Jesus and Millennial Wants

There was an article that appeared a couple of times on my Facebook feed over the weekend. It’s an article by Rachel Held Evans on Why millennials are leaving the church. There is so much about this article that I celebrate. I appreciate her encouragement to drop the “church-as-performance” model. Furthermore, I think she’s largely correct about why millennials are leaving the church.

Yet at the same time that I celebrate much of the article I remain a tad befuddled. At one point the author states, “we millennials have highly sensitive BS meters, and we’re not easily impressed with consumerism or performances”. And she then makes the argument that “what millennials want is a change in substance”. After this she lists several things that this generation wants from church.

Her striking conclusion—the point that the whole article is driving towards—is that “we’re leaving the church because we don’t find Jesus there.” And that is what confuses me.

Why I’m befuddled

If what she means is that churches aren’t preaching Jesus then I think millennials ought to leave. But it isn’t the church that millennials are leaving its a social club with a cross hanging on the side of the building. Maybe a mass exodus out of social clubs calling themselves a church isn’t such a bad thing. 

But I don’t think that is the whole story. I wonder if maybe we millennials are the very thing that we say that we hate. On one hand we say that we want Jesus. But I wonder if it’s really Jesus that we want.

If what we really want is Jesus, then we ought to drop our “wants” and come running—not only to Jesus but to the messy church that he bought with His blood. Listen, the second that we come to Jesus with a list of our wants we’ve moved away from being a disciple and we’ve become a consumer. Which, again, is the very thing that Evans says millennials dislike about the church.

If you leave when you don’t like something that is the mentality of a consumer, not of a disciple.

Jesus and Millennial Wants

As I scan through the Gospels, I’m thinking about how Jesus responded to those that approached him as consumers. On one hand our Lord is always stooping. He reaches people where they are. And if this happens to be as a consumer—the Lord stoops and speaks to them on that level. But he always challenges them.

I think of the Rich Young Ruler that viewed Jesus as a good teacher that could nail down this question that has been nagging him. He left sorrowful because Jesus wasn’t a product to be consumed but a King to be followed.

I consider the throng of people that wanted to make Jesus a king because of his culinary skills. They left that day without their king because Jesus isn’t merely an earthly king to be hoisted onto a temporary throne, He’s the eternal ruler and sustainer of the universe.

I’m left to wonder whether or not millennials really want Jesus. Because if we do then we’re probably going to look more like Paul who gave himself to the church for the sake of Jesus’ sheep. And that doesn’t look much like leaving a church because it doesn’t look like what you want. It looks like staying, and pleading, and praying, and surrendering, and repenting, and changing, and growing, and messing up, and being involved in the yuck of church until the day Jesus returns and we’re all transformed.

So yeah, I’ve got to be honest and say I’m not really concerned with asking a group of millennials what they want out of church. I’ll talk. I’ll listen. But at the end of the day I hope that we both begin to ask what is it that Jesus wants out of the church. And I just bet it will be a little more than a fickle and consumerist commitment to the Bride of His affection.

5 Reasons To Be a Member of a Local Church

Today’s guest post comes from the pen of Dave Jenkins. Dave is a Christian, husband to Sarah, freelance writer, avid golfer, and the Director of Servants of Grace Ministries. You can follow him on twitter at @DaveJJenkins or read more of his work at http://servantsofgrace.org

The belief that professing Christians should gather together as members of a local Church is waning in many sectors of Christianity. Some feel that faith shouldn’t be “institutionalized” and should be a private matter between individuals, not something to be experienced in community.

Here are five reasons why I feel Christians should be members of a local church. This isn’t an exhaustive list, but these reasons give Christians a biblical framework to think through why they should be members of a local Church.

First, The Bible clearly teaches that God made a distinction between His people and the world (Lev 13:46; Number 5:3; Deut. 7:3).  Christ says that entering the Kingdom of God means being bound to the Church “on earth” (Matthew 16:16-19; 18:17-19). The New Testament refers to some people being inside the church and some people being outside the church. (1 Cor. 5:12-13). The church in Corinth consisted of a definite number of believers, such that Paul could speak of a punishment inflicted by the majority (2 Cor. 2:6). Not only does the New Testament speak of the reality of church membership, but its dozens of “one another” passages are written to local churches. The “one another” passages in the New Testament fill out our understanding of what church members should look like practically. Biblical church membership is important, because the church presents God’s witness to Himself in the world, and displays His glory. In the church’s membership, then non-Christians should see in the lives of God’s changed people that God is holy and gracious and that His gospel is powerful for saving and transforming sinners.

Second, the Epistles were all written to local churches. A brief sampling of Paul’s epistles make this abundantly clear:  1 Corinthians 1:1-2, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:” 2 Corinthians 1:1-2, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus  by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia.” Philippians 1:1-2, “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons.” Galatians 1:1-2, “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:” 1 Thessalonians 1:1-2, “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.”

Third, Christ saves Christians to live in community with other believers. Christ calls believers to local church membership not just for our spiritual growth, but also so that they may use their spiritual gifts in the context of the local Church.

Fourth, some people think that meeting together with other Christians is not important because the early Church only gathered in small groups in Acts 2:42-48. The problem with this view is ignores history. As the Church continued to grow, they gathered together in large gatherings. There were small group meetings but there were large gatherings. Regardless of if the local Church meets in a building or in a home it doesn’t matter. The Church is comprised of people who been regenerated by the work of the Spirit. The people of God are to gather to worship together in Spirit and Truth, to hear the preached Word, participate in communion, baptism, and then scatter to spread the Great Commission in their families, neighborhoods, cities and to the nations.

While many people have a problem with the Church the Bible clearly teaches that professing Christians are to be members of local Churches. While local Churches may have many issues, the Church itself is purchased by Christ and is therefore blameless. The members inside the Church are justified and yet sinners meaning they are made right with God through the blood of Jesus but still growing in Christ-like character and going forth in Christ’s name to their families, neighborhoods, cities and to the nations with the Gospel.

Finally, those who object the loudest to this kind of teaching think that they can be Christians and not be in the Church. From even from a cursory examination of the Scriptures- the lone-ranger view of being a Christian is not biblical. Christ saves Christians to live in community with other believers. Christ calls believers to membership in the local Church not only for their own spiritual growth but to use our spiritual gifts in the context of the local Church.

Christ calls other Christians to live in community with other Christians for the purpose of accountability, and spiritual growth. Christ calls Christians to live in community with other believers so they will grow in likeness to Jesus Christ. Christ calls Christians to live in community with other believers so that believers may minister in and through their local churches in order to reach one’s community, city, nation and the world with the Gospel.

In conclusion, Christ doesn’t save sinners so they will live in isolation or be lone-rangers—He saves them so that they will be in community with one another, speaking the truth in love to one another, “one anothering” each other, and displaying forth His character, and glory to a watching, but unbelieving world.

Why I Don’t Make the Sign of the Cross OR How to Think Through Early Church Practices

The sign of the cross is “a ritual blessing made by members of many branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with the right hand, often accompanied by spoken or mental recitation of the Trinitarian formula.”

