The Truth In Love
It is becoming clear that God is calling my wife and me to be the lead pastors of The Core Fellowship. Matt & Melissa Stephens, the couple whom we had all felt was going to fill that position, have felt the call of God to move away to attend seminary. We at The Core were very sad to hear this, but God accompanies his real calling with real peace, and that is what we have felt.
As I have expressed to a few friends recently, I am moving into this calling eagerly, but with fear and trembling. But there is a problem... I am the kind of sinner that can go for long periods without recognizing his own sinfulness.
A camel may travel for hundreds of miles without drinking, and come to believe that he doesn't need water at all. The reality is that the camel is drinking constantly, drawing upon the vast reserves carried within his body. And when that water is eventually depleted, it must be renewed.
I do not claim to have any vast reserves of righteousness. But the struggles of some are worn outwardly, and the struggles of others are less apparent. I belong to the latter group, and thus I can fool myself into thinking I'm a pretty good Christian most of the time.
But this week I was shaken out of that attitude, and reminded why I must approach a pastoral calling with fear and trembling.
Apparently it is the modus operandi of James River Assembly to never respond in kind when they feel attacked. Rather, they pray for the antagonist and all those who read or hear their words. I believe this is the reason why there were no commenters on my blog willing to stick up for James River. Instead of commenting, they were praying. I am severely humbled by this.
There is no doubt in my mind that God has given me a message. I look at the Church At Large and see the clergy burnt-out, the laity unengaged, and the observant public jaded against the whole institution. Some things have got to change. But I will not accuse James River of being the representative of this problem. They are simply an easy target, and I am ashamed of having taken advantage of that. I want to shake up and challenge anyone who leads the church astray, but I also want to apologize to those who were offended by my unfair singling out of James River Assembly.
I hope this experience stands as a milestone at the beginning of my life as a pastor. I hope I can always look back at this and remember that specific grievances should be brought with grace directly to the offending party, not published for the world, and general grievances should remain just that: general.
Father help us all to remember to speak the truth in love.
Labels: autobiography, regrets, spirituality
Posted at 8:28 AM
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17 Comments:
Grace be with you.
I appreciated this post much more than the last one. Although at times, I question some of the "flash" from James River, I know that they are an easy target of many believers in this area.
I have a good friend who switched from another church here in Springfield to JRA and I have been amazed at the growth that I have seen in her. Her family went from being somewhat lukewarm to totally in love with Jesus. How can we as Christians fault a church that can bring about that kind of growth? By the way, I don't attend there...have only been there once about eight years ago.
Yes, we too often overlook the zeal that such ministries produce, which many times leads to a greater love for God, and therefore greater devotion and maturity. That's been the case with me, anyhow. God has used small, intimate settings to radically transform my life, as well as massive worship gatherings and conferences where tens of thousands are gathered. I have seen God's hand equally at work in both, and have seen His face equally in both. And i believe this is the experience of many.
My earnest conviction is that there is a place--not just a place--a NEED for both. I don't believe there's a need for a marketing-driven church who always has to one-up the next church. There's no room in the Kingdom for competition or pride. And there's no excuse for churches who depend on money-loaded events to bring people into fellowship with the Body of Christ. But if you can find a church that is grand, relevant, excellent, "irresistable", and yet facilitates intimacy with other believers through dynamic, authentic small groups, one-on-one discipleship, and provides unlimited potential for lay persons to use their gifts, and all of this in the power of the Spirit, then you've found yourself a good church, regardless of its size.
Sometimes zeal produces love that leads to devotion. Sometimes it produces shallow, purely emotionalize Christians that leads to false piety. The challenge of the Church has always been to foster both "spiritual fervor" and "mature devotion". You can see the "maturity" in many conservative, non-charismatic churches, such as Baptists, and you see the "fervor" in more charismatic/pentecostal churches, such as AG, but both are usually at the expense of the other. We are in a time where people are rebelling from their faith traditions, pointing out their errors and turning toward other traditions. I believe this is healthy (in fact, if this doesn't characterize you, it should). But it's vital that we glean the positive in the midst of the negative, and explore the ways to take the positives of one tradition and combine them with the positives of another, while avoiding the pitfalls of both.
Very well put.
Why, thank you, dear commrade.
James River Assembly is a perfect example of the McDonaldization of every institution in late capitalist society. Just because it works (church growth) doesn't make it great or even Christian. Its actually more Borg.....
Have you read Ritzer's book? I would almost call it life-changing. Tom Sine's application of McDonaldization theory to the Western Church is brilliantly challenging as well.
Well, my friend who switched to JRA is not shallow or emotional. She is very solid and exhibits continual growth in her Christian maturity. Sometimes she talks about the sermons and the discussions in her Sunday school class. They are often thought provoking and challenging. I don't understand how that can be considered "not Christian". Just because that church is not for everyone doesn't mean that it is wrong. And I think that to attack it is devisive to the body of Christ.
