AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY, The Missional Issue, Part 3

My first clear understanding of the missional nature of the church emerged when I was in seminary and pastoring a small church in suburban Chicago. It came to me in the form of two small books by Dr. Richard C. Halverson, called Between Sundays, and How I Changed My Thinking about the Church.

Dr. Halverson has a simple practical ecclesiology, one which I think is still being missed by the church in America...

• The church exists in two basic forms: (1) the church gathered, and (2) the church scattered.


• The first we might call the Sunday church; the second, the church "between Sundays".


• When the congregation gathers, it does so to do "church work"—the work that takes place among God's people, and which also includes maintaining and supporting the institution. When the church scatters, it does so to do "the work of the church"—fulfilling God's mission in Christ in the world.


• One primary purpose of the church's gathering is to equip the church to fulfill its mission when scattered throughout the week in various places where the routines of everyday life occur.
  

Today, a few pertinent quotes from Dr. Halverson to flesh this out a bit...

The Christian life is elliptical; it revolves around two foci--one an invitation and the other a commission. The invitation is that of Jesus Christ, "Come unto me...." The commision, also from Jesus Christ, is "Go ye into all the world...." The healthy Christian life revolves around the coming and the going. (How I Changed..., p.21)

He further observes that this "coming and going" lifestyle must be balanced. There are those who are always "coming"—who build church-centered lives and devote most of their time and attention to being involved with the Christian community. Others, perhaps disillusioned with the institution, are always "going"—devoting their lives to doing good in their community but neglecting the edifying fellowship of other believers.

However, these complementary spheres of Christian living are meant to balance and support one another...

If one were to begin from scratch to build a theology of evangelism and mission on the basis of what he found in the New Testament epistles, he would probably be impressed with the paucity of material upon which to build....

...the weight of the exhortation and instruction in the epistles has to do with the relationship of believer with believer in the community, in the body of Christ. The implication can be clearly drawn that when these relationships are right, i.e., when the brothers and sisters love one another and when they are abiding in Christ, evangelism and mission will be the normal and healthy result of such relationships....

...Here one does not find the churches organizing to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But what one does find is the Gospel being scattered widely and rapidly because the church is in such a healthy condition that this can happen. (How I Changed..., pp. 63-65)

The true work of the church happens when this kind of congregation scatters and each member engages the world of his neighbors daily in the context of real life situations...

It became apparent that the work of the church is not what is done for the institution, the organization, the establishment. The real work of the church is what is done between Sundays when the church is scattered all over the metropolitan area where it is located—in homes, in schools, in offices, on construction jobs, in market places. This is the work of the church and it requires every single member. The responsibility of the pastor is to equip every member to do the work of the church wherever he is between Sundays. This radically alters the pastor's way of thinking about his responsibility to the congregation. No longer do they represent men and women who are to be mobilized to do the work of his ministry; but on the contrary, they have a ministry wherever they are and God has called the pastor to equip them for their ministry....

One of the reasons the institutional church has become irrelevant to the extent that it has in our contemporary life is that many Christians have become so busy in church work they have not had time to do the work of the church....

The view persists that the serious Christian, the one truly committed, will be active in the life of the religious institution. If he loves Christ he ought to be doing "something for the church." The program of the establishment is equated with service for Christ. As one does this he is "spiritual." In everything else, except as he may sporadically talk to someone in an effort to win him to Christ or get him into the church, he is "secular." The truth is, everything we do in the church organization, in the church building, in the church program ought to contribute to the church's effectiveness when it is not involved in the building or the program or the organization—when it is out in the world.

...In other words, the measure of the effectiveness of a congregation is not what one sees when the congregation is gathered, not the size of the building, nor the size of the budget, nor the size of the congregation or the Sunday school. The real measure of the effectiveness of the congregation is what happens when the congregation is not in the sanctuary or the Sunday school or meeting officially as boards or committees or councils. The measure of the effectiveness of any local congregation when it is gathered, is the measure of what that congregation is doing when it is dispersed. (How I Changed..., pp. 71-77)

Halverson summarizes the missional focus of the church in this succinct, earthshaking statement:

Think of it this way. The program of our church is everything all the members are doing between Sundays. (How I Changed..., p.106)

Why is this so earthshaking? Because it challenges the fundamental understandings and deeply ingrained practices of a vast majority of churches. In fact, I know of NO churches in my own experience that genuinely believe and act like this.

• Isn't the church's program what we announce in our bulletins, calendars, newsletters, and websites?
• Doesn't the program of the church consist of what we organize and oversee in order to fulfill God's mission in the world?

For the most part, NO.

The programmatic approach that most churches take says much more about our cultural commitments than it does about living out our Biblical calling to be Christ's people in the world.

AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY: The Missional Issue, part 2

ROSES AND LILIES CHRISTIANITY
Tonight, we began a series of Lenten services at our church. We are reading and discussing Dietrich Bonhoeffer's classic, Life Together. Written out of his experiences of living in intentional community in an underground seminary in Germany during WWII, Bonhoeffer teaches believers what it means to relate to one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. However, the book opens with an important reminder that is all too often forgotten by believers today...

