The Jesus Sensitive Church Review

If Jesus were on earth today where would he worship?  That is the intriguing question posed by Ron Auch and Dean Niforatos in their work The Jesus Sensitive Church: Would Jesus Worship Here? .  I received this book free from New Leaf Press to review. 

I actually received this book without much knowledge of it.  The title was compelling, and the central question was one the piqued my interest.  I was further interested by the fact that these men are of the Pentecostal faith.  I am not.  It is always interesting to here ecclesiological critiques from people of different denominational backgrounds. 

It is interesting that most of what you read in the first few chapters could have easily been taken out of a book from the Reformed community critical of the “seeker-sensitive” movement.  Chapter 2’s Give Them What They Want is a familiar sounding critique that is not exclusive to Pentecostalism.

I typically feel a great disconnect between myself and many of those in Pentecostalism.  Honestly, much of that is probably my own limited exposure (ala TBN).  I was shocked to hear these guys saying much the same thing that my own communities are saying. 

Then in chapter seven the Pentecostal beliefs begin to really thunder through the pages.  The first six chapters deconstruct the seeker-sensitive church.  Essentially they are saying that Jesus would not worship in a seeker-sensitive church. 

Well then, what type of church would Jesus worship in?  What they are really asking is—what type of church gathering will have the blessing of Almighty God.  Their answer?  One that is Spirit-filled, full-gospel believing, and baptized in the Spirit manifested through the speaking of tongues. 

The last six chapter are about the “baptism of the Holy Spirit” and that this is the mark that is missing in modern churches.  If you know me, then you know that I disagree.  Debating with Pentecostals is not the point of this review.  I’ll just simply say I disagree with this major thrust of the book—and leave it at that. 

So, since I won’t be following the advice to pursue “getting filled” what can a Jesus-loving Southern Baptist take from this book?  For one, even though I disagree with their application and interpretation of passages on the Spirit, I do agree that a de-emphasis on the Holy Spirit is rampant in churches.  This book can be a wake up call to consider the Spirit in our ecclesiology. 

Also to be respected is their passion for holiness.  And I really do think that the author’s of this book have a deep love for Jesus and want to see Him glorified in churches and throughout the world.  Many of their critiques are spot on and there is much to commend here. 

However, at the end of the day I think this book falls into the same trap that many books of this type do.  That is the if you do ___ then God will do _____ formula.  They are not nearly as bad as many of the other books—because I don’t think they really are hoping to have mega-churches.  They want to be faithful to God.  But I think their underlying theological presuppositions necessitate this formulaic understanding.  In other words Pentecostalism stems from this very If I do ___, God does ____ formula. 

Would I recommend it?  Honestly, probably not.  I think if I were a Pentecostal then this book would be great and serve as a wonderful wake up call.  I hope the Lord uses it this way.  I hope God uses this book in Pentecostal churches to call the people to get back to the Scriptures, pursue holiness, embrace the gospel, and surrender to Jesus and not to methodologies. 

But I would not suggest this book to those in my congregation because I fundamentally disagree with the last six chapters.  And where this book is strong I can find other books that are also strong and do not end at the Pentecostal conclusion. 

But that’s my take, you can check it out yourself: The Jesus Sensitive Church: Would Jesus Worship Here? You can buy it used at Amazon for less than a buck.  It’s pretty well-written and is an easy read.

Rating 2.5 out of 5 Stars

Guinness on Relevance

By our uncritical pursuit of relevance we have actually courted irrelevance; by our breathless chase after relevance without a matching commitment to faithfulness, we have become not only unfaithful but irrelevant; by our determined efforts to redefine ourselves in ways that are more compelling to the modern world than are faithful to Christ, we have lost not only our identity but our authority and our relevance. Our crying need is to be faithful as well as relevant.

