Posts tagged with "church"
Thursday, 9. October 2008, 22:43:09
church, society
A very insightful article at "Gospel Driven Church". Of course, this is not just about American Christianity, or even suburban church but you can see it at work in down-town Narrabri, perhaps even as close as our own church?
We are in a weird -- but frequently exhilarating -- position where the gospel is scandalous even to Christians. So many of our brothers and sisters want the compartmentalized spirituality (putting in their religious time on Sunday mornings), the six steps to such-and-such messages, and the superficiality of apathy towards real community, that missional thinking and living, gospel-saturated and Jesus-centered messages, and the demands of relational intimacy freak them out. This stuff is a foreign language to them, and I see it constantly here in Nash Vegas, where "everyone" is a Christian, "everyone" goes to church. A couple of weeks ago, reading on a Nashville church shopper's blog, I noticed a commenter urging her to look for a church that focuses on Jesus. Her reply was, "I've already found Jesus." This is the default mode of Bible Belt Christianity. I've got my ticket punched, just give me the show now. I need a dynamic speaker on Sunday mornings, a rockin' band on the stage, a full service childcare facility, a big youth group, a coffee bar near the sanctuary, etc. I've got Jesus already; give me something that matters to me now, something "relevant," something applicable.
Read the full article at
The Gospel-Driven Church: Converting the Churched to Gospel-Centrism
Sunday, 5. October 2008, 05:48:29
life, church
There is no sermon today due to technical failures. It wasn't the sort of sermon that would have translated to audio only as a large part of it involved acting out the Bible story.
I thought everyone was a bit ratty today- probably the jet lag caused by the change to summer time. It wasn't helped by the convoy of trucks driving by with horns blaring right at the end of the praise time, and someone calling to a child "Do you want to see the trucks?" At this point I lost the will to live- maybe not quite. But it really does seem to sum up much of human existence- God encouraging to live in the heavenlies in His presence and 99% of the time we would rather look at trucks, or dogs or something.
Yesterday, Margaret & I spent a fair bit of time on the latest rearrangement of furnishings in the church. A few weeks ago Margaret bought a lounge suite plus two large prints plus some rugs for a ridiculously low price. We decided to make the prints into a feature in the church, to enhance the home feeling.Margaret pointed out that the curtains are actually more gold in colour than the baby poo hue in the photo.
Sunday, 5. October 2008, 04:27:58
church
The Question that Changed My Life
By David Ryser
A number of years ago, I had the privilege of teaching at a school of ministry. My students were hungry for God, and I was constantly searching for ways to challenge them to fall more in love with Jesus and to become voices for revival in the Church. I came across a quote attributed most often to Rev. Sam Pascoe. It is a short version of the history of Christianity, and it goes like this: Christianity started in Palestine as a fellowship; it moved to Greece and became a philosophy; it moved to Italy and became an institution; it moved to Europe and became a culture; it came to America and became an enterprise. Some of the students were only 18 or 19 years old--barely out of diapers--and I wanted them to understand and appreciate the import of the last line, so I clarified it by adding, "An enterprise. That's a business." After a few moments Martha, the youngest student in the class, raised her hand. I could not imagine what her question might be. I thought the little vignette was self-explanatory, and that I had performed it brilliantly.
Nevertheless, I acknowledged Martha's raised hand, "Yes, Martha."
She asked such a simple question, "A business? But isn't it supposed to be a body?"
I could not envision where this line of questioning was going, and the only response I could think of was, "Yes."
She continued, "But when a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?"
The room went dead silent. For several seconds no one moved or spoke. We were stunned, afraid to make a sound because the presence of God had flooded into the room, and we knew we were on holy ground. All I could think in those sacred moments was, "Wow, I wish I'd thought of that." I didn't dare
express that thought aloud. God had taken over the class.
Martha's question changed my life. For six months, I thought about her question at least once every day. "When a body becomes a business, isn't that a prostitute?" There is only one answer to her question. The answer is "Yes." The American Church, tragically, is heavily populated by people who do not love God. How can we love Him? We don't even know Him; and I mean really know Him.
What do I mean when I say "really know Him?" Our understanding of knowing and knowledge stems from our western culture (which is based in ancient Greek philosophical thought). We believe we have knowledge (and, by extension, wisdom) when we have collected information. A collection of information is not the same thing as knowledge, especially in the culture of the Bible (which is an eastern, non-Greek, culture). In the eastern culture, all knowledge is experiential. In western/Greek culture, we argue from premise to conclusion without regard for experience--or so we think.
An example might be helpful here. Let us suppose a question based upon the following two premises: First, that wheat does not grow in a cold climate and second, that England has a cold climate. The question: Does wheat grow in England? The vast majority of people from the western/Greek culture would
answer, "No. If wheat does not grow in a cold climate and if England has a cold climate, then it follows that wheat does not grow in England." In the eastern culture, the answer to the same question, based on the same premises, most likely would be, "I don't know. I've never been to England."
We laugh at this thinking, but when I posed the same question to my friends from England, their answer was, "Yes, of course wheat grows in England. We're from there, and we know wheat grows there." They overcame their cultural way of thinking because of their life experience. Experience trumps information when it comes to knowledge.
A similar problem exists with our concept of belief. We say we believe something (or someone) apart from personal experience. This definition of belief is not extended to our stockbroker, however. Again, allow me to explain. Suppose my stockbroker phones me and says, "I have a hot tip on a stock that is going to triple in price within the next week. I want your permission to transfer $10,000 from your cash account and buy this stock."
That's a lot of money for me, so I ask, "Do you really believe this stock will triple in price, and so quickly?" He/she answers, I sure do." I say, "That sounds great! How exciting! So how much of your own money have you invested in this stock?" He/she answers, "None."
