One In Jesus

Let’s talk a little more about power.

In the secular world, most fights are about money, sex, or power. I asked the elders at Tulsa what the church fights they’d seen are usually about — not what those involved say they are about but what they really are about.

The readily answered: power. Continue reading →

Disciples

So what’s a disciple?

(John 13:34-35 ESV)  34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Well, a disciple is  believer in Jesus who loves as Jesus loves. How does Jesus love? Enough to die. Enough to sacrifice. Enough to submit. Even enough to suffer. Continue reading →

How do we do this?

Teach Jesus. Jesus is the missing piece. Teach Jesus as our ultimate example, as our model, as who we were meant to be like.

John Howard Yoder demonstrates in The Politics of Jesus that every single reference to Jesus as an example is to his sacrifice, submission, suffering, or service. When Paul speaks of the benefits of being single in 1 Corinthians 7, he doesn’t mention that Jesus was single. When Paul speaks of “praying without ceasing,” again, Jesus would seem to be the obvious example, but Paul says no such thing. Continue reading →

It’s easy to get caught up in the details and miss the big picture. Feed the sheep what? What’s a “green pasture”? Elders are to be examples of what?

I think the answer — or the most important part of the answer — is found back in Ephesians. The goal of the work of a shepherd is to help the members become like Jesus.

Let’s see what else Paul said in Ephesians — Continue reading →

We church leaders have a language problem, I think. I mean, we’re just so bad to use words that aren’t very well defined, as though everyone knows exactly what we mean.

Recently, the elders at my church and the staff met to consider the church’s vision. The staff very quickly told the elders that we should be all about “making disciples.” Everyone sitting at the table heartily agreed.

I asked, “What’s a disciple?” Do we mean “disciple” in the Boston/Crossroads discipling movement sense? In the Dallas Willard/Richard Foster sense of someone who practices spiritual disciplines? Do we mean someone who is regular in attendance and a daily Bible reader? Do we mean someone who is committed to personal evangelism? You see, I’ve heard the term used in each of those senses. Which one is right? Continue reading →

[The following is NOT an attempt to replicate the class but to present the same material in a blog format. I’ll expand on the material quite a bit to include some thoughts we didn’t have time to cover. This will be a little out of order, but I always teach a class better the second time through.]

Let’s start with a couple of questions.

First question.

Imagine two churches, both with about 100 members.

Congregation A is the result of a church plant, about five years ago. They rent space in a shopping center. They struggle with their budget. Their members are nearly all new converts. They have a few members with more experience, either from transfers or from the original plant team, but mostly they are new Christians with very little experience and training. On average, they are very young, with lots of families and very few retirees.

Congregation B is the same size. It’s been around for 50 years. They own a very nice building that’s paid for. They make budget easily. They have members who’ve walked with Jesus for 50, 60, and even 70 years. Many members are retired, but they also have younger members with families.

Now, which congregation is likely to reach 200 members first?

During the class, the elders all quickly and decisively said Congregation A. But Congregation B has more resources — more experienced Christian members, members with more free time to volunteer, and more financial and physical resources. Why A?

The elders responded, because Congregation A is more excited about Jesus! And I asked, why would having spent LESS time with Jesus make you MORE excited? What on earth are we teaching our members that makes them LESS effective disciples of Christ as they get older?

Second question.

Think of your own congregations. Think of the young, middle aged, and older members. Among those members, which ones are the most selfish, the most self-centered, and the most narcissistic?

The elders answered — and needed very little time to come to this conclusion: the oldest members. Elders from many different states, from large and small churches, with widely differing neighborhoods and communities, all said that their oldest, most long-term members are the most selfish.

And these men were largely much older than me (I’m nearly 58). They were speaking of their friends.

And, again, I ask, what on earth are we teaching our members that makes them more selfish, more self-centered, and more narcissistic as they spend more and more time in church?

How can someone sit in Bible class and the assembly for 50 years and hear thousands of sermons and classes and become less and less like Jesus year after year?

I mean, shouldn’t our oldest members be our most Christ-like members? If we were doing a halfway decent job with our classes and sermons, wouldn’t we expect that more time spent in classes and the assembly would draw us closer to Jesus, to help us become more and more like him?

There is a deep, serious, horrible flaw in our teaching.

NOTE: Readers: Obviously, we are speaking in generalities. The elders themselves were plainly men of great submission and love for Jesus. There are plenty of older members who have learned to be like Jesus. But nearly every church that has been around a long time has a pocket of older members who feel empowered to pursue a selfish agenda.

In fact, it’s a little more complicated than that. I find that there are members who are extraordinarily generous, kind, and helpful but who refuse to submit on certain topics. Indeed, as I’ve pondered the question since Tulsa, I’ve concluded — tentatively — that the issue is not so much selfishness as a certain sense of entitlement.

We have members who’d literally bankrupt themselves with their generosity for others, who give vast amounts of time and energy to the cause of Christ, but who nonetheless feel entitled — so much so that they become great burdens on the leadership. It was easy to see that the elders felt a great weight from dealing with this subset of their members.

What do we church leaders do that creates a sense of entitlement — such that the longer our members are Christians, the more entitled they feel? Is it bad theology? Bad sermons? Bad Bible classes? Bad leadership? Bad shepherding? What’s missing?

And why is it nearly impossible for an established church to grow through conversion, whereas a newly planted church often grows very effectively through conversion? Again, what are we teaching our members to make them less effective disciples of Jesus?