Author: petebeck3

Pete Beck III ministered as a pastor and Bible teacher in Burlington for over 34 years. He is married to Martha, with whom he has four children, ten beautiful grandchildren, and four amazing great grandchildren. He ministers in his local church as a Bible teacher and counselor. He has published two books - Seeing God's Smile and Promise of the Father - as well as a wide variety of Bible-related articles which he has compiled into books in PDF form.

Letters to the Church

Letters to the Church

by Francis Chan

God used this book to rekindle my missional flame. Francis Chan is a unique person who experienced immense “success” at the megachurch and international speaker level, but chose to leave that behind in order to embrace something quite different in terms of structure and externals.  Among the reasons he gave for making this move that most struck me was that he did not want the church to be so dependent upon him as the leader. He felt that he was holding back the development of other people by the way they were doing church. He wrote:

When I looked at what went on in Cornerstone, I saw a few other people and me using our gifts, while thousands just came and sat in the sanctuary for an hour and a half and then went home. The way we had structured the church was stunting people’s growth, and the whole body was weaker for it. (Chan, Francis. Letters to the Church p. 19), David C. Cook. Kindle Edition)

He eventually walked away from the church he planted and pastored, with the leadership’s blessing, to pursue something different overseas. Eventually God called him back to the United States to live as “biblically as knew how” and to “walk around the city [of San Francisco] sharing the gospel,” eventually meeting the people God would give him to disciple. (p.24) Over time those disciples became what is now know as We Are Church, a small group based disciple making church. This book contains insights and principles that Chan has learned and feels are worth sharing.

Chan deeply loves the church and this book is not meant to be a criticism, but he does speak forthrightly about things that need to be addressed. I have included some salient quotes from the book below.

It is imperative that we differentiate between what we want and what God commands. Not that our desires are all bad, but they must take a back seat to what He emphasizes. (p.61)

He addresses the unfortunate state of affairs created by the adoption of the attractional church model that uses superfluous, sometimes gimmicky techniques to draw people to meetings. Even if we allow that people who would otherwise not attend at least get to hear the gospel, we must admit that sometimes people attend as consumers without ever becoming disciples.

By catering our worship to the worshippers and not to the Object of our worship, I fear we have created human-centered churches. (p. 67)

Below are some of his quotes about the current state of affairs.

There’s a keyword in this passage that separates the attempts of our modern church from the first church: devoted. In our impatient culture, we want to experience biblical awe without biblical devotion. At the core of our dysfunction is not necessarily style or structure but lack of devotion. (p. 71)

We should be asking why Christians are willing to give only ninety minutes a week (if that!) to the only thing that really matters in their lives! So leaders work tirelessly to squeeze prayer, teaching, fellowship, and Communion into a ninety-minute service because they believe that’s all they have to work with. (p. 71)

“Most of us have become quite good at the church thing. And yet, disciples are the only thing that Jesus cares about, and it’s the only number that Jesus is counting. Not our attendance or budget or buildings.” (p. 83)

The Church as Family

Chan insists that a sense of family is core to New Testament church life. Pursuing this sort of relational life takes an enormous amount of time and effort.

Meanwhile, in many churches, you have about as much of a connection to the people who are supposedly your spiritual family as you would to someone who visited the same movie theater as you. (p. 91)

Have you ever even considered loving a fellow Christian as sacrificially and selflessly as Christ loved you? (p. 94)

Jesus pursued those people from heaven to earth to bring them into His family; what barriers could hold you back from pursuing a deep familial relationship with them? (pp. 94-95)

Chan calls the church to the practice of sacrificial love in the pursuit of unity.