Does my stockbroker believe? Truly believe? I don't think so, and suddenly I don't believe, either. How can we be so discerning in the things of this world, especially when they involve money, and so indiscriminate when it comes to spiritual things? The fact is, we do not know or believe apart from experience. The Bible was written to people who would not understand the concepts of knowledge, belief, and faith apart from experience. I suspect God thinks this way also.
So I stand by my statement that most American Christians do not know God--much less love Him. The root of this condition originates in how we came to God. Most of us came to Him because of what we were told He would do for us. We were promised that He would bless us in life and take us to heaven after death. We married Him for His money, and we don't care if He lives or dies as long as we can get His stuff. We have made the Kingdom of God into a business, merchandising His anointing. This should not be. We are
commanded to love God, and are called to be the Bride of Christ--that's pretty intimate stuff. We are supposed to be His lovers. How can we love someone we don't even know? And even if we do know someone, is that a guarantee that we truly love them? Are we lovers or prostitutes?
I was pondering Martha's question again one day, and considered the question, "What's the difference between a lover and a prostitute?" I realized that both do many of the same things, but a lover does what she does because she loves. A prostitute pretends to love, but only as long as you pay. Then I asked the question, "What would happen if God stopped paying me?"
For the next several months, I allowed God to search me to uncover my motives for loving and serving Him. Was I really a true lover of God? What would happen if He stopped blessing me? What if He never did another thing for me? Would I still love Him? Please understand, I believe in the promises and blessings of God. The issue here is not whether God blesses His children; the issue is the condition of my heart. Why do I serve Him? Are His blessings in my life the gifts of a loving Father, or are they a wage that I have earned or a bribe/payment to love Him? Do I love God without any conditions? It took several months to work through these questions. Even now I wonder if my desire to love God is always matched by my attitude and behavior. I still catch myself being disappointed with God and angry that He has not met some perceived need in my life. I suspect this is something which is never fully resolved, but I want more than anything else to be a true lover of God.
So what is it going to be? Which are we, lover or prostitute? There are no prostitutes in heaven, or in the Kingdom of God for that matter, but there are plenty of former prostitutes in both places. Take it from a recovering prostitute when I say there is no substitute for unconditional, intimate relationship with God. And I mean there is no palatable substitute available to us (take another look at Matthew 7:21-23 sometime). We must choose.
Dr. David Ryser
Tuesday, 30. September 2008, 00:05:04
world-view, church, Australia, mission
It seems that the Uniting Church is coming to terms with its looming fate. Unfortunately they are not seeing that the cause of its decline is its own apostasy. People have deserted the UCA because it has too long been preaching a gospel that is not from the Bible- acceptance of homosexual marriage, acceptance of abortion, salvation by "niceness" rather than by faith.
Ironically, I believe the UC could turn around and return to its former glory but only through repentance from the top down.
Niall Reid advocates a kind of underground movement led by "worker priests" but that will be just more of the same until they recover the true gospel.
Here is the article from the SMH
Church may profit from doom
Sinners' market … Niall Reid says the church should let go of its "sacred spaces".
Linda Morris Religious Affairs Writer
September 30, 2008
THE head of the Uniting Church in NSW has implored his church to start selling its underutilised churches, manses and halls and give the proceeds to the poor and disadvantaged.
Faced with dwindling congregations and conceding the church could all but disappear in 30 years, the Reverend Niall Reid says the church should let go of its "holy, sacred spaces as beautiful as they may be" and work to establish an "underground" community of faithful that connects with the spiritual needy in pubs, on beaches and in shopping malls.
His radical vision was presented at the Uniting Church's annual meeting at Canterbury Racecourse at the weekend and comes as the church recently valued its property assets including schools and aged care facilities at $3.9 billion. With land, the assets of the church could be double that.
But owning property that is hardly used or is inefficient or ineffective was like burying resources for ministry "in a hole in the ground", he said. Selling church property might add renewed vitality in the church or, without a shopfront, the church experiment could fail but at least it would go out with a "blast, not a whimper".
"I think it is about time we started selling our assets, giving to the poor literally and in the sense of using our resources to help people experience the kingdom of God because they experience it in our life, in our conviction, in the priority we give to others and not ourselves.
"It is about letting go; it is about letting them [churches] be resources not there to serve us, but to serve the community we live in - I do not believe that in our time we can afford too many places that are designated as untouchable, holy, sacred spaces, as beautiful as they may be - as we worship God together we can create sacred places and times at very little cost."
Mr Reid suggests that church property could be sold to fund ministries in disadvantaged areas. Alternatively, some churches could better share their assets with the community, providing space rent-free.
A remodelled church might also include fewer paid ministers and more worker priests who hold down a full or part-time job and juggle their role as spiritual adviser.
"Where we are not reliant on maintaining unsuitable buildings and paying stipends and providing manses we may find we come closer to entering the kingdom of God, our image of the church will change - not the steepled building in every suburb adorned with Uniting Church logo - but rather the image of the underground church - communities of faith in homes, workplaces, in coffee shops, shopping malls, parks, pubs, on beaches, existing without the need for council approval or building permits."
These decisions had the ability to set the Uniting Church apart: "If we start using our resources to work towards developing an underground church now, in 20 years we may not be so rich, having used up our resources, but just possibly we will be experiencing a wonderful harvest of people and riches of a different order."
Article
Thursday, 18. September 2008, 23:57:53
preaching, church, bible
From "Gospel Driven Church":
Here's a choice quote on "making the Bible relevant" from a book by Ben Patterson called Preaching to Convince that I saw once upon a time at Theocentric Preaching:
This particular temptation used to be the sole province of the liberal theological tradition. But in the past few years, it has gained a number of victims in the evangelical community . . . The sin courted in this temptation is the presumption that it is the Bible that is dead and we who are alive . . .
