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Reconciliation of Damaged Relationship

November 14, 2015

I do seem to recall you sharing that leaving the institutional church was not a painless experience. I know Jesus taught that we if expect to be forgiven, we need to be willing to forgive. Any practical advice on how much time and energy one should spend in trying to reconcile? Is the forgiveness Jesus was talking about internal and for our own benefit (as in “let it go and move on”) or did it imply the need for a face-to-face reconciliation?

Reconciliation of Damaged Relationships

There is a real difference between forgiveness and reconciliation. God asks us to walk in forgiveness for our own freedom. Wherever people have hurt us or manipulated us we are asked to forgive them so that we are not devoured by the ill-will in our own lives. That forgiveness, however, does not mean that we put ourselves in the place to be their victim again unless God specifically asks us to. Forgiveness is not denial.

Reconciliation is a different process. It demands two parties who are willing to LOOK honestly at what happened, and communicate through real love to a place where the abuses will cease to happen and they can then walk on as sisters in Christ. This is a rare process, and I think God is more in charge of it than we are. We can only be willing, but until the other party is ready to deal openly, honestly and compassionately with the pain he/she has caused you, you are absolutely right to put boundaries around that relationship. What is our responsibility with such people toward reconciliation? To be honest with them about why the relationship is broken when it first happens, available to God and to her if ever there is an openness to see God cleans and forgive. This is an honest process, however, not just a “let’s pretend nothing happened and be friends again.” For your part you would have to be comfortable that this woman has seen how she manipulates and controls others and is making honest steps to see God transform that. Of course in that process you will honestly deal with whether in fact your perceptions of her actions were also legitimate. Were there misunderstandings, etc.? I honestly doubt this in this situation, but we must always be open to it. Inviting people to ‘board grillings’ when they offer reconciliation is a sign that something is desperate is going on. But even in things like this are people on the other side rarely as evil as time and feelings make them seen. They may be people caught in an ugly view of ministry that keeps hurting folks around them.

And even full reconciliation of relationship doesn’t mean you’d necessarily walk in close fellowship again or co-labor in ministry. God may well have called you to other things by now. I do think our Father always delights, however, in healing past broken relationships if both folks are open to it. I’ve gone through a similar situation with a brother who did horrible things to me and my wife. I still love him, because we had such an awesome friendship. But I don’t have anything to do with him at the moment. I’ve tried to talk and he’s been resistant or duplicitous about any attempt to do so. So I give him a wide berth, even as I pray someday we’ll be able to heal what happened in our relationship. That was nine years ago. I happened to see him recently. Somehow, he seemed a bit more tender this time.

I would only give this process time and energy that Jesus makes clear in your heart he wants you to give. We can be overwhelmed trying to fix everyone’s problem with us, and I don’t think that’s the point. Healing broken relationships is a great thing when they and God are ready, especially with people we have been close to in the past. Stewing over it is not… God will show you when the time is right.

I don’t know if this will finally be the time or not, but I’m always open to it. Our God is a reconciling God.

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Seven Markers That Will Help You When You’re Done

4 Comments / Phenomenon of the Dones / November 12, 2015

A Thrival Guide for Those Who Find Themselves Outside of Conventional Congregations

According to the latest research people are leaving the local church congregation in droves. Many do so questioning whether God even exists, but many others continue to passionately follow Jesus convinced that the institution they belonged to was at odds with the spiritual passion growing in their heart. They may not have even understood why, but something inside continued to draw them toward a more authentic relationship with Jesus and a freer environment to share his life and love with others.

Many who have given up on the traditional congregation were once leaders, volunteers, and major contributors. They grew weary of the programs and expectations that neither encouraged their journey nor cultivated the kind of community they sought. Leaving is never easy and most do it only when other options are exhausted.

Finding yourself outside the congregational model can be incredibly disorienting for a season. Family and former friends question your faith or make you feel guilty with accusations of bitterness or selfishness. All the markers you used to gauge your spiritual health no longer make sense. Some question their own sanity and even more so as they are increasingly isolated from the only friends they’ve ever had.

If you’ve left your congregation for similar reasons, what do you do now? As I’ve watched people go through this transition the ones who navigate it most freely begin to embrace a different set of realities, which not only allow them to survive outside a local congregation, but actually thrive in learning to follow him, in sharing fellowship with others, and in being part of God’s purpose in the world.

First, take your time. You’ve been invited on an amazing journey that will take years to sort out. Many people rush to join another congregation or start their own house group to fill the void but only end up recreating what they had left. Resist the urge to find another group right away or create one. This is a season to draw closer to God and let him fill the void. There will be time for more connections later when it’s not a response to a driven need, but a freedom to embrace the gift of community that God wants to give you.

Second, don’t force your journey on others. You don’t have to tell people, “I’ve left the church” or judge as less spiritual those who still go. This isn’t about judging others or making outlandish conclusions about the future you can’t begin to sort out yet. Simply follow Jesus however he leads you and be gently honest with those who ask you why you’re not doing the things you used to. Remember, you’re the one whose changed here, they are just doing the things you’ve always done, believing they are obligated to do so. They will be threatened by the change you’re making, and you can help disarm that by letting them have their own journey. Don’t try to change them, or to fix them. You can’t until the Spirit awakens the same hunger in them that he has in you.

Third, lose your need to be validated by others. Religion works by establishing a set of expectations and rewarding those who conform and punishing those who do not. The greatest freedom in this journey is to let Jesus to break that cycle so that you can find your identity in his love for you. Trying to convince others how right you are will only harden them and destroy your friendship with them. Trying to justify yourself will not allow you to love others nor will it lead you to the freedom from the tyranny of other people’s opinions of you. Be gracious to all and let his affirmation of your life and experience be all the validation you need.

Fourth, learn the beauty and rhythms of love. Following ritual and rules that others demand of you is still following law, even if we call them “New Testament principles.” God doesn’t transform us through obligation or meeting the expectations of others. The reason why many of us grew frustrated in religious settings is because they made promises to us they couldn’t fulfill. The harder we tried the emptier we felt. God has been inviting you to live in a new creation where his love transforms us in the deepest part of our soul. Over this season you’ll learn to see through the manipulation of obligation, accountability, guilt, and fear and into a different rhythm that will allow you to live more at rest, aware of others, and free from the pressures of this age. Instead of doing what others think you should do, you’ll be freer to discern his work in you and find yourself embracing the realities of grace, forgiveness, freedom, and generosity. It all begins as you ask him to show you how deeply loved by God you are, then let him show you. This is the trailhead that will lead you to greater freedom and fullness.

Fifth, watch your trust in him grow. Many are surprised to discover how much of their religious life was driven by fear—of God punishing them, of going astray, of what others will think, or of failure. As you are more in touch with his love and delight in you, even when you’re struggling or doubting, you’ll find that your trust in his goodness will begin to grow. You’ll realize he’s for you, not against you and that your own efforts were never going to produce his life in you. Now you’ll discover the joy of cooperating with his work in you and find yourself more relaxed, more aware of his nudges and insight, and less inclined toward destructive and hurtful actions. When Paul talked about the righteousness that comes from trust, this is what he was talking about. Where we trust him we won’t try to save ourselves or force our way. Now we can know what it is to be content in him whatever life brings to us because he is walking with us through it.

Sixth, cultivate friendships with others. God’s love working in you will free you to love each person God puts in front of you. Take an interest in them, whether they already know God or not, and watch as they begin to pen up with their concerns, struggles, and joys. Look for ways to encourage them as God gives you insight to do so. Get to know people you already know from work, school, or your neighborhood. Contact people in your address book and take them out to lunch. Where the relationship becomes relaxed, authentic and mutual, make time for those friendships to grow so his community can take shape around you.

Seventh, let God expand your view of his church. Most people think of the church as a specific group or meeting at a set time and place and if you’re not there you are not part of his church. They are made to feel guilty and isolated as others withdraw from them. It’s easy to feel as if you’re the only one weary of the religious institution. But you’re not. The latest research shows you are one in about 31 million adults in America who do not belong a local congregation but are still actively looking to follow Christ, which is about the same number of people who do belong. That means one in every seven adults are on a similar journey to yours and there are 7 million who are “almost dones” who still attend but are there in body only. Does that mean the church is failing? Only if we look at our human attempts to manage it. What you’ll discover is that Jesus’ church was never meant to be an institution, but a growing family who are learning to walk with him and who are learning to share his life and love with others. Real community flows from friendships not meetings, which is why Jesus spent time with the people in his life in more informal settings. As we come to see his church as a reality outside of human control, then you can embrace her reality however she takes shape in the relationships and connections around you.

Learning to live in his freedom and joy is the fruit of a process that takes a significant period of time in our lives. Don’t rush the process. Learn to embrace him and relax in the process and you will discover that “something more” that your heart has been seeking. You’ll find yourself in meaningful conversations that will deepen your own faith and encourage others to find more reality in theirs.

It is my hope that those who are done with religious institutions, don’t go off and create their own, but learn to live differently in the world and then be able to see the church Jesus is building taking shape right around them.