We have come up with countless strategies to reach the lost when God promises that unity is the method that will work. (p. 101)

While we design strategies to slowly ease people into Christian commitment and grow attendance at our services, Jesus called people to count the cost from the very start (Luke 14: 25– 35). He didn’t expect His followers to be perfect, but He did demand that they be committed. (p. 105)

 Servants

At the core of our faith lies this belief that almighty God humbled Himself to serve us and die for us. At the root of our calling is a command to imitate Him by serving one another. (p. 108)

The church doesn’t have to remain a group of needy people complaining that they haven’t been fed well enough. It really can become a group of servants who thrive in serving. (p. 111)

We have to stop viewing church leaders as people who minister to us. God clearly explained their role. It was not to coddle you but to equip you. Think personal trainer, not massage therapist. (p. 114)

A church grows to maturity only when each part is “working.” If we give up on the goal of having all members exercise their spiritual gifts, we are destined for perpetual immaturity. (p. 117)

No team puts up with players who refuse to contribute. No army puts up with soldiers who don’t carry their own weight. Why do churches continue to put up with Christians who refuse to serve? (pp. 122-123)

Good Shepherds

Contrary to popular belief, we are all called to pastor (a word that simply means “shepherd”). Older women are to shepherd the younger (Titus 2: 3– 5). Parents are to shepherd their children (Eph. 6: 4). Timothy was told to teach others what he himself had been taught (2 Tim. 2: 2). We’re all called to be making disciples (Matt. 28: 19– 20). If you can’t find a single person who looks to you as a mentor, something is wrong with you. (p. 133)

Too many pastors are aspiring to be great writers, speakers, and leaders. There are not enough who are known as great moms and dads. And those who serve well as moms and dads never become known because this isn’t highly valued. You won’t be celebrated on a large scale for humbly caring for a group of people. (pp. 146-147)

One of the most debilitating issues facing the Church is the lack of maturing her members. Churches are filled with children who never grow up to become parents. And they’re not expected to. (p. 149)

While many pastors boast of how many children sit under their care, doesn’t it make more sense to boast of how many have graduated from their care? Isn’t it more a sign of failure when children are unable to leave the house? Raising thousands of consumers is not success. (p. 152)

Crucified

There are millions of people in our country who call themselves Christians because they believe the Christian life is about admiring Christ’s example, not realizing it is a call to follow it. If they really understood this, the numbers would drop drastically. The New Testament could not be clearer: we are not just to believe in His crucifixion; we are to be crucified with Christ. (pp. 159-160

According to Jesus, far from having no cost, following Him will cost you everything. Far from promising a better life, He warned of intense suffering…Run from any teacher who promises wealth and prosperity in this life. (p. 163)

We may never have to run from physical suffering like our brothers and sisters around the world, but many have chosen to run from the suffering of rejection. More and more often, people are starting to water down their convictions because they don’t want to offend anyone. Instead of embracing the persecution that comes with standing out from and against the world, we have begun to embrace the world to try to convince it to tolerate us. (pp. 172-173)

Jesus and the apostles were persecuted because what they said and taught was so countercultural. The culture of our world is just as ugly, if not more so, than it was in Jesus’ time. The teaching of the church should be radically different from that of the world. There will be backlash, and church attendance might decline, but the church will be purified. (pp. 174-175)

Part of the reason we have created a culture of noncommittal Christianity that avoids suffering is that we don’t treasure Him enough. (pp. 175-176)

Unleashed

All anyone wanted was a Jesus and a church that served their needs and kept them comfortable. What started as a movement became a bunch of people sitting safely in services. (p. 191)

After all, how can a Christian possibly survive outside a… cage with weekly feedings? We’re busy reassuring one another that God wants us to do what’s safest for our families and to pursue God in a way that looks suspiciously similar to what we’d naturally do if our only concern was our own comfort and happiness. Church, the answer is not to build bigger and nicer cages. Nor is it to renovate the cages so they look more like the wild. It’s time to open the cages, remind the animals of their God-given instincts and capabilities, and release them into the wild. Alan Hirsch said, “In so many churches the mission of the church has actually become the maintenance of the institution itself.”  The way to destroy the victim mentality is not by giving them more but by sending them out. (pp. 193-194)

I honestly believe we in the American Church need to get on our knees and repent of our condescending attitudes toward God’s Holy Spirit. (p. 206)

Should we consider that placing people in comfortable classrooms and auditoriums for years may not be the best way to train fearless leaders? (p. 207)

Church Again

We might all benefit from a simpler experience of Church. It would lead to deeper relationships and a stronger dependence on God. We might find that the things we added to improve our churches are the very things that crowd God out. (p. 223)

