Shawn Smucker pulls no punches observing that Democracy is an easy crutch for our Church.
  • Jason Stasyszen (and many others- more links!) is reading and discussing The Hole in the Gospel and notes (pun not intended) that we’ve reduced the symphony of the Gospel down to a single note. 
  • Alise writes a scathing letter to the American Church (TM) reminding us that we need to deal with the plank in our own eyes before we can remove the specks outside our church’s walls.
  • Brandon O’Brien writes on how we take a Pagan approach to our relationship with God: we do good, he owes us- and how wrong that is.
  • Bethany Keeley-Jonker wonders if you can have an online church. (a means others like Brand New Church and Lifechurch.tv are testing out)
  • Darrin Patrick challenges the Church that we have a “man problem” through a video promoting his new book.

Of course, part of Church is each of our own personal journeys.

Relating back to the Blood: Water Missions fundraiser above is also a fundraiser of 30 bloggers in 30 days that is worth checking out and following (and obviously contributing towards).

Also relating back to the news of Glenn Coffee abandoning his NFL career for ministry (and other similar stories) is news of Ben Roethlisberger’s comeback on the field and in his faith. Compare then and now.

And after you get through all of this, don’t forget the purpose of this weekend. Rest and celebrate the Sabbath.

Flashback Friday: God’s Labor Day

Frank

***Originally posted on Labor Day, 2008. Still appropriate today, especially with so many recent headlines on pastor and church burnout. Have a great weekend everyone, and be sure to take some time off to rest up.***

[Monday] we celebrate Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, but the official celebration of America’s work force. Originally, Labor Day was celebrated to honor workers’ unions through speeches and parades. Today, the typical Labor Day celebration consists of sleeping in, barbecues, and ironically work. In fact, as soon as I finish posting this, I’m going to tackle a couple of outdoor projects I’ve been putting off.

Despite how widely celebrated this holiday is (even I have it off, and that says something) God’s labor day is more widely, or at least frequently observed. I’m talking of course, about the Sabbath. Even though different Christian churches have various doctrines surrounding the Sabbath (Seventh Day Adventists for example) and debate whether we’re still compelled to observe the Sabbath Laws under the New Covenant, there’s still a perfectly good reason God instituted this day.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God… For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Ex 20:8-11)

I’m not going to debate creation in six literal days here, but rather stress that even God took a break and there’s no reason we shouldn’t too. For this reason, we have in America the traditional 40 hour work-week (but who really works only 40 hours?) with “weekends” off. Even the term weekend is to intentionally set aside Saturday and Sunday on the calendar to respect the Judeo-Christian roots of this country.

I heard during a sermon, that even though we may not be commanded to observe the Sabbath under the New Covenant, if we don’t take the Sabbath, the Sabbath will take us. Each one of the Ten Commandments, besides honoring God, protects us. Like most laws, the intent isn’t just that of justice, but also to protect the general welfare of the populace. The Sabbath is no different. Think about your last big project at work, or finals week in college, or hell week in high school football, or the last week of planning and organizing before your wedding. Anytime you’ve dedicated yourself to something so thoroughly, there’s usually a “let-down” once you’re done. Why? You didn’t take a break as the Lord commanded. Just recently I returned from helping my mom move. What happened a few days after I got back? I got sick.

Unfortunately, we don’t observe the Sabbath the way God intends. We fool ourselves into thinking we’re honoring God by filling the day with church-related activities- morning worship, afternoon meetings, evening Bible study, you know the drill. I asked one of my co-workers if he had any big plans and he replied, “well the first two days are already shot.” His wife was hosting a bridal shower at their house on Saturday and Sunday was church. So on the usual Monday he, myself, and many other co-workers are more tired than we were on Friday. Why? Because we never really rested as God intended.

So here I am today, with a long list of “honey do’s”. Why such the long list? Because I didn’t do a dog-gone thing yesterday. And I feel great.

