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Should Evangelical Churches Be Involved in Community Ministry and if so, WHY?

Our church is committed to physically blessing whatever area we are trying to plant churches in. By that I mean not only do we want to see churches planted, we want to see the improvement of local education, health, and politics, and standards of living, and see the decrease of crime and poverty. We engage in projects to those ends. We don't do this as a bait and switch, as if it's just a gimmick to get people to trust Jesus. Part of the Gospel is loving our neighbor whether or not they ever trust Jesus. As a friend of mine says, "We don't serve to convert, we serve because we are converted."

Thankfully, a lot of evangelical churches today are re-embracing the need to love their world soul AND body. However, they don't always seem to agree on the reason behind why we do it. Some have never put much thought to it. There seems to be a theological haze around evangelical community ministry.

Let me sketch out for you a few of the different reasons I've encountered for why churches serve (or don't serve) the physical needs of their community. (I will leave the names associated with these reasons out in case I am misrepresenting them, but I have found popular evangelical spokesmen who advocated each of these positions)...

1. Some say we do community ministry because we are extending the Kingdom of God on earth: Some people believe that Jesus left us to build His kingdom on earth. We are not simply to be evangelizing the earth, as if we're simply trying to load up the Ark before God destroys the world again. These people embrace a worldview of creation/fall/redemption/restoration. The whole point of God's work is not simply to rescue people out of the earth, but to actually restore the earth to its glorified state. They point out that in the final chapter of Revelation what you have is not a group of Christians being evacuated off of earth into heaven, but a city coming DOWN from heaven to earth. Jesus' miracles, they note, were not (as commonly supposed) a suspension of the natural order, but a return to the natural order. They showed the earth the way it was supposed to be, the way it will be in the Kingdom. Jesus' resurrection, in like manner, was just the "firstfruits" of the resurrection of the whole world. We are to take the power of this resurrection to all spheres of the world. Martin Luther exemplified this when he answered the question, "What would you do if you knew Jesus were coming back tomorrow?" with, "Plant a tree. Imagine what that tree will look like in Jesus' glorified reign." For these people, community restoration is not simply a means for evangelism; rather, evangelism is the means to community restoration, because "community restoration" is the ultimate point of the church's work on earth! I've heard community restoration and evangelism described as two wings of the same plane, with community restoration being the "more important" wing!

When confronted with the question, "But doesn't the Bible say in 2 Peter 3 that the earth will be burned up?," these people point out that what Peter actually says (when you consider the Greek translation) is that the world be "purified" through fire and that the heavens and earth will "pass away." When the earth is purified by fire, the dross of corruption and sin will be burned away but the gold of God's Kingdom will remain. Just as one day my physical body will "pass away" and my spirit will still remain, so the dead outer body of the earth will dissolve and only the Kingdom (which we have been building on earth) will remain. Jesus will simply finish what we have started.

2. Some say we do community ministry simply because we love our neighbor. Some other Christians disagree with the above, but are still involved in community ministry. They say that we are not called to build the kingdom physically on earth, other than to call people to surrender to the Lordship of King Jesus. Jesus will build the Kingdom Himself, our role in the Kingdom is to call people to King Jesus. Ours is not primarily the ministry of restoration, but the ministry of reconciliation. They point out that the city that we see in the final chapter of Revelation DESCENDS from heaven, not rises up from the earth as Christians build it. In other words, we don't build the Kingdom so Jesus can return to it. He builds it and brings it down to us.

These people are still involved in serving their neighbor, however, as they note that we cannot love our neighbors and see them cold and underfed and not meet their physical needs. Love is the most significant change the Gospel makes in our hearts, and to love people means that we can't sit by when they are in hungry. "We don't serve to convert, we serve because we are converted."

It's just that they would not see the restoration of society as the endgame of OUR (the church's) work on earth, they would see the redemption of people as the church's work. Evangelism is our PRIMARY task, not community restoration.

3. Some say social ministry is not the domain of the church; the church should only be concerned with preaching the Gospel. Other Christians go a step farther and say that preaching is the one, primary work of the church and that other good pursuits (like social justice) should not take the church away from her one task, the preaching of the Gospel. These people believe that preaching the Gospel IS the greatest act of community service they can do.