This practice at least goes back as early as Tertullian (160-220) who said:

"In all our travels and movements, in all our coming in and going out, in putting off our shoes, at the bath, at the table, in lighting our candles, in lying down, in sitting down, whatever employment occupies us, we mark our foreheads with the sign of the cross."

Because this is such an early practice it really causes me to wonder whether or not we ought to follow suit and do what these early Christians obviously practiced. As I read through early church history there are many such practices that can, at times, be unsettling.

A person in the second century lived closer to Jesus than I do. And they lived closer to the apostles—some of them even disciples of the apostles. I’ve had to give some thought to how I think through early church practices. When I come across one of these practices I ask a couple of questions.

1. Does it directly contradict Scripture? Is it expressly commanded in Scripture?

Just because somebody lived in the 3rd century it doesn’t mean that he has to be right. Even the apostle Peter abandoned the teaching of Jesus when he hypocritically refused to eat with Gentiles. That means that anybody who isn’t the incarnate Son of God is fair game for questioning. And we question ourselves and history according to the Scriptures. (In fact if the claims of Christ were held up “according to the Scriptures”).

If a practice contradicts Scripture then I had better avoid it no matter what tradition says. On the other hand if something is expressly commanded in Scripture (and not merely descriptive) then I had better be sure to practice it.

2. How does it translate into today?

There is a reason why I don’t encourage the women in our church to wear head-coverings. It’s not because I believe what Paul was saying in 1 Corinthians 11 has no meaning. It is because I believe the symbol of head-coverings has lost the meaning that Paul wanted to highlight. Therefore, it’s pointless to make a stink about the shadow if the substance is retained in something else.

So if I see an early church practice I’m left to wonder whether it has that same meaning/symbolism in our day. If it doesn’t can that be recovered? Would it require a ridiculous amount of teaching to recover a 2,000 year old practice? Is there really a point in doing that—especially if it’s not something commanded in Scripture?

Also under this question I ask myself whether or not this practice would cause others to stumble. Is it possible that this practice is something that is associated with a former life that would cause my brother or sister to stumble?

What about the sign of the cross?

On my first question, I do not believe that it directly contradicts any Scripture. Unless you want argue that somehow the sign of the cross confers grace upon someone, then we’ve got a problem with sacramentalism. I also believe that it is not directly taught in Scripture. (I’m not persuaded by the instances in Revelation of marking the forehead with the sign).

Based upon this I’m not going to throw a massive stink if someone is using the sign of the cross as mnemonic tool to remind them of the Trinity, Christ, and His gospel. But am I going to do it myself?

No.

That is because it doesn’t pass my second test. I believe that the practice has become superstitious for many. Most of those that I’ve asked about doing the sign of the cross (which is a small sample size) have not really known what it means. “It’s just something we do”.

For most people in my Southern Baptist congregation making the sign of the cross is a “Catholic thing”. We live in a very Roman Catholic community. One in which people are brought up in the church but many do not have a vital relationship with Jesus*. When they truly come to know Christ they associate things like “the sign of the cross” with their former way of life—which to them was nothing more than superstitious idolatry. For me as a pastor to make the sign of the cross it would, I believe, cause them to stumble.

Therefore, I do not make the sign of the cross, but I don’t make a stink about those that do it—especially if they actually know what it means.

My major point in this article is actually not about making the sign of the cross but only to use that as an example of how I think through early church practices. I believe this is a grid by which we can decide whether or not an early church practice ought to be adopted in our congregations.

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I’m not saying that a Roman Catholic cannot be saved. My answer to that question is similar to that of Doug Wilson.

One Mark of a Truly Spiritual Church

“We don’t have bulletins”, said the pastor quite proudly.

“Why not?”, enquires a sheepish visitor.

The pastor confidently answers, “We want to give the Spirit freedom to work and move in our worship services. We do not want to be shackled and confined by some order of service”.

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That is a real conversation I overheard in a church that I was visiting. At the time I was giving the pastor a thumbs up. I grew up in a Baptist church where the only time you shouted or raised your hands was if somebody elbowed you in the kidney when you nodded off during the pastors sermon. Therefore, this new found freedom of worship was something I was really digging.

Then it got weird.

Nothing like holding snakes or clucking down the aisle like a chicken. But it just got weird. I never knew what to expect from one Sunday to the next. Would we enter into a building with no chairs and start roasting marshmallows while singing Chris Tomlin songs? Would we see a live goat sacrificed as an illustration for the one week sermon series on Leviticus? Would I be called on stage and exposed for something? How long would this meeting last? Who would be speaking?

I never knew the answer to those questions. And eventually I stopped coming because of that. I started believing that it was less about the Spirit and his activity and more about the ideas that this pastor dude got at 2am after a night of indulging in a Chinese buffet. So I went to a church with a little more order.

Some might say that I was simply uncomfortable with the Spirit’s moving. If I really wanted to be in a spiritual church then I wouldn’t need a crazy church bulletin. Maybe, that’s true. But I kind of think the apostle Paul agrees with me.

For God is not a God of confusion but of peace…But all things should be done decently and in order.

According to Paul one mark of a truly spiritual church is a godly order that intends to build up the congregation. It’s the exact opposite of we-don’t-have-bulletins-because-we-have-the-Spirit dude. I’m not saying that bulletins are necessary. In some instances they are just a waste of paper. But order is necessary. The Spirit works in the midst of order not against it.

So the next time some dude invites you to his church that is really spiritual because they just do as the Spirit leads, you might consider 1 Corinthians 14 before signing up.

When Sanctification is Like a Blind Man Describing Colors

This is a blind dude trying to describe color:

Do you ever feel this way about trying to put on the righteousness of Christ? I know I do.

The “taking off” stuff seems easier to me. “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths”…okay I know what that looks like. I’ve done “corrupting talk”. I have a list that describes corrupting talk. I know what it looks like to stop it.

“…but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear”. This is more difficult. How do I know what “building up” looks like if I came from a culture of death that only tears down?

There are some deep-seated sins that seem to be attached to my identity. Some things seem really difficult to tear down. But there are some things that seem impossible to build up, because its like a blind guy trying to describe color. I have a big empty spot in my heart where sin is being ripped out but righteousness has not yet been erected in its place.

Yet I hope…

I have hope for this emptiness because I serve a God who calls light out of darkness. I serve a God who “calls into existence the things that do not exist”. I know that God is teaching me righteousness in places that I’ve never lived it before. I know that God is not only healing my blindness but he is also teaching me how to see.

And he mostly does this through his church. God has placed people in my life to help me live in color.

If you are like me—at times feeling so damaged and empty that positive redemption seems impossible—know that there is hope. God creates beauty out of ashes and he calls into existence that which was nothing. You have hope. Surround yourself with people that live in color.

If you live in color it is a necessity that you seek out those that are learning to see. We need your eyes.

How Hospitality Reflects Your Grasp of the Gospel

You want to grow your church?

