Congregational Mergers and Autonomy: A Reader’s Question

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Jay F Guin

MergerI get emails —

A reader wrote to ask this question. I’ve edited it with his permission to make it anonymous —

Some time ago the local Christian church was left without a preacher and only one elder remained. They called our elders — we’re a Church of Christ — wanting to discuss the possibility of merging our congregations. They had just finished an auditorium, but because of the split had not moved into it. We were outgrowing our building so, we without enthusiasm, agreed to meet with their steering committee. Only minutes after the meeting started we truly felt the presence of God. We decided this was not about financial or special needs — merging just seemed the right thing to do. Continue reading →

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The Lord’s Supper: Reaching Some Conclusions, Part 2

Posted on March 11, 2010 by Jay F Guin

“Cup” and “loaf” are parts of a meal

It helps, I think, to realize that a cup of wine and loaf of bread was standard for First Century meals, especially meals shared with guests. To us, “cup of wine” or “loaf of bread” sounds like something added to the meal or taken separately from the meal, whereas to First Century ears, these words sounded like courses of the meal — rather as “salad” and “dessert” would sound to us.

Imagine reading this — Continue reading →

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Tending to Eden: A Vision for a Church Missions Program

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Jay F Guin

After putting up the last post in this series, I felt compelled to be a little more concrete. You see, years and years ago, I was charged with being the head of my church’s missions program, which was a ridiculously easy job because we had no missions program. We just sat around a room and talked about what we’d do if we had a budget. It was fun.

I moved on to other things, and our missions program now has a $100,000+ annual budget. I’m not in charge, but as an elder I’m supposed to be an overseer. And so I’ve been thinking about missions for decades. But it’s only been in the last couple of years that I actually learned anything about how to do it right. I’m learning to listen to the people who know what they’re doing.

I’m not a missionary, but many of the readers are or have been. I hope they chime in with their own thoughts. Let me know if I’ve gotten it right. Continue reading →

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The Lord’s Supper: Reaching Some Conclusions, Part 1

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Jay F Guin

The Churches of Christ have defined themselves by their insistence on weekly communion. Our members will come late and leave early, but they’ll be certain to take the Lord’s Supper. And we have members who’ll sit at home, taking communion by themselves, rather than condone the sins of the only church in town. We are so big on communion that we offer it twice on Sundays and take it into the homes of the shut ins.

But we treat the communion as the least important part of our service — lavishing funds on paid preachers and song leaders and focusing the service on the sermon and invitation. Rarely do we focus a service on the communion.

We’ve sucked the fellowship — the love — out of an event that’s supposed to draw us closer to each other and break down social, racial, and economic barriers. We’ve found so many rules about how not to do it that all we can do is sit there silently. Continue reading →

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Tending to Eden: Conclusions

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Jay F Guin

We are continuing to read through Tending to Eden by Scott C. Sabin.

The book has ten chapters, but I’ll leave the rest for you to read. I’ve just tried to hit the highlights — and enough of the substance to suggest a few conclusions. But you have to read the whole book.

Notice, first, that the old virtues remain true. Hard work, thrift, paying back what you owe … those things are just as true in Haiti as in Long Island. Indeed, more so, because third-world countries don’t have social safety nets.

When through a misguided compassion we give people what they could work for and earn, we do them no favors. We only manage to relieve our consciences — and we leave them in poverty and create a charitable system that many aren’t willing to support.

On the other hand, neither are the poor in the third world able to rescue themselves. They need help, but it’s a kind of help that’s harder to give than boxing up last year’s cast offs and writing a check. On the other hand, it’s a vastly more rewarding kind of help to give. I mean, I’d far rather support a program that not only wins converts to Jesus, but also rescues them from poverty so they can enjoy a good standard of living and even help support the next generation of missionaries. Continue reading →

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Tending to Eden: Chapter Six, Sharing the Gospel

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Jay F Guin

We are continuing to read through Tending to Eden by Scott C. Sabin.

This one will knock your socks off —

Prior to the genocide, Rwanda had the highest percentage of Christians in Africa and was considered a missionary success story. Clearly, something was missing. The world is full of people who call themselves Christians. Disciples are harder to find. …

Eldon Garcia, Floresta’s director in the Dominican Republic for many years, told me he saw a pattern with some of the farmers who succeeded in our program. The story wasn’t pretty.

