Revolution Era

Hey Everyone,

This is an article written by a friend of mine, George Woodward. He shares some great points concerning current 21st century North American model and raises some great questions as well. When he sent me the article I asked him if I could post it on my blog. If you like what you've read here then be sure to pick up his book entitled, "The 1st Shall Be 21st And The 21st Shall Be 1st".

THOUGHTS ABOUT THE CHURCH

    I write this today with grave concerns for the Canadian Church and also knowing that I may be wrong and in deception. If I am wrong, I want to put this all behind me and continue as I am but if I’m right, then I must ask the question, “what responsibility do I have”?

    I submit these following thoughts to you for your critique and input.

The church’s current status:

·        The church in North America and western Europe is on the decline

·        Canadian statistics have not changed in 50 years (6% born again Christians)

·        The church has not only lost its influence in society, it is often viewed as a negative element to societal health

·        Canada has had pockets of revival, 1948 Latter Rain, 1971 in Saskatoon, the 1980’s Catholic Charismatic Renewal and the Toronto Blessing in 1994, but never a National Revival

·        Canadian society needs Reformation but before that happens; I believe it must take place in the church first.

·        Billy Graham has held major events in Canada and has seen many people respond to the “alter call” only to follow up and see that within two years, 95% of the respondents are not followers of Christ nor grounded in a local church

·        I see our North American gospel as very “me” centred and our churches and times of congregating, designed to attract and keep members.  Too much of church growth is transfer growth and often the church with the best programs and the most dynamic preaching/teaching, is the one that grows.

The goal seems to be just to get people saved rather than to make disciples.

Disciple making does not consist of just teaching, learning of principals and knowing techniques. To make disciples, Jesus lived with them, taught them, demonstrated to them and then gave them assignments and sent them out.  They returned and gave reports/testimony about how they saw His teaching take place through their lives as they put into practice what they were taught and observed.  When was the last time we heard testimony of disciples being made rather than converts won?

    Much in church revolves around the person with gifts, (the Pastor) who gears most of what’s done to please the member/hearer. The service structure, the timing, the music, and the messages are all designed to make contented members; those who are expecting to be on the receiving end, Sunday after Sunday.

    Too many Christians feel that living a good life, going to church on Sunday’s and giving in the offering is all that’s needed on their part, recognizing that it’s all designed for them anyway.

      The Pastor is the central voice of the church.  He/she does most of the preaching and the Pastoral gift is the one that is known by the congregation, voiding the other Five Fold voices.  As I look at scripture, I only see the term Pastor used once in the New Testament, but I see Elders overseeing the church and the Five-Fold Ministry in the back-ground equipping the saints for the work of the ministry.

      It’s like a football team.  They have a head coach, an offensive coach, a defensive coach, a special teams coach and a psychological coach.  These five coaches, teach, train, correct and encourage the players.  The coaches don’t play on the field, but the game wouldn’t go on too long without them.  In our North American church model, we put the five coaches (Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, Teacher) out on the field and expect them to play the game.   We sit up in the stands and are disappointed if they don’t perform. 

     Another extreme of too many charismatic churches is that the people are kept so busy with services, extra meetings, groups, committees and volunteering that they never have time to build relationships with the world around them.  It’s unspoken but evident none-the-less, that if you’re not at all these things, you are substandard and not part of the faithful.

     The way the gospel is presented to a pre-Christian is also “me” focused.  To think that to become a Christian, we must invite Jesus into our mess is contrary to the bulk of scripture that is very different to the “invitation” that is presented in many North American churches today.  The Bible says to lay down our lives, to die, to be grafted into and become part of His family.  We are to become His sons and daughters (what a privilege!).  Rather than saying, “Jesus, you came into my life, I accept you”, we should be asking/pleading for Him to allow us to be part of who He is, not Him to be part of what we are. I wonder if that is part of the reason that Billy Graham found that only 5% of the alter call respondents were still involved just two years later.

     Most Christians today say they know the terms: “We are not our own, we are bought with a price”, but they don’t function like they are owned. We say we are born again, but we don’t really die to ourselves because we still exercise our rights and free will. We say we give Him our life, but we keep very close control of it, directing every detail.

    We say we want to see new converts and some actually participate in converting others, but we won’t invest the time to make them into disciples, not just chair warming Christians, but disciples who are eager to make other disciples.

      Our desire has to change from one of doing everything to get people into our churches, to working on how to effectively get them out. The bulk of real ministry should take place outside the walls of the church building, not inside.

     So, can we change and if so, how? The following may be possible steps to consider:

1.  Admit and take responsibility for Canada’s current state and decline.

2.  Clearly define the goal.

o       Return to the First Century pattern of congregating and community.

o       Make converts into disciples

o       Establish His Kingdom, not ours, here in Canada

o       Yearn to see Canada enter Reformation

o       Don’t be satisfied with anything less than a majority

3.  Be willing to lay down the old wine skin and embrace the new.

4.  Re-think the way we measure success

o       Not size

o       Not Buildings

o       Not money

o       Not even converts but DISCIPLES

5.  Expand our big picture thinking.

o       Our community

o       Our city

o       Our Province

o       Our Canada

      All these thoughts are discussion items at this point but I do think that radical change is coming to the North American church whether we want it to or not.

George Woodward