Thrill Ride

Frank

Last weekend I took my family to Legoland. My son has been asking for it all summer and we waited for Grandma to come and visit so she could join in on the fun. The park is definitely geared towards my son’s age group (a lot of rides specifically said “ages 5-12). It was fun to see my son react with, “look, dad, it’s made of all Legos!” There’s just something about being little where the world seems so big. Theme parks take advantage of this by presenting everything as larger than life.

I remember going to Disney World at 5 or 6 years old and combining that trip with a visit to Kennedy Space Center. At Disney I remember Mission to Mars vividly- the chairs raising slightly to give you a feeling of positive g’s then dropping back to give you a sensation of weightlessness all while looking up at a giant screen of space images as if we were looking ahead through a window. Visiting Kennedy right after, I remember returning to school convinced I had been to space. I couldn’t wait to raise my hand to answer the question, “where did you go this summer?”

“As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!‘” (Mark 13:1)

Did you visit any theme parks as a child? What rides were “larger than life”?

Of course, seeing it later as a teenager (the ride sadly closed in 1993), I could see through the “smoke and mirrors”. It was obvious we never left the ground and the view out of the windows could not compare to what we could see in an IMAX.

Other rides seemed smaller, too. The roller-coasters weren’t as fast, the loops, twists, and turns not as large. The animatronics weren’t as realistic. I grew up and the “thrill ride” was no longer as thrilling.

“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.” (1 Corinthians 13:11)

Have you ridden any of your favorite rides from your youth since you’ve grown up? Are they as fast, as large as you remember?

As a parent, the thrill is no longer found in the rides, but in my children’s joy. I can bear (usually) waiting in line for an hour for a ride my kids are excited for. I can handle two days at Legoland and (mostly) ignore how cheesy everything is. Because it’s not for me.

I stood back in wonder as I watched my children met a life-sized Mickey Mouse. I anxiously wait to hear what my son thought of the last ride he went on. And I can’t wait to return. Their perspective becomes my perspective.

“And he said: ‘I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’” (Matthew 18:3)

“From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise ” (Psalm 8:2)

Do you have children? Have you ever taken them to a theme park? What was their reaction the first time?

As adults, our lives can easily become so hectic that we take the thrills in life for granted. We feel grown up so we stop having fun. Summer is a great time to recapture the simple joys in life, but it’s also a good time to remember that Jesus “came that [you] may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10) That scripture can be twisted a number of ways, from a Prosperity Gospel (full means rich!) to asceticism (full life doesn’t come until our resurrection and the world offers nothing). I believe the answer lies in the middle. No, we shouldn’t get too comfortable here on this Earth, but we should still find joy in the life God has blessed us with.

“Be joyful always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16)

Do you see your life today as a thrill ride? Do you believe Jesus has given you “life to the full”?

Yesterday I went to the park with my kids. I rode on a twisting swing-like thingy with my son. It wasn’t fast and it wasn’t large, but my son was scared to death of falling off and I almost threw up. But it was really fun!

Today continues this summer’s ‘virtual small group’ (VSG in the tags). I hope you come back as I take this season to reflect on the wonders of God’s creation, share vacation stories, etc, with the prayer that we come out of this season closer to God than how we came into it.

The Uncomfortable Jesus

Frank

The premise behind Philip Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew is that the Jesus we know is so familiar he’s become routine. We know the stories. We know how it all ends. Nothing surprises us or makes us uncomfortable.

Michael Spencer approaches the third chapter of Mere Churchianity the same way. Imagine being a disciple of Jesus and having your world rocked with his unconventional take on the Jewish religion. Been praying all your life? Jesus will teach you how to really pray. Judgemental of that Samaritan woman? Jesus will go to her and strike up a conversation. It’s no wonder some of Jesus’ disciples responded to him saying, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” and later turned away and left him (John 6:60-66).

