Pentacost Rewind...

In the Bible in the book of Acts chapter 2 we see that the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples like tongues of fire as they were waiting according to Jesus’ instructions. When they received this wonderful gift, all of a sudden they were able to speak different languages. They stepped outside and began to preach in the languages that everyone that was there could understand. What a wonderful gift!

Today, the Church finds itself in a kind of rewind Pentacost. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a movement of the Holy Spirit but rather a movement of our own. We have taken the plain language of Jesus and applied some fancy words so we can have our own kind of “Church code”. We talk about baptism and Eucharist/communion. We place people in the sacastry or the narthex of our churches. We have the rapture and the tribulation. We have all kinds of fancy words for things these days. not to mention our weird desire to hang on to the thees, and thous, and begots of 15th century England when we read the Bible to young people. We say all these words of ours with a knowing wink and nod to our fellow Church people and all the time leaving the un-Churched around us in the lurch, scratching their heads, wondering what we are talking about and frankly thinking we are “just nuts.”

Somewhere we decided it was more important to talk to each other than to talk to the ones who do not know Jesus. We do this with worship too. I have attended worship committee meetings in traditional churches where I served and listened to people talk about wanting to keep the service just the way it is. They don't want any of that new fangled modern/contemporary worship stuff, the kids will just have to "get used" to doing church our way. They want it like “High Church” (of course if you don’t know the language you don’t know what that means either), and they want the old hymns (older the better - 200 or 300 years old at least) and you better come dressed right or we promise we will stare at you… But, they still come to me week after week wondering where the young people are.

Each time I try and reach the Church to let them know that going to church is not the end result desired by God, He wanted us to be the Church. If we are to be the Church who should be on the receiving end? Well, to me that’s simple.. the un-Churched!

In all of my modern worship services, studies, gatherings, writings, blogs, webpages, etc… I try real hard to take out the secret code of our churchy language and apply the simple words of Jesus.

So, I challenge you my friends… teach yourself the plain language of Jesus and leave behind the big church words for a while (believe me it is hard for a seminary student like me to do that). Forget atonement and talk about what Jesus did for them in dying on the cross. Forget sanctification and tell them how we find ourselves mysteriously in the midst of what God is doing, and we are carried along in that journey. Forget justification or even salvation and talk about a life forever with God and that only in believing Jesus is Lord and savior can we have that life.. You see, we can talk about the same thing, only we use new words…

What The Church Is

The Church is the "body of believers." It is comprised of those who have been saved and redeemed by the True and Living God, based upon the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus upon the cross.

The church is the bride of Christ. It is a living temple of the True God. It is not the building, the meeting place, an organization, or a denomination. The church is the totality of all true believers regardless of denominational affiliation. The entire body of believers is the church and as such, it is the dwelling place of the Holy and Infinite God.

Inclusion in the Body of Christ is not by membership in a denomination. The buildings many people refer to as "church" consists of those who say they are Christian but may or may not be truly saved. Being a member of a church on earth, guarantees nothing. Being a member of the Body of Christ, guarantees salvation.

The church is the glorious mystery of God made real and revealed in scripture. It is the dwelling place of God. Are you in the church? Do you know what the church is supposed to be?

You, if you are in Christ, have God living in you. You are in the church as much as you are the church.

Brother Jerry H. Miller / brothermiller1@charter.net

Why Many Christians Are Missing From Church Pews

I hope to wake many of you up to the truth that the church is not a building or a government sanctioned “non profit organization.” Neither is the Church a man governed “club” made up of “members” who have “joined” its ranks.

Many believers who love the Lord with all their hearts just cannot "stomach" what is popularly become referred to as "doing church." Vast numbers of Christians have reached their tolerance limit of the petty politics and procedures of what the "church" has become preoccupied with.

The true church is the body of Jesus Christ; consisting of people of all races, nationalities, and social / economic / groups who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord.

The “mission” of the church is not to erect beautiful buildings or to have programs and activities to entertain people. While we want to see as many people accept Christ as possible, a congregation’s mission is not to become the biggest and most financially prosperous “church” in the community.

As individual Christians, we are to go into the world and spread the gospel. The purpose and emphasis of a Christian congregation is not a constant “evangelist service.” Christians are to gather together to edify one another, teach believers the Word and will of God, and to worship the Lord.

Sadly, many (by no means all) congregations expend the energy and time when they are together trying to: constantly raise funds, fuss among themselves about the congregation’s by-laws and constitution, rail against “the heathens,” complain about who isn’t in attendance, argue about the failures of the American government, and try to come up with ways to increase the membership without anyone but the pastor seeking to win the lost to Jesus. Entire services, week in and week out are focused on the one lost soul who might just possibly be in the meeting.

