“Harvest Could Never Happen At Our Church”

 

Harvest Bible Chapel Elgin Campus

It’s easy to sit back and self-righteously congratulate ourselves on not attending a megachurch with a megalomaniacal pastor. If your weekly attendance runs 200, or 400 weekly and your pastor is a grandfatherly type trying to build God’s Kingdom and not a personal empire, it’s somewhat comforting to be able to relax and say, ‘That could never happen here.’

Harvest Bible Chapel – Elgin campus

But I would argue that on closer observation it can, and possibly does.

In the last six months, we’ve seen people at various levels of leadership at Harvest defend the institution and its pastor or both. While at least one former Harvest elder has stepped forward and apologized, there are no doubt others who will want to defend its decision-making processes, past and present.

I would suggest that this practice of putting spin on things is alive and well in many of our congregations. People get hurt because leaders have some agenda probably contrary to God’s, but are able to make it seem somehow correct and appropriate for the situation at hand.

A few days ago I re-ran something that Ruth wrote in which a church which is always telling people to know and employ their spiritual gifts pulled her aside and told her that this somehow didn’t apply to her and gave her a cease-and-desist order because she dared to demonstrate pastoral compassion in the face of a situation facing a particular family that a new pastor could not have articulated.

Years later, she asked if she could have a reprise of her former worship leadership role, not regularly, but just for a single Sunday; as an opportunity for healing all round. The elder she met with concocted the most foolish of all reasons for saying no, simply because otherwise he had no grounds for so doing. “We don’t have guest worship leaders.” Again, I gave opportunity for her to explain how this was both insulting to her and the congregation.

In my mind, it was a case of spiritual abuse; an example of an elder putting spin on a situation.

And guess what? Not three weeks later, they had a guest worship leader; a recording artist whose commercial success gave him a pass on their unofficial rule. In a postscript to her article, I wrote,

“At the center of this was one particular individual who is otherwise greatly admired and respected by the people of that church. In hindsight what he did at that meeting at night constituted spiritual abuse, not to mention certain aspects where we now know he was lying through his teeth. He continues in a leadership role that leaves me totally mystified.”

In her case, the woundedness was overshadowed by ministry opportunities elsewhere. The Bible states that a person’s gift will make a way for them. Just this weekend, I saw those gifts affirmed in her life on a level which is unprecedented. But the Harvest situation reminded me of the lengths that some in leadership will go to in order to fulfill a role they believe God gave them to keep things orderly. That reminded me of another article I wrote where I asked the questions below.

1. How long does a person attend your church before they are considered for service?

2. When someone who was a former member of your church returns, does their past experience count for anything?

3. Is someone who has only been part of a church for a short time truly fit to reprimand, discipline or judge someone whose history with that church goes back several decades?

4. Are the elders in your church really Biblically qualified to be called “elder,” or were they chosen by some other standard?

5. What about Church leaders who will look you right in the eye and lie through their teeth? Is that ever justified?

6. Is the elders’ board of a church even truly where the heart of ministry is taking place? Or even in touch with the real ministry happening?

7. Do people in your church get hurt or wounded or abused?

8. Can a church leader be doing “the Lord’s work” and at the same time be about “the Devil’s business?”

9. Why do we keep coming back?

10. Is it possible that it’s just time to step aside and let another generation have their turn?

Remember, I wrote this in a small-town context and long before we had the colossal present-day failures involving churches pastored by Perry Noble, Tullian Tchividijan, Mark Driscoll or James MacDonald. But the presence of spin is identical in both, until you reach the point where you just can’t keep pretending.

Unfortunately my wife never got to see such vindication in terms of that church, but was able to find it elsewhere.

 

Wednesday Link List

Our pastor drew this on Sunday morning. Any guesses? I know it cleared up everything for me.

It appears that all my news gathering algorithms were no match for the slow news cycle of a Memorial Day weekend. Nonetheless, we have a great list for you, but our deal with PARSE is that you need to click through to their site and then select the story you want to see. Click anything below to link.

