How Local Churches Transform Communities

Above all, members of church communities should love one another. (Hebrew 15:24; John 13:34, 15:12, 17; Romans 12:10, 13:8; 1 Thess. 3:12, 4:9; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11, 4:7, 11; 2 John 5)

In love, members of church communities should…

…encourage one another to avoid sin (Hebrew 3:13)
…consider how to promote love and good deeds amongst one another (Hebrew 10:24-25)
…encourage and build up one another. (1 Thess. 5:11)
…accept one another. (Romans 15:7)
…be patient with one another. (Ephesians 4:2)
…be kind and tenderhearted to one another. (Ephesians 4:32)
…bear with one another. (Colossians 3:13)
…forgive one another. (Ephesians 4:32, Colossians 3:13)
…seek good for one another. (1 Thess. 5:15)
…confess sins to one another. (James 5:16)
…serve one another. (Gal 5:13)
…prefer one another in honor. (Romans 12:10)
…regard one another as more important than yourselves. (Philippians 2:3)
…associate with one another regardless of social standing. (Romans 12:16)
…be subject to one another. (Ephesians 5:21)
…clothe [themselves] in humility toward one another. (1 Peter 5:5)
…bear one another’s burdens. (Galatians 6:2)
…speak truth to one another. (Ephesians 4:25)
…comfort one another. (1 Thess. 4:18)
…be hospitable to one another without complaining. (1 Peter 4:9)

As church communities strive to do this, they help form healthy individuals who form healthy families that transform communities.
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Note:
It’s hard for me to see how this type of community can develop when most American Christians only invest one hour per week, and that hour is spent singing a few songs and passively listening to a short sermon.

Christianity in the US Today

Most religions are showing growth on a global scale as they gain new converts in places like Africa and Asia; however, here in the US, church attendance is declining across the board. Although Christianity is by far the largest religion in the US, less than half of Americans identify as Protestant (43%), and only 22% identify as Catholic.

Liberal Protestant denominations have experienced the greatest decline: Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Reformed Church in America, United Church of Christ (Congregationalist), Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (PCUSA), etc.

Catholic and Methodist churches have shown similar rates of decline, around 33% when compared to attendance rates in the mid-60s.

Evangelicals are declining at a slower rate, with Black evangelicals showing the least decline among Evangelicals.

The US churches experiencing the least decline are The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh-day Adventist Church. These three are seeing the most growth among Spanish-speaking members, including immigrants from Mexico and Central and South America.

We Don’t Need Prophets

I’m seeing more and more Christian leaders calling for the Church to embrace her prophetic role. They say that unless the Church does this, she will continue her slide into irrelevancy.

The following statement has become common:
“There are no prophets today like the prophets in the Bible; God is not giving new extrabiblical revelations to people today. Nevertheless, _________________________ (Christians, priests, pastors, the Church) have an ongoing prophetic role.”

I find this way of thinking absurd, troubling, and counterproductive.

I believe the intent is good—to argue that the Church should attempt to guide society by pointing to the truth of scripture as the world becomes more secular—but since the Church is so fragmented with hundreds of denominations, the “truth of scripture” that everyone agrees on is relatively small. So in actual practice, you have hundreds of Christian denominations speaking different “truths” prophetically, and this, my friend, is a sure way for the Church to speed up her slide into irrelevancy.

I think it would be better for those within the Church to stop speaking of prophetic roles, and instead focus on building communities of Christians characterized by love and good works.
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Related Post:
What do Christians believe?

New Testament Toleration

Tolerating behavior or speech that we disagree with does not mean that we approve of that behavior or speech. I think it’s interesting that the apostle Paul was not tolerant of behavior and speech he considered sinful (at odds with God’s commands) when it came from those who professed to be Christians. On the other hand, he was tolerant of behavior and speech he considered sinful (at odds with God’s commands) when it came from those who were not part of the Church.

I also think it’s important to mention that Paul said believers should not pass judgment on others over disputable matters. Again, this doesn’t mean we agree with others’ views on various disputable matters; it just means we don’t look down on others when their views on these matters differ from ours.

I think Paul’s approach was, and still is, the most reasonable approach.
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Related Post:
Judge not! Right?

