Who's Purpose 3

I want to wrap up my thoughts on our current church culture and historically American values with a look at wealth. Here's some of what Scripture has to say on the topic.

"Those who love money never have enough; those who love wealth are never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless." Ecclesiastes 5:10
"No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Matthew 6:24
"Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely--be content with your pay." Luke 3:14
"And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time, those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need."

It would take a very long post to lay out all the Bible has to say on this very important topic, but these verses illustrate the biblical witness on a few key points. Aquiring wealth has always been a central tenent of the American dream. Entrepreneuership, upward mobility, and a solid portfolio are all things to be coveted. I'm just not sure Jesus' values would match our infatuation with wealth. A few observations about America, the church, and money--

First, in American culture and in the church, money is a very private and personal thing. The fruit of wealth is often seen in houses, vehicles, boats, and other luxuries, but don't ever ask someone how much they made last year or how much they give to Kingdom efforts--that's too personal. The passage in Acts doesn't say that everyone knew how much everyone else had, but they must have had some awareness. The wealthier people knew when there were others in their community who didn't have enough and made sure they were provided for. Now churches are big enough that we can find ways to hide from the needs of others. Our wealth and the way we use it are like our sex life--private knowledge that we keep to ourselves.

Second, Americans and the American church are never content with their current level of financial resources (Ecc and Luke). Norman Rockefeller was once asked, "How much money is enough?" He replied, "Just a little bit more." This summaries the American view of wealth well. Unfortunately it doesn't seem this is often much different in the church, it's just masked more carefully. More money is desired in the name of better programs, which we assure people will mean better ministry. I've never heard a church talk about their excesses and scale back. Rather, attention is given to how just a little more money would solve all the problems. We have adopted this mentality of finding purpose in the pursuit of just a little more wealth.

Finally, Americans have made wealth a god. We work long hours to provide as many things as possible for our families, but we remove ourselves from their lives in the process. We compare ourselves to whoever is one rung up on the financial ladder and try to figure out how we can match them, only to look up again when we get there. We assume more money to buy more things will fulfill us, only to be left empty and wanting. The god of wealth has also invaded our churches. We give preferential treatment to those who put a big check in the plate. We drool over the large houses and vehicles of congregants, never imagining that we should question their stewardship.

Our nation's history and values have taught us that wealth is good, period. This may be the most difficult area for us to embrace Kingdom values, because it will cost us comfort and status.

The Chinese Church

Last week I made a connection that has encouraged me about the missional church movement. As you probably know, the Chinese underground church has grown rapidly--impressively--over the last decades.

The Chinese church forms cell-like structures because they have to. The government's persecution and interference have forced them underground, but they've stayed connected and networked. These Chinese house churches simply can't become a religious institution with "baggage"--buildings, famous leaders, theological and political debates. They have to "travel light," as Alan Hirsch says in The Forgotten Ways.

And the movement has spread because they're driven to prayer, and the Holy Spirit, and the responsibility and passion for sharing Christ comes back to the individual and away from an institution.

I see some connections here with how a missional church usually works. We can learn alot from the Chinese church--and come to think of it, it's not too different from the early church, is it?

Raising Support

One of the necessary parts of what we are doing is support raising. I don't think a family of four can live on thirty hours a week at a coffee shop, so I have to pursue support relationships with people. This is probably the thing I have dreaded most of all that we are doing, but two conversations in the past week have eased that dread a little bit.

The first one was with a guy named Matt who works with Missio. We were talking about raising support and he said, "This is going to be very difficult for you until you believe that people need to give to you as much as you need them to give." I've been reflecting on that, and I do believe that it would be beneficial for people to be involved in it through financial support. It is a way that others can participate with us in God's call to missional church planting. We can't do it without them and they might not be gifted or called to go and do it.