As I said earlier, structure matters. It’s easy to say these are our values, but unless we structure in weekly practices to achieve these goals and structure out anything that distracts, we will never become the church we want to be. (p. 223)

I believe God is leading a movement in this country toward simple, smaller gatherings. (p. 223)

My hope is simply to convince you that there are compelling ways of living as the Church that look nothing like our traditional models. My goal is to get you dreaming, to keep you from settling, to affirm that nagging sense you can’t shake that God wants something more for His Church than what you’re experiencing.(p. 223)

Conclusion

Whether or not you embrace a simpler version of church life that majors on small groups or not, this book will both challenge and encourage you. It is written by a man who is passionate for Jesus, something we should all aspire to be.

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Organic Church

Organic Church: Growing Faith where Life Happens

by Neil Cole

Introduction

“It amazes me to consider how much effort and how many resources (time, money, and people) are expended for a single hour once a week. We have made church nothing more than a religious show that takes place on Sunday, and after it’s done we all go home…The Great Commission says that we are to “go into all the world,” but we’ve turned the whole thing around and made it “come to us and hear our message.” pp. xxv-xxvi

“I believe it (the church) is a contagious movement that will connect with the many people who are disengaged with the old conventional church but seeking Christ. We must take Christ into people’s lives, and it must be in the context of relationships.” p. xxvii

Chapter One: Ride Out with Me

Cole begins by challenging the church to abandon its defensive posture and aggressively pursue the Great Commission.

“Everything about church begins and ends with a single question: Who is Jesus to you?… Even if we get everything else right but skip this important question, we are not truly the church. Church begins with Jesus; who He is and what He has done. It is all about Jesus, and if it begins to be about something else, then it stops being the church as Jesus meant it to be.” pp. 6-7

Cole points out that if we are building the church, it is not the church, because only Jesus can build the church. Only the Father via the Holy Spirit can open someone’s eyes to know who Jesus is and surrender to him as Lord and Savior.

Chapter Two: Awakening to a New Kind of Church

“We believe that church should happen wherever life happens. You shouldn’t have to leave life to go to church… Most Christians today are trying to figure out how to bring lost people to Jesus. The key to starting churches that reproduce spontaneously is to bring Jesus to lost people.” p. 24

Neil found that small groups were the best vehicle to multiply disciples, churches, and a movement. He worked at coming up with a simple definition of church which captures the essence of such a life-giving community.

“The organic or simple church, more than any other, is best prepared to saturate a region because it is informal, relational, and mobile. Because it is not financially encumbered with overhead costs and is easily planted in a variety of settings, it also reproduces faster and spreads further.” p. 27

Chapter Three: The Zombie Bride Lives!

The gospel says, “Go,” but our church buildings say, “Stay.” The gospel says, “Seek the lost,” but our churches say, “Let the lost seek the church.” Howard Snyder, The Problem of Wineskins

The Church is so much more than a building.

Someone once that that we shape our buildings and then they shape us. It is not just the fact that buildings hold back our growth; they also hold back our understanding of the Kingdom of God. Our minds can be held captive behind four walls as easily as our actions are.. we can have institutional minds even without walls, offices, and staff… Our problem is not in bricks and mortar; it is in our minds.” pp.35-38

The Church is much more than a one-hour service held one day a week.

Cole points out that the normal Christian life is more about relating throughout the week as a family of God on mission together, rather than simply attending a public worship service. The missional church is a 24/7 undertaking. This is a huge challenge for busy American Christians.

The Kingdom of God is meant to be decentralized, but people tend to centralize.

“God has always intended for humankind to spread out and fill the earth with His glory… The church has been given a command to spread out and fill the earth as well.” (p. 41-42)

The Great Commission requires the church to go to the ends of earth with the Gospel making disciples in every corner of the globe. The very least we can do is begin in our own neighborhood. Thanks to the indwelling Holy Spirit, every follower of Christ is a mobile Temple, which allows us to spread out without becoming detached from the source.

We are each God’s Temple and together we are also His Temple.

