Freedom of Expression

Several days ago I posted about the role of Bishop in our denomination. I posted that I believe one of the key functions of the position is that of perspective keeper. As I have thought about this I have found it helpful to think in terms of structure to give a picture of what such a position would look like.

One of the strongest desires that we must resist is for a national plan. As I stated in the earlier post I do not believe that this is a very viable option. It relies too much on the charisma of the Bishop and it assumes too much about the abilities (intelligence even) of the top leadership in relationship too the rest of the denomination.

Many have proposed that we are entering a post-denomination era. Whether true or not is yet to be seen. My own prediction is that denominations will at least need to look differently. I dream of a denomination that takes its behind the scenes support role very seriously and allows for multiple expressions of church within its scope. Of course getting people to agree that multiple expression of church are acceptable is a major hurdle.

As I have listened to people talk about our denomination I have been amazed at the fervor with which they promote their perspective of church as the only way. They also are married to organizational/management strategies that have developed in the modern world. The frightening part about it is the degree with which they support such modern strategies with scripture as the only way to do things.

A good example of this occurred during the national board meeting held this month. The proposal was made that the bishop be allowed to hire staff as he sought fit. One example that was presented was that of Director of Healthy Church Initiative. I thought we had been making progress until this example was proposed. In my view the denomination must limit itself to essentials in order to truly allow multiple expressions of church. As soon as it goes beyond essentials it begins to dictate a particular expression over all others.

In my view a position of Director of Healthy Church Initiative could be a wonderful thing. However, such a position should be funded and overseen by those churches that actually want such a director. The current proposal is that all churches be grouped in clusters of about 7 churches. In my view these clusters should network with other clusters that share a similar vision for a Healthy Church Initiative. Once they reach a certain size, say 15 clusters, they can then look into whether it would be beneficial for them to have a Director to serve them. This would eliminate the burden on those churches that had no desire to participate in such an initiative.

Several have expressed a desire to continue with our current annual conference structure. The same principle applies here. If churches want to organize that way they are free to do so. What they can’t do is force churches to join them and therefore they cannot be a burden to them. Free association provides for better relationships, which I believe, should be one of our distinctive features. (This is why I favor allowing churches the freedom to join the cluster group of their choosing and why I support having the Bishop choose cluster group leaders. The working relationships are preserved in both instances. I remember a mentoring program that tried to dictate relationships and it was a disaster.)

The proposed structure has led many to believe that we are centralizing control. Actually just the opposite is true. Our current structure all feeds back to our HQ so we basically are centralized now. The proposed structure has the potential to allow a high degree of decentralization. This also brings us back to the role of Bishop. It is not a position from which to dictate. Instead this person is more of an observer. He looks at the big picture. He watches our back for us. He keeps perspective for us but allows us freedom of expression.

Tears of .....

"In his book Mortal Lessons, Richard Selzer, M.D., writes: "I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face postoperative, her mouth twisted in palsy, clownish. A tiny twig of the facial nerve, the one to the muscles of her mouth, has been severed. She will be thus from now on. The surgeon had followed with religious fervor the curve of her flesh; I promise you that. Nevertheless, to remove the tumor in her cheek, I had to cut the little nerve.

Her young husband is in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed and together they seem to dwell in the evening lamp light, isolated from me, private. Who are they, I ask myself, he and this wry mouth I have made, who gaze at me and touch each other so generously, greedily? The young woman speaks. 'Will my mouth always be like this?' she asks. 'Yes,' I say, 'it will. It is because the nerve was cut.' She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles. 'I like it,' he says, 'It is kind of cute.'

All at once I know who he is. I understand and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with a god. Unmindful, he bends to kiss her crooked mouth and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate to hers, to show her that their kiss still works." - Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel

I'm not sure why exactly but this picture has a powerful impact on me. Christ's accommodation of me on the cross is unbelievable grace. But I'm not sure if my tears are of sadness, guilt or joy.

Catching Up

I got behind in my Bible reading for the year. I am using one of the more popular one year plans that has readings from the OT, NT, Poetry, Prophecy. I have skipped a few years in doing this so I thought I would get back on track.

