Numerous reviews and posts and interviews have been leveled for or against "Love Wins," a new hot-seller by Rob Bell (Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived, HarperCollins, 2010), pastor of the megachurch, Mars Hill Bible Church, in Grand Rapids, MI. Interestingly, on the book jacket, no one less than Eugene Peterson says the book tells about the "comprehensive and eternal work of Christ . . . without a trace of soft sentimentality and without compromising an inch of evangelical conviction in its proclamation of the good news that is most truly for all." I guess he should have waited for the intense firestorm that has erupted in evangelical circles concerning the book. Reviewers have weighed in, and many, if not most, deem it controversial, heterodox, wanting theologically, linguistically, historically and philosophically. (Go to http://www.mlive.com/ news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/03/ rob_bell_book_reviews_roll_ in.html for a summary of viewpoints, and note especially Martin Bashir's interview on MSNBC). For a most thorough negative review, see Kevin DeYoung's "God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of 'Love Wins'." John Piper simply says, "Farewell, Rob Bell."
I actually think one of the most damaging reviews comes from Julie Clawson at Sojourners who writes, "Christianity isn’t about being right or wrong, it’s about living joyously and transformatively for Jesus — and this is a message we can all benefit from being reminded of." Wow! Now the Christian faith has no universal truths, no propositional revelation, no absolute standards. It's all about how we feel, how we live, how we make the world a better place. It's about US. Thank you, Julie Clawson!!
Unlike other reviewers who dive deeply into Bell's historical and theological wanderings, I want to give a few "overview" notes to readers. First, Rob Bell seems to be well-intentioned. He really cares about people and their journeys of faith and life. He cares about people who have gotten a terrible, misguided view of God and Christianity from past bad experiences or people. The problem, however, is with the approach. If we approach God and truths about God and His Word with people-stories, we will see God through the lens of those stories and through the fog of peoples' experiences, good or bad. Of course, Bell and others would say Jesus told stories all the time to communicate truths about God. But we are not Jesus, not divinely inspired, not equipped with a comprehensive view of truth to be able to extract absolute truths by using a few tales.
Second, to use "word studies" to definitively prove theological truth is tricky to say the least, and foolish to say the most. I know anti-Trinitarian writers who use word studies to show that the One God cannot be a Trinity. Thus, the entire orthodox Trinitarian declarations are wrong according to these studies. Word studies can be and have been used by sects, heretics and people of no faith to contravene Christianity. Linguists and semantic experts have warned about over-using word studies, as if the Bible were an atomistic collection of terms and words. Contextual studies must be used, and sad to say, Rob Bell fails to give such contextual and thorough study of the words for "heaven," "hell" and "love" itself. Simply amassing Bible verses where terms are used does not do the trick. And to the word "love," he assumes everyone knows what the phrase "God is love" means. That is pure presumption.
Third, such a book reveals Rob Bell's lack of respect and wisdom for orthodox formulations and tried-and-true exegetical studies. I had a seminary professor who warned us as fledgling pastors and students of the Scriptures to be VERY, VERY careful of publishing anything in the Christian field of studies, especially when our conclusions disagree with or disapprove of years and years of sound historical, theological and philosophical study of the Scriptures. Rob Bell has plunged in over his head--way over his head.
Fourth, and I add this note for my Calvinistic friends, Rob Bell's book will cause you either wild laughter or the constant no-no shaking of your head. Bell's foray into human freedom and how that interrelates with God's love is ludicrous. He assumes humans have complete, untarnished freedom to choose, reject, or wait to choose God and His love. He assumes unconditional freedom of the will. While many evangelicals have no problem with this, Calvinists have serious reservations. Further, he obviously dismisses unconditional sovereign election, the ravages of total depravity, limited or definite atonement, irresistible grace and the perseverance of the saints. He has had problems in past writings with the sacrificial system of the atonement as well. Penal substitution and imputation have no room in Bell's musings. No wonder Piper dismisses Bell's book out of hand.
Fifth, I have problems with Bell's insistent questioning of foundational theological Scriptural formulations about heaven and hell. He dynamically interprets "hell" and maintains that hell is here and now for those who commit certain heinous sins and turn their back on humanity. So, here's my questions. If we forsake our humanness or humanity by rejecting God's love, do we become "less human?" What does it mean to be "less human?" Do we become sub-human? And what does that mean? Are we reduced to an evolutionary state of non-humanness? What may be "obvious" to Bell is not so obvious anymore, is it?
Sixth, Rob Bell claims he is not a universalist. And that is true in the historical sense and use of the term. However, his wanting to say that God's love wins in the end and that somehow all people will be loved by God forever begs the question. Other reviewers have ably and amply exploded Bell's wanting view of God and His attributes.
