Church: What now? - Part 3

I have been reflecting the things which I have blogged on lately. Honestly, I don’t have answers, just questions and more questions.

The following are some of the questions I have been thinking (aloud) about, asking and hoping to find the answers myself :-

If the church is also filled with imperfect people, how can it be a safe place?
Many felt betrayed or disappointed with “church”, largely due to some point in time they have been hurt or discouraged by people, especially those whom they looked up to as leaders. Nobody’s perfect and the church could and is also a place where one can still get hurt or disappointed. But there is a difference. There is a channel of God’s grace.

What is the purpose of the church?
Its purpose is to draw people into Christ, to mirror Christ to one another, to show Christ to others by the way we live.

How is the church doing in carrying out this purpose?
It all depends very much on the people and their relationship with God through Christ. How could the church draw people into Christ, mirror Christ and demonstrate Christ if the people don’t know Christ themselves or don’t have a relationship with Him or don’t walk in the way of Christ? It will indeed be a sad affair if the church decides to substitute the way of the Spirit with the ways and thoughts of the material world...

What then shall we do with the church that may still hurt us?
There is always conflict in human relationships. The first step may be to acknowledge that we are still part of the church (the family). Ideally, the church is a spiritual community with which we make our journey toward God, knowing His purposes in our circumstances and seeking Him together. We still need each other to go on the journey. We will still encounter difficulties, confusion and disappointment but in all these, we should have a readiness to listen, learn and live, knowing that there is purpose in pain and in turn, have faith in God’s divine providence. We cannot go on with our own strength and understanding to manage our hurt and pain and we need to go beyond that to discovering God in a fresh way.

What happens when we are hurt again?
Experiences of hurt and pain will break our spirit. But only when we are broken do we experience God's love. In a true spiritual community, there is openness, whereby one would be taking off the masks and becoming authentic and vulnerable before one another. How well we learn and practice this is another thing… However, we should continue to learn to engage in relationship with others (…and not be a hermit in some island far, far away). We need to learn to be frank and open with one another, not to be shy or shameful to ask and receive help from others and to allow others to act as a channel of God's grace in our lives. We should embody brokenness, be open about our own weaknesses, not reacting with self-pity, but with hope. Whilst we are learning such, we should also observe the lives of others, see what others could become and what God is already doing in their lives at that point. We should envision potential in others, encourage them and discern when to expose what is wrong and when to stir up the right passion so that we can also touch them with the power of Christ.

How do we keep learning when we are still in pain and hurt?
May be we just have to quit being “managers” of ourselves and stop thinking that there are always some medication that one can take to cure or eradicate the sickness immediately. We just need to let the Spirit take over; quit rationalizing, quit planning, quit strategizing and quit executing any tasks under our own power and capabilities and (learn to) rely much on the power of the Holy Spirit.

Verses for meditation (taken from English Standard Version (ESV)):

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Rom 12:1-3)

“Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Php 2:4-13)

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.” (1Pet 2:9-17)

Church: Feel Like Giving Up Church? - Part 2

Continuing from my last blog, this theme on being dissatisfied with church seemed to be a recurring thought to me. Not that I am complaining about the state that I am in or the church, e.g. of being too tied-up in activities or too much unfulfilled expectations or too shallow in relationships, etc.. I think the reason why I am thinking a lot lately about this is that I believe there are many people who are going through this feeling of "giving up church" being unnoticed by others and/or misunderstood by others.

Lawrence Crabb, an author and teacher, in his introduction to a book called: Reclaiming God's Original Intent for the Church , sums it up nicely:

"I'm now on the brink of giving up, not Christianity, but church. Not the true church, not the community of Jesus-followers who journey together toward God for his pleasure and for the sake of others, but the organization that has replaced the living body.

Too often, the whole church event feels like that, like a well-orchestrated event more than a throbbing-with-life community. The raw realism of the Bible is too often sugar-coated with cheerily optimistic promises that God wants you happily married, financially secure, and alive with a sense of adventure and romance. Whether it's a megachurch parading its A-team every Sunday before a packed house of struggling people who are helped to pretend things aren't so bad, or whether it's a single congregation of a hundred faithful members trying to believe that life can work better than it does, the problem is still the same: Too often the church is aiming its people toward self-fulfillment through God's blessings and away from the failure and pain that could bring people together as the community of the broken but loved and hopeful because of Jesus.

I once gave up Christianity as I knew it and discovered Christianity as the Spirit reveals it. I'm now giving up on church as I've experienced it and looking for church as the Spirit designed it."

What we need to be reminded constantly is to return to the first love, to the simple truth of the Gospel, i.e. the relationship with God and His people and those around them, and practise the essentials of developing our character, loving, serving and creating a community through the leading of the Holy Spirit and authenticating the Gospel.