-Os Guinness, Prophetic Untimeliness, page 15

In my opinion understanding Guinness' plea will determine whether missional (emerging, contextualizing, whatever title you use) churches are "successful" 15 years from now. If they uncritically pursue relevance or "coolness" at the expense of faithfulness we will be having the same dismissal of the seeker-sensitive movement.

What Guinness is saying in this book is that being faithful to be biblical gospel will bring about our relevance. Here is a question for you...is Guinness' quote at odds with this quote by Stetzer?

"It may sound uncharitable, but we do not mean it to be so. But...many will say that theses shifts, and a book like this, do not matter. They are convinced if you just 'preach the gospel' and perhaps 'love people' that your church will reach people. They are wrong, and their ideas hurt the mission of the church. Communities across North America are filled with churches led by loving gospel preachers--most of whom, if statistics are true, are not reaching people."

Ed Stetzer, Breaking the Missional Code, page 14

Making Worship Comprehensible to Unbelievers

I have a confession to make. I've never really read much of anything by Tim Keller. I know he's one of the elite. I know I should read his stuff. I just haven't. At least not much. Until tonight. I dedicated time to my first article by Keller. You can read it here. It discusses Evangelistic Worship. One of Keller's points is that we ought to make our worship service comprehensible to the unbeliever. Here are his seven sub-points on how we make the worship service comprehensible:

1. Worship and preaching ought to be in the "vernacular"
2. Explain the service as you go along
3. Directly address and welcome unbelievers
4. Have quality aesthetics
5. Celebrate deeds of mercy and justice
6. Present the sacraments so as to make the gospel clear
7. Preach grace

What do you think? Be certain to read the article, focus on page 4-10. Is it necessary to preach in the vernacular? Ought we change words like propitiation, to make them more "clear"? Are quality aesthetics necessary? Is this trying to be too smooth? Should the church toot her own horn, for unbelievers? Is this not letting our deeds be known before men? Are the sacraments for unbelievers, believers, or both? How will we edify the body if we "preach grace" every Sunday? Don't we need to move on from these elementary things?
I am pretty certain that I know what I believe on these issues. I am interested, though, to learn what you think? Is Keller on target? Should we even make the worship "comprehensible" for unbelievers? Isn't the service for the believer and God?

Borrowed Light: Today in Blogworld 01/17

Steve Camp is concerned that many Christian men are more concerned about niceness than truth. His main contention is that these men are, "...toy-soldiers [that] carry what I call 'a velvet covered sword.' It's lightweight, easy to wield, isn't designed for battle, takes little strength to lift it, looks inviting, and won't cut too deep for fear of offending too greatly. " Also central to Camp's argument is this statement: "But in our day, postmodern evangelicalism would have us place tone above truth, demeanor above doctrine, feelings before faith, and embrace the comfort of the retreat rather than the campaign of the battlefield."

Challies blog tour reaches Day 9 and finds itself at the home of the IMonk. As Challies sums it up IMonk asks, "questions about what happens to churches and Christians who refuse to practice discernment, about freelance discernment ministries, about a Protestant magisterial and about Tim Horton’s (along with a few other topics)."

Ray Ortlund points us to an excellent quote by James Denney. "No man can give at once the impressions that he himself is clever and that Jesus Christ is mighty to save."

Yesterday at Team Pyro Dan asked a question about a card left at his doorstep. Today he gives the answer, it was indeed Mormons. Dan also shares his experiencing of witnessing to them. It was inspiring and convicting. We've had a couple Mormons walking around our neighborhood and I've never stepped out the door and screamed "Mormons!" so as to engage them.

Jared Wilson shares 5 Important Things the Seeker Sensitive Movement Got Right. Great thoughts. It takes much wisdom to mine even things you do not agree with for truth! Thanks for these thoughts Jared.

Tony Kummer is giving away 3 Children's books at his website. I own The Jesus Storybook Bible but would love to have the other 2 for Isaiah. If God does not grace me with winning this give away I will probably buy them later.