I feel sorry for Rob Bell. Sorry that he felt compelled to write such a book. Sorry for the sticking of his toes into very deep historical-theological and exegetical waters. Sorry that his place in the evangelical world is in question. And mostly sorry, that if he is wrong, he will stand before a holy, just and loving God and be held accountable for his deceiving thousands of people God has entrusted to his care (cf. James 3:1; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15). Our church and my ministry have used a number of his Nooma video productions, and I have mostly enjoyed his post-modern edgy books and messages. But there are serious problems with Love Wins.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
Are We There Yet?
"There are churches that make a difference, and there are churches (and ministries) that do not. To which do you belong?" These words have reverberated in my heart and mind ever since I heard them from E. V. Hill in the summer of 1988. And, I have sought to be part of ministries and churches that "make a difference." After 38 years in professional ministry as a senior pastor, executive pastor, discipleship pastor, evangelism pastor, youth pastor and small groups pastor, and 12 years as a church health consultant, I must say that I have yet to see the American church making any real, lasting, significant and kingdom-sized difference.
To be sure, there have been pockets of significance and individual churches who have made kingdom-sized differences, but out of the 360,000 or so North American churches, few have made these kind of differences. Yes, I will be cited as a killjoy and someone will whip out the "starfish illustration" (that saving even one starfish in a beach littered with them is important, at least to that one), but we have an American and Western culture going to hell, literally! And the church has mostly failed to engage, challenge, inform and change the value systems, thinking, presuppositions and lifestyle of most of secular culture. If we are not arguing with ourselves, we are attending conferences that don't translate into kingdom effectiveness at home, or we are attending prayer summits that make us feel good but produce little to no fruit.
Specifically, what are the problems? Why hasn't the church made a kingdom impact? Here are several causes I have seen. First, we have "compartmentalized Christians" in our churches. Christianity in many peoples' mindsets has been reduced to getting people "saved," that is, delivered from eternal punishment to eternal life with Christ. Consequently, salvation is seen as a portal to heaven with very little to do with earthly needs and realities, except maybe to escape them. In addition, many churchgoing people really do not have any idea of why they should or how to integrate their faith into everyday thinking and practice. No matter the multitude of Bible studies out there, the vast majority of Christians simply see little to no connection between their vocations or jobs and the Christian faith. The sad truth is most people get up on a Sunday to attend a church service or class not really expecting what they hear or discuss to vitally impact or change or challenge their Monday to Saturday lives. And, they would not know how to do so even if verbally challenged.
Second, churches have preached and taught a "narrowly focused" gospel message. Evangelicals have dipped their toe into social needs, but few have dived into the social morass of today's world. Sermons are either a popularized form of Christianity, Christian psychobabble, or, on the other extreme, a verse-by-verse carefully devised exposition or explanation of a Bible passage. The application of the truth is left mostly up to the minds and inventions of the hearer to figure out. And that is hardly ever done, and when it is, done badly. Visions and goals and mission statements are too narrowly conceived. Out-of-the-box thinking has not been encouraged and adopted.
Third, many Bible-based churches and ministries have a defensive, "against them" policy and rhetoric, with more emphasis on what we are against, rather than what we are for. So, Christians in the congregation know what not to do rather than what to do at work and play and in their schools and gatherings.
Fourth, many Christians are just plain lazy! Rigorous application and infusion of the faith to daily life and work is hard. New paradigms have to be formulated, tested, applied and used. Actual life-changing and life-challenging truth that their secular worlds have to face are not generally known or even available.
So, what to do? How can we tackle the kingdom-sized needs around us? First, we need to grow and migrate our theology to become kingdom-theology. "Salvation" needs to be seen as a whole-life faith-and-obedience to the resurrected Christ as Lord of heaven and earth--and our lives. Second, we need to develop kingdom-minded Christians in our churches. Instead of allowing people to make the same-old, same-old weekly trip to a compartmentalized faith experience, church must become the place where the focus is on how to help them make world-and-life Christian choices in their schools and jobs. We need Christian mathematicians teaching math teachers how to teach mathematics in a Christ-centered way. We need Christian counselors teaching people how to counsel others with the Word of God. We need Christian ecologists teaching farmers and gardeners Christ-centered ecological lifestyles and viewpoints. We need Christian political scientists teaching politicians and citizens how to think and act in Christ-centered ways in our political systems. In other words, churches need to become "equipping places" where Christians are equipped to live for Jesus Christ as Lord of their work, school and play.
And, we need to expect Christian men and women and students to actually follow through in making Christ Lord of their thoughts and lives, actions and desires, attitudes and frames of reference. Lack of expectation now fills our churches. Churchgoers are not accountable to anyone or anything in their daily and weekly lives. Small group accountability helps but does not often get to the root of peoples' lives. Lack of church discipline allows people to get away with Ephesus-like lovelessness, or Laodicean-like lukewarmness, or Sardis-like smugness and deadness.
Will we empty churches with this philosophy of ministry? I think not. I believe God's people want to live for Christ, but don't know how. They want to make a kingdom difference at work and school, but don't know how. They want to be accountable, God-centered citizens of the kingdom of God but don't know how. Let's show them how!