Practice hospitality. (And that means more than serving awesome fried chicken)

I’ve read about 50 articles today that begin a similar way. They promise us church growth and then give us a few steps to implement hospitality. Tips like making sure that the word of life doesn’t come with the breath of death—in other words tell your greeters to try some breath mints.

Now don’t get me wrong. These articles have been really helpful. And I really do believe that healthy churches are also hospitable churches. But when I read these articles something in my stomach starts to churn.

What’s the Problem?

Hospitality is not a means to grow your church. It is fundamental to a churches identity. It is who you are. If we’ve botched hospitality it is because in some way we have botched the gospel.

Consider the story of Simon the Pharisee. This dude was a terrible host. There are certain things that a host does for his guest. Or at least he has a servant or somebody do them. But not Simon. Simon’s hospitality stinks. And Jesus tells us why, “…he who is forgiven little, loves little”. Our hospitality reflects our grasp of the gospel.

Furthermore, hospitality is a reminder of our alien status. Show me a church that does not practice hospitality and I will show you a church that is comfortably living the American dream. They’ve started thinking that they are home and so they’ve lost their sojourner impulse.

Throughout the narrative of Scripture God’s people are portrayed as sojourners. They are slaves in Egypt. Exiles in Babylon and Assyria. This doesn’t change in the New Testament. Our Master didn’t have a place to lay his head. We are strangers. Aliens. Sojourners.

When we embrace this it isn’t hard for us to associate with the bewildered single mom trying to get her three scraggly-headed kids through the door. The fact that she’s a stranger here on a Sunday morning is obvious to all. And so the alien in us begins to emerge. We remember what it was like when the Lord picked us up out of a pit so we greet her with warmth instead of apathy.

Yes, we need to train our greeters. Breath mints are helpful. But before we get into the 10 steps for greeting somebody with a smile, we should first remind them what it was like to be a foreigner brought into the family of God.

How to Read this as a Mr. Leader-Man

Some of my readers are leaders. You get stuff done. Your kind of a big deal. You know that your fundamental task in the church as a leader is to help other people use their gifts. You build up the body this way. (I’m not disparaging that. It’s true. That is often how you serve).

And you hear something like this and you start thinking about ways that you can train people to have a theological basis for hospitality. You think of all the people that you need to teach to be hospitable.

And do that.

But be careful…

Be careful that while everyone else is getting their hands dirty you aren’t sitting down eating some of that pie that you delegated to be made. Don’t forget that when Abraham entertained angels in Genesis 18 that it wasn’t his servants that showed hospitality. It was Father Abraham getting his hands dirty.

You’ve read in all your leadership training books that there are some things that simply cannot be delegated. Maybe hospitality and service is one of them. (See 1 Timothy 3:1-3 and note that “be hospitable” is as important to your elder qualification as “don’t be a drunkard" is).

How I’d Destroy a Church

If you desired to destroy a local church how would you go about doing it?

Obviously I am not talking about the building itself, nor do I mean destroy it as an outsider.  If you recently joined a relatively healthy local church, with the intention of destroying it within 3-5 years, what steps would you take to accomplish this task?

Here is how I would do it:

I would spend the first year or so building good relationships with a diverse number of people.  My goal would be discovering what the church is most passionate about.  During this time I will “become all things to all people” so as to destroy the whole lot. Their passions would become my passions. With such passion it shouldn’t be difficult to move into a leadership position, like teaching a Sunday school class. 

With my new Sunday school class I will begin by digging into the really tough topics. We will lead our class through seeing what the Bible says about them. During this time I will focus on minor things as if they are major things. The gospel will be assumed. My goal will be to get people’s eyes off of the gospel and the kingdom of God and onto these “important issues”.

Just as in any church there will be natural differences of opinion within the body of Christ. I will devote my energy to exploiting these differences. In time I will lead people to view these different expressions as unfaithfulness instead of simply differences of opinion or personality.

When I spend one-on-one time with people I use all my charm to convince them that I am on their side in these “important issues”. It doesn’t matter what side I really take on these important issues so long as I can breed factionalism I have succeeded.
 
People should begin falling into certain camps. (Even if one of the camps is to be disinterested in the “issues”). Once this happens I will find an opportunity to express my grief at all of the disunity within the church. I will now make a major issue about all of the disunity within the body, thus taking peoples eyes off of Christ and firmly fixing them on one another. We will even begin prayer meetings to start praying for God to help us with our disunity. I will do everything I can to get the pastor to start preaching on unity. I’ll even come up with a 5 step plan to resolve our “unity problem”.

After being there for about 3 years I should be a respected leader in the church.  My brokenness over the disunity would make it obvious that I care deeply about the church and the people.  At this point I could move into the final stage of my plan.

I will donate a large amount of money anonymously and I will be certain not to designate it.  The only stipulation will be that the money must be used to advance the ministry of the church, and it must be used in full within the next two years.

Because of all the “disunity” in the church every suggestion for using the money will be met with suspicion. Whenever people disagree on how to spend the money (as they likely will) they will be accused of “furthering disunity”. The church should split into several groups.

Hopefully, each faction will think themselves the godly ones.  This means that anyone that opposes them are the ungodly ones.  The decision has to be made on where to spend the money, and one group has to win this decision.  But, regardless of the decision one group will consider it ungodly.  Who wants to stay in an ungodly church anyways?

I’ll probably try to stay neutral and “godly” in this whole discussion.  I will make it known how broken hearted I am by this disunity.  When the decision comes down on where to spend the money, I will lead the charge of leaving this ungodly place.  Not even because of the decision but because of the way that everything was handled.  That should successfully take all of my “godly” followers with me and those on the losing side should leave too.  That which the winning side spent the money on will now become their makeshift savior and they will slowly fade away into idolatry.

That’s my rather long answer.  What is yours?

Oh, and by the way this does have a point…

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Originally posted here.

The Church Going Full Ninja

I had to have wasted a good hour.

It was my first experience—at least that I recall—with a powerful sunbeam. I pondered the impact that this ray of light had upon our home. Its brightness exposed all of these little creatures. They looked like sea monkeys. Or floating pieces of dirt. They would soon take on a life of their own.

I experimented with these dust fragments for all of five minutes. Then I did what all little boys do when confronted with invaders; I busted out my sweet ninja moves. I employed karate chop after karate chop to destroy these little minions bombarding our kitchen floor.

I lost.

Quite shamefully really. It didn’t matter how much effort I put forth, I never could conquer these dust particles. As soon as I roundhouse kicked one in the face a million others came through the open window, dive-bombing down a sun-beam and gleefully sabotaging our kitchen floor.

After an embarrassingly long time I discovered the solution. Somehow the sun was giving these little goobers their energy. I quickly learned that if I could block the sun it would kill these dust particles. I shut the curtain.

Game Over. No more tiny creatures taunting me with their invincibility.