“The world is not very impressed with our sacred houses of worship; in fact, other religions have built more beautiful ones. We must let them see something they cannot reproduce: a new life in Christ… (pp. 44-45)

Chapter Four: A Dangerous Question

“Christendom has done away with Christianity without quite being aware of it.” Soren Kierkegaard

Cole writes that we often ask how we can make the church bigger, better, or start more of them without ever asking just what is a church.

“The temptation is to define church according to our own experience… By defining church this way, we are assured that we are always right.” p. 49

Cole gives what many seminaries teach are the five minimum characteristics of a true church.

  • It is group of believers who gather together regularly.
  • It considers itself to be a church.
  • It has qualified elders present.
  • It regularly practices the ordinances of water baptism and communion and enforces church discipline.
  • It has an agreed upon set of doctrinal beliefs.

Cole points out how ludicrous it is to require the presence of qualified elders without even mentioning the necessity of God’s Spirit being present. A. W. Tozer once said that if the Holy Spirit were removed from most American churches on Saturday, nothing would be any different on Sunday. What an indictment! The early disciples were commanded not to begin their pursuit of the Great Commission until they received the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Cole writes:

“If Jesus is missing in our understanding of church, He will likely be missing in our expression of church as well.” p. 53

“In our organic church movement we have come to understand church as this: the presence of Jesus among his people called out as a spiritual family to pursue his mission on this planet.” p. 53

“In one of the only two places where Jesus mentions church in the Gospels, He says, “For where two or three have gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. (Mat.18:20) His presence must be an important element of the church.” pp. 53-54

Chapter Five: You Reap What you Sow… And You Eat What You Reap

You Christians look after a document containing enough dynamite to blow all civilization to pieces, turn the world upside down, and bring peace to battle-torn planet. But you treat it as though it is nothing more than a piece of good literature. Mohandas Gandhi

Cole points out that the Kingdom of God always starts with planting seed, the Gospel. Two things are absolutely necessary: good seed and good soil. After studying the parable of the sower, Cole expects no more than one-third of those who respond to the Gospel to bear fruit. The rest are a waste of time and resources.

“I am convinced that we have made a serious mistake by accommodating bad soil in our churches… we do everything we can to keep people… We compromise the life of the church to keep bad soil in our membership. We make church a show that requires the audience to make little or no effort… Life is too short and the potential yields are too great to spend our lives babysitting fruitless people… We might consider such a thing unloving, but this is what Jesus did. Perhaps it is indeed the most loving thing we can do. People must be confronted by the consequences of their choices if they are to get to the heart of their need for Christ.” pp. 69-71

Chapter Six: An Enchanted Kingdom

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you sow. Robert Louis Stevenson

Cole writes that understanding our role in God’s process releases us from trying to do what only God can do. We plant the seeds: God causes the growth.

If we “skip the important step of planting seeds and spend all (our) time expecting things to grow, (we) will have few results to show in the end… I am confident that if churches spent more time, energy, and money in planting seeds, they would not have to work at growing, and the harvest would be much more abundant.” p. 87

Chapter Seven: We All Began as Zygotes

When the solution is simple, God is answering. Albert Einstein

“…we are only one generation away from extinction if we do not have babies.” p. 92

“Many of our churches do not even want to multiply. For many in Christian leadership, church plaiting is a scary term. It connotes pain, hardship, and loss. The separation of relationships, the cost in resources, and the expenses of starting churches like their own is too intimidating.” p. 92

Cole points out that according to one Southern Baptist report, only four percent of churches will multiply. Imagine if we suddenly learned that 96% of humans are infertile. What a scary proposition! It is for the church as well. Cole says that the way many churches are taught to multiply seems more like a divorce, sort of like cutting off an arm and planting it in the ground to reproduce. In nature, however, reproduction, though costly in the long run, is also pleasurable and quite natural. Cole writes:

“Even among churches, reproduction is the product of intimacy – with Christ, His mission, His spiritual family, and the lost world.” p. 93

The author spends some time considering what is behind the modern phenomenon of “church shopping” whereby consumer Christians look for the “best bargain for their tithing buck,” which often means attending some version of a mega-church, a kind of one-stop mall of church resources staffed by very talented professionals. Cole argues that we can never outdo the world, play their game, and win. Cole asks what if we went family shopping as many do church shopping.