If we are going through a tough time or is struggling with some weakness, wouldn't it be easier if we all stop pretending to be alright when we are not? Too often I think we miss the point when we think that "good" or "strong" Christians should not or could not be shown or appear to be discouraged, burnt-out or depressed. We all know that we do experience these things, and that is why we need to re-look at the original intent of the church. In sharing all these failure and pain as well together in the community, we could show how our amazing God will care for us and how we can remain loved and hopeful because of Jesus.

Church: Why Bother? - Part 1

Chanced upon a book by Philip Yancey in Borders today. Of course everybody knows Yancey is a great author and had been given various awards for his works. Actually, it was the title that caught my eye and stirred my interest.





The title: "Church: Why Bother? " It is the same question which I have been asking lately. I wonder why ... perhaps.. it's because of several people I know that asked themselves the same question?

In his conclusion, Yancey said that the church is the way God has chosen to be present on earth, as imperfect as it may be. He wrote:

"Yes, the church fails in its mission and makes serious blunders precisely because the church comprises human beings who will always fall short of the glory of God. That is the risk God took. Anyone who enters the church expecting perfection does not understand the nature of that risk or the nature of humanity. Just as every romantic eventually learns that marriage is the beginning, not the end, of the struggle to make love work, every Christian must learn that church is also only a beginning."

We are all imperfect people and it is not reasonable to expect others in the church to be perfect or "a bit more" perfect than ourselves.

As an illustration of what others may see through the church:
Just as when we watch our kids perform a musical special for Mother's Day service, we do not expect the presentation to be perfect and slick. We enjoyed just as much despite all the imperfections, because it was a great moment for us to watch them doing what they love and singing to someone they love.

Sweet Insights on Emerging Churches?

I found an interesting article on George Fox interviewing Leonard Sweet on the Emerging Churches.

Leonard Sweet, a best-selling author, shared his insights into the Emerging Churches in the interview and the following insights are what I found most interesting and challenging for me (especially those that I highlighted in italics here):

"George Fox Journal (GFJ): How are emerging churches any more relational than evangelical mainstream churches? Isn’t this what small groups are all about?

LEN SWEET: Much of the evangelical mainstream makes small groups a program of the church. It’s an add-on, or a drive-through. In emerging churches, community is constitutive of their identity. It’s the very essence of who they are. There is also a relational component of the theology of the emerging church, where truth is seen more in relational than in propositional terms. After all, God didn’t send us a principle. God sent us a person. God didn’t send us a statement. God sent us a savior . . . who is Christ the Lord."

"GFJ: How are emerging churches distinctively missional?

LEN SWEET: Karl Rahner, the great 20thcentury Catholic theologian, referred to what he called Thermos-bottle Christianity. This is a form of pseudo-church where you keep everything inside warm and cozy and fresh, but let the outside freeze and take care of itself. Missional churches are focused on what God is doing in the world. Their circles face outward, not inward. This is a culture that loves gated communities, and there are gated churches to match. Missional churches are putting back together what for too long has been rent asunder: the whole gospel, both the personal gospel (evangelism), and the social gospel (justice and kingdom ministries)."

"GFJ: Finally, why might a pastor of an emerging church tell me I should follow Christ? And so what if I don’t?

LEN SWEET: Everybody follows someone. We all give our lives to something. The only questions are who, or what? I invite you to give your life to Jesus. I like how philosopher Dallas Willard does it: He challenges his students to the reality test: Put Jesus into practice. Go ahead. Got someone better than Jesus in mind to follow? OK, try someone else first. Put Sigmund Freud into practice. Put Charles Darwin into practice. Put Karl Marx into practice. Put Aristotle into practice. Put Plato into practice. Put Pablo Picasso into practice.
The only who or what that can stand up to the reality test is Jesus the Christ, who is bold enough to say to each of us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.”
There’s only one reason to follow Christ: Truth. Truth or consequences. "

"Taste and see that the Lord is good.". Put Jesus to the test.

In the long journey of life, perfection is not required, only faithfulness in following and practising Jesus.

Is a Church Constitution Necessary?

Recently I have been wondering why some people could be so against of a church having a constitution. Their contention is that the Bible is the constitution and there should be none other. But notwithstanding that, there can still be many different views on Baptism, Holy Communion, salvation, etc ... Some people felt they're hurt by being caught in the "system" and believed that the way for them to get back on their feet is to leave the man-devised "system". Can we really get out of being in such a "system" as may be set by the Church Constitution?

