Enjoy this week’s recap of prayer – the Christian discipline.
Developers, like me, are writing software for things that could kill me.
Did you see this news story? An error in programming gave hospital patients overdoses of radiation for 18 months before it was detected. If you read the story, it boils down to the fact that the guy in charge messed with settings he shouldn’t have been allowed to even see. So, maybe we don’t blame the programmers…
This week we talked about how significant relationships are. In a post-modern world, they’re our greatest opportunity for evangelism. They enrich our lives–they allow us to survive and thrive. Since our relationships with others affect and reflect our relationship with God, we should treasure them and work on them to help us mature in Christ. We should leave behind surface friendships and risk rejection to move into deeper interaction. We should talk about what is really important.
Here’s a brief overview of relationships as a spiritual discipline, and a video we discussed about the world’s worst youth minister.
Last Wednesday night at Burns, we’ve started a class on “Christian Disciplines: Tools for Transformation.” This is a class I’m really looking forward to–I see a real need in the church here, and I see real potential.
The class has quite a bit of discussion, but there are several who are not able to join us, so I want to give you a jumping off point so you’ll know what we talked about. We’ve got a Journal that we handed out to help you keep your notes in one place. You can print it out and fold it in half to use as a note-guide.
Our first session was “Introduction to Transformation and Spiritual Disciplines.” I showed a little video clip called “Cardboard Testimonies” and I commend it to you as an exercise to open your eyes to the possibility of transformation. The homework for the first week is this: find someone whose faith you admire, and talk to them for a few minutes and just ask what they do to help nurture and grow their faith. Pick their brain a bit, and come back next time ready to discuss.
Review: Velvet Elvis
Oct 11
When I saw Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis in the value bin at McCay’s, I figured I could spare $2 for the potential of a book with a name like velvet elvis…
Background: Rob Bell was founding pastor of Mars Hill Church (now led by Mark Driscoll) and is the main guy in the first several Nooma videos, if you’re familiar with them.
All in all, Bell and I wouldn’t share the exact same page theologically, though I doubt he would want to label this as a book of theology. I think his goal would be to get people to think about the state of their faith. Is it borrowed? Is it old? Is it really in touch with the word of God and the world of today? Can those two worlds coincide?
Here are the gems I think are worth your consideration and discussion:
- “If your Bible study doesn’t leave you in awe and filled with wonder, you haven’t really studied the Bible.” I love this sentiment! If the word is really still living and active, this statement must have merit. He scoffs at the modernistic tendency to view the Bible as a collection of data to be analyzed. He would say it takes the living book and murders it—taking the spirit away from the body, to use the language of James. Bible study should be transformative.
- Bell talks about the traditions of first century Jewish teaching and leadership. I’m not in a position to evaluate the accuracy of his information or research, (though the book is well foot-noted), so I will assume these references are solid. He says that a rabbi’s understanding and interpretation of Torah, of what is binding and what is permitted, of the rules for the life of his disciple is called his yoke. He then refers to a rabbi who proclaimed that his yoke was easy, and his burden was light. Neat connection!
- The Jerusalem conference of Acts 15 to determine what to do about Gentile converts used the phrase, “It seemed good to us and the Spirit…” Bell makes much of this—if the apostle-driven leadership that was attested to by the miraculous measure of the Spirit could only say “It seemed good…” in something as central as salvation, we might ought to approach our understanding of scripture with the humility of the word “seems.” The phrase “the Bible clearly says” is bandied about by a lot of different people teaching a lot of different things, and at some point, its continued usage is demeaning to the Word of God because it hides (or denies) my fallible role in reading, hearing, understanding, and living it.
- Bell argued that “all truth is ultimately God’s truth” regardless of source.
- Christian makes a great noun, but a lousy adjective. When people begin to label things as “Christian” – the label invariably gets applied to things it shouldn’t (lousy music, institutions, businesses, nights at the Preds game, etc) and not applied to things it should (helping those in need, etc.)
- Here’s a controversial conversation starter: Bell says that he does not want us to be the church of the New Testament, because that implies that the authority is within the church, rather than the one who owns the church. What say ye?