Anyway, I got behind last week, about six days behind. So yesterday I caught back up which meant reading a large section from Leviticus. My wife doesn't like reading Leviticus all that much and admits to skimming. For some reason I like Leviticus and I have preached a few series from it.

I think a lot of people actually like all the rules. They find the rules freeing because they feel they can do whatever they want as long as they don't break the rules even if they have an ulterior motive. Of course, people have also used rules to control and manipulate people down through the years and I suppose not very many people like that. But for the most part I think a lot of people like rules even though they may protest against them.

That's why people don't like "a new covenant written on their hearts." Now you have a conscience to consider. Jesus quoted Isaiah, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." (Mark 7:6) The only way to be an sincere follower of Jesus is to get to know him and develop a love for him. Then you will obey him because it is your true hearts desire.

Suspicious Minds

"We can't go on together with suspicious minds." - Elvis

This happens to be thesis #29 in the Cluetrain Manifesto. Sadly, I think this is very true in church circles. It is sad that we tend to be suspicious and it is true that journeying together with suspicion isn't very productive. The thing that makes this so true is that it is possible to have an agenda without trying to be sinister and we are suspicious of people's agenda if we think it doesn't match our own.

The cure, I believe, is honest relationship. That is why it so important to spend time building relationships. In an honest relationship fewer things are unknown and therefore there is less to be suspicious about.

The Face of the Denomination

I think our denomination has two competing views of what our denomination should look like and I don't think there is clear understanding on this point yet. Hopefully we will reach some agreement at the national conference.

The traditional view sees a central leadership for the denomination that generates vision and then sees that the vision is implemented throughout the denomination. The local churches are expected to fall in line with this vision and this vision/purpose/mission becomes the "face of the denomination." To head up this institution we want a "visionary" leader who has the charisma to get his vision implemented.

I see at least three major problems with this approach. First of all it has a tendency to waste the creative and intellectual capital that is scattered throughout our local churches. We can get some of it but in the end we are limited to those who have been chosen for the highest governing bodies of the denomination.

Secondly, strong visionary leaders with big charisma are extremely rare and the chances of finding one to lead our denomination is quite small. Don't bother talking about a shrinking leadership pool because that misses the point of how rare these individuals actually are. I would bet that they you couldn't name more than half a dozen such denominational leaders from history off the top of your head. I was surprised that Time Magazine's list of the top 25 Evangelicals listed very few denominational leaders. Many were local church pastors who had national influence. To say this is the type of person you want sure sounds good but is highly unlikely.

Thirdly, I think the face of the denomination should be the local churches themselves. The denominal relationship is a background issue that lurks in the shadows. If the denomination insists on being the face of the denomination it is like one of those parents who hog the limelight when their kid has done something amazing.

Instead I want a denomination whose vision is to help local churches reach their vision. Simple ain't it. We have enough good thinking people who will really take off with their vision for their local church. Yes, there will be some churches who don't seem to get it but that's okay. That's between them and God. I say if they want to stay that way leave them alone. Just keep them from being a burden on the rest of the churches. The more time the denomination spends trying to push them the more they are wasting denominational resources. If they do want to change they can take the initiative. In the mean time they will cease to hold back other churches.

The Role of the Bishop

I attended the meetings of our denominations national board earlier this week. I usually avoid such things but since much of their work is for the national conference this summer I thought I should attend since I will be a delegate.

One of the topics that was discussed was the role of the Bishop. It wasn't a long discussion really but I think there is some confusion there. Such groups are often under pressure to produce something that sounds good. We want to give our leader a list of duties that sound important and worthwhile. Unfortunately I think one of his most important duties doesn't fit in a list very well.

It is hard to name what I am talking about. Perhaps "perspective keeper" his helpful. I think we need someone whose job it is is to look at the big picture from an outside perspective and keep us on track. Eugene Peterson uses an illustration of a harpooner in a whaling boat. As the sailors are frantically rowing to get close enough to harpoon the harpooner sits quietly and waits. If he too would row he would not be steady enough when the time came to throw the harpoon. Amid the frantic activity in the boat he must remain calm.