The Church

As I reminisce about my youthful ignorance I cannot help but think about the church. It seems as if we spend a good amount of our energies trying to clean up these dust particles; namely, all the brokenness around us. That’s good and well. We ought to be engaged in bringing the transformation of Jesus into the lives of every sphere of brokenness and rebellion.

But, let’s be honest. Little boys trying to annihilate dust particles with karate chops is impossible. Then again, so is it impossible for the church to ultimately conquer her sin this side of glory. Is it possible that in our discouragement with attempting the impossible that we have succumbed to the quick fix of shutting the curtain?

Have we convinced ourselves that we have gotten rid of sin for the most part but all we have really done is close the curtain? And by “close the curtain” I mean that we’ve somehow shut out the penetrating and heart-searching work of Jesus.

Maybe safe and sanitized does not equal a church that has been rocked by Jesus. It might mean that in her apathy the church has simply closed the curtain. The ugliness is still there but it’s largely hidden. She’s comfortably sanitized herself from outward brokenness but for some reason Jesus seems gone too.

The mark of a church that is being rocked by Jesus is one that has the curtain wide open. For that reason it is probably going to look more sinful and more jacked up. The light of the gospel exposes what is hidden—even those little dust particles that we’d like to pretend aren’t there.

A biblical church doesn’t celebrate the exposure of sin. A biblical church rejoices at the heart-penetrating work of Jesus but then she gets busy karate chopping the dickens out of the sin that is exposed. Of course by “karate chopping the dickens” I mean nothing more than applying the gospel and all it’s power and benefits to the sin that has been exposed.

Let’s open up that curtain and get to choppin’

A Noble Goal For Every Church and Pastor

There is a goal that I believe every pastor, and in turn every church, ought to shoot for. Ready for it?

To never have to file another Help-Wanted ad in search of a pastor.

This isn’t to assume that the pastor stays until the church closes its door or Jesus returns. (Although that latter one would be acceptable). This does however mean that the pastor stays long enough that he has trained many men to take his job from him.

Such a goal would take an intentional discipleship and mentoring plan. The pastor and the church would have to intentionally seek young men to train for pastoral ministry. Perhaps rather than shipping them off to seminary to get an education and then pursue pastoral ministry elsewhere the church could develop the young man. That’s not to say that for some churches part of this development wouldn’t be some element of seminary training.

I’m not really saying that it’s wrong for a church to file a help-wanted ad. But I’m dreaming of a day when churches are shepherded in such a way that they become equipped to train up their own pastors.

What do you think? Am I crazy?

Church Planters Need Curmudgeons

Last Thursday, Dave Miller asked a provocative question to his SBC Voices audience; namely, are we entering a post-cooperative program era in SBC life? It is an interesting piece that is worth reading. In the comment section Matt Svoboda asks a question that I have heard quite a few times. It is also a question that I share a good amount of agreement with:

When the older generation in the SBC wants to spend all of our time dealing with Driscoll books in Lifeway, keeping an anti-alcohol stance, crying about the growth of Calvinism and how its hurting the SBC, and has no desire to even have the missional conversation the rest of the country is having- why in the world would the younger generation want to have a strong identity in the SBC?

Matt goes on to note that “the SBC has a whole lot of unnecessary baggage that a lot of young pastors don’t want to have to deal with”. I responded to Matt, but honestly this article (and even my response to Matt at Voices) is not directed towards Matt.

Before I make my point allow me to explain how you could misread my point. If you think this is a defense of the SBC or the Cooperative Program you have missed it. If you think this is a response to Matt’s comment, you’ve missed it. If you develop the impression that I am against church planting then perhaps my point has not been clear enough. It is not my desire to paint with a broad brush or even to give an opinion about the SBC, the CP, and church plants. My aim is singular. I want to address the pastor’s heart. I want to humbly say, “Pastor, check your heart is it possible that what I am saying here is true.” If it not then move on.

Buzzwords

I am excited about the Jesus-centered/gospel-centered movement within the church. I am happy that many are giving themselves to planting churches and communicating the gospel in places where it seldom is communicated. I am thankful for the faithful gospel proclamation that is happening all throughout our cities, thanks to the renewed emphasis that NAMB is placing on church planting in our major metropolitan areas. It is wonderful that gospel advancement is being heralded as far more important than petty bickering. That is a good thing.

When guys say things like “what do we gain from being in the SBC” with all of the “baggage” that comes with it, I hear what they are saying. Believe me. As young pastor that happens to be a Calvinist I have dealt with my fair share of “baggage”. So I hear you. And I understand the pull to say, “why stay in the SBC when it is only slowing us down missionally”?  Why put up the fight any more? I have asked that question myself.

And that is a fair question for you to ask. And at the end of the day you may find that your church does not benefit from being affiliated with the SBC. That’s not my concern. What I am concerned about is the pastor’s heart. I know my own delusional heart and I know that sometimes I can use gospely sounding buzzwords to mask a love of comfort and a fear of conflict.

Saying, “I want to be free to advance the gospel and not have to deal with all of the SBC baggage” might be code for, “I haven’t the stomach or the faith to faithfully plod through conflict. It’s easier to plant a church because I can set things up the way that I want—the way I believe the Bible teaches—from the beginning, and I do not have to be bothered with all of the baggage of people that disagree with me theologically. So we can get on with gospel advancement much sooner”. (By the way I’m not saying this is what Matt is saying in his comments—remember the part about missing the point if you think it’s about Matt’s comment).

Ten Years from Now

Fair enough. But it seems to me that pastors are often crafted in the kiln of suffering and conflict. I have to wonder what a church and this pastor will look like in twenty years if this pastor’s heart continues to build his kingdom without baggage. Because the truth is, these believers—even the ones prone to being curmudgeonly—are God’s grace to us pastors. We need them.

Is it possible that our passion for gospel advancement extends to applying the gospel to the curmudgeon? Isn’t that one of the things that we say in the gospel-centered movement, “The gospel is not the ABC’s of salvation it is the A-Z”. “We need the gospel for the whole of the Christian life”.  Isn’t this true even if the chap in the pew thinks he doesn’t need the gospel from A-Z and he wishes those young whippersnappers would just join the Axe29 network with all their free body spray? Might gospel advancement make this “unnecessary baggage” necessary?

Pastor, your heart is prone to being deceived, just like mine. You have enough theological learning to make shameful fear sound holy and wise. “Good stewardship” can be a great mask for greed and fear. If you are striking out to make a difference and become a church planter, I just ask you to check your heart. Is it possible that you’re just wanting to start a new church because you love comfort and don’t want to do the hard thing of being used by God to revitalize a dying church? Or to be “boring” and faithful plod and proclaim the gospel in an average setting for twenty plus years? Is it possible that in your pride you think you have ecclesiology all figured out (of course, you and all the dudes you hang with) and don’t want to have to be chiseled by different opinions?

If that is the case and you get what you want, I feel for you. It will be to your peril to pastor a church that looks just like you. You needed sharpening even by those that might be theologically wrong. I can’t help but wonder what will happen when the perfect church that you built (with the sovereign Lord’s help of course) starts going a way that you did not envision. Will you leave? Will you plant another church—referring to yourself as “just a pioneer”? Will you continue spiritualizing your love for comfort and fear of conflict? Or will you finally stay and be chiseled?