Monday, March 7, 2011
Farewell to a Powerful Christian Model
A fond Christ-centered farewell to a beloved professor of mine from college days took place last Friday, Mar 4, at Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, PA. His name was Philip Lockhart, retired professor of classical languages from Dickinson College. A bit of his bio is included below.
Dr. Lockhart was one of my first Christian professorial contacts at Dickinson College in my freshman year there in 1965-66. I did not know he was a Christian at first, but found out about his love for Christ and for the biblical faith very quickly. With another student friend, I even took an introductory course on New Testament Greek with him--which my friend at the funeral reminded me about, since I had forgotten it. Amazing that now I teach an online introductory course to New Testament Greek!
Dr. Lockhart was much more to me than just a professor and adult friend. He helped stabilize my life as a freshman kid who was literally scared of college, and of a secular institution like Dickinson. I thought for sure I was going to be swallowed up by nonChristian, atheistic thought and that I would lose my faith moorings. He assured me that was not going to happen, and that I could relax and I would "grow up" in my college years to become a self-assured, stable Christian man who would be well-trained by the liberal arts. That really happened! My years at Dickinson were great years, and I look back with fond memories of my classes and professors (most of them anyway) and am thankful to God for the training, insights and help I received from them.
I was sitting at the memorial service on Friday praising God for such a positively oriented Christian professor and churchman. Dr Lockhart lived out his faith on a secular campus--and made friends doing it, as the testimonials showed. I would lke to die this way--by being a real light to Christians AND nonChristians by making the Christian faith a positive, enlivening, powerful witness and not a defensive and destructive one.
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Philip N. Lockhart, emeritus Asbury J. Clarke Chair of Latin, died on February 20, 2011 at the Forest Park Health Center in Carlisle. Phil is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Ayer Lockhart, son, Dr. Bruce Lockhart, daughter, Betsy Wood, and her husband, Jeff Wood.
Phil, a native of Pennsylvania, earned his B.A. in English with honors, and Phi Beta Kappa distinction, from the University of Pennsylvania in 1950. After his undergraduate work, he received his M.A. in comparative literature from the University of North Carolina in 1951 and went on to receive his Ph.D. in classical languages and archaeology at Yale University in 1959.
Before joining the faculty at Dickinson in 1963, Phil was a missionary teacher at the Ezel Mission School in Kentucky and also taught at the University of Missouri, the Ohio State University and at the University of Pennsylvania. He was appointed the chair of the department of classical studies in 1965 and was appointed the Asbury J. Clarke Chair of Latin in 1971. After 27 years of teaching at Dickinson, Phil retired in 1990 at which time he was awarded professor emeritus of classical languages and emeritus Asbury J. Clarke Chair of Latin.
Phil was beloved by students across the years for his expertise, lively and challenging classroom, and his deep interest in his students. Under his tutelage the study of the classics at Dickinson grew and flourished. He established a curriculum founded on Greek and Latin majors and insisted that the study of Biblical Hebrew be included in the curriculum. This earned him quite a reputation in the field, and he was often invited as an outside evaluator and consultant for undergraduate classics programs across the country.
Phil received many awards and honors during his career including Honorable Mention by the Distinguished Teacher Award Committee of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of the United Methodist Church in 1974. He was also the first winner of the Constance and Rose Ganoe Memorial Award for inspirational teaching in 1969, which he promptly used to assist in establishing the John David Wright III Memorial Scholarship in Classical Studies. He went on to receive the Ganoe Award two additional times in 1973 and 1981, making him the only three-time winner of this student-voted prize.
While at Dickinson, Phil served on various committees and also served as Faculty Secretary in 1966-68. He often assisted in preparing the Latin wording for the honorary degrees that were given at Commencement every year as well as assisted with the planning of the Baccalaureate Ceremony. Phil also established the Philip N. Lockhart Book Prize in Classical Studies that is still awarded to an outstanding graduate majoring in classical studies today. In addition to these and many other commitments at Dickinson, he was president of the Philadelphia Classical Society and the Pennsylvania Classical Association, a member of the American Philological Association, a founding member of the South Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America, and served on evaluation teams for the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction.
Phil was a member of the Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle and served several terms as an elder as well as 40 years as a member of its Sanctuary Choir. Additionally, he taught in the community Sunday School teacher training programs and served on the Presbytery Committee on Christian Vocations and Candidate Review.
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Tuesday, February 15, 2011
CHURCH STRATEGIES: A Bag of Chocolates or a Chocolatier?
I read a very interesting article the other day by Gregg Mader in ImageSource magazine (Vol. 13, Feb. 2011). He was talking about successful business strategies versus struggling or unsuccessful strategies in the business world. He used the difference between an "off-the-shelf, mediocre product" and "a dedicated one-of-a-kind product that meets the individual tastes of their clientele" to point to why managed service providers are the most successful in the business world. The difference between a bag of chocolates and a chocolatier. His points: a program tailored to the client, based on what they know about the client, combined with expertise and creativity.