We need that as a denomination. As us pastors are frantically involved with our churches we need someone who keeps perspective for us. We need someone who steps in and helps keep us on course when we start heading in the wrong direction and don't see it because we are to busy rowing.

Peterson also refers to this as "lashed to the mast." There will be times when we will go to him suggesting another direction. It is up to him to hold fast to the Word and insist we get back on track. He can't be about pleasing us. He must help us stay on course.

For this I need a leader who is dedicated to spending vast quantities of time with God in prayer, in the Word and in meditation. I need a leader who takes time to survey the territory and is dedicated to understanding the times. I need a history who knows our story, where we have been and where we need to go.

Every now and then a strong charismatic leader may come along who helps us take large growth steps by sheer force of his personality. That's fine but it's not necessary. We have plenty of creative and intelligent people who just need the right environment to thrive. They just need to know someone has got their back and is keeping watch for them.

The Beauty of Light

Truly, Lord, this is the “inaccessible light in which you dwell” (1 Timothy 6:16). For surely there is no other being that can penetrate this light so that it might see you there. Indeed, the reason that I do not see it is that it is too much for me. And yet whatever I do see, I see through it, just as a weak eye sees what it sees by the light of the sun, although it cannot look at that light directly in the sun itself. My understanding cannot see that light. It is too dazzling; my understanding does not grasp it, and the eye of my soul cannot bear to look into it for long. It is dazzled by its splendor, vanquished by its fullness, overwhelmed by its vastness, perplexed by its extent. O supreme and inaccessible light, O complete and blessed truth, how far you are from me while I and so close to you! How far you are from my sight while I am so present to yours! You are wholly present everywhere, and yet I do not see you. “In you I move and in you I have my being” (Acts 17:28), and yet I cannot come into your presence. You are within me and all around me, and yet I do not perceive you.

and

Still, O Lord, you are hidden from my soul in your light and happiness, and so it still lives in its darkness and misery. It looks around, but it does not see your beauty. It listens, but it does not hear your harmony. It smells, but it does not perceive your fragrance. It tastes, but it does not know your savor. It touches, but it does not sense your softness. For you have these qualities in you, O Lord God, in your own ineffable way; and you have given them in their own perceptible way to the things you created. But the senses of my soul have been stiffened, dulled, and obstructed by the long standing weakness of sin.

Anselm – in Proslogian


I think I feel this deeply for myself and for my church. Isn’t this what I want to uncover for myself and for my church? I want to experience His beauty, harmony, fragrance, savor and softness but somehow this seems to not be upheld as a worthy goal.

Instead we engage in this battle against sin so that…… So often I finish that sentence with something dry, cold, uninteresting and meaningless. It is easy to end the sentence in the usual way. “Spend eternity with Him.” But don’t we need to think about what that would be like? “Experience His love.” But don’t we need to think about what His love is like?

And so I pray for the grace that I might at least “know in part,” that I might at least see the “poor reflection,” that I might be aware of His presence around me, that my struggle with sin would be based on a hope that comes alive in my understanding of Him.

Annual Report

On Tuesday I attended our annual district meeting where we share with our fellow pastors and turn in our annual reports. I have held various views of this meeting in the past but I won't go into that here. The meeting did trigger a couple of thoughts though.

In our report we are asked to list 4 ministry related books that we have read in the past year. Every year I wonder what to put down. Sometimes I write down the last four books I've read. At other times I have tried to pick the books that had the biggest impact on me. This year I wondered about what "ministry related" meant. If I had listed Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" or "The Brothers Karamazov" would they have counted? After all both books have gone a long way toward influencing my thoughts on incarnational ministry. Or what if I had listed "Touching My Father's Soul" by Jamling Tenzing Norgay who writes about his return to practicing buddism as he follows his father's foot steps up Everest? Does the insight I gained regarding sincere practitioners of other religions matter in my ministry?

I was also struck by the thought of ministry personality. I have long argued that different pastors have different philosophies of ministry and the danger this causes when the majority view is regarded as superior to the minority. But maybe it is not so much a difference in philosophy as it is a difference of personality. Maybe we have come to believe that a pastor must be an extrovert with tons of charisma and we have decided that an introvert who is more contemplative just isn't qualified. It seems like the ex pastors (heh-heh) are always railing that the in pastors are lazy and not really doing proper ministry. Perhaps whole congregations have personalities that clash with other congregations too.