• Worship leaders of all makes and models convened at Calvin College last week to sort out the music of the last six decades.
• Joyce Meyer, Joel Osteen and T. D. Jakes were among the authors caught in last week’s showdown between Hachette Book Group and Amazon.
• Richard Dawkins: “I would describe myself as a secular Christian in the same sense as secular Jews have a feeling for nostalgia and ceremonies.” The author was presenting the first volume of his memoirs and made the remark in response to a comment from an American minister.
• Interview of the Week (1): How important is reading to the development of spiritual life? Can you be illiterate and be a faithful Christian?
• Interview of the Week (2): The InterVarsity Fall 2014 Catalog is remarkable for its omission of authors of color.
• Last week an opinionated blogger suggested that the meditation practice known as Lectio Divina was “dangerous.” Here is an informed response.
• Did a church experience leave you or someone you know abused or burned out? They could be suffering from Post Traumatic Church Syndrome or PTCS.
• Clobber Verses Department: A rather good attempt at balance in the Leviticus prohibition against homosexuality.
• Essay of the Week (1): Despite their preponderance online, the New Calvinism movement must contend with some serious problems.
• Essay of the Week (2): When navigating your church through times of transition, there is a big difference between change and transformation.
• Essay of the Week (3): The honest, painful story of a couple who made the decision to terminate a pregnancy.
• Despite losing two sons in an Arkansas tornado, a mother affirms the goodness of God.
• If rush hour commuters are taking a short cut through your church parking lot anyway, why not install a prayer box?
• Apologetics Alley: When people you know are hung up on alleged Bible contradictions, here are ten principles to keep in mind when formulating your response.
• After years of silence followed by coming out gay, singer Jennifer Knapp is telling her story in a book releasing through Howard Publishing.
• The cover story of a UK Evangelical magazine proclaims that one’s stand on homosexuality has become the new litmus test for orthodoxy.
• The blog, Just a Thought continues its Five Questions series with a survivor of the worst disaster in U.S. Navy history.
• “The fact that all five of the greatest men in the Bible failed so miserably gives me incredible hope and encouragement.” The common denominator among Bible greats.
• Recurring Discussion Department: Why American Christians might want to reconsider reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
• For some visionaries, it seems that every time they have a great idea, it only takes nanoseconds for the leadership to say ‘No.’
• Here’s a double-header for a pastor whose blog I’ve been following for a long time: Keeping volunteers on message and avoiding the tendency to ‘fix’ people.
• If you’re considering “the ministry,” keep in mind that it’s not all glamor. Instead, it’s mostly nuts and bolts and odd hours.
• Here’s a book review that intrigued me. Mission Drift deals with Institutional Drift, which happens when organizations become distracted.
• In Canada, the Province of Quebec is re-introducing its controversial euthanasia legislation.
• The last remaining major newspaper reporter dedicated to religion news has had her position terminated after 27 years.
• Okay, admittedly he doesn’t update it very often, but infrequently Ed Young still posts at his Pastor Fashion blog.
• The choices may be a little biased, but if you want to balance out all the contemporary bloggers and Tweeters in your day with some classic writing, try The Old Guys.
• Hillsong’s “Oceans” (“You call me out upon the waters…”) has cracked a record set by MercyMe in 2003 for the longest run on the top of the Billboard Christian Songs Chart.
• CBN News profiles NHL veteran and Stanley Cup Champion Matt Cullen.
• Booked your Christian music festival for the summer? I love the website for June’s AtlantaFest 2014. Find an event near you at the Christian Festival Guide.

Got a suggestion for next week’s links? Find the contact page at Paul’s blog, Thinking Out Loud or via @PaulW1lk1nson and make some noise by noon on Monday.

Wednesday Link List

A lot of people are critical of short-term missions, but right now, a plane ticket to somewhere warm would look really appealing. In the meantime, here are some links to keep you warm, clicking anything that follows will take you to PARSE at Christianity Today and then you can click through from there.