“The reason shopping for churches seems more sensible than shopping for families is because church has been reduced to a once-a-week event that is aimed entirely at attracting people. Because we position people to be consumers, they respond like consumers. Advertising may work for business, but if we need to advertise to start a family, we are really screwed up. Family is not a choice: we are born into it. Church is meant to be a family that we are born into as well.” p. 96

Cole suggests that Jesus intends the church to grow by making disciples, not by “planting churches.” It is through the multiplication of disciples that churches are birthed, grow, and reproduce. The basic unit of the Kingdom of God is a follower of Christ in relationship with another follower of Christ. The micro form of church life is a unit of two or three believers in relationship. This is where we must begin to see multiplication occur. (p. 99) Cole points out that there is indeed a cost to multiplication and to discipleship itself. We must die to ourselves in order to fully pursue God’s will. Unless we surrender to Jesus the Lord, no multiplication will ever happen. It is all a matter of our deciding what really matters and devoting ourselves to it in cooperation with God’s Spirit.

Chapter 8: Mapping the DNA of Christ’s Body

In this chapter, Cole examines what are the essential irreducible elements of a spontaneous Gospel movement. Taking Roland Allen’s ideas, which were published under the title Missionary Methods: St. Paul’s or Ours?, Cole asserts that a movement must contain meet three criteria to spread epidemically.

  • It must be received personally. It must be internalized and transform the life of the follower.
  • It must be repeated easily. It must be able to be passed on after a brief encounter.
  • It must be reproduced strategically. It must be able to be transmitted despite cultural and other barriers to achieve a global impact.

George Patterson suggests that there must be what he calls “obedience-oriented education” for a movement to become spontaneously reproduced. Cole devised an acronym based on DNA that he believes captures the three irreducible elements of viral Christianity that is able to reproduce authentic disciples and churches using a decentralized framework.

D- Divine Truth of the Gospel.

As long as we adhere to God’s Word and internalize it, we will be able to pass the same on to others. The Bible is the standard by which all truth is measured, but the Spirit must make it real as we put it into practice.

N – Nurturing Relationships.

The church is a family, God’s family, which is built upon the new birth, which every authentic follower of Christ has experienced. As such, our relationships are based on the truth that we have actual unity which must be maintained through love with God’s help. We cannot function properly as loners. We were designed by God to be in relationship. As long as we relate lovingly to one another, we will maintain the proper spiritual DNA.

A – Apostolic Mission.

We have been sent into the world with the gospel of reconciliation even as Christ was sent by his Father. (John 20:21) Unless we embrace and obey this commission, we lose an essential ingredient of the true church.

Jesus embodies each element of the DNA. He is the Truth. He is the One who loves others through his body, the church. He is also the Great Apostle, the ultimate Sent One, whose Spirit sends us. The Gospel contains each element of the DNA. Jesus left heaven to become incarnate Truth and bring us back into relationship with his Father and one another. Now he sends us with this Gospel in order to add more people to his family. Cole emphasizes the importance of not tampering with the DNA.

Chapter 9: Epidemic Expansion Starts in the Genes

In this chapter, Cole examines the concept of the term “chaordic,” which describes the fundamental organizing principles of nature. He draws from the work of Dee Hock, the founder of the VISA Corporation, wrote The Birth of the Chaordic Age. Cole sets out to answer this question: how do we organize a decentralized, rapidly expanding, spontaneous multiplication movement without killing it in the process? Citing reproduction in nature, he states that the key is found in the DNA. He then compares exoskeletons with endoskeletons, concluding that the exoskeleton is protective but limiting; whereas, the endoskeleton allows for growth, support, and movement. In the church, an endoskeleton would be what the author calls “distributed” leadership, which enables each person to be directly accountable to the Head, Jesus Christ, without having to go through multiple layers of hierarchical leadership.

Cole points out that there is a vast difference between delegated and distributed authority. Delegated authority is temporarily given to a subordinate but ultimately resides with the superior; whereas, distributed authority resides in the person who is “on the job.”