No where is this more evident than in the report I was supposed to fill out for the Youth Leadership Team (not its real title but I can't think of it right now.) As I started to fill it out I began to realize that it was directed at only one type of youth ministry philosophy or personality. I read through to the bottom of the report and found that it came from a group of people who all practiced (or have in the past) the same type of youth ministry. My guess is that they believe their way is the only correct way of doing youth ministry. I stopped filling out the report. I expect my super. will give me a call and ask where it is. The again he may not. I hope he doesn't mind if I throw it in the trash.

An Odd Spirituality

Some of the most vulgar places I frequent are a couple of unofficial Detroit Lion’s online forums. I like to keep up with the thoughts and perceptions of my favorite football team but most of those who participate use absolutely filthy language and so I assume that God is rather far from their minds.

It was interesting, then, when one of the major contributors to one of the forums announced that he wouldn’t be posting for awhile because he was to have cancer surgery. The response from the forum surprised me. There were tons of posts encouraging the man. Over half the posts said that the posters were praying for him. Several of them wanted to know if there was anything practical they could do.

Over the following weeks the man’s wife would post an update on his condition. Again the response was similar. If I didn’t know better I would have thought that our little online forum had developed into a Christ-like community filled with compassion and love.
It was an odd mix. Again, let me emphasize that these guys are extremely vulgar and graphic most of the time. Most of them have also never met each other. Yet when there was a crisis with one of their community they responded in a most unusual way. I’m scratching my head trying to figure it all out.

Bully For You

I have a theory as to why so many people hate the New England Patriots. It is easy to say that it is because they win but that just doesn’t cut it. There have been other “dynasties” that have not inspired the same level of hatred that we have seen toward New England. I think it has more to do with the perception of being a bully.

Americans don’t like bullies. The Patriots play with a bully mentality that has served them well. And just for the record, I’m not a Colts fan even though I live in Indiana. (I’m a Lion’s fan, but we’re talking professional football here.) Other hated teams seem to have the same characteristic.

The Detroit Pistons, back in the bad boy days, suffered from the same problem. It wasn’t that they won, it was that they were perceived as bullies. Or how about the Oakland Raiders? People love to see them get beat even when they are a bad team because it seems like they are finally getting what they deserve.

So, as the theories fly about why people hate the Miami Hurricanes, George Steinbrenner, Mike Tyson or Bill Belichik remember the bully quotient. Americans don’t like bullies and we have a lot of them in society. From work, school, little league, and probably even church we have bullies and don’t like them very much.

Understatement of the Super Bowl

During the singing of God Bless America by Ray Charles and Alisha Keyes, Alisha Keyes ad libs after the line “God shed His grace on thee” with “Lord knows we need it.”

Thoughts on the Concert

Friday night was the annual winterjam concert. There was a huge crowd and we had about 20-25 kids from our church in tow. As I was sitting there looking around I noticed an older gentlemen sitting a few row back who seemed rather out of place. Then I realized he was probably looking at me thinking the same thing.

I do feel out of place there but I still go. I just sit there and listen, enjoy the music, and watch the kids go crazy all around me. I'm not one of those jump up and down, pump your fist and dance like a maniac kind of people.

The concert seems to get better every year. Here's my take on this year

The first guy was pretty good as the "new" band on display. I can't remember his name but he seemed pretty at ease and seemed to be enjoying himself.

The token solo female artist was Rachel Lampa. These acts just seem to struggle in this kind of setting. She has some pipes though and that helped. Not bad considering how awkward it is to perform in that setting.

Building 429 was good. I can't say that I had heard of them before but they sounded familiar. The lead singer has a distinctive voice but I think they are still trying to find there sound to some degree.

New Song didn't sing as long as they usually do and they did more worship songs. Both were good points. I don't mind their music but I get tired of hearing all their old stuff every year. It isn't exactly my kind of music so I don't too excited about it.

The offering time was much shorter which I appreciated. The alter call got a great response and it took some time to get everyone through the counseling process. I really like the way they do it with friends going with friends down to the alter.