Is the Bible relevant? Dr. Bernard Ramm once remarked, “There is nothing more relevant than the truth.” The longer I preach, the more convinced I become that the best thing I can do is simply get out of Scripture’s way.
Yes. Love that. "The best thing I can do is simply get out of Scripture's way."
I am a big fan of the notion we can't make the Bible relevant; it already is relevant.
Reminds me of that great Spurgeon quote:
Scripture is like a lion. Who ever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose; it will defend itself.
The modern church is endlessly attempting to update, innovate, and augment the message of the gospel to best speak to our audiences. It occurs to me that we have somehow decided, a priori, that there is something wrong with the seed that must be fixed. Why don't we stop and perhaps wonder if the problem is not with the seed, but with the soil?
This requires some theological ruminations and may (will?) have some radical implications for how we do ministry, particularly pastoral ministry.
In any event, it seems we are obsessively focused on convincing seekers through a self-trusting fixation on programming and style, when we ought to be relentlessly focused on inviting sinners through a Spirit-trusting enjoyment of the undiluted gospel and a scandalous grace.
Article:
Monday, 15. September 2008, 12:34:00
Narrabri, life, church, blessing
...
Here is today's day off.
9 am. Went to the community group for disabled people that I support to try to find out why their finances have melted down. Two hours of staring at columns of numbers persuades me that I need more coffee. I think the group will probably survive.
11 am Quick trip to Vinnies to see what baby goods and electrical appliances they are donating to us this week. The haul includes a baby rocker, hair straightener number 200 ( they pair up well with all the discarded curling wands! What is it with women?), large crock pot and other goodies.
11.10 am Arrive home to find our long awaited lounge suite being delivered- another EBay purchase and a big upgrade on our previous model.
11.30 Quick trip to school to make sure preparations for HSC are in hand.
11.45 Remember that I need to bank the offerings from yesterday.
1 pm Lunch and nap. The nap is needed to make up for not sleeping well last night
1.30 Abandon nap as Alex who believes he is a caterpillar today is jumping all over me. Strangely Alex the caterpillar and Alex the kangaroo inflict similar bruises when they jump on my body.
Decide to try to fix leaking tap in laundry- BIG mistake. The tap is a combination one that has an outlet for the washing machine hose as well as the normal tap outlet.
2.00 Still trying to remove tap handle. Decide to visit hardware for advice. They say it should just slide off. Return home to spray tap with WD40
3.30 Having allowed plenty of time for WD40 to work its magic, I go back to it and discover that the tap handle can now be removed and the insides of the tap can be extracted. Rather than the normal tap washer, the washer is actually an O-ring that fits over a dome on the end of the tap. Hmmm- this is a bad time to discover that the job might be trickier than I first expected.
3.40 Back to hardware shop with hardware in hand. Hear the worst words you can hear in this situation: "I've never seen one like that before." Assistant searches plumbing section but is unable to find anything that looks like it might fit.
3.45. Go to plumbing supplies shop, ignoring sign that says "We don't sell retail plumbing supplies to general public." Plumber rummages through boxes and emerges with washer kit.
3.50-5.00. Wrestle little O-Ring to persuade it to fit over the dome... unsuccessful.
5.00 Ring plumber who lives out of town. The $2 job will now escalate to $200 but I'm desperate. Plumber doesn't need the money or the bother. Tells me that these washer kits are usually no good and it's easier to buy a new tap. Hardware shops are now closed but he tells me that as a temporary fix I can just get an ordinary tap spindle and stick that in so we can turn the water back on.
Great news, but we don't have an ordinary tap. But David Baxter, handyman extraordinaire has dozens. Luckily he's in town. I take my dismantled tap round to Dave's place. He can't just give me what I need because he's never seen a tap like this one either, so he spends an hour studying it to figure out how it works. Rummages through boxes and finds some bits. Shows me his vegetable garden and then offers to come around and install the temporary tap.
6.25 pm Return home. David turns up shortly afterwards. Installs temporary tap, then gets fascinated by the original tap and the repair kit. He decides that if we get the original tap working properly I won't have to buy a new one.
8 pm Finally satisfied original tap works properly, having tried it out about 50 times, turning mains off and on each time, David leaves and we have dinner.
For a day off, it's been very tiring and stressful. But I am thankful for the people in my life from friends like David who drops everything to help people get things fixed, to Alex the caterpillar/ kangaroo/ baby lamb, and even for the people who work for the disabilities group caring for very needy people in our town, and the long-suffering people at the hardware shop.
Wednesday, 3. September 2008, 01:44:56
post-modern, church, mission
Jared Wilson has been writing some great stuff on the difference between missional and attractional churches. His latest, on the reasons for worship is excellent.
Missional and Attractional, Part 7
Any consideration of the so-called "attractional church" must consider the recipient of nearly all its energy and resources -- the weekend worship service.
In this series I have been highlighting contrasts proposed between the attractional church and the missional church by the following chart:
In this installment, I am briefly exploring the 14th, 15th, and 16th contrasts as a way of demonstrating the (practically) diametrically opposed paradigms of each model for their worship service vision.
Worship as Attraction vs. Worship as Reflection
I have previously suggested that the raison d'etre of the attractional church is to get as many people as possible through the doors and into a worship service so that they may (ostensibly) receive information on how to a) have a relationship with God or b) live a Christian life. This is a good and sincere motive, and plenty of seeker churches and their attractional worship services have planted seeds for the salvation of sinners.