Don’t leave because of fear or comfort. But don’t stay for those reasons either. 

One of the Most Important Things We Do As a Church

It is no secret that marriages are struggling. It is also no secret that marriages are struggling even within local churches. This is not surprising. Marriage is the union of two sinners. Marriage does not come natural and they need healthy communities in order to thrive. They also need the gospel. With our increasingly fragmented cultures and the continual watering down of the gospel it is not shocking that marriage is falling on hard times.

In response to this trend our church decided to begin having frequent marriage retreats. One of the core values of our church is to be a gospel-saturated community. One area in which this is lived out is in equipping families. We believe that in order for marriages to thrive they need a robust gospel and to live life in a community informed by that gospel. Therefore, our marriage retreats seek to strengthen marriages by rooting marriages in the gospel and building a community saturated by the gospel.

The Plan

Our goal is to have one marriage retreat every quarter. These are not meant to be large groups. In fact we cap off our attendance at 10 couples per quarter (including the lead pastor and myself). Every quarter one of our deacons will go with his wife. He will also invite another leader that he has been actively training and discipling.  This leaves six open slots. Our deacon picks two families from his deacon family list to invite to the retreat. This leaves four slots. We leave these open to the church on a first come first serve basis.

We keep the cost at only $100 per couple. This covers the cost of most of their food and their room at the Highland Lakes Camp. We leave on Friday evening and return back to our homes on Sunday afternoon.

During the weekend we have four teaching sessions, group time, tons of free time, and worship time. Part of our goal is to encourage our leaders to step up and minister to these couples. We also want this to be an avenue for new leaders to emerge (those that our established leaders have been discipling). We also believe that this time away will build relationships between many couples in our church.

This is one of the most important things that we do as a church. It gives us an entire weekend to teach a robust gospel and to create and cultivate gospel-saturated communities. As marriages are strengthened so is our local church and community.

Tomorrow morning I will explain why our sessions are not “practical”…

Giving Badges to Guys With a Bushy Mustache

    For a man will take hold of his brother
        in the house of his father, saying:
    “You have a cloak;
        you shall be our leader,
    and this heap of ruins
        shall be under your rule”;
    in that day he will speak out, saying:
    “I will not be a healer;
        in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
    you shall not make me
        leader of the people.”
(Isaiah 3:6-7 ESV)

In other words leadership is so scarce in the land that if a guy even looks like he could pose as a leader he is called for the job.  That’s like giving some dude a badge, a gun, and a nightstick just because he has a bushy mustache.  Paper leaders are often a sign of God’s judgment.  Specifically judgment for trusting in indispensable leaders instead of the God that creates these leaders. 

I sure am glad that we live in the New Testament era and we would never struggle with something similar.  You probably picked up on my sarcasm there didn’t you?  If you did, it is because you have been in a church that has crowned a guy youth pastor just because he seems to relate to students and has a couple Bible verses memorized.  Or you have witnessed the church call a man to be a deacon (or elder) simply because he is vocal at a few business meetings. 

Within many churches, service and leadership is so scarce that if someone even shows a faint resemblance of a leader they are immediately propelled into a position of authority.  Often, even foundational offices are selected more by what sucker will volunteer than any semblance of calling. 

Pastoral Idolatry and Discipleship

Is it possible that just as in the days of Isaiah God is displeased with our churches?  Specifically, that he is displeased with our leadership idolatry and so he has stripped us of leaders.  And perhaps He has done so in His grace, knowing that if we had a church filled with solid leaders that we would trust in their wisdom instead of trusting in the Lord Himself.

Is it possible that one of the reasons why churches look eerily similar to Isaiah 3:6-7 is because we have placed idolatrous trust in a CEO model of pastoral leadership?  Is it possible that we’ve somehow convinced ourselves that the church has two heads.  One of course, being our head nod to the Lord Jesus and then secondly our real leader the CEO pastor?  I think Paul Tripp is right, “if Christ is the head of his body, then everything else is just body, including the pastor…” 

Maybe our lack of leaders is a direct result of the unbiblical pedestal that we have placed pastors upon.  Maybe pastors become spent on being CEO of an organization and are never afforded the time or energy to actually do the work of pastoring and equipping saints for the work of ministry.  Yet, we know that we have to have somebody in these positions.  We rightly tell ourselves that the pastor and his staff cannot do everything.  So, we look around and find a few people that carry their Bible and make them Sunday school teachers.  Yet, we continue to have our pastor as CEO and give him only a scant amount of time to actually be about the work of ministry.

When your pastor is predominately a fireman don’t be surprised if people are not being discipled.  At its most basic form discipling someone is teaching them to obey Jesus while you obey Jesus with your life in front of them.  When the pastor is only putting out fires what do you think his “disciples” will be learning?  They certainly will not be learning how to go disciple someone else or how to become a fisher of men.  They’ll learn how to serve church problems.  Not how to draw deeply from the well of Jesus. 

Let’s not make our pastors so indispensable that they become idols.  It’s dangerous for them and for us.* 

---

*As an associate pastor I’m part of the the “them” and the “us” in that sentence.

Should Churches Dream Like Steve Jobs?

Yesterday, I listened to a talk from Steve Jobs from 1983.  I’d encourage you to at least play it in the background or give it a skim listen at some point:

Did I mention that he gave this talk in 1983?!?!  In this hour he predicted the world that we live in today.  And he did it with passion and confidence.  It felt as if Steve Jobs had time travelled to the year 2000 and then went back to 1983 to tell people what he witnessed.  Amazing! 

As I listened to Jobs I couldn’t help but wonder whether or not churches ought to dream like Steve Jobs?  Jobs stood before these people and said, “This is what the world is going to look like in 10-15 years because of what we are doing at Apple”.  This got me wondering, should pastors stand before their churches and say, “this is what the world will look like in 10 years because of the impact of our church”? 

Maybe Not

My first instinct is to balk at the idea of a pastor or church speaking in this way about the work of God in their community.  There are several things that are different about what Jobs is doing and what a church is tasked with doing. 

For one, there is very little that is offensive about an Apple Computer (apart from maybe the price).  The gospel on the other hand is offensive.  Convincing someone of buying an Apple isn’t the same as convincing someone of the beauty of Jesus.  One requires the work of the Spirit the other is something that man can do. 

Secondly, the folks at Apple hand-picked the people that worked for them.  They only took the greatest of people.  The church is much different.  Christ does not look for the best and the brightest.  The church is not structured like Apple nor should it be.

Third, after I listen to this presentation from Steve Jobs I cannot help but marvel at the amazing Steve Jobs.  That seems opposite of what a Christian preacher ought to do.  James Denney was correct when he said, “No man can bear witness to Christ and to himself at the same time.  No man can give the impression that he himself is clever and that Christ is mighty to save". 