Why My Church Is Best

Modern Christianity vs. The Way

The book of Acts identifies the followers of Jesus as a Jewish sect called both “Nazarenes” and the “Way” (Acts 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22). Like modern Christianity with its many denominations, first-century Judaism had numerous sects including the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Nazarenes, etc. Those who belonged to the Way believed God was going to restore the kingdom of Israel; install Jesus as the ruler of this kingdom; resurrect Jews who had died; and destroy all of the enemies of Yahweh, the god of Israel (Matt 21:33-45, 13:37-43; Mark 16:16; Luke 12:31-48). (With the exception of Jesus being installed as the ruler, the Pharisees held the same beliefs.)

Jesus repeatedly warned his fellow Jews that only those who faithfully obeyed Yahweh’s commands would have a place in the coming kingdom (Matt 5:19, 16:27).

Followers of Jesus were likely shocked when Jesus was crucified since they believed he was the prophesied Davidic king who would restore their independence and then reign over God’s kingdom (Matt. 21:9; Mark 11:9-10; John 12:13); however, the apostles assured other members of the Way that although Jesus had died, Yahweh raised him from the dead and took him to heaven from where he would soon return (Acts 3:18-26).

Jesus’ followers believed that by resurrecting and exalting Jesus to heaven, Yahweh was declaring that Jesus could reign over the kingdom of God and that he was worthy of worship alongside of himself. In essence, Jesus was made a god. (The Greek trinitarian concept had not yet been invented.)

As Jewish followers of Jesus waited for him to return with his army of angels, a Pharisee named Saul saw a bright light and heard a voice, which identified itself as Jesus in heaven. Jesus told Saul that he had been chosen to be an apostle to the Gentiles.

Saul, who began calling himself Paul, met with the leaders of the Way, and after receiving their blessing, began traveling to various locations outside of Israel to speak in diaspora synagogues to Jews and God-fearing Gentiles. His message was that Jesus was returning to rid the world of unrighteousness and only those who placed their faith in Christ would be saved (Rom 1:1-6; Rom 2:6-16; 2 Cor 5:10). Furthermore, he taught that the dead would be resurrected at the return of Jesus. His message was not well received by Jews, so he eventually stopped going to Jews and focused solely on Gentiles.

Paul believed Yahweh had brought a partial hardening upon Israel until the fullness of the nations/Gentiles* accepted Jesus as the Jewish Messiah who would soon be returning from heaven to rule over all nations (Rom 11:7-10, 25).

Paul taught that believing Gentiles were grafted in to the new covenant blessings. They would be saved from destruction and would experience the universal peace that would characterize Christ’s reign (Col 1:22-23). He believed the inclusion of Gentiles would make Jews jealous so they would become followers of Jesus Christ once Yahweh removed the hardening (Rom 10:19; 11:11, 14). Furthermore, he believed it was Yahweh’s plan from the beginning to save all Israel by including Gentiles in his salvific plan (Rom 11:25-27).

Although Paul expected to be alive when Jesus returned from heaven (1 Thess 4:15-17; 1 Cor 15:51-52), he was killed in 64 or 67 AD. A few years later, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in the First Jewish–Roman War.

The other apostles continued to encourage members of the Way to remain faithful since Jesus had promised to return while some of them were still alive (Matt 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27), but as the years dragged on, more and more Jews abandoned their belief that Jesus was the Messiah.

In the Gospel of John, written near the close of the first century, the author still speaks of Jesus’ imminent return but appears to have given up on the prophecy that Jesus will return to earth to reign in Israel. Instead, he writes of the present reality of the kingdom with the reign of Jesus beginning when he was lifted up on the cross and continuing from heaven.

By the end of the second century, Gentile “Christians” (the new name for members of the Way) far outnumbered Jewish Christians. And it was during the second century that Gentile Christians, who were now in leadership positions, began reshaping Christianity by pulling it out of Judaism and purging it of its Jewishness.

Of course, the fourth century saw the trinitarian doctrine established as a Church creed. This doctrine, which was developed from the second through the fourth centuries, was a source of conflict between Jews and Christians throughout this period. (Although this doctrine was developed by Gentiles, it was built upon the Luke and Matthew birth accounts, the Jewish concept of personified Wisdom, the notions related to Logos expressed by Philo and the writer of the fourth Gospel, and the eschatological relationship between last things and first things.)