They would see themselves kind of like an EMT in an emergency. If there were an earthquake that left a lot of people dying, the most loving thing the EMT could do is not be distracted by cleaning up all the mess and do the one thing that only he can do, and that is perform emergency procedures that save lives.

They point out that in Acts you don't see the Apostles running soup kitchens, you see them preaching. When they are presented with a social need like the hunger of the widows (Acts 6), they challenge other Christians to take up this task so that they will not be distracted from preaching. They point out that when Jesus was asked to get involved in social justice issues, he declined and preached instead: when he was asked to end world hunger in John 6 he declined and preached instead to the people about Himself as the bread of life; when he was asked to solve the property dispute of one person who had been cheated out of their property, He said that this was not His business and preached to the crowd instead about the sin of greed.

These people believe that individual Christians (or groups of Christians, as in charitable foundations, philanthropy groups, parachurch ministries, etc) can and should engage in community ministry issues, just not the local church body herself. The focus of the organized church should be preaching. However, if the church perceives that she can preach the Gospel better by engaging in community ministry, she should do that. But preaching is the endgame.

4. Some say community ministry is done as a "sign" of the Gospel, and a necessary part of preaching the Gospel. OK, I'll admit, this is my position (which is why I left it till last.) We believe that community ministry is more than just love of our neighbor, it is a sign of the Kingdom that Jesus inaugurated. In the same way that Jesus' miraculous signs gave physical pictures of what His kingdom was like (a Kingdom without blindness or sickness), community ministry also shows what the kingdom is really like: a kingdom of justice, progress, equity, health, and sacrificial love. Unlike the "build the Kingdom" people, however, we don't believe that we are actually building the Kingdom on earth. Jesus alone can do that. As pointed out above, the glorified, restored city comes down from above and the heavenly Garden is planted by God Himself.

What we are doing is giving signs, the way that Jesus did. Signs, whether done by Jesus or by us, are only temporary. The blind eyes that Jesus healed went blind again--they weren't Kingdom eyes, because Kingdom eyes will never decay. The dead people Jesus raised died again. He was only giving a temporary picture of what the Kingdom was like. Some theologians assert that had Israel accepted Jesus as the Messiah He would have inaugurated the Kingdom, in which case the healings He gave would have become permanent and the actual institution of the Kingdom. Regardless, Jesus is now in heaven and we await His return. He alone can bring resurrection to the earth. Just like his signs and miracles, our "restoration" is only temporary and only a sign of the future restoration. The bodies we heal will deteriorate again; the neighborhoods we rebuild will turn back into ghettos once again. Every single "renewal" that God did in the Bible, Old or New Testament, eventually deteriorated back into chaos, with the exception of the resurrection of Christ Himself and our souls resurrected in Him. We are not building the Kingdom for Jesus; we are giving signs of that Kingdom, just like He did.

To those that think we are actually building the Kingdom now, I would urge the consideration of a little historical context: this was the failed experiment of zealous Christians in the 17th and 20th centuries. In fact, much of the "America is God's chosen nation" heresy in the church today came out of the mentality that some Christians had at the birth of our nation. They thought they were building the perfect Kingdom government which Jesus would come back to. Those that are trying to build Kingdom businesses and Kingdom governments should be wary of trying to actually build the Kingdom without the King.

What we, the church, are here to do, primarily, is to preach the Gospel of His Kingdom and compel others to surrender to the King Jesus. Ours is the ministry of reconciliation to the King, not restoration of the Kingdom. HOWEVER, just as Jesus, as part of His preaching, gave signs of the Kingdom, so we are to perform signs in our communities. We are to heal the sick, feed the hungry and clothe the poor, sometimes by natural means and sometimes supernatural. We are to constantly testify that this is what the Kingdom is like and compel people to come to Jesus the Kingom. Our kindness is neither random nor senseless. It signifies the Kingdom. We are to (in the words of N.T. Wright who, so far as I know, does not agree with my position) "sketch out with pencil what Jesus will one day paint over in indelible ink."