I admit I’m young and naive and maybe too idealistic for my own good. Regrettably, I’ve taken the destruction I’ve seen in my fellowship of churches and combined that with the media stereotype of the Evangelical Megachurch to paint a broad brush over all of American Christianity (TM). But I look at the Christian blogosphere and twitterverse and I see brothers and sisters doing it; making things happen in the name of Jesus to God’s glory. And I realize I’m wrong. I need to “tear up my notes” as Michael puts it.

I’m wrong about my church, too. Last week I may have been overly harsh sharing a single anecdote in a sea of experiences. Not to say the criticism isn’t fair, but there’s more to the story. You see, there are some things my church gets right. Recognizing Jesus’ teachings as uncomfortable is one of them. Growing up religious, when I opened up the Bible with brothers who cared about teaching me what it really says, not just what I’ve always heard, it blew my mind. It resonated in my heart because I knew this is what I was missing in my relationship with God. Jesus was uncomfortable and that made following him challenging and exciting.

Yesterday I wrote about the Transformational Loop. Each of the seven properties listed are uncomfortable.

  • Missionary mentality, where you see your community as a mission field and serve it that way? Uncomfortable!
  • Vibrant Leadership where it’s not a cult of personality but of inspiring example? Uncomfortable!
  • Relational Intensity where you genuinely care about your brothers and sisters’ spiritual and physical well-being and “make every effort” to deliberately be involved in one another’s lives? Uncomfortable!
  • Prayerful dependence where going to God in prayer is natural and asking for help via prayer is common? Uncomfortable!
  • Worship that continues beyond Sunday mornings (Romans 12)? Raising your hands in praise? Uncomfortable!
  • Community that is intentionally built around the purpose and mission of the Church? Uncomfortable!
  • Mission, seeking and saving the lost, being a central part of your life, the focus of your conversations and relationships? Uncomfortable!

Of course, that’s just one of many similar books. You could add tithing, serving inside and outside your church’s walls, forgiving (ooh, that’s a toughie), fasting, eschewing the world, calling out sin, confessing sin, and I could go on and on.

Squirming in your chair yet? Well there’s nothing comfortable about being a disciple of Jesus. And you know what, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

(I also encourage you to visit Bend the Page, Faith Fiction and Friends, and A Simple Country Girl for more discussion of this challenging book)

What is your Church’s Strength?

Frank

I’m reading Transformational Church by Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer as a compliment to my reading of Michael Spencer’s Mere Churchianity. Chapter two introduces the “Transformational Loop” of properties present in Transformational Churches. It is a loop because each area feeds into another and no one property can stand alone in a strong, transformational church. The areas are Discern, Embrace, and Engage and the properties present are a Missionary Mentality, Vibrant Leadership, Relational Intensity, Prayerful Dependence, Worship, Community, and Mission.

Reading through the description of each of these, it quickly became clear where my fellowship is strong and where it falls short. The recommendation for a stagnant church to become a transformational church is to identify your strengths and use them to build the other properties. For example, if your strength is worship, use that to build community, and so on.

I’ve been wrestling for some time with why things don’t seem to be clicking in my fellowship. We have our strengths and weaknesses just like any other congregation. And I don’t expect us to be perfect. But I just get the feeling that a piece is (or pieces are) missing. This loop helps me to identify what we need to build on and grow in.

My fellowship’s strengths are mission and community. We have a strong evangelistic focus, taking on the mission of Jesus to “seek and save the lost.” We build community through small groups for accountability, personal growth, and to facilitate evangelistic activities. These communities forge life-long relationships.

However these strengths ebb and flow. We take our strengths for granted and grow complacent. I believe this is because our strengths do not have deep roots and this loop bares that out. We are strong in mission, but lack a missionary mentality. We are strong in community but lack relational intensity. So our strengths are what we do, not who we are.

