My mom, at almost 92, still has a sharp mind. Her detailed recollection of childhood and life events is incredible. I recently asked her if she remembered doctors making house calls. She did, and then she began telling me some of the times doctors came to her home.
House calls for doctors are a thing of the past and so it seems the same can be said about pastors. Pastors have a tendency to isolate themselves from their sheep in order to preserve personal time and family time. It’s understandable, they are overwhelmed.
We all love the story of the Good Shepherd going after his lost sheep.
What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luke 15:4-5 (NKJV)
Jesus got his feet dirty traveling around. He didn’t set up shop somewhere and expect people to visit him at his “church” once or twice a week. He became intimately involved in people’s lives. He was intensely relational, he went after lost sheep and he made house calls.
I remember a good friend I had at a large institutional church. When his daughter was born he asked me to be her godfather and I was happy to accept. As he rose in the ranks of hierarchy, he eventually became an assistant pastor. At that point the senior pastor advised him to change his phone number and not give it out to the laity. I had no way of communicating with him and that was the end of our relationship.
The church structure dictates that isolation for leadership is just the way it has to be, but it’s contrary to everything Jesus taught and modeled. My friend only lasted a few years after his appointment, he left the church completely disillusioned. I’m sure many of you would be able to share your own heartbreaking stories.
I like to ask people, who have spent years attending church, tithing and volunteering their time, if they’ve ever been invited to the Senior Pastor’s home just to hang out or even go out for coffee. I’m usually met with puzzled looks as if I asked them something inappropriate. I grew up in churches and have been on staff but I’ve never been invited to a pastors home, never ever. Doesn’t that seem strange? We pour our lives out for a church or ministry and develop only superficial relationships with the hierarchy.
Woman at the Well by Jessica Reagan
The question is then, whose pattern should we be following? Whose pattern should our pastors be following? Jesus made house calls, he got involved in people’s lives, he went after wandering sheep – does your pastor follow Christ’s example? The model of institutional church is broken, the gap between clergy and laity doesn’t lend itself to forming meaningful relationships. There must be, and there is, a more excellent way and I encourage you to search for it.
This article is from Jon Zens and discusses how the early church survived and thrived without the New Testament. If you’ve been involved in house church, you’ve most likely experienced people wanting, almost demanding to be taught the Word. I call it the “need to feed” syndrome. Some people even refer to house church as Bible study; they clearly don’t understand the purpose of the gathering. Perhaps this article will help.
The Need to Feed
If people think of a group of believers gathered together, they picture folks sitting in chairs or pews with Bibles in their laps. We need to remember, however, that when the earliest Christ-followers assembled they had no Bibles. In AD 30-50 no one can deny the amazing and unprecedented power of the Lord that was manifested as the Gospel advanced from Jerusalem into the Gentile world. Yet all of this took place without any printed Bibles. In light of this, when we consider “disciplines” we must remember that the earliest church was driven by Life– divine life that led them to abide in/rest in Jesus, to pursue Him in daily life, and to express Him to unbelievers and in fellowship with other believers. “Those who believe in Me will have rivers of living water flowing out of their innermost being” (John 7:38).
The writings the populace saw in the First Century were persons: “You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your hearts, to be known and read by everyone; and you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Cor. 3:2-3).
Without question, many of the points I will make have been stated well by others. But it might be that the Lord has enabled me – especially in the past several years – to put some pieces together in a way that will be striking and gripping to your hearts. I pray that you will be impressed by the fact that when we speak of “renewal” in the Body of Christ, it is clearly not a question of uncovering something that has been missing, but rather a matter of unleashing Christ in us, who is already there!
I have a request to make of you. I know it is impossible for us to do this in actuality, but please try to use your imagination and transport yourself into a First Century gathering of saints. There you are, most likely in the home of a more well-to-do family or brother/sister. You are surrounded by people who have come out of the town synagogue and the pagan culture – Jews and Gentiles, now part of the New Humanity Jesus created by his death and resurrection. Back then there were no churchy accoutrements, and most notably for our purposes today – no Bible.
Let’s step back for a moment and think about what led up to Christ expressing himself in unbelievable ways through ekklesias all over the known-world during the period of AD 30-70. How did the Body of Christ function in this admittedly glorious blossoming of His presence on earth?
In John 14-16 Jesus revealed to his disciples that he would be exiting the earth and returning to the Father. But he promised that he would not leave them as orphans. After his leaving he would send the Holy Spirit to dwell in them. Jesus specifically noted that the sending of the Spirit would be a coming of himself – “I am coming to you” (John 14:18). This was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost – “[Jesus] has poured out this which you see and hear” (Acts 2:33). Thus, the coming of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost was in fact the coming of Christ to dwell in his Bride.
