disillusionment with church

This past week I have had several conversations with several different people that underscored a growing sentiment, a sentiment that Bev and I have been hearing for about five years. People are very disillusioned with the way we interpret and do church. Now before you disengage spiritually and intellectually with this statement, before you immediately assume that these people are somehow disgruntled church-goers who want to do things their own way, hear what I have to say.

Most of these kinds of conversations have been with people who either are or who have been in leadership in a local church, pastors, elders, people in music ministry, and deacons, etc. They are not disillusioned with God, with Jesus, or even with heart to heart transformational relationships. No these things are dear to their heart. What does deeply bother them is the lack of these things in their churches. What does deeply bother them is a sense that the system of church (the structure, the activities, the ministries) has taken precedence over both God and people. What does bother them is the lack of love for people. What does bother them is that when they begin to question the status quo, they are immediately dismissed at best and rejected and vilified at worst by those who seek to protect the church system.

A pastor wondered if it is even possible for the large church he led to be truly real and vulnerable. (He confessed that people in the church were sure that they were vulnerable but in reality were hiding behind facades.)

An elder wondered if anyone in his church would even relate to him if he wasn't an elder. Would anyone miss him if he quit attending Sunday services?

The wife of a person previously involved in music ministry expressed with sadness that when her husband was no longer "in ministry", people quit relating to her and even avoided her.

A couple that both participated in various leadership positions in church observed that they had gotten so busy in "ministry" in the church that they no longer had the time or energy to engage with people in a meaningful way.

The frequent reaction of people who seek to protect the church system is to quickly assume that something is somehow wrong with people I mentioned above. I know all of the listed people personally (and could have listed many, many more). Each person I referred to above is a follower of Jesus. They are not rebellious or trying to cause trouble. They are simply responding to what they see, the reality of their situation.

They have been to the top of the system and have discovered it to be empty. They fear that we have left the ways of following Jesus, exchanging active participation with Jesus in redeeming the world for busy church activities. They no longer have a desire to build a great ministry, a great church, or a great anything. They simply want be deeply involved in the redemptive work of God in the world, interacting with people in a way that God's transformational power is unleashed. They do not want to align with and to be identified by a specific group, ministry, or man. Rather they want to be aligned with and be identified by their participation with Jesus. On the other hand, they deeply yearn for God-centered personal relationships that will be both safe and challenging. Relationships that go beyond the "how are you? I'm fine" standard that defines many church relationships.

For the past number of years people from all types of theological persuasions have been prophesying that a new wineskin (to use Jesus' words), a new way of being church, (perhaps more accurately, a restoration of an old way being church) would emerge. We are seeing that emergence in the hearts of people.

Abundant life and the Waterfront Tavern

This past Saturday evening Bev and I enjoyed an evening together. Friends had given us a generous gift certificate to the Waterfront Tavern in Lewistown. Everything about the evening sparkled with life. The chef at the Waterfront obviously enjoys creating culinary masterpieces, blending flavors and presenting them exquisitely. The steak seemed to melt in your mouth, every bite of the crab cakes demanded another. The October Spice lager blended with the meal to perfection. We dared to try an unknown (to us) desert of rum-soaked lady fingers topped with mousse and chocolate syrup to discover it equalled the rest of the meal. We finished off our desert with steaming rich coffee enhanced with real cream.

The entire experience caused me to reflect on life, more specifically, the abundant life promised by Jesus. It seems to me that we frequently define Christianity, not by abundant life, but by the things we can't or shouldn't do. A pastor friend of mine was recently chided for having too much fun in public. Somehow we have made Christianity into a dull, sober lifestyle, mistakenly assuming that our joyless existence satisfies God.

When I began to truly follow Jesus, I discovered joy in the journey. My life is no longer defined by a set of rules but rather by abundant life. I have learned to shun the things that are not conducive to abundant life. I am learning to wholeheartedly embrace the things that bring life. Abundant life does not eliminate pain but rather it carries me through the normal pain experienced as a result of living in a sin-tainted world. Abundant life does not negate the mundane, ordinary duties of life, it causes me to rise above the place of being defined by those duties. Abundant life does not always keep me from sinning but it will keep me from living in a place of sin.

I do not believe that our experience at the Waterfront caused abundant life, it was a result of abundant life. Abundant life begins in the heart, in our place of oneness with God. As we heed the longing of our spirit to be united with Him, we discover our heart becoming alive. The "aliveness" in our heart then allows us to experience the fullness of God as expressed in our day to day world.

I believe that the writer of Proverbs understood this as he penned the following words -
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. (Proverbs 4:23). My prayer for you is that your heart is well, that you too experience the abundant life!

walking together

For those of you who wondered - I did not vanish from sight the past month! It has been a very active season in our lives. For our family, this has traditionally been our busy time of year.

