awaiting rain

Americans Spurn Church

Richard Luscombe, writing in Scotsman.com, declares that "the land of Evangelicals" is losing it's Christian faith as Americans spurn "church" in an alarming exodus from mainstream denominations.  In his February 26th article he states,

"Americans are turning away from the Church at a rate never seen before, according to the surprising results of a major study of the country's religious landscape. And many of those who remain are switching between faiths as freely as flicking television channels."

I have mixed reactions to this article, primarily because it hints at something very real that is occuring on the religious landscape of America, but is poorly written by someone who seems to be gazing in from across the sea and interpreting the events through a misunderstanding of what the "church" is.

On the one hand, he is reporting on something very real.  There is a massive exodus underway as people are leaving the institutional church in droves.  Here Luscombe quotes Roger Finke, a sociology professor at Penn State:

"Right now there's a dropping confidence in organised religion, especially in the traditional religious forms."

I agree with his statement as the evidence for what he is saying is indisputable.  The cracks in the foundation of the institutional church are finally giving way and the structure is collapsing under its own weight of faulty architecture and poor workmanship.  In the words of Thom Rainer, people are leaving the institution not because they are losing their faith, but to save their faith.

And this is where my difficulty with Luscombe's article arises.  He seems to be using the words "denomination" and "faith" interchangeably.  To read his article, without thinking deeply, would give the impression that the exodus from institutional church is evidence of an exodus from the belief in and worship of Jesus Christ.  This simply isn't the case.  The exodus is not comprised of people leaving institutional church to follow Islam or Bhuddism, or any of the other religions.  Though there are, undoubtedly, some who are, the overwhelming majority of those in the exodus are people who are believers in and followers of Christ, but are simply trading the institution for a more organic way of Christian faith.  Consider this portion of his article, referring to the results of the recent Pew study:

"Although the Pew Forum found that more that 78 per cent of Americans describe themselves as having some kind of Christian affiliation, the rate of those with no ties to any church or faith [here he means denomination] was rising quickly, and older churchgoers are dying off far faster than new converts can be recruited."

Throughout his entire article I see so clearly the toxic misunderstanding that the "church" is the institution or organization and to separate yourself from the institution is to separate yourself from the "church."  How can we make this clear?  The "church" is not a particular organization.  The "church" is the global, collective body of people who worship and follow Christ.  To leave a particular institutional framework is not to leave the "church."

The institutional church is crumbling.  I believe it is God Himself who is doing the shaking.  And as the pillars, steeples, belltowers, and clergy elite fall away, the Way of Jesus Christ is being reborn as the unstoppable movement He promised it would be.

 

New Soul

You've seen the commercial and wondered to yourself, "What is this happy, catchy little tune?"  Well, here it is in it's entirety.  It's called, "New Soul" by Yael Naim.  Enjoy!

Red Pill Chronicles - The Sermon

Did you know that, though the "sermon" is the bedrock of the Protestant liturgy, it actually detracts from the very purpose for which God designed the church gathering?

So central is the sermon that it is the very reason many Christians go to church.  In fact, the entire service is often judged by the quality of the sermon.  Remove the sermon and you have eliminated the most important source of spiritual nourishment for countless numbers of believers (so it is thought).  Yet the stunning reality is that today's sermon has no root in Scripture.  Rather, it was borrowed from pagan culture, nursed and adopted into the Christian faith.

The present-day Christian sermon has the following features:

• It is a regular occurrence.
• It is delivered by the same person every week.
• It is delivered to a passive audience.
• It is a cultivated form of speech - possessing a specific structure with an introduction, three to five points, and a conclusion.

Contrast this with the apostolic preaching recored in Acts which possessed the following features:

• It was sporadic.
• It was delivered on special occasions in order to deal with specific problems.
• It was extemporaneous and without rhetorical structure.
• It was most often dialogical (including feedback and interruptions from the listeners).

The New Testament letters show that the ministry of God's Word came from the entire church in their regular gathering.

The earliest recorded Christian source for regular sermonizing is found during the late second century.  Though Clement of Alexandria lamented the fact that sermons did so little to change Christians, it became a standard practice among believers by the fourth century.  The Christian sermon was borrowed from the pagan pool of Greek culture.

