The Death of Orthodoxy Part 1

So much of my story as a follower of Jesus has been trying to understand the way in which my life and walk will reflect and bring honor to the Father. While this is often a challenge and lifelong journey, the one thing in my observations about the church is that there has been a death to orthodoxy. By orthodox I mean: the historical doctrines and creeds established by the apostles and early church fathers, informed by the teaching of Jesus and the words of Scripture.

As I journeyed deeper into trying to be a leader in the Kingdom of God, I soon discovered that there were so many ways of "doing" and "being" the church. Most of my earlier years as a true follower of Jesus were spent critiquing the type of church I grew up in. Most of my reasoning for this was that its methods for sharing the message of Jesus were outdated and irrelevant. Though I still hold to this idea, I'm becoming more aware of a trend: sound doctrine and orthodoxy are a dying breed in the American church, especially the "contemporary" church.

Now, before I explain myself, know that I'm not one of those guys who is cynical and angry at everybody and looking for something to complain about. Also know that I'm on the front-lines of trying to help initiate change both in my church and in the Kingdom at large. That said, I seeing a growing trend of churches becoming schools of morality and self-help instead of gospel centers where Jesus is preached, the Bible guides us, and people are challenged to align their lives to both. In the quest for relevance, and often times as a reaction to EVERYTHING associated with a "traditional" church, the solid, foundational message has been tossed along with the outdated methods. We must never mistake the message from the methods. The methods should always change. The message is unchanging. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a message that is changing or should change, for it contains the power to change and transform lives.

In our quest to be relevant, we must never sacrifice sound doctrine. We are warned repeatedly by the apostle Paul throughout his writings that the day is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine and teaching and will instead find teachers to give them what their itching ears long to ear (2 Timothy 4). I'm afraid to say that I feel I'm living in those times. I also feel an amazing burden to see that challenged and changed. Living here in the buckle of the Bible-belt, it is even more needed. Most who call themselves Christians cannot articulate the gospel, more less live it. I want to work relentlessly to see that changed.

Do you find yourself rejecting orthodoxy for the sake of relevance or even relativism? Why do you think churches are changing the message as they change the methods?

3 Prayer Requests

As a pastor I'm often taking prayer request, but rarely sharing them. The reason I love the social-networking world is that it allows for communication among greater numbers of people during the week than I could ever possibly sit in front of. It also gives me instant communication ability, good or bad, with hundreds and thousands of people. Because of the power of that technology, I want to utilize for my own spiritual growth and encouragement. I need your prayer. There are 3 things that I'm in need of your prayer for.

** in no particular order

Prayer Request #1 - My Health

I have been having back issues from an old Army injury for about 4 months now. The pain has varied throughout this time, but it has been consistent. I'm doing much better lately, thanks to the prayers of others, but would ask for continued prayer. Another big part of my health prayer request is losing some weight. I'm not grossly overweight by any means, but I want to lose about 10lbs at least. I need to do this for several reasons: 1. I don't want to be grossly overweight 2. I think it would help my back 3. I want to feel healthier than what I feel right now. I have lots of little aches and pains (getting older) that I want to ensure are not a lack of exercising. So please pray for me in this area.

Prayer Request #2 - My Prayer Life

I really want to go deeper in my prayer life. I truly want to spend more quality time in God's presence. I don't want to just fill time talking, but I want to cultivate a deeper prayer life than I've ever had. I don't necessarily know how to do this other than pray for it. I would appreciate your joining me in this, as I have many things I'm desiring to hear God clearly on right now in my life and leadership.

Prayer Request #3 - My Heart for the Lost/Unsaved

This last prayer request will hopefully be something that can help be answered by my second prayer request. I want God to help break my heart for the lost and unsaved in our communities. I want to be bothered, even more so, by the numbers of people drifting through life aimlessly without the hope of Christ in their life. I want God to burden my heart so badly that I can't sit idly by and do nothing about it. I challenge you to not only pray this for me, but to add it to your prayer life as well. You cannot divorce being a Christian from being evangelistic.

Wednesday's Four Silly Questions

Our Wednesday tradition continues...

1. Food: Mexican or Chinese food?

2. Alternate Sport: Hockey or Nascar?

3. Your tea: With lemon or without?

4. Sleep Habits: Bundled up or Sprawled out?

Bonus Question: Thermostat: + or - 71 Degrees

MY ANSWERS: Mexican (all-day), Hockey, w/Lemon, Bundled (no skin exposed), definitely 71 or higher

To Care or Not to Care, That is the Question

Lately I have been doing a lot of reflecting about the importance of followers of Jesus to be about sharing the gospel message. I know that immediately when I say that it causes anxiety, fear, and worry in some because you seriously doubt your abilities to share the gospel effectively. I too share with you in this personal fear; however, the more I think about this fear, the more I realize how ridiculous it is. I'm really just more concerned with my ego not getting bruised or looking ignorant if they have questions I can't answer. Really and truly my fears are more about me than the people who desperately need to hear the hope of Jesus.