I am also convicted personally because I lack in prayerful dependence. I’m not a prayer warrior, though I need to grow in my prayer life. But I look around and I don’t see many prayer warriors around me either. I admired an Elder we had who would pray “without ceasing.” Ask him a question and he would pause, consider it, and then pray about it. Without fail, every question. But I don’t see that as my church’s culture.

I also admire one of my best friends who is strong in worship. He lives it, studies it, and teaches it but being worshipful has only rubbed off on a few. And our Sunday services are better for it!

So the pieces are there to build, despite my negativity. I’m sure if I looked around I could find individuals who are strong in one or more of these properties. The trick however is spreading those strengths through the congregation until it becomes part of its culture.

Given that background, what would you say are your church’s strengths?

What are your strengths and do they feed into your church’s?

Would you describe your church as “transformational”?

For your own assessment, check out the Transformational Church Diagnostic Tool (hopefully up and running soon)

Weekend Reading, 28 August

Frank

Wasn’t online much this week, so I’ll leave it to others to sum up the best of this week:

Jason Stasyzen has his Friday Hit List over at Connecting to Impact.

Glynn Young lists his Saturday Good Reads over at Faith, Fiction, Friends.

It’s not up yet, but look tomorrow for Kevin Martineau’s Link Love Sunday over at Shooting the Breeze.

There was also a blog carnival last week too. Bridget Chumbley’s One Word at a Time Carnival on Children is filled with gifted writers and inspired perspectives.

Pleasantly disturbed carnie, Duane Scott was in a car accident, so please keep him in your prayers.

Flashback Friday: Five Talent Player

Frank

***Originally posted February 17, 2010. Reposted in response to Glen Coffee’s decision to forgo an NFL career to pursue ministry, a decision similar to Grant Desme’s below.***

Growing up religious, I always found it curious a “plus” baseball player is called a “five-tool” player given the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25. It was the one with five talents that was given five more for putting his talents to use, pleasing his master. Of course we get the common usage for our talents from this parable even though a “talent” is a unit of currency.

Grant Desme is a five-tool, plus prospect for the Oakland A’s. Or at least, he was before he decided to give up the game to enter the priesthood. In his defense he said, “But I had to get down to the bottom of things, to what was good in my life, what I wanted to do with my life. Baseball is a good thing, but that felt selfish of me when I felt that God was calling me more. … I love the game, but I’m going to aspire to higher things.”

He didn’t catch much criticism even if his decision wasn’t understood by all. One who not only understands, but also relates is former Olympic speed skater Kirstin Holum. After competing in 1998, she hung up her skates and joined a convent. While you may picture a nun’s habit, you may not be able to picture a former Olympian in the inner city reaching out to gang-bangers.

While I admire the hands-on calling of a Religious Order, I don’t think you need to put on vestments to participate in ministry. Like the parable cited above, God gives us talents to be put to use for His glory. I think turning your back on a natural talent like athleticism is akin to burying your talents. (Recognizing that not all skills are talents, and we are all given as many or as few as our faith allows)

On the opposite end of the spectrum is last year’s National League Rookie of the Year, Chris Coghlan. “Everybody has different callings. Everybody has different blessings and different talents. For me, I believe my calling is to continue playing baseball. It’s a platform to reach out to other people.” Sounds very Tim Tebow. (Sorry, couldn’t resist) But he’s right. God gives us not only the talents, but the opportunities. One of my best friends always says, “there’s no such thing as luck in the Kingdom of God.” The traditional adage is that “luck is when preparation and opportunity meet.” The two are perfectly compatible. We should approach our jobs, our relationships, our families with the faith that each are platforms through which we should live and share our faith. The opportunity that meets our preparation.

Even Paul, who was far from being considered athletic, approached his ministry in this way.

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.” (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

This scripture is often applied to spiritual discipline and can be abused to justify a list of to-dos. But a better way of looking at it is from the perspective of the Christian athlete. Train (invest your talents) so that you may win (gain five more). We may not all be plus, but we can all be five-talent players.