The sophists were expert debaters.  They were masters at using emotional appeals, physical appearance, and clever language to "sell" their arguments.  In time, the style, form, and oratorical skill of the sophists became more prized than their accuracy.  This spawned a class of men who became masters of fine phrases, cultivating style for style's sake.  The truths they preached were abstract rather than truths that were practiced in their own lives.  They were experts at imitating form rather than substance.

So how did the Greek sermon find its way into the Christian church?  Around the third century a vacuum was created when the mutual ministry faded from the body of Christ.  To fill this void, the clergy began to emerge.  Many pagan orators and philosophers were becoming Christians.  They are known to us now as the "church fathers," and some of their writings are still with us.  Thus the pagan notion of a trained professional speaker who delivers orations for a fee moved straight into the Christian bloodstream.  Contrast this with the custom of Jewish rabbis who took up a trade so as to not charge a fee for their teaching.

So, this new style of communication was being birthed in the Christian church - a style that emphasized polished rhetoric, sophisticated grammar, flowery eloquence, and monologue designed to entertain and show off the speaker's oratorical skills.  Only those who were trained in it were allowed to address the church body.  The sermon became the elitist privilege of church officials, particularly the bishops.  Such people had to be educated in the schools of rhetoric to learn how to speak.  Without this education, a Christian was not permitted to address God's people.

And then the reformation...

Luther viewed the church as the gathering of those who listen to the Word of God being spoken to them.  For this reason he once called the church building a Mundhaus (mouth-house or speech-house).

John Calvin argued that the preacher is the "mouth of God."  (Ironically, both men vehemently railed against the idea that the pope was the vicar of Christ.)  Calvin was a master at this form.  Before his conversion, he employed this style while writing a commentary on a work by the pagan author Seneca.  When he was converted and turned to sermonizing, he applied the same analytical style to the Bible.

The present-day sermon harms the church in the following five ways:

1.  The sermon makes the preacher the virtuoso performer of the regular church gathering.  The sermon turns the church into a preaching station and the congregation degenerates into a group of muted spectators who watch a performance.  The sermon freezes and imprisons the functioning of the body of Christ turning them into a docile priesthood.

2.  The sermon often stalemates spiritual growth.  Because it is a one-way affair it encourages passivity and suffocates mutual ministry and open participation.  We do not grow by passive listening week after week.

3.  The sermon preserves the unbiblical clergy mentality which creates an excessive and pathological dependence on the clergy.  The sermon is one of the biggest roadblocks to a functioning priesthood.

4. Rather than equipping the saints, the sermon de-skills them.  Unfortunately many of God's people are just as addicted to hearing sermons as many preachers are addicted to preaching them.

5.  Today's sermon is often impractical.  The sermon fails to put the hearers into a direct, practical experience of what has been preached.  It mirrors its true father - Greco-Roman rhetoric, designed to entertain and display genius rather than instruct or develop talents in others.  In the end, it actually intensifies the impoverishment of the church.

The church family needs a restoration of the first-century practice of mutual exhortation and mutual ministry.  For the New Testament hinges spiritual transformation upon these two thing.  We move far outside of biblical bounds when we allow teaching to take the form of a conventional sermon and relegate it to a class of professional orators.

Excerpts from Pagan Christianity by George Barna and Frank Viola

Lullaby For A Petrified Sacred Society

Shut up the windows
Lock all the doors
Make sure nobody gets in
Learn to protect what is rightfully yours
Or someone will take it my friend

We'll all sleep well tonight
With no worry about tomorrow
Everything's all right
Safe in our panic room

We're building a wall
Higher and higher
Come join the gospel crusade
Don't you know God loves
Good little helpers
Can't wait to show Him what we've made

There are Doctors and Lawyers
And Presidents here
We've all become best of friends
Finally people are lending an ear and
Truth has become relevant

Our prophets are nicer
And kinder and sweeter
We've partnered in their great reward
They bless us with peace
In exchange for a token
What more could we ever ask for?

by Jason Upton

Are You a Part of the Problem?

I Wonder if it's Time

One of the oft-used buzzwords of the current presidential campaign is "change."  It seems everyone in the country who is concerned about the economy, national security, the war, and the present state of the political world is calling for fundamental change in the way our country lives and is led.