Churches that are "successful" are those who do similar things. They offer ministries and programs tailored to their target base of people. They work to really know to whom they are ministering and their audience's particular needs and points of interest. They offer programming with expertise and creativity. They are chocolatiers, not just providers of chocolate. Mader says, in the business world, "you have to invest in the client if you are going to truly be a value driven organization." Well, a similar thing can be said in the church world and the church marketplace.
O.K. Someone is bound to cry, "Dumbing down the gospel again!" "Just trying to please people rather than preach the whole counsel of God!" "Making the gospel message man-centered rather than God-centered!" The truth of the matter is that while some megachurches are a mile wide and an inch deep, many are seeking to offer a ministry that takes people from non-faith to fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. And, the other side of that truth are churches barely surviving or just "getting along" that cry the loudest and offer little in way of teaching the "whole counsel" of God. They are like one-stringed guitars that play as if they have a full complement of strings. Whether it is a particular doctrinal hobby-horse, or a political-sociological point of view, or a specialty end-times philosophy, they claim to teach and preach the whole counsel of God but fall miserably short. Finally, I'm NOT writing from a megachurch, but a medium-sized church. So, with that out of way, let's look at "successful" churches from Mader's viewpoint.
First, they tailor their ministries to a target audience. Whether it is seniors, or young adults, or professionals, or blue-collar workers, or farmers, successful churches have a target and seek to hit it in their advertising, promotions, ministry programming and teaching and preaching. They preach the whole counsel of God couched in terms, language, and venues that meet their target audience. Churches that try to do "everything" or "be everything to everybody" fail. The old adage is that if you try to hit everything, you will miss it! Healthy and growing churches limit their target audience to "clients" they are gifted and equipped to reach. Is that a description of YOUR church? Are you a bag of chocolates or a chocolatier?!
Second, they work hard at really getting to KNOW their target base. They not only exegete the Bible but the culture as well. They understand what ethnographics is all about. They not only DO demographics; they study their client base to understand how they think, what makes them tick, how they respond to certain things, what kinds of music they listen to, how best to help them listen and learn. The VALUE their target or client base. They believe, as Hybels has taught, "people matter to God." And, if they matter to God, whatever our target, they must really matter to us. They value people and their needs. Is this a description of your church? Are you a bag of chocolates or a chocolatier?!
Third, they diligently labor at expertise and creativity. One of the most frustrating things about many churches and their programming is that they "make do." They put the wrong people in the wrong places at the wrong times and for the wrong reasons. They "get by" because they think, "Well, these are the folks God has given us, so we will use what we have and not complain." So people who can't sing, sing publicly (and usually too loudly and off-key). And the congregation takes it in stride because after all, it is the "best we can do." Teachers are mismatched with groups or classes because we "don't have enough of them." Care pastors are asked to do administration, and do so badly, because we "can't (or won't) afford" an administrator.
Successful churches take pains to discover, develop and use the gift-mix of their church population to do ministry with expertise and creativity. They work at not mismatching or misplacing people in ministry spots. They don't do a ministry if they don't have the gifting to do it well. They end a ministry if it has outlived its usefulness to the kingdom of God. They start ministries that better use and distribute their giftedness.
And, successful churches not only do the right things, but they do things right. They place excellence as a high priority and cultural value to their organization. Because God deserves our very best.
Mader is right--both in the business and church world. Is your church, your ministry, a bag of chocolates or a chocolatier?!
Churches that are "successful" are those who do similar things. They offer ministries and programs tailored to their target base of people. They work to really know to whom they are ministering and their audience's particular needs and points of interest. They offer programming with expertise and creativity. They are chocolatiers, not just providers of chocolate. Mader says, in the business world, "you have to invest in the client if you are going to truly be a value driven organization." Well, a similar thing can be said in the church world and the church marketplace.
O.K. Someone is bound to cry, "Dumbing down the gospel again!" "Just trying to please people rather than preach the whole counsel of God!" "Making the gospel message man-centered rather than God-centered!" The truth of the matter is that while some megachurches are a mile wide and an inch deep, many are seeking to offer a ministry that takes people from non-faith to fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. And, the other side of that truth are churches barely surviving or just "getting along" that cry the loudest and offer little in way of teaching the "whole counsel" of God. They are like one-stringed guitars that play as if they have a full complement of strings. Whether it is a particular doctrinal hobby-horse, or a political-sociological point of view, or a specialty end-times philosophy, they claim to teach and preach the whole counsel of God but fall miserably short. Finally, I'm NOT writing from a megachurch, but a medium-sized church. So, with that out of way, let's look at "successful" churches from Mader's viewpoint.