Cole makes the case that people can only fully mature when they are placed under the headship of Christ to “sink or swim” depending on how Jesus helps them. Cole asserts that, rather than leading to chaos, this kind of “flat structure” authority is actually the strongest because those who have influence (leadership) in the group have it based on gifting, calling, and spiritual and relational authority. What holds such a group together is the commonality of vision, mission, and relationships, rather than hierarchy and structure. Cole argues that such a church is capable of being self-organized, self-governing, and self-perpetuating, all under the guidance and oversight of the Holy Spirit.

Cole argues that it is extremely important to help new disciples quickly “imprint” upon the Lord, rather than upon human mentors, if we are going produce true disciples who are capable of making new disciples. We do this by refusing to act as intermediaries between them and God. We get out of the way and force them to find their answers from God.

My belief is that if it is anything other than common commitment to truth, common familial relationship, and common sense of mission, it is a weak organization that will eventually die a slow and painful death. p. 138

The core issue, where all this becomes most difficult, is in giving up control. We are afraid of all hell breaking loose, but our insecurities and resulting control have often kept all heaven from breaking loose. p. 140

Chapter 10: It Takes Guts to Care for People

In this chapter, Cole examines the necessity of compassion if our faith is ever going to become epidemic. He quotes Matthew 9:36 which describes Jesus feeling compassion for the multitudes. Cole notes that the Greek word means “bowels.” In other words, Jesus was “hit in the gut” with compassion when he saw the harassed and helpless multitudes. He states that the Greek words “harassed and helpless” used here connote the idea of a brute pinning down a helpless victim and molesting her. Compassion is supposed to be more than a mental exercise. It should grip our emotions to the point of causing a physical response. When we have this level of compassion, we will be able to see past people’s presenting issues and problems to see them as Jesus does – as sheep without a shepherd. Jesus came not to judge the world, but to save it. (John 3:17)

Next Cole makes the point that new converts should be immediately thrust into the work. It is how Jesus did it and it makes perfect sense. New converts are passionate about their newfound relationship with Christ and they have a whole set of unsaved friends to share the Good News with. It is also a great way for them to grow up quickly as they encounter the challenges of ministry right off the bat. Jesus sent the Gadarene demoniac to the Decapolis to testify immediately after delivering him from a legion of demons. The Spirit removed Philip the Evangelist from the Ethiopian eunuch right after the latter came to Christ. Obviously God felt he could rely on the Spirit to handle things. Can we do any less? We can give these new followers of Christ on the job training, which is the very best way to learn.

Chapter 11: Me and Osama Are Close

Cole, in this chapter, emphasizes the relational aspect of our witness for Christ. We can only disciple people with whom we are in relationship. Witnessing may be done in drive by style, but not discipleship, and the Great Commission enjoins all followers of Christ to go and make disciples.

He mentions five keys to an effective witness.

  • Time and availability. Relationships require large time investments. If we are not willing to make that “sacrifice,” we will not be effective.
  • A transformed life. People are more impacted by how we live than merely by our words. When the two are in agreement, we have the maximum effect for God’s kingdom. Nothing is more offensive than a mouthy Christian who is an obvious hypocrite. I like what one of our leaders often says; “I am a Christian, but I am not very good at it.” Let’s admit up front that we are “in process,” instead of pretending to be something we are not.
  • Hospitality. Nothing beats having people over. It says that we want them to be part of our lives and we are open to them. The impact is perhaps even greater when we go into their homes and become a guest.
  • Spiritual intuition. We need the Holy Spirit to show us what to say, when to say it, and what to do. Only He knows the deep things in people and how to bypass intellectual arguments and go straight for the heart.
  • Generosity. Nothing betrays the gospel more than stinginess. There is nothing stingy in God, and God’s people should reflect His heart with their openhanded generosity. People are drawn to those who give freely and joyfully.

Being a light in our neighborhoods is both a fun and fulfilling journey, while at the same time being extremely costly. Disciples are those who are willing to pay the price to share the joy of the Lord at seeing lost sheep come to the Shepherd and discipling them to become fishers of men, too.

Chapter 12: The How-To of Spreading the Epidemic

This chapter delineates some core principles to increase our effectiveness as disciple makers.

