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Tag Archives: church
Traditions of Men
I think I will mostly be repeating things I’ve already written here, but the reality of what I will say is fresh in my mind because of a book I finished reading a couple of weeks ago. I won’t mention the author, because I have a lot of respect for him and don’t want to diminish the value of his other work for someone who may choose to read him.
This particular book was on the subject of worship. It contained a lot of useful information about how to work well with a worship team and conduct a smooth service with opportunity for the Holy Spirit to lead. I have never been a worship leader, so my opinion isn’t worth much, but it appeared to me to contain much good advice. If you are a worship leader in the Charismatic tradition, it would probably help you. That is, if I would identify it.
Here’s the problem. The author made a lot of assumptions about how worship should be conducted based more on the tradition of which he is a part than on scriptural foundation. A smattering of Biblical references is to be found, but the underlying assumptions are not really supported. They cannot be, because in fact they are nothing more than embellishment of our own traditions salted with a few pinches of scripture to legitimize them. I am sure this is not an intentional deception. We are all influenced to some degree by our culture and upbringing. I think it likely that I will learn over time that some of my beliefs have no better foundation.
God is gracious and merciful. When people genuinely to see to connect with Him, He often responds. Sometimes He does something entirely new. The danger for us is that when this happens we set about trying to reproduce the conditions as they were the first time and try to get a repeat performance. We shift from seeking a genuine experience with God to seeking whatever particular manifestation we saw before. Though we may do it in ignorance, I am not sure how much better we are than dabblers in the occult who perform rituals in the hope that they will elicit a parlor trick from some unseen force.
I am not bashing the charismatic or Pentecostal worship experience. In fact I believe that other traditions could benefit from the freedom it offers. Over the years some of that has slowly leaked across denominational boundaries. I have been in some beautiful worship services where the presence of God was evident. On the other hand, I have been in services where at best the participants were emotionally charged and at worse the spirit in evidence had nothing holy about it.
As we seek to know and worship Yahweh, let us turn away from our templates and formulas from whatever tradition they may come. Let us allow Him to guide us into an intimacy free of false expectation so that we may learn to worship Him as He ought to be worshiped. This will take us beyond the mere singing of songs and holding our hands in the air. Worship is a lifestyle of which that may be a beautiful part, but there is so much more.
An Unhappy First
I will speak at my first funeral tomorrow. Our pastor is officiating, but I have been asked to speak as well since I am the associate pastor and the deceased is a member of our church. To the extent that we are able to know such things, it is a relief to know that he was a Christian. What does one say otherwise? His name is Sammy.
Two things stand out when I think about him. First, it was always apparent that he loved his wife, who whent Home a couple of years ago. They didn’t have a lot of the things we think of as important, but they had love. Life doesn’t have any meaning without that.
The second thing is that our church was his family. Our pastor is managing his estate because there was nobody else who could be found. it points to the importants of relationships in the church. Reach out to those around you. They may not have anyone else. Treasure life. You don’t know how long you will have it. Treasure the lives of others for the same reason. There was no immediate reason to suspect that Sammy’s death was coming so soon. We didn’t know him as well as we probably should have. We did go to visit him a couple of times. His passing has caused me to stop and think about the relationships I have both inside and outside of the church. I am motivated to pursue them with purpose.
I ask your prayers for all of us as we absorb the shock of another death so close on the heals of losing a well loved member last year. We’ve had quite a few since Linda and i have been coming. I believe in the mission of this church, but if we do not find a way to revitalize it, we will quite literally die.
Let’s All Hold Hands
Here’s the second installment in my project to relocate anything I think might be worth saving from my old web site. For a few years there I got the idea that maybe I had some talent for poetry and song writing. The song writing bit is a little out there since I never learned music, not to mention anything about the quality of the lyrics. J This one was meant to be done to a driving dance beat with synthesized electric guitar providing a dark background. I’ll spare you any attempt at describing what I’m hearing in my head.
I think this marks the beginning of my dissatisfaction with all the ritual of traditional church services, regardless of flavor. The pastor at the time liked to have us all join hands at some point in the service, and it always struck me as contrived community. We would all stand there holding hands for what seemed like forever as he went on and on. Disheartened and longing for even a glimpse of the things that once drew me to that body, I wrote this.
Let’s All Hold Hands
Let’s all get together.
Let’s sing a song.
Let’s listen to the preacher
Tell us right from wrong.
Let’s all get together.
Let’s all shake hands.
I will tell you that I love you
But don’t make demands.
Let’s all hold hands.
That’s what the man said.
Let’s all hold hands
Looking solemn as the dead.
Let’s all hold hands
Until the monologue ends.
Let’s all hold hands
And pretend we’re friends.
Let’s all get together
Over here and over there.
Behind invisible walls
in the room we share.
Let’s all get together
And go our separate ways.
Let’s all get together
In another seven days.
Let’s all hold hands.
That’s what the man said.
Let’s all hold hands
Looking solemn as the dead.
Let’s all hold hands
Until the monologue ends.
Let’s all hold hands
And pretend we’re friends.
Let’s all get together.
Did somebody sneeze?
Let’s all get together
And spread the disease.
We’re so glad that you could join us.
If you stay here long.
One of us may take you in
And you can learn our song.
Let’s all get together
But not too near.
Under synthetic fragrances
we hide the smell of fear.
Let’s all hold hands.
That’s what the man said.
Let’s all hold hands
Looking solemn as the dead.
Let’s all hold hands
Until the monologue ends.
Let’s all hold hands
And pretend we’re friends.
© 2001 Larry Thacker Jr.
What Are We Doing and Why Are We Doing It?
It’s my wife’s favorite pair of questions. They are good ones. They are on my mind this morning because I was in a meeting last night where we discussed how to help our church grow. My few readers may know that I’ve been reading books like Pagan Christianity and Reimagining Church. While I am not completely convinced that some of Mr. Viola’s Biblical interpretations are correct, overall I find the message refreshing. I’ve recently read another book from a few years back, Organic Church by Neil Cole. It strengthens my conviction that our traditional church models are not likely to last. If our country keeps on the way it’s going, churches as we know them may be forced out of existence. We will be back to meeting in small home based churches whether we like it or not. I pray revival comes before we get to that point, but maybe that’s exactly what we need to draw us back to true devotion to Yahweh. In saying that I’m not implying that traditional church is the root of our problem. It may be considered a symptom.
What does all of this mean to us? Specifically, what is my response as a committed member of a body that despite some unique qualities is very much a traditional church? We talked about bringing in more people. We talked about ways to help the people we have to develop and mature. All of the time I am thinking, “what if what we need to do looks completely different than anything that has been done before?” Our pastor spoke of patience. That is certainly what we need, for if the radical transformation I anticipate is to happen, it will take time. It will take a willingness to work with people and circumstances as they are now, not as we wish they were. In fact I don’t know that we know what we wish they were? I think we probably have very different visions of what a successful ministry is going to look like.
I for one, though ready and willing to operate within the construct where God has placed us, have been dissatisfied with the same old thing for years. We do have an unusual mix of flavors in our church that appeals to me, but if we don’t keep adding to the mix it will quickly grow stale and unappetizing. If everything we did could be traced to a firm Biblical foundation, then I would say that we must proceed as we are out of obedience, but most of what we do is just a combination of tradition and personal preference. In that we are no different than any church I’ve ever been in, though each had its own strengths.
I hasten to add that I love our church and the people in it. I believe our mission is God given and will work in whatever capacity I am asked to see that mission accomplished. I’m only questioning the methods we will use in the future. I believe we will carry on. If the Lord doesn’t come back before then, I want to see the next generation take up the cause. My question is this: does the Bartimaeus Baptist Temple of 2020 look anything like the one we know and love today, or is it something we would even recognize? Is there a better way to reach people and families affected by disability than our traditional church models regardless of denominational affiliation are able to provide? I hope that by saying that I believe so I do not gravely offend those whom I hope to work with in building this future, but I feel it would be dishonest of me to say nothing of what’s going through my mind. It is my prayer that we grow in love and unity of purpose until God forges from this raw material something greater than any of us imagined.
Posted in Christian life
Tagged church, church organization, church tradition, organic church
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Reimagining Church
I should point out first of all that this is not a proper book review. To be true to my word to the person who commented on my opinion of Pagan Christianity By Frank Viola and George Barna, I read the follow-up book, Reimagining Church. If I am to do the book justice, I need to carefully study all the scripture references it contains and see if they really back up what Mr. Viola is saying. What I’m writing down today are just first impressions. I’m intrigued enough to go back at some point and do that research, because much of what he says makes sense to me.
I’ve also waited too long to comment on what I’ve read, so that all I am left with are impressions that largely preceded the book and that it only strengthened. So why write? I don’t have a good answer for that, except that it’s on my list of things to do and I like doing it.
I’ve gone to church all my life. I’ve spent time in several types of services. I’ve been Baptist, Pentecostal, Assembly of God, and Charismatic. I’ve visited a Catholic service and even a synagogue. One thing is common to them all. They all engage in a set of ritual processes that vary little from week to week. They all put people in front of the congregation who conduct them through the rituals. The people may participate only to the extent they are permitted. They are all different in many ways, but I have not been to one yet where I didn’t eventually begin to wonder, “Why am I here?”
I’m sitting on a bench or chair for one to two hours while we go through the same motions each time we come. In some churches I may stand for a while. Some people may even dance around a bit or run up to the front for a little emotional stimulation if the venue permits such things. Occasionally if people get real excited the preacher might give up his sermon slot to let it continue, but most of the time I am not convinced that anything more than that occurred. It’s not that I think it can’t. I’ve seen God work in those situations. I’ve received ministry in those settings. Any time God’s truth is spoken He can use it. Any time He is truly worshiped He will respond.
I am coming to think there’s a better way, and yes, the book encouraged me in this thinking. The traditional church setting, whatever flavor you like, cannot provide for the needs of the people efficiently. Churches have recognized this. The small group movement has been one of the best answers to the problem, and I am not sold on the idea that small groups within a traditional church can’t still be an effective way to deal with it.
That still leaves some good questions unanswered. If the best ministry occurs in the small group setting, do we need the large corporate meeting? They can be enjoyable, and there are many gifted teachers out there with much good to say. It would be a shame to limit their reach, but what of the resources it takes to maintain them? How much of a typical congregation’s budget must go to maintain a large meeting facility? Would not that money be better spent addressing the needs of the poor, funding missionaries, etc?
Yesterday Linda and I attended our first public gathering in support of Mission Accessible, the non-profit she has just founded to promote the spread of disability related ministry. It was a small group, some of whom were in open opposition to some of Christianity’s core beliefs. Yet as the discussion progressed I felt that we achieved in that gathering something rarely managed in a traditional church setting. Each person got the opportunity to share, and some felt comfortable enough to reveal aspects of their lives we had not known before and that I feel fairly certain would never have come out in church. That meeting had within it the seeds of a real “organic” church experience. Because we did not set out to do this and had no real plans other than to get to know one another and investigate the possibilities, I would not characterize it as a church meeting, but who says it needs to be? In future I would be more purposeful in orienting the group toward the pursuit of Yahweh, but I was excited by the potential. Honestly I am a little frightened by the prospect of trying to build something on our little group. We don’t seem to have the foundation we need, but there is still and will always be opportunity to add more. That’s what we’re about.
After saying that I feel I may need to reassure some of the folks who may read this. We’re committed to Bartimaeus Baptist Temple. We believe that its ministry (our ministry) is vital and have the greatest respect for our pastor and church family. We love you and will be there until God makes it clear to all of us that it’s time to move on. It would not surprise me if that time never comes. We will operate within the framework and authority of the church. We will also be seeking the Lord for what else He may call us to do, and I highly doubt that it will look much at all like a church as most long-time Christians know it. It will be the first of many. Most will meet in some facility or other, not because we need the buildings to be a church, but because the people we mean to serve need an accessible place to meet. Most homes won’t qualify. We will go to where they are and bring them if they can come. If they can’t come we will meet them where they are. It is our vision not simply to minister to people with disabilities, but through them. Our message is that all, whether disabled or not, are created with a purpose in His kingdom. We exist to provide the opportunity for love, fellowship, and purpose in a segment of the population often overlooked or marginalized. This is how I reimagine church.
Posted in Books, Christian life
Tagged church, church structure, disability, ministry, Mission Accessible, Pagan Christianity, Reimagining Church, small groups
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Post Vacation Contemplation
My heart has been a little heavy this week, but not with the self-absorbed blackness that produced my earlier prose. I don’t want to go into too much detail since this will be available to the world, but I am moved by the personal tragedy that I’ve recently seen. My heart aches and I want to fix it, but it is not within my power to fix such things. I write this publicly because there are so many who can read their own stories into this letter, and I would that all may know the truth.
What can I say? Are there any words that would make a difference? How can I, living as I say that all should live and yet rarely joyful, claim that I know the path to peace, fulfillment, and happiness? I know that if I hold back because of my own imperfection I will never be able to share what little wisdom God has allowed me, so with open acknowledgement that I have not yet managed to fully apply the truth I know, I try to pass it along.
Should I dare to speak to someone whose life and experience are so different than mine? Can I offer anything that someone old enough to be my parent would be able to receive? I have certainly known the pain of loss, but each loss is different. I know what betrayal feels like, but not on the scale that some have seen it. In truth my life has been good. That I cannot see well is a huge frustration but I wouldn’t trade the life I’ve been given to gain the ability to see. What is that against the love of a family, the wisdom of good parents, and most of all the love of Yahweh? If I can point to tragedy in my life it has been that of my own making, and even there God has spared me. I was brought up in the Truth, and that kept me from much that destroys life.
Maybe it is only this that I can offer. I have hope in Yahweh. There is no hope in religious ritual. It may provide the solace of the familiar, but there is no life in it. True worshipers may exist within its context, but in itself it does not promote true worship. Church as most of us define it is no church at all. The church is comprised of true followers of Jesus, not of congregants in a particular building, group, or denomination. It is among such true believers that one may hope to find a small sample of the love that Yahweh intended for us to share. These people are rarer than even the shrinking rolls of church attendees would indicate. Once discovered, they too will fail us at times, because they like us are flawed. The only one in whom we may have unshakeable trust is Yahweh.
But He designed us to operate in community. We were not meant to function in isolation. In isolation we cannot receive His love through His people, nor can we give it. The latter is crucial. When we give Jesus our lives and are thus reborn, we have within us His nature and are compelled to act as He would. We cannot be healthy unless we are doing what He does. As I live my life I become more and more convinced that the only path to consistent and lasting joy is in service to others, which is service to Yahweh. WE love Him by loving each other.
Those are pretty words, but they seem to crumble to dust upon the slightest brush with reality. The best of us fail, and most of us are not the best of us. We tend to be selfish, ungrateful, spiteful, and without real love. To love and give of oneself only to have more demanded without so much as a word of gratitude seems to pull that joy I spoke of well out of reach. This is why we need others around us. We need a community of godly people who will stand with us. It is more blessed to give than to receive, but if one never receives he runs out of anything to give. I for one would rather that everything I need come straight from God. He’s the one who will never fail. But God means for His people to be conduits for His love. By denying others the opportunity to give to me, I deny them the opportunity to be blessed by the giving and act out God’s nature in their own lives. This is tough when trust has been often betrayed, but there is healing in it.
I also hurt for those who choose to reject God’s best for them. What can I say that would help you understand? The love you seek cannot be found in a relationship devoid of commitment. The pain you hope to soothe will only grow worse as your soul becomes further divided among partners who themselves have no notion of love beyond what pleases them or seems to fill their own emptiness. What will you do if you should find true love and discover that you have too little left to share? God does not wish to take love away from you. He wishes to give it to you. He is not out to take all joy from your life, but to show you the way to more joy than you imagine possible. Loving Father that He is, he guides us away from the things that will hurt us and toward that which is best for us. He is also just, and though He would not have it so, He must eventually judge those who will not listen to the truth. This above all I would spare you, for there is no greater sorrow than to be separated forever from the lover who would never have left you. Come to Him. He does not seek religious ritual. He cares little which label you wear. I think He would prefer that you wear no label at all. He wants your heart. If you give yourself to Him, He will guide you to the love you seek. He is known as Jesus, the god of the universe made flesh to die so that you can live. He is Yahweh, the eternal Father who loved you enough to sacrifice His own son to have you back. There is no greater love.