For these reasons and more I do not think it is wise to uncritically latch onto Steve Jobs’ passion and say, “church we ought to dream like this”.  People can build computers, only Christ can build His Church. 

At the same time, I do not think we ought to dismiss the passion of Steve Jobs.  There is something here that ought to be emulated. 

Maybe

There is something about Steve Jobs that ought to humble churches.  He had a vision, albeit one created in his mind, to change the world.  He believed that dream so much that he “gambled everything on it”.  He gave his life to the vision of Apple.  He could talk about 10-15 years down the road because he knew that he was going to still be at Apple.  The average pastor in the SBC barely stays for two years in one place—so how can he dream about 10 years down the road? 

There is also something to be said about the fact that Jobs would not settle for something that did not fit his vision.  If it was not ready he was not going to roll it out and sell people garbage.  He had a dream and rather than settling for what could be done today he kept plodding until his vision became reality.  There is certainly a sub-biblical way to follow Jobs in this way.  Yet, there is also something to be said for not comfortably camping out in a world that doesn’t yet reflect the heart and mission of Jesus. 

This leads me to ask, why can’t we take God’s story and His mission and dream like Steve Jobs?  If God is working to fill the world with his glory by rooting out of his kingdom all sin and unbelief and replacing it with passionate worshippers then why can’t we be like Steve Jobs in seeing this “dream” come to fruition?  We might not be able to say, “in 10-15 years” but we can certainly say with confidence “this is the world that God is creating”.  And let’s be like Steve Jobs and not rest until God’s vision for the earth is accomplished. 

If a man can be this passionate and confident about a dream of computers why can’t believers be that confident and passionate about the sure promise of God’s redemption? 

Churches Can’t Afford to Be the Cleveland Browns Part 2

Earlier today I noted that churches can’t afford to be the Cleveland Browns.  It seems that every couple of years they have to “blow the place up” and put a new vision in place.  I note that it doesn’t have to be that way.  Here is the

Our Core Values

Though I’m a Cleveland Browns fan I don’t want to see our church be like the Browns.  That’s why as we have considered “vision” for our church we have tried to keep it simple.  Our vision statement is to be “a church united to enjoy God’s grace and extend His glory”.  That statement isn’t grounded in a fad.  That statement is grounded in creation.  That statement is grounded by the story of God. 

We have six core values that explode out of the vision statement. 

1. To be a kingdom-focused church—we aren’t “the church” we are “a church” united to enjoy God’s grace and extend His glory.  Therefore we will passionately pursue planting churches, partnering with like-minded churches, and praying for the church universal. 
2. To be a gospel-saturated community—because we are a “church united” we believe that God calls us out of darkness and places us into a redeemed community of believers.  This community is to be marked by authentic relationships, vital companionship, and mutual edification that is brought together to partner for missions as well as to equip families. 
3. To practice worship-fueled discipleship—we believe that the fight of faith is to “enjoy God” instead of idols.  Therefore we fight together in our battle to believe that God is the source of all delight instead of the fleeting pleasures of sin. 
4. To be a hospitable people that offers a refuge for the broken—we believe that we are brought into community with one another and into enjoyment of God solely through grace.  Therefore, we too want to be a refuge for the broken with the hopes of Christ-centered transformation.
5. To be a people that live sent to our local community and our global community, with the intention of spreading Christ for the joy of all peoples.  As we enjoy God’s grace we are called to extend His glory to every square inch of creation.
6. To be a community of believers that is radically centered upon the glory of God.  Our fundamental purpose is to glorify God in all that we do. 

What that looks like will look different for every pastor.  But it is our hope that if the Lord calls us home or away that you won’t have to “blow the place up”.  Everybody will know the basic structure and vision.  It just might be played out different. 

As much as it pains me to say this…excuse me while I throw up in my mouth…churches should be closer to the Pittsburgh Steelers than the Cleveland Browns.  Notice what happened when Mike Tomlin took over for Bill Cowher.  The team looked a little different but the basic philosophy was the same.  No need to blow stuff up.  We know who the Steelers are. 

So pastors (and all those doing “vision”), be sure that we you are writing and coming up with will be able to house the guy that stands in your place when either your heart isn’t ticking or it’s ticking elsewhere.  Because churches can’t afford to be the Cleveland Browns. 

Churches Can’t Afford to Be the Cleveland Browns Part 1

I’m not going to make the point that you think I am.  You probably think I’m going to say, “The Cleveland Browns are horrible.  Churches can’t afford to be horrible”.  While that’s mostly true that is not my point.  My point today really gets at the root of why the Cleveland Browns are horrible.  If you aren’t a football fan please stick around through this little section on Browns history, because I think you’ll be able to appreciate my point. 

Why the Browns Are Horrible

The Browns moved away from Cleveland in 1995 and became the Baltimore Ravens.  They did not return to the NFL until 1999 when they became an expansion team.  Prior to the move the Browns were horrible.  They blew the whole thing up and became the Ravens. 

The first two seasons were horrible.  5 wins in two years type of horrible.  In 2001 Butch Davis looked like he was turning it around.  In 2002 the team actually made the playoffs.  They had some things going for them but for the most part their abysmal record in 2003 and 2004 was more accurate of the team.

In 2005 the Browns hired Phil Savage as GM and Romeo Crennel as the head coach.  They blew the place up again.  And it in its place they began building a pretty decent football team.  (Though many will disagree with that statement).  In 2007 they actually finished 10-6 but missed the playoffs.  They were pumped for the 2008 season.  But as it usually happens with the Browns the wheels fell off.  Injuries and poor decisions led them to a 4-12 record.  So guess what happened.

They blew the thing up again. 

They fired Crennel and Savage and hired Eric Mangini and George Kokinis.  They led for about a year.  Then Mike Holmgren came in.  And guess what he did?  He blew the place up.  He fired Mangini.  Hired Pat Shurmur.  And started the rebuilding process over again. 

Whew.  Browns fans are done right?  Nope.  In July of 2012 Randy Lerner sold the team to Jimmy Haslam who plans to…you guessed it—blow the place up.  In case you aren’t aware “blow the place up” simply means fire almost everybody and start over again.  That, my friends, is one of the main reasons the Cleveland Browns are horrible.  They never stick it out past the speed bumps.  They don’t have one singular vision that they stick to.  They do for a season and then they blow it up and try something different.  You’ll never win that way, and even if you do it will be a short-lived fluke. 

Why Churches Can’t Be Like The Browns

Many churches are like Browns.  Pastor Bill stays for 2 years and implements his vision.  The church rallies around the new vision (or at least most of them do).  Then Pastor Bill “gets called” to pastor a larger church in a different state.  Pastor Frank comes in.  He eventually blows the place up and implements his new vision which the church lives out for all of 6 months before they have to call their next pastor.  On and on it goes.  4 pastors in 10 years = at least 4 different visions for the church. 