In the mean time, Christians are not being taught, corrected, edified, or prayed for. People gather in their little “clicks” and pretty much ignore anyone else present. And God have mercy on the poor brave soul who comes forward to confess some sin they have secretly committed!

I Don't Want Anyone To Give Up On Local Congregations That Regulairly Meet For The Glory Of God And The Edification Of Fellow Believers. But unless congregations return to the Biblical reason why Christians are to gather with one another, the congregation will become nothing more than social club with its own agenda that God IS NOT going to bless.

I don't have convince you that what we commonly refer to as "church" has to change. The only congregations that are increasing in numbers are the "name it and claim it, feel good about yourself, prosperity and perpetual health" previsions of the true body of Christ that offer aerobics, day care, after school programs to keep kids entertained, and perfectly "staged and rehearsed" services.

Do not fear my brothers and sisters; even if what we now think of as “church” withers into self serving country clubs, the body of Christ is not going to "disappear." Just don't set your expectations on devoted and seeking Christians to continue to participate in "doing church."

Your devoted friend and brother in Christ,

Brother Jerry / brothermiller1@charter.net

Why should we Emerge?

The Emerging movement is big in England, and may have its roots there. Whether that is true or not the reason for the movement seems to be a little familiar to what I see going on here in our churches...

Here is something from an article by George Lings entitled: What is Emerging Church?

What kick-started emerging church in the UK? Our best guesses are:
The observation that when young people grew up to be “adults”, they didn’t “fit” into “adult church”; a cultural gap not just a generational gap existed. (See Graham Cray’s Grove Evangelism Booklet no.57).

The church planting trend in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s proved we had good intentions regarding mission but missed the opportunity to think creatively about what sort of churches were needed. (See Stuart Murray’s & my Grove Evangelism no.61).

The statistical evidence that 40% of the population in England and Wales have never been to Church and have no residuary awareness of Christianity and no experience of church (Gone But Not Forgotten by Francis & Richter). For many, Jesus continues to be as deeply attractive as church is deeply alien.

A growing unease within Christians that what happens on a Sunday often fails to connect with the other areas of their lives.

A Whirlwind in Search of Orthodoxy

The Emerging Church (EC) seems to be a whirlwind looking for orthodoxy (right teaching or right doctrine). It seems to be somewhat grounded in a simple orthopraxis, (right worship or right practice): live like Jesus, although that is different things to different people. The EC community seems to find some common ground in the belief that the movement we know as Evangelicalism, that has dominated Christian thought in the 19th & 20th centuries is on the way out. Too many young people are turned off by the close proximity of the Evangelical movement and “Religious Right” political activism. To followers of the loose Emerging movement the evangelicals have lost their spirit and traded it for political action. They see Evangelicals as people who are attempting to enact change for God through the ballot. This is one reason many EC communities are more liberal. I am more conservative in my belief, which is why I am in search of orthodoxy to put down as a foundation to my emerging views.

For the EC the praxis of loving God with everything you have and loving your neighbor as yourself is one that transcends politics (and everything for that matter) and therefore is the real way to see change in this world. I would agree, and I think Jesus would as well since he said these two things were the greatest commandment of the Law (Mat 22:37-39). The only problem is that many in the EC seem to want to be so welcoming that they have little doctrine (to many a bad word) to stand on. I don’t think that they are all Universalists (thinking everyone gets into Heaven) but I don’t think it would take too much of a breeze to blow them over into that camp.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a believer in the movement. I think at its core the EC movement has (through the guidance of the Holy Spirit) “stumbled” across a genuine and biblical way to follow Jesus. I think what we have done to the Church over the last 400 years of Pietism has created a Church that is more focused on us and our needs than Christ and God’s will. The quest we must be on now is to discover what it is we believe.

I fully believe that we can enter into this Christian community and dialogue without compromising our basic Christian foundational beliefs as clearly laid out in the Apostles Creed, Nicene Creed and others. As I look around the EC community I see a broad cloth, and I am glad. Where we must be careful is not to slip over the edge of the Kingdom into the area of the cultus that in another century people will look back and see we simply traded the political activism of evangelicalism for relativism and a lack of a foundational core of beliefs.

I want more!

Remember the scene from Oliver Twist where Oliver discovers after a tepid meal of porridge that he is still hungry?

I can still see him walking with that empty bowl to the man who runs the orphanage, all the boys looking at him as he goes forward, waiting to see what will happen. When he stands next to the man he looks so small. He holds the bowl up and says: “Please sir, can I have some more?” The man cannot even comprehend that this little boy (Urchin as he is called there) would even ask for more, says “What?” Oliver repeats: “Please sir, can I have some more?” All of a sudden it hits the man, MORE, YOU WANT MORE?”

