When it comes to thinking about how time flies I can't help but to think that this coming September it will have been ten yrs ago, my first time thru the entire Bible. Seems like only yesterday. I've been thru it several times now. That's all I want to do, it never gets old and never gets boring. It's fresh every time we read it. It encourages us, convicts us, motivates us and definitely changes us.
Change is never easy. I know of several marriages that when one spouse begins reading God's Word in context, and begins to get it because God is revealing it to them, that this divided the marriage because the other spouse was not prepared for the change in them.
I've often said that the Bible should come with a warning label. What i mean is, if Christians who have never read it, like how things are going in this world and everything is OK with them, then don't read God's Word in context. Just keep cherry picking verses and life can roll steady. Besides, you'll have plenty of company and congregations to feed your mis applying random Scriptures to your everyday life.
God's complete Word, all 66 books changes things. It's tough to explain.
It's like a staircase that goes straight up and never ends,
*
If we stay with it, God's revelation comes one step at a time.
Some steps are harder than others and it depends on the one reading the Bible as to how long they will stay on any particular step, before moving on.
In the ten years of reading the Bible , it has been one revelation after another. Or step as I will call it.
I say it that way to introduce here a new "step" I've recently been challenged with. It has to do with the local congregation and I'll call this step 'leadership.'
Through out this post I will purposely use the word "congregation" when mentioning the "church."
I'm doing that to address a serious confusion when discussing church /congregation issues.
You see, people assume that an "entire" congregation IS the church.
But it isn't and within this confusing language comes massive problems.
The best that can be said about weekly congregational meetings is -
-that's the church
-mixed with unbelievers (unrepentant, unsaved, just curious)
-mixed with believers not yet baptized in this the Holy Spirit.
But that's to long to say so we just call it "church." and that's just not right.
Now just imagine us trying to create some leadership structure to that.
We don't have to imagine.
Congregations these days are either too structured or not structured enough.
People today would rather be led by leaders than follow Jesus.
Knowing the difference is vital.
-One focuses on someone else
-One focuses on individual
Not to tough to discern which our culture would prefer.
LEADERSHIP?
That's right, there's this thing called 'leadership' and its invading congregations.
Because I've been raised in a Christian home, I've been around this thing for a long long time.
But it's been just recently that it's dawning on me - 'we just don't get it! "
Again, people today would rather be led by leaders than follow Jesus.
The difference in this is subtle.
ANALOGY
As I was thinking of an analogy to best describe Christians spin on this thing called' leadership ' I thought of our dog.
I'll need to explain that.
My wife and I got our first dog last week, a one yr Shih tzu-poodle. We love him. Not being dog owners before, we're learning alot and having fun.
Taking him for walks is fun and he so excited and happy. He runs ahead but the leash restrains him. But he tugs and pulls , wanting to go this way and that and always wanting to go further than permitted. He doesn't get hurt and his intentions are good. He just wants to go his own way.
Christians are like that. We run ahead going this way and that always wanting to go farther than needed. When it comes to the area of leadership , there is not enough room on my laptop to convey the vast number of directions Christians have went with this subject.
From vast exuberant leadership conferences to small middle America church boards , this thing called leadership takes on a life of its own.
From vast exuberant leadership conferences to small middle America church boards , this thing called leadership takes on a life of its own.
When it comes to leadership, we don't get it in the family and we don't get it in the church.
Even in the congregation I attend, we don't get it.
Leadership is something that seeks to be its own thing.
But its not.
It belongs to God, in marriage and in congregations.
But this language does not sit well in the human mind.
I wonder if I should begin thinking of leadership as something we borrow from God for a time.
It is truly His but He lends to us what we need to keep moving forward.
It may not be a perfect way of looking at it but I am in favor of anything that gets my mind away from me owning anything that belongs to God. And simply put , that includes everything.
But some things are harder than others.
Christians have ways to disguise their own desires to own this thing called 'leadership.'
We give clever titles to our understanding of it.
We'll call it 'discipleship leading' or 'congregational rule' or 'Moses model.'
(that last one I am currently learning of)
The problems of leadership is currently being demonstrated even now in our congregation . That's why I can't be specific.
But I can say, Christians love to use the analogy of the human body when discussing the congregation. You know, how all the parts work together.
But those parts only function well together when all the parts are communicating.
And this thing called leadership is a 'part' of the body.