Something that I have come to realize the longer I have been in ministry is that many people believe in the right things, they just don't care about them. We believe in the things, but because we don't care about them we don't act on them. For example: many believe it is important for those who are not Christians to hear the gospel message of Jesus and respond, yet this belief for me is never acted upon because we don't care. Many believe its good to contribute both financially and through service to the church, yet many don't because ultimately they don't care. You will never act on a belief unless you care about it. It is impossible to care about something that you don't believe in, but many of us have learned to believe in things that we don't care about.

So getting back to the issue of reaching out to people. When is the last time you invite someone to church or a small group? How many people in your life are truly unchurched/pre-Christian people? We have a heart issue at hand, myself included. We need to ask God to break our hearts for the things that break His. We need God to disturb us from our complacency so that we wake up and realize that many are living lives of emptiness and attaching meaning to everything but the One thing they need the most. Many will experience the sad words from Jesus at the judgment "depart from me, I never knew you." May these words not be spoken to them simply because I feared to open my mouth. Lord, help me to care more.

One Church?

Is the body of Christ, the Church, really one as Jesus prayed we would be (John 17)? My answer is a resounding no. In fact, one of my greatest frustrations is the constant pissing contests (yes I said that) that go on between churches and even different camps of churches.

You see, if you read my blog as someone who is part of The Journey or someone who is starting to journey back toward Jesus/Church then I want to let you in on a reality happening right now in the American church. A movement away from the traditional style church was launched 20+ years ago. Churches started to reevaluate their effectiveness and ability to reach their communities for Christ. This shift led to changes in style of music, buildings, sermons, and outreach endeavors. This style of church has since become traditional in many ways as well, but there has been another movement. The "emerging" church has become a movement of people who have reinvestigated the entire thing again and are implementing changes once again. Within the emerging church are 3 very different camps.

1. The Relevants - this group is doctrinally and theologically orthodox and seek to find ways to make the message of Christ more relevant for a secular world and society, while seeking to serve the mission of Jesus both personally and communally.

2. The Reconstructionist - this group is usually doctrinally and theologically orthodox, but they spend most of their time critiquing methods and styles. Though they are sound theologically, sometimes they are light on sharing the message because they use most of their time criticizing other churches or camps. Preaching is replaced with conversations. Coffee houses replace buildings or other more traditional gathering spaces. These are not bad changes, though they are often treated as important as the message and ignore that they are simply their chosen methods. This group is often so critical of traditional churches, but can't seem to understand why those traditional churches won't engage in dialogue with them or partner with them in joint endeavors to advance the Kingdom.

3. The Revisionist - this group is not theologically and doctrinally sound. In fact, because of the secularization of our society they have been transformed with it. Methods and Message both have undergone major changes. Core tenants of the Christian faith have been tossed aside as outdated and irrelevant in a 21st century postmodern America. Because of doctrinal wariness this group has often been categorized as the Emergent Church, as opposed to the "emerging" church.

I self-identify in the Relevants camp, if I'm forced to be in one. I don't have a problem with Reconstructionist, but they are often highly critical of anyone not them that they are hard to engage with sometimes. The Revisionist in my opinion is not truly a church. For the church of Jesus is committed to the teaching of sound, biblical doctrine. See any of Paul's letters.

Why do I bring all this up? I'm just so frustrated when I look across the landscape of the church in America and see not only a decline in effectiveness, but fighting between the different camps. Instead of clinging to the message that unites us, we are divided by methods designed by us. I wonder if we really believe Jesus when he said the world would know we are his disciples by our love for one another. If we did believe it, would some of this change?

I'd love to hear your thoughts...

Igniting a Jesus Movement

Do we want to be a part of a church or do we want to see a radical movement of Jesus?

I vote for radical movement of Jesus. In fact, I desire to see our community shaken up by the number of people surrendering their lives to Christ and all take notice. With this being said, there are several things that come with being a part of a movement that you may have to truly look at:

1. It may call for sacrifice. This can mean sacrificial giving, giving up parking spots so more people can have parking spaces, serving in the children's ministry at one service so kids can be taught about Jesus and then attending a different service, helping start a new campus or new service time, and many other potential sacrifices.

2. You have to become an inviter. You see here's the deal, with nearly 300 adults in worship each week, if everyone brought someone, we would have 600 adults hearing the gospel. This is called EXPONENTIAL GROWTH. This isn't 10 new people on a Sunday, this is multiplication. These are the things that have to happen in order to begin igniting movements. Each one reach one. Who have you invited to church recently?

3. It may mean you don't know everybody you go to church with. A big misconception about church is that intimacy only happens when you know everybody you go to church with. The truth is: you can only truly know a few handfuls of people really well. You may have acquaintances, but genuine friendships are limited. This is why regardless of the size of the church, you can only really know a certain amount of people. This is another reason why small groups are so important.

4. It means you have to become more inclusive. The problem with churches is we like showing up and seeing all of our friends. This is a good thing and big reason why we stick to churches. The only question that should come to our minds is this: what about the people who just came in who don't seem to know anybody? Are we making them feel welcomed? Are we treating people like guests in our homes or like strangers we pass in a store? The answer should and must be: guest in our home. If someone comes to your home you don't go to the next room and leave them by themselves or simply let them show themselves around the house. You walk with them. The church that wants to stir a movement must be the same.