This scene is played out every week in our mainline churches. Young people are coming up to their parents and the elders in the churches and asking us for more. Sometimes they don’t hear them when they say it. Sometimes they cannot comprehend that they would want something other than the comfortable church they built for themselves. Sometimes they do hear them and like that man in the orphanage, quickly remind them of all the sacrifices our ancestors made so that they could have this wonderful church. The answers might be different, but the outcome is the same. All of a sudden they look around and their children are no longer sitting in the pews. This is when they come to me, a younger pastor and ask me to help them get their kids back in church. What I have to say, they do not want to hear. They must change in order to reach them.

The Church is an organism that lives and breathes, too often we think of it as bricks and mortar. This living and breathing organism is moving forward constantly. Too many believers stop beside the road, where they are comfortable, to relish in what they have become, or to rest, or whatever.. and they find that the Church has passed them by. Many of them have beautiful campuses, beautiful houses of worship and sanctuaries and they are empty, simply because they allowed the Church to go on without them.

We need to get back to the simple concept of community. We need to get back to the basics of fellowship and engaging each other in a personal way. We need to stop building houses of worship that have us all sitting looking forward at the back of each others heads and look each other in the eye. We need to stop going to church, and start being the Church.

Every day I walk into church, I am like Oliver… I want more!

What are we telling our children?

Have you ever thought about what we tell our children about Church? I mean, where do they think they are going when we say “let’s go to Church”? Most kids think that we must be going to that building on the corner of such-and such and so-and-so streets… After all that’s what we have taught them all their lives. We say sit quiet in church, don’t run in the church, never bring a drink or snack into the sanctuary of the church, you must wear the proper clothing to go to church, you must say the proper things (never during service), you must simply do the proper thing, after all we are in church. Have you ever thought about saying to your kids on Sunday (or every day for that matter) “let’s be the Church?”

How did we travel so far? Far enough to take the biblical concept of Church from being a gathering of people who are followers if Jesus to being a building on a corner? The question I hear a lot in church (since I am currently a pastor in two traditional denominational churches) is: “Where have all our children gone?” and.. How can you (meaning pastor) get them back? They want to know why we don’t have halls full of young people, and youth and children. I think it is simple.. First; we taught them all their lives that Church is a building, and a building that you cannot have fun in. We put our names on everything we could possibly donate and memorialize, and inadvertently told them that the Church is something we built with our own hands, and we got our name on it to prove it! We took the need for God away from them. Now the Church is a fallible construction of man and they just don’t want that. They (me too) want more!

The second problem is that when they have the opportunity to hand over the keys to the house of worship that they call the Church they do it with the caveat (often unspoken but there just the same), don’t change anything, we got it right where we want it… That’s a church the younger generation simply doesn’t want.

When did we begin down this path where we started going to church instead of being the Church? If we keep this up, instead of calling us all to worship, the bells on the “churches” will be ringing for their funerals…

Bonhoeffer, a Post-Mod?

Great article from Ashley Visagie..


Ashley Visagie [South Africa] Bonhoeffer the postmodern?[08.07]

Preamble: My Brothers in Christ "Because Christ has long since acted decisively for my brother, before I could begin to act, I must leave him his freedom to be Christ's; I must meet him only as the person he already is in Christ's eyes." (Bonhoeffer 1954:23)

Christian living is exemplified in perfect love. Certainly the greatest commands which Jesus ever gave were to love God and to love others. Few people are ever recognised so widely because of their great love and grace toward other fellow human beings. The young Bonhoeffer always had a great desire to meet Ghandi, whom he never did in his life. Yet as we reflect on Bonhoeffer's lived theology, it is in order to say that Bonhoeffer, like his inspiration, had come to a fuller understanding of what love really is as he took a firm stand against social injustice and paid the highest cost, his own life so that others, of a different faith to his own and whom he described as brothers and sisters may know freedom. The following paper provides a brief biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer and an overview of the major theological reflections of the young theologian.

The Young and the RecklessBorn into an upper middle class family in 1906, an outstanding intellectual obtaining his doctorate at age 21 and Bonhoeffer became a Lutheran pastor and lecturer (Kelly 1990:5). He authored many books which are often quoted by theologians today regardless of their stance. However, this is not the Dietrich Bonhoeffer whom I wish to introduce to you. The Bonhoeffer I have discovered in my research is one with whom I can relate to as a young adult. A reckless theologian with a passionate faith, one who even went as far to openly defy the Nazi police orders not to teach publicly and to end his discourse with a "heil Hitler". A theologian whose own personal reflections on faith caused him to feel an inner separation and drifting away from the other leaders in his own church. One who occasionally had to retreat to be able to re-order his inner world and to understand how to respond to the world around him. A theologian who eventually came to the realisation that faith and religion are two different concepts and put forward the idea of nonreligious interpretations of Scripture (Wustenburg, R 1998: 159-160). It is this authenticity, passion and recklessness which I believe moved Dietrich Bonhoeffer to write what he did and to do the things he did as he expressed his faith in Christ.