As these farmers grew more successful, they suddenly had more money than ever before. And their lives began to change. First came the television, then more alcohol, and finally mistresses. …

In order to see real development, the fundamental relationships between people and God, people and their neighbors, and people and their land had to change.

What a shame it would be to spend years and years for prayer and toil and to invest thousands upon thousands of dearly donated funds only to see the beneficiaries become whoremongering drunkards. Continue reading →

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The Future of the Churches of Christ: Christian College Attendance

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Very interesting story in the Christian Chronicle, thanks to research by Flavil Yeakley. It seems that Church of Christ-affiliated universities are admitting fewer students who identify as members of the Churches of Christ.

Here’s the data — Continue reading →

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The Lord’s Supper: The First Day

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Jay F Guin

Closely tied to the Eucharist is the weekly meeting on Sundays. Of course, we see in Acts 2 that the early church met daily. There’s no mention of a weekly gathering in Acts until much later. Indeed, we only see a reference to a meeting on the first day in Acts 20. Clearly, the church in Troas met on Sundays, in the evening, although it’s less than clear whether this was according to the Jewish reckoning (our Saturday night) or the Roman (our Sunday night).

John also mentions a couple of Sunday gatherings.

(John 20:19)  On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

(John 20:26)  A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”

While the synoptics note that Jesus was raised on the first day, John makes a point to note that these two post-resurrection appearances of Jesus took place on the first day. However, John makes no mention of a meal, breaking of bread, or planned worship either day. But the disciples appear to have been meeting on Sundays. Continue reading →

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Tending to Eden: Another ResourceTwo More Resources

Posted on March 8, 2010 by Jay F Guin

I interrupt this series to call your attention to this review of When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Ourselves over at the Jesus Creed site.

I’ve not read this book, but it’s been recommended to me by a number of people, and the review shows it to reflect a philosophy similar to Tending to Eden by Scott C. Sabin. It looks to be another excellent resource on doing missions in Third World countries.

Thanks to Tim Archer’s recent post, I now know about Tony Campolo’s article on how many church ministries in Haiti do more harm than good.

Does it ever occur to those leaders who take bright, enthusiastic American young people to Haiti to build hundreds and hundreds of church buildings and schools that Haitians are capable of building them? Do they even consider how many jobs they take away from Haitians because of their well-intentioned construction enterprises? Does it occur to them that when Haitians see an American youth group put up a cinder block school building in just ten days that this could contribute to a sense of inferiority as these Americans do in ten days what seems to Haitians like a miracle?

Altruistic Americans have done to the Haitians what an out-of-control welfare system has done to so many poor people here in the United States. It has made them into people who are socially and psychologically dependent on others to solve their problems and who have lost confidence in their own capabilities.

Required reading.

Now that we’ve been forced to see the social disaster of Haiti, we are being forced to confront the reality of our ineptness to do long-lasting good there and in many other places.

It’s time to seriously consider how to help the people we minister to, rather than merely whether our kids are learning valuable life lessons and building great relationships. We need for missions to be about, you know, the mission.

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Sunday Sites: New Wineskins Magazine

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Jay F Guin

At the suggestion of a number of readers, I’m going to try to point out some excellent sites on a weekly basis — focusing on those outside the Churches of Christ. I, of course, begin by making an exception.

New Wineskins Magazine has been on the internet for many years, but it’s recently undergone a change in direction. Bloggers are popping up all over. In the current issue, there are articles by Edward Fudge, Matt Dabbs, Royce Ogle, Keith Brenton, and K. Rex Butts — all of whom are bloggers and commenters here at OneInJesus. (I’ve always suspected I had an all-star cast of commenters here. Now I know.)

I’m delighted to see these guys — and many others — adorn the front page of Wineskins. In fact, it appears that Edward Fudge’s GraceEmails will routinely appear at Wineskins, although he continues his long-standing email ministry.

I’ve been thinking that joining forces with some of better bloggers would be a smart move for Wineskins, and I’m glad to see they’ve read my mind. I take full credit for having psychically persuaded them to do this.

But this is absolutely my first and LAST exception. Don’t write me and ask to have your Church of Christ blog reviewed here. This is to expand our horizons to excellent resources outside the Churches of Christ.

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