We want our cities to be like Samaria in Acts 8, who "rejoiced" because of the preaching and healing ministry of Philip. We want our communities to be like Tabitha's community in Acts 9 who wept at her death because of all the kind deeds she had done in their midst. We believe that the beauty of Jesus' kingdom is so compelling that our community will look at us and say, "Wow. We don't believe what they believe, but thank God they're here!" 

Also, do not overlook that the local Church itself is the greatest earthly sign of the Kingdom. The Church is to be an inexplicable new community of unity and love--Jesus said in John 17 that the world would know Jesus' Messiahship by the love of His disciples for one another.

I guess my position is kind of a hybrid of the first 3. We serve people because we love them, and because we know that in order to preach the Gospel effectively to them we need to give them signs of the Kingdom we preach. 

This is a work in progress for me, so I'm open to your thoughts.

Tribute to a Sunday School Teacher

Last week I got word that a favorite childhood Sunday school teacher of mine had died. His name was Jim Scott.

Most of you, especially you at the Summit Church, will never have heard his name before. But every message you hear from me was formed, in some way, by him. I've never given him credit, but he's present in almost every one.

He was my Sunday school teacher for many years. He was insane enough to volunteer to teach the 6th grade boys. He then "grew up" with us through several years... I can't imagine that he probably felt very "fulfilled" after teaching us each Sunday. We didn't really act interested in what he had to say. We determined whether or not it was a good class by if he brought donuts or not. Frequently one of us had to sit outside because we couldn't cease being idiots for the 40 minutes he had with us.

But we were listening. At least I was. I especially remember how so many of his lessons were filled with stories of people he had shared Christ with. He knew that people needed Jesus, that we needed Jesus. He told us that. Every Sunday. The Word of God was alive to him.

Years later, this would all come back to me.

When God began to work in my life... it was the ministry of men and women like him that suddenly came alive in my life.

He'll never read this blog. As far as I know, he may have died not knowing I had a blog, or even what a blog was. But from heaven I hope he looks down and sees the fruit of his life multiplying 1000 times over.

Here's to all you under-appreciated, overworked children and student volunteers, especially at the Summit Church, who are making a bigger difference in the generations that follow you than you'll probably ever know.

P.S. (I can't help but add that if you want to be involved in the lives of children or students, email Angie Field for children and Jason Gaston for our student ministry. They'd love to talk with you about it.)

P.P.S. If you come to the Brier Creek campus, PLEASE consider coming to the 9:00 service this week! Last week we had more people at the 10:45 service than we've ever had on campus. We are by no means empty in the 9:00, but there's still a few seats left there, and it will create more room from those first time people who come at 10:45! Thanks!

Is Hell afraid of the Summit Church?

“The one concern of our enemy is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, he mocks at our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.” Samuel Chadwick

“The work of God tarries because there is a lack of urgency of prayer in the church. Hell has nothing to fear but a God anointed prayer powered church.”  Leonard Ravenhill

On Sunday I posed the question of why prayer comes so hard for us... not just as individuals, but as a church. Jesus said that His church was to be known as a "house of prayer." Today, if you were asked to describe most church experiences, you would say they are a "house of preaching" or a "house of music." But would you call them a house of prayer?

If we don't pray, John 15 says that it's because of something that we fail to believe about Jesus. Jesus taught us in that chapter that if we abide in Him (i.e. really understand Him and believe in Him), then prayer will be as natural to us as breathing is to a living body.

Jesus gave some extraordinary promises about prayer in John 14-15. He said that if we would abide in Him, and His words (His Gospel, His mission) would abide in us, we could ask whatever we wanted, and it would be given to us. He told His disciples that (through prayer) they would do even greater works than He had done.

To abide in Jesus and have His word abiding in us means that we understand His mission and believe that He is every bit as willing to pursuit it today as He was back then. That mission, then and now, is to have compassion on people and show that God is God.

As I pointed out on Sunday, Jesus never turned anyone away. Whenever He was confronted with a need, He was moved with compassion and got involved. When people with a need reached out to touch Him, His power and compassion flowed out reflexively, almost as if He had no control over it.