But all too often this mindset leads to a "whatever it takes" blurring of lines between who is being glorified in our worship. A former church of mine played a song by folk-rock artist Ben Harper called "My Own Two Hands." The inclusion of this song is quite in keeping with the approach this church takes to the worship service: it was added because a) it is a mainstream song that can connect with an unchurched audience, and b) it shared some of the themes of that morning's message. But as our congregation watched and listened to our worship musicians singing an ode to the potential of humanity (the lyrics include the line "I can change the world with my own two hands . . .") the question occurred to me (and several others) "Who exactly are we worshiping?"
This has very little to do with style -- I don't happen to believe that style is neutral, but that is a subject for another time -- and everything to do with the intended audience of a worship service. For the attractional paradigm, the audience is the unchurched congregant and the disillusioned Christian congregant, so nearly every aspect is tailored for comfort, enjoyment, accommodation, and -- way too often -- entertainment. One church I read about recently played Australian rock group Jet's paean to one-night stands, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?," for no apparent reason other than that it's a rockin' song they hoped people would enjoy hearing.
More and more attractional churches are banking on video presentations, elaborate stage sets and props, larger and more polished bands, less God-centered songs, programmed lighting effects, lasers, fog, giveaways, gourmet goodies and beverages, and numerous other enticements to make church seem less like the stereotype of church. To be clear, not all of these things are bad. But the indiscriminate and thoughtless incorporation of them is.
In many missional churches, by contrast, the worship in the worship service is clearly and intentionally about and for God himself. The audience is not anyone in the pews, Christian or not. The audience is God. The music is chosen based primarily on what most makes most of God. It is not arranged with a singing congregation out of mind, but it is not arranged for the singing congregation but for the One they will be singing to.
In this mindset, worship is then not a malleable creative element designed to attract a particular churchgoing demographic; it is a reflection of the goodness and glory and grandeur of our sovereign triune God.
These disparate mindsets affect the tone of preaching in worship services, as well.
Preaching as Application vs. Preaching as Proclamation
In the attractional church, the messages are predominantly of the "life application" variety meant to make the Christian walk seem more practical or relatable or appealing. In the missional church, the messages are predominantly explorations of what God has done.
This is not to say that applicational preaching cannot or does not contain any proclamation, or that proclamational preaching cannot or should not contain application. In fact, the best preaching contains both proclamation and application. The difference lay in the amounts of each and, again, the primary intention of the message.
In short, the typical applicational message tends to over-emphasize our good works while a good proclamational message emphasizes God's finished work.
I will explore this discrepancy more fully in the next installment in this series, but the essential difference between applicational preaching and proclamational preaching depends on how much the preacher wishes to make of the gospel. Proclamational preaching makes much of the gospel, believing that proclaiming the finished and sufficient work of Christ for salvation is, as Paul says, "of first importance." The applicational preacher either presupposes the gospel or relegates it to the conclusion of his message, believing that of most importance is exhorting the congregation to live in more Christlike ways.
To be clear (again): We should be exhorting our congregations to live in more Christlike ways. But if the emphasis of our preaching is on being more like Jesus and not on the good news of grace despite our not being able to be like Jesus, we end actually achieving the opposite of our intent. We inadvertently become legalists, actually, because we are more concerned with works and behavior than Christ's work on our hearts. The great irony is that despite hoping to win the unchurched with the message of the good news, we end up enticing them with a Christian form of self-help or behavior modification, neither of which has ever saved anyone.
The proclamational preacher, though, preaches the texts of Scripture with God as the subject and the gospel at the forefront, and he does so without shame, trusting not his words or his demeanor to win souls, but the work of the Holy Spirit.
How a church approaches these two primary elements of a worship gathering (not to mention how they approach the sacraments) stems from and feeds its view of the worship service in general.
Weekend as Event vs. Weekend as Assembly
The attractional church puts huge stock in the weekend service to do lots of work. Many churches direct most of their operating budget towards the weekend service. Most of the staff is on hand to carry out the diverse attractions of the weekend service. Many pastors spend the bulk of their time preparing for the weekend service, leaving the actual pastoring of the church to support staff. In many churches, the weekend is the only official thing they do!
This approach is symptomatic of many of the claims previously made about the attractional church and featured in the above chart. If evangelism for the attractional church happens "inside," then a lot is riding on the weekend service. If the church exists to attract an audience, then a lot is riding on the weekend service. If growth is numbers and cultural relevance is the name of the game, a lot is riding on the weekend service. It is no wonder, then, that the attractional church is ever attempting to outdo itself (or the church next door), to "think outside the box" and take the weekend event "to the next level." Innovation becomes a core value because coming up with the next new thing (or latching on to the culture's next new thing) is paramount to the attraction of the weekend event.
The worship service has become an idol.
In many missional churches, the weekend service can be an idol too. But the temptation is less common, because the service is not seen as an attractional event meant to pack 'em in, but an assembling of the community to worship corporately and receive teaching from Scripture. Evangelism for the missional church mostly occurs "outside," so while the missional worship service can and often does contain some attractional elements, it is not designed to attract people outside the community to the church but to direct people inside the community to God and to their neighbors.
To put it another way, it is not an advertisement for the church but an adoration of God.
I will once again cop to broadbrushing. There are plenty of self-proclaimed missional churches whose worship services are designed to be quite "attractional," and there are plenty of unapologetic attractional churches who feature God-centered worship music and more proclamational preaching. Certainly there is overlap. False dichotomies must be avoided, and my aim here is not simply to suggest an absolute either/or but to bring to the fore opposing mindsets and to propose that the difference in these mindsets matters. It matters greatly.
Article
Tuesday, 26. August 2008, 00:12:57
church
Jarrod McKenna has written a very thoughtful reflection about the Mike Guggliemucci events
here
Thursday, 21. August 2008, 09:50:21
religion, church, society
Just how much can you believe that comes out of the Hillsong/ AOG megaplex these days?