Anonymous:
My friend who "switched" to JRA?
That says it all.
By that I mean: church has become a commodity - and JRA is a brand to be "switched" to.
Talk about divisive. So the church Anonymous' friend used to attend has lost a customer and JRA has gained another loyal shopper.
Competitive market, this church business.
We shouldn't be taking semantic swipes at Anonymous for the use of the word "switched."
But I agree that it carries very consumeristic overtones.
It makes me think: "Since I switched to Colgate toothpaste..." or, "If you switch now to T-Mobile..."
I think the "not for everybody" phrase carries some of those same overtones, though again, I don't condemn it. In one sense, as I have said before, God really is calling different people to different things. But if we're not careful we can adopt a "whatever works for you" attitude, and fail to hold one another accountable, as Christ and His apostles call us to do.
Used to be, there was one church per town. Now we seem to believe that there's a spiritual need for an ecclesisatical marketplace, where we can take in the ads, scan the shelves, pick one out, then come back and exchange it for another one if we don't like it. This can continue almost endlessly. And the central question is always: "Which one meets MY needs?"
That's why The Core doesn't exist just to be a church. The last thing we need is another church. Our goal is to be a family, a community, and a TEAM to build relationships with those that are being ignored or misunderstood in Center-City Springfield.
I really don't want to be argumentative but I fail to see what is wrong with attending a church that meets your needs. A few years ago, I worked for one of the large Methodist Churches in Springfield. I did not attend there but came to respect the people who did attend there. But the formal, liturgical service complete with hymns did not appeal to me or my family. We attended a small, informal, casual church because that was a good "fit" for us. And I am guessing that our church would not have been a good fit for some of my friends at the Methodist Church.
So what is the problem with that? When we moved to Springfield, we spent a summer visiting different congregations. Should we have joined the first one that we visited so that we wouldn't have to "switch"? It is true that at one point probably each city only had one church. So should we all go back to being Catholic? You call it marketing, I calling it finding a body of believers that you can grow with.
Dead horse whipped.
You are right. Find the church, the body of believers, that works for you.
But I think this whole argument started with questioning the way some churches aggressively seek new members.
Switch all you want - get comfortable. There are plenty of options. Perhaps James River is going about it the right way, merely recognizing that churchgoers are shoppers looking for a better place to call a church home.
Obviously JRA meets the needs of many - and I shouldn't argue with that.
But how are we determining a good "fit"?
If the main thing you're looking for is a church that "meets your needs" I'm sorry, you're never going to find it. It's just like finding a spouse. Are you looking for someone to serve you, or someone to serve? And if you're not looking to God to meet your deepest needs, you'll always be looking, always dating, always church-hopping.
I'm not suggesting that we return to the past; I want us to learn from it, and understand that God does not require a "smorgasbord" of churches in order to produce a society of healthy, mature Christians. Sometimes He calls us to fellowship with people we don't really care for, and sing songs we don't like. But we, in our consumeristic wisdom, tend to rule out 95% of churches before we even start looking, because we know it wouldn't be a good "fit" for us.
But the options are there, so God will call different people to different types of fellowship. Now you have to ask yourself if you're making your choices based on His call, or based on your own perceived spiritual "profile."
My desire to be part of a community of believers has little to do directly with what type of "presentation" they utilize in their services. My criteria for covenanting with a group of believers is (1) that i largely agree with their doctrine (definition of truth), through and through, (2) that this doctrine/truth is plainly and consistently taught, (3) that the leadership are actually following God and not their congregation or their denomination, (4) that there are people there who actually love me and my family, and (5) that there are opportunities to serve in ways God has gifted us.
I wonder what the churn rate of JRA is...that is their turn over? I know quite a few folk who passed thru and tho stayed AoG they ended up at smaller churches (most said they would never go back).
I believe that we have a responsibility as believers to serve, to love, and to minister, whether we are part of a congregation of 5000, 50 or 5. And if we are attending just to be served, then it doesn't matter what the size of the church. It is a little harder to hide in a small body than a megachurch. But our calling doesn't change.
So I still believe that there is nothing wrong with looking for a church that is a good fit. Or "switching" if you find yourself in a place that no longer "fits". I don't think that the Lord necessarily calls us to stay in the church that we are born in.
We have been in our current church for about eight years. It has changed a great deal from the small, intimate place that it used to be. So, maybe at some point, we will "switch" to a smaller, more intimate gathering again, if the Lord leads us in that direction. Whether we stay or whether we move on, our mission, to share the love of God and to serve others, will not change.
As far as JRA's "marketing", I don't know about that. The only thing that I can attest to is the growth that I have seen in my friend, her husband and their two teenagers. Having raised several teenagers, I say "God Bless You!" to any church that can help keep them serving the Lord and away from the pitfalls that destroy lives.
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