Rethinking Relevance

Robes, collars, pews, altars, white-glove-wearing ushers, armor bearers and titles… I ask you, what is the point?  Before you dismiss the question as outlandish, you need to be able to explain the relevance of these things.  Because a ritual has tradition on its side, does that make it biblical, correct or useful?  As Mark Batterson, pastor of NCC says, irrelevance is irreverent.

 

Many things that I have become accustomed to doing in the church, I have done or supported mindlessly.  When you strip everything down and ask why, (something we should all do often), it helps you to remain on point.  We have got to ask the question why.  For most of the Church, relevance is one issue that is easily overlooked, yet most important, in my assessment.  It’s so easy to continue to do things just because generations before have done it.  We sang Matthew 5:14 in Sunday school and hear it often: “You are the light of the world; a city on a hill cannot be hid.”  Hid here can be defined as “to escape notice or be ignored.”  I would add, “or become irrelevant.”

 

Much like David in 1 Chronicles 12:32, we who are fighting this fight of faith need those who understand the times and know what to do.  If we get detached from the times, if we ignore the times, if we remain in our own bubbles and assume that what worked back then will work now, then we’ll keep doing things for the sake of tradition and simply won’t matter to the world.  Church attendance will continue to decrease, reachable lives will remain untouched, and the American church crisis will continue.

 

Jesus was relevant.  Everywhere he went, the people found him irresistible because he brought them relief and hope.  The religious sect and the crowd wanted a different kind of relief, however; they wanted power, glory and dominion.  In the midst of demands from the crowd and cowardice by the religious, Jesus stayed the course.  Relevance is not always popular, but it is always irresistible.  I’m not sure that we have to convince people that they are depressed, discouraged or drained.  Ours is to offer them a slice of heaven on earth, to proclaim the kingdom of God, to show light in darkness and be salt for preservation in decay.  To offer an alternative to the greed, selfishness and hate that riddles the unaltered worldview. 

 

We are to be relevant by promoting and demonstrating generosity, selflessness and love, especially to those who can’t or won’t give anything back in return.  Love is always a non-profit action.  If you’re in it for profit, you’re not in it for love. 

 

Here’s what I’m thinking about today.  Am I a relevant Christian who lives my life in service of those who are in need?  Have I become an irrelevant Christian who is only concerned with my prosperity, health and acquisition of wealth?  When I define my world, does it only include my church, family, friends and associates, or do I think of my neighborhood, community, state, country and others as a part of my world?  When I attend church gatherings, do I mindlessly do what is now routine?  Or is every action, song, and prayer deliberate and meaningful?  Finally, by the way I live out my life, do others just see me as religious, always spouting rules and regulations, or do they know that I am a Christ follower by the way that I love? 

Rethinking What We Sell

Rethinking What We Sell

“Out of love for the truth and from desire to elucidate it. . .”

That’s the way Martin Luther started his letter commonly referred to as the 95 Theses. Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg in 1517, a practice that was like sending out a company-wide meeting invite today. On Luther’s mind was letters of indulgences. The practice of buying indulgences allowed people to buy their salvation. This was unacceptable to Luther. He strongly believed that one lived a life of humility in order to receive God’s grace. After 1507, sales of Indulgences took a steep climb because the Papal Court was in great financial trouble.

In the 1700s, selling pews in the church became a common practice. Where the pews were placed was based, of course, on the price of the purchase and the importance of the family.

Sad to say, in the 1900s it seems that all limits came off and you could then buy a denomination-specific bible or one with the name of your favorite televangelist on it. Today in the first decade of the 2000s, everything in the church is for sale. As if you need a list here we go.

You can buy oil necessary for anointing; this will cost you more if it’s fragrant. You can buy miracle water guaranteed to give you what you want. You can buy your way out of debt; just send that popular preacher $2008 before the end of the year and – poof! – your debts shall be, I say, shall be forgiven! Oh, I feel my strength coming on, probably because I bought my prayer shawl; you know it’s the only way to the threshing room.

Think we don’t sell pews anymore? If so, you’re wrong. Just let a popular preacher, celebrity or politician visit. I’ve never seen them on the back row or in the overflow room, have you? But wait there’s more. If you like what you just heard and want more, not a problem. You can buy the word of God, (you know you need it), for just $59.99 plus shipping and handling, mind you and still there’s more. Need a personal word form God? Just call the Master Prophet’s pay-per-minute phone line, and he or one of his students in the school of the prophets will be sure to send you a prophetic word just for you. Just one problem; one of my former pastors and I both sent in for a word, (a total experiment), and as we expected, we both got the same personal letter. Yes, we could get out of our negative situation, by paying him to release the word on us. It wasn’t cheap either. If you’re thinking, man I’m in the wrong business, you’re in luck. For just a couple thousand of dollars you too can pay to BECOME a PROPHET!