Really, I try to be open, respectful and all of that stuff, but how often do they allow people to get sucked in by the celbrity church, cult-hero-mega pastor culture?
I stumbled across this article on ninemsn today:
Pop star pastor lied about cancer
By Shaun Davies, ninemsn
A pastor who claimed terminal cancer inspired him to write a hit evangelical pop song has been exposed as a fraud.
Michael Guglielmucci told worshippers, friends and his own family that he was likely to die from the disease.
He claimed his hit song "Healer", which was included on mega-church Hillsong's latest album, came to him as a "gift from God" on the day the diagnosis was revealed.
It propelled Mr Guglielmucci, formerly a pastor with Melbourne-based church Planetshakers, to the forefront of Australia's Christian youth movement.
But the story was completely made up.
A statement from Australian Christian Churches vice president Alun Davies said Mr Guglielmucci, now living in Adelaide, had admitted to fabricating his cancer story.
"Representatives of the National Executive for the Australian Christian Churches recently met with Michael Guglielmucci," Mr Davies said.
"At this meeting, he read a statement indicating that his claim to have cancer was untrue.
"His credential with the Australian Christian Churches was immediately suspended."
An abundance of material documenting Mr Guglielmucci's falsified illness is available on the internet.
In one Hillsong video, subtitled in Spanish and posted to YouTube, the pastor described his made-up cancer diagnosis in meticulous detail.
"I went to the hospital expecting to have some tests and got the news that I had cancer, and quite an aggressive form of cancer," he said.
"I walked into my studio at home and for some reason pressed record, which was a good thing ... I just sat at a piano and began to worship.
"I didn't, like, sit down and write the verses and the chorus, I just sang that song from the start to the finish.
"I just realised that God had given me an incredible gift and I knew that was going to be my strength."
A Facebook group entitled "I continue to love and support Michael Guglielmucci" has been set up, with many young Christians calling for the pastor to be forgiven.
But comments attached to YouTube videos have been less kind.
"Should this still be on [here]? Can someone delete it? Mike never had cancer, it's all a lie he made up. It's embarrassing and sad to watch," read one comment.
In an e-mail sent to Hillsong members yesterday, the church's general manager George Aghajanian said the news was even a shock to Mr Guglielmucci's own family.
The suspended pastor was seeking professional help, the e-mail said.
Planetshakers spokesman Darryn Keneally said his church was "devastated by the elaborate hoax".
He said Mr Guglielmucci would make reparations to anyone who gave him money because of his made-up sickness. "There were no fundraisers conducted however when Michael left the church, 18 months ago, a special offering was taken up in honor of his services to the church," he said.
"Planetshakers Church did not ask for any congregational financial support to be given to Michael and we have not given him any financial assistance since.
"We have asked that all money generated from the proceeds of his song Healer be donated to charity."
Article:
Friday, 15. August 2008, 01:07:08
revivalism, religion, church, Holy Spirit
Following the announcement this week that Todd Bentley has separated from his wife Shonna, "Charisma" editor J. Lee Grady raises some disturbing questions for the christian community.
Life After Lakeland: Sorting Out the Confusion
Todd Bentley's announcement that his marriage is ending has thrown our movement into a tailspin and questions need to be answered.
It was not supposed to end like this.
Evangelist Todd Bentley had heralded the Lakeland revival as the greatest Pentecostal outpouring since Azusa Street. From his stage in a gigantic tent in Florida, Bentley preached to thousands, bringing many of them to the stage for prayer. Many claimed to be healed of deafness, blindness, heart problems, depression and dozens of other conditions in the Lakeland services, which ran for more than 100 consecutive nights. Bentley announced confidently that dozens of people had been raised from the dead during the revival.
But this week, a few days after the Canadian preacher announced the end of his visits to Lakeland, he told his staff that his marriage is ending. Without blaming the pace of the revival for Bentley's personal problems, his board released a public statement saying that he and his wife, Shonnah, are separating. The news shocked Bentley's adoring fans and saddened those who have questioned his credibility since the Lakeland movement erupted in early April.
"Among those who jumped on the Lakeland bandwagon, discernment was discouraged. They were expected to swallow and follow. The message was clear: 'This is God. Don't question.'
I'm sad. I'm disappointed. And I'm angry. Here are few of my many, many questions about this fiasco:
Why did so many people flock to Lakeland from around the world to rally behind an evangelist who had serious credibility issues from the beginning?
To put it bluntly, we're just plain gullible.
From the first week of the Lakeland revival, many discerning Christians raised questions about Bentley's beliefs and practices. They felt uneasy when he said he talked to an angel in his hotel room. They sensed something amiss when he wore a T-shirt with a skeleton on it. They wondered why a man of God would cover himself with tattoos. They were horrified when they heard him describe how he tackled a man and knocked his tooth out during prayer.
But among those who jumped on the Lakeland bandwagon, discernment was discouraged. They were expected to swallow and follow. The message was clear: "This is God. Don't question. So before we could all say, "Sheeka Boomba" (as Bentley often prayed from his pulpit), many people went home, prayed for people and shoved them to the floor with reckless abandon, Bentley-style.
I blame this lack of discernment, partly, on raw zeal for God. We're spiritual hungry which can be a good thing. But sometimes, hungry people will eat anything.
Many of us would rather watch a noisy demonstration of miracles, signs and wonders than have a quiet Bible study. Yet we are faced today with the sad reality that our untempered zeal is a sign of immaturity. Our adolescent craving for the wild and crazy makes us do stupid things. It's way past time for us to grow up.