__________________________
This is Part 7 in a series on The Phenomenon of the Dones by Wayne Jacobsen who is the author of Finding Church and host of a podcast at TheGodJourney.com

Part 1: The Secret Is Out
Part 2: The Labels that Divide Us
Part 3: Why People are leaving
Part 4: Stupid Things Said In the Name of Jesus
Part 4: Church Refugrees Could be a Game Changer
Part 5: I’m looking for 35 Million People

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FINDING CHURCH release in German

Behind the Scenes / October 31, 2015

Glory World Medien has just released Finding Church in German. They have done many of my other books three and are calling this one, The Community of the New Creation. I’m surprised at the hunger in Germany for so many to think outside the box of religious obligation and discover that Jesus is building a church in the world that is rising with magnificent splendor. She sometimes overlap our human attempts to build “churches”, but she transcends it in so many ways as well. Many are discovering that his church is more like wildflowers scattered on a hill side rather than the manicured hedges of a formal garden. I love the conversation this is stirring and the courage people take in re-examining what we’ve called the “church” to see if there aren’t better ways to express the life of his community.

Thanks to the efforts of Glory World, the message is spreading in Germany. I get many emails from there and am blessed by the friendships I’ve formed in my previous visits there. There are also translations in process for Finding Church into French and Dutch.

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Who is Wayne Jacobsen?

Uncategorized / October 31, 2015

waynecasual Simply put I am the son of a farmer, a husband to Sara, the father of Julie and Andrew, and a grandpa to some delightful children. I consider myself a brother on a journey, willing to share what God has given to me in any way that will help others discover the joy of life in him. As you will see the Lord has been gracious to me, and everything he has done in me and through me is by his mercy and grace. I hope the real story you glean from these pages is a greater awareness of God’s unfolding work in you, not in me. That’s a story worth knowing.

I have been on a life-long journey to sort out what it means to live loved by the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and enjoy helping others find traction on that journey as well. It is the reason why I maintain Lifestream.org and host a podcast at TheGodJourney.com. Finding the joy of being loved by him, we also discover how to love others, not only fellow members of his family in the world, but also how to be a better a vessel for God’s compassion to find its way to those who don’t know him yet. I have shared this story in books and articles, spoken of it in teachings, which you can find on this website.

In 1975 I married my college sweetheart and we’ve shared every step of this journey ever since. I thank God every day for the relationship he’s given Sara and me. We have two children. Julie is married and living about fifteen minutes down the road from us with her husband, Tyler. They are also the parents of our grandchildren, whom we love a lot. My son, Andrew, is a guidance counselor at the University of Colorado and lives in Denver.

My journey began on a grape vineyard in central California, where I grew up as the third of four sons. Our parents attended the Baptist fellowship, but got involved in the earliest days of the Charismatic renewal where we discovered a God that wanted to be intimately involved in the circumstances we faced daily. This tapped a deep hunger in me to know God. After graduation from high school, I attended Oral Roberts University and graduated in 1975 with an honors degree in Biblical Studies.

For the next five years I was an associate pastor at a growing congregation in Central California. I learned a lot there, but grew disillusioned by the way the priorities of an institution overwhelmed the simple, relational life in Jesus. In 1980 we left to help plant a new fellowship in Visalia. This fellowship was designed to be an intimacy-based fellowship with Jesus at the center, and ministry committed to personal relationships instead of programs. I didn’t want to manage people’s lives nor the institution’s programs, but to help people love Jesus more deeply and learn to live in response to his voice. House churches anchored our life together, and God began to open doors for ministry beyond the fellowship.

During this time I wrote a number of articles for various Christian magazines, and served as a Contributing Editor to Leadership Journal. In 1987 I finished writing my first book, about the absence of spiritual intimacy in the life of the Western Church. It was titled The Naked Church which was re-packaged and re-released in 1991 as A Passion for God’s Presence. In 1992 The Vineyard was released which was a farmer’s view of the vine and the branches from John 15. Though that material has been published in various ways since, it is now available as In Season, Embracing the Father’s Process for Fruitfulness and Fulfillment. During this time I was also invited to teach in churches and universities throughout the world. Under the auspices of Youth With a Mission I made trips to Europe and Asia and taught regularly at the University of the Nations in Kona, Hawaii.

In 1994, it became clear to me that fulfilling the cultural role of a pastor was at odds with the work God was doing in my heart. In spite of our best efforts to the contrary, the congregation I helped start had become another institution with some of its leaders more enamored with power than service. Attempts to work through that was complicated by a division in our elders regarding the future course of the fellowship. Some wanted to handle our growth through more elder-managed programs, and others wanted to see our relational life multiplied into new congregations. Through an incredibly painful time we knew we had more to learn by walking away from something we loved very deeply, rather than fighting to preserve our place among them.

Over two very painful years God rewrote a major part of spiritual lives by showing us how much we had tried to build his church on the religion of human effort and had not by recognizing how he is building his church in the world. I learned how much my desire for people’s approval had blinded me to the simplicity of the gospel. During this time I discovered a better understanding of the cross that forever demonstrates to me how deeply Father loves me and how living in that love would transform me to be more like him. He also transformed Sara in ways I would never have believed. Most of the lessons we learned in that season are in He Loves Me. Coming out of that season we found the freedom to live the life in Jesus we always believed the Scriptures invited us to experience. Others had discouraged us as being too idealistic, but we soon discovered that God’s life was even better than we had imagined. Our worst days outside the systems of religious obligation are still far better than our best days inside it.

Every attempt I made to seek normal employment was met with a deep sense that I was beyond what God had asked of me. I kept hearing him promise to provide for us as we simply continued the work he has given us. Over the years since we’ve seen God provide for us in some pretty unique ways that allowed us to share our life with the world. Surprisingly, we found ourselves more released to do what God had asked of us than we had ever dreamed. Not that that has come without pain and trials. Like most people we have known seasons of great joy and seasons of deep pain and struggle. Through it all Jesus has continued to draw us more deeply into the life of his Father.

In 1995, we formed Lifestream Ministries to coordinate my writing and traveling to encourage others. At the same time I was being increasingly invited to help school districts and parent groups resolve religious tensions in public education because my work along those lines in Visalia. Through BridgeBuilders I make presentations to school districts and education associations as well as do consultation and mediation where conflicts break out. I don’t do as much of that now that my life has taken a different direction.

Wayne’s books and recordings available through Lifestream

So I have continued to write and record those things that I hope will encourage others to follow Jesus rather than stick to the imagined safety of the status quo. Authentic Relationships and So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore were written and released during this time. In 2005, at the insistence of the author of the original story I got involved with a novel called The Shack. I loved its theme and ended up spending sixteen months rewriting the book. And, when we couldn’t find a publisher to release it, ended up helping found the publishing company that launched it to the world, selling a million copies in just 13 months from a garage. The ensuing years became a whirlwind of opportunity and eventually lawsuits when those involved no longer wanted to honor their word. Fortunately that is all in the past now and I have been able to settle back into a life of writing and encouraging others on this incredible journey. We were finally able to make a movie of that story, which Lionsgate did in 2017.

Some of my more recent titles include A Man Like No Other, a re-telling of the life of Jesus through the art of Murry Whiteman and the words of Brad Cummings and myself. Finding Church and Beyond Sundays help people explore the wonder of the Body of Christ when we unmoor it from the human institutions we built to try to contain it. In 2019, I coauthored, along with Arnita Taylor and Bob Prater, a book called A Language of Healing for a Polarized Nation, which harkens back to my BridgeBuilders days of helping people live more generously in a post-Christian culture.

I have also recorded one critical audio series and three video features on this website to help people explore this journey. They are all free to listen to online. Transitions details what it is to move from religious thinking to relational living inside a relationship with God. The Jesus Lens explains how I see the Scriptures, not as a rule book, but as a progressive revelation of who God is and how we can engage him. Engage are brief encouragements for people who are wanting to discover their own friendship with Jesus. Finally, The Jesus Story is an adaptation of the Jesus Lens for children.

Sara and I now live near the breathtaking California Coast about 35 miles northwest of Los Angeles in the rolling hills of Newbury Park. Sara and I have no idea where this journey will lead from here. We are enjoying our partnership even more as it has extended into Lifestream. Sara is a board member and the office manager of Lifestream Ministries and a valuable part of sorting out God’s direction in all that we do. I have further writing and teaching projects underway and a regular stream of invitations to come and share what living loved by the Father and loving others looks like. If we could ever be a blessing to you or people you know, you have only to ask. We are passionate about helping people discover the joy and power of relational Christianity.

We are also connecting with an ever-growing group of people in this area who are living outside the box of organized religion and are learning to share a journey of faith without all the institutional politics. We don’t claim to see more than a few steps down the road. We want to follow the Lord’s call on our lives however he leads us and not seek to grasp anything for ourselves. Five years ago we had no idea we would have ended up where we are today. If we are as surprised in the next five, that will be fine with us too. We want nothing more than to one day sit on the lap of our Father and hear him say, “You did what I wanted you to do!” We already know that won’t mean that we did it perfectly, since we already made our own share of mistakes, but it does mean we want nothing more than his purpose to be worked out in us, no matter where that leads us.

And we want nothing less for you, either!

For further information you can hear Wayne’s story in a video interview he did in the summer of 2015:

Learning To Live Loved: Part One

This is part one of a two-part, lengthy interview done with some documentary filmmakers in Indiana. We spent an hour and twenty minutes by a campfire, on a late summer’s evening, talking about my life and writings, and learning to live loved.

Learning To Live Loved: Part Two

The second of a two-part, lengthy interview done with some documentary filmmakers in Indiana. We spent an hour and twenty minutes by a campfire, on a late summer’s evening, talking about my life and writings, and learning to live loved.

Who is Wayne Jacobsen? Read More »

Our Passion

Uncategorized / October 31, 2015

Relationship Not Religion!