I think the word "change" also resonates with many of us across the country who desire to be fully-devoted followers of Christ, a Biblically-functioning body, and the "light of the world" that he promised we would be.  I've been astonished (though not entirely surprised) by the major churches in our city (Columbus, GA) that are undergoing a slow-motion implosion.  In the year that we've been back in this area we've seen three of the largest, most popular churches in our city end up in the newspaper because of scandal or upheaval.  Today Cascade Hills Baptist Church, which is the largest church in the city, appeared on the front page of the Ledger-Enquirer for the second time in a few months.   The first story, late last year, centered around the church acquiring the assistance of a judge in an attempt to force Yahoo to release the identities of church members who had sent e-mails in which they expressed disagreement with the change in leadership structure. That change essentially silenced the congregation and made a few men (who are some of the wealthiest in Columbus) the final, absolute arbiters of all church matters.

In all three of the major church upheavals (not to mention several less publicized ones) the issues have all stemmed out of the "business" or "leadership authority" of the church.  As I've read the comments made by Columbus citizens on the Ledger-Enquirer website in response to today's story, I can't help but wonder if the time is drawing near for a fundamental change in the way the church of Jesus Christ lives, leads, and loves.  My curiosity is further stirred by more national issues regarding the church, like the congressional investigations into the financial dealings of mega-churches, the public failing of prominent "Christian leaders," and the dramatic exodus of people from the established church all across the country.

I wonder if the time is drawing near for a new (yet ancient) way of life for the people who belong to Christ and exist as "The Church."

I wonder if it's time to return to the notion that all Christians are priests in the "priesthood of believers" with each of us being active participants in "the church."

I wonder if it's time to return to the notion that apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are called to a life of serving the body and equipping THEM to minister to one another and the world instead of the current system in which apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers do ministry TO the body for a fee (often one that exceeds the average income of most families).

I wonder if it's time to return to the notion that the building, campus, and assets are not "the church," the people are the church, and the church can be the church (probably even more faithfully) without buildings, campuses, and assets.

I wonder if it's time to return to the notion that Christians give their "tithes" and offerings so that the poor, widows, and orphans will be cared for and the Gospel will be carried into unreached cultures.

I wonder if it's time to return to the notion that church gatherings should center around life together as followers of Christ on mission to the world, instead of expensive one-hour performances observed by an audience, recorded, and packaged to sell for a profit.

Could the time be drawing near here in Columbus and across the world for an outright revolution in which the false church system crumbles and the true followers of Christ emerge to rebuild The Church as she was meant to be with Christ as the head and every believer a life-giving priest who illuminates the world with the light, love, and kindness of God?

I'm ready.

Red Pill Chronicles - The Constantine Effect

Did you know...

That when Christianity was born, it was the only religion on the planet that had no sacred objects, no sacred persons, and no sacred spaces?  The Christian faith was born in homes, out in courtyards, and along roadsides.

When Constantine became emperor of the entire Roman Empire in 324 he began ordering the construction of church buildings.  He did so to promote the popularity and acceptance of Christianity, thinking that if the Christians had their own sacred buildings - as did the Jews and the pagans - their faith would be regarded as legitimate.  He named his church buildings after the saints - just as the pagans named their temples after gods.

The church edifices built under Constantine were patterned after the model of the basilica.  They were wonderful for seating passive and docile crowds to watch a performance.  Christian basilicas possessed an elevated platform where the clergy ministered.  The platform was usually elevated by several steps.  There was also a rail or screen that separated the clergy from the laity.  In the center of the building was the altar whereupon the Eucharist was offered.  No one but the clergy, who were regarded as "holy men," were allowed to receive the Eucharist within the altar rails.

In front of the altar stood "the bishop's chair" (cathedra - meaning "throne") surrounded by two rows of chairs reserved for the elders.  The sermon was preached from the bishop's chair with power and authority resting in the chair.  Interestingly, most present-day church buildings have special chairs for the pastor and his staff situated on the platform behind the pulpit (with which the reformers replaced the altar table).

The result of this was that there was a loss of intimacy and open participation.  The professional clergy performed the acts of worship while the laity looked on as spectators.  The church building demonstrates that the church, whether she wanted it or not, had entered into a close alliance with pagan culture.  Church buildings took the place of temples; church endowments replaced temple lands and funds.  Under Constantine, tax exempt status was granted for all church property.