Jesus' compassion for people has not changed. When He "sees" suffering, He acts. You ask, "Doesn't He see everywhere?" Yes, but there is a special type of "seeing" that Jesus does, and when He sees in this way He acts: Exodus says that when he 'saw' the Israelite suffering, He got involved; when He SAW the multitudes He was moved with compassion and healed their diseases  (see Matthew 14:14).

In John 15:7-8 Jesus is literally commissioning us to be His eyes and ears on earth. We will see on His behalf and by our faith release His compassion on the needs that we see. Whatever we ask to that end, He'll give it.

I'm ready for some crazy stuff to start happening around our church. I'm tired of being able to explain our success. I want some God-sized, in your face, "only Jesus could do that" kind of miracles. The book of Acts did not leave us any manuals on preaching or government involvement or church growth techniques… what they did leave us with is the story of people who knew how to pray… a church who knew how to pray until the place was shaken, people were healed, and prison doors flew open.

In Acts they didn't seem to get as concerned about all the stuff we spend our energies on today... like problems in the government... You don't hear them saying, “Oh no, Caligula is a transvestite... what are we going to do?" Because they knew that if God was released in the church, who could stop Him?

Summit Church, hope to see you tonight at a special prayer meeting at the Brier Creek campus at 6:45.

Open-Sourcing: What I Plan to Preach On The Rest of the Season...

Here's a snapshot of where we are going in our Sunday morning teaching this semester... (Right now we are in a series called "Organic", wherein we work through John 15:1-17 and it's counterpart John 17, looking at what Jesus says characterizes the truly changed life. We've discussed Gospel-centered change, and we'll also be looking at the effects of the Gospel on our friendships, our attitude toward prayer, our jobs, and our purpose in life. It should run to about mid-February.)

Deliverance: The Life of Moses. This is one I am really looking forward to. We will be going event by event through Exodus, showing how God put the Gospel on display in Moses' life. We’ll learn how God leads us, how He rescues us, and how He confronts our way of looking at life by inviting us into a wonderful story He’s composing. I've studied a bunch on this one already and learned more than I can share in 10 lifetimes. Don't worry, I'll try and be marginally sensitive to time constraints.

Exposed: Sex, Love and Romance in the Song of Solomon (PG-13). This will be an interesting look at the raw romance story depicted in the Song of Solomon. We'll look at Dating, Conflict Resolution, Sex, and Lifelong Marital Happiness, among other things.

4 questions for YOU:

• The Organic series should run to mid-February. I can't decide whether or not to do the Moses one immediately after that or the Song of Solomon one. What do you think?
• I'm not satisfied yet on the title of the Moses series. Can you think of a better one?
• Can you think of anything else that you sense the church needs to hear about? I don't preach according to polls, of course, but what do you believe needs to be said to our local RDU body of Christ?
• What should the theme of our Easter series be?

Post your answers to any of the above in the comments below. Be concise.

P.S. Happy 38th wedding anniversary to my parents, Lynn and Carol Greear, TODAY.

A fruitful pastor with an unfruitful church?

I've been studying John 15 for this Organic series that we are in… Yesterday, this verse really stood out to me: "By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit." Jesus' concern then, and now, was that his disciples be fruitful, not just they stand amazed at his fruitfulness.

It appears to me that in the “church growth circles” in which I run there are two kinds of churches--the kind where the church is an audience gathered to share in the personal fruitfulness of the pastor, and the kind where members are equipped to be fruitful themselves. In the former, the PASTOR wins people to Christ each Sunday, his speaking is a strong manifestation of the Spirit, and he creates a buzz of excitement that draws people like crazy. He is the “hero” of the church.

In the latter kind, the CHURCH MEMBERS are equipped to see the power of God in and through their lives as they see God's kingdom brought into their workplaces. They, not just the pastor, are the “heroes” of the church.

I definitely want that latter kind. Jesus didn’t simply gather observers. Jesus called and trained leaders. He REPLICATED Himself in them.