"What you do unto the least of these my brethren"Many young revolutionaries and futurists today find inspiration in the life and work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Shane Claiborne, author of the Irresistible Revolution and founder of the Simple Way, a Christian commune in the US notes how the "reckless faith" of Bonhoeffer motivated a few of his college friends to spend many nights sleeping on cold pavements with street kids, because deep inside they sensed something was radically wrong with the poverty in the area and that as Christians, they felt responsible to do something about it. It was not fair for them to enjoy the comfort of their Christian college residence when others went cold and hungry. In South Africa, an extremely controversial author of "Acid Alex", Al Lovejoy writes of how genuine faith in Christ must cause us to do something about the state of society. Al uses his oven to bake bread and to make food for a family of orphans whom he spends his days with and poses a question to other Christians "What does what you believe and pray, make you do on behalf of those who have nothing or no one to believe in?"

Bonhoeffer's interpretation of Scripture is best described by the popular emergent lingo known as "subversive theology"(theology from the underdog's point of view), in fact, Bonhoeffer's life seems to epitomise what postmodern interpreters write about today. He viewed scripture from the point of view of those who are least in society, and asked the question "how do I respond?" It is this subversive theology which formed the major theological thrust of his writings, especially so in the book he wrote titled "Ethics" (Kelly 1990:41).

Free for Others
"In the language of the Bible, freedom is not something man has for himself but something he has for others" (Bonhoeffer 1959: 37)
Bonhoeffer reasoned that if human beings were made in the image of God, then like their Creator they were "free". Bonhoeffer debated this freedom though, saying that humanity is only free in that they are created by God, thus their freedom is not for themselves, it is freedom to worship God. Freedom then, writes Bonhoeffer (1959:37) "is not a quality of man, nor is it an ability, a capacity…it is not a possession…but a relationship and nothing else." This view of being free for others expresses the love and grace which Bonhoeffer sought after. It is the sort of "freedom" which necessitates that we set right wrong relationships and seek out good for humanity as a whole. Bonhoeffer suggested that we actually lose our freedom and our dominion over the earth when we fail to see freedom as being "freedom for". We cease to rule, and the earth subdues us.
"Without God, without his brother, man loses the earth" (Bonhoeffer 1959:40)

We lose out when we seek freedom independently; it is like the letters of John proclaim that how we love others is how we love God. Bonhoeffer understood this with great clarity and could not follow in the suit of many Christian leaders in Germany at the time, who took on the brown uniform and swastika as they submitted to the authority of a corrupt and evil government, and looked on as many of the fellow brothers and sisters, the Jews, were being persecuted.

Conclusion Bonhoeffer's social justice, his view of the imago dei and freedom for others, his call away from religious interpretation to Christological interpretation of Scripture all bear a common thread. They all lead us to question, what is the role of the church in society? In what is arguably his most well known work "The Cost of Discipleship" he draws many of these strands together in his vision of the "Visible Community" of faith. Bonhoeffer's vision is that the Church be "a colony of the true home" (Bonhoeffer 1948:223) and that they show the true love of God to all men. For Bonhoeffer who lived and was executed in Nazi Germany, it meant fighting for freedom of the Jews. For us as South Africans, it may be fighting for the freedom of those enslaved by the chains of poverty and prejudice. However love takes its form the disciple must realise their duty…to be salt and light and to in so doing transform society and culture. This I believe was the greatest of Dietrich Bonhoeffer's theological reflections.
"The Body of Christ takes up space on earth…Having been called, they could no longer remain in obscurity, for they were the light that must shine, the city on the hill which must be seen." (Bonhoeffer 1948: 223)

Bibliography
Bonhoeffer, D. 1960. Christology. London: Fount Paperbacks
Bonhoeffer, D. 1948. The Cost of Discipleship. London: SCM Press
Bonhoeffer, D. 1959. Creation and Fall: Temptation. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co.
Bonhoeffer, D. 1954. Life Together. London: SCM Press
Kelly, G & Nelson, F (Eds). 1990. A Testament to Freedom: The Essential Writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. San Francisco: Harper Collins Publishers
Wustenburg, R. 1998. A Theology of Life: Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Religionless Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing Company