An Open Letter to The Organic Church

Over the years I think that I have picked on just about every type of expression of the church that you could imagine; Baptists, Catholics, Local Church, “Institutional”, Pentecostal, ‘mega’, ‘ethereal’, virtual, emergent, end timers….you name it.

I’ve dibbled and dabbled, ranted and rambled, stirred and scrambled and even choked on my own foot here with this blog and in other places as well.

But it’s time for me to address one more category: The Organic Church.

Yep.

That’s right.

It’s the New Sacred Cow among many of us. Yes I said us.

Okay, let me add this. In all transparency, this post is somewhat motivated by the fact that I will be visiting a local church (no, not Witness Lee local church, but like a kind of ‘non-denominational’ church with a building and pastor and elders and…well, you know what I mean…) and I’m starting to feel a bit embarrassed by some of the things that I have said over the years.

Oh the brashness of youth!!

But the fact is, I really feel that the Lord is leading me to go and visit.

So if any of you N.R. folks are reading this (Marie, Jerald, Scott, Mic, Evelyn, John, Alisa, Darrell, etc, etc…), now you know what’s been on my mind here lately.

So here it is; my Open Letter To Organic Church Proponents

Grace to you all in the Name of Jesus Christ.

Since I am obviously one of you I feel as if I have the liberty to say it this way:

“Grace to you and yadda, yadda, yadda….”

C’mon now, were all brothers (and sisters) here.

Look. I have to admit. If I thought that there was something more authentic going on than what we are at least attempting to do, as a church, then I’m pretty sure that I would be pursuing it. Fact is, either I’m ignorant to such a thing or I’m just tired of hunting (probably both).

But let’s talk serious here.

The Lord has given many of us much light in the area of the church. He has opened our eyes to so many things concerning the functioning of the body of Christ in all of it’s many membered splendor.

More importantly, He has given many of us the revelation of the centrality and supremecy of Jesus Christ in all things. Praise the Lord for that!!

Brothers and Sisters, I can’t tell you how incredibly thankful I am to have been liberated from the ’spectator’ mentality of chruch involvement.

Furthermore, I thank God that He has also done quite a work in removing from my imagination the desire to be some kind of ‘minister’ (in the common contemporary sense of the word).

Thank you, Lord, that I have come to experience, however little, what it means to be a brother.

A BROTHER.

Praise the Lord!

These are some of the things for which I am eternally grateful.

However, “I have somewhat against thee…”

(Or maybe I should say that “I have somewhat against ‘me’!!”)

Let me just go ahead and turn this into a personal confession, and then you can decide if it applies to you as well.

I have become elitist and over critical, even prejudgemental in my attitudes towards other expressions of the church.

Don’t get me wrong. If I didn’t believe in what I was doing, I wouldn’t be doing it. But I can’t turn this thing into a ‘law’ and consider all who break it to be less than myself and my peers.

Furthermore, I need to be reminded that we can all fall into the trap of perpetuating some ‘thing’ rather than living in the Realty of Jesus Christ as Lord.

So, my organic brothers and sisters, take yer bitters, and take ‘em well!!

I have only touched on the surface of an all too real problem that we, as ‘the organic church’ have to wrestle with.

If were not careful we’ll end up all blown up with a head and heart full of both pride and presumption.

Take that last sentence seriously, please. We don’t want that.

“Organic.”

Jeesh. You know what? I don’t like that name. I don’t care how descriptive it is….it’s starting to feel rather denominational…..

Remember, brothers (and sisters) (but it seems to be mostly brothers)…..

We are nothing.

We are nobodies…or at least we had better hope to be.

He is everything.

He is the all in all.

For her, it should be all about Him, just as for Him it is all about her.

Grace and peace….

Yadda, yadda, yadda…

In His Love,

Your Brother johnny

Searching for a better God?

Well, it’s been a while since I’ve done any book reviewing, but I must say that this is one book that is certainly worth telling folks about.