Furthermore, Jesus wants us to transform the city, not just grow the church audience. Since the city lives outside the walls of the church, training up leaders to take Jesus to them is the most effective way to really transform the city. 39 of the 40 miracles in the book of Acts happened OUTSIDE of the church. We will transform our city when our members are believing in Jesus' power on behalf of their families, friends, and community, and when they are taking Him to them.

Don't get me wrong, I do want to preach the Word with such anointing that people come from far and wide to encounter God. I want to be like Solomon, whom another world leader came to hear preach because she had heard about the power of his words. That is a crucial part of our strategy, but it is only PART of the strategy.

I don't want a church that grows with people simply observing and riding on the coattails of, my fruitfulness. That is more like a spiritual circus than a genuine church.

God called me to lead a church, not put on a show. At the end of the day, I will answer to God not for the size of my crowd, but for what I did to make fruitful disciples out of them.

That means I need to be telling stories that the congregation can relate to about how I've seen God use me to share Christ in the community. They need to see me modeling the kind of "taking Jesus to the community" that I'm talking about. It also means I need to teach them to pray and believe God PERSONALLY for miracles in and through them, not just expect them from me.

Anything less cannot be called an "Acts" church. The story of the church did not stop in Acts 2 with 5000 being saved under Peter's preaching. It progressed into Acts 6-8, where the members went everywhere into the community and world preaching the word.

Summit Church, this is what I want for you! Don't be satisfied to simply sit and be awed by the fruitfulness of your leaders. Jesus has more for you. Let Him make you fruitful yourself!

3 Friends Who Have Been Unexpected Sources of Inspiration

Just wanted to give a tip of the hat two old friends and one set of new ones who have been a great source of blessing to me.

Catalyst
Got to spend last Friday afternoon with a couple of completely off the wall guys, LV and Chad. They showed up in RDU in their vanagon just to encourage us and tell us that God is using our church beyond just RDU. It's always nice to hear. I learned a lot from Chad and LV, personally. First of all, I've never seen a more tricked out Micheal J Fox era VW van. As a new owner of a van myself, I am developing a querky passion to compare van features with total strangers. LV passed on something that was very challenging to me... he had heard a church leader say that if Jesus had a church in his city, Jesus' church would probably be smaller than his because Jesus was always elevating the demands of discipleship even when it meant that people didn't want to come around anymore.

LV and Chad are great and I appreciate what they are doing. They have a great write-up and blog about their road trip with some bazaar pictures here.

AIM
My good friend Finney Mathews, who through one church in India has overseen the planting of 500 churches there and in Nepal this past YEAR, came by to share with me some vision for what is happening over there. I was overwhelmed hearing him tell the stories of what God is doing there--stories of persecution, the radical love of the church over there, and incredible growth. He told me those pastors pray and fast for us (partnering America church) all day each Saturday. WOW. I am speaking at his pastors' conference there later this year, and know that I'll probably come closer to seeing Acts 2 than I've ever been before. Stop now, if you will, and pray a prayer of faith in God's goodness toward India for them.

Inspire
Our friend Carl Cartee is putting on his first ever INSPIRE worship conference. Carl is one of the finest worship leaders I personally know (he and his band led worship for us back in December). Our friend Steven Furtick (who preached at the Summit this past Sunday by video) is speaking at this conference, and it promises to be an incredible experience for any present or future worship leaders.

God's goodness to me has often been expressed in giving me friends like the ones above. They have elevated my vision and helped shape my life. I know you have friends like that, too, and maybe it would be a good day to jot one a note and tell them that.

 

202,000

1. 202,000. That's how much you (the Summit Church) gave to our Christmas Church Planting Offering. That's over and above the normal 'budget" giving this past December. That is over $80,000 more than we've ever taken up before for this type of offering! I am again overwhelmed at the generosity that you all show.

Praise God. Not a penny of that goes into normal "Summit Church" operations. We are going to be able to use this money to bless our local community and targeted communities overseas by meeting some of their physical needs, as well as sponsoring at least 6 new church plants. Summit Church, when you add that to the other missions giving, that means you gave a total of roughly 21% of all money away last year for church planting and missions. Praise God, and let's keep asking God to enable us (as individuals and as a church) how to give more away.