Jesus-colored Glasses

Frank

This post joins the discussion being carried on at Bend the Page on Michael Spencer’s book, Mere Churchianity. The second chapter, titled the Jesus Disconnect, discusses how the Evangelical church has lost sight of Jesus among all the programs, seeker-sensitive trappings, and relevant topics. Glynn Young offers a perspective of “the worship wars” while Nancy Rosback reflects on how she personally loses sight of Jesus.

I want to approach this from yet another perspective, that of ministering to those thrown under the fast-moving, sold-out, evangelical bus. A quote I especially like from this chapter reads, “Evangelical Christians… believe their ship is listing to one side because it gives them a more interesting look at the iceberg.” This is the Jesus-colored glasses I refer to. Michael continues, “Evangelicals believe that people who distance themselves from the church are not disenchanted but ‘under conviction of the Holy Spirit.’ Christians are convinced that the generally low opinion people have of them… is because people can’t deal with the uncomfortable truth about Jesus.”

Ministering to addicts, I have learned that not everyone struggles because they aren’t committed enough, don’t pray enough, or don’t have deep enough convictions. Real people face real demons in their past, their character, and their habits that cannot be overcome just by showing up every Sunday with a smile on their face. We too easily forget that Jesus came for the sick, not the well. “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” (Matthew 9:12)

Sadly, we are quick to abandon the slow-moving for the sake of moving the church “forward” full-steam. Sold-out was our buzzword, but was code for legalism. You didn’t have time to deal with your marriage, your addiction, or your purity. If you weren’t 100% committed to the “purpose” then you weren’t really a disciple of Jesus. This is a battle I continue to fight when our calendar gets filled with evangelistic activities with no room to insert any solid food (Hebrews 5:11-14). As a small-group leader, when I recently questioned the schedule I was challenged to choose between the addiction ministry I help lead and my small group. Well that was a no-brainer (and thank God it didn’t have to come to that).

We say we are being Christ-like by “seeking and saving the lost” (Luke 19:10). We justify sacrificing our own health, spiritual and physical, because we “take up our cross daily” (Luke 9:23). And instead of “not putting out the Spirit’s fire” (1 Thessalonians 5:19) we instead get burned out. And the bus keeps rolling on while we are left behind.

Now I don’t want to be a Debbie Downer. It’s not always like this, and it’s not everybody who feels this way. But this attitude is contagious. We believe the hype. We are more inspired by a rah-rah pep-rally sermon than the life of Jesus. We are human. And the most important point I’ve taken from this book so far is that so are my brothers and sisters in Christ. The church is not a machine, but a living, breathing, body of believers. Real people with real struggles.

Saturday Afternoon Evangelism

Frank

Last week, Brigham Young University, the flagship school of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, announced plans to go independent in football. With the BCS shell game that has gone on this summer, this isn’t necessarily earth-shattering news. There is a tangible financial benefit in being able to negotiate your own TV deal and schedule your own opponents to maximize viewership. And all evidence this summer has shown us that television revenue is more important that winning or losing.

But this isn’t about that. Based on comments made by BYU’s administration and coaches, eyes on the game don’t translate into dollars but into potential souls to be saved. Dan Wetzel at Yahoo sports seems to be the only one in the national media to take that angle on this story.

At the same time last week, Glen Coffee decided that the best way to reach souls is to NOT play football as he gave up his NFL career. Tim Tebow, college sensation and evangelical poster-boy, thinks differently. And of course I could list many more on both sides of the argument across different sports.

Idividuals aside, you could also look at this as fulfilling the stated mission of a church-affiliated university. Yet Notre Dame, Gonzaga, Baylor, or TCU don’t approach their mission the same way (and I could fill this entire space with a ‘did you know?’ list of religiously affiliated schools).

So my question this week is this,

Is football, or any other competitive event, an effective means if spreading the Gospel?

(and please refrain from debating the theology of the Mormon religion)