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Category: Fellowship (Page 7 of 17)

Orienting for Glory

September 21, 2012 / / 4 Comments

This coming Sunday marks the first of six straight weeks in which our adult Bible classes here at Central are pairing up with one another in an effort to better live what we preach in intergenerational, multi-cultural relationships. If you’re one of our members at Central, for six straight Sundays you’re going to be in a Bible class with people who are not your age. Their kids won’t be the same age as your kids. Their salaries might not match yours. Some of these people may come from completely different backgrounds, have completely different viewpoints, and sport a completely different skin color than yours. For six weeks a lot of you will listen to teachers you’ve never heard in a classroom you’ve never visited.

It’ll be different.

We’re all going to be pushed out of our comfort zones. We’re all going to experience a little vertigo as we get used to the different people and different styles. We’re all going to have to give a little, to bend a bit, to sacrifice and serve to make this happen.

It’ll be difficult.

But this is not a move to disorient us. It’s actually intended to orient us. This is an effort to orient us to that blessed day when all of God’s children are together around that one table at the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb. Different colors and languages, different ages and styles, different backgrounds and sets of experiences — yet, one people around one table.

That glorious day is coming. God has promised it, Christ Jesus died and was raised for it, and the Holy Spirit is working toward it. And we should live our lives today in great anticipation. We should be leaning into it daily. Looking forward to it, practicing it, getting ready for it.

It’s only an hour on Sunday mornings for just six weeks. But our prayer is that it’ll go a long way in helping us experience and express our Father’s holy will for his Church.

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The 1,000th posting on this five-year-old blog is going to happen before the end of October. And I’d like to celebrate that weird little milestone by giving you, the readers, brand new copies of some of the great books that have informed and shaped my thinking and writing and preaching. We’ll hold a drawing on the day of that 1,000th post. The only way to enter the drawing is by posting comments between now and then — see the end of yesterday’s post for details on how you can enter your name up to 14 times. You can enter multiple times, but you can only win one prize.

Grand Prize – all three books in John Mark Hicks’ series on the sacraments of the Church of Christ: Come to the Table, the book that launched my continuing quest to better understand Christ’s meal; Down to the River to Pray, a wonderful call to restore Christian baptism to the center of the life of the Church; and A Gathered People, a beautiful look at the ways God works in our corporate assemblies to transform us into the image of his Son.

First Prize – Resident Aliens, Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon

Second Prize – Surprised by Hope, N. T. Wright

Third Prize – The Reason for God, Timothy Keller

Fourth Prize – The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis

Fifth Prize – The Jesus Way, Eugene Peterson

Peace,

Allan

 

ONE

May 25, 2012 / / 0 Comments

A great friend sent me a copy of a Wall Street Journal article a couple of weeks ago. Now, I don’t read the Wall Street Journal; I read Texas Monthly, Sports Illustrated, and the Dallas Morning News. And this friend knows that. But he knew I’d be interested in the article. And I am.

The headline read “Pastors Call a Truce on ‘Sheep-Stealing'”

The article is about a Christian effort in Charlotte, North Carolina called Charlotte ONE, a collaboration of about 40 different area churches trying to reach the nearly unreachable people between the ages of 18 and 29.

“This group of evangelical and mainline Protestant leaders decided to create one young adult ministry that would provide all the bells and whistles required, without replacing church. Charlotte ONE does not perform baptisms, weddings, funerals or offer communion. It doesn’t meet on Sundays or have a single pastor in charge. Charlotte ONE organizers see it as a kind of ‘funnel,’ taking in a wide swath of people and trying to pour them out in the right direction. The group takes its motivation from Jesus’ words in John 17:23: ‘Let them be one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as much as you have loved me.'”

The article goes on to mention a similar effort in Arizona, Phoenix ONE, and to detail the success of the cooperative coalition. Ninety-eight percent of Charlotte ONE attendees claim the program has “enriched their personal relationship with Jesus Christ” and 42-percent say it helps them “connect to their own local churches.”

As I’m reading this article I couldn’t help wondering, “Why is the Wall Street Journal writing about this?”

Why do they care? Why am I reading about this in the Wall Street Journal and not in the Christian Chronicle or Christianity Today? What made the Wall Street Journal write about church?

Because Jesus said if we would ever unite and become one, if his disciples would ever come together and live and work and serve and love as one body, the world would notice. The world would pay attention. And the world would know. They would see it as different and they would believe.

The article itself says as much:

“Such regular and extensive cooperation of mainline and evangelical Protestant churches from every major denomination is not a typical feature of American religious life. They are more likely to be competing for each other’s members. But desperate times call for desperate measures.”