2. The Gospel. Someone asked me if the message this past Sunday was intended to be for people who were not Christians or for those who were, because it seemed to them it was for non-Christians but they found it applying to their own lives. That brings up something that I have learned about the Gospel recently, and that is the Gospel (and by that I don't mean a 4-minute-4-spiritual-laws-presentation tacked on at the end) is equally beneficial for both "Christians" and "seekers." I gave these thoughts a while back in a blog series on "myths" of preaching to the "emerging" generation:

Myth #3: There is a difference between what 'seekers' need to hear and what 'mature Christians' need to hear.

How many times have I heard someone describe a service as great "for the believer" (meaning, full of doctrinal equivocation, biblical history and steps to mature Christian living in the church subculture) but not "for the seeker" (meaning, full of mind-bogglingly-basic how-to steps and simple explanations of how much you suck and how miserable you must feel without God)--as if seekers and believers were not simply people at different stages of healing from the exact same disease? Both seekers and beleivers need to hear the Gospel.

And by "the Gospel" I don't mean endless variations of the four spiritual laws tacked onto the end of each sermon like a commercial calling others to join the club. I mean preaching in a way that continually explains how the Gospel addresses our whole lives at the most fundamental levels. All of life is about turning from sin, our functional saviors and our idols, trusting in Jesus, cherishing Him, looking for "justification" from no one else but Him, learning to be satisfied with no other Gods but Him, and being empowered by the Spirit to live a life of gratitude and joy in God patterned after the life of Jesus. That is the Gospel.

There may be some variance in degree between how "seekers" and "mature believers" apply the Gospel, but that's all that is--a difference of degree. As believers we are on the other side of the cross, but it is still the cross which is the antidote for our sin and spiritual weakness. This is the method we see employed in Paul's teaching:

Paul introduced the book of Romans by saying that  he wanted to "preach the Gospel" to those who those who were in Rome. The result was the book of Romans, the clearest explanation of the Gospel that we have... and a book so profound that even the most theologically adept still marvel at it. It is not simply a tract that engaged seekers and bored believers. In other words, in the book of Romans Paul preached the Gospel to believers and even the wisest Bible students today never feel like they get to the bottom of this great book!

When Paul wanted to instruct Ephesian husbands about how to love their wives, he started by explaining the Gospel (Eph 5:25-31).

When Paul wanted to help Peter overcome his racism, he explained the Gospel to Peter and then applied it to Peter's hypocrisy (Gal 2:14).

When Jesus wanted to motivate his disciples to love and forgive others, He tied their ability to forgive to their understanding of their having been forgiven. In other words, He reminded them of the Gospel and then called for their change (Matthew 18:23-25).

When Paul wanted to deal with the interpersonal conflicts of the church in Corinth, he began by walking them through some of the doctrines of the Gospel that would destroy their pride and works-righteousness, which he saw as the source of their conflict (1 Cor 1-3).

When Paul wanted to teach Philippian believers how to get along with each other and work together on teams, he started by giving them a Christology (Philippians 2:5-11).

When Paul wanted to confront believers about the need to give sacrificially, he preached the Gospel to them (2 Cor 8:9). He didn't simply give them 9 ways that God would bless them if they gave to his ministry.

Again, this does not mean that good preaching is complex preaching only intelligible by the brilliant. As Myth #2 explained, good Gospel teaching is understood even by "the simple." Our preaching is not "deep" when it goes wider in its scope of theological nuances and linguistic details, it is deep when it drives the application of the love, grace and joyfulness of God down into the soul. People find deep, Gospel-preaching relevant not because it satisfies their intellectual curiosities, but because the human soul is itself inherently deep and rich, having been made in the majestic image of God--and, as a result of the Fall, that majestic soul now has deep hurts and deep needs. Only the Gospel penetrates deeply enough to get at the roots of sin.