It is not simply to be taken for granted that the Christian has the privilege of living among other Christians. Jesus Christ lived in the midst of his enemies. At the end all his disciples deserted him. On the Cross he was utterly alone, surrounded by evildoers and mockers. For this cause he had come, to bring peace to the enemies of God. So the Christian, too, belongs not in the seclusion of a cloistered life but in the thick of foes. There is his commission, his work. "The Kingdom is to be in the midst of your enemies. And he who will not suffer this does not want to be of the Kingdom of Christ; he wants to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people but the devout people. O you blasphemers and betrayers of Christ! If Christ had done what you are doing who would ever have been spared?" (Luther) (p. 1f)

The problem with much contemporary American evangelicalism is that it has created an alternate "kingdom," one which is OF the world but not IN the world. The freedom and prosperity we enjoy in this country has allowed us to withdraw from meaningful interaction with our neighbors in the context of real life situations so that we might spend time in "Christian" pursuits.

Churches are organized to satisfy this centripetal impulse. Life for many American Christians revolves around the "temple" and its program of activities for all ages and interests. It seems that the purpose of the church is to provide what Luther called a "roses and lilies" experience for people that protects them from the harsh realities of the world and the challenges of learning to relate authentically with those who don't share our faith.

This pattern is "of the world" because it grows directly out of the American suburban ethos. Suburban living is all about comfort, security, and prosperity. The modern evangelical movement has capitalized on these desires by providing superbly outfitted temples that continually cater to the consumerist cravings of their congregations. It provides "safe places" where parents can be assured that they and their children will never have to rub shoulders with pagans, never be disturbed by ideas or concepts that challenge their Sunday School faith, and never have to deal with the uncomfortable realities that live next door.

Nor have I even begun to speak about the Christian publishing industry, the Christian music business, the host of Christian enterprises that provide unlimited "edification" opportunities for believers so that they need never be in a situation where they are not surrounded by an atmosphere of godliness.

A church newsletter from one of our local megachurches contained an article about their sports program, written by the elder responsible for it. When asked why he had signed up to lead this "ministry," he related a story about how one of his children had a bad experience with a soccer coach in a community youth league. Apparently this coach was always yelling at the kids. The elder decided he would head up the church soccer league so that no child in his program would ever have to have suffer such indignity.

So...the answer in this situation, as we find so often in the evangelical approach, is to withdraw from the world and start something of our own that will be "safe" and promote a more godly way. Sure, we say we will invite the community and "win people for Christ," but in reality the root desire is for protection, safety, and non-involvement with a messy world of sinful people. We want "to be among friends, to sit among roses and lilies, not with the bad people, but the devout people."

As we'll see in the next post, this approach denies one whole aspect of the church's identity. The church lives out its life in Christ in two contexts in this world—as the church gathered and as the church scattered. Unfortunately, we seem mostly to have retreated into fortresses of our own making, satisfied that we are fulfilling the Great Commission by lobbing gospel tracts and culture war diatribes over the walls, and occasionally inviting someone on the outside to come in and take a tour of the castle.

We are thus losing the ability to relate to our neighbors on the basis of a shared humanity in the context of real-life situations. This is the missional issue in a nutshell.

AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY: The Missional Issue, part one

The Good Samaritan
Rembrandt (1650-55)

I will introduce the third and final subject of our journey from evangelicalism to mainline Christianity with a story...

WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?
Lee was a writer and photographer, the kind of person who drew strength and energy from being alone and working on her arts. She and Frank had been married twenty-four years; it was a second marriage for both of them, each having divorced from unhappy first unions. Neither had brought children to the marriage and, after a few tearful arguments early in their life together, the subject of having children with one another never came up again.

Frank worked hard, long hours, and provided well for them, freeing Lee to pursue her artistic interests. Then, unexpectedly, a few years before retirement, he was diagnosed with cancer and almost before you knew it, Frank was bed bound and his free-spirited wife lost her liberty. She attended to his needs night and day, feeding him, helping him to the toilet, passing his medicines, and getting him up in the recliner where he watched TV, increasingly distant and dependent. At first she got out for an hour or two here and there, but Lee could see that those opportunities were diminishing; she became more and more afraid to leave Frank alone for fear he would awaken confused and fall out of bed.

And so Lee became despondent. Frank’s constant demands kept her from pursuing the solitude and creative work she needed to refuel her spirit. They had no family to help them, and couldn’t really afford paid caregivers. Lee discovered she had few human supports on which to lean, and she felt alone, helpless and hopeless.

But a new sense of spiritual hunger also grew in Lee. She began reading the Bible and thinking about church. “Maybe a church family would provide some help with Frank,” she thought. She remembered that there was a new, large congregation a few blocks away, on the edge of her neighborhood. You could almost see it from her house. She decided to phone.

“Jericho Community Church,” the receptionist answered. “How may I direct your call?”

“I’m not sure who to talk to,” said Lee. “I live in the neighborhood and I’m wondering if you have anyone who could help me by coming to my house for a few hours to sit with my husband who has cancer.”

The receptionist transferred her to the Outreach Office. “Are you a member of our church?” the woman there asked her. When Lee said no, she offered to send an evangelistic team over to the house to talk with her and Frank. “But that’s not really what I’m interested in,” Lee protested. “Right now, I’m kind of homebound because of my husband’s illness. I hope to visit your church soon, but what I really need at the moment is a volunteer who can help me by coming to sit with my husband for an hour or two a week. Can you help?”

Again she was put on hold and transferred, this time to the Small Groups Office. “Are you in one of our Care Groups?” she was asked. “We care for our members through a network of small home groups. If you come to church this Sunday, we could hook you up with one of our Care Group leaders and maybe you could find a group to be part of.” And once more Lee tried in vain to communicate her need. She finally hung up the phone with a sigh.