We are passionately committed to help people discover the joy and freedom of relational Christianity. It is our firm conviction that Jesus’ death on the cross was to prepare for each of us a dwelling place in the heart of a loving Father and to free us to the kinds of relationships that can share his life with other believers and with the world.

You’ll understand our passion when you can figure out who in this cartoon needs the most help.

By relational Christianity we mean:

A personal friendship with Father, Son, and Spirit. These are not just words to describe Christianity, but the very way he has called us to live.
Healthy relationships with other believers. Many today think fellowship is nothing more than attending the same service together when it is meant to be so much more. We help traditional churches, home groups, and house churches to discover how to relate to one another in his love and allows the ministry of Jesus to flow between them.
Friendships with people in the world, so that as God displays his character through us they might come to know the love of God for themselves.

For that to happen we spend a lot of time helping people understand the freedom that Father has given us through the work of his Son, Jesus. Only as we live in his love and freedom can we even begin to experience the power of life in Christ as he brought it to us. Specifically, we help people discover the freedom…

To live in the love of an awesome Father, free to respond to him as he leads you, even if that means you make mistakes now and then.
To walk without guilt or condemnation. Recognize that transformation is a life-long process that Jesus works in us by our security in his love, not something we do for him out of fear.
To be real. To feel what you feel; to ask what you need to ask, to be wrong where you are wrong, and to extend that same freedom to others.
To be liberated from accountability to human leaders who seek to take the place of Jesus in the church by telling others what they think he would have them do.
To love other brothers and sisters freely, serving them the way Jesus leads you, and not trying to conform to their expectations of what a ‘good Christian’ should do for them.
To live free of bitterness and hurt, even where religious institutions (and those who run them) have failed you. We’ve all got plenty wrong with us, so there can be no end to the generosity we can extend others in their weakness.

With this passion in mind, we look for any way Father asks us to…

- - - - Go wherever he sends us to encourage people in the life of Jesus, whether it is to hungry hearts in a traditional congregation, a house church, or an informal gathering of believers who want to escape the rigors of religion for the joy and passion of a friendship with the Living God.
        Publish materials that will encourage people to the journey of knowing God better and trusting him more.
        Gather with those who are disillusioned with organized religion to help them heal from past abuse and to help them discover what life in Father’s family can be.
        Equip believers to let God transform them by his magnificent grace so that they truly reflect his image to the world around them.
        Help people who do not know him at all, to be captured by his love.

The free person in Christ and the rebellious will always look the same to those who labor under religious obligation because both ignore the conventions that manipulate men and women. But there is a major difference between the two. The rebel does it to serve himself and his passions, always harming others in the process and leaving a wake of anarchy behind him. The free person in Christ, however, does so because they no longer have a need to serve themselves. Having embraced God’s love at a far deeper level than any method of behavioral conformity will touch, they will guard that freedom even if it means others will misunderstand their pursuits. They reject the conventions of control not to please themselves, but Father Himself.

If You Would Like to Help Us…

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Living Loved – Quotes & Humor

Uncategorized / October 31, 2015

“We are in an age of religious complexity. The simplicity which is in Christ is rarely found amoung us. In its stead are programs, methods, organizations, and a world of nervous activities which occupy time and attention but can never satisfy the longing of the heart.” – A. W. Tozer

“Religion killed Christ. Or I might add religion partnered with politics. History shows that when religious and political establishments come together for a cause, it often involves violence, war, and death.” – Bruxy Cavey in The End of Religion

“Generally, what I find is that the ordinary people who come to church are basically running their lives on their own, utilizing ‘the arm of the flesh’ – their natural abilities – to negotiate their way,” he says. “They believe there is a God and they need to check in with him. But they don’t have any sense that he is an active agent in their lives. As a result, they don’t become disciples of Jesus.” – Dallas Willard in Christianity Today

“We must never forget that God’s speaking to us, however we experience it in our initial encounter, is intended to develop into a intelligent, freely cooperative relationship between mature people who love each other with the richness of genuine agape love. We must therefore make it our primary goal not just to hear the voice of God but to be mature people in a loving relationship with him.” – Dallas Willard in Hearing God

“Only broken people are truly honest. By nature you and I are full of erroneous judgments… It is only after God has shaken our natural foundation to pieces… only when all our illusions are raised and we have lost the remainder of our inborn self-confidence… only when we see we have misjudgment concerning ourselves… then do we begin to be honorable. Revelation has its price.” – Manfred Haller in Christ is All in All

“You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.” – C. S. Lewis

Sometimes in an effort to remind people of the cost of the cross, we withhold grace until we are sure they understand their sin. But it is in giving of our grace that we remind people that they need to go to Jesus to find their own. People understand their sin without our help. It?s grace they need help in understanding.

Shawn Zimmerman in a YouTube video about the AIDs crisis in Africa.

“The hijacking of the concept of morality began, of course, when we reduced Scripture to formula and a love story to theology, and finally morality to rules. It is a very different thing to break a rule than it is to cheat on a Lover.” – Donald Miller, In Search of God Knows What

What If?

I got an email the other day and in the course of telling his story the writer included a question posed to him by a friend that he later said “rocked me to my core and ricocheted around my emptiness for years like a steel marble in a pinball machine.”

What if the guy who sold everything he had to buy the incomparable pearl, was God and you were the incomparable pearl?

What if? The context certainly allows for that interpretation, and that is in effect what Jesus did when he gave up everything he had so that we could become his – now and forever!

“This adventure is not about me but Jesus, and apart from Him and the grace of the Spirit and Abba’s love in this process I would be lost and destroyed, or dead already. So let’s be people who rock the world, who fight for the unity of the heart, who embrace powerlessness and a love that is so wondrously painful that it threatens daily to pull us out of this age and into the presence of the One we so desperately love.” – Paul Young, Author of The Shack, in a pivate email

“The mind of a Pharisee thinks truth is more important than love but Jesus showed us that love is the most important part of truth.” – Adapted from Pharisiatis Test by Don Francisco, Rocky Mountain Ministries

“You should realize that the Bible neither describes nor promotes the local church as we know it today. The local church many have come to cherish – the services, offices, programs, buildings, ceremonies – is neither biblical or unbiblical. It is abiblical – that is, such an organization is not addressed in the Bible.” – George Barna in Revolution

“I have concluded at this point that the most dangerous enemy of Jesus-brand community is viewing community as an ideal to be achieved rather than as a gift to be received.” – Ken Wilson in The Promise, Pitfalls and Pursuit of Jesus-brand Community

“We are called to be fruitful – not successful, not productive, not accomplished. Success comes from strength, stress, and human effort. Fruitfulness comes from vulnerability and the admission of our own weakness.” – Henri J.M. Nouwen

“I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man’s mind into a habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God.” – Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz

“We humans are notorious for taking something Scripture describes as a reality, giving a term to it and thinking we’ve replicated the reality. Paul talked about the church that gathered in various homes, but he never called it ‘house church’. Houses were just where they ended up in their life together. Jesus was the focus, not the location.” – Jake Colsen, So You Don’t Want to Go to Church Anymore

Our priorities at Lifestream: We value God’s power over human effort, transformation over conformity, mutuality over hierarchy, authenticity over entertainment, modeling over celebrity, following Jesus rather than implementing models, and the presence of the Living Christ above all else!

“When religion replaces the actual experience of the living Jesus, when we lose the authority of personal knowing and rely on the authority of books, institutions, and leaders, when we let religion interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we lose the very reality that religion itself describes as ultimate.” – Brennan Manning in The Wisdom of Tenderness

“The most important things in life are not things.” – Seen on a refrigerator magnet in Ireland

“Unless a definite step is demanded, the call vanishes into thin air, and if people imagine that they can follow Jesus without taking this step, they are deluding themselves like fanatics… Although Peter cannot achieve his own conversion, he can leave his nets.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer in The Cost of Discipleship

“Brothers and sisters, break free from whatever ruts you have settled into! Whoever does not want to be set free – well, suit yourself, but don’t say you are living in Christ’s spirit. You can continue in the old ways and be a part of Christianity, but not of God’s kingdom. You can live in Christianity but not in Christ; the gulf between the two is great.” – Christoph Blumhardt in Break Free

In the last issue I mentioned a new book by Brian Dodd, entitled Empowered Church Leadership. I like a lot of what this book does to rethink the nature of leadership in the body as servants of character not power-brokers. I thought you would enjoy Brian’s depiction of the dysfunctional body life that exalts human effort over God’s mercy. He offers these Rules of Self-effort:

Rule 1: Don’t have anything wrong with you.
Rule 2: If you do, get over it quickly.
Rule 3: If you can’t get over it quickly, then fake it.
Rule 4: If you can’t get over it quickly or fake it, then stay way from me. I don’t want anyone to think I have it too.

Is it any wonder that people do not grow and cannot find healing in that kind of environment. Jesus offers us so much more?