Summits and Valleys
I write this prayerfully and with what I hope is due respect for the parties directly or indirectly mentioned. My intent is to explore the underlying issues and maybe promote some understanding. I also hope to explain if not excuse the reactions some may have observed from me in the course of events I’m about to describe.
Once a month, we have a group from another church come in and do our service. We meet at 2:30 in the afternoon, so they come straight from their own services to do ours. Their style could not be more different than what most of our congregation is used to. We are in most ways a very traditional Baptist church. There are some notable exceptions, and those exceptions are the reason Linda and I attend. I’ll fill that in later. They are part of a traditional Charismatic church. I used the word traditional purposefully. Charismatics love to bash tradition, seemingly unable to see that they have simply developed their own set of traditions that are merely different than the ones they despise. .
First, here’s a little background for those who may not yet know. I am almost blind. I was raised in a family whose beliefs are more closely aligned with the charismatic theology and style of worship. I grew up hearing about and praying for physical healing. Linda has multiple sclerosis. She returned to the Lord later in life and graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary. Linda and I believe that God has not changed and is still active in the way that He was when the New Testament was written.
Bartimaeus Baptist Temple, the church we now attend, has existed for over fifty years to meet the needs of people with disabilities. If you had told me about the church just a short time ago, I would not have been interested. As I’ve pointed out, my traditions are not Baptist, though my family attended Baptist churches from time to time and I have no quarrel with their statement of faith. I also had no interest in being part of a group of other “disabled” people. I still do not believe we should cloister ourselves and steep in our troubles. We need to get out and be a part of the world we live in.
However, a gracious and merciful God wasn’t done with me yet. I think it may have started with the Bethel Series Bible study that I participated in a few years ago. One of the first concepts it teaches is that we are blessed in order that we may be a blessing. I began to think about what I have been blessed with. One of the greatest blessings is the attitude and approach to the challenge of disability fostered in me by the wise guidance of my parents. I began to ask myself how I might give back out of what I have been given. That suggests some form of ministry to (and through) other people with disabilities. Maybe I needed to lay down my pride over something I actually had little to do with and begin to share what I have. I began to consider some kind of support network, designed to show people with disabilities how God intended to use them and launch them out into the “real world.”
Then I met and married my beloved wife, Linda. A better match for this mission could not have been made. In addition to complementary skill sets, we combine the two perspectives of one who has experienced disability from birth and one who faced it later in life. We have found unity of purpose in this ministry.
Even so, when Linda discovered BBT and wanted me to visit with her, I approached it with something less than enthusiasm. We had not yet found a place where we were both truly happy. Not really believing such a place could exist, I had adopted a stoic approach to the whole church attendance thing. If I could just find some fellowship and maybe a chance to teach wherever we landed I would be content if we could only stay there. I liked where we were well enough and prospects seemed good.
The service at BBT was much as I expected it to be, except when it wasn’t. When the pastors wife began praying for people and receiving words of knowledge about them, I knew this place was anything but typical. It brought back memories of churches Dad pastored where he attempted to introduce long forgotten elements of truth to congregations’ who had not known them. I felt at home. I started to see the church as a place I could be myself and fulfill the ministry God was preparing me for. After two Sundays and a talk with Pastor David Whitmore, I was ready to join. The appearance of Summitt Church for the fourth Sunday was icing on the cake. I would even get a little worship of the kind I was accustomed to once a month.
Then, they came for us. Suddenly it wasn’t so fun anymore. Linda has a stronger reaction than I do most of the time. She’s not used to it. I grew up with it. We were surrounded and hands descended from all directions to pray for our healing. It’s not that I don’t believe He can. I still hope that someday He will and that before I go to meet Him. However, to this point He has not chosen to do so. Some would say I lack faith. I can’t really disagree with that, though it was not always so. A host of other reasons follow, some of them possibly valid. I can’t help but think they often represent excuses to soothe the egos of the would be agents of healing when God doesn’t jump to do their bidding.
