Discipline and Committment

I recently was reading Ed Stetzer's blog (EdStetzer.com) and ran across a post on a new book by Steve Addison called "Movements that Change the World." This book is about church movements and how they have changed the world. In the book Addison identifies what he calls the top five characteristics of dynamic movements, one of which is what he calls, "commitment to a cause."

I loved Addison's description of this particular characteristic. He points out how for good or for evil, history is made by people committed to a common purpose. Nothing changes unless people care deeply and are willing take action. The prime example of this, of course is Jesus himself. Jesus had high expectations of his followers. So high, that some of them walked away.

Addison tells an anecdote about one of my heroes of the faith, John Wesley, who founded the Methodist movement. It seems that after Wesley visited Bristol, one of his "Societies" was started there. By the time Wesley returned to Bristol months later the Society had grown to 900 people. But by the time he left 143 of them had been removed for various reasons: among them wife-beating, smuggling, and drunkenness. Addison's point: Wesley led a disciplined movement; one that changed the world and quite possibly helped avoid a bloody revolution in England like the one they had in France.

Without discipline there is no church. As much as I hate to talk about discipline, and enforce it, and sometimes even tip-toe around it, there can be no church without the boundary of church discipline. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. had this to say about church discipline: "No longer concerned with maintaining purity of confession or lifestyle, the contemporary church sees itself as a voluntary association of autonomous members, with minimal moral accountability to God, much less to each other." Mohler, who is President of Southern Baptist Seminary, goes on to say, "Put simply, the abandonment of church discipline is linked to American Christianity’s creeping accommodation to American culture." It seems the main concern today is not to offend. If we raise the bar of commitment, or if, heaven forbid, we ask people to actually live their lives differently from their non-believing neighbors, who knows what they will do; they may even leave! Meanwhile, much of what Jesus, Peter and Paul and others had to say was very offensive, especially to our sensitive modern ears which are more attuned to everyone's right to have their cake and eat it too.

Of note is the fact that the terms ‘disciple’ and ‘discipline’ share the same root. It is only through "discipline" that "disciples" are made. A disciple is one under the teaching, training, coaching, and authority of another. Discipline is the means by which God’s people are trained in godliness: “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age” (Tit. 2:11-12).

Bottom line, there is a great deal of unhappiness, distress, and trouble in the world because of our 'all-too-frequent' failure to control our tempers, appetites, passions and impulses. Sadly, this is often just as true inside the church as it is out in the world. Churches that neglect discipline do so to their peril. Doing so is to surrender to the spirit of this age. Discipline and commitment are never pleasant or easy, but things worth doing seldom are.

Blogging - or the lack thereof...

Wow - it has been a long time since I last blogged. Believe me, I have my reasons, and none of them are pretty nor am I proud of them. With everything going on in our lives right now (my family, my church, and so on) honestly, my main goal has been to simply put one foot in front of the other, just trying to "keep on keeping on."

A good friend loaned me a book that has helped a lot in this regard - "Believe That You Can" by Jentezen Franklin. I have to admit that after watching Franklin on television (TBN - the "purple hair people) and after hearing him speak once (at a funeral) I never thought he would "have my ear." But his words have been encouraging me like words straight from the Lord; at least in the way that he has addressed my situation.

I will be back on the blogging bandwagon shortly. Thanks for your patience.

Loved This - You Will Too

In this video megachurch pastor Craig Groeschel is the "victim."

You will love it - it's hilarious!

Book Review: Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham

I just finished reading Family Driven Faith by Voddie Baucham, a book whose self-proclaimed goal is to “equip Christian parents with the tools they need to raise children biblically in a post-Christian, anti-family society” (from the cover).

In this book Baucham argues forcefully from Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6 that Christian parents have failed and continue to fail to bring their children up in the “training and instruction” of the Lord (Eph. 6:4).

I agree with Baucham in general – who can argue with statements like, “Turn off the TV, and hand your kids a book” (p. 103), and “Raising godly children is not a matter of luck; it is a matter of work” (p. 105). The author is absolutely right in insisting that if Bible training and spiritual formation was done in the home as God intended we would begin to see multi-generational faithfulness and less children and youth walking away from the faith when they grow up.