- My personal favorite of the book: Bell tells the story of the explosion of the Mars Hill church. They had 1,000 their first Sunday, and had grown to 4,000 in a few months. Members were told to bring chairs if they wanted to bring visitors, because there were literally not enough seats. As the church grew, the parking lot became a nightmare, and tempers flared. When Bell got word of the not-so-nice words and waves being exchanged in the parking lot, he preached the next Sunday: “If you’re not a Christian, and you’re here, you are always welcome. If you are a Christian, and you can’t even act like one in the parking lot, please do us a favor and stop calling yourself one, because it really screws it up for the rest of us. And by the way, someone else could really use your chair.” He said the audience started applauding—I know I would have.
All in all, while I wouldn’t take Bell as my primer to scripture, he raised some great points and opens the door to some great discussion of scripture. I’d recommend it as a dollar bin read for established Christians.
Bruce Longenecker’s Lost Letters of Pergamum, The: A Story from the New Testament World
Most folks never read books on first century culture and customs–because frankly, they tend to be boring catalogs of information that don’t seem relevant. Longenecker teaches the history, politics, and culture of the first century by using them as the story surrounding the relationship of two men from different worlds.
This book would be well-suited for a Christian book group styled class. There are plenty of scripture references that help you apply the cultural concepts to your understanding of scripture, and as it tells the story of the conversion of Antipas, it has a great deal to say about the evangelistic process. The letters also reveal some great information about the different groups of Jesus’ day (Essenes, Pharisees, Samaritans, etc…) and some of the early heresies within the church.
All in all, this book was a great read. It kept my attention for one sitting…which is a rare, but good sign!
I haven’t yet read this book, so this doesn’t count as a review, but I wanted to explore its major thoughts before reading it. The book is Geoff Surrat’s Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing: How Leaders Can Overcome Costly Mistakes.
Here are their ten stupid mistakes:
- Leaders do it all
- Establishing Wrong role for the pastor’s family
- Second rate worship experiences
- Low quality children’s ministry
- Promoting talent over integrity
- Clinging to bad location
- Copying another Successful Church
- Favor discipline over Reconciliation
- Mixing ministry and Business
- Letting committees steer the ship
Just at first blush, it seems like most of these are common sense biblical directives, aren’t they?
Here’s my take on the first five on the list: it’s pretty well done.
Biblical ministry is equipping the entire church to minister. It is helping, leading, training, teaching, and of course, ministering with the goal of producing more folks who are truly serving God and neighbor. It doesn’t fit the Bible or life to have a leader-do-all mentality.
Churches do tend to elevate “lead ministers” to an unrealistic standard. Rather than serving as an example for members to emulate, the projected ideal becomes an unattainable standard. Distinguishing a special place for leaders is probably unavoidable because of perception, but it is certainly not the right way to do things.
I’m not entirely sure what “second-rate worship experiences” means in practicality. Second rate to whom? The preacher? The Lord? The visitor? The member? Paul seemed to think that the outsider should be able to discern that something special and wonderful happens in worship (1 Corinthians 14:34-35) — both intellectually and emotionally. Biblical worship is the harmony of many tensions: approaching the unapproachable God; reverence and wonder; the humility of a servant and the pride of the heir. As a moment of training, evangelism, and recharging–worship can’t be second-rate to anything!
Low quality children’s ministry. In a lot of ways, this has been one of our strengths. Deuteronomy 6 taught that training our children in practical, applied faith is a (the?) key goal of God’s community.
The Bible is also clear–integrity comes first. There is no room for performers as leaders in Christ’s church. One preacher said, “You can’t both present yourself as clever and Christ as the ultimate treasure at the same time.” Remember Simon who wanted to buy his way into Holy Spirit giftedness? It wasn’t received very well…
The next five next time!
We’re in the process of planning for a campaign at Burns, and it’s provided several opportunities to remind me of one particular lesson: the least important things in life always take precedence.
I may call this Matthew’s Paper Theorem, hereafter MPT. (Maybe Matthew’s Procrastination Theorem…or Matthew’s Prioritization Theorem…)
For example: in college, how many times did the room get thoroughly cleaned, my music get cataloged, dinner get cooked, and workouts get worked when there was a paper on the brink of being overdue? Shucks–I even finished my taxes before my last major paper!