Why didn't anyone in Lakeland denounce the favourable comments Bentley made about William Branham?
This one baffles me. Branham embraced horrible deception near the end of his ministry, before he died in 1965. He claimed that he was the reincarnation of Elijah and his strange doctrines are still embraced by a cult-like following today. When Bentley announced to the world that the same angel that ushered in the 1950s healing revival had come to Lakeland, the entire audience should have run for the exits.
Why didn't anyone correct this error from the pulpit? Godly leaders are supposed to protect the sheep from heresy, not spoon feed deception to them. Only God knows how far this poison travelled from Lakeland to take root elsewhere. May God forgive us for allowing His Word to be so flippantly contaminated.
A prominent Pentecostal evangelist called me this week after Bentley's news hit the fan. He said to me: "I'm now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the anti-Christ when he shows up because they have no discernment.” Ouch. Hopefully we'll learn our lesson this time and apply the necessary caution when an impostor shows up.
Why did God TV tell people that "any criticism of Todd Bentley is demonic?
This ridiculous statement was actually made on one of God TV's pre-shows. In fact, the network's hosts also warned listeners that if they listened to criticism of Bentley, they could lose their healings.
This is cultic manipulation at its worst. The Bible tells us that the Bereans were noble believers because they studied the Scriptures daily "to see whether these things were so”(Acts 17:11, NASB). Yet in the case of Lakeland, honest intellectual inquiry was viewed as a sign of weakness. People were expected to jump first and then open their eyes.
Just because we believe in the power of the Holy Spirit does not mean we check our brains at the church door. We are commanded to test the spirits. Jesus wants us to love Him with our hearts and our minds.
Because of the Lakeland scandal, there may be large numbers of people who feel they've been burned by Bentley. Some may give up on church and join the growing ranks of bitter, disenfranchised Christians. Others may suffer total spiritual shipwreck. This could have been avoided if leaders had been more vocal about their objections and urged people to evaluate spiritual experiences through the filter of God's Word.
Why did a group of respected ministers lay hands on Bentley on June 23 and publicly ordain him? Did they know of his personal problems?
This controversial ceremony was organized by Peter Wagner, who felt that one of Bentley's greatest needs was proper spiritual covering. He asked California pastors Che Ahn and Bill Johnson, along with Canadian pastor John Arnott, to lay hands on Bentley and bring him under their care.
Bentley certainly needs such covering. No one in ministry today should be out on their own, living in isolation without checks, balances and wise counsel. It was commendable that Wagner reached out to Bentley and that Bentley acknowledged his need for spiritual fathers by agreeing to submit to the process. The question remains, however, whether it was wise to commend Bentley during a televised commissioning service that at times seemed more like a king's coronation.
In hindsight, we can all see that it would have been better to take Bentley into a back room and talk about his personal issues.
The Bible tells us that ordination of a minister is a sober responsibility. Paul wrote: "Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others”(1 Tim. 5:22). We might be tempted to rush the process, but the apostle warned against fast-tracking ordination and he said that those who commission a minister who is not ready for the job will bear some of the blame for his failures.
I trust that Wagner, Ahn, Johnson and Arnott didn't know of Bentley's problems before they ordained him. I am sure they are saddened by the events of this week and are reaching out to Bentley and his wife to promote healing and restoration. But I believe that they, along with Bentley and the owners of God TV, owe the body of Christ a forthright, public apology for thrusting Bentley's ministry into the spotlight prematurely. (Perhaps such an apology should be aired on God TV.)
Can anything good come out of this?
That depends on how people respond. If the men assigned to oversee Bentley offer loving but firm correction, and if Bentley responds humbly to the process by stepping out of ministry for a season of rehabilitation, we could witness a healthy case of church discipline play out the way it is supposed to. If all those who were so eager to promote Bentley now rush just as fast to repent for their errors in judgment, then the rest of us could breathe a huge sigh of relief and the credibility of our movement could be restored.
I still believe that God desires to visit our nation in supernatural power. I know He wants to heal multitudes, and I will continue praying for a healing revival to sweep across the United States. But we must contend for the genuine, not an imitation. True revival will be accompanied by brokenness, humility, reverence and repentance not the arrogance, showmanship and empty hype that often was on display in Lakeland.
We are weathering an unprecedented season of moral failure and spiritual compromise in our nation today. I urge everyone in the charismatic world to pray for Bentley; his wife, Shonnah; his three young children; Bentley's ministry staff; and the men and women who serve as his counsellors and advisers. Let's pray that God will turn this embarrassing debacle into an opportunity for miraculous restoration.
J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.
Friday, 15. August 2008, 00:01:59
church, mission
From the Gospel Driven Church blog:
Louie Giglio (preacher) and Chris Tomlin (worship leader) are planting a church in Atlanta.
Sounds awesome.
Some people are upset.
They are concerned because of the potential for Passion Church to "suck up" believers from other churches, folks who may be attracted to Passion Church because, well, let's face it: Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin are much cooler than what most of us have going in our churches. There is brand name recognition.
And that may (and probably will) happen. That sucks.
1. Do you really think losing people who are interested in the celebrity factor is a loss?
2. I've said it before: If you treat your church like a business, you will treat other churches like competition.
I'm going to be praying more and more churches that center on the gospel and celebrate God-centered worship rise up all over the place. We could use a lot more of them in my city.
Article:
Wednesday, 13. August 2008, 07:54:34
church, ministry, fathers, sons
We were talking at the pastors prayer group this afternoon about the increasing toll of fatherlessness in our society.
One of the pastors said she had noticed that the biggest issue in most of the people she counsels is with absent fathers. I agreed with her as we seem to spend a lot of time with people who have fathers who are just not there or else are totally useless in terms of supporting, encouraging and exhorting their sons and daughters.
This was tied in with a proposal for a meeting on Friday night to talk about what to do with the youth in the town. There will inevitably be some misguided statements about how there is nothing for them to do, and we need to get more sporting facilities/ activities/ <insert favourite cause here>. The fact is that most of the problems that young people face come from lack of purpose and lack of identity, and these come from lack of fathering.
The gospel is the answer to all of this, but nobody at a community meeting is going to support that. It's true that our identity and purpose ultimately come from our relationship with God, and anything other than that is going to result in a life that is less than fulfilled.
The church needs to get its own house in order also. We have structured the family of God's people into an institution which produces programmes and events but rarely offers genuine fathering. Pastors are often seen as CEOs or employees not as fathers.
Margaret said to me after the meeting, "Did you notice something?" I said I did.
The pastors want to be fathers, but they don't want to be sons. This is a part of the malaise of the church.
In the natural realm every father must first be a son. This is true in the spiritual realm also. In order to provide fathering, we must first be a son to a father.
Pastors in most churches find themselves in a strange place of not having a spiritual father to provide comfort, nurture, encouragement and support. They may have a bishop, a moderator, a superintendent or whatever the denomination calls their supervising ministers. But these are offices, appointed positions. They are not of themselves fathers to any particular pastor.
When I was a minister in a denomination I saw myself as a bit of a lone ranger. It was up to me to set my own goals and directions, under the rules and structures of the denomination. What I did in my personal empire was of no concern of anyone else outside the parish. Nobody cared much about how I was going- it was every man and woman for themself.
Over the years since then I have come to realise the importance of spiritual fathers to pastors. We all need a "Dad". I've found that as I have sought out my own spiritual father and tried to be a son to him, my own ability to pastor, to be a father to my people has grown exponentially.
Pastors can't do it alone.
As we seek to overcome the increasing havoc of fatherlessness in our society, we need to deal with the fatherlessness in our own souls. The way through that is to knit our hearts to a spiritual father who will help to heal our own hurts so that we can become healers in the church and in the community.
Friday, 25. July 2008, 08:12:46
Narrabri, church, blessing
Our "Pre-loved Baby goods" business has really been busy this week. We have taken over $700 in sales with people just flowing in every day. It's about the best week we've had- and with no advertising. We even had a couple from Bingara come in to buy something. at times we've had three or four different customers in the church at once.
We've also sent a load of stuff on consignment to a shop in Walgett. Gaye Scutt's daughter, Jacinta, owns a video shop there and had heaps of space available. They have started selling toys which just sell like hot cakes as there is no toy shop there, so Gaye thought that she might like to try some of our baby gear to complement the toy business. So Margaret pulled out a few things which she thought might look good on display in a shop, and of course other people coming in thought that they would like those items so we sold them and pulled the next lot of things out to send off. Anyway, it's over $1000 of stuff and we are fairly confident that they will sell quickly.
God is really blessing us abundantly in the money department at the moment.
I don't know what it all means but we will receive it all joyfully!
UPDATE: Jacinta rang this evening to tell us that she sold a cot and a change table before she even got them into the shop! We are going to have to scale up this enterprise quite massively I suspect.
Thursday, 24. July 2008, 01:31:14
society, church, Australia, mission
Here are some thoughts on the impact of World Youth Day in Sydney last week:
Alan writes – There are many aspects of the Roman Catholic Church that I have learnt to admire and draw from; so being near Sydney at the time of the ‘World Youth Day’ events was too good an opportunity to miss.
We waited two hours with hundreds of thousands of others to see the Pope stream past in a whirr of speed and security. Seeing all the security at work – dogs, diplomatic squads, helicopters, police on motor bikes, police on horses, police on push bikes and police in boats etc made the two hours nearly as quickly as the Pope. We wandered the closed of streets with tens of thousands of young Catholics. We toured the harbour to get a feel for the extent of the crowds – 200,000 people is a huge crowd. We watched the Stations of the Cross (see here) from a park in Circular Quay with the noise of trains, rail announcements, helicopters, ferries and cars all around. It was a very moving portrayal in the midst of the market place. And somehow the story of the crucifixion made more sense in the midst of the realities of a large city.
This was the first time I have ever seen western-secular-capitalist-society dwarfed by the Christian story, Christian values and young people openly and unashamedly living their faith. There were no evangelistic hard sells! No one peddling tracts! (oh; us protestants have so much to learn. Why are protestant gatherings like conventions of commission salesmen?) There were just tens of thousands of young Christians waving flags, singing and laughing all over the city. And they ruled the city.
The streets were closed to traffic but awash with people. Sydney, it seemed, didn’t know what to make of it – yet everywhere there was delight in what was happening and open conversations about faith, spirituality and belief. They were happening on the streets, in the cafes and the pubs. The shop keepers, proprietors of flash hotels and restaurant owners seemed more perplexed than annoyed that theses crowds weren’t buying. And all the talk of protests and concern about apologies might have been part of the media view but it wasn’t what it was like on the ground.
As we wandered the streets and listened and watched it slowly dawned on me this was the first time I had ever seen secular capitalist society step back, move beyond perceptions and prejudices of Christianity and enjoy watching, listening to and being with Christians. So for one weekend, in my life time, I can now say I have seen a major western city become the backdrop to the greatest story ever told. And to be honest, from my perspective; most Sydney-ites seemed to enjoy it, be moved by it and value it just as much as we did.
Article:
Thursday, 17. July 2008, 23:41:45
church, society, media, Australia
The ABC has led a particulalry vitriolic campaign against the Catholic Church during the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney, digging up old abuse cases in an attempt to vilify the Church.