At the end of the fourth century, Augustine created a theological framework for Christianity that no longer revolved around Yahweh’s covenant with Israel. He also rejected the apocalyptic reign of the Messiah from the new Jerusalem and argued, using the Gospel of John, that the kingdom of God should be understood figuratively and allegorically rather than literally.

In the 16th century, Luther and the reformers continued to build on Augustine’s ideas, which continued to reshape Christianity into a religion that taught the Gentile Church had replaced Jews as God’s chosen. This religion focused on universal sin and personal salvation for all who believed; i.e., people could avoid hell and go to heaven when they died.

Later, in the 1800s, John Nelson Darby came up with the idea of the saints being raptured from the earth prior to a period of great earthly tribulation, an idea completely foreign to the beliefs of Jesus and his first-century followers. This Pre-tribulation rapture theology was popularized in the United States in the early 20th century by the wide circulation of the Scofield Reference Bible and is still a popular doctrine among many Protestant denominations.

As you can see, modern Christianity has very little in common with the Way. On the other hand, one could argue that in the 21st century, modern Christianity is the more useful of the two.

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Note:
*The phrase “fullness of the Gentiles” may have referred to the ten northern tribes of ancient Israel. Alternatively, “fullness of the Gentiles” may have referred to Gentiles who represented the nations Jewish prophets said would forsake their gods to worship Yahweh and give tribute to Israel (Ps 86:9; Isa 14:2; Amos 9:11-15; Zech 8:22-23, 14:9).

Related Posts:
How Christianity Split from Judaism
When Yahweh Shared His Title
How the Church became anti-Semitic
Why is the Gospel of John so Different?
Are the details surrounding Jesus’ birth historically accurate?
Formation of Trinitarianism
After Death: According to the Bible
Are Jews Blind?
Parable of the Olive Tree
How to Be Saved

Cheesy Christianity

You may think this post is going to be about Christian bookstores with their cheesy t-shirts, figurines, music, movies, and books on how to get more blessings, but actually, it’s about churches.

This is one of those posts that I realize could be taken the wrong way so let me say right here at the get-go that I am not anti-church; I attend a little country church every Sunday. But over the years I have run into more and more Christians—including ex-pastors and missionaries—who have expressed what I was feeling inside but too afraid to say: Church can be really cheesy!

It’s not easy for me to attend what seems to me to be the typical American church because so much of what happens every Sunday morning just seems so…cheesy. First you have the stationed greeters with their hugs, handshakes, and permanent smiles. Then you enter the sanctuary where you’re expected to sing the cheesy worship choruses with terrible lyrics while a worship leader in tight jeans under colored lights tries to get you pumped up so you’ll clap and put your hands in the air. Then the pastor, with his worn jeans and shirt sleeves rolled up to show off his requisite “Christian tattoo,” preaches his cheesy sermon with its three alliterative points. It takes 20-30 minutes—since it includes the opening cheesy joke, the story, and the three out-of-context verses—but it can always be boiled down to one of these six themes:

• Jesus loves you
• Love Jesus
• Love others
• Forgive others
• Don’t sin
• Give to the church

Then after the sermon, an offering plate is passed to collect enough money to pay the staff so they can do it all again next week.

Now, before you comment to say, “My church isn’t like that,” let me assure you that I realize churches are different; however, because I have attended many different Protestant churches from many different denominations, I know that my description above fits many of them.

Now obviously “cheesiness” is a spectrum and the churches that advertise they are “cool,” “woke,” and “relevant” rank higher on the scale, but church attendance is in decline across the board so although cheesier churches tend to have larger congregations and therefore collect more money when the offering plate is passed, they are also feeling the pinch.

And here’s the thing, the older I get, the less I find myself interested in cheesy things—even when they’re popular. I guess it’s a matter of finally saying enough is enough. So now, I do my best to avoid cheesiness unless it’s sharp cheddar or pepper jack on a cracker with a piece of summer sausage!

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Note: If your righteous wrath makes you want to throw stones at me as you defend the faith, please note that I’m just being “authentic” and “vulnerable.”

Perceptions of Christian Morality

Most Americans are fine with a Christianity that says “love your neighbor,” “do unto others as you would have done to you,” and “judge not,” but at the same time, more and more Americans are calling for greater separation of church and state because they believe some moral ethics associated with Christianity are injurious to society.