Even after he became emperor, Constantine allowed the old pagan institutions to remain as they were.  Following his conversion to Christianity, Constantine never did abandon sun worship.  In AD 321, Constantine decreed that Sunday would be a day of rest - a legal holiday.  It appears that Constantine's intention in doing this was to honor the god Mithras, the Unconquered Sun.

Almost to his dying day, Constantine still functioned as the high priest of paganism.  In fact, he retained the title Pontifex Maximus, which means chief of the pagan priests!  In the fifteenth century, this same title became the honorific title for the Roman Catholic pope.

(Excerpts from Pagan Christianity by Frank Viola & George Barna)

Red Pill Chronicles

Well, it came yesterday.  The doorbell rang, the dog went crazy, I retrieved the Amazon box from the sidewalk, and I immediately began reading Pagan Christianity by George Barna and Frank Viola.  At around 10:30 last night Lynn asked, "Are you going to read that whole book before you go to sleep?"  I was making rapid progress and found it difficult to put down.

My first inclination was to do a chapter-by-chapter review of the book.  But after spending some time orbiting in the blogosphere I find that there are multitudes of well-written reviews being compiled.  I see no need for another.  However I do feel a need to share with you bullet points of what I'm reading.  Therefore, I will be writing a series of posts called, "Red Pill Chronicles."  Each post will come from portions of the book I've underlined while reading and will be a brief "Did you know" statement.  I'll likely make several of these per week until I finish reading the book.

I'll begin the series with this piece of information:

Did you know...

Ancient Judaism was centered on three elements: the Temple, the priesthood, and the sacrifice.  When Jesus came, He ended all three, fulfilling them in Himself.  In Greco-Roman paganism, these three elements were also present: Pagans had their temples, their priests, and their sacrifices.  It was only the Christians of the first three centuries who had done away with all of these elements.

When Roman Catholicism evolved in the fourth to the sixth centuries, it absorbed many of the religious practices of both paganism and Judaism.  It set up a professional priesthood.  It erected sacred buildings.  And it turned the Lord's Supper into a mysterious sacrifice.  Added to these things were the pagan uses of incense and vestal (sacred) virgins.  The Protestants dropped the sacrificial use of the Lord's Supper, the burning of incense, and the vestal virgins.  But they retained the priestly caste (clergy) as well as the sacred building.

"Pagan Christianity" Bloggers

Every so often a larger than average stone is thrown into the waters sending ripples all the way across the lake.  It appears that the book, "Pagan Christianity" by George Barna and Frank Viola could be one of those stones.

I wrote an initial post about this on the day I ordered it from Amazon and plan to do a chapter-by-chapter review once it arrives and I begin reading it.  This is certainly one of those books that requires us to hold it in one hand with the Scriptures in the other as we read.

While I wait for that beautiful brown box with the curvy arrow to arrive at my door, I thought I'd share with you here some links to other bloggers who are opining on the book.  Enjoy!

What Are Barna & Viola Really Up To?

Pagan Christianity I: Prolegomena

Drew Marshall, Frank Viola talk Pagan Christianity

Coming Out of the "Pagan Christianity" Closet

"Pagan Christianity" by Backyard Missionary

On "Pagan Christianity"

"Pagan Christianity" on The Ooze

"Pagan Christianity" from Alan Hirsch

The Tall Skinny Kiwi on "Pagan Christianity"

I Can't Believe This Book is Being Published

Should We Have a Pagan Christianity?

Pagan Christianity Creates Ripples

Answers to Questions and Objections About "Pagan Christianity" by the author

"Sharia Law Unavoidable" - Archbishop of Canterbury

There are many who look askance at those of us who believe that one of our greatest threats as a nation, as a civilization, is the Islamic goal of establishing a final global caliphate ruled by Sharia Law.  Consider the following story from the B.B.C. in which the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, states that Sharia Law is not only unavoidable, but suggests that adoption of some aspects of Sharia Law could "help maintain social cohesion."

Dr Rowan Williams told Radio 4's World at One that the UK has to "face up to the fact" that some of its citizens do not relate to the British legal system.

Dr Williams argues that adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law would help maintain social cohesion.

For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.

He says Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty".

"There's a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law, as we already do with some other aspects of religious law."

What Mr. Williams doesn't seem to understand is that Islam isn't interested in co-existence and social cohesion.  World domination through either persuasion or sword is the goal.

You can go here to read the rest of the story.