First, they tailor their ministries to a target audience. Whether it is seniors, or young adults, or professionals, or blue-collar workers, or farmers, successful churches have a target and seek to hit it in their advertising, promotions, ministry programming and teaching and preaching. They preach the whole counsel of God couched in terms, language, and venues that meet their target audience. Churches that try to do "everything" or "be everything to everybody" fail. The old adage is that if you try to hit everything, you will miss it! Healthy and growing churches limit their target audience to "clients" they are gifted and equipped to reach. Is that a description of YOUR church? Are you a bag of chocolates or a chocolatier?!
Second, they work hard at really getting to KNOW their target base. They not only exegete the Bible but the culture as well. They understand what ethnographics is all about. They not only DO demographics; they study their client base to understand how they think, what makes them tick, how they respond to certain things, what kinds of music they listen to, how best to help them listen and learn. The VALUE their target or client base. They believe, as Hybels has taught, "people matter to God." And, if they matter to God, whatever our target, they must really matter to us. They value people and their needs. Is this a description of your church? Are you a bag of chocolates or a chocolatier?!
Third, they diligently labor at expertise and creativity. One of the most frustrating things about many churches and their programming is that they "make do." They put the wrong people in the wrong places at the wrong times and for the wrong reasons. They "get by" because they think, "Well, these are the folks God has given us, so we will use what we have and not complain." So people who can't sing, sing publicly (and usually too loudly and off-key). And the congregation takes it in stride because after all, it is the "best we can do." Teachers are mismatched with groups or classes because we "don't have enough of them." Care pastors are asked to do administration, and do so badly, because we "can't (or won't) afford" an administrator.
Successful churches take pains to discover, develop and use the gift-mix of their church population to do ministry with expertise and creativity. They work at not mismatching or misplacing people in ministry spots. They don't do a ministry if they don't have the gifting to do it well. They end a ministry if it has outlived its usefulness to the kingdom of God. They start ministries that better use and distribute their giftedness.
And, successful churches not only do the right things, but they do things right. They place excellence as a high priority and cultural value to their organization. Because God deserves our very best.
Mader is right--both in the business and church world. Is your church, your ministry, a bag of chocolates or a chocolatier?!
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Beginning Critique of A New Paradigm for Organizational Theory
Margaret Wheatley has written a fascinating book, Leadership and the New Science: Discovering Order in a Chaotic World (Berrett-Koehler, 2006), in which she employs insights from the "new" science (post-Newtonian physics and so forth) to posit organizational theory change. Using chaos theory and quantum physics as well as self-organizing living eco-system theory, she says that disequilibrium and chaos are good qualities that reveal creativity and organizational life and health. Organizations are unchanged, she believes, by applying mechanistic models that are outdated and don't work anyway. "There is no objective reality out there waiting to reveal its secrets. There are no recipes or formulas, no checklists or expert advice that describe 'reality.'" (p. 9) The earth itself, she posits, has an amazing ability to right itself, to "respond to change and disorder by reorganizing itself at a higher level of organization" (using a theory developed by Ilya Prigogine, p. 12). And, "ethical and moral questions are no longer fuzzy religious concepts but key elements in the relationship any organization has with colleagues, stakeholders and communities." (p. 14) Organizational vision and values may be "unseen but real forces that influence people's behavior" rather than the traditional "picture of a preferred future" produced by a "charismatic leader." (p. 15)
One of the recommendations for Wheatley's book came from a pastor in Canada who was very "encouraged that there is still reason to believe ardently in the great resilience of the human spirit to re-invent itself over and over again, whether we view it fractally or as the first signs of a dawning and long awaited millennium of harmony and happiness for everyone." I have just started reading through this book with my accountability partner. I am interested in new leadership initiatives and organizational theory as well as scientific insights given my background and training in mathematics, philosophy and logic. So this blog is about "first impressions."
First, I am encouraged that this "new" approach to leadership and organizational theory has jettisoned the old mechanistic materialistic science where the human, relational, and even faith elements were forbidden territory. Our old trust that "science [industrial, Newtonian science] has all the answers" has certainly failed us, and failed us miserably. We do live in an interdependent world, and there are forces that cannot be materialistically understood that affect everything. I do church organizational work, and the old paradigms of "adding" faith to organizational theories and structures are wanting. They do not work well, if at all, in many cases.
But I must reserve judgment here. Will this "new" science in organizational theory and life simply "replace" the old science, with all of its anti-faith restrictions? Will the foundational evolutional theory so infuse this new approach that God and faith have nothing to say to us about organizations? Will this simply be another trumping of the "new" realities of the new science over faith? It seems so at first sight.
Second, the internal earth replenishment theories that say the earth and its environment can handle chaos and simply rejuvenate itself without any outside force or help from a providential God places humankind or "mother earth" squarely as the "master or god" of this world. These relational "forces" between people can then be seen as mere evolutionary development of the human spirit, and we have the power, the knowledge and the ability to right a chaotic world by our own intelligence, wisdom and know-how. We don't need faith or God at all in this newly defined world order. That reasoning and perspective should trouble the Christian greatly.