As I’ve noted in other reviews, I’m not a ‘book reviewer’. I read and sometimes, if what I read strikes me as significant or of some importance I will share, to the best of my ability, what that significance and importance is.

I’ve never been much into ‘apologetics’, but I can see it’s place in the church.

It doesn’t hurt to have a grasp on why things are the way they are coupled with some well thought out ‘advice’ as to how to navigate through it all in conversation.

(Lord knows that I need all the advice I can get.)

Faith and reason may be two different things, but that doesn’t mean that they cannot compliment one another, amen?

In Searching for a Better God, Wade Bradshaw addresses a very common mindset which says “I’m wiser than God.”

“Common sense theology” is what it’s often referred to and is a part of what Mr. Bradshaw refers to as the New Story.

Here’s a quote taken from one of his writings on line that briefly descrbes what this New Story is all about:

The new story people increasingly tell themselves is that the God that you worship and is absolutely the ground of being, the source of purpose and meaning, what gives value to anything is his estimation of it.  People think that this God is beneath them morally.  That’s where the church is today.  It is a very difficult place to be. 

 Those who tout this perspective (and yes, I have found myself entertaing this mindset myself before) suggest that they are morally more superior than the God of the Judeo-Christian faith.

Mr. Bradshaw writes in a very down to earth, common sense fashion, skillfully and graciously handling some of the more popular (and in my opinion egotistical) arguments that run amuck in todays society.

Honestly, this book was a rather refreshing read as it brough a sharper focus in my minds eye of the God who is Good as opposed to the God who is simply relative.

Let me give you a little gem from this bag of jewels:

“We shouldn’t be surprised when a homosexual couple can be good neighbors or that a Buddhist pays his debts. Relationships with people we disagree with allow us to meet wisdom in places we may not have expected it.

In other words, the New Story is a quest for wisdom, an attempt to find the good God–but it can also be a tragic tale of folly if the goodness of God is mistaken for evil and left behind as the search move on.”

Priceless.

Pick it up.  You deserve the wisdom and the challenge.

A true saying

Okay…I have flirted with the idea of blogging again, but rest assured that I have not come to any conclusions (in spite of Christo’s encouraging comment).

Anyway what I have to share at this moment is not original to me (thank G-D!), but it was ,however, inspired by brother Timbob over at “Grace County”.

It’s a proverb. A good one.

A true one.

(Yes, I know that they are all true)

Goes like this:

Proverbs 16:6 “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”

Over and OUT!

Yep.

It’s that time……again.

I’ve been traipsing all around bloggyworld, throwing my two cents in here and there….catching up with friends, peering into the minds and hearts, and sometimes just the imaginations of various people around the world.

I’ve also tuned in a bit to the latest buzz of all the crap going on, especially between what many refer to as the “fundies” and the “Emergent Church”.

(Hey. if Paul,…or the King James translators, can say ‘dung’, then I can say “crap”, because it’s the same stinkin’ thing)

Where do I stand? I stand with with Jesus. How I relate to you, depends on how you relate to Him.
You may hate Him, and want to kill Him, …but He absolves your sins.

I want to be more like Him.

I am a believer in Christ Jesus. His faithfulness is where I put my faith, not in any religion, denomination, church, movement, organization, ‘anti-organization’, ministry, method, practice, prayer, bible, etc…….

If you have this same faith, then I consider you to be my brother or sister in Christ. If not, I DO NOT HATE YOU OR CONSIDER YOU TO BE LESS THAN ME.

I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE BETTER THAN YOU.

YOU AND I ARE THE SAME.

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE AS ALL FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD.

BUT I CANNOT AND HAVE NO REASON TO DENY THE REALITY OF EXPERIENCING THE TOUCH OF JESUS CHRIST IN MY SPIRIT, AND THE FELLOWSHIP THAT I ENJOY WITH GOD IN CHRIST, NOR THE CHANGES THAT ACTUALLY HAVE TAKEN PLACE AND CONTINUE TO TAKE PLACE IN MY HEART AND MIND, NOR THE LOVE OF GOD IN MY HEART THAT IS GROWING MORE AND MORE AS TIME GOES ON, NOR THE DISPLEASURE I TAKE IN DARKNESS, INCLUDING THE SIN WITHIN MY OWN SELF.