What was the social make-up of those coming into Messiah’s community? The gap between the few wealthy and many poor was very wide. Most people in the First Century would be considered “lower class.” For sure, there was a 94% illiteracy rate in Jesus’ day – even in Judaism. As James D.G. Dunn points out, “the probability is that the great majority of Galileans, including the great majority of those who followed Jesus, were technically illiterate” (Jesus, Paul & the Gospels, p. 9; cf. p.22). When Peter and John were hauled before the Jewish officials, isn’t it remarkable that these leaders were astonished because “these two are unlettered and without expertise,” and “they recognized that Peter and John had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13).
Thus the society surrounding the early church was an oral culture. It is imperative for us to fully realize that the first believers carried out their new lives in Christ with no Bible. The brothers and sisters did not have American Bible Society New Testaments tucked in the pockets of their attire! “For five centuries,” Dunn notes, “we have been accustomed to the benefits of printing. Our minds are print-dominated. We have a literary mind-set. We think in terms of information typically conveyed in writing and by reading. We think more naturally of the reader reading as an individual than of the audience learning only by what it hears” (Jesus, Paul & the Gospels, p. 9).
Jon Zens
How, then, did the earliest brothers and sisters function without any written documents? Exactly as Christ did – by hearing from Father and following his leading. Listen to Jesus’ own words about how he lived each day:
There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him on the last day. For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say (John 12:47-50)…Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father living in me who is doing his work…If you love me, you will do what I command (14:10,15)…Jesus replied, If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me (14:23-24)…I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them (17:6-8).
We can see a basic pattern from these words as to how Christ lived out his short life on earth: listening to Father, hearing Father, seeing (perceiving) what Father is saying, speaking as he gives utterance, and doing his bidding. As the Father was to Christ, so Christ is now to us. We listen to and hear from Christ which results in revelation (seeing), and then we speak and do his pleasure.
The early believers had no Bible, but they had that which was most important – Christ in them by the Holy Spirit. Can you contemplate living your daily life in Christ without a Bible? Yet that was the reality in the First Century when it cannot be denied that the most unprecedented growth and expression in the ekklesias occurred. The early church was not text-driven, but Life-driven – believers were living letters expressing the Christ in them by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 3).
Without any Bibles, what would a group of believers in the First Century share and talk about with each other? The answer is simple – Christ! Recall John’s amazing summary remarks about what our Lord did on while on earth: “And many other signs indeed did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book…And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if every one of them was written down, I would imagine that even the world itself could not contain the books that would need to be written” (John 20:30; 21:25).
James Dunn comments on the development of how Jesus came to be the “talk of the town,” so to speak:
Jesus’ teaching was given orally; it began orally…We can safely assume that the news about Jesus was initially passed around orally. The stories about Jesus would no doubt have been the subject of many a conversation in bazaars and around campfires. The disciples of Jesus no doubt spoke about what they had seen Jesus do, and about his teaching. This would have been the beginning of the Jesus tradition. It would be celebrated and meditated on in groups of his followers in oral terms (Jesus, Paul & the Gospels, p. 23).
In light of the vast, infinite person of Christ unveiled in Colossians 1:13-20, and the inexhaustible life that he fulfilled on earth, how could the saints ever run out of praise, adoration – and any other type of content – concerning their dear Savior, Redeemer and Husband? Also, of course, there were believers who came from synagogue backgrounds who could talk about Jesus from what they had heard every Sabbath from Moses and the prophets.
Here is an important fact that few have pondered: The first letter from Paul to an ekklesia occurred around AD 50 – the book of Galatians. That’s about twenty years after the Day of Pentecost. Look at all the wondrous work the Lord did in building his ekklesias for about twenty years without any New Covenant writings! Of course, problems surfaced as time elapsed and letters were written to respond to the needs. These were read to an assembly, and perhaps passed on to other ekklesias.
Have you ever thought about the fact that there were very likely ekklesias that never received a letter from an apostle, and may have never, or rarely, heard epistles to other groups read to them?
How much of what we call the “New Testament” did believers living in AD 65 ever hear read aloud in a gathering, or hear about from other saints? Is it not highly probable that a majority of Christ-followers between the years AD 50 to AD 70 had never heard of or knew about many of the twenty-seven writings we designate as the “New Testament”?
Let’s consider one huge implication that flows out of the previous paragraph. 1 Timothy was written around AD 62-63. This letter was written to a specific person, not an assembly. Obviously, Timothy would then process Paul’s concerns with reference to the ekklesia in Ephesus. Now how many believers between AD 62 to AD 100 would have even known about the existence of 1 Timothy 2:11-12 – verses that in subsequent post-apostolic times were used to marginalize women? We perhaps assume that the entire early church was somewhat familiar with the “New Testament” writings, but that simply was not the case.
Where Were the Written Documents?
Until AD 50 the only written scriptures were the scrolls of the “Old Testament.” These scrolls were kept in the synagogues and controlled by the Jewish hierarchy. The Jewish rank-and-file knew of Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets orally. “Their knowledge of the Torah did not come from personal copies which each had, as would be the case today…For the great majority, Torah knowledge came from hearing it read to them by the minority who could read, Sabbath by Sabbath in the synagogue” (Dunn, Jesus, Paul & the Gospels, p. 23).