• Our opener this week is from Soujourners, a list of ten things a true Jesus-follower should never be caught saying.
• It’s a major programming shift at the Trinity Broadcasting Network. Some longtime shows are off the schedule, with replacements not yet known.
• Finally! At last! Someone is planting a Bible-believing church in Atlanta. A few days later, the blogger who posted that one responded to comments.
• What’s most interesting about the man who was molested by a Florida Baptist pastor is the size of the settlement: $12.5 million.
• Missed this one earlier this month, five questions with veteran missionary Don Richardson, and some surprising answers.
• You know him as Hercule Poirot, but actor David Suchet has just finished a complete audio recording of the NIV Bible.
• Clemency: An eight-letter word meaning Iran could release imprisoned U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini on its own terms. (Keep praying.)
• Did the onstage actions of a former CCM artist cause a current CCM artist to get up and leave the Grammy Awards?  Could have been several reasons.
• Say what you want while touring the holy land, but don’t try to convert Muslims or knock Allah, warns a billboard.
• Essay of the Week: Asking someone about their ethnicity isn’t just politically incorrect; it’s also spiritually incorrect.
• Book industry behemoth Amazon — already publishing and marketing its own original titles — has now entered the world of Christian publishing with Waterfall Press. (Wow! Too close for comfort to Random House’s Christian imprint Waterbrook Press.)
• The final episode of Bible Secrets on the History network dealt with what the Bible says about sex. Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t say what the producers suggested.
• “Translations can also be a window to our heart and theology and preferences.” The Bible you choose probably says much about your tribe…
• …And how many Bibles do you have at home? This video reminds me the value of something we take for granted.
• This link, ooh ooh, takes you, la la la, to an article by Bob yea-ah! Kauflin about these extra, whoa-oa-oh, generic syllables added to some worship songs.
• If you’re the kind of person who gets their kicks out of reading all the inane comments in your blog’s spam filter, you might also enjoy the insights on the Bible Students Say… Twitter feed.
• In a 40-minute Skype interview, Greg Boyd describes his journey to identify as an Anabaptist.
• An alternative to the dominant theory: What if Bonhoeffer stuck to his pacifist guns? (Pun intended.)
• Just for Women: Clothing matters, but it’s not what’s at the heart of modesty.
• The Pentagon is now allowing military personnel to request time off for prayer or to attend a religious service, and also allowing the wearing of religious clothing, as long as these things don’t impair the country’s defense mission.
• I never thought of those long lists of genealogies as The Traffic Jams of the Bible.
• From the same Jesus People who brought you the Cornerstone Festival, a new Covenant Church launches in The Wilson Abbey.
• After 40 years, a CNN reporter notes six changes evident in this year’s March for Life.
• Seven signs the book you’re reading was written by a prosperity preacher.
• Spiritual abuse in church can take many forms, and sometimes, it’s pastors who are the victims. One church owned up to this, and took steps to repentance. (Be sure to click through all five pages.)
• Well, one unhappy customer has filled in his comment card, and thinks that John Piper’s books and weekly YouTube Encyclicals take personal opinion and transmit it as doctrine.
• Liberty University has just posted a video that at least one writer might consider watching, Avoiding Plagiarism. (But skip the one on formatting essays, for 28 painful minutes the person operating the camera didn’t format his screen, and we miss 100% of the slides the lecturer keeps referring to!)
• Christian singer Jamie Grace discusses her new album and being a performing artist with Tourette Syndrome.
• Deep and Concise: We often say that “God exists outside of time;” but perhaps he allows himself to submit to it.
• You never know what’s around the corner online. This week it was SeekFind.org, a Christian search engine that seems both functional and discerning in terms of what sites are included.
• Steve McCoy asked his Twitter followers what they would choose if their future reading was limited to 3, 4 or 5 books, and got lots of responses.
• From the poet laureate of worship in the UK, Graham Kendrick, a beautiful worship song from three years ago with Good Friday applications.
• In all the excitement over the music in the forthcoming Alone Yet Not Alone movie, it’s easy to forget that before there was a movie, there was the book…
• …However, where one writer says the book and movie stand in relation to sectarian movements within Christianity may surprise you.
• KidMin Corner: Even if it’s not related to this week’s lesson, how can you deprive the kids of a chance to make an Elijah Taken up to Heaven Mask?
• I hate when this happens: You’re the Pope and you go to release a couple of peace doves and they get attacked by seagulls and crows.
• Unconventional Canadian Christian broadcaster Drew Marshall reflects on the recent antics of two of Canada’s favorite sons.
• Finally, another pair of silly articles highlighting Arminian and Reformed differences. No chickens were injured in the making of these, I trust.

We leave you today with “the thrill that’ll gitcha when ya get your picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone.”  In this case, Pope Francis in the current issue; click the image to read the story.

Paul Wilkinson is based in Canada — “You liked the first Polar Vortex so much we’re sending you another one” — and blogs at Thinking Out Loud and Christian Book Shop Talk. 

Wednesday Link List

So, is Pope Francis a revivalist?

Now, on to the links…

Some very, very high profile Christian sites and at least one radio show get their news stories here. We know who you are…

• Jamie, The Very Worst Suburbanite reflects on life in the ‘burbs here vs. life in the ‘burbs in Honduras in The Color of Greige. 
• With help from a Gordon College professor, the classic handicapped icon/logo/thing is getting an entirely new vitality. 
• Knowing Nik Wallenda made it safely doesn’t make it any easier to watch, even in this 90 second summary video.
• Its been one year since Saeed Abedini said goodbye to his family to build orphanages in Iran. Help us bring him home.
• Got a son or daughter entering high school? It might be time to buy them a necklace.
• Publisher Thomas Nelson reports on Twitter that already six colleges have signed on to use Ken Wytsma’s Pursuing Justice as a textbook. But then, we predicted that.
  
• Find your pastor: Phillip Wilson invites you to play Top Twelve Preacher Styles. Hopefully your minister isn’t in this list at all. 
• Critics have accused the Scottish Government of following the same failed approach of ever-more sex education at ever-younger ages to lower the teen pregnancy rate. Now they’re talking preschool.
  
• Essay of the week: Go deeper with Michah Murray on the concept of Love The Sinner Hate The Sin.
• Photo essay of the week: A visit to the abandoned Holy Land theme park in Connecticut, closed since ’84.   
• This 2-minute video is the reason I part company with John MacArthur’s dispensationalism and anti-Charismatic rhetoric.
• The Dictionary of Christianese defines traveling mercies and the many variations on cradle Christian. Be sure to also see, bookmark and use their full index of terms defined so far.
  
• World awareness: Here are five quick facts on the problems caused by lack of access to safe drinking water.
  
• Author Max Lucado has formed a partnership with Thomas Nelson and The Salvation Army (SA), to produce a special SA edition of You’ll Get Through This: Hope and Help for Your Turbulent Times
  
• Have you or someone you know been hurt by a local church? Here are things to remember and steps to take. 
• Ever feel like God is ticked off with you right now? Here’s a take on the question, Does God get disappointed with us? 
• Warning: You may disagree with this 3 1/2 minute video on debunking rapture doctrine.
  
• Jen Hatmaker’s end of school year parent confessional went viral and is closing in on 4,400 comments. 
• The website of the Smithsonian Institute profiles the unique and often controversial ministry of Aimee Semple McPherson.
  
• A Baptist church in Georgia (the European country, not the US state) finds middle ground with its high orthodox neighbors by using robes and incense. 
• With a new album ready to release, Andrew Schwab talks to Matt Greiner of the band August Burns Red. 
• In other CCM news, usually the people who lead Holy Land tours are somewhat older authors, pastors or musicians. So… an Audio Adrenaline tour of Israel? 
• After at least four years, Paul Baloche is releasing another worship album in French. 
• Lamentable blog discovery of the week: Pimp Preacher, a collection of con artistry by minsters, from the Preacher Bureau of Investigation.
  
• Steven Furtick with a short piece on The Real Test of Worship, reblogged from 2010 for a new audience.
• Please note that if you have a blog and about 15 seconds after it opens it starts playing very loud music that you like but maybe nobody else likes, we will not link to it.
• That’s it for this link list; stay ‘linked’ during the week here and on Twitter.
  

The Wednesday List Lynx might be getting a new home as early as next week.

Stop the presses! Is this the last link list?

We’re cooking up a partnership that could mean more people than ever would get to share in what we’ve been doing here for five years. Just think of the larger number of people who would get saved just clicking on these same stories. They might not even have to click; conviction might come just by reading the teasers. 

Really, why are we considering this? It’s about power and the ability to take bribes to promote various blogs and websites.

So stay tuned. Same bat time. Same bat channel. But maybe not actually same bat channel.

An Apology

While hunting, gathering and collecting all the ingredients of this blog’s midweek “best of the Christian blogs” list, I came across something too good for the list.  I don’t like stealing other posts, I’d prefer to just link to things and watch the stats show that you’re clicking.  But the stats don’t always bear out that taking place.  This is from Joe Boyd at the blog Rebel Pilgrim…

I ask your forgiveness for the ongoing corruption of the church at large since the early days of the church, for I believe that it is a sin to use the church for personal or political gain.

I ask your forgiveness for every boring church event, church service, or sermon since the creation of the world, for I believe that it is a sin to bore people with really good news.

I ask your forgiveness for the silence of a significant percentage of the European church during the Jewish holocaust and of the American church during the years of slavery, for I believe that it is a sin for the church of God to stand by while innocent people die.

I ask your forgiveness for the unimaginable violence done in and through and with the blessing of the church throughout history, for I believe Jesus died once for all of us to put an end to violence.

I ask your forgiveness for the weight of rules and legalism that has shackled the church, making it oppressively fear-based and guilt-centered, for I believe that it is a sin to deny people their freedom in Christ.

I ask your forgiveness for every power-crazed political zealot who has ever advocated hatred against people in the name of Christ, for I believe that it is a sin to judge in the place of God.

I ask your forgiveness for every sidewalk and soap-box preacher who has so much as cracked upon a Bible with anger or pride in his heart, for I believe that it is a sin to misrepresent the character of a loving God.

I ask your forgiveness for every cult leader and extremist group leader who has ever led people astray in the name of Jesus, for I believe that it is a sin to desire the position of Jesus as the head of the church.

I ask your forgiveness for every pastor or priest who has ever served the church to get money, fame or sex because I believe the church is Jesus’ Bride, not some random guy’s mistress.

I ask your forgiveness for the millions of men in the church who have somehow stretched the Bible to validate their own sexist views, for I believe that it is a sin to dishonor a woman.

I ask your forgiveness for the thousands of church splits and denominational factions that have ripped the body of Christ in every direction except heavenward, for I believe that Christians loving and forgiving each other is the best way to show people who God is.

I ask your forgiveness for the thousands of churches who are set up as extravagant social clubs, for I believe that it is a sin to ignore the poor among you.

I ask your forgiveness for every misspent dime that was ever placed in an offering plate, for I believe that it is a sin to waste an old lady’s tithe.

I ask your forgiveness for the prostituting of the American church and the American church leader to the American dream, for I believe that it is a sin for the church or her leaders to love money more than God.

I ask your forgiveness for every self-centered, self-proclaimed “miracle worker” who has sold people counterfeit hope and light and fluffy theology for $19.95 plus shipping and handling, for I believe that it is a sin to spit in the face of God.

I ask your forgiveness for every sin of every priest, pastor, minister, reverend, teacher, elder, deacon, pope, nun, monk, missionary, Sunday school teacher, worship leader, and for every Christian who has ever come into your life for any other reason than to love you. If any of us came to you and hurt you, we are the ones at fault. On our behalf, let me say that I am very sorry. It’s not who we are supposed to be.

And lastly for me. I am no better than the rest. I am no role model. I’m misguided. I get confused a lot and I have hurt people in my misguided attempts to be “Christian.” I have not always loved God or the people around me. I am ashamed of me much of the time. I am ashamed of my people who have hurt you.

But I am not ashamed of the gospel. I am not ashamed of the good news that God has come near to you and is right now available to you through Jesus. I am not ashamed of the gospel because it is power from a loving God who can save you. He can save us all, even us Christians.

~Joe Boyd

ReChurch: A Book About Healing, Restoration and Renewal

After more than a decade of writing about the lives of others, author Stephen Mansfield looks at his own experience, and in the process delivers what must certainly be his most significant book to date.

ReChurch:  Healing Your Way Back to the People of God is aimed directly at the all-too-common condition in which individuals find themselves estranged from a local church they love, and had found a place of service.   The book is also written in such a way that it functions on another level for pastors who find themselves in this identical situation.

If the book offers one thing — and it certainly offers much more — it is empathy.   Mansfield has been there personally and also offers the examples of history as well as Biblical stories of people who know what is like to be wounded, or to be outcast.

I’m reminded of an experience I had in the Syrian Desert.  I was speaking with an Arab friend of how foreign the desert is to me and how — raised as an Army brat in Germany and now living in Tennessee — lush hills and flowing rivers are more to my liking.  My friend took humorous offense and began extolling the glories of the “desert under God.”   Waving his arms in what I am sure were ancient ways, he said, “There is as much life in the desert as there is in the sea, but you must know where to find it.”

I cannot judge whether he was right about the physical desert because I have worked hard to spend as little time there as possible.   I am sure, however, that he is right about spiritual deserts.  In other words, during our dry and painful spiritual seasons, there is much life to be found, be we have to find it in places we have never considered before, digging for it in ways we have not yet tried.

Using a masterful economy of words, he allows also that sometimes we are victims of things beyond our control, while at other times we form recurring patterns in our journey.   He also avoids situations where want to lash out at those who have ambushed us, realizing that God may have had a part in all that happened; all the while recognizing that these choices may run counter to our natural instincts:

I grew to hate sermons on forgiveness, even my own.   They convicted me, true, and I did the things I was asked to do to deal with my offense and hurt.  But it seldom worked and I soon came to understand that there was a stronghold in my soul.  It seemed as though my inner life was coated with Velcro that trapped hurt and offense and held it tight.   Though I thought of myself as a fairly loving person, I could never let the impact of being wronged go.  I fed it.  I fantasized about it.  I even used it to fuel my intensity in sports or my efforts to rise in the world.  Because I could not let what offended me go, I used it as fuel and this only caused it to attach more firmly to that Velcro of my soul.

Relate?  I know I do.   The final chapter, “Coming Home,” deals with the recovery process, using covenant theology as a way of rethinking what the Church is and what should guide our decisions to reconnect.

ReChurch is available in hardcover from Tyndale under the Barna imprint, and in the foreword, George Barna shares his own personal experience with all that this book entails.   My one regret is that the book was so concise that I have liked to dwell longer in some of its subjects rather than the 166 digest-sized pages; however this work is really a pivotal, transitional title for Mansfield, and I’ll grant him a very high recommendation, on the condition he promises to write more of the same.