Dr. Stefan Paas, Professor of Missiology & Intercultural Theology at VU University Amsterdam, says something similar in his paper Mission from Anywhere to Europe: Americans, Africans, and Australians Coming to Amsterdam. He says Europeans are not necessarily anti-Christian but they are opposed to the return of Christendom. They view Christian morality as arbitrary and often harmful and are unwilling to allow it to dominate the entire culture again.

In our age…Christian moral advice is considered as arbitrary command rather than traditional wisdom. People in Amsterdam, for example, can see why it is better to be faithful to your partner, and why it is wise not to have sex too soon. They also agree that cheating on your partner is wrong. But they find it incomprehensible why Christians forbid sex categorically if you are not married or if you have the wrong genes, and they find it hard to see why Christians have such a problem with divorce (as long as there are no children involved). On the other hand, they find it very immoral that Christians often do not seem to care about the future of the ecological system, or why they deny equal rights to women and homosexuals (including the right to lead the church, or to have sexual relationships) in a world where women and homosexuals are treated very badly in many countries. They find it hard to understand, for example, why Christians do not put more emphasis on the problems of wealth accumulation, or why they do not have more problems with luxury. What we meet here is nothing less than a secularized and radicalized Christian ethic of equality and respect.

How can Christian morality be communicated as gospel and life-sustaining wisdom instead of arbitrary law? How can it address a wider range of issues in a way that is more plausible for Europeans?

http://www.godgeleerdheid.vu.nl/nl/Images/Mission_from_Anywhere_to_Europe_%28proof%29_tcm238-597271.pdf

The Church Will Survive in America, Maybe

Around 90% of Americans say they believe in God, and about 70% of Americans call themselves Christians. But only 43% of Americans were able to name the first five books of the Bible and that same percentage thought John the Baptist was one of Jesus’ original 12 disciples.

Less than half of Americans attend church regularly, and a 2011 survey found 70% of Millennials believe American churches are irrelevant today.

In addition, 64% of Americans said, “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism and Islam.” Only 40% of Americans said those who reject or don’t believe in Jesus will be sent to hell; 60% believe everyone eventually goes to heaven.

We are rapidly following in the footsteps of Europe and moving into a post-religious era as church attendance continues to steadily decline. And perhaps countries such as China and the United Arab Emirates (which are experiencing a 10-11% Christianity average annual growth rate) will one day send Christian missionaries to our shores…or maybe they will figure we had our shot and instead focus on other countries.

The Gospel in the 21st Century

The nation of Israel was chosen/elected by a deity named Yahweh to represent Him to the rest of the world; Israel was to be Yahweh’s image bearer in order to make Him known and positively influence the world.

Israel was given the Law, but while it made them aware of their sins, it failed to lead to righteousness.

Because their unrighteous actions brought shame on their God, Yahweh allowed foreign nations to attack and at times conquer them in order to cause them to repent.

Fast forward to the first century.

Yahweh is going to judge the nations, but before he can, he must first judge his people–Israel. Those who were faithfulness to Yahweh would not be destroyed for their sins; instead, their sins would be forgiven as a result of Jesus’ sacrificial death. Jesus bore the wrath of Yahweh when he died as a Passover lamb so that Israel could be saved from God’s wrath and restored under the rule of the resurrected and exalted Messiah.¹

Fast forward to today.

For centuries, this story has been viewed by many as gospel (good news), but in today’s world, the thought of a jealous God pouring out His wrath on the world while saving His faithful reads as ancient mythology to a growing number. This story even bothers the modern sensibilities of many Christians who say Yahweh is not really a jealous God who pours out his wrath on those who do wrong (and he certainly wouldn’t view the death of an innocent man as a propitiatory sacrifice, i.e. it satisfied/appeased God’s wrath).

Back when everyone believed in gods, convincing others to accept this message was much easier, especially when you ended your presentation by saying, “Believe this and live forever in heaven or reject it and burn forever in hell.” But in an increasingly secular world, the challenge for Christians is to present an ancient religious story to skeptical, nonreligious people in a way that is believable and relevant.
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Note:
¹Jesus’ gospel or Paul’s gospel