Marriage problems? We’ve got a conference. Church security needs? We’ve got a conference. Want to get out of debt? You guessed it, we’ve got a conference. Um, no, it’s not free. Any wonder why “Jamaica plans to tap into the thriving market for religious-oriented tourism to invigorate the island’s sagging economy?” After all, the global religious tourism market is an $18 billion-a-year industry.

Think all this money is for the advancement of the kingdom of God? Then how do we explain the lifestyles of televangelists and others who obviously profit greatly by selling God, the church, and the Gospel?

Do I sound angry? I am. Aren’t you? Do you think that preachers are called to prosperity? Do you think that prosperity is God’s priority for you? What does the bible mean when it says:

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Why do we pay for copies of sermons from preachers who are salaried to prepare and preach them? Please don’t tell me that it’s to cover the cost. Many pastors and preachers today are making their sermons available for download, podcast and webcast for free.

Just in case you are thinking, “but the laborer is worthy of his hire,” let’s look at that in context for a second. It’s Matthew 10:7-10

Tell them that the kingdom is here.

Bring health to the sick. Raise the dead. Touch the untouchables. Kick out the demons. You have been treated generously, so live generously.

Don’t think you have to put on a fund-raising campaign before you start.

You don’t need a lot of equipment. You are the equipment, and all you need to keep that going is three meals a day. Travel light.

As I think and re-think about the way we do church, I’ve come to believe that if we don’t stop selling everything, we’ll remain oblivious to the fact that we are selling out. Does anybody else feel like flipping tables with Jesus? Hoorah!

Want to agree, disagree, rebuke or admonish? All comments are welcome

Rethinking the question

The question that started this entire re-thinking process for me was a simple one, on the surface. Not wanting to duplicate church or borrow from another church’s identity or theology, for that matter, I asked this question of myself: what is the church?

This is not a new question for me. I have answered it before on more than one occasion in various academic learning environments. I even asked the question, “what is the purpose of Church?” in an earlier article and left it unanswered because something was still amiss. I never found that place of comfort that one comes to when you have finally found the truth of the matter. I kept studying and asking, researching and probing. Finally, I decided to let it come to me. Sometimes I just keep asking questions until I find the right one.

Tania, my wife, edits everything that I write because it is her gift and passion. I have a bad habit of saying “people that,” and every time the rebuke will come, “Kwesi it’s ‘people who’.” The last time this happened, I heard her… and I heard more. I was asking the wrong question, a bad question.

“What is the church” is a bad question. You can only know this if you know the answer. Since the simple answer is “people,” then that question can’t be what is… it rather must be “who is the church?”

If we ask “what is the church,” it gives us a way to point to an organization or a leader. If we reword the question and ask, “Who is the church,” it always brings it back to us. In the past when people have asked, “What is the Church doing about ___,” I have expressed anger, disgust, disbelief and disappointment, if the answer was “not enough” or “nothing.” Changing the question has also caused me to change the answer.

“What is the church doing about helping the poor?” Now I answer this way: “I am helping the poor by… I am helping the community in that I do…” If the question is, “What is the church doing about hypocrisy?” Now I answer this way: “I am dealing with my hypocrisy by being open, honest and transparent.”

I’ve found in doing so, that I have reclaimed possession of my personal responsibility to Christ. I am a part of His church, after all. “We” are His church, and “it” cannot be Church. After years and years of going to church, being a member of a church, being a leader at church, giving to the church, and finally being disillusioned with church, I have finally changed the question, and the right question has changed me. As I rethink, I am intentionally not a member of any organization that identifies itself as church.

All the responsibility is mine, as it should always be. If I don’t study, I don’t mature. I don’t give because of anything or anyone else. I give because I am His church and as such, I strive to be and do what my Leader (Christ) requires. I question because I am His church. I’m involved in my community and the global community because we are His church. Christ’s Church is more than a building, a pastor, a people, a meeting, a grouping, a complex, an institution, an organization or a denomination. I am His church, and the responsibility to follow Christ’s direction and instruction for my life is mine alone. Others can and should help, but only I can be responsible for personally remaining faithful as His Church.