“Jesus was not killed by atheism and anarchy. He was brought down by law and order allied with religion, which is always a deadly mix. Beware those who claim to know the mind of God and who are prepared to use force, if necessary, to make others conform. Beware those who cannot tell God’s will from their own. Temple police are always a bad sign. When chaplains start wearing guns and hanging out at the sheriff’s office, watch out. Someone is about to have no king but Caesar” – Barbara Brown Taylor in A Deadly Mix

“It’s hard to imagine a more depressing place than a room with a few hundred people expecting community to happen to them.” – Brian D. Mclaren in Leadership Journal

“Much Christian leadership is exercised by people who do not know how to develop healthy, intimate relationships and have opted for power and control instead. Many Christian empire builders have been people unable to give and receive love.” – Henri Nouwen

“Nothing makes people n the church more angry than grace. It’s ironic: we stumble into a party we weren’t invited to and find the uninvited standing at the door making sure no other uninviteds get in. Then a strange phenomenon occurs: as soon as we are included in the party because of Jesus’ irresponsible love, we decide to make grace ‘more responsible’ by becoming self-appointed Kingdom Monitors, guarding the kingdom of God, keeping the riffraff out (which as I understand it, are who the kingdom of God is supposed to include.)” – Michael Yaconelli in Messy Spirituality

“I think almost without exception that if I want to go deeper with God, be more spiritually alive, I probably need to do less of something. For so many years I saw being more spiritually alive as throwing one more duty on top of the pile.” – Ben Patterson in Leadership Journal

“Even in its ruined condition a human being is regarded by God as something immensely worth saving. Sin does not make you worthless, but only lost.” – Dallas Willard in The Renovation of the Heart

“Why, then, is there so much unfreedom in religious circles today? The sad truth is that many Christians fear the responsibility of being free. It’s often easier to let others make the decisions or to rely exclusively on the letter of the law. Some men and women want to be slaves.” – Brennan Manning in The Wisdom of Tenderness

Who Are You?

From an interview with author, Sheila Walsh in Leadership Journal, Summer 2002

In 1992 my life hit the wall. One morning I was on national television with my nice suit and my inflatable hairdo and that night I was in the locked ward of a psychiatric hospital. It was the kindest thing God could have done for me.

The very first day in the hospital, the psychiatrist asked me, “Who are you?”

“I’m the co-host of The 700 Club.”

“That’s not what I meant,” he said.

“Well, I’m a writer. I’m a singer.”

“That’s not what I meant. Who are you?”

“I don’t have a clue,” I said, and he replied, “Now that’s right, and that’s why you’re here”

And the greatest thing I discovered there (was that I could be) fully known and fully loved. Jesus knew the worst and He loved me. What a relief to know the worst about yourself and at the same moment to be embraced by God. It’s so liberating to reach the end of yourself.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain

Book Review:

The Pressure’s Off: There’s a New Way to Live
by Larry Crabb

This book was recommended to me by a respected friend who told me it was one of the best he’d ever read. I think you’ll agree when you read the first three-fourths of this book. Crabb invites us to stop trying to earn or seek God’s blessing, and instead put our intimate friendship with him above everything else we might want from God. My heart soared as I read his words (see below). The last fourth, however, is a disappointment as he subverts his own message by giving techniques for that relationship that put God and the reader back in a box that won’t satisfy. It seemed to me that he has not yet found the fullness of trust he longs for, but he longingly points us to an oasis on the horizon. Yet, for that alone it is well-worth reading.

Excerpt: “The central obstacle to His life flowing in us and pouring from us is this: We want something else more. And that’s evil. We want the blessings of a better life more than we desire to draw near to Jesus. “We approach him the way a weary child approaches a weary Santa Claus in the mall, who for the hundredth time asks, ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ I wager no child has ever pressed close to Santa’s chest, looked into his eyes, and said, ‘You! I want only you!’ No child believes having Santa join him for dinner could bring more joy than watching Santa stack presents beneath the tree.”

Order it from Amazon.com

Rescued

A man had been stranded on the proverbial deserted island for years. Finally a boat comes into view, and the man frantically waves to draw its attention. The rescuers turn toward shore and arrive on the island. After greeting the stranded man, one looks around and asks,

“What are those three huts you have here?”

“Well, that’s my house there.”

“What’s that next hut?” asks the sailor.

“I built that hut to be my church.”

“What about the other hut?”

“Oh, that’s where I used to go to church.”

“Expectations are resentment waiting to happen.” – Anne Lamott in Crooked Little Heart

“Not forgiving is like swallowing rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.” – Anne Lamott in Traveling Mercies

“The reward for conformity was that everyone liked you except yourself.” – Rita Maye Brown

“What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day. For each of us the time is surely coming when we shall have nothing but God.” – A.W Tozer

“Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic.” – Dave Barry

“May all your expectations be frustrated. May all your plans be thwarted. May all of your desires be withered into nothingness. That you may experience the powerlessness and poverty of a child and sing and dance in the love of God the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.” – A blessing prayed over Henri Nouwen by a friend

“Ruthless trust comes down to this: faith in the person of Jesus and hope in his promise in spite of all disconcerting appearances.” – Brennan Manning in Ruthless Trust

A Quiz!

Part 1

Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
Name the last five Heismann trophy winners.
Name the last five winners of the Miss America contest.
Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer prize.
Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor or actress.
Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do? Now try Part 2

List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
Think of four people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.
Name half a dozen heroes whose stories have inspired you.

Did you do better? None of us remember the headliners of yesterday. The people you’ll remember are not the ones with the most credentials, the most money, or the biggest awards. They are the ones who care.

“Anyone God uses significantly is always deeply wounded… We are, each and every one of us, insignificant people who God has called and graced to use in a significant way… On the last day, Jesus will look us over not for medals, diplomas, or honors, but for scars.” – Brennan Manning in Ruthless Trust

Say that Again?

An official of a large denomination spoke of inviting Eugene Peterson to come and address their national pastor’s conference.

“How many people are you expecting?” Eugene asked.

“Between seven and eight hundred,” came the answer.

After a pause, Eugene respectfully declined their invitation.

Concerned that they had not gathered a crowd large enough to impress this well-known writer and translator of The Message, the denominational official asked if there was anything they could do to change his mind.

“At this point in my life, I want to make every minute count.” Eugene responded, “I rarely address groups larger than twenty people. If you can put something together more like that, I’d be honored to come.”

Now there’s someone who understands how Father does his work.

“The turning point in our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is.” – Patrick Morley in The Seasons of a Man’s Life

“Since Jesus went through everything you’re going through and more, learn to think and act like him. Think of your sufferings as a weaning away from the old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way. Then you’ll be able to live out your days free to pursue what God wants instead of being tyrannized by what you want.” – I Peter 4:1-2 in The Message

“It is symptomatic that in the Western world… the mass of people still pass Christianity by. Why? Because the visible presence of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit in Christians as a whole, apart from a few individuals, is no longer present.” – Brennan Manning in Prophets and Lovers

“My true brothers are those who rejoice for me in their hearts when they find good in me, and grieve for me when they find sin. They are my true brothers, because whether they see good in me or evil, they love me still.” – Augustine in Confessions

Truth in Strange Places

“Why not go out on a limb? That’s where the fruit is!” – Mark Twain

“The Word of God is like a lion. You don’t have to defend a lion. All you have to do is let the lion loose, and the lion will defend itself.” – Charles Spurgeon in Lifeline, Fall 90

Truth in Strange Places

“Well, I may not know much about God, but I have to say, we built a pretty nice cage for him .” – Homer Simpson after helping some island natives build a chapel.

“There has been persecution of people who will live this costly life throughout the history of organized religion. We need to see that the real enemy of the cross-life? comes from the established religion of the day. That seems to be the clear teaching of Jesus – and history has born him out.” – David Boan and John Yates, brothers from Australia in an unpublished manuscript

Book Review:

Reflections for Ragamuffins
by Brennan Manning

Looking for a good devotional to encourage you daily in the kind of thinking that will draw you closer to Father? Look no further. Reflections for Ragamufffins offer excerpts from the writings of Brennan Manning. Admittedly the title is a bit weird, unless you have read the Ragamuffin Gospel but don’t let that distract you. Brennan Manning understands the Father’s heart and offers such relational insights into who God is and how we can engage him in the practical details of every day life. Here are some excerpts:

The life he has planned for Christians is a Christian life, much like the life he lived. He was not poor that we might be rich. He was not mocked that we might be honored. He was not laughed at so that we could be lauded. On the contrary, he was revealing the Christian picture of man, one that was meant to include you and me.
In choosing to be born in utter obscurity, the kIng of the universe ignored conventional expectations. He celebrated in his own birthday the freedom to be unorthodox. In failing to live up to people’s presuppositions, Jesus became a stumbling block to many of his contemporaries. The houseborken Jewish imagination cringed at the crib, shuttered at the ersatz salvation of a humble, unpredictable God. A king in rags was an insult to the finely honed intellect of the Pharisee and the rational mind of the scribe. There is a fascinating principle at work here in very religious people: ‘Messiah, you get our allegiance only when you fulfill our expectations.’

From the mind of Bob Blassingame, and the artistic talents of Dave Aldrich.

Religion vs Relational Life

Religion conforms people to a system; relational life frees them to trust God.
Religion divides people by preference and perspective; relational life celebrates the incredible diversity in God’s family.
Religion bores people with routine; relational life is as fresh as a new conversation with an endearing friend.
Religion rewards image and pretense; relational life demands honesty and reality.
Religion provides substitutes for the active presence of Jesus in people’s lives; relational life focuses on that presence alone.
Religion sacrifices people for the good of the institution; relational life teaches people how to live together as Father’s family.
Religion uses what God says and does for its own agenda; relational life allows God to set the agenda and for us to simply follow him.
Religion leaves us able to boast about how much we’re doing or how hard we’re working; relational life finds joy only in celebrating God’s work among us.
Religion finds love inefficient and cumbersome; relational life embraces love as the heart of God’s working.