Believers are on this side of the cross, but must continually be called back to it as the antidote for their sin. Unbelievers must be called forward to it. We are not saved as a seeker by the the preaching of the Gospel and then "sanctified" as believers by the teaching of good Christian principles apart from the cross. We are saved "continually" by the persistent preaching of the Gospel (Gal 3:1-3; Col 1:6; 2:6-7; Romans 12:1-2).

Gospel-centered teaching, then, will be wonderfully relevant to both the believer and the not-yet believer! We can preach to both simultaneously! More on this.

Family

Before my rant about the church being a family... Speaking of families... my wife finally bought the dreaded mini-van this week. She is mortally depressed. In her days at UVA she and her other "sisters" vowed they would never drive the hated bourgeoise machinery. But I told her that what makes her weird in this culture is not that she drives the van, but that she has three kids. If you're going to be weird and have three kids, you might as well drive in comfort. Plus, Peyton Manning told us it was OK.

And this van is sweet. 2 DVD screens... back-up camera... 5 sunroofs... stadium seating... can seat 212 people. It's nicer than our church auditorium. I'm thinking of making it our 3rd campus. It also has flames painted down the side.

If you see Veronica, tell her she's still smoking- hot, even as a 30 year old in a mini-van (if you're a girl... if you're a boy, just ogle at her but don't say anything).

Do I drive the van? Not on your life. The only way I'd drive a van is if it looks like the A-Team fan. B.A. Baracus made that thing studly.

Not enough gets said about the role the church plays as an extended FAMILY. One of the major "end games" of the church (John 17) is friendship. Jesus asked that the church be one in ways similar to the Trinity is one. Jesus did not die to create an audience of faithful religious observers, but a truly organic family. A community of friends. And this is really important to me, because Jesus did not call me to gather an audience of religiously interested people, but to lead and build a church. Gathering the audience is only the first step of church, not the endgame. Our goal is disciples--empowered family members--not quickly-responding-and-just-as-quickly-fading-converts. A lot of the church growth material out there ought to be called "How to Fill Your Church with Tares."

And by "church," I mean "local church." Sure, there is one sense in which the "church" is the universal church of all Christ-followers of all times. But I can't be (in a number of ways) one with all believers everywhere... especially when you consider the "throughout the ages" aspect. (I can't have fellowship with dead people, after all, even if they are alive in heaven.) Church, quite often in the Bible, refers to the local, covenanted body of believers... a local church, like "the Summit Church."

How do you do that in a megachurch? I don't know. I'm trying to figure it out. It's hard, but Jerusalem did it. They had a megachurch and lived in community. I've written more about that here. You can't just throw up your hands and say "We can't do that in a big church, so we'll either choose between a New Testament church or seeing lots of people saved." I refuse to settle for that answer. I want to reach lots of people and see them in a genuine community.

All this to say, believers should be belongers. Not spectators. If your idea of "church" is a great show on Sundays, the Summit is not for you. We want you to be in a Summit Life group. We want you to be discovering and using your ministry passion in the church and in the community.

We want you to know and be known. And you can't do that with 2500 people. It starts with a group of 10, a SUMMIT LIFE GROUP.

What I love most about the church is the family aspect.

• I love having people who love my children and are helping me raise them, and who use babysitting jobs as discipleship opportunities.
• I love having friends who watch over and care for my marriage.
• I love having real community around me at the most important moments in my life--like the birth of my 3rd daughter recently.
• I love it when a friend breaks down (as happened this week) telling me how God has used our church in the past few months to bring her family to Christ, something she never expected.
• I love it when a friend encourages and affirms me. I got a number of gracious words of encouragement about message on Sunday, but my favorite was from a friend who said, "Great message on Sunday. It was like a kick in the groin that didn't leave you buckled over." That's brotherhood.

Even if the Summit Church kicked me out as their pastor here, I'd want to be here to raise my kids and live my life as a part of this community.

Temptation and Sin: John Owen

(Major props to the huge number of Summit people who came out for our GroupLink last night. If you missed it, there's still a chance to be a part of a group here.)

I'm reading a book that is POSITIVELY kicking my tail right now... it's the kind of book I wish I'd read at 12, or had someone teach it to me.