Third, to suppose there are no universal truths or laws and that everything depends "on its context" defiantly goes against divine biblical revelation that says there is a Creator God who has pre-defined everything and orders this world and universe according to His unconditioned and unconditional will. Our "discoveries" are but the unveiling of truths given by God Himself to be found and unlocked for use by creaturely humankind. We don't "create" in these sense of "create out of nothing."
Fourth, the "forces" that Wheatley talks about existing between matter I see as the sustaining power of Jesus Christ as the One who "holds all things together" by His command and fiat (Colossians 1:17, where a very technical term is used). This is not swamp gas or ethereal evolutionary societal understanding or undefined particle forces. This is God-at-work.
I am happy that Wheatley is debunking the old science. What remains to be seen by Christians and people of faith is where she places our hope as we investigate the applications of the new science to leadership and organizational dynamics.
One of the recommendations for Wheatley's book came from a pastor in Canada who was very "encouraged that there is still reason to believe ardently in the great resilience of the human spirit to re-invent itself over and over again, whether we view it fractally or as the first signs of a dawning and long awaited millennium of harmony and happiness for everyone." I have just started reading through this book with my accountability partner. I am interested in new leadership initiatives and organizational theory as well as scientific insights given my background and training in mathematics, philosophy and logic. So this blog is about "first impressions."
First, I am encouraged that this "new" approach to leadership and organizational theory has jettisoned the old mechanistic materialistic science where the human, relational, and even faith elements were forbidden territory. Our old trust that "science [industrial, Newtonian science] has all the answers" has certainly failed us, and failed us miserably. We do live in an interdependent world, and there are forces that cannot be materialistically understood that affect everything. I do church organizational work, and the old paradigms of "adding" faith to organizational theories and structures are wanting. They do not work well, if at all, in many cases.
But I must reserve judgment here. Will this "new" science in organizational theory and life simply "replace" the old science, with all of its anti-faith restrictions? Will the foundational evolutional theory so infuse this new approach that God and faith have nothing to say to us about organizations? Will this simply be another trumping of the "new" realities of the new science over faith? It seems so at first sight.
Second, the internal earth replenishment theories that say the earth and its environment can handle chaos and simply rejuvenate itself without any outside force or help from a providential God places humankind or "mother earth" squarely as the "master or god" of this world. These relational "forces" between people can then be seen as mere evolutionary development of the human spirit, and we have the power, the knowledge and the ability to right a chaotic world by our own intelligence, wisdom and know-how. We don't need faith or God at all in this newly defined world order. That reasoning and perspective should trouble the Christian greatly.
Third, to suppose there are no universal truths or laws and that everything depends "on its context" defiantly goes against divine biblical revelation that says there is a Creator God who has pre-defined everything and orders this world and universe according to His unconditioned and unconditional will. Our "discoveries" are but the unveiling of truths given by God Himself to be found and unlocked for use by creaturely humankind. We don't "create" in these sense of "create out of nothing."
Fourth, the "forces" that Wheatley talks about existing between matter I see as the sustaining power of Jesus Christ as the One who "holds all things together" by His command and fiat (Colossians 1:17, where a very technical term is used). This is not swamp gas or ethereal evolutionary societal understanding or undefined particle forces. This is God-at-work.
I am happy that Wheatley is debunking the old science. What remains to be seen by Christians and people of faith is where she places our hope as we investigate the applications of the new science to leadership and organizational dynamics.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
What Works in Church Growth
In an interesting article by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, he proposes that the reason why churches do not move out of the 100-300 attendance category is due to a lack of renewal--personal, relational, missional, cultural, and especially structural renewal. He also strongly maintains that to break out of this smaller attendance block requires "exponential thinking" (www.saddlebackresources.com/en-US/CampaignDirector/CampaignCentral /CampaignTraining/Pastor/PastorsIdeaExchange/Exponential+Thinking.htm) and a radical change in structure that involves championing small groups rather than the classic smaller church organizational structure.
The "exponential thinking" precept he rallies for is problematic for me. Of course, once that is said the charge of "little" faith comes creeping into the discussion. Little faith gets little results; great faith gets great results, he would say. Really?! What troubles me in particular is that he hangs the principle of exponential thinking on Bible verses that have little or nothing to do with church growth, church size, and ministry expansion. For instance, just because the Israelites "multiplied" in the desert (Ex. 1:7,12) does not imply God loves large numbers and desires everything to so multiply, especially church attendance!
The issue of "faith" comes up a number of times. The principle he draws from passages such as Matthew 9:29 is "according to your faith, it will be done to you." Thus great, expectant, out-of-the-box faith will produce astounding church growth results. And, he would say he has the stats to prove it and the testimonials to support it. I wonder if Jesus Himself would agree with Rick's use of these verses for numbers of people in church!
In my consulting with scores of smaller churches in the 100-300 range, especially in the northeast, I have found that men and women of significant faith and hope pastor these churches. I have found pastors that "believe God for great things" only to be faced year after year with churches that do not significantly grow, do not significantly change and people who remain content with where they are. It is too easy to blame the lack of growth on "little faith." And it, in fact, angers me that a megachurch pastor has the audacity to say so! No matter how many testimonials to the contrary.