She moved to the front window and looked out, wondering where to turn next. As she watched, two men crossed the street and walked down the sidewalk opposite her house. For a moment, they glanced up and saw her lonely figure through the darkened glass. Then, redirecting their eyes, they walked on. Lee watched until they reached the end of her street, and turned to walk south, to the church at the edge of her neighborhood.

AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY: The Pastoral Issue, part two

Eugene Peterson defines the shape of pastoral work as a triangle. With a triangle, it is important to get the ANGLES right. The precision of the angles determines the shape of the triangle and the length of each line. If the angles are all constructed equally, the result is a triangle with matching sides, perfectly balanced.

In pastoral ministry, Peterson says there are three “angles” that form the shape of our work: (1) Prayer, (2) Scripture, and (3) Spiritual Direction. If we properly understand and give attention to these angles, we fulfill our ministerial calling, and the “lines,” which represent the activities in which we engage, will fall into place.

By his definition, then, a pastor is called to be a person who attends to God through…

• Prayer, living in a responsive, conversational relationship with God,
• Scripture, living a contemplative life that is immersed in the words of the Bible,
• Spiritual direction, being with people in community and individually for the cure and care of their souls

If we "work these angles" and let them shape us, the result will be a pastoral ministry that has integrity, depth, and appropriate balance. Peterson comments,

None of these acts is public, which means that no one knows for sure whether or not we are doing any of them. People hear us pray in worship, they listen to us preach and teach from the Scriptures, they notice when we are listening to them in a conversation, but they can never know if we are attending to God in any of this. It doesn’t take many years in this business to realize that we can conduct a fairly respectable pastoral ministry without giving much more than ceremonial attention to God. Since we can omit these acts of attention without anybody noticing, and because each of the acts involves a great deal of rigor, it is easy and common to slight them.

This is not entirely our fault. Great crowds of people have entered into a grand conspiracy to eliminate prayer, Scripture, and spiritual direction from our lives. They are concerned with our image and standing, with what they can measure, with what produces successful church-building programs and impressive attendance charts, with sociological impact and economic viability. They do their best to fill our schedules with meetings and appointments so that there is time for neither solitude nor leisure to be before God, to ponder Scripture, to be unhurried with another person.

…Pastoral work disconnected from the angle actions—the acts of attention to God in relation to myself, the biblical communities of Israel and church, the other person—is no longer given its shape by God. Working the angles is what gives shape and integrity to the daily work of pastors and priests. If we get the angles right it is a simple matter to draw in the lines. But if we are careless with or dismiss the angles, no matter how long or straight we draw the lines we will not have a triangle, a pastoral ministry.

Working the Angles, p. 4f

In my years as a pastor in local congregations, I saw (and lived out) some very different incarnations of ministry, pastoral caricatures which would lead one to suspect some poorly drawn angles. Here are a few I have witnessed and experienced…

The rest of the story...

THE PROFESSOR
Faster than Mr. Answer Man! More powerful than a German theologian! Able to parse Greek verbs with a single glance! I have been the professor. I have attempted to turn small churches into world-renowned seminaries. At times, I held the belief that discipleship means opening a new convert’s head and pouring in vast amounts of Biblical and theological knowledge. Many pastors love to teach. We were trained to teach. We got the idea, somehow, mistakenly, that what it really takes to help people follow Christ is for pastors to teach them Bible stories and Bible facts and Bible passages and Bible themes until their cranial cavities are bursting with sound doctrine. So, sanctuaries become lecture halls, words like “eschatological” are taught to toddlers, and congregations split over the number of links in the chain that will bind Satan during the Millennium.

I believe in deep, sound, faithful teaching, but pastors are not simply professors. How dull would that be?

THE MASTER OF CEREMONIES
This guy knows how to work a room. With Osteenesque brilliance, this genial host makes everyone feel welcome. Praying in public, he warms each one’s heart. As Master of Ceremonies, he makes certain that the presentation is impeccable, his stage manner flawless. His stories make you feel good. He speaks in sayings that are consistently clever and witty. Did I mention that smile? His sermons (“talks”) may not have depth, but they are eminently listenable. He is always positive, always affirming, always patting little children on the head, always making sure that people leave feeling better than when they came in. He never forgets a name. He could sell sand in the Sahara.

We all appreciate positive, affirming people, and we should. We should also be as encouraging and winsome as possible toward others. However, being a pastor is not to be equated with being “Mr. Personality.” Ask Luther or Tozer, or better yet, their congregations.

THE SHOPKEEPER
First one in the door, last one to leave. Responsible for each detail of the operation. Familiar with every inch of the property and every last piece of inventory. Takes his work home and burns the midnight oil pouring over the books. Never takes a vacation; in fact, rarely takes a lunch! Eats, drinks, sleeps, and breathes the business. Always working on new ideas to make things better and more profitable. Keeps one eye on the competition at all times. “Workaholic” is an insult—he is more dedicated than that. The answer to every problem is simply to roll up his sleeves and hit it a little harder.

I admire dedicated pastors who work hard. Slothfulness is a sin, and diligence is a virtue. It may very well be better to burn out than to rust out. I just don’t think it’s our calling. Even God stopped working at one point; we call that Sabbath. It doesn’t all depend on you, Mr. Shopkeeper.