I HAVE NOTHING TO BOAST IN, AS I DID NOTHING TO GAIN THIS GREAT SALVATION. I ONLY BELIEVED THE TRUTH. GOD RECONCILED MAN TO HIMSELF IN JESUS THE MESSIAH AT THE CROSS. THERE HE DIED FOR OUR SINS AND THEN ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY AS THE FIRSTBORN OF NEW CREATION.

IT IS TRUE!!!

IT IS TRUE!!!

To me, this is the core of the authentic Christian faith. I think it is pretty much self explanatory.

I seriously don’t have a problem saying that.

My parting words…?

Whomever the Father calls, they go to Jesus, as He is the Door.

Those whom the Father calls know Jesus for who He is and they go ‘through’ Him to fellowship with the Father, and consequently fellowship with one another.

The Spirit is nudging me to depart from this electronic realm, so off I go.

Who knows what comes next?

Whichever way the Wind blows….

JESUS IS LORD!

Dogmatic Statement from an Emerging Fundamentalist

Over the last week or so, I’ve had probably five or six things that I’ve wanted to write about here.

Too bad I can’t remember any of them at the moment.

Instead, I’m going to write about something that is really weighing on my heart today.

But how am I going to present this?

I think I’ll try right off the top off my head and straight from the hip.

It’s a sad, sad day when those in the believing community (rather it be local or at large), consider the broken body and shed blood of Jesus Christ to be insufficient or even irrelevant to their spiritual (which is their only) lives.

This matter touches on everything from the forgiveness of sins (which some deem to be such a small, small, matter), to the entrance into and residence within the Kingdom of God (which, all of a sudden, seems to be such a huge, gigantic matter).

These two matters cannot truly be separated.

It would seem as if there is some sort of mass movement which is based upon works rather than faith, whose aim is….honestly, I don’t know what their aim is.

I suppose that it is ‘world peace” or something akin to it.

Surely it’s just a reaction to the ‘all about me’ mentality which has saturated the Christian world for so long now.

I also understand that there is a reaction coming from the ‘evangelical fundamentalists’ against the ‘emergent church’, and that one of the points of contention is this very issue of the value and purpose of the sacrificial elements of Christ on the cross.

Personally, I don’t think the ‘emergers’ actually have a unified statement of faith on this matter. I think that, at least to some degree, a ’statement of faith’ is something that the ‘emergers’ are not all that interested in.

Not yet, anyway .

I’m no expert on what the ‘emergent church’ is, but as far as I can tell, the only consistency that I see in them is the fact that they are a conversation that seems to really emphasize the teachings of Jesus.

I think that if I were to take a shot at what I thought their statement of faith was, it would center on ‘the sermon on the mount’.

I could, I suppose, systematically write out everything that I believe to be true about my relationship to and with God, and then call that a statement of faith.

That would take way too long.

Just read my blog.

There are lot’s of faith statement here.

Emergers are interested in conversation and re-thinking…, or as one brother like to say ‘re-imagining’, the Christian faith.

Personally, I think that is a healthy thing.

There must be room for free thinking and not just accepting what the so called ‘authorities’ have to say.

More importantly, there must neccesarily be freedom for the the Spirit of God to lead us into all truth while not neccesarily hanging on to every word that comes from the mouths of ‘Christianity Today’, TBN, Brian Mclaren, Dave Hunt, DayStar, SeedSowers, Thomas Nelson, Zondervan, “Brother Johnny”, Pasture Scott, Mike Morrell, the SBC, the Vatican, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc,…….

(Get the point!? )

It’s not that these brothers and sisters don’t have truth.