Just as Browns fans get frustrated wondering if we are ever going anywhere, so church members get frustrated wondering what the church is going to look like in a couple years.  People are less enthused about following the new pastor’s vision because let’s face it, homeboy is going to be gone in two years and we’re just going to have to do some other Purpose Driven something to restructure our church. 

It doesn’t have to be like that. 

If pastors would simply lead their churches to implement a biblical structure and not worry so much about specific “vision” then you wouldn’t have to change it with every new pastor.  Sure the way that Pastor X decides to live out being a “kingdom-focused church” will look different.  But hopefully if a biblical structure is in place you won’t have to blow up the place with every new pastor.  (I am encouraged too that a good number of pastors are beginning to understand the benefit of sticking it out for years instead of being “called away” at every difficult time). 

Come back in a few hours and I’ll show you what we are attempting to put in place at our church to match this commitment to not be the Cleveland Browns of churches…

A Plea to Overlook Offenses Instead of Just Looking For Them

…there’s always someone around recording the things someone says and does, presumably for the purpose of scrutiny.  -Dana Carvey

The above quote comes from an article wherein Dana Carvey laments the “scary and dangerous” trend of comics refusing to mock President Obama.  I’m not really concerned about what Carvey is saying in regards to our president, but what I do find interesting is his observation that we are so ridiculously sensitive in our culture.  And we are also diligent in reading and processing information (usually quickly and out of context) and just as diligent in looking for offense. 

I wish the church were immune to this.  And we should be.  Proverbs 19:11 teaches that “good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is glory to overlook an offense”.  People that have been captivated by the grace of God of God that “knows our frame and remembers that we are but dust” ought to be people that are pretty slow to offense. 

A Non-Heated Example

I’ll refrain from using any sort of reference to Calvinism here because it is so heated that my point would be lost in the debate.  So allow me to make a point that is much less heated (at least at present).  I do not believe in a pre-tribulation rapture.  I do not believe the Bible teaches that.  In fact I believe it is pretty obvious from Scripture that it does not teach that.  I believe that you have to do some serious exegetical gymnastics to make the Bible teach a pre-tribulation rapture.  Faithful exegesis will lead someone to reject the belief in a pre-tribulation rapture. 

Is the above paragraph arrogant?  Narrow?  Bigoted?  Did I just call everyone that believes in a pre-tribulation rapture a total moron that has no idea how to read their Bibles?  If they were only as smart as myself they could clearly see that the Bible doesn’t teach this view that they have embraced.  Is that what I am saying in the paragraph? 

According to the spirit of our age the answer to each of those questions would be a hearty “Yes”!  In our culture to have confidence in the Spirit, the Word, and even the God-given ability to faithfully exegete is seen as narrow.  To say with confidence “I believe my doctrinal position is correct” somehow communicates in our culture, “and therefore you are a moron that probably drools on yourself, believes that pro-wrestling is real, and you put together strings of thought about as efficiently as an NFL quarterback after his fifth concussion”.  (Even now some of you might be a little off-put that I have perhaps offended the “drooling” among us). 

A Plea

Can we please stop being so easily offended within the church?  Can we start overlooking offenses instead of just looking for them? 

Yes, humility!  A thousand times yes!  But it is not against humility to be able to say, “I believe my position is correct and yours is wrong”.  And it is not even against humility to do so passionately and with deep conviction.

I expect those that believe in a pre-tribulation rapture to be able to say, “Faithful exegesis will lead one to believe in a pre-tribulation rapture”.  I also know that this necessarily means that they believe that I am wrong and that something is askew in my theology and the way I read the text.  I also know that this person might be arrogant, and they might be insulting, and they might even offend me. 

Yet, in the words of 2Pac, “I ain’t mad at cha”.  It is far better to just say the reasons why I disagree, cover over the offenses in the way we discuss this thing, and continue to love on another until Jesus returns (not by means of a pretribulation rapture, of course). 

I Need Your Help

Serious question.  If the title of this post were the subject of an email from me would your reception of it be different? 

I know my answer to that question.  A few days ago I received an email from someone that I love and respect.  I saw the subject line and my initial thought before I even read it was, “sure man, I’ll do what I can”. 

Then I read the email.  And the 50 other names that were connected to the email.  I still found myself wanting to help, but with much less vigor.  I went from a passion to do whatever it was that I could do to help out to simply saying something to the effect of, “If I’m able to get time I’d love to help out”. 

I really do not know why I would respond this way.  My level of passion for helping a guy out should probably be the same whether he asks 50 guys or just me.  But it wasn’t. 

The singular plea sounded like this: “I’ve got an issue, Mike.  I think you’d be great for helping out and solving it.  I need YOUR help.”

The group plea sounded like this: “I’ve got an issue fellas.  And I’m really hoping one of you chaps can help out with it.  I have no idea who that dude is going to be, but I figure one of you fits the bill.  I need your help.”

The first one makes me think that there is something in me that is called forth to help out.  I fit the bill.  I need to take this thing and help.  The other one makes me think that anybody could probably do it, somebody will do it, but it doesn’t necessarily need to be me. 

Perhaps this is selfish.  Maybe this doesn’t reflect a servants heart.  Chastise me in the comments—seriously, call me out if I’m totally off base here.  But I wonder how often our announcements and pleas for help in the “nursery” or cleaning bathrooms, or teaching Sunday school, or being on the finance team, or anything else, simply falls on the ears of nobody because they aren’t the somebody. 

I hope that thinking through my response to this email will make me a better pastor.  When we have needs within the church I want to pray and think through who I can personally walk up to and say, “I need your help”.  I’ve known this all along that you get far more response when you ask them personally.  I think now I understand why that is the case. 

Should A Church Be Good At Spotting Liars?

Tim Challies linked to an article a few days ago from Forbes.  The article is a summary/book review of Spy the Lie, a book from former CIA officers that teach the reader how to detect deception. 

As I read through this very helpful article I began thinking about how helpful such a book would be for a pastor or other church leaders.  Isn’t it true that “love believes all things”?  Isn’t it the Christian posture to hope and believe in people?  Is it really helpful to try to spot liars?  Or is it somehow sub-Christian?

I’m left wanting to ask “would Jesus buy a book on spotting liars” and then I realize that he wouldn’t need one because he knew what was in the heart of man.  So, what did that information do for him? 

What Did Jesus Do?

Consider the woman at the well.  Imagine that she was in your office and requesting a little help, maybe for some living water or something.  You tell her to have her husband come by with her and you guys can all have a chat.  She says, “I have no husband”.  Which, oddly enough, is one of the tells Spy the Lie.

If we aren’t good at spotting lies (even little white and uncomfortable lies) what we would do is simply proceed in helping the lady.  That’s all well and good and it’s great to be generous as a church.  But sometimes there are deeper issues that need to be addressed before true healing and help can actually take place. 

Furthermore, for every buck you spend on this lady that is one dollar that you cannot use to help somebody that is not feeding you full of bull.  I’ve had the painful experience of helping a woman out that was obviously scamming us.  She drained our benevolence account.  Then another lady called about an hour later with a legitimate need.  We were no longer positioned to provide assistance.  Had I been more thorough and better at detecting lies then we would have still had the resources. 