THE DRILL SERGEANT
Mr. Shopkeeper thinks he has to do it all himself. At least this next pastoral type understands that people in the congregation must also have an active faith that works. In fact, that is his sole focus. People, get busy! You have been saved to serve! Start standing on the promises rather than sitting on the premises! God wants to direct your life, but he can’t steer a bicycle that is standing still, only one that is moving! To the work! The Drill Sergeant takes the urgency that’s burning in his own soul and urges it onto others. Hear the constant, fervent appeals for folks to get busy for the Lord by getting involved in the church program? His counsel to anyone who has a spiritual problem is to stop focusing on self and start working for Christ. He has no time for spiritual navel-gazing or people who want to waste time. When the house is on fire, you don’t sit around sharing your feelings.

Yes, pastors are called to assist people in using their spiritual gifts for the Body’s benefit and the world’s blessing. However, we are shepherds, not sheep dogs.

THE CEO
Natural born leader, remarkably gifted, entrepreneurial, visionary, with great capacity for understanding large organizations, an uncanny knack for administrating them, and endless energy to keep it all going, this is the "rancher" that the church growth movement used to talk about. (As in, a shepherd cares for a flock, but a rancher oversees an operation; ergo, for churches to grow really, really big they need ranchers not pastors.) The guy's ambitious and knows how to build. He could run a Fortune 500 company; instead he runs the incredibly complex megachurch. He is high profile, thrives on new challenges, and earns the respect of the business folks who used to thumb their noses at the church. Finally, they say, a minister we can respect! A guy who can duke it out with the bankers and politicians! He does it the American way and does it right.

Thank God for this pastor's amazing gifts. The problem comes when he is lifted up as THE model for pastoral success. Then the whole enterprise for all of us becomes about being big and excellent, and about having more, and about pastoring a "great" church. Ever gone to a pastor's conference where the keynote speaker was Pastor Joe from rural Kansas, who shared about his church's great success in reaching four new children for VBS this year? Didn't think so. He's a shepherd, not a rancher.

THE VISIONARY LEADER
The pastor who has regular visions may or may not become a CEO-type. He may not have the stuff to build big, but he sure dreams and talks big. There is always something great on the horizon and his job is to see it and rally the troops in hot pursuit. To use the lingo, he devotes a great deal of effort to "vision-casting" (ugh), continually challenging his congregation to new heights, ever the cheerleader to spur them on, always ladling out the hot sauce to keep the enthusiasm high. After all, God is in the business of doing new things... all the time... everywhere... for everyone! His sermons are rife with military metaphors—conquest, triumph, and victory over the strong forces arrayed against us. He knows how to raise the flag and get the patriots to cheer.

Nothing wrong with enthusiasm or being on the outlook for new direction from the Spirit. However, having my eyes fixed on the horizon may mean missing something right beside me, something not so exciting or dazzling but just as important. Why not lead the flock beside quiet waters once in awhile?

THE TECHNICIAN
Have I got a program for you! Take this discipleship course, and in thirteen weeks, guaranteed or your money back, you will be a mature follower of Christ! Memorize this packet of Bible verses and your mind will be renewed! Follow these nine steps and you will be financially free! Here are some Christian diet suggestions to keep you healthy, a Christian exercise video to keep you fit, Christian clothing so you can be a public witness, Christian music for your CD player to keep you holy while you drive, a Christian Yellow Pages so that you never have to hire someone who doesn't work "as unto the Lord," Christian child-raising tips so your kids will turn out just right, a Christian sex video to keep your marriage smoking hot, and our latest church newsletter so you can find something to do at the church building every day of the week. By such means, pastoral ministry morphs into programmatic activity.

The technician pastor believes in a lot of this stuff. He probably has testimonials to back up the claims. It's simple. It's easy. It works. Where's God?


In the entrepreneurial, anti-tradition, historically ignorant, low-accountability world of evangelicalism, pastors are pretty much free to choose their identity and many end up like the caricatures above. Of course, each description contains elements of genuine pastoral ministry, but only when we properly "work the angles" at the heart of our calling can we escape the unbalanced approaches that are more determined by personality and culture than Biblical wisdom.

AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY: The Pastoral Issue

Marc Chagall
Solitude, 1933

Thus far, I have posted about the central issue that led my wife and I, recently in a position to search for a church family, to leave non-denominational evangelicalism and to join a mainline (Lutheran) church. That core issue is worship. In an early post in this series, I pointed out two other areas of concern: the pastoral issue and the missional issue.

Today, I begin to take up what I believe is the broken model of pastoral work in evangelicalism and our search for ministerial integrity.

The rest of the story...

Actually, there would be an simple way to write this post. I could simply recommend to you all the books on ministry written by Eugene Peterson. However, instead of taking the easy way out, I will try to put my own thoughts together in a series of articles. But I will use Peterson today to introduce this series by giving you some of my favorites quotes from a few of his books.

I could not easily put my hands on all the books I wanted to quote from, but I think you will get the message from what is shared here today.

When I look for help in developing my pastoral craft and nurturing my pastoral vocation, the one century that has the least to commend it is the twentieth. Has any century been so fascinated with gimmickery, so surfeited with fads, so addicted to nostrums, so unaware of God, so out of touch with the underground spiritual streams which water eternal life? In relation to pastoral work the present-day healing and helping disciplines are like the River Platte as described by Mark Twain, a mile wide and an inch deep. They are designed by a people without roots in an age without purpose for a people without God.

Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, p. 12

Until about a century ago, what pastors did between Sundays was a piece with what they did on Sundays. The context changed: instead of an assembled congregation, the pastor was with one other person or with small gatherings of persons, or alone in study and prayer. The manner changed: instead of proclamation, there was conversation. But the work was the same: discovering the meaning of Scripture, developing a life of prayer, guiding growth into maturity.

...The between-Sundays work of American pastors in this century, though, is running a church. I first heard the phrase just a few days before my ordination. After thirty years, I can still remember the unpleasant impression it made.

I was traveling with a pastor I respected very much. I was full of zest and vision, anticipating pastoral life. My inner conviction of call to the pastorate was about to be confirmed by others. What God wanted me to do, what I wanted to do, and what others wanted me to do were about to converge. From fairly extensive reading about pastor and priest predecessors, I was impressed that everyday pastoral life was primarily concerned with developing a life of prayer among the people. Leading worship, preaching the gospel, and teaching Scripture on Sundays would develop in the next six days into representing the life of Christ in the human traffic of the everyday.

With my mind full of these thoughts, my pastor friend and I stopped at a service station for gasoline. My friend, a gregarious person, bantered with the attendant. Something in the exchange provoked a question.

"What do you do?"

"I run a church."

No answer could have surprised me more. I knew, of course, that pastoral life included institutional responsibilities, but it never occurred to me that I would be defined by those responsibilities. But the moment I became ordained, I found I was so defined both by the pastors and executives over me and by the parishioners around me. The first job description given me omitted prayer entirely.

The Contemplative Pastor, p. 66f

There are powerful cultural forces determined to turn Jesus into a kindly, wandering sage, teaching us how to live well, dispensing homespun wisdom, arousing our desire for God, whetting our appetite for higher truths—all of which are good things. These same forces are similarly determined to turn us, the church's pastors and leaders, into kindly religious figures, men and women who provide guidance through difficult times, who dole out inspiration and good cheer on a weekly schedule, who provide smiling reassurance that "God's in his heaven...," and keep our congregations busy at tasks that bolster their self-esteem—also good things.

And if they don't turn us into merely nice people, they turn us into replicas of our cultural leaders, seeking after power and influence and prestige. These insistent voices drum away at us, telling us pastors to go out and compete against the successful executives and entertainers who have made it to the top, so that we can put our churches on the map and make it big in the world.

The Unnecessary Pastor, p. 1

We're not the only church in Bel Air, and I'm not the only pastor. Few places in America are unchurched. Am I going to trust the Holy Spirit to do his work through other churches in my community, or am I going to think that if we don't do it, it's not going to get done?

A great deal of arrogance develops out of the feeling that when we have something good going, we have to triple it so everybody gets in on it. Many different ministries take place in the community and in the world, and it's bad faith on my part to assume the Holy Spirit isn't just as active in them as in my ministry.

Subversive Spirituality, p. 228

There is, of course, nothing wrong with a large-membership congregation. But neither is there anything right about it. Size is not a moral quality. It is a given. It is what is there—part of the environment in which the pastor works. "It is not the pastor's fault if he is born in times of barrenness, when it is difficult to do good" (Bengel). Size is mostly the result of cultural conditions. Congregations are large when there is social approval to be part of a religious establishment, small when there isn't. The pastor cannot choose his or her culture. The size of the congregations we serve is contingent on what decade we happen to be living in and what qualities of leadership happen to be in vogue at the time. While pious ways in the pastor will attract churchgoers in one place, worldly sophistication will attract them in another place. Angry preaching will be rewarded at one time, kindly preaching at another, quite apart from whether either the anger or the kindness communicates the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because these variables are notoriously inconstant, spiritual and biblical integrity is far more important than the skillful use of propaganda in doing pastoral work, the doctrine of providence of more significance than any image-making publicity.

Five Smooth Stones for Pastoral Work, p. 165

Amazing words. Peterson's insights on the pastoral ministry cut like a laser to the heart of the matter almost every time. I regret that I did not read, digest, and figure out how to put his stuff into practice every week of my 30 years of pastoral ministry. Any further thoughts I share will be faint echoes of his strong voice.

AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY: One Final Word about Worship

THE CENTRAL ISSUE: Worship (lack thereof)
One Final Word

I have hit some of the main points about worship that have influenced my journey from being a non-denominational evangelical to a mainline Lutheran. There remains just one thing to be said.

Of all that might be said about worship practices, we must not leave this subject without emphasizing THE fundamental truth about worship. It must be said, because in my opinion our worship practices fall short mainly because we forget this truth.

The rest of the story...

Here it is: WORSHIP IS WHAT GOD'S PEOPLE DO FOR GOD.

We have been conditioned to think, on the contrary, that worship is for US.

• That worship is where I go for my weekly spiritual inspiration.
• That worship is a habit of godliness that keeps me on track in my walk with God.
• That worship is where I go to get spiritually fed.
• That worship is where I go to stay in fellowship with God's people.
• That worship is where I go to get blessed and filled so that I can go out and face my daily life with God.
• That a worship service is where unbelievers come to hear the Gospel and get saved.
  

Because we think worship is primarily for us, we get concerned when someone no longer "goes to church." We think of going to church and attending the worship service primarily as something beneficial for people. And of course, it is! However, we must understand that the benefits we gain from worship are byproducts that accrue from participating in it.

Worship is for God. Worship is what we do for God. Worship is God's people coming together and participating in actions that are directed toward God.

• Bringing offerings to God.
  