I confess that I have allowed my internal conflict with this issue to color my reaction to some sincere and wonderful people who come to us with the best of intentions. In part it’s a reaction to the disappointment I feel that God has not given me what I want. In part it’s that I’m faced with big questions that affect how we are to serve him in the place we find ourselves. Either I am following His lead or I am missing Him entirely. The practical side of me says that whatever I believe about healing, I am surrounded by people who have not experienced it and I must deal with the reality in concrete and compassionate ways. The emotional part of me draws from the teaching I grew up on and says we should be praying for and seeing all of us restored to health, thus invalidating our ministry. Some combination of the two is probably the best answer, but I have not been able to resolve the conflict.
Pagan Christianity
The post title is that of a book I just finished reading by Frank Viola and George Barna. The book goes through just about every facet of the typical modern church and shows how each has its roots in pagan practice or human embellishment rather than scripture. The basic layout of the sanctuary, the order of service, the sermon, the pastor, communion, and even the tithe all come under scrutiny. The authors contend that these things all take away from the proper functioning of the church.
To give this book a proper review would require extensive note taking and study that I did not do, but most of its content rings true to me. We like the Pharisee’s have elevated our traditions above the word of God. They are not necessarily wrong within themselves, but we should not hold them sacred. I am certainly tired of them. I’ve been in churches of many stripes and enjoyed some more than others, but inevitably I end up thinking the same thing. Here we go again. I prefer the charismatic flavored service with its emphasis on worship, but it too becomes stale as we do the same things week to week. There is little room for the congregation to become involved in the process beyond following the lead from the stage. Our current processes do little to enhance the growth of the individual believer, and the large meeting venues we typically choose to congregate in do not lend themselves easily to anything beyond entertainment.
In recent years, churches have begun to understand this, and have instituted small group settings in an attempt to address it. This is helpful, but participation is generally a fraction of the churches membership. The small group meetings are often just as regimented as the church service, , reducing their effectiveness. The traditional church model is inflexible, expensive, and will not survive in an increasingly hostile environment.
Neither I nor the book’s authors necessarily advocate a mass exodus from the traditional church. The book begins with an admonition against using it as pretext for rebellious and disruptive activity. Yet by the end of the book, one gets the impression that a radical change is indeed what it calls for. I think this change will happen. A quest for that which is genuine combined with increased persecution will demand a change in our approach to His service. The church is properly defined as all who are His.
I think the book does have some problems. In an effort to keep the book accessible to all readers, details that would have better supported its claims were left out. I would particularly like to have seen more Biblical references. It would have been helpful also to show where in scripture current practice is supposedly drawn from and why the reference is misused or not applicable. This was done in a few cases, but not consistently. Granted, the authors’ point is that there are no Biblical foundations for much of what we do, perhaps justifying this seeming omission. It may also be that more notes would have been present in the printed book. I rely on audio recordings which may not include such things as footnotes. Extensive reference is made to 1 Corinthians 14, yet the authors don’t address the fact that Paul is correcting a church that is out of order in this chapter. It seems the same sort of “cherry picking” that the book itself condemns is employed here.
I also question the assertion that there is no place for authority figures within the body. To be fair, this is not exactly what is being said, but I am left with the impression that not only is the pastor’s office being disputed, but any leadership position that does not arise naturally within a given group of believers. How then does Paul speak with such authority to the Corinthians’? Why are decisions about church practice taken to Jerusalem to be worked out? Why does Paul list qualifications for deacons and elders? While I would agree that far too much responsibility is placed on the shoulders of the modern day pastor, I think it’s clear that some kind of authority structure is scripturally sanctioned.
In summary, I think this is a great book for all Christians to read and consider. Read it with caution, but allow the truth to come through. Be willing to discard anything that seems holy yet cannot be supported by His Word, especially if it inhibits your relationship with Yahweh and His people. We will not reach the lost with rites and traditions. We will reach them with the truth and the love of Jesus.