If we’ll ever put aside the petty little things that divide us and truly join with all other Christian disciples in serving our world in love, if we’ll ever commit to uniting as one as is the unmistakable holy will of our King, it’ll make an immediate and radical difference in the world. People will sit up and take notice. And they’ll believe. Until then, I’m afraid we’re just more noise competing in an already very noisy and competitive world.

Praise God for Charlotte and Phoenix ONE. May God help us see and do the same kind of things to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

Tzadeqah and Mishpat

May 24, 2012 / / 2 Comments

Righteousness and Justice. The Hebrew words are translated “righteousness” and “justice” in English. These words that are mentioned over and over in the Old Testament; these words that our God uses to describe himself; these words the prophets used to discuss the powerful and merciful actions of our God; these words the Bible uses and uses and re-uses to paint a picture of God’s holy will and his children’s responsibilities as God’s holy people. Giving people what is right. Treating people fairly. Equally. With generosity. Showing mercy and grace. Lifting up the fallen. Being kind to the orphan, the widow, and the stranger in the gate.

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow.”
~Psalm 146

For many years now the Central Church of Christ has committed to showing that kind of tzadeqah and mishpat to the entire Amarillo community. This church family understands that to reflect the glory of God we must reflect God’s eternal attributes and faithful characteristics. So, in Jesus’ name, we feed the hungry and clothe the naked, comfort the grieving and mend the broken, minister to the least of these.

For many years now the Central Church has also committed to seeing the world with Kingdom of God eyes instead of Church of Christ eyes. This congregation understands that the eternal reign and love and salvation of God is much bigger than any one group, much bigger than any one faith tradition or set of rules and practices. So, in Jesus’ name, we worship and work, minister and pray, serve the Kingdom with and beside all who call him Lord.

And when both of those ideals toward which we’re striving come together in an unprecedented partnership, well… we can only praise God and marvel at his matchless goodness and grace.

The Central Church of Christ is now partnering with the Southlawn Assembly of God to duplicate food pantry and outreach efforts throughout the poorer neighborhoods of Amarillo.

Yeah, you’d better read that sentence again just to make sure you read it right. Church of Christ. Assembly of God. Partnering.

Southlawn pastor Jared Middaugh and others at their church have been convicted by God’s Spirit to stop looking in and start looking out. They want to see the city with God’s eyes. They want to serve. They want to put the needs of others ahead of their own. They want to be more Christ-like. They’re no longer content to just do church; they want to be church. They want to feed the hungry in Jesus’ name. They want to clothe the naked and free the prisoner and comfort the afflicted. But this is a new move for them. They need some direction. Some advice. So they called Mark.

(Let me just say right here what a blessing — what a joy! — to belong to a church that has this kind of reputation in our city. Another church wants to start an outreach ministry to the poor and they call us! Praise God!)

And Mark jumped right in. Immediately. We’ll help. We’ll partner with you. We’ll serve together and learn from each other. And we’ll do it in the name of Jesus to the glory of God. Mark brought the idea to our staff and we jumped in immediately. Yes, we’ll partner with them. We’ll work with them. We can teach them and they can teach us. Our God will use this cooperative effort to multiply exponentially what neither of our two churches could do alone. Mark then brought it to our elders and they all jumped in immediately. Of course, we’ll do this with them. Yes, we’ll give that church some money to get it all started. We’ll send our Prayer Breakfast and Loaves & Fishes volunteers to Southlawn every week to work side-by-side with these fellow Christians. We’ll share resources and share manpower and share our lives in sacrificial service to others!

(Did I mention this is an Assembly of God?)

The ministers and staff here at Central were joined in our daily prayer time this morning by Jared and their worship minister. We shook hands and introduced ourselves, we laughed some and smiled a lot. I was blessed to share the holy words of Psalm 146 that describe our righteous and merciful God who takes care of those in need. And then we prayed. Mark and I prayed on behalf of our staff. Steve prayed on behalf of our elders. Jared prayed on behalf of Southlawn. We thanked God. We blessed one another. A couple of us shed a tear or two, tears of joy, tears of amazement, tears of wonder. It’s overwhelming, really. Hard to believe. Overwhelming.

I have prayed that my kids and grandkids would someday be a part of a cooperative, non-denominational Kingdom of God on this earth. I have prayed that denominational barriers would be obliterated, that Christ’s disciples would be united by his blood and in his name, that we could someday really unite to show this unbelieving world that our God in Jesus really is changing everything. That we would all be one in Christ; that, as our Lord prayed, we “would be one.”

“I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me.”

I’m blown completely away that I’m actually experiencing some of that here at Central in Amarillo. I’m amazed we’re able to do this. I’m encouraged. I’m uplifted. I’m thrilled. And I have no idea how this is going to all turn out. I just know that God’s will is being done here on earth just as it is in heaven.

Oh, yeah, we have plenty of differences with those folks over there at Southlawn. There are dozens of ways we differ in belief and practice. Almost as many differences as you and the person who sits right behind you or right in front of you or six pews over from you every Sunday morning. But we have Jesus. He died for us, he calls us, and he commands us to live radically sacrificial lives to blow away the powers of this age. And we’re all interested in that.

Please join me in praying for this cooperative effort. Join me in thanking Jared and the children of God at Southlawn for this holy opportunity. May our merciful Father use us to his eternal glory and praise.

Peace,

Allan

Listen to Barton Stone

May 10, 2012 / / 0 Comments

As we review and reflect together on Leroy Garrett’s book, “What Must the Church of Christ Do to Be Saved?” we arrive today at the author’s 17th suggestion for avoiding “obscurantism, obsolescence, and irrelevance” in this increasingly post-denominational, post-Christian world. In order for us to remain a viable voice for Christ, in order to retain any credibility as a faithful witness to his redemption work, Garrett says we must appeal to the wisdom and insights of those who went before us.

Heed the principles set forth by Barton W. Stone.

Alexander Campbell’s group of restoration churches and the restoration churches that followed the teachings of Stone realized fairly early on that they had enough in common by the blood of Christ and by their devotion to our Lord’s plea for the unity of all God’s children that they should join together as one movement. So these Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and Disciples of Christ Churches — nobody was worried about the actual name of the congregations at this early point — officially came together to worship, to work, and to spread the Good News. It eventually became known as the Stone-Campbell Movement. And it was during this time of coming together, in 1832, in the midst of the drama and trauma of the official union, that Stone wrote his “An Address to the Churches of Christ.” Stone’s purpose in writing this document was to head off at the pass a few problems that were already impacting this infant coalition of congregations. And Garrett says we should look back to that document for wisdom as we deal with our own doctrinal and unity differences today.

Early on in the Address [Stone] warned against unwritten creeds, which he considered more dangerous than written ones. The purpose of both, he noted, “is to exclude from fellowship the man who dissents from them.” He observes that there are those who clamor against (written) creeds and yet have creeds (unwritten) of their own, and they are as intolerant toward those who dissent from their creeds as those who make written creeds are toward their dissenters.

What pain we would have avoided had the wisdom of this pioneer reached our ears. With ne’er a (written) creed in sight we have been creed-makers, and, like Stone said, we have used them to draw lines on each other and to exclude one another from fellowship. We have made creeds of our opinions, whether in reference to theories like millennialism, questions such as marriage and divorce, or methods like instrumental music or Sunday schools. It is of course appropriate for each of us to follow his own conviction in reference to any of these, but it is not all right to make a creed out of them. Creed-making makes parties, whether they be written or unwritten creeds, and that is what lies behind all our divisions.

Garrett points to Stone’s conviction that the gift of God’s Holy Spirit is “the crowning blessing of all blessings” and the most important part of being a Christian. Stone wrote that the gift of the Spirit is “more necessary” than faith, reformation, and immersion. And he did not emphasize the importance of a particular method of baptism. It’s easy enough to admit that both of these ideas seem to fly in the face of where we are now as Churches of Christ. Honestly, we probably under-emphasize the Holy Spirit and over-emphasize the method of baptism.

But that’s probably OK. The point Stone was trying to make then and that Garrett is trying to make now is that Christians may differ on any number of things without dividing. Stone and Campbell managed it quite well for more than two generations.

[Stone] referred to two differences  between their churches at this time, which troubled people on both sides. The Campbell people placed greater emphasis upon immersion for remission of sins than the Stone churches, and the Campbell churches broke bread every first day while the Stone people didn’t.

This diversity of doctrine and practice led Stone to emphasize what had characterized the Movement from the outset: “We who profess to stand upon the Bible alone, and contend that opinions of truth should not be made terms of fellowship — shall we be intolerant towards each other because we may differ in our opinions? Forbid it, Heaven!”

Here Stone is telling us what we must do to be saved. We must cease and desist from making our own interpretation of what we believe to be truth (an opinion, Stone calls it) a test of fellowshipo. And he says this includes such matters as the design of baptism and the frequency of the Lord’s Supper.

Stone went on to say what should be proclaimed in every Church of Christ in the land today: “If you think your brother in error, labor in the spirit of love and meekness to convince him; but imposing zeal against him will only harden him against any good impression you would make. It will probably stir up strife and ultimately destroy love, the bond of union.”

We must repent of our ugly, sectarian past and resolve to follow Stone’s  advice when he went on to say in his Address to us, the Churches of Christ: “A little longer forbearance with each others’ weakness, and truth will triumph!”

I would personally point to Romans 14:1-15:7 here to remind you of the Biblical foundation for everything Stone wrote on the matter of differing opinions and unity and everything Garrett writes against imposing on other Christians the lines we draw for ourselves. But there’s no need. You already know what the passage says, right?

Peace,

Allan

Accept That We Are a Denomination

May 3, 2012 / / 3 Comments

As we continue our chapter-by-chapter review of Leroy Garrett’s “What Must the Church of Christ Do to Be Saved?” we’ve reached now a funny little essay about our status as a denomination. It’s not funny “ha-ha;” it’s funny like “I agree with 100-percent of what Garrett is saying but I’m not sure how important it is in the big picture.” Writing about it in this space will help me think through it. Maybe we can do this together.

Garrett claims that, in order for the Churches of Christ to have any kind of a legitimate voice for Christianity in the future, we must:

Come to terms with our status as a denomination.

The main reason for accepting this term for ourselves and even applying it to ourselves, Garrett says, is for sheer honesty. Self-authenticity. Being honest with ourselves, being honest with one another, and with the world. We must be an honest people. Calling all other faith traditions “denominations,” but loudly and indignantly throwing our hands up in outrage and disgust when the term is used of us just isn’t logical.

To illustrate his point, Garrett asks the simple question, “What would we have to have to be a denomination that we don’t already have?”

By definition a denomination is a church with a particular name. The Church of Christ has a particular name. The Church of Christ has its own agencies such as schools, colleges, publishing houses, journals, conventions, missionary programs, and retirement plans. It has its own distinctive clergy, separate from those in other groups. It has its own definable doctrines. It has its own history and traditions that set it apart. It has its own list of churches in yearbooks and directories. The Church of Christ clearly qualifies on each of these points. So, I ask again of our leaders who keep on insisting that we are not a denomination: What would we have to have to be a denomination that we don’t already have?

Of course, this is just one result of our distorted view that we are the only true Christians and the only true Church. Thankfully, not as many of us think or talk that way as used to. But the D-Word is a strange phenomenon among our people. We won’t touch it. It’s taboo. Even the most open-minded and big-picture thinking among us won’t use it when referring to our movement.

Ah, there it is: “Our movement.” See, I do this all the time, too. The true word, the one that communicates to the world, the English word that really defines what we are is “denomination.” But I won’t use it, either. I’ll say and write words like “our movement” and “our faith tradition” and “our tribe” or “our stream of the faith.” But I won’t say “denomination.” Because I know what will happen to me if I do. I’m a gutless chicken.

It would surprise most people in our “tribe” to read this line from Alexander Campbell taken from his writings in the Millennial Harbinger in 1840:

We, as a denomination, are as desirous as ever to unite and cooperate with all Christians on the broad and vital principles of the New and everlasting Covenant.

Our founding fathers recognized early on that, in the strict sense of the term, we are certainly a denomination. To say otherwise is to be less than forthright. It’s dishonest. And people within our church families and those in the world are all equally turned off by dishonesty. It’s a stumbling block to the Good News of salvation from Christ. And we must relax a little on this.

Some would say — and, yes, I’ve heard it more times than I can count — that we cannot be lumped in with all the other denominations. We must be different. Ian Fair once told a group of us at an ACU Summit that if we were so fired up about being so different, why don’t we just bar all the doors to our church buildings and come and go through the windows?

Now, I’m not as concerned with our use or non-use of the D-Word as I am with the attitudes that determine that use or non-use. See the previous reflections on the earlier chapters that speak about our understandings of God’s grace and his will for unity among his children. We don’t have to call ourselves a “denomination” in order to be honest or spiritually mature. What we must do is stop saying with all of our words and language that we’re one thing and everybody else is not. That’s the point. It’s not so much about the word as it is about our hearts.

At the same time, Garrett offers some very helpful guidance on how to see ourselves and even speak of ourselves as a denomination in a way that acknowledges reality but still points to and prays for and works toward our God’s ultimate purpose.

A people can be a denomination as a temporary measure, looking for the time when the ideal will obtain and there will no longer be denominations but only the one Body of Jesus Christ.

A “denomination in protest” is a defensible position. We can even say that we are a denomination because we can’t help being one, and that we don’t believe in denominations as the ideal or the final end for the Church, and that we will work for that unity that will one day cause denominations “to die, be dissolved, and sink into union with the Body of Christ at large,” to quote another of our founding documents.

A denomination in protest. I can live with that. Can you?

Peace,

Allan

Abandon Our Claim To Exclusive Truth

May 2, 2012 / / 0 Comments

Thanks so much to Jim Sundberg for the fabulous work he did for us at the Great Cities Missions dinner and fundraiser Friday night at the Ballpark in Arlington. The Rangers great showed up with a whole bunch of autographed baseballs and then auctioned them off with great energy and flair. Baseballs signed by perennial All-Stars like Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, and Nelson Cruz each went for between $500 – $750. But the big money item was a ball autographed by both Nolan Ryan and Greg Maddux that brought a whopping $1,600! A night at a Rangers game beats a boring old fundraising banquet any time. But throw in Jim Sundberg auctioning off autographed baseballs and it becomes a spectacular event to never forget. As a kid in Dallas, Sunny was always my all-time favorite Texas Ranger. That spot has now been solidified forever. Thanks, Jim.

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I hesitated to review Leroy Garrett’s book “What Must the Church of Christ Do to Be Saved?” chapter by chapter in this space for several reasons. Chief among them is the fact that Garrett is a bit of a lightning rod in our faith heritage. His books and articles challenging us, pushing us, chastising us, have traditionally had polarizing effects. And he can come across to some as overly critical, overly cynical, and too harsh. But, ultimately, I believe the issues he raises in this compilation of essays and the conversations they provoke are way too important. It’s critical. We need to have these conversations.

Garrett’s next suggestion for saving the Churches of Christ for vital Kingdom work in the future is another angle on what is by now a familiar refrain:

We can believe we are right without having to believe everyone else is wrong.

Again, this idea that we in the Churches of Christ believe we are the only ones going to heaven dies hard. I understand not everybody was brought up to believe this. I know not every Church of Christ preacher and elder has always made this claim. But it is the way I was raised. In fact, recent conversations in my own extended family have confirmed that this position is still held quite firmly in many of our churches. I’m regularly asked by sincere and well-meaning Church of Christ brothers and sisters, “If we’re no better than the other churches, then why should we even exist?”

The thinking goes that if we surrender our claim to exclusive truth we forfeit our right to exist. If we are right — and we do believe we are — then everyone else must be wrong. If we are true and faithful Christians, then those who are different from us are not.

It is one thing for us to believe in absolute truth, which we all do since we believe in God, but it is something much different for us to presume that we have an absolute understanding of that truth. Truth is absolute; our grasp of truth is relative. One sobering truth speaks to that: “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known (1 Corinthians 13:12). So, we can surrender our claim to exclusive truth (only we have all the truth) and still believe in absolute truth (which is a reality that is beyond our perfect understanding).

On the face of it, we are forced to conclude that we must abandon our claim to exclusive truth in order to be an authentic people. We have no right to exist believing that we and we only have the truth. We must admit that we are both fallible and finite, that we, like everyone else, are wrong about some things and ignorant about other things.

And yet we can believe, in common with all Christians, that we have found many precious truths that we live for and would die for.

I’m reminded of those powerful passages in 1 Corinthians 8-10 that speak to our so-called knowledge. These passages outline very clearly the mindset and attitude we are to have as we consider our own understandings of the Gospel as they relate to beliefs and practices:

“Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.” (8:1-2)

“We put up with anything rather than hinder the Gospel of Christ.” (9:12)

“I make myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible.” (9:19)

“I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (9:22)

“Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” (10:24)

A claim that we alone know everything there is to know about the will of God and that we alone have everything figured out and that we alone are doing everything right, or at least better and more faithfully than everyone else, goes completely counter to the above passages in 1 Corinthians and, honestly, against the whole of Scripture and the Spirit of Christ.

And, again, I’ll go back to our misunderstanding and misapplication of grace. If we ever actually comprehend that our righteous relationship with God is not a matter of our “rightness” or our worship practices or our baptism or communion theology, but a matter of surrendering to God’s merciful love and grace, we will quickly abandon our exclusive claim to salvation truth. Instead, we will praise God for his boundless mercy. We will then claim only to be a people who are continually seeking the truth as it’s revealed in Jesus. And we’ll eagerly join all those disciples of other traditions and different heritage as equals in seeking and understanding that truth together.

Peace,

Allan

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