  • Prayer. Enough said.
  • Pockets of People – Taking Advantage of People Networks. Encourage new converts to reach their natural network of friend. Why reinvent the wheel?
  • Power of Presence – Half the battle is just showing up. We need to be regular in showing up in people’s lives, whether it’s at the coffeehouse or going next door to visit. You never know what God may do if you are there. It is sure he will not be able to use you, if you are not present.
  • Person of Peace. Those influential people whom God uses to affect large numbers of people have three characteristics. They are receptive. They have relational connections, and they have good reputations. God wants us to bring these people alongside us as co-laborers. They deserve our utmost attention and time investment because their potential is so great.
  • People of Purpose. Find people who are willing to fully immerse themselves into God’s missional purpose. Start a church in their homes, rather than simply settling for starting it in your own.

Chapter 13: Falling with Style

In this chapter Cole explains the importance of working to produce churches that are not “leader dependent.” He advocates avoiding the “pitfall” of going the route of the church “franchise,” which is built according to a tried and true model, but might not need to depend on the Spirit. Instead he believes in the following steps.

  • Begin by working in the harvest and start small. Cole advises against starting with a team of already-saved people. He believes that having a larger team of people who are already followers of Christ can actually impede the progress of the work. “Churches birthed out of transformed lives are healthier, reproductive, and grow faster.” (p. 205)
  • Allow God to build around others. Avoid launching out of your own home. Find a person of peace and make his or her home the base of operations.
  • Empower others from the start. Avoid doing too much of the leading. Get new believers quickly involved. Let the excitement of new life carry the momentum instead of your own giftedness.
  • Let Scriptures, not our pet beliefs or traditions, have priority.
  • Rethink leadership. Do not set artificial barriers to leadership opportunities. The goal of maturity is not the accumulation of knowledge but a life of obedience.
  • Create immediate obedience through water baptism.
  • Settle your issues with ownership. Jesus owns the church. We are his servants. Success or failure are in his hands. Ours is to fearlessly obey.

Chapter 14: Tales that Really Mattered

Many of us settle for lesser lives, for stories not worth telling. We are being called to a higher story, a bigger tale that will be told in future generations. (p. 208)

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The King Jesus Gospel

The King Jesus Gospel

The Original Good News Revisited
by Scot McKnight

Every now and then a book comes along that is both easy to read extremely seminal. This is one of those books. I could not put it down. For a good while now I have been pondering two questions:

  • Are we doing an adequate job of presenting the gospel?
  • Why are we not seeing more disciples step forward in abandoned submission to Jesus?

Scot McKnight shows how these two questions are connected. One big reason we do not see more committed followers of Christ who become fishers of men is because our hearers have not been impacted by the gospel as it was preached by the early church. Instead we have substituted what McKnight calls “salvationism.”

Instead of preaching the gospel, we have been pitching the plan of salvation.

As a result, we have been asking people to make “decisions for Christ,” which are profoundly self-centered responses to a “personal Savior,” instead of calling people to surrender to the Jesus of the gospels who is the Messiah of Israel and the Lord of all creation who died for our sins, rose again, appeared to his disciples, ascended into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit, rules over his church, and will someday come again to judge the living and the dead.

The gospel is the story of how Jesus came to fulfill God’s purposes on earth which began, in earnest, with Abraham and will be culminated when Jesus returns as King of Kings. The gospel is contained in the four books of the New Testament which are called by that name. The gospel is not merely a plan of salvation extracted from Paul’s Letter to the Romans. It is much grander than that.

Whereas, the plan of salvation asks people to make decisions to accept Christ as Savior; the gospel calls people to absolute repentance and surrender to him as Lord.

Forgiveness of sins is included in the gospel, but the gospel cannot be condensed merely knowing Christ  as the Lamb of God. He is also the risen Lord, the seated Baptizer in the Spirit, and coming glorious Son of Man. McKnight points out that the early church would not have been persecuted by the Romans for proclaiming a “personal Savior.” They were thrown to the lions for preaching that Jesus is Lord over all. We can do no less.

McKnight is a Bible scholar who writes in a style that is easily digested by the average student of the Bible. He goes into great depth to dissect and explain what I summarized above. I found myself being energized to be more bold in my proclamation of the gospel, the “full” gospel, not merely the plan of salvation. May God raise up a generation of gospel announcers who are true to the original message, and may he raise up an army of disciples who will go make more disciples! Get this book and read it.