Bev and I did have the opportunity this past weekend to spend time with some fellow travellers on our pursuit of God at our New York lakefront property. At one time our friends were on the road to destruction but more recently have begun the journey toward life. Our time with them refreshed us and reaffirmed the value of connecting relationally in a heart to heart manner with people.

While most people affirm the need for relationships, I am convinced that most people rarely experience deep, heart to heart relationships. I am not talking about the Sunday morning "I'm fine, how are you" kind of relationships. The relationships I am talking about result from life deeply shared. Struggles, joys, dreams, and encouragement are freely shared. Burdens are carried together, questions are explored in community. Facades are not necessary, and in fact, are discouraged. In the midst of our heart to heart relationships, God enters the dialogue, engaging in the give and take.

My hope for each of you reading this is that you will experience the love of true Christian community, not in manner that never goes beyond the surface to the heart, but in the way of Jesus and His disciples, in the way of first century church.

The way it was meant to be

Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was excellent in every way. (Genesis 1:31) Last night Bev and I went to a wedding. Andrew and Kate are some of our favorite young adults. Their passion for Jesus shines through every part of their life.

I don't know if I was ever at a wedding where I saw so many tears. I saw tears in the eyes of both bride and groom, their parents and grandparents, as well as the guests. Andrew's grandfather had the honor of guiding them through the ceremony. At times he had to pause for a moment to compose himself before he could talk.

There was something magical, something enchanting about the wedding. It had nothing to do with the location (although it was at a beautiful mansion), or the actual ceremony (although it was simple yet meaningful), or the food (it was wonderful). No, the sense of enchantment came from somewhere else. I had a strong sense of God smiling His affirmation on the two becoming one. Just as God looked over everything He made and affirmed it thousands of years ago, once again He pronounced it excellent in every way.

I believe the reason for the tears was that people understood somewhere deep in their spirit that this was good. Our spirits were joining with God in the affirmation of the mystery of marriage, a mystery straight from the heart of the Creator, a mystery that stretches to the beginning of time, a mystery that was first evident in Adam's sense of wonderment as he beheld Eve for the first time.

I believe the tenderness of heart that facilitated the blessing of God and the sense of enchantment started with the couple. They have allowed their hearts to love and be loved, both by God and each other. I believe the powerful cross-generational affirmation of a grandfather blessing and honoring two hearts becoming one intensified the sense of awe and holiness. As the parents of both the bride and groom gathered around them and prayed, blessing the union, God's affirmation was evident. The conversation and laughter that accompanied the wedding meal reflected the joy of the Father's heart.

Once again I found myself in a place of God's affirmation, my heart overflowing with a sense of joy - this was good! Once again my spirit harmonized with the heart of the Father, responding to His joy with joy of my own - this was good!

Pharisees still resist Jesus

Jesus greatest resistance throughout His ministry years was not from the Romans and their ungodly government, rather it was from the religious leaders of the day, namely the Pharisees. I have noticed that to this day, the same spirit that was evident in the Pharisees opposes the active work of Jesus. As the work of Jesus increases in the world through the active involvement of His body, Pharisees begin to attack it. I have observed some re-occurring themes when it comes to Pharisees (both in Jesus’ day and today).

Pharisees are self proclaimed keepers of the truth – they have a tightly defined system of beliefs about God. Anything that lies outside of that system of belief is immediately and vociferously attacked as from the devil. Because Jesus never seemed to adhere to their system of beliefs, He was proclaimed to be from the devil. They still demonize people who deviate from the accepted system of beliefs. Pharisees freely use the terms like “false teachers”, “snakes”, and “deceived” to describe anyone who would dare to disagree with them. They care more about the protection of their doctrinal systems than about people. To even question their pet doctrines is heretical to them. In a reality, the truth they proclaim is not God’s truth but their own. They may find scriptures that support some of their beliefs, but at the core, they hold to their own truth not God’s truth.

Pharisees are never wrong in their eyes – Since they are the “keepers of the truth”, they cannot be wrong. While they profess to love truth, what they really love is themselves and their projected image of God. Since they cannot be wrong (they will find the scriptures to PROVE they are not wrong), anyone who disagrees must be wrong.