A rare exception can be seen in Acts 8:26-35. The Ethiopian eunuch was returning home from Jerusalem, and was reading out loud from some scrolls from Isaiah. He, as the treasurer for Kandake, was a wealthy man and was somehow able to purchase all or part of Isaiah. But such a luxury was far out of reach for the average person.
It is very possible that all of the New Testament was written before the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 (cf. John A.T. Robinson, Redating the New Testament, Wipf & Stock, 2001, 384 pp.).
From roughly AD 250 onwards copies of the NT documents were in the hands of the bishops and the developing church hierarchy that became the Roman Catholic Church. Just as in First Century Judaism when the OT scrolls were controlled by the synagogue leaders, so in post-apostolic times the NT documents were controlled by the clergy. In both contexts the “laypeople” had virtually no access to the written documents.
Jerome translated the Bible into Latin in the late Fourth Century. This translation was “the Bible” until the 1500’s. Illiteracy was still very high, of course, from AD 400 to AD 1500, so the scriptures still were in the possession of the church hierarchy.
With the invention of the printing press, however, the Bible began to be translated into other languages. Luther did a German translation. Wycliffe and Tyndale did English translations. Some possibility emerged for the common people to read the Scriptures for themselves, but to “own” a Bible was still a luxury few could enjoy. (Cf., F.F. Bruce, History of the Bible in English).
Concluding Thoughts
One New Testament scholar, Carl Cosaert, makes the claim that “the early church was a ‘text’ driven religion and that fact should be noted” (“The Reliability of the New Testament Scriptures,” Part 2, Ministry, November, 2011, p. 23). In light of our survey of certain First Century realities in the early church period of AD 30-70, I do not understand how he can make that claim. As far as I can tell, the early church was Christ-driven. It was the indwelling life of Christ in believers that accounts for the vibrancy of the first generation saints. In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul affirms that believers are the living letters that are “known and read by all people…having been inscribed not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not in stone tablets, but in fleshy tablets of beating hearts” (vv. 2-3).
It has long been the case that outward Christianity was identified as a “religion of the Book.” But that was certainly not the case in the First Century. Can we begin to grasp the fact that during the period of AD 30-70 when Christ’s ekklesias burst into life all over the Roman Empire, the only explanation for their unparalleled vitality was that Christ’s life-giving ministry was continuing through his Body on earth, not that they were glued to “the Bible” – which simply did not exist at that time. Lloyd Gardner notes in this regard:
With this explosive beginning to the church, one hears no mention of several things. There was no church building, no pastor, no organized meetings, no worship team, no sermons and no statements of doctrine, no evangelism programs, bulletins or order of worship…They were walking together in the glorious light of the resurrected Christ who was alive in them and in their midst (The Heresy of Diotrephes, Eleizer Call Ministries, 2007, pp. 168-169).
In the providence of God, Bibles are now plentiful for many people in the world. We are free to ask the Lord to reveal Jesus to us as we read and meditate in all the Scriptures. But we need to soberly remember that the vast majority of believers since the Day of Pentecost have been without personal Bibles. How did they make it through life? The only answer is that Christ was in them and the Holy Spirit took the things of Christ and disclosed them to His people all over the earth.
I would encourage us to consciously focus on Christ in our use of the Bible and that our seeking of the Lord would result in relationships with unbelievers and fellow believers. One central thing our study of Scripture should reveal to us is that we need community – “exhort one another daily lest you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). For example, when we reflect on Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 5-7, we all feel our inability to measure up. But the “difficulty” of His teachings are intended to show us that we need others in our lives. Stanley Hauerwas astutely pointed out:
To live in the manner described in [Matt. 5-7] requires learning to trust in others to help me so live. In other words, the object of [Matt. 5-7] is to create dependence; it is to force us to need one another. All the so-called hard sayings…are designed to remind us that we cannot live without depending on the support and trust of others…All of these [hard sayings] are surely impossible for isolated individuals (Unleashing the Scripture, Abington Press, 1993, pp. 64, 69, 70).
The Scriptures are meant to be contemplated and acted upon in the context of discipleship in the believing community.
Is it possible that we lean too much on methods and programs in hopes of seeing the Spirit’s power, when the early church experienced such power without all the religious resources at our disposal? Philip Yancey asked in 2004, “Why, with no apparent resources, do Chinese churches thrive?” He went on to say, “In the 1970’s an underground house church movement sprang up as if by spontaneous generation . . . . Before going to China I met with one of the missionaries who had been expelled in 1950. He said, ‘We felt so sorry for the church we left behind…They had no one to teach them, no printing presses, no seminaries, no one to run their clinics and orphanages. No resources, really, except the Holy Spirit.’ It appears the Holy Spirit is doing just fine” (“Discreet and Dynamic,” Christianity Today, July, 2004, 48:7, p. 72).