So what does work in church growth? Here's the answer -- Nothing and anything! "Nothing" means that WE cannot make the church grow. No matter how many "40 Day" Campaigns and programs one has, there is never a "guarantee" for significant growth, or even little and lasting growth. GOD alone is the One who sovereignly gives or withholds church growth, no matter how much or even how little human effort is expended. While Rick pays lip service to this precept, it really is an overriding precept for any church leader and for any church. I have seen weak and below average pastors with very little programmatic savvy grow their churches, and I have seen very gifted and talented pastors set grand objectives and never see growth. GOD gives the increase, no matter how much seed we plant!
"Anything" means church growth does not in the end hang upon a well-tuned program or campaign or thrust. If we do a campaign and God grants growth we tend to think it was our hard work, sweat, tears, prayers and so forth that produced it. (Oh. come on! Sure it is!!) If we preach sermons that barely hang together, have administrative nightmares in church programming and yet love people and the church grows, we end up amazed. And, if the church really grows we are asked for our "secret." There is NO SECRET. "Anything" means God often uses weakness for His own glory and purposes.
So then, do we enmesh ourselves in passivity? Do we do nothing about church growth? Do we do away with all the campaigns? I'm not saying that at all. But before we get our heartbeat going on "exponential thinking" we need to understand that God and God alone will either bless the campaign, ignore the campaign, diminish the campaign, or go around the campaign to accomplish His objectives for His church, of which we are just "managers" for a season.
The "exponential thinking" precept he rallies for is problematic for me. Of course, once that is said the charge of "little" faith comes creeping into the discussion. Little faith gets little results; great faith gets great results, he would say. Really?! What troubles me in particular is that he hangs the principle of exponential thinking on Bible verses that have little or nothing to do with church growth, church size, and ministry expansion. For instance, just because the Israelites "multiplied" in the desert (Ex. 1:7,12) does not imply God loves large numbers and desires everything to so multiply, especially church attendance!
The issue of "faith" comes up a number of times. The principle he draws from passages such as Matthew 9:29 is "according to your faith, it will be done to you." Thus great, expectant, out-of-the-box faith will produce astounding church growth results. And, he would say he has the stats to prove it and the testimonials to support it. I wonder if Jesus Himself would agree with Rick's use of these verses for numbers of people in church!
In my consulting with scores of smaller churches in the 100-300 range, especially in the northeast, I have found that men and women of significant faith and hope pastor these churches. I have found pastors that "believe God for great things" only to be faced year after year with churches that do not significantly grow, do not significantly change and people who remain content with where they are. It is too easy to blame the lack of growth on "little faith." And it, in fact, angers me that a megachurch pastor has the audacity to say so! No matter how many testimonials to the contrary.
So what does work in church growth? Here's the answer -- Nothing and anything! "Nothing" means that WE cannot make the church grow. No matter how many "40 Day" Campaigns and programs one has, there is never a "guarantee" for significant growth, or even little and lasting growth. GOD alone is the One who sovereignly gives or withholds church growth, no matter how much or even how little human effort is expended. While Rick pays lip service to this precept, it really is an overriding precept for any church leader and for any church. I have seen weak and below average pastors with very little programmatic savvy grow their churches, and I have seen very gifted and talented pastors set grand objectives and never see growth. GOD gives the increase, no matter how much seed we plant!
"Anything" means church growth does not in the end hang upon a well-tuned program or campaign or thrust. If we do a campaign and God grants growth we tend to think it was our hard work, sweat, tears, prayers and so forth that produced it. (Oh. come on! Sure it is!!) If we preach sermons that barely hang together, have administrative nightmares in church programming and yet love people and the church grows, we end up amazed. And, if the church really grows we are asked for our "secret." There is NO SECRET. "Anything" means God often uses weakness for His own glory and purposes.
So then, do we enmesh ourselves in passivity? Do we do nothing about church growth? Do we do away with all the campaigns? I'm not saying that at all. But before we get our heartbeat going on "exponential thinking" we need to understand that God and God alone will either bless the campaign, ignore the campaign, diminish the campaign, or go around the campaign to accomplish His objectives for His church, of which we are just "managers" for a season.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Moral Problems and High Profile Christian Leaders
In the Atlanta area Bishop Eddie Long has recently been charged with sexual misconduct. Pastor of the burgeoning New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, reports of sexual misconduct and even wife abuse have surfaced. This is just the latest in a series of high profile Christian pastoral leaders succumbing to moral problems. Added to the Protestant problems have been a continuing issue of Roman Catholic priests committing and confessing to moral and sexual misconduct. This blog is not about Eddie Long or any particular pastor or priest. It IS about what happens in high profile Christian leadership and megachurches.
First, we should not be surprised or jaded by such revelations. It is assumed that pastors and priests are a notch "higher" on the moral ladder than others. Not true. Everyone is permeated by a sinful nature and gravitates toward sinful, God-defying or God-denying behavior. Everyone has a tendency and proneness to moral character flaws and transgressions--including church officials. Ordaining men and women doesn't grant them a moral "pass" from their nascent sinful nature and cast. Redemption by Jesus Christ doesn't free anyone totally from sinful tendencies and moral lapses. We still make choices, and many of those choices are not godly, not right and not pleasing to Jesus.
Second, we should not excuse moral failings of high profile pastors and priests. Just because we have a sinful nature does not give license to give in to that nature and commit sinful actions. Eddie Long's statement about his "not being perfect" does not cut any ice or give him a free pass. Choosing to sin, deciding to transgress is inexcusable and denies the grace of God in Christ in us as Christians.
Third, the old adage is unfortunately true--"absolute power corrupts absolutely." Some megachurch leaders do feel that somehow they are granted "extra latitude" from God because of their success and position. This is the result and price of power--in any field, any vocation, any job and any position. Adulation is a most difficult form of temptation, and many succumb to its tendencies to corrupt.
Fourth, EVERY public church official in EVERY position, no matter the amount of people he or she leads, can fail and stumble and fall into moral lapses and worse. I have worked in smaller to midsized churches all my life and have been on boards and committees investigating pastoral transgressions and moral problems. All churches of all sizes have similar problems to high profile megachurches. They simply do not get noticed as much or reported by the press.
Fifth, most congregations and especially megachurch congregations, have little to no idea of the personal and moral life of their leaders and pastors. No report is given on a regular basis to them. No accountability system is in place for many of them. And, sad to say, many "sheep" really act like sheep -- dumb, blind, and fiercely loyal no matter what. It is no surprise that Eddie Long's congregation stands behind him. Not all, of course, but many. Followers follow, without much critical examination or ongoing questions about their leaders. Otherwise they would not be there. They would have left long ago. The early church Bereans in the book of Acts were of "noble character" because "they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11) Where does that happen in church work today?? Not much and not often.
Sixth, EVERY pastoral leader of whatever church size and stature will one day stand before the Perfect Judge, Jesus Christ, and give an accounting of his or her actions and life vocation. Wrongs will be eternally righted. Judgments will be rightly given. Let all of us in those positions therefore serve with "fear and trembling" knowing that the Judge of all the earth will do right!!
First, we should not be surprised or jaded by such revelations. It is assumed that pastors and priests are a notch "higher" on the moral ladder than others. Not true. Everyone is permeated by a sinful nature and gravitates toward sinful, God-defying or God-denying behavior. Everyone has a tendency and proneness to moral character flaws and transgressions--including church officials. Ordaining men and women doesn't grant them a moral "pass" from their nascent sinful nature and cast. Redemption by Jesus Christ doesn't free anyone totally from sinful tendencies and moral lapses. We still make choices, and many of those choices are not godly, not right and not pleasing to Jesus.
Second, we should not excuse moral failings of high profile pastors and priests. Just because we have a sinful nature does not give license to give in to that nature and commit sinful actions. Eddie Long's statement about his "not being perfect" does not cut any ice or give him a free pass. Choosing to sin, deciding to transgress is inexcusable and denies the grace of God in Christ in us as Christians.
Third, the old adage is unfortunately true--"absolute power corrupts absolutely." Some megachurch leaders do feel that somehow they are granted "extra latitude" from God because of their success and position. This is the result and price of power--in any field, any vocation, any job and any position. Adulation is a most difficult form of temptation, and many succumb to its tendencies to corrupt.
Fourth, EVERY public church official in EVERY position, no matter the amount of people he or she leads, can fail and stumble and fall into moral lapses and worse. I have worked in smaller to midsized churches all my life and have been on boards and committees investigating pastoral transgressions and moral problems. All churches of all sizes have similar problems to high profile megachurches. They simply do not get noticed as much or reported by the press.
Fifth, most congregations and especially megachurch congregations, have little to no idea of the personal and moral life of their leaders and pastors. No report is given on a regular basis to them. No accountability system is in place for many of them. And, sad to say, many "sheep" really act like sheep -- dumb, blind, and fiercely loyal no matter what. It is no surprise that Eddie Long's congregation stands behind him. Not all, of course, but many. Followers follow, without much critical examination or ongoing questions about their leaders. Otherwise they would not be there. They would have left long ago. The early church Bereans in the book of Acts were of "noble character" because "they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true." (Acts 17:11) Where does that happen in church work today?? Not much and not often.
Sixth, EVERY pastoral leader of whatever church size and stature will one day stand before the Perfect Judge, Jesus Christ, and give an accounting of his or her actions and life vocation. Wrongs will be eternally righted. Judgments will be rightly given. Let all of us in those positions therefore serve with "fear and trembling" knowing that the Judge of all the earth will do right!!
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