It’s that we also have truth in us, if were truly born of the Spirit of God.

(I’m sure some of our ‘emerging’ brothers and sisters might have a new perspective on what that means ….so…shoot if you’d like)

Some of them like to use new terms in place of older ones, like ‘framing story’ instead of ‘context’.

Hey, fine by me.

No complaints here.

Old words sometimes carry old baggage, so using new words can restore authentic or original meaning, while setting us free from distracting mental associations.

But let’s get to the point.

Original meaning.

Authenticity.

What are the ‘unchangeables’?

What are the ‘unalterables’?

Maybe these do vary from person to person.

I’ll tell you what mine are.

These are the ones that ‘make or break’ brotherhood in my book. If I am to find myself within your flock, you will certainly possess these particular feathers.

Mankind, outside of the provision made by God in Jesus Christ, is rotten to the core.

He is more than just ‘tarnished’.

He is altogether defective and beyond repair.

It takes a Miracle to make him right and true, and this miracle is the reception of the Gift of the Almighty, the ‘amen’ to the offering of the Lamb of God, the Atonement which is only in Christ, which was demonstrated at the cross of Calvary.

If you amen this, and truly mean it, then I believe that I have no problem at all calling you my Brother.

I dunno.

Maybe after reading this, you may not want to be called my brother.

You might be pipin’ hot right about now.

You know what?

I think I love you….

Yeah…

I’m pretty sure….

Yep…there is something going on inside of me that is loving you, for certain.

But you can’t do it.

You can’t be right in and of yourself.

You can talk about it, and you can pretend, that’s about it.

Oh, sure, you can do good things. You can keep rules.

You can even do ‘christian things’, but you know what? God doesn’t count those things.

Pretty bold statement, huh? Want to kill me yet?

I understand.

But you can’t please God.

Jesus Christ pleases God.

Only what Jesus Christ does pleases God.

Oh my! How narrow minded of me!!

Are you mad yet? Seriously, I’m not trying to antagonize you here, I am only speaking the truth. Someone has to turn on the Light.

Even Jesus said, “Only God is good.”

I am not a good man. You are not a good person.

So where’s your hope?

In Christ.

Are you there?

I am.

I can boast in my Lord.

What do you boast in? Think you are smart or special? Do you really think that your personality or your style can make you spotless before the Almighty?

You are nothing apart from God.

But He has made full pardon for your sins and sinfulness.

In Jesus Christ.

He was humiliated, tortured, beaten, bruised, ridiculed, and killed in your stead.

He went through hell so that you don’t have to.

Now that is a friend.

Do you have any idea how horrible of a person you are?

Even if you are not overtly ’sinful’ your superficial piety is disgusting to the One who knows all.

He sees through you.

But praise God, that Jesus Christ has made a way for you.

He became that superficial piety and that overt sinfulness, and He was then killed, taking those things to the grave.

But then, HE was raised from the dead and now He is at the right hand of the Father, and He represents His people.

He died for the sins of all, and you are a part of that all.

He has pardoned you via his broken body and shed blood.

And this is not just for you, it is for all who might recieve it.

It’s given freely….

just take it, freely.

Seriously.

Take it freely.

It’s a trade off.

All your sins, for the Love and favor of God.

Sounds too good to be true, I know…, but it’s true.

God is that good.

Maybe you have done this already. Maybe it was long ago but have since decided that you no longer need this foundation.

Hmmm.

Ever tried to pull a foundation out from under a house? What would happen to that house?

Maybe you need your foundation checked for cracks instead…

God’s goodness is always and will always be One with the person and work of Jesus Christ.

So.

Now am I a ‘fundamentalist’?

I don’t think so, but I think I understand the importance of having the fundamental things in their proper place.

So am I ‘emergent’?

Again, I don’t think so, but I understand the necessitiy of emerging beyond the neccesary and elemental aspects of our faith.

Call me what you want.

Love me or hate me, this is who I am.

Peace (or a sword?)