Jesus assured the precious lady at the well that it was not about special places, temples, days and times, but about genuine worship of the Lord in Spirit and Truth (John 4:20-24). Or, as Paul put it, “You have the Spirit, now walk in the Spirit…I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 5:25; 2:20).
I’ve just had a physical exam and the doctor gave me a clean bill of health. I’ve had some medical issues in the past, but at 65 I’m trying my best to eat healthy and get regular exercise. Unfortunately one of my medications increases the number of my red blood cells. The doctor has ordered a therapeutic blood draw every three months to avoid complications.
Vitalant Blood Donation – Be a Hero
Before the doctor’s order, I never donated blood. Maybe I was scared? Now I go every three months and feel like a hero! Please consider giving blood and if you currently do, thank you. The one problem I have giving blood is that “I’m a hard stick”. My veins are deep and they roll. Yesterday, I gave blood but three people had to work on getting my blood to flow. From all that poking, I developed a hematoma, a small amount of blood that pooled under my skin resembling a bruise.
When they were finished collecting my blood, I started to feel flush. They elevated my feet, made me wiggle them, put a few ice packs on me and gave me some water and pretzels. It’s a bit embarrassing but it has happened before, I knew the signs and told them immediately and in a few minutes I was back to normal.
Knowing the signs and getting quick help is important. You would think, as a mature Christ follower, I would recognize the signs of a spiritual attack and ask for help right away. There is definitely a difference between feeling depressed, anxious or upset about something and an attack that is directed at you from an “outside source” that seemingly comes out of nowhere. Maybe you have experienced this also.
Last Sunday, I experienced a spiritual attack. I didn’t ask for help, I’m not sure why. I should have known better. Perhaps I wanted to pretend that I had it all together, or I didn’t want anyone to know that I’m less than perfect? In the past I prided myself in being like the rock of Gibraltar, just me and God, nobody else needed thank you. Now I cherish relationships with others.
Me, Laurie and Rich
The next morning I received a text from my friends Rich and Laurie. They were having their morning devotions and they felt led to pray for me. It made a big difference. I wish I had contacted them right away the night before. Next time, when I’m beginning to feel spiritually flush, I’ll let my friends know that I need some “ice packs”. Oft times we need the help of others, especially those who know how to pray. It doesn’t matter if it’s a spiritual attack or just something I need to deal with, it’s better to have the help of friends.
This powerful message is the second excerpt from the book unchurching by Ricard Jacobson.
Maybe the reason we do not recognize the true cost of today’s church model is because when we turn the church into an organization, we start to think like an organization-we begin measuring success in worldly terms, not spiritual terms. The standard of success becomes the size of our church budget, the scale of our next building project, and the number of people in the pews. However, Jesus used a completely different standard for measuring his own success.
At the height of his popularity when he walked the earth, Jesus had a following that would make even today’s megachurch pastors envious. But due to his controversial teaching, many disciples eventually deserted him (John 6:66). However, as Jesus was praying to the Father right before his death, he made a couple of truly mind-blowing statements about his own ministry. In John 17:4 he said:
I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do (NIV).
This means Jesus knew he was successful in his mission, despite popular opinion. So, how did he measure his success? He told us plainly in John 17:12:
None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that scripture would be fulfilled (NIV).
Except for Judas who was destined to betray him, Jesus claimed, “none has been lost.”Think about this for a moment. Jesus lost many disciples, possibly thousands. In terms of profits and losses, Jesus was clearly in the red. So how could he claim, “none has been lost?” Apparently, he did not consider himself responsible for the crowds; he only considered himself responsible for the Twelve. Though he ministered to everyone, the Twelve were specifically given to him by God. He even said as much in John 17:6:
I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word (NIV).
Earlier, we discussed how Jesus made it his main priority to invest in his disciples. And now we see that he actually evaluated his entire success on how well he completed this single task.
This raises an interesting question: since Jesus is our example in all things, is this the same pattern we are supposed to follow? Is it possible God will judge the success of our ministries, not by impressive numbers, but by specific names? Does he entrust us with certain people and, even though we might minister to others, are those specific people our primary mission on this planet?
If so, what does it mean if we pursue the crowds at the expense of those with whom we were entrusted? We know the Good Shepherd is willing to leave the ninety-nine to go after the one (Matthew 18:12-14). But what happens if we leave one behind in our quest to gain ninety-nine more? Is it possible we might stand before God one day, boasting about our big ministries, saying “Lord, look at all these people I brought you,” only to have him reply, “That’s great. But what happened to the ones I gave you?”
Below is an excerpt from a chapter entitled A Church of Spectators. Reading this reminded me of Isaiah 1:18 where it says “Come now, let us reason together”. Enjoy!
For 1700 years the traditional church as a whole has become filled with spectator Christians, people who do nothing more than sit and watch, sing songs, listen to sermons and give in the offering and sit some more.
In other words, the Church as a whole has become passive, inert, ineffective and inept. That is what the one man rule within the Church has caused.