Here is a commentary by Andrew Bolt which I tihnk is absolutely spot-on, particularly the last couple of paragraphs.
THE reporter on the ABC’s 7.30 Report sounded sad. The Catholic Church couldn’t find enough men keen to be priests, she sighed.
Gosh. Wondered why? Then check, say, the reports the ABC’s Lateline ran to welcome the Pope and thousand of Catholic pilgrims to Sydney.
“Exclusive documents reveal church ignored abuse allegations”, “New evidence in church abuse case”, “Broken Rites president joins Lateline”, “Demonstrators oppose Catholic Church policies”, “Father of assault victims to visit Pope”. And so on.
Hmm. Now why aren’t more Australians joining up to be vilified?
It hardly needs saying that I despise pedophiles and rapists. But even as a non-Christian, I smell bigotry.
In fact, it seems much of the Left-wing media has tried furiously to make sure when we think of Catholicism, in this week of celebration of the faith, that we think not Saviour but slime.
New laws against protesters that the church never asked for were portrayed as a symbol of church oppression. A newspaper ran a competition for the best anti-Catholic T-shirt. And an ABC host urged men to bait Catholics by going naked, but for a condom.
Meanwhile his colleagues looked for a story to hit the Catholics’ most senior figure here, Cardinal George Pell. And Lateline found it in a man who said he’d been sexually assaulted by a stereotypical dirty priest.
How hard was it trying to find a stick? This victim, Anthony Jones, was 29 when he went swimming at night with a priest, who fondled him. He swam off, aroused, but returned to the priest’s bedroom, dressed in a towel.
There a sexual encounter took place. In convicting the priest for a then-illegal act, a judge later found Jones could have left had he wanted.
And all this happened 26 long years ago. So why bring it up now? Because, Jones conceded, it might at this sensitive time make the church give him $3.5 million—or $100,000, final offer. Let’s not call this blackmail.
He deserved the door. He got instead the media limelight.
Another case long dealt with has also been revived, for much the same reason, by a media that tends to be hostile to any institution that acknowledges a higher authority than the musings of the journalistic pack.
I despise it all. Of the priests I’ve known, not one deserves this casual vilification as pedophiles, or their protectors. And when I check how their church touches even my life, I see one of its hospitals, in which my children were born. I see its churchmen tackling forces that rip up homes and make our streets unsafe. I see its intellectuals preaching values I recognise as essential for the defence of our weak. And I see a faith that exhorts its—yes, fallible—believers to goodness, integrity and public service.
Such a faith deserves respect. Instead, there’s that hooting mob, brandishing cobwebbed skeletons to smash one of the few institutions still trying to civilise the barbarians.
Full article and comments
Thursday, 17. July 2008, 05:17:41
church, mission
Jared Wilson has produced this interesting table comparing missional and attractional churches
That was hard work.... it took me half an hour or more to get that table up!
Wednesday, 9. July 2008, 01:37:26
church
Whatever your take on owmen in leadership, I'm sure you will appreciate this comment from ASBOJesus:
Sunday, 6. July 2008, 07:02:58
Narrabri, church
I rarely take photos in church as I'm usually focused on other things, like listening to God. This morning I found my camera sitting on the sound desk, so I took the opportunity to take a couple of shots during the last song. They give a sense of the informal (some say chaotic) atmosphere of our church.
Saturday, 5. July 2008, 01:29:36
Narrabri, church, celebration, family
Last night we celebrated three birthdays- Alex who turned 3, Josh who turned 16 and Michael who turned 18. 
I've uploaded some photos in the "Combined Birthday Party" album.
They can also be seen on my Facebook page
It was a disappointing night for photos. I took about 40 but only half turned out because the flash didn't fire every time... it looks like I have to take another look at the manual! On the other hand I did take a couple of videos and a sound recording- all without intending to!
James compared my camera to his and concluded that my $400 camera is a lot better value for money than his $2000 SLR! Maybe- but he can probably do a lot more in marginal conditions than I can and I usually think that in most situations it all comes down to skill and creativity as much as the actual equipment.
Tim of course had to outdo us both with his super-duper lens!
Thursday, 26. June 2008, 00:10:02
church, grace
"The Naked Pastor" posts
this article about the inconvenient truth about grace.
The problem with grace is that you can’t control it. You can’t control the effects of it either. The results can be disastrous in a community context. In a milieu of grace where we can literally get away with murder, people get murdered. In a context of grace where we can safely admit our weaknesses and sins, weaknesses and sins abound. Because that’s the way we are bent. Which lead to the Roman heresy of concluding since grace abounds where sin abounds, grace must permit and even encourage sin and its expression so that grace can have greater expression. Unless people are jumping to this erroneous conclusion because of your teaching, then you are not teaching grace in its most true and radical form.
My God! My community is in such a mess! Sometimes I pine for the old days when a little bit of religious expectation could lay an attractive veneer over all our crap. But what we are seeing in our community is what’s really here. Why hide it? Why pretend it isn’t here? It IS here! Let’s face it. We all, ALL like sheep have gone astray and there isn’t one of us who is without sin. Not one! Here is bitterness, unbelief, depression, hatred, lust, adultery, promiscuity, separations and divorces, abuse, theft, laziness, lying, drugs and drunkenness, etc.. It’s all here! And it’s all there too, whether you admit it or not. All our feet are swift to shed blood. Not one foot is innocent. I’m always suspicious when people claim that revival has happened in a certain place and everything is just wonderful praise god. What has really happened is that sin has been driven deeper underground.
When I think about “church” this all makes me want to give up. But when I’m thinking right and am thinking about the people, the fellowship of my community, then I’m still in the game. No matter how chaotic it gets. Because this is how I’ve been treated. This is what grace does. Doesn’t it?
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