Pharisees refuse to humbly and honestly search the scriptures – Pharisees take a great deal of pride in their adherence to the scriptures. However, they come to the scriptures with their own set of paradigms. In so doing, they frequently make the scriptures say something they were never meant to say. They will allow and even promote shoddy exegesis of the scriptures if it will further their own agenda. They are not “learners” due to the fact that they have God “figured out”. They resist learning from and embracing the pattern of Jesus as revealed in the Gospels. Rather than interpret the scriptures through the life and pattern of Jesus, they attempt to fit Jesus into their belief system. Where He does not fit, He is ignored

Pharisees love judgment – Since they have all truth and are the epitome of godliness in their own eyes, they eagerly await the judgment of those that do not hold to their accepted belief system. They profess that their judgment is motivated by love, but their attitude displays anything but love and graciousness. Sinners MUST be punished and the earlier God punishes the sinner the better it will be. As I stated earlier, they are quick to label anyone who disagrees with them as deceived. They have a clear line of demarcation – people are either “in or out”.

I work with a great deal of pagans as well as new believers in Jesus. The Pharisees always make my work more difficult. Instead of bringing healing, they cause pain. Instead of bringing freedom, they bring bondage. Instead of bringing life they bring death. Instead of encouraging vulnerable learning and curiosity about the scriptures that depends on the Holy Spirit’s teaching, they dictate rigid dogma. At every turn, they resist the work of Jesus.

I believe that we live in the most exciting time in history. Unfortunately like in Jesus' day, the greatest resistance will come from Pharisees. I expect that as God's plan continues to unfold, the Pharisees will beome more vocal and vehement. Be encourage though, their poisonous doctrines will not prevail against the work of Jesus!!

Superstar??? Christians

This week, two stories from the church world made the news. Unfortunately they were not the kind of stories that demonstrate the cause of Christ. On the 23d, the AP broke a story about Juanita Bynum, a female televangelist and author and her husband, Thomas Weeks III, founder of Global Destiny Churches. Apparently the couple had separated and are no longer together. In a confrontation, Weeks assaulted Bynum, choking her and kicking her. Bynum and Weeks were married in 2002 in an extremely elaborate, televised wedding

On the 23d as well, the Tampa Tribune released the news that Randy and Paula White, pastors of Church Without Walls in Tampa, were announcing their divorce. Church Without Walls is reported to be one of the largest and fastest growing churches in the United States. The Whites have been under scrutiny for some time for their lavish lifestyles.

Both cases reveal a deep sickness in the American church. The church has been transformed from the Body of Christ into what is the equivalent of a large corporation. Leading these corporations we have superstar leaders who justify their extravagant lifestyles by pointing to the corporate world. These are the leaders who are placed on a pedestal by gullible believers who carnally desire to have a king.

These two stories reveal the moral rot that frequently exists behind the facade of success. While I have no expectations that leaders live perfectly (they wouldn't need a Savior if they did!), I do have problems with the way they position themselves as superstars, their attitude frequently mirroring that of professional athletes. It is an attitude of "I deserve more". Instead of standing with the people they lead, they stand above - in extravagance of lifestyle, in the demands to be served, in the expectations of financial remuneration.

When placed against the example of Jesus, the lifestyle of these superstar leaders bears no resemblance to the Son of Man. Jesus washed His disciples feet (donkey doo and all). Jesus exercised His authority for the benefit of messy, broken people, not to build a soft life of ease. Jesus freely relinquished His rights to self aggrandisement. In reality, Jesus penetrated the lowest strata of society, choosing to live in a way that indentified with the poor and the marginlized.

Perhaps it is time for the followers of Christ to begin to emulate His lifestyle instead instead of the lifestyles of the rich and famous in our society. Now wouldn't that be a novel idea!

misplaced focus

One of the greatest dangers we face in our pursuit of Jesus is the "good things" that can subtly shift our focus away from Him. Jesus warned that the thief would come and attempt to kill, steal, and destroy. We usually assume that the thief is some evil thing or sin that steals our life, some terrible thing like immorality, substance abuse, or violence. I believe that the most insidious thief poses as things we would call good, things that seem right to us.


Let me illustrate. A young man recently related to me how he had been part of a church who had stressed that God has a specific destiny for each person. While that teaching is correct, he realized that at some point he placed the pursuit of his destiny ahead of his pursuit of God. In so doing, he made his God-given destiny his idol. It happened for me as well. For years I pursued God because I needed Him for successful ministry. It was not until several years ago that I realized that I did not pursue God for Him, I pursued Him for what He could do for me.

We so often subtly shift our focus away from God on to some good thing - things like church, ministry, work, family, worship, prayer etc. In so doing, we sacrifice abundant life; we sacrifice the fruit of the Holy Spirit (love, joy, peace, etc). Our life becomes consumed with activity and busyness; God 's presence is more of a token afterthought than an ever present reality.

Return to Him, to the simplicity of relationship, to life, abundant life. Pursue Him, not ministry or church, or any other good thing that seeks to steal your focus.