The Naysayers

“Everything that can be invented has been invented.” – Charles H. Duell, Commissioner, U.S. Office of Patents, 1899.

“Louis Pasteur’s theory of germs is ridiculous fiction.” – Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at Toulouse, 1872

“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.” – Popular Mechanics, 1949

“I think there is a world market for maybe five computers.” – Thomas Watson, chairman of IBM, 1943

“I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing is a fad that won’t last out the year.” – The editor of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” – Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

“This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” – Western Union internal memo, 1876.

“The abdomen, the chest, and the brain will forever be shut from the intrusion of the wise and humane surgeon.” – Sir John Eric Ericksen, British surgeon, appointed Surgeon-Extraordinary to Queen Victoria 1873.

“The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?” – David Sarnoff’s associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

“The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a ‘C,’ the idea must be feasible.” – A Yale University management professor in response to a paper proposing a reliable overnight delivery service. (Smith went on to found Federal Express.)

“I’m just glad it’ll be Clark Gable who’s falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.” – Gary Cooper on his decision not to take the leading role in “Gone With The Wind.”

“A cookie store is a bad idea. Besides, the market research reports say America likes crispy cookies, not soft and chewy cookies like you make.” – Response to Debbi Fields’ idea of starting Mrs. Fields’ Cookies.

“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” – Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

“If I had thought about it, I wouldn’t have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can’t do this.” – Spencer Silver, on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M “Post-It” Notepads.

“Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You’re crazy.” – Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859.

“Airplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.” – Marechal Ferdinand Foch, Professor of Strategy, Ecole Superieure deGuerre.

“640K ought to be enough for anybody.” – Bill Gates, 1981

“So we went to Atari and said, ‘Hey, we’ve got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we’ll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we’ll come work for you.’ And they said, ‘No.'” – Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari interested in his and Steve Wozniak’s personal computer.

“We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” – Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

Remember these next time someone tries to steal your dream.

Don’t Quit Keep Playing!

Author unknown

Wishing to encourage her young son’s progress on the piano, a mother took her boy to a Paderewski concert. After they were seated, the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to greet her.

Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall, the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked NO ADMITTANCE. When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the mother returned to her seat and discovered that the child was missing.

Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive Steinway on stage. In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at the keyboard, innocently picking out Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved to the piano, and whispered in the boy’s ear, “Don’t quit. Keep playing.”

Then leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began filling in a bass part. Soon his right arm reached around to the other side of the child and he added a running obligato. Together, the old master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a wonderfully creative experience. The audience was mesmerized.

That’s the way it is with God. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly noteworthy. We try our best, but the results aren’t exactly graceful flowing music. But with the hand of the Master, our life’s work truly can be beautiful.

Next time you set out to accomplish great feats, listen carefully. You can hear the voice of the Master, whispering in your ear, “Don’t quit. Keep playing.”

Feel His loving arms around you. Know that His strong hands are there helping you turn your feeble attempts into true masterpieces. Remember, God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. And He’ll always be there to love and guide you on to great things.

New Element Discovered!

The heaviest element known to science was recently discovered by investigators at a major US research university. The element, tentatively, named administratium, has no protons or electrons and thus has an atomic number of O. However, it does have one neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons and 111 assistant vice neutrons, which gives it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by a force that involves the continuous exchange of meson-like particles called morons. It is also surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since it has no electrons, administratium is inert. However, it can be detected chemically as it impedes every reaction it comes in contact with. According to the discoverers, a minute amount of administratium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would have normally occurred in less than a second.

Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately three years, at which time it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which assistant neutrons, vice neutrons and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. Some studies have shown that the atomic mass actually increases after each reorganization.

Research at other laboratories indicates that administratium occurs naturally in the atmosphere. It tends to concentrate at certain points such as government agencies, large corporations, churches and universities. It can usually be found in the newest, best appointed, and best maintained buildings.

Scientists point out that administratium is known to be toxic at any level of concentration and can easily destroy any productive reaction where it is allowed to accumulate. Attempts are being made to determine how administratium can be controlled to prevent irreversible damage, but results to date are not promising.

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Leading with Conscience In an Age of Expediency

Uncategorized / October 31, 2015

Wayne Jacobsen

“So why did you come all this way just to see me?”

It hadn’t been that far really, only a three hour drive. I had scheduled other business in the area, but called him a few weeks before. I had never spoken with him previously, but we had for a time ministered in overlapping circles and what I kept hearing about him made me want to meet him. He’d heard of me, too, had even read my book, he said.

“I’ve heard a lot about you and wanted to get to know you if you would have some time to spend with me?” He agreed and we had arranged a four-hour span together. It would prove not to be near enough time for either one of us.

“The truth?” My mouth twisted slightly as my eyebrows raised. He nodded

I gazed across Denny’s Formica-topped table and glared into his eyes. He was nondescript, somewhere in his early 50’s. I had only met him 15 minutes before where I picked him up at his office and drove to the restaurant. His desire to know why I had wanted to meet him was our segue from sizing each other up by family facts and ministry resumes.

His was impressive. Pastor, Bible college teacher and administrator, conference speaker, had been heir apparent at one of the most influential churches in Southern California. But all that had been three years before. Since then, if my sources were accurate, he’d just been through the biggest trial of his life.

“I heard some things about you,” I said. “As I understand it, you’ve made some very difficult choices and paid an incredible price to be faithful to your conscience. Such men fascinate me. I wanted to know if it was true. And if it is, I want to know what you have learned.”

“No one has ever said anything like that about me,” he responded, his eyes noticeably moistened. Recovering, he shook his head and chuckled. “I hope you’re not disappointed.”

For the next two hours he told me his story. He didn’t embellish it to make him look better, he didn’t gossip by name about anyone who had failed him. It started with a church the denomination had sent him to help resurrect after a brutal power-struggle had left the people wounded and bitter. Through the course of the next year that church chewed him up and he never got the denominational backing he was promised. He and his family had come to the brink of financial ruin and those who had been his colleagues abandoned him. He told me he only had three close friends who had walked him through the most painful part of his life, and one of them was an unbeliever and none of them were fellow-colleagues in ministry. To be sure I was not disappointed and though that encounter was brief we have since become good friends and confidants.

He’s a precious commodity. I’ve only met a handful of people in full-time ministry I could honestly say walks with an integrity of conscience that defies all logic. By that I mean they have made incredibly costly decisions not to serve their own interests, but truly put the kingdom first. I know I risk sounding cynical here, but what I just described is an incredibly high standard. Over the long-haul full-time ministry wears at our conscience. It is easy to link our success to the responses of other people, and prefer it over the success of the kingdom. Under the cloak of servanthood we can substitute people-pleasing for honesty. In the guise of false humility we can capitulate on our convictions to get along with those who carry agendas other than God’s and to keep a salary they control.

Compromise Made Easy

I failed my first compromise test within 30 days of beginning ministry. Fresh out of college, I took to my first ministry assignment with hopeful idealism. I was employed by a church I had attended during summers when I was home from college. Now that I was on staff, I was required to join the denomination.

I sat in my office reading over the membership application form. As I recall there were 15 statements on the back of the form that I had to sign-off stating I agreed with them. Thirteen of those were easy, but two were not. One was a matter of Biblical interpretation and though I would always vote for a pre-tribulation rapture if God ever decides that by popular vote, I was not Biblically convinced it was so. The other was about abstaining from alcohol. Not a problem for me, since I didn’t drink anyway, but I struggled with signing a statement suggesting I had theological aversion to it.

Uncertain what I was to do I sought out a pastor in the denomination to voice my struggle. I couldn’t sign it in good conscience and I couldn’t continue on staff without it. “Oh, that?” He motioned toward the form in my hand and waved it off. “That’s just a formality. No one pays attention to that anyway. Sign it and be done with it.”

So I did. But I felt bad about it–that day and for a whole week. I signed something I didn’t believe to keep a job I deeply desired. Not only had I compromised something, but in the week that followed I learned how to override the nagging conviction of my heart for the expedience of job security. It was the first step down a slippery road that has sought more than this to trip me up in ministry.

I’m not talking here about big things here we usually recognize as ministerial failures–embezzling funds, adultery or some other obvious breech of trust. Those are different issues all together. I’m talking about things that are so easily justified, many might consider them straining at gnats. The art of embellishing facts to put the best face on them, can be seen as optimism instead of the deceit it is. Selectively passing out partial information to advance our agenda can be exalted as tact when it is only designed to manipulate.

The opportunities come every day and may seem minor but they all chip away at the foundation of ministry itself–the quality of our character. Will I be honest about the self-centered nature of the person whining at me about their difficult circumstances, or will I prop them up with empty platitudes and a half-hearted prayer? When I find out I’ve been the object of someone’s gossip in their attempts to discredit me with power-brokers in the church will I respond in kind to demonstrate that they are much worse than me? Will I use my time to teach God’s Word to harp on some pet peeve hoping to motivate my hearers into more institution-serving activity? Will I prefer my perspectives above others, and what means will I use to advance them?

In a hundred ways over 20 years of professional ministry, I’ve seen the demands of ministry battle my conscience. Of course it doesn’t happen every week, but every so often a choice comes that would vex my soul. The purposes of ministry are so laudable, that corners cut too sharply and less-than-honorable methodologies are easily rationalized. How easy it is to override what we would admit to be wrong in every other case, arguing that the mitigating circumstances in this instance warrant the exception.

In that environment expediency becomes our master at the expense of conviction. The outcome is not what’s essential here, it’s the methods we use to get there. I am convinced that a person’s character is tested most severely not by evil intent, but in what he or she is willing to do when they are absolutely convinced God is on their side.

That’s why people who have paid an incredible price to follow their conscience fascinate me and why I’ll go out of my way to sit down with them–men and women who have gone so far as to give up ministry opportunities and the security of their income because they found a corner they wouldn’t cut, a conviction they would not squelch, a person they would not placate just to save their reputation. Truly these are the men and women of whom the world is not worthy.

I have found no better guide to this lesson than the Beatitudes; especially as they have been translated by Eugene Peterson in The Message. I’ve changed the names of the people involved, not because they wouldn’t deserve the honor, but that the giving of it would be an affront to the very character we are celebrating. Here are eight incredible lessons I’ve learned from people who walk in the joy of the power of a cleansed conscience:

You are blessed when you’re at the end of your rope.
With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

Men of conscience have been through the fire and come out transformed.

I’ve had a lot of thoughts when I’ve dangled from the end of my rope, but I’ll have to admit that feeling blessed was never one of them. Jesus said there is no better place for us to be than beyond our own ability to save ourselves, for only then will we learn to trust him.

As I’ve listened to people who have survived the conscience wars, I am not only impressed by the struggle they’ve been through, but also the fact that they look back in gratefulness not bitterness. Even when their grief was caused by those who did them injustice, they are even thankful for that. Somehow, in the fire of anguish they had come to know God in a way they had not known him before and had discovered a freedom they wouldn’t trade for their past positions.

The man who sat across from me at that Denny’s table is a case in point. He went from being one of the rising gifted men in his denomination to near obscurity. I heard nothing more of him for a number of years, when his name finally surfaced in a conversation. “How is he doing?” I asked.

“He’s been through hell,” a friend told me, his head shaking in disbelief, “but God has really touched him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. He doesn’t talk about it. But I know it was painful.”

When he finally told me his story, I could only shake my head in disbelief. Broken promises by key people in his denomination had left him out of work and out of money. When he was asked to go to that wounded congregation and help it heal, he said he would as soon as his house sold. They told him to get there right away and they would make the payments until it sold. So he moved his family 500 miles to the new church.

For 18 months he hoped his love would win over those who demanded control of the church, but when they went over his head to the denomination he did not get the support they had promised. Meanwhile his home had not sold and despite pleas for help, no money ever came. Finally broke, certain that he was no longer helpful in his new church, and in need of surgery for a medical condition he had developed, he moved back home. In the months that followed not one fellow pastor or denominational executive extended a hand to him. At one point he even had to take food hand-outs from an ethnic church in his neighborhood to feed his family.

What had he learned? “I learned that people will fail you; that the body of Christ can be a pretty dysfunctional family when the heat is on; and that God is big enough to take care of me anyway.” For all he’d been through–repeatedly wounded by his closest friends and his reputation shattered on the rocks of other men’s expedience–he wasn’t bitter at all. On the contrary he was thrilled with how God was using his life now to touch people who are disaffected from church systems and the thrill of living without a salary with incredible needs and seeing God provide for him every day.

No doubt, men like him get into far deeper trouble than if they would just compromise more. But they’ve learned that only in the fire is God clearly seen and his rule more able to take over their lives.

You are blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you.
Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

People of conscience have the most profound relationship to the Father I’ve known anywhere. They are not legalists bowing to an oppressive code of conduct, but men and women who trust

God so much to accomplish his work and demonstrate his love to them over and over again that they have absolutely nothing to win or lose. Which usually means they’ve already lost something incredibly precious to them. Having survived that, they don’t fear it happening again, knowing that God’s presence in their life is really the only thing worthy of value.

Michael founded and edited a Christian magazine that after a number of years had reached a measure of national prominence. One day he felt impressed by the Lord to discontinue publication of the magazine. He shared it with his managing editor, who also happened to be his best friend. His friend was as resistant as Michael had been when the thought first occurred to him. They agreed to pray about it for a month before talking of it with anyone else. After a month they both were certain that God had indeed spoken to them and they were to close the magazine.

They shared it with their board members, who were not surprisingly shocked at the prospect. Having suffered through the early, money-losing days of the venture, they were excited to see it operating in the black. “After all we’ve been through, how can we stop now?” But they agreed to pray about it for a month.

At the next board meeting, when Michael asked the board what their thoughts were, a sordid tale unfolded. The board wasn’t about to stop publication, and the mere fact that Michael had suggested it convinced them he was no longer qualified to be its publisher. They fired him on the spot, and by obvious, prior arrangement elevated his best-friend to be the new publisher. When Michael left the meeting, his friend wouldn’t even look at him.

Over the next few months the betrayal of his friend had pained him the most, but through the process God changed him even as he opened up to him new avenues of ministry. When I met him, the friend who had betrayed him was leading worship at the seminar he was hosting. “How did that come to be?” I asked.

“It took eight years, for God to heal that relationship. He still publishes the magazine, but I know that God called me to other things.”

During that period of time Michael had left a flourishing congregation to start on a fresh journey with some believers in a rural community. He still has no steady means of income, except the Father’s provision as he continues to let God use him to touch lives. Michael’s ability to trust God is second to no one I’ve met anywhere on the planet. Having lost what he deeply valued, Michael found the touch of a loving Father far more precious still.

You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are–no more, no less.
That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

People of conscience are genuine all the way to the core. They make no pretense to be what they are not. In knowing them you are aware both of their wonderful strengths as well as their struggles and failures. They’ll be the first to acknowledge them and apologize for pain they might cause others. But they will not hide them, or seek to build a reputation on false notions about who they really are.

They are not defensive when challenged, but they won’t cower either when others try to manipulate them. One of the greatest things I’ve noticed is that they are the same people in public that they are in private. That’s a major contrast from what I have encountered in many people in ministry. About their own weaknesses they contend, “What people don’t know won’t hurt them.” Or, as one successful pastor said to me as our relationship began, “I really worry about getting too close to you. I am afraid you’ll get to know the real me and you won’t respect me anymore.”

But respect doesn’t arise from oneupsmanship, or well-hidden faults. It comes from openness and honesty. When books I had written were opening doors for more extensive ministry beyond the local church I was pastoring, I struck up a relationship with someone who had been involved in a similar ministry for 25 years. When I asked for his help, he opened wide the doors of his life to me–inviting me into his home and office. He showed me how he did things and why, shared with me his contacts and vendors he used for various publishing needs. He told me the pitfalls and the joys. I warned me where to be cautious and how to trust the Lord in this new environment.

Whenever I’d go through doubtful moments in the transition, he was right there to listen and encourage. “Don’t forget, Wayne. If you’re being obedient to Jesus then time and truth are on your side.” His message was clear. don’t waste time trying to put the best face on things, or defend yourself to your detractors. Be genuine in every encounter and leave the results of that up to God.

You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God.
He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

People of conscience never stop seeking after God. They have realized that the essence of faith is relationship with him. Each day holds new opportunities to see his character and share in his wisdom. Never do they lie down content with past successes, for their successes were never the object of their pursuit. Knowing him is their only goal, and that is what they seek every day.

John was an engineer at a high-tech defense firm in the Northeast, as his five children were entering their high school years. Unchallenged by the church program they were apart of, John began a Friday night Bible study in his home for them and their friends. Before long 50 – 60 kids packed their home every week. Some of their friends got saved and they in turn lead other friends to Christ. John felt God’s call to walk away from his profession and devote his life to helping youth discover the fullness of God’s life.

Fifteen years later in his mid 50’s, John oversaw a regional youth ministry that helped churches in small communities band together to jointly hire and oversee a youth worker. The ministry flourished as students were saved, and graduates became youth workers. Someone donated an historic mansion to coordinate their activities. Yearly they hosted youth retreats and a yearly fundraising banquet that included many of the region’s notable pastors and professional sport stars.

Was John content? No. A few years ago, he began to catch a fresh hunger to know God. He felt the ministry had become a big machine, now engineered more by man’s wisdom than God’s provision. He ended the banquets and committed the ministry to prayer and the pursuit of helping people know the living God. As the luster faded, so did support from many of their wealthiest supporters and most consistent church sponsors. By all outward signs the ministry languished.

Was John discouraged? No doubt there were times he questioned his resolve, but always came out on the side of hungering more for God, and refusing to just caretake machinery that had outlived its purpose. His salary dwindled even as people who didn’t understand spread false information about the ministry and its objectives. Today the ministry is only a shell of what it was formerly, and yet John and his wife are two of the most fulfilled people I’ve ever known. It was never about the numbers, or the money, or the acclaim. It was about loving Jesus first, foremost–and only.

You’re blessed when you care.
At the moment of being ‘care-full’, you’ll find yourselves cared for.

People of conscience never kick someone when their down, never take advantage of someone’s weakness or sin. They know how merciful God has been to them, and can find it in their heart to share no less with others.

None of these I have sought out in my own times of personal struggle ever refused me their time or their help, even when they didn’t know me before. Because they had been through the fire themselves, they did not seek to save me from it by encouraging me to the path of least resistance or greatest self-service. They asked me the tough questions and gave me the difficult advice, because they cared so much that the outcome in my life would be God’s.

During a recent season of betrayal by a good friend in my own life and ministry, one in particular often sat with my wife and me night after night at our table or theirs. He had been through almost the exact same experience 20 years before. He had been made the object of rumor and innuendo by people who were threatened by his influence. He chose to walk away rather than join the fight. It had eventually cost him his ordination, his vocation and his pension. In the years since he had labored in a construction-related trade while he taught avocationally wherever God opened doors.

“You’re living in denial,” he would tell me whenever I tried to put the best face on the motives of others involved in the conflict. He encouraged me to trust the perceptions of my wife, when I refused to admit what she saw so clearly, and which turned out to be right. He told us we could throw ourselves on the lap of God and not be disappointed. In the moments we doubted that, he would tell us to hold on, that the final paragraphs of the chapter had not yet been written.

When I finally walked away from my vocation, the church I had helped plant and the salary I’d relied on for over 15 years, he and his wife were among the first to share their support with us until God opened other doors. He was a friend who truly stuck closer than brothers I have known far longer.

You’re blessed when you get your inside world–your mind and your heart–put right.
Then you can see God in the outside world.

People of conscience, care more about the inside of their lives than how it looks on the outside. All of these stories I have related would never had happened had they cared more about their reputation before men than their reputation before God.

They had ample opportunities to defend themselves or prevail in the power games and took themselves out of the picture rather than stoop to the tactics of those who worked against them. Even when they had the ability to unmask their opponents they sat silently. They helped me see in the flesh, what always amazed me about Jesus–how he stood quietly by as the leaders of the day heaped false accusations and undeserved ridicule on him.

Bob, a co-pastor of a church in a neighboring town, visited his former parish on the last day of his vacation. As he walked in the door before service, people rushed up to him, welcoming him back as their pastor. He tried to correct their misunderstanding. “Just visiting today,” he kept saying. But the people were persistent. They had heard he was coming back.

Confused, Bob returned from vacation to clear up the confusion. As he walked into the office of his church, he was notified that he was no longer employed there. While he had been away his co-pastor has pushed forward a resolution to terminate his employment and hire someone in his place. His office had already been cleared out for the new pastor and his things stacked in the hallway. “We got your old job back for you,” they said with a proud smile as if they’d done him an incredible favor.

As Bob told me the story, no bitterness came with it. “God lets these things happen for a reason he said. If we’ll respond to him in them, he’ll transform us.” The victim of such gross injustice cared more about what was happening inside of him, than getting revenge for how he’d been treated. In the time since God had opened up new ministry opportunities that would never have arisen had he stayed where he was..

“But didn’t you care how all that made you look?” I asked him.

“Of course, who wouldn’t? But is that really the important thing?”

“If I were still trying to please men I would not be a bondservant of Jesus Christ.” Paul’s conclusion is steadfast. If you worry about what you look like before men rather than who you are before God, you’ll never end up following God’s course for your life, nor let him change you in the most painful circumstances. If you do, you get to see him work in ways you never imagined.

You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight.
That’s when you discover who you really are and your place in God’s family.

People of conscience don’t fight. This is the first of two common threads that unite all these stories I’ve related and on which we’ll bring this article to conclusion. Each of these people refused to fight, even when they were in the right or had the power to change their circumstances. They refused in times of pressure to demand their way by their own hand. Like David who walked out of the Jerusalem instead of going to war with Absalom, they are content to leave that kind of fighting to God.

That has almost always come at a high price–forsaking well-paying jobs, successful ministries, and thriving churches. I never understood it until recently. Fighting changes people, and they who prevail in a war with another brother or sister is marred by that encounter. Having prevailed by their own hand, they have to protect and defend what they confuse to be their own. They rationalize the most ungodly behavior, because they imagine it for a higher good, usually the preservation of an institution. They never seem to realize that God’s kingdom isn’t in institutions but in people.

The most miserable men and women I’ve met in vocational ministry are those who have conquered by the force of their own will. They create authority structures that leave them unchallenged, or scheme by deceit and gossip to manipulate others to their ends. They can make it work for some time, but all of it eventually collapses, as do they under its weight. We seem to only hear about the days that appear successful, for no one talks about the days of burnout and emptiness where they put the whole machine in someone else’s hands and retreat to a mountain cabin or a resort hotel for weeks on end.

People of conscience often end up as outcasts of the system. They visit occasionally, often to teach insights deeper than anything they’d found inside it. They hold no judgments for those still there, but have long-since realized there is a major distinction between the church of Jesus Christ and the institutions that dot our cities and countrysides today. They may occasionally overlap, but they are not one in the same thing.

Disillusioned with the system, many forsake its trappings convinced that it doesn’t always serve the higher priorities. One of these men summed up well, what I’ve heard expressed by them all: “Isn’t there something wrong with the way we do church if it allows the most selfish and manipulative to rise to the top of our institutions?”

Those who refuse to play power games, however, get to discover who they really are and seem incredibly secure about how they fit into God’s purpose. Don’t confuse their forsaking the trappings for forsaking God or his call. All of those I’ve written about here are actively serving God today, though mostly in unconventional ways. Their love for God only deepened through their trials, and their ministries only grew more effective. Whatever they left only taught them to trust God in ways they never had to before. Finally liberated from the confining expectations and demands of their detractors, they found out what God had really called them to be after all.

You’re blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution.
The persecution drives you even deeper into God’s kingdom.
Not only that–count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me.
…You can be glad when that happens…for though they don’t like it I do…
My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

The second thread that unites the stories I’ve told in this article is that they all have suffered–deeply! Character costs something and nothing describes the price better than the list Jesus gave here. They’ve been put down by others who didn’t understand them, excluded when they didn’t go along with the crowd, or lied about as a means to disarm their uncomfortable example.

Regretfully most of this suffering has come at the hands of other people in the church who were convinced they were doing God a favor. The conclusion? People of conscience are usually not popular. They make us uncomfortable, because their willingness to be mistreated and misunderstood when they cling to the purity of their conscience exposes the compromises the rest of us make. If we don’t follow their example, we have to destroy them, lest others be influenced by their actions.

Surpringsly, however, they are not bitter for their experiences, but almost seem grateful. They don’t blame the failures of others, recognizing that we all have weaknesses and at times make poor choices. They don’t dwell on “what could have been…” but get on with God’s work in whatever new doors he opens. All the while, they will tell you of the freedom and joy they’ve come to know through their trials.

You can see it deep in their eyes when you tell them tales of your own suffering. Their heart will break for the pain you’re in, but they don’t despair. They know what that pain will produce. More than once I’ve heard one of them say, “Be grateful, Wayne. This will change you in ways you never imagined.” I knew they didn’t relish my pain, but they didn’t hate it as much as I did either. They knew what it would work in me. At its end there would be less of Wayne and more of Christ, and they were already rejoicing when I had no idea how I would survive.

* * * * *

I have a deep admiration for those who’re paid an incredible price to follow the Father’s voice. They inspire me to take the risk to live like them. They model for me a freedom from playing the political games that too frequently worm their way into our best institutions. They help me look past the false success standards of the day and care more about what God thinks of me than what other people do–even dear friends and colleagues.

As I look back on the compromises of my own life and ministry, I am encouraged by one other characteristic of these people that isn’t highlighted in the Beatitudes’ list. They are all at over 50 years old. Maybe living true to one’s conscience isn’t nurtured overnight, nor something one can choose by shear force of will. Perhaps it is only forged in the fire of human experience.

As I listen to their tales, I hear of past compromises that came back to haunt them. I hear their own failures toward others, that has given them greater patience toward those who have failed them. I heard of their past pursuit of less-glorious objectives, and their disillusionment when they had achieved them and found the result unsatisfying.

Maybe there is hope for me. Their lives have cheered me on to live in the danger of trusting God. None of them could promise me that I wouldn’t get burned for doing so, but they all made it really clear that there is no greater way to know life-long freedom and joy in the Father’s house.

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The Danger of Meetings

Uncategorized / October 31, 2015

Alan Richardson, St. Louis, MO

Meetings have become the center stage in our understanding of what it is to be a Christian – the focus of our definition in what it means to follow Christ?They define our level of “commitment”. They are the pivot point in our function as believers??.the center of our social lives, whether its meetings in large auditoriums or smaller group meetings in homes. They can be the center of our devotional lives with the bible study or “worship service” being the high point of our Christian week Meetings also provide the center for our financial objectives ( the funding of our auditoriums – “church buildings” – and the staff that perform within them). They also seem to be the focal point for what it means to us to be a Christian because its where we invite our friends saved and unsaved, to meet with God.

And in all of these things lies their danger.

Why?

Let me give you a few reasons:

1. A Christianity anchored in meetings as its foundation for or expression of life will become performance based and focused. Performance based in our expectations of what those meetings should achieve, and therefore performance focused in our expectations of the people attending those meetings. That is, we will come to judge people by how they perform, appear to us and seem to act or respond at the meetings.

Along with this, Christian ministry or leadership (servanthood is the proper term) will be judged and rejected or accepted according to our estimation of their performance at the meeting, and we will decide whether or not to join ourselves to them on the basis of that performance (very unbiblical!)

2. We will become introspective. A “meeting focused” Christianity inevitably makes us inward looking as everything is geared to whatever goes on at the meetings.

Ultimately, meetings will become our definition of the Christian life which results in agenda taking priority over relationships – worse, even defining relationships. With that we get into the dreadful and unbiblical separation of believers (clergy/laity) with everything that follows – professional ministry, ambition, finding my identity in things other than Christ alone, using the church as a means of provision, peer pressure, party factions, denominations??.and church becoming something which God never intended for it to be – an institution with a biblical name attached to it.

3. And here, we’re getting to the really critical stuff???.

A meeting based Christianity becomes a hindrance to the cross with the result that I DO NOT FIND LIFE IN THE MEASURE THAT JESUS PLANS FOR ME.

Why or how is it that I miss the cross in a meeting centered Christianity? Because I am constantly seeking to preserve my life as a believer instead of learning what it is to lose it.

4. Last but not least, we become meeting focused instead of Christ focused. Our goal becomes “church” – which again is unbiblical – and we become perpetrators of a third kingdom upon the earth, The Kingdom of Church which is a hindrance to The Kingdom of God and powerless against The Kingdom of This World

Now at this point, some of you are going to pop up and say?”But what about scripture? Doesn’t the bible tell us not to neglect to assemble with one another”? We’ll come to that more in a moment, but let me just say at this point that attaching biblical names or descriptions to what we are doing – even in an attempt to vindicate our activities – does not make them biblical or us a biblical people.

But lets for the moment get to the two most important issues reflected above. Because out of them, everything else will flow anyway.

The CROSS and The LIFE (The Kingdom).

Why would meetings cause us to hide from The Cross and miss The Life?

Lets go back to some of the basic reasons we look for meetings – and I’ll give you three.

To find an identity

To share our life with other believers.

An attempt to respond to what we believe is the legal obligation foisted upon us as believers to attend meetings.

There’s nothing wrong with the 2nd. The problem is, in a performance based environment, that’s not going to happen.

The third point is usually found in the over use and abuse of a scripture by the institution to perpetuate itself.

Much more – much, much more! – could be said concerning both of these points, but that’s not the focus I believe God wants me to take here. Instead, I want to stay with the first point???.the Meeting, or assembly of believers, being the place where I go to find my identity or my place in Christ

“What’s wrong with that?” you say.

I appreciate this should concern all believers, but at this point I’m wanting especially to write to those of you outside the camp of institutional or organizational Christianity. For those there is extra significance here.

God’s work is not just individual. It will also be Corporate.

And we cannot find it without the cross. Just as that is true for the individual man in Christ, so it will be true for the Corporate man.

Why?

Because the new thing is LIFE. It is THE Life. It IS Jesus.

If you bypass the cross you cannot find the LIFE as a reality..

Because the cross is the separation point between a life based in fear (death), and a life which is Love (LIFE or what we term eternal life). Between the SELF life and the CHRIST life.

Ok you say – but how do relationships, and finding my identity come into all this?

Firstly relationships are the definition of the corporate. And what our relationships are based upon will define whether God is being able to do his work or whether it is simply a rehashed old way.

And the litmus test is The Life.

Is it His LIFE? (Which can only be found through the death of the cross)

Or is it our Life? (Which is death because it is based in fear – self preservation, and the seeking or holding on to my own identity in things additional to Christ)

First things first.

If you mean business with God, you can’t find your identity in anything but Jesus. That will progressively cost you your life. By that I mean it will cause you to have to lay down your search for identity in ANYTHING other than Him. That includes, meetings, ministry, peer groups, leaders, messages or causes, traditions??anything. ESPECIALLY RELIGIOUS!

That’s the first thing. And if you think that’s hard wait till you get to the 2nd!

The friendships that God desires for us can also only be based in love not fear. But before you rush to volunteer, remember that to find those friendships will mean we are going to have to lose our life.

Put it another way, we will only find those friendships through the cross.

What does this mean from the flip side? It means we will be unable to find LOVE if we are trying to find or preserve our life.

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An Open Letter to the Persecuted Church

Uncategorized / October 31, 2015

Alan Richardson, St. Louis, MO

My dear and beloved brothers and sisters. I may not have met you who are reading this letter, but my heart and my prayers are with you. You are an inspiration and encouragement to me. You are a marvel in the earth and a source of amazement to this world, its citizens and its rulers. You stand in strength when the enemy of your souls – and even your own flesh – tells you that you are weak and helpless. You face the loss of all you have, but continue to hold to the One you cannot see despite the bullying and derision of those set against you

Continue to hold through in love and peace. Do not lift up your voices or your fists against those who seek to harm you. Remember that Jesus was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and although the almighty Son of God, did not call a single angel to his help at his time of most desperate need. This is because the Kingdom you are called to is demonstrated not through your words, but through your lives. And God’s goal through you is to reach the hearts of those who oppose you. Because but for His grace, you and I might be the accusers and persecutors instead of the ones called by God to be His ambassadors. And whereas we have a hope and an inheritance that nothing can harm, our persecutors in their hopelessness have nothing but eternal despair in front of them.

Can you see then why Jesus commands us, that if an opponent should strike us on one cheek, we should turn the other cheek to him for him to strike that as well? For if we are called as followers of Christ, we are called not to preserve our own lives but be ready at all times to lay them down.

As we lay our lives down, we prove meekness and humility. And although it may be in trembling and weakness, we also prove the love that is greater than fear, the life that is greater than death. And our Father in Heaven sees His Kingdom coming upon the earth through the sacrifice of your life lived in love. Don’t be afraid dear friend, your reward is ahead of you, and it will not fail! And as you lay down your life daily, learning to live in Love not fear, you tread a pathway for the Kingdom of God on earth.

I will say one other thing that may surprise you – you may even find difficult to understand. It is this. There are many of us here in the rich and affluent West who envy you.

You may say?..”but how can you envy us who are poor, persecuted, frequently without bibles and often only able to meet at great risk to ourselves?”

We envy you because the riches of this world blind us here in the west. We envy you because though you have little support or encouragement in this world, you have all of Heaven behind you and are forced to lean upon Him alone who will never fail you. We envy you because you are called upon daily to love the loveless, to live your faith in a world that opposes you, whereas here in the West we have “churches” that are accepted by the world and are all too often left with only the language of salvation.

Yes we are organised, but our organisational strengths all too often rest in our own talents and gifts. Yes, we have wonderful church buildings, but they teach the world that God dwells in them instead of in people, and the God that dwells in those buildings is usually withdrawn and religious – difficult if not impossible to identify with the laughing, loving, vibrant, passionate, compassion filled Jesus, Son of God. And yes we have Bibles, but we have come to depend upon them as the word of God, whereas the Word of God is a person. The Word of God is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is He that we are called to learn of. The Bible is a great help in that respect, but never a substitute. Remember that the early church – the most powerful church this world has ever seen – had no church buildings or bibles for over 200 years. And when it began to erect church buildings and appoint church “officers”, it began to slip into the dark ages.

Can you see then where you are such an encouragement and example to us here in the west? In China you have become the most powerful church in the world! You have grown faster than any church since the first century! And you have done it without any of our western “strengths”. If you have had church buildings, they have been torn down. If you had bibles, they were confiscated. If you had leaders, they were imprisoned. And yet this did not stop you from growing – even though you felt, and must still feel pressed to the point of desperation! Because all of your strengths and supports in this world were removed from you, you had no other resource than Heaven!

Yes, the world sought to make an example of you. But so did God! God sought to show us that if we will yield ourselves to a point of helplessness HE WILL BUILD HIS CHURCH AND THE PLOTS, PLANS AND STRATEGIES OF HELL ITSELF WILL NOT BE ABLE TO STOP HIM!!

You my dear brothers and sisters – whether in China or Mexico, in Iran or Columbia – are in inspiration to us and a joy in the eyes of your Father in Heaven. Press on and do not despair!

Finally, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Beware of the mistakes we have made in the west. If persecution begins to be lifted from you, beware of ambition, beware of control seeking, beware of seeking to find your own identity amongst your friends, for these things all flow from the flesh and will cause division and strife. They will not advance the Kingdom, they will betray it to the world. Beware of setting up church buildings. If you have bibles, you will know that “God no longer dwells in buildings made with the hands of men”. Why set up meeting halls when you have homes? Why create settings for oratory when Jesus is learned through LIFE – the life that you live and impart to others each day. We are called to make DISCIPLES, not listeners. To be a functioning part of one another, not an audience. Why then should we lift up one person to stand in front of us, when only One – the Lord Jesus – should be in that place.

Yes, God has given gifts to His church. He has given apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. And they will come and strengthen and equip us to live the life and share that life with each other and the world. But they are not to be the focus. They are but servants, who once a job is done, gladly step back. If a servant continues to do a job for us, we forget how to do it ourselves!

Church was never meant to be a means of finding our identity upon the earth. For “if we find our life, we shall lose it”. When we seek our identity in “our own church”, we lose the power of heaven to win the world around us to the reality of The Kingdom of God.

You may wonder then, what is the way ahead if we are not to do these things when we come to a time of peace and freedom from persecution. If you wish to know the way ahead, look behind you. See how God has sustained and kept you. See how God has caused His Kingdom to grow and advance upon the earth through you. Israel journeyed through the wilderness so that they might have this lesson to remember when they came to the Promised Land – God alone is their provision and source and supply. Depend upon nothing else but Him.

Your security is not to be in this world. We have failed in the west in many ways. We who once were your teachers now need to realise we are the pupils.

Stand strong no matter how you may feel. We need you, and so does The Lord. Pray for us here in the west that God may shake us out of bed with the world. We pray for you that God will continue to keep you strong and pure. Remember, you are strong, not because of anything you do, but because “greater is He within you than He which is in this world.” Walk on with Him dearly beloved! He is ahead of you, and His angels are around you. He will never let you fall!

With much love in our Lord Jesus.

Alan

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