LEADERSHIP & COMMUNICATION
Leadership takes on many many forms among believers. Not one congregation seems to resemble another and that is fine.
But something that should be uniform across all congregations is communication , or in other words, it needs to be present. At what level depends on the congregation.
But many times leadership fails to properly communicate with the congregation.
I said before, my Christian walk , as I read the Bible cover to cover , is like a staircase with many steps. When I get to a step that is too big to comprehend due to its overwhelming nature , I tend to look for 'common denominators' that either are positive or negative in whatever I am considering.
The common denominator that is both positive and negative concerning the leadership of any congregation (depending on how it is used) is communication.
I never take lightly the things I consider. I guess the reason for that is I myself do not want to be deceived in my own thinking.
The reason I am confident that communication is the key ingredient is because that is the key ingredient in 'every' relationship.
And isn't a congregation of believers a relationship?
Whether it is with Jesus or in marriage or family.
But for some reason, when it comes to church leadership, we just don't get it.
TWISTED VIEW OF COMMUNICATION
And is it any wonder.
The concepts of what we think of as communication has drastically changed.
These days posts & tweets & texts pass for 'communication.'
People think that if we are just aware of the facts of ones life, that this is some form of communication. That is why facebook is so big. All people need to do is put pictures of what's occurring in their lives and hope others will see and thereby , they communicated with them. These days , just knowing information about another makes the one giving the information think they've communicated.
HOW WE TRY TO CORRECT OUR MISUNDERSTANDING OF COMMUNICATION.
People read their Bibles this way. We listen to commentators , podcasts and vrs by vrs teaching. (I do this a lot ) and become aware of different facts about Jesus.
While it is true, I have grown spiritually ... that's not communication (with God)
Because everyone knows those things aren't communication , we ignore (what we know) and we say things like "something is better than nothing" when it comes to communication.
I'm not so sure anymore.
HOW CAN WE MISS IT?
Things that keep believers from seeing truth has always amazed me. So often I wonder why I see things the way I do. I ask "am I deceived?"
But the need for communication is such a simple thing to see. How can anyone miss it?
I think it has something to do with inconsistencies.
INCONSISTENCIES!?
The new "normal" when considering anything these days centers around 'inconsistencies.'
Ever since that first time through the Bible , my spiritual growth many times has been a , "on one hand , on another hand " roller coaster.
For example : on one hand communication is encouraged in the congregation but on the other hand it is not sought after between some leaders and congregation.
On one hand we use 1 Cor 12:15ff to explain unity but on the other hand that isn't applied to leadership in some places. (thereby separating leadership from what 1 Cor is talking about)
On one hand we condemn worldly behavior but on the other hand we make our songs and congregations look like our culture. [ that's where worship teams came from.]
On one hand Christians are told its not what we do that counts but on the other hand we are given a laundry list of things to do every Sunday.
On one hand we are told to avoid books and movies the culture offers but on the other hand churches endorse many obvious forms of heresy put out by the media and Hollywood.
On one hand we are told how vital the Bible is but on the other hand we can attend many congregations and leave the Bible at home.
That list of on one hand on the other hand can go on forever. Is it any wonder congregations do not grow.
Why are there so many inconsistencies?
TRYING TO AVOID DIVISION
The reasons for that may vary but the most common one is our beliefs concerning division in the church. We try so hard to avoid what God says is going to occur. We try to create environments that will be free of division.
What happens in this is, as people come and go from this division free environment , the "leaders" of this just assume that this is a natural consequence of their church so they pay little mind to it. Leaders concern themselves with other leaders. What occurs in the congregation is another matter. Or at least this is what some think.
I find it amusing and sad, that the older I get I can see more clearly the irony to things. The things we think will help are actually the things hurting us. And all this happens without us knowing it.
In our efforts to avoid any form of division or conflict or division , we have missed key and vital aspects of Gods complete message.
Now I am not exactly sure how all this works and it sure does sound like a major contradiction.
CONFUSION
We confuse conflicts & divisionn. We think they are the same. There is a difference.
Conflicts do have benefits. When settled.
But our constant desire to avoid conflict causes us to miss that.
Leaders rarely trust their congregation to be able to settle differences. So they create ways to avoid it.
In doing so they unknowingly insult others.
EXAMPLE
I've seen how conflicts have benefited our marriage.
Yes, those same conflicts could have destroyed it, that's why this is so sensitive a subject.