Satan has also for 1700 years paralyzed the church by making the believers watchers of ministry rather than doers of ministry. The result has been weak, selfish, baby Christians, who if they don’t get their way can run off to another church and sit there and watch.
I myself can’t just sit and watch someone else minister to people year after year and not get involved myself. I know I have been called and I know there is something for me to do and I know that daily there are many opportunities for me to be used by God.
I cannot be a spectator. If the opportunities are not in the big church setting or I am not approved by man in their system, I still have a job to do for God. Whether this book accomplishes what I hope or not, I still have been given the task of writing it and believing God for what He does with it.
I refuse to be a spectator on the sidelines, watching someone else, sitting idle and refusing to get involved. My goal is to be actively involved in ministry until someone carries me to my final resting place.
With all of the sermons that we hear and all of the lessons etc., what are we suppose to do with that? Is it all just for our own comfort? Is it there so we can stroke our own conscience and feel good about ourselves? Or are we supposed to actually do something with what we’ve learned? When I hear a message from the Word of God, I think of how I can apply it in my life. What is the life lesson and how can someone else benefit from this lesson?
Christianity is not a spectator event, Ephesians4:11-16. It is not only there for our comfort. It is who we are and what we are. Our Christian lives are to be lived out and shared with others. We, the body of Christ, are all ministers of the Gospel. Jesus commanded us to “Go and make disciples.”
I feel that spectator Christianity is a crime against the Kingdom of God because IF YOU’RE NOT TAKING GROUND FOR GOD YOU MUST BE HOLDING GROUND FOR THE DEVIL. Being a sitter in the Church is ultra boring to me. Why even go to church if there is nothing to contribute or share.
I am a part of the Body of Christ, a minister of the Word of God, not a piece of furniture. If I can’t contribute or if I am not allowed to, I go my way to where my gifts are celebrated and used. I know there are people who prefer to sit and do nothing, but I also know people who hunger for the day when their ministry will be recognized. God recognizes your ministry, He gave it to you.
Shame on the pastors who perpetuate the one man, professionals only type church. You are actually standing in the way of God’s plan and purposes.
You as pastor say you want more people to get involved in the church, then why don’t you recognize them for who they are, ministers of God and your spiritual equal.
The pastor actually creates the spectator problem, with the governmental system they operate in. There is no room for ministry, except for the professionals. It’s a contradictory and counterproductive system.
If you want to sit up here on the platform in these nice embroidered chairs, you go to college and seminary, get your degree, a license and ordination then we’ll give you permission to speak. No wonder people sit there and do nothing. Tell me what does a license or ordination and all that stuff have to do with receiving a revelation from God? What does it have to do with having a burden for lost souls or teaching?
Peter, James, and John didn’t get a certificate before they were qualified to preach the Gospel. Neither did Barnabas, or Silas or even Jesus for that matter. The Pharisees considered Jesus and the disciples as unlearned men and questioned them by what authority they did what they did. But they couldn’t question the power.
Only Paul comes closest to the scenario of possessing man-made qualifications. He was a Pharisee and highly educated in men’s traditions yet after finding the Lord in his life he considered those things to be of less value and nothing but dung compared to the spirit of God.
If God told you to start a Bible study in your home, then start it. If you get a blessing from the leadership, fine. If not, start it anyway. You must follow what God has told you to do over that of man. Also remember that the professionals don’t have all the answers and they are not perfect. Brother and sister; get out of your seats or pews and do what God has called you to do. Don’t wait for permission from men. You might be waiting a very long time.
One last thing, you recall that when Jesus was crucified that the veil was torn in two. That means God has given us all access to Him, not only concerning prayer but also ministry. Don’t allow a pastor, or staff member or anyone else to get between you and your ministry. In Jesus’ time it was the priesthood and the Pharisees. Today it’s pastors and other leadership in the church.
Go ahead and step through that invisible barrier into your own priesthood with boldness, knowing you are highly favored of the Lord and have His approval, regardless of what man says.
The excerpt below is entitled Raising Veal from unchurching by Richard Jacobson. Richard’s website is no longer active but you can still access his podcasts by going here. This book has some great points but the overall flow seemed a bit disjointed.
It was the Romans who eventually institutionalized the church, starting in the early 300’s. Previously, believers had only known church gatherings where each person participated in the meetings, where everyone was encouraged to bring a hymn, or a teaching, or a personal revelation, and so on. Clearly, the Romans had a very different vision for the church. And the moment Rome embraced Christianity as its national religion, they began implementing that vision.
The Romans had a great respect for oratory, the art of public speaking. This is why the layout of the new Roman church buildings made it clear the congregation was now an audience, expected to listen to lectures. One of the first things the Romans did to institutionalize the church was hire eloquent orators to serve as church priests. Employing such skilled, professional speakers helped elevate the role of priests far above their fellow church members.
Further levels of separation between these professional priests and their congregations were introduced through the addition of official robes and rituals. Over time, unbiblical words like “clergy” and “laity” entered the vocabulary of the church and solidified the divide. Likewise, special requirements for ordination were introduced and seminaries were formed. Eventually, any vision for church gatherings where every member exercised his or her calling as a fellow priest was lost and forgotten.
Many of today’s churches have maintained this trajectory and fully embraced a model in which church members get spiritually fed without ever exercising their calling as fellow priests. But how long can church members be spiritually spoon-fed before they develop a dependency? Developing this kind of dependency is known as becoming institutionalized. In the movie The Shawshank Redemption, an inmate named Red explains how, over time, prisoners become institutionalized:
“These walls are funny. First you hate ’em, then you get used to ’em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That’s institutionalized.”
Today’s churchgoers enjoy sermons with PowerPoint slides, Sunday School lessons on whiteboards, Children’s Church, Bible studies, book studies, podcasts, and more. But what good is all this spiritual education unless it results in genuine spiritual formation? The Body of Christ doesn’t simply need to eat; it needs to exercise.
1 Corinthians 14:26 tells us we build up the Body of Christ whenever we allow each member to participate in the meetings by instructing others or by bringing hymns or sharing personal revelations, etc..’ ‘This is a completely different picture of church from passively listening to lectures from a handful of professional Christians.
So, what happens to a church when most of its members get spiritually fed without having the opportunity to exercise their true calling? Rather than shepherding sheep, this sounds more like raising veal.
If you are unfamiliar with the process, it looks something like this: a young calf is placed in a box. The purpose of the box is to keep the calf immobile, never allowing it to build up muscle. This ensures the calf will eventually make for tender, tasty veal. From then on, the calf is constantly fed but never allowed to exercise. Over time, it grows fat and weak. Eventually, it won’t even be able to survive outside its box.
Much like the veal calf, many of today’s churchgoers spend their entire spiritual lives inside of church boxes, both literally and figuratively. This might be the best way to develop strong institutions, but is it the best way to develop strong individuals? In our pursuit of numerical growth, are we sacrificing spiritual growth? In such a consumer-focused culture, maybe we need to be reminded of how Jesus measured the success of his own ministry.
Next month I will be traveling to the beautiful country of Tanzania. This will be my second trip. During my first trip I was accompanied by my friend Lee who had been there previously. Traveling with someone who knows how to get around was a great anxiety reliever and made my time there enjoyable.
I had that same sense when reading this book. Wayne Jacobsen feels like a loving guide who’s been there before and is trying to help navigate our journey to find true church. You can tell he has scars from past experiences but there’s no sense of bitterness in his words. This is a great travel guide and I would highly recommend this book if you want to have a truly enjoyable time on your journey. An excerpt follows. You can find more information and free resources at www.lifestream.org.
Finding a traditional congregation isn’t any more difficult than finding a McDonald’s hamburger. They are everywhere and they are not subtle about it, with ever-taller steeples and bell towers that intrude into the cityscape. But what do you do if you no longer fit into those conformity-based structures? How do you find the church Jesus is building if there’s no sign on the door?
I never foresaw the day when I’d no longer be an active member of a local congregation and getting here hasn’t been easy. As much as I respect those who still find it an important part of their spiritual life, it is no longer an important part of mine. Both of the congregations I was part of in my adult years hit a glass ceiling where the institutional needs came in conflict with the life of Jesus I was seeking. I wasn’t ready to give up on the desire to participate in his church as a vibrant community of friends cooperating with God’s unfolding work in the world, and I discovered that I could have a more fruitful connection with people and share Jesus’ life more freely without all the accoutrements, political intrigue, and routine that our institutions force on fellowship.
Most people who leave end up doing what I did, looking for another group to fill the Sunday morning void and the friendships they lost by leaving. During the last couple of decades, many have found their way into home groups and other more informal gatherings. When they come together to give rise to a community of friends sharing the life of Jesus and his heart for those around them, they can be wonderful places for the church to find expression. A home or sharing a meal is the most natural environment for us to experience his family as we focus on him and his work in us, rather than the meeting.
Unfortunately, however, an entire industry has emerged in trying to make them just another system. Sometimes called house church, simple church, or organic church, books and articles tout them as the model most consistent with the first-century church. These groups meet weekly in a home often beginning with a meal and then sharing a similar ritual to many congregations with a mix of songs, Bible study, prayer, and planning activities. While such gatherings offer the potential for a deeper relational connection, however, it doesn’t always pan out that way.
I’ve been in home groups that had more hoops to jump through than many congregations. One even had rows of folding chairs with an aisle down the middle and a lectern and piano in front of a lighted cross on the wall. House church, indeed! While most aren’t like that, it did serve as a metaphor for the many house churches that use the same dynamics of conformity to control people. Control in a small group is even more destructive. Just because people gather in smaller groups and meet in homes doesn’t make them immune from the concerns expressed in the last chapter about more traditional congregations. House churches, too, can practice religious performance and miss out on life in Christ, be captive to insecure leaders, and copy a model instead of following the Master to end up just as much an expression of human effort.
In hopes of creating an international movement a lot of time and money has been invested in refining the program, identifying spokespeople, and hosting conventions in hopes of spreading a house church model as an end-time hope to revitalize the church. As much as I have enjoyed and love the people I’ve met in that conversation, I’m afraid they are falling into the same traps that originally drove them to house church. I’ve watched these people compete for visibility and influence, push their pet programs and books, and try to build a leadership-dependent infrastructure.
The problem is not the venue; it is our preoccupation with anything other than him. Any time we try to replicate a human system, it will eventually lead people away from the new creation. Even things that start out with a lot of grace and freedom quickly become pressure-filled with obligations and expectations. Real relationships don’t need them, and utilizing them rarely fixes the problem. As with any other expression of the church, enjoy it as long as it expresses his kingdom and give it a wide berth when it no longer does.
“We’ve stopped going to church and are going to start something in our home this week. Can you give us any tips as to what we might do and what we might want to avoid?” I get that email almost every week. My counsel is always the same: Avoid starting something. Once you start some “thing” your focus will shift from connecting with people to ensuring that the “thing” goes well. Home groups, with a nucleus of people who are looking for something different, are easy to start but they are difficult to sustain when the focus is on a meeting. People will eventually grow bored with house meetings but they won’t grow bored with one another if friendship is engaged.
You will find the church easiest when you stop looking for an “it,” and simply love the people God has put around you. Start with growing friendships instead of trying to find a group to join. It was no accident that the church began at Pentecost without any strategy or preconceived notion of what it would look like. They weren’t told to start Sunday services or have midweek home groups. They simply did what their new experience with the Gospel and their engagement with his Spirit led them to do. Learn to follow him and then engage others around you with the reality of his kingdom and watch how that bears fruit.
My friend Craig has become a huge fan of the GCU (Grand Canyon University) Men’s Volleyball team here in Arizona. At this writing they are ranked in the top five in the nation with a record of 20-3. His passion for the team overflows and affects us all. Some of us in the group have even gone with Craig to the stadium and cheered his team on.
Craig has a special connection to volleyball. In high school he participated in soccer but was released from the team. While biking in the neighborhood he saw a few of his friends playing volleyball. When they needed an extra person Craig jumped in. That same year, 1988, his junior year, his high school started a volleyball team, which Craig joined. The Royal High School Highlanders in Simi Valley, CA went on to the playoffs their first year and Craig was an instrumental part in their success. The following year Craig was named a Co-MVP as the Highlanders set a league record.
Craig was Royal High School’s First Division 1 men’s volleyball recruit and went on to play for San Diego State. Recently, Craig and his wife Rachel returned to California where he was inducted into the Royal Volleyball Hall of Fame. We are all proud of our friend.
While we can spend a couple hours watching teams battle, we will never have Craig’s insight into what and why things are happening, unless you’ve been on a team yourself. We will never understand fully the training the players have to go through, the coaching, and the strategy of the game. We may not appreciate the time it takes the team to watch films of the opposition and discuss their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses. And then there are hours spent practicing, traveling, diets and lifestyle changes needed all to be part of a team that is dedicated to winning. We can sit there, watch and complain that someone served the ball into the net, hit a ball out of bounds or missed a block, but we will never understand what it feels like to be on the court.
So you know what’s coming next – my comparison of Craig’s journey to our spiritual journey. You can write this part yourself – the encouragement to get in the game, get off the sidelines, stop being a fan of Jesus, and become a participant. Practice hard, train hard, watch our spiritual food, and be aware of the enemy’s tactics. Nothing new here, but I wanted to share my friend’s story and encourage you that it’s well worth the effort to participate.
Hebrews 11 is such a powerful chapter, it’s sobering but I encourage you to read it. The faith of the patriarchs and the suffering of the saints all before Jesus came on the scene. In Chapter 12 it says…
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV
Yes we have people cheering us on, the saints are watching, we should be encouraged and strengthened in our faith. The cloud of witnesses understand the struggle because they were directly involved themselves. It’s ok to be a fan, but we will have time for that later. Let’s get in the game while we still have the opportunity.
A friend sent me a link to A Natural New Testament translated by Frank Daniels and originally released in 1995. I have included some of his commentary and some comparative scripture. As far as I can tell, this is not in print form but is only available on-line. If there is a print version please contact me. You can go to this link and scroll down on the page to A Natural New Testament.
The present translation intends to discover the authors’ intent in writing their narratives, letters, and expositions – and to make these more apparent in English. Consequently, certain terms that are normally left untranslated (or translated into Latin) appear translated in this edition. “Christ” is rendered “Anointed One,” and whenever the reader passes over the term, it ought to convey the full force of the Messiah that had been promised to the Jews. There are no apostles, angels, deacons or ministers, bishops, devils, demons, or preachers in this edition; rather, the reader will find envoys (people who are sent out as representatives), messengers, servants, overseers, accusers, spirit beings, and heralds. The term “church” has also been dropped in favor of “assembly,” which is the meaning of the Greek word. Here, this translator has followed certain former translators who refused to retain the “old ecclesiastical words.”
