Having read every issue of “Searching Together” magazine (edited by Jon Zens) since I first discovered it 15 years ago, I have come to appreciate the clarity, the graciousness and the wisdom and practical insights that Jon brings to the discussion around church life. While there have been a plethora of recent books on the subject of church, in this brief little gem consisting of 4 “essays”, Jon distills his many years of study, observations and experience with helping many assemblies throughout the world.

In just over 100 pages, Jon brilliantly exposes the heart of what passes for “church life” in today’s North American landscape. The titles of the 4 essays are:

• A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile
• A Letter to a Politician About Real Church
• Four Tragic Shifts on the Visible Church
• A “Churchless Faith”

In the first essay, Jon explores the question: “Why are there so many church buildings?” I’m amazed at how so few Christians pause to consider the billions of dollars tied up in church buildings. As Zens notes, an “enormous and inordinate amount of revenue is required to build, maintain and expand ecclesiastical structures.” (29) and rightly asks, “Are expensive buildings in line with the Kingdom of the One who had no place to lay his head? Shouldn’t our financial resources be poured into helping people in need, rather than into erecting and maintaining institutions … ?” (30).

After questioning and challenging this central tenet (”the intense identification of Christianity with multitudes of buildings”), Jon goes on to examine the “one man” clerical system: “A great deal of Christianity in America is personality-based. People will drive for miles to hear what certain preachers have to say.” (39). The problems inherent in such an unbiblical approach to leadership and ministry is firmly but lovingly challenged by Jon’s incisive analysis. In the course of this analysis, Jon critiques other fixtures of modern Christianity: denominationalism, the pulpit and preaching, seminaries, and tithing (to finance the whole religious machinery).

But this is no cold and detached analysis, for interspersed in his logical arguments are his burden for the pain and hurt that the system inflicts on “clergy” and “laity” alike.

His closing thoughts on how the average person chooses a church to attend rings all too true and sadly reflects the muddled thinking that is so pervasive. I love the extended quotation from Frederick Buechner that nicely captures the essence of what Jon has to say, particularly this line: “… the best thing that could happen to many a church might … to have its building burn down and to lose all its money. Then all that the people would have left would be God and each other.”

In the second essay, Jon responds to Jesse Ventura, former governor of Minnesota, who asserted that “organized religion is a sham”. Unlike the shrill and predictable knee-jerk reaction of many evangelical leaders, Jon’s response is calm, reasoned and gracious. He begins by agreeing with Ventura: “You are absolutely right on this point. What passes as the visible institution belonging to Jesus Christ is, in fact, far removed in key matters from anything the Head of the church revealed to be his will. Organized religion is a sham for the simple reason that it has - for various historical and cultural reasons - abandoned the clear teaching of Christ in the New Testament regarding the very nature of the body of Christ.” (79) Jon then goes on to succinctly explicate what went wrong. Hopefully Mr. Ventura took the time to read Jon’s letter and came away with a more accurate picture of what Christianity is, rather than the caricature that he condemns.

The third essay provides a historical perspective on “Four Tragic Shifts” in church life, namely:

• from a “dynamic organism” to “an increasingly hardened institution with a “fixed and complex hierarchy
• from “polyform ministry” to a “uniform” structure of clergy-led ministry
• from a “suffering” body to a state religion, an “institution at ease”
• from a “vulnerable” body dependent on the Holy Spirit to a powerful institution that “trusted in itself”

Despite clear evidence and biblical support for these claims, I fear many Christians will simply carry on with their in-grained habits. As Jon notes, “We claim to take Christ’s revelation about the church in the New Testament seriously, yet the reality is that too often we are more attached to the inherited way of doing things - which is based on human traditions.”

The book closes with a final essay critiquing a book review of Alan Jamieson’s A Churchless Faith: Faith Journeys Beyond the Churches.

This is NOT an angry missive, but a loving call to the Church to fulfill her true calling and to live out that calling in a commensurate manner worthy of the Lord, and to grow into full maturity as the Bride of Christ. It is concise, irenic and motivated by Jon’s deep desire for the Church to free itself from the legacy of man-made traditions to express itself as the Body of Christ in all its simplicity and glory. Highly recommended.

… what happened to this blog, a word of explanation. I guess I got somewhat disillusioned with blogging and decided to take a break. At this point, I’m still not sure if I’ll get back into it in a big way or at all.

I will however, take this opportunity to inform you that I will be posting my review of Frank Viola’s new book, Reimagining Church shortly. This book is a follow up to his earlier book, Pagan Christianity, and takes a more constructive approach.

Stay tuned!

Amid cell phones ringing, video cams rolling and ice cream melting under the Florida sun, a blood-spattered Jesus stumbles through the crowd on his way to Golgotha, where nasty Roman soldiers strip him, nail him to the cross and crucify him—while perspiring tourists look on in Bermuda shorts. After the resurrection sequence, visitors applaud and line up for a photo op, not with Mickey or Minnie, but a disciple or bloody-handed yet friendly centurion. Welcome to Orlando’s most unusual theme park, the Holy Land Experience.

Read more…

Already established as perhaps the most important voice in contemporary American Evangelical Christianity, Rick Warren last week pressed the button that he hopes will take his “brand” to the ends of the earth. Almost offhandedly at the conclusion of a three-day meeting of 1,700 pastors that Warren later told TIME was “the most important conference of my life,” the author of the Purpose Driven Life threw open participation in his PEACE coalition to the wider Evangelical community. It was the Evangelical equivalent of a long-awaited IPO of a tech start-up whose brand the cognoscenti have predicted will become a global juggernaut: The PEACE coalition is a plan of epic ambition, to turn at least half of the world’s tens of millions of Christian churches into a giant “network of networks” dedicated to relieving the poverty and misery of the developing world.

Read more…

From Frank:

PROSPEROUS pastor Benny Hinn flew into Brisbane a multimillionaire. He left, 28 hours and three shows later, an estimated $800,000 richer.

The Queensland capital was a goldmine for the flamboyant televangelist who left with cash, cheques and the bank account and credit card details of more than 50,000 Australians fans. Some attendees, who travelled from as far away as Hong Kong and Perth, handed over gold earrings and wedding rings instead of cash.

An Australian Taxation Office spokeswoman said Pastor Hinn’s Australian haul – part of an estimated $110 million donated to the World Healing Centre Church each year – was seen as a “love offering”.

Read the rest of the article…

I found this at Lifechurch.tv, complete with registration and “Tithing Challenge” stories:

The word “tithe” is derived from the Hebrew word ma’aser and it literally means a tenth. Ten percent of everything belongs to the Lord. In Malachi 3:10-11, God says, “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house.” The ‘storehouse’ is the Old Testament picture of the New Testament church. So as New Testament believers, we worship the Lord with the tithe; or the ten percent.

But giving away 10% of your income can be a big – and often frightening - commitment! That’s why we created the Three-Month Tithing Challenge: a money-back guarantee of sorts. Essentially, it’s a contract based on the promises of God in Malachi 3:10-11. We commit to you that if you tithe for three months and God doesn’t hold true to His promises of blessings, we will refund 100% of your tithe. No questions asked.

God doesn’t need our money. He owns everything. But we give first because it takes faith to give first and God wants us to trust Him. He tells us in Proverbs 3:9-10 to “honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops and then your barns will be filled with overflowing.” We give first and the blessings of God follow.

Go to website…

Frank Viola and George Barna, Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices. Tyndale House, 2008.

The role of the writer is to describe a situation so truthfully … that the reader can no longer evade it. (Anton Chekhov)

This is a revision and update of Frank Viola’s book which was first published in 2002; it’s been re-packaged as a companion to Barna’s book, revolution. Since Barna’s book has already drawn a lot of controversy (e.g., this post and this article), it’ll come as no surprise that this present book has also drawn the wrath and ire of many Christians. Indeed, even the publisher has added a disclaimer in their Publisher’s Preface: “Tyndale does not necessarily agree with all of the authors’ positions and realizes that some readers may not either.” Positively, and to their credit, they add, “the authors raise important questions based on their careful research, study, and experiences, and we believe these questions should not be ignored.”

The hard-hitting (though certainly not shrill) preface by Viola sets the tone for the rest of the book: “Contemporary Christianity has fallen into the errors of both the Pharisees and the Saducees. … We break the Scripture just as much by burying it under a mountain of human tradition as by ignoring its principles.” Barna follows on in his Introduction with these questions: “Does it surprise you that most of what we do in religious circles has no precedent in Scripture? … Does it really matter how we practice our faith, as long as the activities enable people to love God and obey Him?”