• Giving gifts to God in response to the gifts he has given us in Christ.
  
• In the call to worship, we are invited to actively praise God.
  
• In confession, we acknowledge our sins to God.
  
• In the Creed, we affirm to God that we believe in the revelation of his mighty deeds.
  
• With our voices and hearts, we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to him.
  
• We present to him our material and monetary offerings.
  
• We also offer God our thanks and receptive hearts when we humble ourselves to partake of his Word and Sacraments.

Worship is for God, and worship is what his people do. Worship is not a service we attend. It is not a concert. It is not a preaching service made up of preliminaries and then the "real thing"—the message and invitation. It is not a missionary endeavor in which an audience of unbelievers is confronted with the Gospel through public proclamation. Nor is it a Bible study or Christian meeting designed primarily for a believer's spiritual growth and development. All these conceptions of worship assume that the service is directed toward the congregation, that those up front or on the "stage" are those who act on behalf of God, and that the main purpose is for them to give something to those in attendance.

This, however, is not the meaning of worship. Worship is what God's people do for God. Each worship service is like a special occasion on which we honor our great Hero and celebrate his accomplishments in winning a decisive victory. If you and I were invited to participate in a ceremony honoring a war hero, what would that be like?

• We would come together to express our appreciation through words, gifts, rituals, songs, and other activities.
  
• We would decorate the hall with banners and flags and emblems of victory.
  
• We would put our hero front and center.
  
• Every activity would be planned for the purpose of honoring him, all the focus would be on him, and all applause directed toward him.
  
• Special speakers would tell his story and pronounce his praises.
  
• The community would feast together.
  
• Neighbors and family members would give testimonials.
  
• Presents would be lavished on our hero, and each member of the community would want to say "thank you" personally.

Now, let me ask, would that occasion be a blessing to those who participate? Of course! Such a celebration would uplift and inspire everyone in attendance as well as encourage and challenge them to live a better life. But not because they came in order to receive a blessing. No! Those who came gathered for one purpose—to honor their hero. To lift up his name. To tell the glad story of his achievements. To express appreciation and gratitude to him. To participate in activities that magnified him. As a result, they themselves were blessed. The natural byproduct of honoring another is the blessing that accrues to those who participate.

Of course, God meets with us in worship. Of course, God blesses his people with his presence. Of course, God teaches us from his Word. Of course, God's Spirit fills us and transforms us. Of course, we receive food for our journey through the Sacraments. Of course, we are spiritually formed and edified when we meet together in Christ's name. Of course, if unbelievers join us, they may respond to the Gospel and experience God's saving grace.

These are all good and necessary things. But the question here today is, what is worship? In order to get the genuine byproducts of it, we must pursue the genuine article. As Robert Webber said so succinctly, worship is a verb. We don't attend worship, we worship.

It is what God's people do for God.

AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY, part four

THE CENTRAL ISSUE: Worship (lack thereof)
Part Two

My journey from evangelicalism to a more mainline congregation, at its heart, has been a search for a community of faith that understands and practices genuine worship. If my definition of worship (given in the last post) is accurate at all, then this has certain implications about the way a congregation and its pastoral leadership goes about planning and participating in worship services.

Let me say something right here at the outset, before we proceed. I think the "worship wars" of recent years have been fought about the wrong things most of the time by all sides. Battles about worship waged in churches have primarily focused on the question of style--traditional or contemporary--and this has been applied almost exclusively to music. In my view, music is only one element of worship and should not dominate the discussion as it has. There are certainly important things to say about music, but we must not let this one small part of the matter keep us from seeing the more central and significant issues that should be our concerns when it comes to the worship of God.

In the next few posts I will explore some of "the more central and significant issues," in my opinion, with regard to worship. The first is...

The rest of the story...

DISTRUST OF FORMS
A primary attitude in non-liturgical churches is that worship should not conform to set forms, but should be free and spontaneous. In their eyes, liturgy is seen as set, scripted, vainly repetitive, dull and without spiritual vitality. On the other hand, non-liturgical worship is seen as free, lively, Spirit-led, from the heart, and open to possibility.

In my experience, this dichotomy bears no resemblance to reality.

First, in the free-style evangelical churches where I've worshiped, the worship was just as scripted as any liturgy.

• The order basically remains the same week after week.
  
• A limited number of songs are sung, thus creating a repetitive musical "tradition" within the congregation.
• An annual calendar is followed, though not the Church Year calendar. It takes into account the major Christian holy days, but is based more upon the pastor's preaching schedule, secular holidays and schedules, and church events.
• Prayers in worship, though "spontaneous," take on forms that become repetitive.

And so on. The argument is not, and never has been, between "form" and "freedom" (defined as "lack of forms"). The real difference is between one kind of form and another.

Second, those who advocate evangelical free-style worship often fail to grasp the significance of the kinds of forms we use.

I can't tell you how many times I have heard, "Pastor, it really doesn't matter what form we use, as long as we worship God from our hearts!" There is a sense in which this is true, of course. Paul and Silas were able to worship and praise God in a Philippian jail cell, without the assistance of a church building, Bibles, musical accompaniment, or comfortable seats. God has never been confined to a building or set pattern of worship, even when he gave Israel specific instructions about how to approach him.

However, I don't think that is what folks mean when they protest forms. Rather, they are suggesting that they are free to do whatever they enjoy and call it worship, and if a friend comes along and suggests there might be more to it than that, they resist as though someone were trying to deprive them of their liberty.