It is this translator’s effort to provide a translation as free of tradition as possible, in the hopes that this will bring the reader closer to the paradigm of the original followers of Jesus. And while every translator or group of translators believes that their own translation is most accurate, one thing must be noted:
This is a translation into English of a set of documents that were written over 1900 years ago in Greek. In many cases, Greek was a second language to the authors, who existed under entirely different conditions than we do today. While they saw clearly what were their own customs and patterns of thought, we today often have trouble distinguishing between the intent of the author and our own preconceived notions. Therefore, we must carefully distinguish between our own opinions and the facts. Every translation follows the opinions of the translators and is therefore an opinion. This is a translation, an opinion, a mere human viewpoint of an ordinary human being. The value of this translation rests not in its authoritative nature but in the examination of the different paradigm which it may be found to contain.
Frank Daniels, A Natural New Testament
The following comparison is from Ephesians 4.
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.
New King James Version
And indeed, he gave the envoys, and the prophets, and the good messengers, and the shepherds and teachers, for the restoration of the holy ones to the point of work of service, for the construction of the Anointed One’s body, until all of us should reach the point of the unity of the faith and the recognition of God’s son – until we should reach a measure of stature of the fullness of the Anointed One, so that we would no longer be babies, being carried about by every wind of teaching (in the trickery of human beings, in craftiness) to the system of deceit. But, being truthful in love, we should grow up into him in all things. He is the head, the Anointed One, from whom all the body is made to grow to the point of its construction in love – being firmly joined and knit together through every supplying ligament, according to the working (in measure) of every single part.
This is the third excerpt from Milt Rodriguez’s book The Community Life of God. You can find the links to the other excerpts here. I have done some slight editing to this excerpt.
“Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers.” Rom. 8:29
Today, we hear a lot about being like Jesus. Preachers, and consequently believers, talk about Christ-likeness. As individual believers we are told that this is our goal: to be like Christ.
Actually, this is what most “discipleship” programs are all about. We are here to “make disciples,” whatever that means. After all, it’s part of the “great commission” (Matt. 28: 19, 20) to make disciples. We have interpreted this to mean that we are supposed to take individual believers and help them to be like Christ. Usually we do this by teaching them doctrine, how to study the Bible, how to “pray,” how to serve God on the mission field, and basically how to be a good Christian.
But where in the scripture does it talk about becoming like Christ? Where did we get this idea? The only thing that I can see is the passages that deal with being conformed to His image. Perhaps we have paraphrased that to be “becoming like Christ.” If that is so, and I believe it is, then we must look at the context of each of those passages. In what context are we to be conformed to His image?
If you read the passages that have to do with being conformed to His image, you will quickly see that the context is always corporate (Rom. 8:28-20; Rom. 12: 1-5; II Cor. 3:18; Col. 3:10, 11). It is we who are being conformed to His image. It is us together, the Body, that is to look like Him. You can never be like Jesus. But She can! I am referring to that beautiful woman, the bride of Christ, who is destined to be His wife (Rev. 21:9).
If you will read the scriptures carefully, especially the New Testament, from this perspective, it will become a new book to you. You will begin to see the proper perspective for the testimony. Things will make more sense when you read it with the “corporate view.” That’s because God’s image is community. So, naturally, the process of being conformed to that image must be communal.
The fact is that we are already one. We are in Christ and He is in us. This makes us one (John 17:22, 23). How could we all be “in Christ” and yet not be one? The problem is not our oneness, the problem is the practical expression of that oneness. That comes through us walking it out together day by day. That comes through us developing a “body consciousness.”
It comes through a revelation of the corporate nature of the church. It comes through developing a lifestyle of community and not one of individualism and independence. And it comes by us sharing our lives with one another and taking care of one another. In a word, this is family, but family in the true sense of the word. Not family as we have seen it in this world, but family as a genuine expression of the community life of God.
Being conformed to His image (or becoming like Christ) is a corporate matter. We are transformed together by the renewing of our minds (Rom. 12:1-5). This renewal happens because we are learning to think as a body instead of just a bunch of individuals. We are “learning” Christ. We are learning and experiencing the oneness of the Head and Body. We are learning to think and function as the One New Man (see Col. 3:9-11).
This is true discipleship. It’s not a matter of being placed into a program of individual training of Bible study, prayer evangelism, and character development. Rather, it is the life transformation process of being practically conformed into His image. This is the outflowing of His community life. It is the fleshing out of the fellowship of the Godhead.
Therefore, I can only conclude from this that all true “discipleship” happens in a corporate context. We learn together how to live by Christ. This is something that we all learn in the daily fires of organic church life.