The second conversation was with a friend from Southern Gables named Jim. He and I haven't had the chance to get together all that often, but he always challenges me to think and I appreciate his influence in my life. He was talking about the chain that exists between people in all the work of the Kingdom. For instance, if a person enters into a relationship with Christ, there is someone (more likely many people) who have represented true Christianity to them through words and actions. And there are people behind those people who shaped them in a way that they would be disciples. The chain goes on and on, but I think it really applies to our support raising. We don't yet know who will be impacted by our efforts in Aurora, but I believe those people will go on to have significant impact on others for the Kingdom. If it were not for people supporting us, that chain of influence would not continue to expand.

I can't say I want to become a full-time fundraiser now, but these conversations did help to give me some perspective.

Who's Values 2

In order to not belabor the point I'm going to pretty much skip over the second item I mentioned in the first post--alcohol consumption. All I will say about that area is that I think there may be a connection between the years of prohibition laws and the evangelical church seeing alcohol consumption as a sin for many years (even if this wasn't stated people lived as though it were true). This seems to be changing but that may only be because we are far enough away from that time.

Now I want to turn my attention to a couple values the evangelical church has adopted from our nation that are not biblical. In this post I want to deal with pride (I'll deal with wealth in the next one because it will take its own post!). Below is a sample of what the Bible has to say about pride.

Pride leads us away from God. 2 Kings 19:21-23; 2 Chron. 26:16; Jer. 13:17
It is associated with the wicked. Job 20:5-7; Psalm 10:4; 31:18;
It is evil. Prov. 8:13
In whatever sense pride is positive it is pride in a proper relationship to God and the opposite of the things the world takes pride in. Gal. 6:4; Jas. 1:9-10

Despite a strong biblical stand against arrogant pride, it is an area of sin that is seldom addressed in the church and at best is given some lip service. Most people are socially conscious enough not to be vocal about their pride, but it abounds in actions and false humility. Many of us take pride in our status, job, income, abilities, achievements, and other things we believe come from ourselves.

I believe the reason pride is given relatively free reign in our churches is that our nation has taught us that pride is positive. This starts with national pride. We see ourselves as the greatest nation in the world. It is true that we have more freedom, security, wealth, and power than most if not all the nations of the world, but instead of seeing ourselves in a place of responsibility to serve the world we tend to view ourselves atop the pile of humanity. Though we would never say it, we view the people of the world as beneath us. We take pride in our high position.

This American value of pride extends to both self-esteem and the pursuit of the "American dream." We have been taught that pride in ourselves is essential to functioning properly as human beings. It is what gives us a positive self image. It is often pride that drives us to pursue the things that will bring us status in the eyes of others. As Americans we virtually worship the rich and famous and in so doing reinforce the idea that pride is positive.

Pride is an American value the Church has adopted as its own. A trend that is far-reaching...

Holy Conversations

I had one of those holy conversations this week with a friend. It was one of the first times we've sat down and discussed Church, and it was uplifting to hear his heart, thoughts, and passions. I want to share some of his insights because I think he's one of many people that struggles with some of these things:

He’s felt a pull to become a pastor, but recently decided to hold off seminary because he has seen pastoral work lately as alot of administration and running the business side of a church. He's uniquely gifted at teaching, mentoring, and spiritual development.

He struggles with the professionalism that is pushed upon churches that grow from small to large. No longer is it about the heart of the person, but it’s about who can preach and teach best, who can sing and play best, and, sometimes even who looks best.

He's seen that spiritual growth isn’t happening at the service, and he believes people aren’t experiencing spiritual growth because they’re not in spiritual relationships with others.

Churches he has visited explain everything in three points or four tips, as if you can explain Jesus and put Him in a box. He's wondering if/how churches should embrace the mysteriousness of Christ?

This isn't about negativity toward the Church, nor do I think I have the answers. These are simply statements that I've thought about, and my friend has thought about, and I know others think about.

Article Alert

First, I have to admit that I stole this blog title from Drew Moser, and I'm not ashamed of it. This article is about the way we use power and authority and whether or not the way we use it is modeled after Christ. I wrote it after being convicted that too often my use of power or desire for it looks nothing like Christ. You can follow the link from Christianity Today or just click here.

Who's Values Part One--Sexuality

I've been playing with an idea now for a couple weeks and am really interested in feedback (I know commenting on this blog isn't of highest importance for everyone, but I'd love to get in some face to face conversations about this).