It is the responsibility of pastors to start, not with people's preferences, but with the God we worship, as revealed in creation, Scripture, and in Christ and his Gospel. The first question to ask is not, "What will attract people?" Rather, we begin by asking, "Who is God, and what has he done for us?" That question should be our main guide in choosing the forms we use.

That does not mean everyone has to use exactly the same forms in shaping worship. Nor does it mean we have to use only old forms or traditional forms. We need not sing only hymns and reject gospel songs or praise choruses. We need not have only certain forms for hearing Scripture or participating in prayer. We are free in the Spirit to creatively adapt our forms, as long as the forms we use maintain a sense of integrity with God's revelation.

I'll give one example. I think contemporary evangelicalism misses the mark and fails to recognize the impact of the forms our worship takes in the area of congregational participation.

• Church buildings now being constructed have auditoriums that are more like concert halls than sanctuaries. These buildings mold us into stage-actors and audience. The form of our architecture tells us that a worship service is something that we attend and others perform.
  

• In many church services, the only opportunity for congregational participation is through singing. However, even in churches that sing a lot, it is not uncommon for the band and singers on stage to be so dominant that the congregation does not have a sense of lifting their voices together in musical praise. The atmosphere is more like a concert where people show enthusiasm for the music without really being the choir that produces the music.

• In these same services, often the only people who speak during the service are those who speak from the stage. The congregation learns that its main job is to sit and listen.

Now, contrast this with a typical service from the liturgical church we attend:

• Welcome by pastor, with response by congregation
  
• Gathering song, sung by the congregation (with no "worship leader"—we all sing together and follow the instruments—same with all hymns and songs)
  
• Responsive greeting between pastor and congregation
• Sung Kyrie ("Lord, have mercy"). One singer, standing at congregation level, leads us by singing the verses and congregation sings the refrain with him.
• Hymn of praise (congregation)
• OT reading, by reader who is member of congregation
• Choral Anthem by adult choir
• NT reading, by reader
• Gospel song, sung by congregation
• Gospel lesson, read by pastor
• Children's message, children gather at altar and are taught by pastor
  
• Sermon, by pastor
• Hymn (congregation)
• The Creed (said together by congregation)
• Prayers of intercession (said responsively with reader and congregation)
• Offering, followed by offertory sung by congregation
• Responsive prayer before communion (pastor and congregation)
• Communion, made up of many elements that are responsively read or sung by pastor and congregation, including the Lord's Prayer, said together in unison. Communion is taken at the altar, distributed by pastor and reader, and a couple from the congregation
  
• Blessing, by pastor
• Closing hymn
• Announcements, given by pastor and other congregation members

Whatever you might think of the individual elements or how they are practiced in this particular church, you must admit that this service is overwhelmingly congregational. The only extended period of sitting and listening is during the sermon. In every other part of the service, the family of God is actively involved in giving worship to God. In this church, we don't attend worship, we worship!

Congregational participation is a Gospel value that is integral to genuine worship. The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is creating a forever family, and he wants his whole family to be actively involved in worshiping him together. He wants to hear from each one of us, as well as speak to each one of us. He desires that we experience the unity of the Spirit as we lift our voices together to give him offerings of praise.

The word "liturgy" means, "the work of the people." No spectators allowed when it comes to worship! We should reconsider any forms of "worship" that diminish congregational participation.

AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY, part two

A few months ago, I wrote a post called, “Where’s a Pastor to Go?” I began that post with these words:

How does a pastor find a church when he is between churches? What does his family do when their life has been built around the routines of church life, and then the rhythm changes?

An unexpected journey, it eventually led us to a surprising destination. After thirty years of worshiping and serving in mostly non-denominational evangelical or fundamentalist churches, we chose to become members of a mainline congregation—a Lutheran church (ELCA).

The rest of the story...

In retrospect, this should not have been so surprising. My own studies and experiences have led me to question many aspects of the contemporary evangelical approach, particularly in the area of ecclesiology. I have long been a contrarian against conventional church culture and practice, and found it difficult to not to laugh (or cry) at the all too common assumption that following Christ is to be equated with participating in someone’s clever church program.

My critiques grow out of a personal disillusionment, not only with certain church practices, but with a much larger culture—the culture of American middle class suburbia. At its root, my critique is that contemporary evangelical churches have, by and large, uncritically adopted the perspectives and values of American suburban affluence rather than allowing the story of the Bible, Jesus, apostolic Christianity, and the history of the church throughout the centuries, to inform their ecclesiology and practical theology.

In this post, I will give a general outline of three areas of dispute that caused me to look away from the contemporary evangelical church to other options when we were looking for a church home. Succeeding posts will add detail.

THE CENTRAL ISSUE: Worship (lack thereof)
Worship in the evangelical church has consistently followed patterns established by the American revivalist tradition. The “service” is essentially a stage show. Music and other elements prepare for and build up to the main event: the sermon. After the sermon, the preacher calls for response through an invitation. The “actors” are those who hold forth on the stage. The congregation is the “audience.” The preacher is the “star.” The sermon is like a sales pitch and the invitation gives the listeners the opportunity to buy in. This inevitably leads to a performance mentality on the part of those on the stage and a spectator mindset for those in the audience. Even those who do their parts with best intentions can’t overcome the unspoken messages they are sending.