Unfortunately Baucham, like many others of his ilk, insist on insulting everyone within earshot as they try to pound their point home, including parents who choose to send their children to public school, parents who allow their kids to attend church youth groups, and well-meaning and godly pastors and youth leaders who are doing their best in a very difficult environment. Statements like, “How does a father raise his son to respect young women and protect their purity only to send him off to the youth building with exposed midriffs, low-cut tops, and skin-tight jeans?" (p. 182) are low blows to pastors, churches and youth groups that I simply cannot abide with. Baucham has this angry tone through most of the book and, honestly, a “holier-than-thou” attitude where he acts as though his interpretations of Scripture are the only ones that count.

For instance he critiques others for misapplying and misinterpreting Scripture, then proceeds to do the same thing himself. For example, in arguing against public education, Baucham quotes 2 Corinthian 6 about not being yoked with unbelievers. This passage from Paul is clearly about marriage and yet Baucham has conveniently misapplied the text to blast public education.

Baucham also shoots himself in the foot in his argument that home school groups should be embraced by the local church because they are a great field for evangelism. After arguing throughout the book that parents should home school their children because home schooling is more effective at training up our children in biblical ways, the author says, “More than half of the parents who homeschool their children in this country are not Christians” (p. 209). If more than half are not Christian as Baucham claims, why on earth is homeschooling such a vast improvement over public education?

Baucham also sees fit to blast churches who hire pastors who are “unfit” according to the author. Sure, there are pastors and churches that are making huge mistakes chasing culture and the latest fads instead of searching Scripture to see what God has said, but what about the dedicated men and women who are doing their best in what is an increasingly hostile and faithless arena? Would a sentence or two lauding these tireless servants have been too difficult?

In the final analysis, I totally agree with the author that we must always do our best to promote a biblical view of marriage and family, a biblical worldview in general, and a biblical definition of “success.” There is no question that many of the problems we face today would go away if fathers took their spiritual responsibility in the home seriously. In Baucham’s words, “No amount of money, toys, or fringe benefits can replace a godly father” (p. 155). And yes, I agree with the author that motherhood is a noble occupation (Prov. 31). Would in home worship and catechism study be helpful and effective in raising up godly children? Absolutely! Is the “pull of prosperity” (p. 149) deadly to our faith? Absolutely!

But, do I think the answer to the tailspin the evangelical church is in today is to simply do away with age-segregated learning environments including youth groups, Sunday-School classes and small groups? Would that solve our problems overnight? Not hardly. The problem is much deeper than that. Like many authors, Baucham falls prey to the error of "if you are a hammer, then everything looks like a nail." Baucham pounds his “family worship is the answer” hammer to every nail he sees, whenever and wherever he sees it, and he sees it everywhere. Voddie, the enemy is not public education or youth group or Sunday school. Let’s don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater in our rush to fix things!

The church’s role is to partner with parents to help children grow in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord. No church that I lead will ever forfeit that role. But we are also not willing to sacrifice even one child on the altar of “we told you so” when parents default on their part of the equation. We will take each child and help him or her; we will do our best to help parents develop a biblical view of parenting and their most important task as parents, to transmit their faith to the next generation.

Teamwork

I love being on a team. It gives me a sense of belonging, more good things get done, and I feel a sense of connection to something bigger and better than myself. I am glad teams are a biblical concept; they don’t call them “teams” in the Bible, but the Bible clearly identifies the benefits of working together. My New Testament reading for today from Romans included this: “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us” (Rom. 12:4-6).

This passage tells us a few things about teams. For instance it tells us that just because you have a group of people that does not necessarily mean you have a team. A group of people could be just a crowd of people. Paul indicates that teams involve collaboration and interdependence – the group forms “one body,” A team is a group that comes together to collaborate in order to reach a shared goal for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. A team is a group of people with a high degree of interdependence, all aimed at achieving a common goal.

The passage also teaches that teammates are people deeply committed to each other; Paul writes that “each member belongs to all the others.” A team cares for its members; they are working together at such a deep level that the group literally “belongs” to one another – there are no lone-rangers or free-lancers or superheroes on a team when it is working at its highest potential. That is not to say each person has the same level of gifting – Paul mentions that each one contributes “according to the grace” given him or her. Everyone brings something unique and important to the table. And when a team finds its proper rhythm – its groove, so to speak – where each member is contributing exactly what they should - then watch out!