It is On the Mortification of Sin by Puritan John Owen. A relatively short book (80 pages), but I feel like it explains some of the major problems of my life.

Owen deals with how most Christians, even the fervent, full-time ones, let sins go "unchecked" (or, to use the Apostle Paul's word: "unmortified"). These sins of the heart darken us spiritually, choke out the seed of the word, and cause us to make bad judgment calls and miss opportunities God has for us. I sometimes ache with regret thinking about how much grace I've missed out on and opportunities to bless others because I have refused to go to war against sins of the heart like love of money, love of praise, the lusts of the flesh for things like sex or food, the attention of others, etc. "The vigour, and power, and comfort of our spiritual life depends on the mortification of the deeds of the flesh." (p. 9)

Owen also shows that not only do we often not deal with the lusts of our heart, when we do we use the wrong weaponry. We try to overcome lust through spiritual busy-ness and discipline, rather than on total death to self, belief in the Gospel, and reliance on the Spirit. As Bible teachers, we often try to give people ways to improve their lives, relevant steps to take, etc, that are "merely legal duties, without the least mention of Christ or His Spirit." (v. 17)

Finally, sometimes God lets us struggle with lust because it's one of the only things that keep us coming back to Him--which is His ultimate purpose, to keep us dependent on Him: "Says God, 'Here is one, if he could be rid of this lust I should never hear of him more; let him wrestle with this, or he would be altogether lost'... Wasn't it a correction to Peter's self-confidence that God left him to deny his Master?" (p. 41-2).

Here are some other juicy extractions:

• "The choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin." (p. 7)
• "Be killing sin, or it will be killing you." (p. 9)
• "Let not that man think that he makes any progress in holy who does not mortify the bellies of his lusts." (p. 15)

• "Fasting, memorization, meditation and Bible reading have their place in order... but they are to be looked on as the streams, whereas we look on them as the fountain." (p. 17)
• "Mortification of sin by self-strength, carried on by ways of self-discipline, unto the end of self-righteousness, is the soul and substance of all false religion in the world." (p. 7)
• "(Much of organized Christianity) is made up of designs and contrivances to pacify conscience without full surrender to Jesus." (p. 37)
• "He that changes pride for worldliness, sensuality for Pharisaism, vanity in Himself to the contempt of others, let him not think that he hath mortified the sin that he seems to have left. He hath changed his master, but he is a servant still...Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8) for a while left his sorcery, but hi covetousness and personal ambition remained still, and simply acted out another way." (p. 26).
• "It is to be feared that very many Christians have little knowledge of the main enemy that they carry about with them in their hearts." (p. 31) (OUCH... sometimes haven't we just socialized and Christianized our love of money, personal ambition, and love of the praise of men?)

• "A man may beat down the bitter fruit from an evil tree until he is weary; whilst the root abides in strength and vigour, the beating down of the present fruit will not hinder it from bringing forth more." (p. 30)

• "Jesus is the (only) fire that burns up the very root of lust." (p. 19)

So here's a shout out to an old book... the Puritans were often depressed and I don't want to be exactly like them, and the English is a little old, but it's very readable and, as C. S. Lewis said, at least every other book we read should be from a different culture or time period.

Movie about Darwinistic Fundamentalism, et al

NOTE: GROUPLINK IS TOMORROW: SEE POST JAN 8, 2008. LINK HERE...

Here's some random, interesting things I've encountered on the web:

If one of the characteristics of fundamentalism is that they try to silence all opposition, then this coming indy film by Ben Stein asks the question of whether or not Darwinism is a radically fundamentalist position. Watch this trailer... may be interesting and sure to raise some good discussion. I've written more on the intolerance of current advocates of tolerance here.

Here's a great article on the vast divergence in our nation about what it means to be a "Christian." It helps shatter some of the stereotypes you have of the people you go to church with. This article suggests that the name "Christian" now applies to people who believe very different things about God, morality, and etc. Part of effectively engaging others is knowing what they think about you. This article will help that.

What were the 10 most significant things for "faith" in 2007? Here is Time magazine's list, and here is Christianity Today's list. Interesting to compare the two.