For example: how much homework have I been able to get done in the past few nights avoiding painting the guest bedroom before we have more guests than rooms?
For example: how many hours have we spent planning, training, discussing, ordering, re-ordering, re-planning, arguing, and debating about the kitchen for the campaign? Don’t get me wrong…food is important, but my conservative estimate is that our food committee and those involved readying the building have spent nearly 250 man-hours in preparation across at least three meetings, plus individual consultations, etc… I don’t think we’ve hit 50 man-hours on the second place priority. We’ve got probably 25+ folks who are helping to feed the campaigners, but only 5 folks signed up to campaign from our congregation.
Interesting!
Because I’ve enrolled in Harding University’s Master of Ministry program, I’m doing way more reading than I ever have before. My goal is to write up a little bit on each book I read (for school, work, or pleasure) here for your viewing pleasure… So here, I present to you, a Christian nerd’s book review!
The Systems Bible by John Gall is a tongue-in-cheek analysis and critique of the capital-S Systems that we all know and love. It is written with an eye towards those of us with a “technical persuasion” but it accessible to almost everyone.
The book is written around a series of principles and axioms about Systems — always set apart by capital letters. For everyone who has been frustrated by a System (of any type) gone awry, this book is like the Office — it hits a little close to home, but it’s funny anyway!
For example — a small town has a problem: people need to do something with their trash. They have a garbage problem. The town council in their sub-infinite wisdom, implement a garbage collection system. Instead of one problem (garbage) — the problem has multiplied further: the town must deal with problems with garbage trucks, routes, collecting fees, dealing with employees, maintaining contracts with dumps, etc. etc. The System that was designed to solve one problem brings with it dozens more–and it is rare that many (if any) of the new problems are forseen by the System’s designers. (That, by the way, is the Fundamental Theorem of Systems: NEW SYSTEMS CREATE NEW PROBLEMS!)
Gall works through somewhere near one hundred such theorems. A few of my favorites:
- Le Chatelier’s Principle: THE SYSTEM ALWAYS KICKS BACK, or alternatively, SYSTEMS TEND TO OPPOSE THEIR OWN PROPER FUNCTIONS.
- The Fundamental Law of Administrative Workings (FLAW): THINGS ARE WHAT THEY ARE REPORTED TO BE or IF IT ISN’T OFFICIAL, IT HASN’T HAPPENED; IF IT DIDN’T HAPPEN ON CAMERA, IT DIDN’T HAPPEN, and IF THE SYSTEM SAYS IT HAPPENED, IT HAPPENED.
- The Principle of Unexpected Interactions: IN SETTING UP A NEW SYSTEM, TREAD SOFTLY; YOU MAY BE DISTRUBING ANOTHER SYSTEM THAT IS ACTUALLY WORKING!
- LARGE AMOUNTS OF POOR DATA TEND TO PRE-EMPT ANY AMOUNT OF GOOD DATA
There are many more — but these give you a flavor of the book’s tone.
As a software developer this book was a fun read (despite the sheer horror that came with learning about just how broken almost every system is!) — but as a minister, it was even more striking.
As churches have become more institutional than organic, there has been a strong emphasis on the program (and as I call it, the Kiwanis Church — nothing but a bunch of programs good for the community!) Programs aren’t evil — just like Systems aren’t evil — or at least, they don’t start that way.
How many times have we started church programs, ministries, or events without thinking through the entire system — its inputs and outputs? Certainly we are bound by and to Scripture, but we can’t assume that we have it down perfectly. Have we thought about what problems we create and encounter. Before long, we spend more time maintaining broken congregations, dysfunctional elderships, and sick programs than actually doing what it is that those bodies are [divinely?]designed to do!
Gall suggests one particular irony: students who want to become leaders in business are forced to follow instructions for the first thirty years of their lives being told what leadership looks like–rather than ever actually leading. Ironic, huh?
There are plenty of applications for you, your job, and your ministry. Definitely worth a read!