If the entire council of God is preached correctly, THERE'S GONNA BE CONFLICT, that's a fact.
The power & glory are IN the settling the conflict in a Biblical man manner.
It's God's power & God's glory.
If conflict divides believers, you ain't doing something right.
If conflict divides believers & heresy, than you ARE doing something right.
Settling conflicts is not exclusive to Christian marriages (because I know of many non believers that settle differences ) then it must be something else.
All I can figure is , is that this something else has to do with endurance and gratitude and praise.
For believers that belongs to God. For non believers that belongs to the individual.
Both have consequences, both have positive and negative areas and both will be resolved in the last day.
But believers today want to run ahead (like that puppy on a leash) and say that we can avoid anything negative and divisive. So we attempt to create here on earth , such an environment.
Hey... the gov't does this too. Trying to pass laws that keep us all safe and fair for all.
It doesn't work there and it doesn't work anywhere.
THE BIBLE ADDRESSES CONFLICT
Everywhere we look there's people having problems in the Bible.
What's amazing is, God works within those problems & divisions.
That doesn't mean we seek to have problems but it also doesn't mean we seek to avoid them.
PEOPLE ARE BEGINNING TO "GET IT"
But in truth , we sense it. And sooner or later we get tired of this charade. At some point we pick up our Bibles and begin to read it. And when that happens look out.
Something that comes from reading Gods Word in context over and over is that at some point it becomes painfully clear how far we have strayed.
Fact of the matter is, probably the closest example of true leadership in a congregation I know is when I was growing up as a kid. Too bad I missed it. But there were other things to derail that.
Isn't that just like things today. Not seeing the obvious, while it's happening.
I guess that's what growth is all about. 'Getting it' , sooner or later. (again, all depends on how we look at it)
We're either glad we eventually got it (by going to God's Word) or bitter because of learning of all the deception that kept us from 'get the getting it" for so many years.
SOME REASONS WE MISS IT
These ideas we have of creating unity can keep believers from seeing how these things cause problems.
That's because we say things like, 'isn't it good that WE try to keep peace (operative word "we")
Believers in this country of affluence and tremendous "blessing" have missed vital concepts of Gods Word.
I put the word "blessings" in quotes because much caution is needed when we consider what we call a blessing.
We have become so used to having everything we need that when anything interrupts this pattern we immediately become overly stressed.
Somehow the truths we know of scripture collide with how we interpret our circumstances of daily life.
The last thing anyone raised in the church wants to hear , when problems occur, is a Bible verse.
We want to trust God but we are not sure what that means.
Why is that?
The reasons for that have something to do with how we were raised.
Something about the way Christianity was portrayed.
My next post will deal more with that "something."
Then there are churches that do grow in size but they have abandoned clear teaching . The teaching that offends us. They remove what they think will divide.
We shouldn't seek to divide people but let's face it. The Bible, by definition, IS divisive
But we don't like that.
BIGGEST IRONY
And there , interestingly enough , lies the problem. By trying to create something that avoids any hint of there being problems , we make for ourselves more problems.
NOW THAT'S IRONIC.
Some very odd ironies exist in all this. Congregations who hear the Gospel, with the sharp edge of sin missing (because that offends us) interpret the gospel as a "one size fits all" teaching.
Congregations that do have entire chapters read from the Bible (and that's rare) and its taught correctly have people coming & leaving the congregation.
They come because reading the Bible is so rare. They wonder why other congregations don't read it all.
They find that they learn so much and they think that because their learning, this strengthens their relationship with God..
(now here's where it gets tricky)
They leave because once the message of God's 'complete & total' message is revealed to them they sense a slight, very slight shift in focus there.
This slight shift of focus is so small that if we blink we'll miss it.
The focus becomes the Bible itself.
If Jesus is not central, believers (who know their entire Bible) can sense it.
They might not be able to identify it but they sense it.
It's like an airplane that's flying less than a degree off course. It's not noticeable but in the end the plane is way off course.
That describes the best of congregations today.
WHY THE IRONY?
That's because , when the truth of Gods Word meets up with our attempts to soften the blow and we seek to avoid division or conflict, even the powerful truths of the Bible , such as Sin and repentance ,when they are preached, come out all fuzzy in this atmosphere of avoiding division.
The reasons people come and go from this have been missed.
