Category: Navigating God’s Crazy and Wonderful Invention, the Church

What is the church like, and how can we make it all that God wants it to be?

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The Advantages of Being Part of a Church

It’s easy to take people for granted. When people are present in our lives, it’s easy for us to miss the contribution they make, the support they give, and the comfort they provide.

The church is like that, too. It’s easy to miss its significant contribution to our lives.

An outside perspective can help us appreciate the things we take for granted. Dr. Roberta Gilbert is a psychiatrist and family therapist who has written a number of books on family relationships. She sought to apply these insights to the clergy in a series of seminars done at the request of several church leaders. You can read the substance of what she taught in her book Extraordinary Leadership.

In one of the chapters, she explains the benefits of being part of a congregation, and I found it very helpful and encouraging to me as a pastor.

Here’s what she says.

First, the congregation provides a unique support system. Family is probably our most important support system, but it has its limits. A congregation can provide an additional support system through the ups and downs of life. It can be a life line for anyone who is in times of great distress.

Second, in times of high stress and key turning points in our lives (she calls them “nodal events”) such as births, weddings, sickness, and funerals, the congregation and pastor provide a crucial calming influence and moral, social, spiritual, and even financial support. Continue reading “The Advantages of Being Part of a Church”

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Denominations

The fact that the church is divided into a multitude of denominations does not bother me.

There is a core of Christian teaching that provides a basic unity across denominations.

There is unity, but there is also diversity. Denominations seek to bear witness to the fuller teaching of Scripture and think through the details of the organization and government of the church.

That diversity is not necessarily bad. What is the alternative? In my view, only two: indifference to doctrinal precision or coerced unity for doctrinal uniformity.

The first option would be to say that doctrinal and organizational precision does not matter, but that would be to give up any united witness to the whole counsel of God.

The second option is to try to enforce unity by demanding that every church or individual agree to all the particulars of doctrine. This seems to me to be a recipe for hypocrisy.

A variety of denominations is the only option left. The church can have different organizations all seeking to do their best to explain the faith in its broader implications. The advantages of this arrangement is freedom of thought and conscience, a measure of unity, and a basis for common ministry.

But what about choosing a denomination or evaluate the denomination we are in? In light of the principles stated above, I believe that there are two wrong approaches we can take to our own denomination or tradition. Continue reading “Denominations”

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What Is Evangelicalism?

The overwhelming majority of white American evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the last presidential election. This fact is as controversial as the president himself is, and, to many, it sullies the reputation of evangelicalism.

The important thing to note here is that we are talking about the majority of “white” evangelicals in America. It’s very important to note that there are also African-American evangelicals and Hispanic-American evangelicals who have a very different perspective.

Please also consider that all of the above are “American” evangelicals. There are also Korean evangelicals, African evangelicals, European evangelicals, Chinese evangelicals, and so on.

This shows us that evangelicalism is something independent of America, ethnicity, nationality, and even Donald Trump. Continue reading “What Is Evangelicalism?”

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The Goal of the Church Is Not the Church

Why did God establish the church? To glorify God and bless the world.

The interesting thing is that the particular individuals who make up the church don’t need to be very good at all at doing that to be part of the church.

First, the church is designed to be a place where anyone, believer or unbeliever, can come, make connections, and learn about God at their own pace (see a fuller explanation of this point here).

Second, anyone who professes faith in Jesus and promises by God’s grace to seek to follow Him is accepted as a brother and sister in Jesus Christ (see “Theses on Church Membership” for more on this here).

This means the door to the church and the kingdom of God is wide open. “Whosoever will may come.”

It is important for us to see, however, that we don’t want to leave people there. We want to help people become what they were made to be. “Therefore, let us make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Rom. 14:19). Edification–we keep building one another up.

Ultimately, our goal is to raise up leaders who will glorify God in the church in the world and bless themselves and others.

This doesn’t mean that everyone has to become a Pastor. We can and should be leaders where we are. This may mean that you seek to become a better parent (Eph. 6:1–4). It may mean that you find those who are in need and make clothes for them like Tabitha (Acts 9:36–39). It may mean that you reach out to someone and encourage them like Barnabas (Acts 9:26–27). It may mean you come alongside someone like Philip (Acts 8:26–40). It may mean you take a step across the aisle to love those you consider to be your enemies (Mt. 5:43–45). It may mean you start a business that will give people employment and honest labor, which in itself is glorifying to God (cf. Col. 3:22–4:1).

When you go to church this Sunday, think: everything we do in here is designed to be taken out there. We build one another up so we are better equipped to live in the world. We worship God together to be reminded that all things are for His glory. We build community in the church to make us better prepared to be a part of the larger world community.

That is the goal of the church, to glorify God and bless the world. Freely you have received. Freely give, not only to those in the church but to all (Gal. 6:9–10).

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Living with Diversity

Families are designed to help us learn to live with people who are different than us.

My 3rd child has started going to public school. That means that she is getting up earlier. What does she want to do in the morning? Talk. My wife and I like to quietly read and meditate in the morning, if possible. There’s nothing wrong with either preference. We’re just different.

But how are we going to deal with it? Can we tolerate the differences, live with them, and even thrive with them?

Sadly, many families don’t prepare people well for living with differences. Instead, they do one of three things. They either seek to suppress the differences, continually fight about them, or eventually flee from them.

The church is also designed to be a place where a diversity of people come together. A Christian is someone who believes in Jesus as the one who saves us from our predicament in sin and brings us to forgiveness and new life. Anyone can hear the message about Jesus, accept it, and become a Christian that very moment. Ideally, they also become a part of a particular community (i.e., the church) at that time.

When this happens, you have people who have a lot of different ideas, a lot of different backgrounds, and a lot of different experiences coming together to try and make the community work. Romans 14 describes the situation in the early Christian communities. The Christian teacher named Paul wrote to the Christian community in Rome describing this situation, “One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. . . . One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike” (Rom. 14:2, 5).

So, what are we to do with this diversity? The church has often tried the same things that families try: suppress the differences or continually fight about them. They also do what families sometimes do when these becomes too difficult. The differences are so hard to deal with that they just separate (which leaves them just as ill-equipped to deal with differences as before).

In the same letter, Paul gives some helpful instructions on how to live together in diversity. Here’s what he proposed:

  1. Receive or accept each other. “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters” (Rom. 14:1). What if our basic stance toward others was to accept and receive them whatever their differences?
  2. Do not have contempt for others. “The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them” (Rom. 14:3).

    3. Continue reading “Living with Diversity”

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