 

Discussion Questions

Do you agree or disagree? How does being reminded of your personal identity as Christ’s Church affect you? What would change in your life if gatherings to have what we call church were suddenly impossible? Can you effectively be a member of Christ’s Church without being a member of an organization?

Re-thinking Pastoral Accountability

As a planting Pastor, the question of accountability is huge for me.  As a visionary, I understand that church planting is about Kingdom-building and not Kwesi-building.  This understanding leads me to want to protect the church that is planted as a separate and independent entity from me.  That is simply to say, I want the church we plant to outlast its planters.  Being serious about this causes me to want to put processes, procedures, and people in place to ensure that we, (1) stay focused on the vision and, (2) that the ministry stays above reproach. 

Pastoral Rule — As with almost all things ecclesiastical, there is more than one point of view.  First, there are those who believe in what is called Pastoral Rule.  In short, Pastoral Rule says that the Pastor is the final authority and is to be obeyed and never questioned.

Those who insist that this is biblical use Hebrews 13:7 and 13:17, instructions to church members, that they should obey those who rule over them.  They often ignore Matthew 20:25-27, Mark 10:42-44, Luke 22:25-26, and 1 Peter 5:3, where pastors are specifically forbidden to exercise lordship over their members.

Ironically, those pastors who choose this paradigm are most often those aggressively opposed to being subject to any oversight.  There is often no independent board as expected by the powers granting non-profit status to the church in the first place.  (“Independent” here means that the board is not influenced by the church leaders, nor has any other conflict of interest with that specific church organization.)  Habitually, any who ask the “wrong” questions, (questions of accountability), are hastily rebuked, removed, or renounced as trouble-making, rebellious and disloyal.  On January 18^th 2008, just this sort of thing was reported on by the Wall Street Journal.  In this case, a 71 year-old member of the church, who simply asked for the by-laws to be followed, was rebuked, removed from membership, and upon returning to worship, she was arrested because the pastor called 911. For the full story click here. (Listen to the 911 call)

On February 21^st 2008, this was the headline of the Dallas Observer: “Pentecostal Preacher Sherman Allen Turns Out to Be Reverend Spanky.”  The article goes on to explain that, “The Fort Worth preacher is accused of beating, threatening and assaulting women for more than 20 years.”  How was this allowed to happen!?  He convinced some in the congregation that he had the authority to spank girls, women, and in some cases, grown men.  (Full story here)

Finally, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley wants to know how these servants of God end up enjoying the trappings of a billionaire lifestyle.  He wants to be certain that televangelists’ donors and church members, many of them tithers, are not being exploited.  In response to this request for accountability, many of these “billionaire ministers” are crying foul.  Wait, how is this above reproach?  What is there to hide? 

The arrogant response is basically the same.  We are Pastors, men and women of God; we don’t have to answer to anyone.  Is this acceptable to you? Do you think Pastoral Rule is Biblical?

Congregational Rule — This is where the people elect the leaders of the church.  I’m not sure that there is any biblical basis for this practice.  Simply put, I think to have the pastor’s job on the line based on the satisfaction of the people only opens the church up for more politics, division and favoritism.  Can you imagine campaigning to be a pastor? Can you imagine the scene after a close vote that keeps the pastor in his post? Click here for such a story.

 

Elder Rule — In the midst of the Ted Haggard debacle, I found myself really proud of New Life Church.  What could have been a church split or never-ending saga and embarrassment to the Church was handled with precision and pose.  The story went public, the independent board of pastors and ministry leaders gathered from around the country, and within a matter of days, they made a decision.  

“We, the Overseer Board of New Life Church, have concluded our deliberations concerning the moral failings of Pastor Ted Haggard,” a statement from the church said.  “Our investigation and Pastor Haggard’s public statements have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral conduct.”

With that, the leadership and guidance needed in such a time was in place and fully functional.  Instruction from the by-laws, stating clearly what would be done in a case like the one they experienced, was disseminated to the congregation.  Even in crisis, there was decency and order. 

Different people call these independent boards different things.  Stewardship Teams, Overseeing Boards, Board of Elders, and Trustee Boards.  No matter the name, the functions remain similar: provide protection for the church and her members and accountability for its Pastor.

As a church member, do you care what type of accountability is in place for your pastoral team and leadership?  What happens if your pastor can no longer lead the church?  Have you ever seen your church’s by-laws or financial statement?  Should you?

Think about it.

All comments, question, concerns, criticisms and critiques are welcome.  You can feel free to respond anonymously if you desire. 

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