Its like , Christians have this powerful truth to tell but we downplay its offensiveness.
Sadly , the Gospel these days , is no longer enough to soften the blow. Today we need leaders too do that.
Leaders make all sorts of decisions based on keeping unity.
Themes for church's are created.
Catchy slogans or even some mans vision is presented.
SOMETHING IS MISSING
If the church is off a degree, it would have to be in that area of the Person of the Holy Spirits role in a believers life.
Again, my next post will deal more with this. I'm still growing in this myself.
The question I have yet to answer is, when does a believer meet the Holy Spirit.
When our language concerning the Holy Spirit mirrors our language concerning Jesus, we are close, very close to the truth.
But our flesh has wreaked havoc reguarding the Holy Spirit and our understanding of Him.
Pentecostals favor the visual & Baptists favor the abstract, when preaching about the Holy Spirit.
It's time congregations wake up (i know I am) when discussing something so Holy.
MY PERSONAL STRUGGLE
At the time of this post , I am working out in my mind , several questions I have concerning leadership in the church . These questions arise from our own current experience within our congregation.
Regrettably , it took tensions among believers for me to consider this seriously. Why are things like that? Why do we wait until there's problems.
SILVER LINING
But there oddly enough, is an upside to problems.
It has opened my eyes.
Maybe I'm not seeing clearly now but experience has shown me that if I stay with this and ask questions with humility, I will eventually see more clearly concerning this thing called leadership.
When I say it's opened my eyes I mean, for as long as I can remember, growing up in the church life, I never quite understood 'membership' or structure or leadership as it pertains to churchs. I've often wondered why it was necessary to join any congregation as a member.
But I wonder if contained inu this idea of membership is a feeling or a sense of 'belonging.
SENSE OF BELONGING
This is huge.
It's just now occurring to me, I've attended congregations all my life but never felt as though I belonged there.
That's not an easy confession but one I need to make if I'm ever going to move forward.
There are many factors to consider in this.
But the common reason given as to why people leave the church is because they sense that God is not present, where they attend.
And the common reason given that opens the eyes of church goers is when they, for themselves, decided to read God's complete Word.
In other words, Christians who finally get around to reading the Bible cover to cover,they eventually become dissatisfied with many congregations.
The question is - why is that?
The answer is - inconsistencies between congregations & the Bible.
The solution is - the Holy Spirit directing our focus back to Jesus (instead of the inconsistencies.)
The person of the Holy Spirit is lost for many believers.
This either gets over emphasized or under emphasized.
WHAT'S THE POINT TO ALL THIS?
I make these points to highlight the inconsistent nature of modern congregation we call "church." "Church" leadership is just one of many areas that fall prey to this.
I often wonder what creates this inconsistency , between what we know and what we are seeing.
We know Gods Word is true but we find it hard to see in daily life.
PEOPLE ARE GETTING IT
But people aren't fooled. Maybe for a time they are but sooner or later they will see thru this modern day church charade.
People attend congregations for various reasons. They either want or don't want certain things. Preachers today are forever wondering what motivates people. So we try to center congregations around what we think is important.
I am becoming a give it to me straight or don't give it to me at all kind of person.
IN CLOSING
It has taken me weeks to do this post due to my struggling with it.
So I'm going to close this with sharing the best place we can find, what God intended for congregations.
And that's on our knees before Him, alone in prayer as we cry out for mercy.
What happens when we get together for worship will remain a mystery and a struggle and if we are not careful satan will win every time.
He will use anything to get a congregations eyes off Jesus. Even spiritual things, like -
Prayer
Fellowship
Vrs by vrs
Worship
Serving
Ministry
Out reach
Getting other's saved
And yes, even leadership.
Now if you're not sure how those good sounding spiritual things can take the place of Jesus, you might be attending one that has another focus.
True worship will be clearly seen in heaven.
That's where we truly belong!
Till next time... Tryreadnit!
![Have you been thinking lately , there's something missing? Discernmen...........t.[CLICK IMAGE]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoiNr7OjdutaE1fnZNfulF4VjXIW0Se2t3cO8WivL1l5R6Wbt2LwysTEwiZFMJ0dpXz_y4NKF-u3eG0WEbn9FenoXUIgL88SG5IMWLUyfp7N7J35eUPmE2a2zvy8nq6ZAIJ9eOmXmbNMYn/s376/PicsArt_01-21-05.55.38.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment