WHAT SHOULD YOU SAY ON THE DAY HE DIES?

WHAT IS APPROPRIATE TO SAY ABOUT A FELLOW CHRISTIAN ON THE DAY HE DIES?  Some people think it is suitable to denigrate his memory on the day he dies. On the day he dies is my point.  We're not speaking about a madman or a money launderer or a serial rapist. It would be entirely apt to recite his transgressions one minute after he bites it. I'm talking about an upright man whose entire life was devoted to God. What would be appropriate to say about him on the day he died? Be clear, this is not an hypothetical personality. I refer to someone whose 99 years of earth life were spent talking to God, and to people who loved God and to people who did not know God but would. What 's fitting to say about him on the day he died? If the person making the post mortem comment hates God, then anything goes. Say what you want about the deceased. But if the commenter is a child of God and a good brother has died, would the right time to point out all of the brother's alleged bad stuff be on the day he died? Why am I asking this question here?  

CAN'T DO THE SAME OLD

During a recent vacation trip to Ontario, I became aware of a number of churches, Anglican, Presbyterian, and United that have closed due to failing attendance and have now rebirthed as Daycare Centres and Restaurants and Community Halls.

Cultural shift occurs now more quickly than it ever has. Among the swings are attitudes toward faith, church, Bible, Jesus and sin. The new normal is tolerance of just about anything. This is a pluralistic culture that despises Christianity and any religion that speaks in opposition to abortion, homosexuality and gay marriage. Some social commentators maintain that Christianity is in recession. At least many mainline churches in this century are closing. Many fundamental and evangelical churches struggle to withstand shrinking attendance and incomes.

Canada is not a Christian nation. Many Americans still think USA is a Christian nation, but they are living in a bubble. The greatest percentage of citizens do not profess to be bible believing Christians or believe there is a hell or believe that sexual orientation matters to God. They do not know what the bible says about key issues. More concerning to me are evangelical churches, leaders and believers who have opted for a vanilla version of Christianity that accommodates to much of the shift that now characterizes the culture around them. This becomes a soft faith and a soft church with a no pressure approach to gospel and Christian life. It seems harmless but it's dangerous.

 If that's what your church is doing, I don't blame you for walking in a different direction. The church for the 21st century should take steps to turn inward facing ministries outwards. That is, stop tending the same sheep who by now should be disciples who capably serve. It is justifiable for a church to contextualize the gospel by improving its décor, acquiring a quality website, making use of good technology. Most importantly, a determined choice must be made to let God's Word speak with the knowledge that God uses it to change people's lives. Don't make the message easier for people to swallow. God is greater than any culture so the church for the 21st century must boldly live out and talk out the good news that make the good news compelling.

IN PURSUIT OF THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE

            When communicating an unenthusiastic critique on the present-day or local expression of Christ's church, besides citing deficiencies, it is appropriate to make recommendations for improvement based upon reliable sources.  

            It was impossible to plan for and to launch the earliest church assembly. It was entirely a God-thing. In the documented history of the earliest church assembly are features which when brought to 2015, can become the qualities of another impossible church.  

            The chosen apostles of Jesus were witnesses to his life. Some were spectators at his death. All of them observed and listened to, and some touched the resurrected Christ. They were convinced about this person's genuine and divine identity.  This persuasion was foundational to their establishment as a church.

            As they watched their Master ascend and vanish into the clouds, their incredulity was replaced with hope that this same departing person would on some future day return. This optimism was foundational to their formation as church.

            Before leaving, Jesus instructed them to wait together in Jerusalem until his Father delivered the promised gift about which he had spoken earlier.  Whatever it meant, and however the gift would be bestowed, the Holy Spirit would come on them with the result that they would effectively bear witness to Jesus in the city, in the district, in the country and all over the world. They obeyed. They waited with anticipation together with many other followers of Jesus, including men and women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, one hundred and twenty in total. They prayed continuously during these days. This prayer-filled obedience was foundational to their inauguration as church.

            Ten days later the Spirit of God invested with each one of them, the spectacles of raucous wind and flames of fire, the supernatural presence of Christ, the unfamiliar facility to speak in an unlearned language. This phenomenon was foundational to their commencement as church.

            Sincere practicing Jews who filled the street during the celebration of Pentecost, recognized this verbal jabber as definite languages articulating the miracles of God. Peter explained that this vocal marvel was not due to drunkenness but rather was the fulfillment in their time of one of the Jews' own prophet's predictions concerning the arrival of Messiah Jesus, whom they had crucified but who rose from the grave and at that moment was sitting in his glorious place of honour from where he had sent this occurrence that they were seeing and hearing. This good news declaration was foundational to their assignment as church.

            During this miraculous demonstration, Peter continued to enlighten listeners that the once crucified Jesus was the LORD, the Christ, the Messiah. This broke the hearts of listeners and terrified them until they asked how they could be saved, to which Peter replied, "repent of your sins, and be baptized as a testimony of your personal faith commitment in Christ, and your sins will forgiven and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." This redemptive prescription was foundational to their mission as church.

            Peter told them that this promise of forgiveness and the invested Holy Spirit applied to them, to their children, to their grandchildren and to every other person anywhere at any time whom God calls. Then Peter issued the call on God's behalf, pleading with them to save themselves from a corrupt generation. Approximately three thousand people believed his message, trusted Jesus and were baptized. This outcome was foundational to their commission as Christ's Church.

            These thousands of people dedicated time to several key activities, the lessons by the apostles, the interaction, solidarity and companionship of other believers, eating meals together and praying, sharing material goods and meeting one another's needs. These behaviors were foundational to their operation as church.

            The miracles and surprises regularly accomplished by the apostles captivated all of these believers. People were glad and their hearts were sincere and authentic as they praised God and embraced one another in a trusting harmony and developed reputations of integrity. Every day God added other new believers to their number. This increase was foundational to their emergence as God's Church.

            Those observations are lifted from the first two chapters of the ACTS of the Apostles as it speaks about ekklesia or assembly, commonly called church which always implies a plurality and when that assembly is Christian, that is, when each person of the assembly is a believer in Jesus, Jesus himself is present and that assembly possesses incredible potential for seeing God at work. That is his promise.  Matthew 18:19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

            A church today, if it is to experience the potency of that early church, must be one that is persuaded that Jesus is divine and that he rose from death and is alive; that is optimistic that Jesus is reigning now and will one day return to earth; that is obedient to Christ's word and engaged in continuous prayer; whose members are recipients of the Holy Spirit; that consequently openly declares Jesus' identity and saving mission; that makes heartfelt proclamation of the gospel; whose behaviour is in keeping with a communal identity; that is excited by regular demonstration of God's miracles and enjoying regular additions of new believers; that trust one another and care for one another's needs; that experience God's ongoing multiplication of their numbers as they live righteous lives, pray, and obey.

CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? CHURCH AT THE STRIP CLUB BAR (part 3)

the John Sleeman mansion

I will grant you, it's a stretch. Jack and Sharon and their ministry colleagues are teaching, sharing, singing, and being gospel, good news, in the most likely of places. If you have been following the past two articles about this, here's a recap with further details to make your mouths drop open.  The Manor in Guelph, Ontario is promoted as Canada’s premier Gentleman’s Club located just 40 miles west of Toronto. The Manor is self-touted as one of Ontario’s most elegant strip clubs and it is located in the historic John Sleeman Mansion built in 1896. In this exceptional building with elegant decor, signature VIP Room and Bottle Service Lounge, beautiful dancers serve and entertain patrons at almost all hours of a work week. But for a few hours on Sunday afternoons the interior is transformed and the emphasis and message and music is changed in ways that seem to be incompatible.

The Manor Gentlemen’s Club

How can there possibly be any harmony, any congruence between liquor excesses and lifestyles that are endorsed in this facility and the three hour truncated gospel communication. Well none at all. That's the astoundingly dramatic impact of the Church at the Manor. That's why it is working. The contrasts are so vivid that for people whose lives have been screwed up by bad decisions, addictions, violence and abuse, the authentic loving welcoming news demonstrated in real, live people is not lost. It's more real than anything they have ever experienced in the name of Christianity or Christ. Faith becomes a viable option. Jesus Christ becomes a sustainable Saviour. Jack and Sharon Ninaber and friends put food in people's stomachs, redemptive seed thoughts in their minds and contagious love into embraces and sincere conversations. Does it get any better than that? Only as some of the seekers become believers and then are baptized and become disciples of Christ and that is already happening. The question might be asked, "then shouldn't those new converts leave such a place?" It's probably the wrong question.  Rather, "now that you have trusted in Jesus and you sense your freedom and strength and you see the changes happening in your attitudes, conduct and choices and family life, don't you want to share that with a few other people?"

SCRIPTURE-FREE

Canadians and Americans live in an increasingly scripture-free public space. More disturbing is the reality that most Christians live in a scripture-free personal and family space. Within the general population it can be assumed there will be misperceptions and ignorance about the Bible. However, we must waste no more time advocating or condemning either traditional or emerging churches when the scandal is really the emerging biblical illiteracy among professing Christians. It can now be assumed that Christians don't know much about the Bible.

image by Aidan Hart

Marriages of Christian couples are dissolving at the same rate as marriages of non-believing people. Christians participate in interpersonal conflicts and churches endure internal power struggles with the same frequency as irreligious individuals and organizations. The light emitted by Christians in communities shines no brighter than the lives of agnostics or other faith groups.

To any thoughtful student of Christian faith, this is not merely curious, it is shocking. Christians espouse Christ, the Son of God as their Saviour, King, Lord. Christians speak of an inside-out transformation, a conversion, a personal rebirth. Christians understand that God's own spirit, the Holy Spirit, Deity himself, resides within them to teach them, and to reproduce within them an unmistakable resemblance to Christ. Can we appreciate the reasons for suspicion and cynicism among observers when our best evidence for the truth is falling so abysmally short of convincing? The credibility of the Christian gospel hinges upon the product, the professing follower, the so-called disciple.

If all else fails, read the instructions.
Christians don't read their Bibles. It is therefore unlikely that they will live as followers of Christ.

CHANGING THE GOSPEL MODEL TO REACH NEWER GENERATIONS

People who are stanch advocates of the veracity of the Christian Gospel will find it difficult to entertain the notion that a modified gospel may be necessary to reach different generations. After all, the celebrated good news is only ‘good’ because it remedies something so horribly ‘bad.’ Allow me to describe first the conventional understanding of the Gospel, and then suggest a conversation point.

Here is an abbreviated gospel summary. God is holy and created the first human creatures with the capacity to obey or defy God’s command. Although the consequence of disobedience was unambiguous, the insubordination of early humans infected all humanity subjecting it to God’s wrath and the punishment of death and hell after physical death. The good news comes because God’s mercy provided His divine Son Jesus Christ as a stand-in to experience God’s punishment and all who with simple trust in Christ as God’s Son and personal Saviour are exempted from this punishment because they are adjudicated as righteous now.

That’s the model with which the Christian Church has developed. What if the newest generations, like the iGens do not identify with the presenting issues that compel people to respond to God’s grace? What if iGens do not possess a sense of morality, which is a robust sense of right and wrong? That is the premise of Alan Mann’s book, Atonement for a Sinless Society. If you are going to stake you eternal hope of Jesus based on a sense that without him we are wrong and sinful and condemned, Mann argues that the iGen doesn’t feel that need. He believes that iGens do not feel guilt for sin as much as they feel ashamed when they don’t achieve something they should accomplish.

So the notion then develops that a different model of the gospel and of evangelism is required to reach these generations. Instead of heaping on the guilt, inundate them with the life of Jesus. Teach the life of Jesus, live out the life of Jesus and ultimately make him real. This is Jesus as seen in the lives of people genuinely filled with compassion rather than Jesus as revealed by institutional religion. They will like Jesus but perhaps not the church. The church may be too political, judgmental, organized, fundamentalist and chauvinistic whereas Jesus is obvious and real in the lives of believers who listen, help, serve, and heal.

Alan Mann, Atonement for a Sinless Society
Dan Kimball, They Like Jesus But Not the Church: Insights from Emerging Generations. Kimball on Youtube
Scot McKnight, The Blue Parakeet
Images of Jesus personality profile designed by North England Institute for Christian Education

Read Scot McKnight’s article The Gospel for iGens in the summer issue of Leadership Journal at LeadershipJournal.net

What are the real lessons here? I am pretty sure I don't have to answer this for you. I have to pull up my socks.

BORED AT CHURCH? THINKING OF CHANGING?

Mr. Bean 

I will dish out two credits as I start. One goes to Micah Lang who wrote the article ‘When Good Pastors Preach Boring Sermons,’ that I reference today from the Relevant magazine and the second kudo goes to Drew Unruh, an entrepreneurial nephew who asked me what my thoughts were on the article.

The content struck a chord with me because I have found myself doing the very thing for which I want to indict others.

THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION

Well it may be Halloween, but the 31st October, is important for a far more significant reason than costumes and candy. This is the day in 1517 when a Catholic monk named Martin Luther, nailed a list of demands for church reform on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany. That gesture demanded church reform and led to the creation of Protest-ant churches of the 16th century.

While the gospel spins from this historical event, it would seem a great opportunity for churches today to explain to other religious groups and secular listeners and readers, the importance of freedom of speech and freedom of faith. It would also be appropriate for students of the Bible who are also students of today’s issues, to tell the world what the Bible says about a surplus of concerns that are persistently in our news. The Bible teaches about economy, equality, gender justice, sexuality, cooperation, compassion, wealth and poverty, environmental management, social service and more.