Let me say unequivocally—this is not worship. I'm not saying that these services don't serve a purpose, particularly in mission settings, and it's true that some may find a way to worship while they sit in these shows, but on the corporate level these types of services are not designed so that God’s people may offer worship to him. We chose to seek a church that prepares and practices worship, not a stage show.

THE PASTORAL ISSUE: Hey Look! I’m an Entrepreneur!
It seems the primary models for church leaders today are celebrity megachurch pastors, successful business leaders, and media-savvy spokesmen. The successful pastor’s study has been transformed into his office, complete with a staff to insulate him from people who might waste his time. He imposes his will (sorry, vision) upon the congregation. His main tool is not his Bible but his Blackberry. He dresses cool, refuses to stand humbly behind a pulpit when he preaches, and majors in “practical” messages filled, of course, with pop culture references.

Eugene Peterson once said he was horrified to hear himself answer an inquirer’s question about his work with the sentence, “I run a church.” But this is the evangelical model, and it has run amuck. We chose to seek a tradition in which the pastoral role is defined and practiced differently.

THE MISSIONAL ISSUE: Living in the Temple
Large, “successful” evangelical churches now have “campuses” filled with buildings in which a multitude of programs take place. Those who defend them say that they are designed to attract the community so that they can hear the Gospel. However, they are much more successful in providing safe, “Christian” environments for the faithful and their families. In my generation, we have also seen the establishment of an alternative Christian culture that has created a world of its own, from homeschooling conventions to stores filled with “Jesus junk,” from Christian amusement parks to creation “museums,” from lucrative music and publishing industries to media empires. Christians need not ever leave the evangelical fold and venture into the world. And many don’t. Since, in the suburban world we relate to others according to “networks” rather than “neighborhoods,” believers can plug into the evangelical network and never have a meaningful conversation with a non-Christian if they so choose.

The evangelical church has become an artificial cosmos unto itself. It is of the world, but not in it. We chose to seek a tradition and church practice that is more organically related to real life and Jesus’ mission in the world.

AN EVANGELICAL'S LAMENT AND JOURNEY, part one

This is part one of a series on leaving the contemporary evangelical church and returning to a mainline congregation. My wife and I recently joined a Lutheran church (ELCA) after having pastored and served in mostly non-denominational churches for 30 years.

The rest of the story...

Here's a bit of background about us...

• We met at and graduated from a fundamentalist, dispensational Bible college
  
• Served in an independent Baptist church in New England
  
• Went to seminary at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Ev Free Church), one of the most prominent evangelical seminaries in the world
• While there, served in a fundamentalist Bible church (IFCA)
• Moved to Indianapolis, where I was an associate pastor at a non-denominational, evangelical "Community" church
• Moved to a sister church, where I was the senior pastor
• Resigned and began serving as a hospice chaplain, a ministry I hold to this day
• While exercising my chaplain ministry, I helped at a couple of independent churches—one with more of a Bible church/Baptist background, the other with folks who came from the Nazarene tradition

Let me also share some facts from my journey that are pertinent to this series of posts.

• Bible college taught me to love the Bible as God's Word, and that one of my primary duties as a pastor would be to mine its riches and give God's people the tools to do the same.

• My first pastoral experience, in a small, rural New England village church, taught me that people matter most. That congregation really trained me to have a pastor's heart and not to put too much stock in programs or strategies. I did a lot of visiting, leading worship, teaching, and pastoral care.

• During those early years, I began to study about worship. A few significant trips to Grace Chapel in Lexington, MA, an evangelical church with a high view of worship, introduced me to the subject and whetted my appetite for deeper understanding in this area.

• In seminary, I took the first class on worship they had ever offered. My teachers also introduced me to Eugene Peterson and his teaching on the pastoral role, which is deeply critical of the way the vocation is being practiced in contemporary America.

• Seminary also helped me focus my attention on the Apostle Paul, not only his doctrine but also his pastoral theology. I began to hunger to see the same convictions and priorities that moved him motivate me also.
  

• As an associate pastor I was responsible for worship and music. This proved to be an apprenticeship in learning and teaching about worship, as well as overseeing the practical details of planning and implementing worship week after week. Robert Webber's writings began to have more of an impact on my thinking, and I had the privilege of having him come to our church and lead a worship seminar.

• My last senior pastor position was in a troubled church, and though many good things came from our stay there, ultimately I resigned in the midst of insoluble problems and found myself for the first time wondering about my vocation and not knowing where to turn next.
  

• In God's providence I was able to find a position as a hospice chaplain. This work has been an unmitigated blessing. As one who goes every day to people's homes, hospitals and nursing homes, I began to experience more than ever before the great joy of ministering out in the world and not just within the "temple" (church programs).

In a nutshell, this summarizes some of the formative experiences and influences that have shaped my view of the church, worship, the pastoral ministry, and the mission of God's people in the world. Of course, this is just a summary. There is so much more to say, especially about the specific people who have blessed and influenced my thinking and life.

These points will help you understand a little bit of where I'm coming from in upcoming posts, as I lament the condition of evangelicalism today and relate why our journey has led us in this season of life to a mainline congregation.

PLEASE READ THIS!!!

iMonk has a fantastic post today that I'm asking you to read and consider. It's about the opportunity that mainline churches have to reach out to evangelicals who are tired of the shallow, a-historical, stage-oriented, programmed worship and church life of the evangelical movement.

I am about to post a series on returning to the mainline. This article would be an excellent place for us to start talking.

Read it HERE, and join in the discussion. Please.