Jesus as we see in John 4 is able to see through the woman’s deceptive answer.  He plows right through ever facade that she puts up and gets to the deeper need in her life.  The story ends with her astonished that he was able to utterly expose her masquerade and that he must indeed be a prophet—maybe even the Christ. 

Should a church be good in spotting liars? 

If that means being tight-fisted and unbelieving and not having hope then no, it may be better to just be gullible and ignorant of people’s lies.  But if it means that seeing through lies may actually be the means to truly helping people, then by all means get a book like this and learn how to spot lies.  The very mask that the single mother in your office does not want you to uncover may be the very thing that is required for her substantial healing.

The goal of this post isn’t to get you to buy a book—but if you do think that a book on detecting lies may be helpful I think Spy the Lie looks helpful.

The Benefit of Spiritual Gifts Testing

For the last two days I’ve noted a potential pitfall to spiritual gifts testing.  (See here and here).  Though I think there are dangers to spiritual gifts testing I do believe they can be beneficial.  As I mentioned yesterday, our church does a 3 in 1 profile that considers personality as well as spiritual gifts.  Such tools can be helpful to the body in these ways:

• If a foot thinks it is a hand you’ve got problems.  Though I’d rather have two hands and a confused foot that thinks its a hand over zero hands, I’d much rather have hands and feet do what they were created to do.  Gifts testing can help hands realize that they are not feet.
• Empowering the timid.  Sometimes a person is convinced that they are of little use to the church.  Knowing that God has especially gifted them for service might empower them.  (Though I wouldn’t rely on that alone—there are gospel issues here that also need to be explored). 
• A chance to glorify God in his diversity.  Usually arms think of the world through the perspective of an arm.  Spiritual gifts testing and discussions afterwards can help arms (and other body parts) glory in the diversity and wisdom of God.
• A chance to realize who you are not and to rejoice in those that are.  For a guy like me that really stinks at organization it can be really wonderful to realize that some people actually thrive on such things. 
• It provides an opportunity for cruciform love.  The “more excellent way” is to use the gifts that the Lord has given us to love and serve the body.  Knowing what that looks like gives you an opportunity to at times “lay down” your gifts for the sake of love.  And other times to fully use your gifts for the sake of love. 

For these benefits to really see fruition they will need to be cultivated in a culture:

• where discipleship happens
• where humble service is cultivated
• where it is realized that these gifts test are not flawless, not a one time thing, and not defining (in other words—people change)
• where they are not used as an excuse to not do the things that you are not gifted in.

Conclusion:

The main point of this has been to say that whenever I look at the places in Scripture where spiritual gifts are discussed it is not primarily concerned with an attempt to figure out your giftedness or to help you figure out where to serve.  Spiritual gifts tests are helpful not necessarily to decide what ministry to be involved in but to help you will do the ministry that we’re all called to do. 

The Other Reason I’m Not a Huge Fan of Spiritual Gifts Testing

Yesterday I noted that one reason I’m not a huge fan of spiritual gifts testing is because the church at Rome did not have Paul’s letter to the Corinthians.  That’s another way of saying that I do not think the early church did ministry according to perceived spiritual giftedness but instead their overarching paradigm was to be united servants of Jesus and that looked different for different people. 

Okay, so maybe spiritual gifts aren’t quite what the early church did.  They also didn’t have electricity, microphones, padded seats or VBS.  You won’t find those things in the Bible but the Lord tells us to use our brains.  And we do have the whole canon of Scripture so we do have a list of all the spiritual gifts.  So using our brains and the whole canon of Scripture we’ve come up with spiritual gifts testing.  No harm in that, right? 

Why They Aren’t Simply Innocent

Well maybe not.  But I’m not convinced that spiritual gifts are so innocent.  One of the dangers to spiritual gifts testing is that they can create a culture where entitlement and self-expression becomes the goal of spiritual gifts instead of service.  Or maybe it may be better to say that given the wrong climate spiritual gifts actually further a culture of entitlement and self-expression rather than a culture of humble service. 

Consider Bonnie.  She takes her test and finds that she is gifted in music (drums precisely), teaching (mostly adults), and handling snakes.  Yet, the church already has a guy that’s been joyously bangin’ away at the drums for years.  All the adult classes have teachers—but we could use a little help with someone to help the kindergarten class with crafts.  And that whole snake handlin’ thing hasn’t happened in our Baptist church since ol’ Jimmy decided to play a trick on Reverend Jenkins by putting a brood of baby water snakes in the baptistry. 

So what does she do?  The Holy Spirit has confirmed that her role is to teach, bang on drums, and rid the church of snakes.  Does she combine her snake handling gifts with her desire to be a drummer and scare the dickens out of the present drummer with an armful of vipers?  Does she sit on the sidelines until a teaching position comes open?  Does she move to a different church that will appreciate her gifts?  Would the Spirit really gift her with things and then place her in a church where she can’t use all these things that she does well?

Yeah, he might.  And you see that’s the big problem with spiritual gifts testing.  Most people don’t feel equipped to help out with preschool kids.  And then they take spiritual gifts tests which mostly uncover your passion and confirm things you are already doing.  So Bonnie never serves the church and the little kids because “God has not gifted her to do it”.  She’ll wait until the Lord opens doors for her giftedness.

The Way Out

Now consider Clyde.  Clyde really isn’t sure what his spiritual gifts are but he loves serving the Lord in whatever capacity he sees a need or wherever you ask him to.  He knows little about planting flowers in the church parking lot, but you give him a shovel and a time and he’ll be out there helping.  He probably wouldn’t pass a spiritual gifts test for teaching but he’s taught little Millie all about John 3:16 and how Jesus loves her.  She wouldn’t have thought so a few months ago when he volunteered but Clyde has been the best assistant this seasoned Kindergarten teacher has ever had. 

You don’t get “Clyde’s” in your church by handing out spiritual gifts tests.  “Clyde’s” happen through an ever-increasing love for Jesus and His church that comes through discipleship.  “Clyde’s” happen because somewhere along the way somebody kept serving him and pouring the gospel into his life.  And his infatuation with Jesus shaped a servants heart. 

The way out of a culture that views spiritual gifts as entitlement and a means to self-expression is to blow it up and in place cultivate a culture of humble service and faithful discipleship.  Encourage your faithful servants to also be disciplers.  Even if it means showing a teenager how to turn on the baptistry. 

Create a culture where people know that what is needed isn’t performance and talent but a servants heart that will give it 100%.  Allow people to totally blow it in certain areas.  “Whew, maybe we’ve discovered that Clyde shouldn’t be the one to make the spaghetti sauce”, as everyone laughs about it knowing that Clyde will probably try his hand at garlic bread next week. 

Bonnie, by the way is still loading up snakes and plotting her ascent through the drum line. 

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So spiritual gifts=the devil, right?  No. Not exactly.  In fact our church even uses them.  They can be helpful…come back tomorrow to find out how.