And that leads to still another observation about teams found in Scripture. With teams, synergy is achieved; the sum of a team is greater than its individual parts; two plus two equals five or more. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 describes it in this way: “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”

The acronym stenciled in locker rooms and board rooms across the land is clichéd but true T.E.A.M. – Together Everyone Accomplishes More. Since biblical times people have realized this. The question is, why don’t we take advantage of teams? How about you? Are you a part of any teams? Or are you just part of a few groups? Imagine what a church staff, or even an entire church could accomplish if it began functioning as a team? If your department, or class, or business or church is not functioning as a team, what can you do to foster its evolution into a team? Why not begin working toward that today?

Tweeting Prayers

I found this article on the BBC. For years thousands of believers have come to place their prayers on handwritten notes between the 2,000-year-old stones of the Western or "Wailing" wall in Jerusalem in hopes that their requests will find a short-cut to God. I went to Jerusalem myself in 1995 and visited the Western Wall. I prayed there and put a written prayer in one of the mortar joints of the wall.

In recent years, people from overseas have been able to email and fax their prayers which were then printed out and taken to the wall. Now an service has started using the social networking service Twitter so prayers, sent as "tweets" can be printed off and posted on the wall to sit alongside the thousands of other notes placed there by visitors.

Since the service began hundreds of people have taken advantage of it. Founder Alon Nil is now looking for sponsorship to pay someone to help maintain the site or a programming service that can do some of the work for him.

What will they think of next?

Push Hard - Pray Hard

It is crunch time at NewSong. We begin a new ministry year next month, our tenth. In preparation for that we have been doing our best to get everyone on board with our mission of building community (relating to one another in small groups) and reaching out missionally in all that we do (worship as our front door, open chair small groups, and getting every man, woman, boy and girl serving so people see Jesus in their service). I just finished leading a series of eight meetings on eight consecutive nights in member homes and at the church in an attempt to convey this vision and mission. I met with considerable resistance to some of the changes we are proposing.

The gist of what we are doing is making a hard push for covenant membership. We want to make sure there is a clear understanding of what being a part of our church means. We are raising the bar – raising expectations. Why? Because we believe this is critical if we are going to be serious about transforming lives and transforming the world. It is also critical if we are going to build genuine community. People need to understand that being a part of our church involves more than simply showing up at 10:30 on Sunday morning.

There seems to be an assumption that people are afraid of commitment, but I believe that those who are genuinely converted actually want to grow and be serious about their faith – they find doing that attractive. They also find it natural to want to share that faith. Ironically, it is not the newer believers who are bucking this – it is the longer-term Christians who grew up in “churchanity” – my name for the blight of the institutional church with its consumer mentality (what can the church do for me?).

Adding to the difficulty is my blunt, “black-or-white,” “in-or-out” nature. I recognize that the gift of mercy is not high on my spiritual gifts list. In fact, it has even been said that I have the spiritual gift of irritation. I am working and praying about that flaw – I promise. Our Board of Elders called me on the carpet about it last weekend (which they should have). Leaders should not wield their authority like a big stick, which I do far too often. I was reading an article by Matt Chandler in the current Leadership Magazine and he said it best when he said, “Leaders shouldn’t wield authority, they should shepherd toward truth.” He goes on to say, “If you have to talk about your authority, you’ve probably already lost it.” Chandler says we should use authority to “shepherd” and not to “bruise.” I recognize that all too often I bruise when I lead. [Father, teach me…help me with this, I pray].

Further complicating matters is the fact that we have accelerated the pace of change at our church. I believe in every change we have made, and I believe the impetus for the changes clearly came from God. But I also recognize that NewSong does not look like the church many of our longer-term members joined. They did not sign up for this – it’s one thing to be objective and say, “This model is more biblical,” or “That definitely makes sense…” But it is another thing to have it happen to your church; few of us enjoy change.

At any rate – tomorrow the dust will begin to settle. We are asking all our members to turn in signed ministry covenants agreeing to our “Love, Grow, Share” process during worship tomorrow. We are starting with 135 adults on our membership roll. It will be interesting to see how many stick with us and how many of them look elsewhere. I take solace in knowing that those that will decide to move on are already believers and will undoubtedly find another church. Their salvation is not at stake. I also take comfort knowing that no one will leave because of the changes who is not a believer – that’s because we have few, if any, true non-believers at our church today. Hopefully that will change as we get “lean and mean” and hungry to save souls that need to know Jesus.