Simple Church Journal

My wife, Brooks, wrote the following observations following our return from a ministry trip in Kenya:

The Revolution is happening – it’s happening all over the world.  We are in a Reformation.  Acknowledge it or not.  Be a part of it or not.  Jesus longs for his church to come alive, to become a living, breathing, organism.  He longs for us to be in a real, live, intimate relationship with Him, regardless of others – and then in real, live relationship with our families – earthly and spiritual.  And, He’s begging us to come alive, be who we are as individuals, alive and free in Him, telling the world who and what He has done for us.

While visiting Kenya recently, I saw a part of the world that is saturated with Christianity.  However, like many of us, the church there is dull to true life in Christ.  We are like dead men walking.  We depend on evangelists, teachers, preachers, and prophets to experience God, to hear from God, to learn from God, to have that deep relationship with God and then to tell us all about it.  We are lazy, apathetic, and very content to have second-hand relationship with Him.  We are insecure.  We are busy and exhausted from seeking relationship with other people and other things first.  Or, we believe our relationship with God is second-rate to someone else’s and so we put our relationship with Him aside and live out our lives through someone else’s relationship with Jesus.  Jesus is calling us out.  He is calling his disciples out.  As Felicity Dale refers to in her book, An Army of Ordinary People, He is forming an army and He is calling for soldiers to join the ranks! 

What I saw in Kenya, I see in America and I see in other parts of the Christianized world.  The enemy accepts that Christianity is in the world – real, strong, alive Believers in Christ.  But, if he can just contain us, keep us from contaminating others, there’s little to worry about.  If he can contain us in buildings, then the world will not know the truth and few will be set free.  But what I saw in Kenya, I also see in America and other parts of the world.  The virus is leaking.  The Reformation of the 21st Century, led by the Holy Spirit, is taking Christianity out of containers into the open spaces of the neighborhoods and nations of the world.  The virus of Jesus Christ’s love and resurrection power is leaking into the world.  Disciples of Christ are no longer content in the restraints made by man, they hunger to hear what their Master is saying.  The virus is gaining momentum and it is intensifying.  There is, indeed, a revolution happening and it’s happening all over the world!

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This statement, from Proverbs 29:18 (“Where there is no vision, the people perish”) is used over and over to put forth a corporate church vision by “church leadership” asking everyone to fall into line and support “what God is doing” in the church.  I have used this verse myself in just this way.

How freeing to the Body of Christ to discover that every believer can reach for the vision and calling that God has placed in his/her own heart and fulfill the destiny of a life shaped and sent by the Creator.

Yet, I am finding that the verse is still applicable.  If believers do not seek out and open themselves to God’s vision for their life, they often do become rudderless and begin to drift in their spiritual life.

Sometimes, as people transition out of more structured churches where the corporate vision is provided by leadership, they do not transition into a sense of personal vision and do, at times, become spiritual drifters.

This is a conversation we are introducing at some of our churches this year.  Having transitioned out of a corporately assigned vision, have we transitioned into a personal vision for our lives and spiritual family… or have we found ourselves adrift?  What, if anything, do we want to do about this?

Share some comments with us if you have had a similar experience or have had this type of conversation in your simple church.

I love the following questions from Ray Kemp that can be used to involve every person in exploring a passage of Scripture together.  After reading the passage through, each person can share:

1. What did you hear?
2. What does it mean to you today (in your life)?
3. What does it cost you to live this message?

A.W. Tozer wrote: "Though God… has provided answers to our questions concerning Him, the answers by no means lie on the surface.  They must be sought by prayer, by long meditation on the written Word, and by earnest and well-disciplined labor.”  The power of participatory Scripture study is that every believer learns how to read and explore God’s word rather than rely on a few preachers to study and hand out truths to the many.

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That is a hefty title for a book that weighs in significantly on understanding New Testament leadership.  “Authority, Accountability, and the Apostolic Movement,” by Dr. Stephen Crosby, provides a thorough, Scriptural look at spiritual authority that is not about hierarchy, domination, and control.

Crosby is particularly concerned about the positional leadership that is being espoused through the new “apostolic movement,” but his teaching challenges every aspect of modern church leadership and is important if we are going to see a leadership emerge that truly comes under, serves, gives away, empowers, and releases the church to be fully surrendered to God without human intermediaries.

Here are some quotes to give you a taste:

The themes of honor and submission to authority are, of course, legitimate.  They are in God’s Word.  However, they are subordinate themes.  When presented in a priority and hierarchical way of obligation, rather than the mutuality found in the “one-anothers” of Scripture, and if void of a death and resurrection spirit, empty of love and service, they become hopelessly contaminated and betray the Spirit of Christ…
When these subthemes are emphasized, a church environment can become like a spiritual plantation where the apostle is the master and production overseer of the plantation and subordinates are the slaves, not sons.

Crosby is particularly concerned about using Old Covenant leadership as a model for the New Covenant church in which every believer is filled by the Spirit and called to the priesthood:

The Old Covenant leadership practices belong in the same category as Levitical practices: interesting insights, but in application, not appropriate for the present age.

Crosby does an in-depth study of terms, in the New Testament, that are often used to suggest that one believer is to exercise authority over another.  Interestingly, the one term that distinctly means to “exercise authority over another” (exousia) is never used in the context of human leadership as in one person exercising authority over another.  In fact, Jesus clearly taught that this type of hierarchical leadership, which is normally seen in the world, should not be emulated by the church.

So then, what are the roles of those leadership gifts that are in Scripture:

The role of the Ephesians 4 minister is as equipper and releaser of others into their visions, not getting his/her own vision and making others submit to it.

Crosby provides a scholarly discussion on the subject of the so-called “spiritual covering.”  He also offers an important chapter on the danger of taking the spiritual father-son metaphor farther than it is meant to be taken.