Tait was great. I like Michael Tait and he gave a good performance. What else can I see. I could live with 4 and a half hours of just him.

Tobymac is a little too urban for my taste but he also gave a good performance. The back flip off the DJ stand was fun but I thought the woman who sang with Toby was especially good. At times I thought it was hard to tell whether they were featuring Toby or her. Tait and Toby doing DC Talk was great and ending with Jesus Freak was perfect.

As usual they put the best bands at the end and it was a little too long for my taste. I thought the message came through fairly well with all the bands. "Christian" music isn't my favorite because I think that a lot of garbage gets accepted because it has Christian words but its getting better. I also thought all the bands did a good job of letting their music do the talking. I hate it when a talented musician spends most of a concert preaching. Usually they aren't as good at speaking and if I really wanted to pay to hear someone speak I could probably find someone better.

All in all a good time and so now I'll let me ear drums recover for next year!

What are they really thinking?

A couple of days ago I read an hilarious "prayer request" at Lark News where the requester was asking for prayer that his pastor would stop his "in-depth" study of Matthew. After all, three and a half years was long enough.

Ever since I read that I thought what it would be like to know what people thought of my sermons. I really don't want to know, mind you, it would probably be too much to take. No, I'll stick to positive feed back, thank you.

Of course, in my mind all my sermons are excellent, well crafted pieces of art. They have been thoroughly researched and prayed over. I love the whole process of preparing, revising, re-revising, cutting, pasting and finally delivering a sermon. However, I am all to well aware that there may be those in my congregation who are praying similar prayers to the one above although on a minute to minute basis.

The fact is my sermons are simply words. I try to do the best I can. I do pray over them. I pour my heart into them. But human words are limited. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes the connections. Sometimes he uses my sermons for that but he often does so in spite of them.

In the end I'll keep turning them out week after week. I'll continue to do the best I can. I hope they connect with people and bring a little light into their world. But I'll still do without knowing their true feelings.

It's not that I haven't had my sermons criticized before either. But it has always been from the usual suspects and somehow I can deal with that. What would be hard is to hear the bad news from someone I thought was on my side. Someone who was truly seeking answers and who was relying on me to bring some clarity. I would hate to let someone like that down.

No Guarantees

“The Churches involvement in mission remains an act of faith without any earthly guarantees.” David Bosch in “Transforming Mission”

As a missiologist Bosch has critics as well as supporters but this little quote caught my eye. He was referring to the nature of mission and the tension between divine providence and human confusion. As a confused human I know where he is coming from.

In our modern world, as far as the evangelical church is concerned, we have developed a mode of operation that is designed to guarantee success. We want to say “Do this, and they will come.” We soon discovered that this doesn’t work in practice, however, so we started to qualify it. “It is the principles that are important. Go and adapt them to your situation.” This reconciled the discrepancy between the promised results and the actual results. The problem now falls to the practitioner and his/her ability to adapt appropriately.

The fact remains that there are no earthly guarantees. We are required to be faithfully obedient. (Is that saying the same thing twice?) That means I have to be careful in how value what we do. People responded. Does that mean that I was being obedient? People did not respond. Does that mean I was being disobedient? I have a tendency to say yes to both questions but I think it is important that I pause at each point and consider them carefully.

Good results do not mean God ordained. If that were the case there are many religions in the world that could claim God’s favor. Whether I am being obedient or not is much more difficult to determine. Of course God knows. I have a pretty good idea although my sense of this is stronger or weaker at times. My wife knows fairly well but probably not as well as I do. My good friends (those I share with on a fairly deep level) also have somewhat of an idea how I’m doing. Every now and then these others know even better than I do. Usually (and hopefully) they will tell me when I am off course.

Further down the continuum come other acquaintances, neighbors, fellow pastors, my superintendent and my Bishop. The last two are my bosses so to speak. Interesting isn’t it. I suppose this situation is a lot more frustrating for them than it is for me. They evaluate me according to the expected results. I think they probably evaluate my work in less formative ways too though. What they hear and what they sense probably also plays a part. The fact is there are no earthly guarantees. How well we live and work in this situation depends on how well we accept our human condition and the confusion it brings.