lessons :: why am i doing what i’m doing?

I’ve been trying to write down a few things I’ve learned in seven years of church planting. Maybe so I won’t forget or make the same mistakes the second time around. The first installment here:

lessons :: jesus

This one’s a little more practical. I remember in the first year [when I definitely didn’t know what I was doing… as opposed to later, “sorta” not knowing what I was doing], I was having a conversation with another pastor about baptism. He said that even though he has several other pastors on his staff, he does all the baptisms at his church. I asked why and he said, “That’s always how we’ve done it and it’s my way as senior pastor to shepherd the entire church.”

I don’t know what possessed me to ask why… I know other churches that do the same. But when I heard the answer, I realized it made absolutely no sense. Does any “shepherding” actually happen when the senior pastor shows up every few months to dunk a few people? Does the Bible actually mandate that baptisms be done by pastors [let alone the “senior” ones]? And just because others did it, why do we need to do it?

From that point on, I found myself asking “why” to everything. Why do we need a building? Why does the pastor have to do all the teaching? And [the blasphemous] why do we need to have weekly Sunday worship? I found myself asking this question over and over again:

Why am I doing what I’m doing?

I never really got good answers to my own question. And the problematic thing was that I found myself in somewhat of a no-man’s land. I couldn’t go back to the old way of doing things; but I also had no idea where to go to next. There wasn’t anyone in my circles that had walked down this path. And I constantly felt the pressure [externally and internally] to keep doing the things I was finding less and less reason to do. I was often stuck, afraid to move.

a man of one thing

Having been in the church for a while, I’ve read plenty of these kind of quotes. I understand the words, but the truth is that I have only minimally understood them in my spirit. As God walks with me and molds me, I get it just a little bit more. A quote that I’ve read before that I re-read recently:

“A zealous man in religion is pre-eminently a man of one thing. It is not enough to say that he is earnest, hearty, uncompromising, thorough-going, whole-hearted, fervent in spirit. He only sees one thing, he care for one thing, he lives for one thing, he is swallowed up in one thing; and that one thing is to please God. Whether he lives, or whether he dies–whether he has health, or whether he has sickness–whether he is rich, or whether he is poor–whether he pleases man, or whether he gives offense–whether he is thought wise, or whether he is thought foolish–whether he gets blame, or whether he gets praise–whether he gets honor, or whether he gets shame–for all this the zealous man cares nothing at all. He burns for one thing, and that one thing is to please God and to advance Gods glory. If he is consumed in the very burning, he does not care–he is content. He feels that, like a lamp, he is made to burn; and if consumed in burning, he has but done the work for which God has appointed him.

Such an one will always find a sphere for his zeal. If he cannot preach, and work, and give money, he will cry, and sigh, and pray. Yes: if he is only a pauper, on a perpetual bed of sickness, he will make the activity of sin around him slow to a standstill, by continually interceding against it. If he cannot fight in the valley with Joshua, he will do the work of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, on the hill. (Exodus 17:9-13) If he is cut off from working himself, he will give the Lord no rest till help is raised up from another quarter, and the work is done. This is what I mean when I speak of zeal in religion.”

Jesus, help me be about just one thing. Amen.

a better response to rob

Not Pattinson… but Bell.

I know this is late in the game. But hey, I’ve been busy and who has time to constantly blog and still do the important things, ie. having meaningful conversation, bargain shopping and bathing? I realize fewer people are talking about this now because that’s the nature of internet buzz. Here today and gone tomorrow. But oh well.

As background, Rob Bell published a book called Love Wins that challenges the traditional view that only those who receive Jesus go to heaven. The promo video and recently published book has drawn a lot of backlash from many Evangelical outlets calling him a universalist. And there’s been an onrush of John Piper retweets, “Farewell, Rob Bell,” all over the twitterscape.

For the record, I do believe that Jesus is the only way. He says so himself. I do agree that the stuff Rob Bell is saying may do damage to the church. And, no I haven’t read the book, but have read some in-depth reviews on it.

But what bugs me the most is not that Rob might be a universalist. He’s not the first and won’t be the last. But that after his promo video [before the book release], there was this public burning-at-the-stake. He was casted aside, voted off the island. Rob was a rock-star among pastors, a “weapon” in the fight to reclaim American church-goers. But he’s now no longer worthy to be among the ranks of Gospel preachers.

I find it all pretty despicable. One of the overarching metaphors in the Bible for the church is “family.” When my cousin Ann starts spouting off nonsensical gibberish [And she certainly does! I expect a comment now… ha!], my first response isn’t to throw her to the curb. Yes, there should be an guttural reaction to that which is an affront to truth. But my response is a reflection of my relationship. Ann’s my cousin, she’s family and I love her. We come alongside, work out our differences and allow one to challenge the other. We didn’t treat Rob like family… more so like an employee or a fallen movie star.

The other thing I keep hearing is that the extreme response is warranted because of the damage Rob’s doing to the church. I agree in part that what he’s saying is leading some astray. But the bigger problem is this… we’ve nurtured a codependency between church-goer and pastor. Churches/pastors aren’t challenging people to discover for themselves what’s true in Scripture. Church-goers are convinced they aren’t capable of deciphering the Bible for themselves and need a “professional” to do it for them.

We then end up developing two types of people:

• Blind Militants – Those who listen blindly and respond militantly. Ala Westboro Baptist.
• Passive Adherents – Those who’ll do their religious exercise, but end up believing whatever they want anyways.

Many Evangelicals already believe that Jesus isn’t the only way to heaven. Rob’s not telling them anything they don’t already believe.

We need to help/equip our people to search the Scriptures for themselves. Most wouldn’t know how to put Rob’s teaching to the test. And they’ll end up depending on another flawed leader to do a work they should be doing themselves. Rob’s stuff should push us to push our people into the Word and ask, “What does the Bible actually say?” And we should trust that the Holy Spirit is alive, willing and yearning to speak truth into those who seek. They will then encounter God for themselves, firm up their theology and be able to live a life dependent on God and not codependent on their pastors/leaders.

So chill. Use this as an opportunity to help our people discover the real Jesus and don’t be so surprised that some will teach a different Gospel. I think Rob’s book [and the ensuing media backlash] might be showing us something about ourselves. Our theology might be right, but our heart [and maybe our methodology] is in the wrong. And last I checked, Jesus said you can’t have one without the other.

On a side note: his videos are always so well produced. We should at least agree on that.