In short, this book is a huge step in the direction of elevating the church to be the church, under God’s leadership, served and supported by leaders without rank, position, or domination.  This is precisely what is needed to see God’s church, again, as a movement—multiplying, spreading, and empowering every believer.

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From an article by Molong Nacua of the Philippines:

If you really want to check on Jesus life and ministry in the gospels you will find out Jesus never did the same thing twice in the same way. In other words, He wasn’t into techniques but was unpredictable. In our human strength (or perhaps more accurately weaknesses), we try to systematize everything Jesus did. For example, Peter who, after seeing heavenly glory, wanted to build Tabernacles in the mountain where Jesus was transfigured. And not only one, but three!

There’s also the time when Jesus spat on the ground and made clay and put it on a blind man’s eyes and commanded him to wash it in the pool. May I ask those who have a Healing of the Blind Ministry, did Jesus use a clockwise or a counterclockwise motion? Or maybe I will specialize with a Spitting Ministry. Do you want me to spit on you?

Jesus’ life was never structured; He simply obeyed His Father. Singing for 30 minutes may not be worship at all. Worship is obedience to what He called us to be. That is the highest form of worship. It is the expression of our redeemed lives, our way of life. We cannot just put our Lord or His ways into a system.

Churches today are like spiritual machines. Programs are their survival kits. People love to pour their money into the machine to keep it running. But in reality, church life is like a wind: you don’t know where it goes. It is a journey, a daily journey. It cannot be sewn up in the intellect; it must be uncovered during the journey.

I so appreciate Molong’s focus here.  Everywhere I go I see people seeking to get the form of church right (even house church) rather than really seeking to re-capture the lifestyle of being the church.  I trust that the latter will be the movement we are ultimately part of:

• Daily adventure of listening to and following Jesus
• Becoming the expression of Christ everyday, everywhere
• Filling the earth with His glory

You can download Molong’s entire article here: Download being_church_24_7_molong_nacua.doc

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“We depend on plans, programs, vision statements—but somewhere along the way we have succumbed to the temptation to displace the foolishness of the cross with the wisdom of strategic planning.”  D.A. Carson

"Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire builders have been people unable to give and receive love."  Henri Nouwen

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Someone wisely said that real community, Jesus-brand community, is not an ideal that can be achieved but a gift that is to be received.

That being said, we can often facilitate the gift of authentic community by learning to listen to one another more and talk at one another a little less.

Here is a one page article, available as a download, called “Listening Into the Lives of Others": Download listening_into_the_lives_of_others.doc

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In our needed quest to re-define leadership from hierarchy to true servanthood, we have created a leadership vacuum.  This is understandable.  We are so afraid of anything that looks like status-grabbing, or personal-kingdom-building, or one-upmanship that we can fail to walk in our God-given functions to lift, bless, encourage, and speak into the lives of others.

I want to suggest that we do, indeed, need to re-think leadership, and also, not be afraid to exercise the real, true, biblical, God-given authority that God has given to us.  To further this process, I want to offer the following simple thought on leadership…

“Leadership is the spiritual grace to be able to see another person’s divine destiny and impart something into their life that moves them forward toward that destiny.”

If you have the grace-gift to flow in just this way, then please, please do it.  We need people who call out our destiny in our lives, and we need to be people who can do this for others!  The Body of Christ needs nothing more than to become its fullest and most complete expression of every part.  Good leadership facilitates and serves that end.

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A story from India that was shared at the 2007 Asian House Church Conference.  Signs and wonders resulted in 3,500 house churches planted…

When he was 22, in 1994, Randeep, then a nominal Christian with no real desire to follow Jesus, was walking down the street of his home town in the state of Himachal Pradesh. He saw a woman who was rolling on the ground screaming. He recognised that she was demonized, and sensed God saying to him that he was to pray for her. However, he had no desire to do so and walked on, until again he fancied he heard God talking to him. This time God said "I can easily get someone else to pray for her – but where would that leave you and your salvation?" He then prayed for her, and she was instantly completely healed and restored to her right mind.

Later on that evening, when he was at home, he heard a commotion outside. There was a crowd of about 70. He was very nervous. "It must be a crowd of Hindus upset because I prayed for that girl," he thought. However, a voice sounded out, "Does Jesus live here?" He opened the door to speak to the crowd. "I am a Christian", he said. It turned out that the crowd had heard about the girl who was healed, and had brought many to be prayed for.

You can download the full story here and read about the movement that resulted from Randeep’s simple act of faith and obedience: Download randeeps_testimony.doc

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We know that the early church was an unleashed, Spirit-led movement that was eventually tamed and organized into the type of institution that we see today.  I find that many people really begin to “get it” when they see the following timeline of when the different parts of the institution were added:

• special class of clergy separate from laity, 2nd century
• special clothing for clergy, 3rd century
• one-bishop-rule, which we know today as “the pastor”, 3rd century
• the sermon as the centerpiece of worship, 4th century
• special buildings for worship, 4th century
• choirs, 4th century
• the pulpit as a raised place to speak from, 5th century
• the basic order of worship as we know it today, 5th century
• pews, 13th century
• congregational song leader, 14th century
• dressing up for church, 18th century
• youth pastors, 20th century
• worship team, 20th century

“Wait a minute!  You mean there was not always a worship team with guitars, bass, and drums?”

Actually, it is quite challenging for most of us to really envision the church as Jesus defined it: followers, living radically for Him, gathering simply for prayer, worship, and mutual encouragement, going wherever the Spirit sent them to reach and minister to others.  None of the extras that we associate with church (buildings, pews, preachers, worship leaders) were needed.  Just people, lit up with the fire of God in their hearts, caring for and supporting each other (simply like families), living into a broken world with God’s light.

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