My basic premise is this--the sins the evangelical church has been most critical of are the ones that have been most strongly opposed in our nation's history. The ones we let slide (and sometimes even promote) are the correspond to the values applauded in our nation's history. I will deal with four issues here by way of example--sexuality, alcohol consumption, wealth, and pride. Because this takes some time to develop I'm just going to take one per post.

Sexuality
I recently had a friend who was asked to marry a couple who claimed to be Christians. He asked them if they were living together and they responded that they were. He told them that if they didn't live separately until the wedding that he would not do a Christian ceremony. He would still do the ceremony (and believed that they were Christians who had gotten off track in this area), but he would do the same thing he does for people who are not Christians.

Until the sexual revolution of the 1960s the United States was a fairly conservative nation in regard to sexuality. I don't pretend people weren't having affairs, premarital sex. and homosexual sex, but these were not things people broadcast. To a large extent they were looked down upon, even outside the church (and in what I'm trying to develop that is actually more important). Then the era of free love came along and blew up the conventional sensibilities of the nation in this area. At the time, many looked down on those who led and participated in the revolution that shifted how we think about sexuality. But over the years our nation's culture has come to accept and even glorify promiscuous and liberated sexuality.

But not so with the church. We would like to point to the Bible and say that we take a strong stand on issues of sexuality because it instructs us to do so--and I don't dispute that it does. However, we don't take a strong stand on all the issues the Bible speaks to, even those it speaks to strongly, so why this one? For many years we were able to stand with our nation in affirming a certain sexual ethic. Our nation has shifted but we have remained steadfast. It seems even that may be changing.

To come back to my friend. I don't think he did the wrong thing. He took a stand on an important topic. And he did it out of love because he knew the people he was dealing with. It made them do some reflecting and helped them realize they had stopped trying to please Christ above all else. So my example of him is not a negative one, I'm just asking the question, why are we so strong on this area where sin can manifest itself?

Returning to Consumerism

I want to come back to the quotation in the blog entry on Liquid Church. Mariam had a great comment regarding some of the themes of the Bible in response to that post.

I think I get what Pete Ward is saying (and I only say that because my response may not apply if I don't get it). His quotation, and much of the book, sound like he is just trying to make the faith understandable and relevant for people in a fragmented and diversified culture. He even mentions not "dumbing anything down." This point is valid. Different people will understand the gospel in different ways and have to apply it to the circumstances in which they live. This is one of the key things the missional church must consider.

However, he takes an unnecessary step in labeling this as consumerism. Consumerism has to do with consumption. Taking things and using them up. At least in our culture it has to do with accumulation of goods (and in that way is directly connected to materialism, though consumerism also includes experiences and other intangibles). The gospel is not a product. It is not something that will be accepted by everyone if we can just find the right bottle to put it in. This vastly underestimates the role of the Holy Spirit and the severity of the call of Christ. I would go so far as to say that viewing the gospel as a product to be marketed to consumers is one of the key contributors to the utter futility and lack of depth in American Christianity. It is seen as one more product to be used in the service of our enjoyment and ease of life. This is the most hideous distortion of the gospel I can imagine.

So while I can agree that we must take culture, language, customs, experiences, etc. into account as we seek to spread the good news of Jesus Christ, I cannot agree that this gospel is compatible with consumerism. Consumerism is a poison to the gospel we proclaim.

Hallelujah!

As I said in an earlier post, one of my greatest fears has been that we will not be able to Chicago because our house will not sell. Today was a big day on that front. Our house is now under contract and we expect to close April 23...pretty much perfect timing.

We are still somewhat cautious because we've had friends who were under contract and then it fell through, but we hear that is more an exception than a rule. So pray with us that everything goes smoothly from now until the 23rd! And praise the Lord for his provision!

Me Generation

Trophies for everyone, regardless of who wins and loses. Preschoolers singing songs about how special they are. Individual focused websites like myspace. What impact has all this had on high school and college students, who are being called the me generation? This clip from NBC got me thinking, what impact does this have on mission in our society?