Picture this:
Someone planted a church. The church grew; more and more people were added to the group. As the group got bigger, more things were needed, i.e. larger space & greater need for utilities, e.g. fans/air-conditioners, lightings, etc. for the crowd. As the church progressed further to achieve its mission to reach out, even more things were needed, e.g. stationeries, fax machine, telephones, projectors, etc. Soon people felt the need to have chairs, tables and other furniture. The church then started to get involved in bigger things to meet the needs of the community around them and more funds were needed to facilitate the efforts. As the group got bigger and chaotic, conflict and friction resulted. Each member had to have his or her own way and views on anything. On top of that, the group and its activities were required to be in compliance with the applicable regulations and laws of the land.

Arising from the above scenario, answers to queries, including but not limited to the following, are necessary for survival or preservation of the life of the church:
- who is in charge or makes the ultimate decision?
- who determines how the funds are spent?
- who holds the assets of the church and account for them?
- who determines what areas of development that the church should concentrate on?
- how are differences, disputes or disagreements between community members to be handled?
- what legal compliances are required from the group and from each member in respect of the activities being carried out?

In a civilized community, one cannot avoid being subjected to organizational rules or regulated processes or the feeling of being caught up in an institution. Take for example, even in a small family of 4, i.e. daddy, mommy, sister and brother, there are house or family rules to adhere to, e.g. no fighting over toys, no screaming at anyone, each to do chores as scheduled, etc.

One cannot run away from being “institutionalized”. Even for organic growth, like grapes in vineyards, there are structures, frameworks and trellises to hold the vines for them to grow.

Perhaps, with a Church Constitution, the following may help the church:

1) to survive for any length of time with proper organizational and administrative structure;

2) to have a vision for what kind of structure the church will embrace in the development of its core group or leaders;

3) to set out a common view and practice such items that are core beliefs in a church and/or reflecting congregational democracy under the leadership of Christ;

4) to avoid conflict and as such, less pressure, so that the church could move forward and not worry about having to put-off internal fires;

5) to have principles that will guide the church to accomplish the mission for which God has created it;

6) to make the church a legally-recognised entity, registered with the relevant authorities and able to contract for its needs and requirements;

7) to ensure that all members can participate in the decision-making process. The congregational polity of a church can embody democratic processes, delegating responsibilities to its leaders so as to be responsible to the lordship of Christ, and be guided by His authoritative Word.

A Constitution that seeks to control rather than facilitate the growth of the members should at all cost be avoided. A good Church Constitution would not cause the church to grow but a bad Church Constitution can prevent the church from growing.

So, can we do without a Church Constitution?

What Type of Christian Are You?

Was having lunch with an old friend (not literally!) who asked if I had taken this fun quiz. Being a member of an independent church, he seemed to be pleasantly amused that he turned out to be a closet "Anglican". Out of curiosity, I took on the challenge to discover what type of Christian I may be.

What type of Christian are you?
Protestant - Non Fundamentalist You are a Non-fundamentalist Protestant. You don't really have a lot of formalized clergy. Your worship is pretty free in terms of what and how you worship. You love the Bible. Your pastor preaches almost an hour. You don't receive Communion all that often and you don't really care to either. Jesus is your life and you pray to Him a lot like He's your brother.
Take The Quiz Now!	Quizzes by myYearbook.com

I guess some things never change...The results are just as I expected... I wonder if there's something like a "Reforming Church"; since I enjoy the teachings of the Reformed and the missional attitude of the Emerging Churches...

What is an Advocatus?

An Advocatus, an expression used in the Middle Ages, is an advocate, charged with the protection and representation in secular matters of the church.
I am legally-trained as an advocate, in my middle age and serving the church particularly in "secular" or legal matters. That's as far as the similarities go.

From the early years of my legal training, I have been taught to understand and apply what I learnt through the Socratic method of questioning. This has now become like a knee jerk reaction in every aspect of my life. In every situation or anything I face, I ask: "What if...?".

The following aptly sums up the value of questioning is to legal reasoning and learning:

"There is a value to asking questions. We all learn from asking questions either of ourselves or of others. And the answers lead to the next question, on and on. Thus, if the teacher can take the student from question to question, thereby demonstrating the progression of the teacher's own thought (or a judge's thought or a court's thought, or a litigant's thought), the student can begin to visualize what forms the progression of his or her own thought might take. The ability to formulate the question that will best advance the inquiry is the skill that students need to develop to be able to think and learn on their own. Accordingly, the student must be able to see us, their teachers, in the act of formulating the best next question. Where we have figured some things out and reached certain conclusions, the student needs to see what guided our figuring out, how we got from point A to point B. By showing our students the questions that we formulated along the way, we demonstrate how they can reach conclusions of, and on, their own." [Jennifer Jaff, Frame-Shifting: An Empowering Methodology for Teaching and Learning Legal Reasoning, 35 J. Legal Educ. 249, 262 (1986)].

As such, this blog of mine is more like a conversation and at the very least, just asking and talking aloud to myself on what I see, hear, taste, feel and think about things which matter most to me in living this life according to the Word of God.