This theme of human traditions in contrast to the teaching of the Bible is further explored in the book’s opening chapter, Have We Really Been Doing It by the Book? Here, Frank cuts to the chase and asserts, “If the truth be told, we Christians never seem to ask why we do what we do. Instead, we blithely carry out our religious traditions without asking where they came from. Most Christians who claim to uphold the integrity of God’s Word have never sought to see if what they do every Sunday has any scriptural backing. How do we know this? Because if they did, it would lead them to some very disturbing conclusions that would compel them by conscience to forever abandon what they are doing.” (5)

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This was posted a while ago, but there is still time to contribute. Let’s all help out Barb!

My name is Barb Orlowski. I am on the Doctor of Ministry program at A.C.T.S. Seminaries in Langley, B.C., Canada. In order to conduct the research necessary to complete my dissertation, I could use your help. I am conducting a survey among Christians who have experienced emotional and spiritual distress under authoritarian and controlling church leaders and have recovered from this experience.

Here are the criteria that I am looking for in participants:

1. Christians who have experienced emotional and spiritual distress under authoritarian and controlling church leaders and who have ceased to be associated with those congregations;

2. Christians who subsequently have recognized and processed their spiritual grief and pain and have experienced spiritual recovery;

3. Christians who are willing to share how they have processed their negative experience and have recovered spiritual harmony; those who can share what has happened since this painful episode. Christians who can answer this question: What factors have helped you to restore your confidence in God and His people?

If people feel that they fit the criteria for this study, please contact me.

I will give you further details about this study, and then I will send you the questionnaire along with the consent information. The responses given by those participating will be kept confidential. Your responses will be put in anonymous form and may be kept for further use after the completion of this study.

Thank you for your interest and participation in this study. I appreciate the time and effort that it takes to complete a questionnaire.

In Him,

Barb

churchexitersq@telus.net

Comments and questions are welcome.

When you respond to this request by emailing me, please let me know which site you saw this information. Thanks.

[ You can read Part 1 here and Part 2 here ]

Many in house churches react strongly against sermons. They much prefer an informal and conversational approach to sharing the scriptures. Most would probably not be comfortable having one person stand up and share a teaching for 20 or 30 minutes. Yet, from passages such as 1 Cor. 14, there seems to be room for a variety of ways to participate when believers gather together:

What has been your been your experience in your own gatherings as well as other gatherings you’ve visited? It seems that many groups tend to fossilize into a rhythm or pattern that’s eventually just as structured and predictable as a typical church service in an institutional setting. Often they get very comfortable and inward with 20% of the folks doing all the talking. How do we guard against such tendencies? Especially if you have “no leaders”?

[Frank]: With respect to the churches I’ve been a part of and have worked with, we firmly believe in the exercise of all spiritual gifts and all modes of ministry. Teaching, preaching, exhortation, prophesying, etc. are included. What we don’t have is weekly “sermon” given by the same person week after week, or by the same group of people week after week.

There needs to be a distinction made between “apostolic meetings” and “church meetings.” In an apostolic meeting, a Christian worker will minister to a particular church for an extended period of time. The worker (or workers) will preach and teach regularly. But these sorts of meetings are temporary; they don’t extend on forever. And their goal is to equip a particular body of believers.

In the church meeting, everyone is free to share. In those meetings, you may have one or two people give extended messages from time to time. But all are free and encouraged to share in the meeting. All things are fluid, and there is tremendous variety.

1 Corinthians 14 envisions a “church meeting.” Paul’s ministry in Ephesus in the school of Tyrannus and his one week with the church in Troas (where he preached a young man to sleep and out a window!) is an example of an “apostolic meeting.”

That said, you are right in that many house churches do not have a fully functioning spiritual priesthood. In many house churches, most of the believers are passive, and some (a few usually) tend to over-function and monopolize the gatherings.

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Paul, the recent discussion on Paul Washer’s sermon was interesting. Since we have both been exposed to relational speakers recently I have a question for you. Can the message of Paul Washer be reconciled with the message from relational teachers such as Wayne Jacobsen and Paul Vieira or are they completely at odds with each other?

Anyone else who has been exposed to these teaching please feel free to join in.

For anyone not familiar with these teachings here are two links on relational teachings in regards to sin and shame, and hell preachers:

Sin and Shame
The Hell Preachers

Here are links to 2 sermons by Andrew Strom which some might refer to as performance Christianity:

Are You Walking in Romans 8
The Old Testament God

Some questions to ponder:

Is shame and guilt good or bad?

Is our relationship with God a friendship or one of complete servitude?

Does condemning a person’s sins directly help or hurt them?

After accepting Christ do we have any spiritual obligations besides attempting to refrain from sin?