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Are We Developing Disciples or Coddling Immature People?

 

 

 

 

Without constant attention and steadfastness, pastoring a church can easily devolve into enabling codependent, lazy, and fearful churchgoers who want nothing to do with the Great Commission besides paying it lip service.

Jesus, the greatest shepherd of all time, taught his followers that a good shepherd would leave the flock in order to go after missing and lost sheep. This seems strange to many pastors, who make it their life mission to tend to every need of the already safe sheep. (Matthew 18:12-14)

If we think of pastoring as raising children, things will probably get clearer for us regarding our pastoral priorities.

One of the worst things parents can do is hover over their children in order to try to protect them from every danger imaginable, instead of allowing them to explore and learn on their own, under limited parental supervision. A derivative of this kind of unintended parental “abuse” is to do everything for the child, which sends the perhaps unintended message that the child is incompetent to manage life on his or her own.

Parents harm their children by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves.

Well-intentioned parents can hurt their children despite having the best of motives, if they fail to understand that their mission in child rearing is to produce responsible self-governing adults, not permanently dependent offspring.

Sometimes pastors adopt the same misguided strategies and make it their goal to keep people in a constant state of needing them.

Instead of training their church members to read, understand, and apply the Bible’s teachings for themselves and to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit for themselves, they want their people to rely on them for guidance and wisdom. Instead of equipping and teaching their people to take initiative in sharing the gospel with those who yet do not know the Lord, we may train them that the extent of their missionary responsibility is to bring people to church so that the pastor can do all the ministry. The list could go on. What are we trying to do? This is certainly not how to make disciples.

What if pastors taught their people that their main duty and occupation is to learn what they need to learn in order to leave “the 99” to go after those who are lost or straying? How would our churches be different if pastors prioritized preparing their people to be active disciple makers instead of passive churchgoers? Would it cause our churches to lose members, or would it infuse them with new life and vigor? Probably both. The ones who want nothing to do with growing up into spiritual adulthood will be able to find other pastors who will coddle them, but the ones who relish the challenge of being a disciple who makes disciples will be very grateful.

We cannot make it our top priority to gain members, if we embrace making disciples. Instead our goal is to prepare and send out Great Co-missionaries.

Missional pastoring will lead us to nurture, equip, motivate, and launch people into their communities to go and make disciples. Our programs and priorities should be reevaluated regarding how they help make and send disciples. Our people should be told that our goal is to help them grow up to spiritual maturity, which is the work of missional pastoring.

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Developing Missional Churches – Part 3: Using the Equipping Model for Mission

 

 

 

 

In the first article in this series entitled Developing Missional Churches, I looked at some tensions that challenge our attempt to fulfill our God-given mission. The first is the tension between attracting consumerist church shoppers to meetings and making disciples. For those churches which choose to be missional, a second tension involves choosing between using the attractional model to win people to Christ or using the equipping model to train people to do ministry themselves. In my second article, I examined how some missional churches use the attractional model to effectively preach the gospel to large numbers of seekers. This article looks at how the equipping model can be employed to make disciple-making disciples.

Leadership Goals of Equipping Churches

I have already established that Jesus charged the church to be missional when he gave us the Great Commission. Mission includes going, preaching, teaching or equipping, and launching. Whereas missional-attractional churches often are very successful at presenting the gospel to those who are drawn to their services, with many surrendering their lives to Christ, they may struggle to produce disciples who can minister in their own right. This is why the equipping model is needed.

The above continuum places attractional churches on one end and equipping churches on the other. Of course, real life churches are going to be somewhere in between. My continuum places what I call a “hybrid network” in the middle. I will talk about that later. Pure equipping churches do not employ attractional techniques or strategies. In fact, Hugh Halter, pastor of Adullam in Denver, sometimes deliberately makes his services less than perfect just to remind people that we do not go to church to be entertained. At LifeNet, we never have to try to do that. It comes naturally.

Equipping churches seek to develop disciples by giving them adequate Bible knowledge and competent ministry skills and launching them into the community to do the work of ministry.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, 12  for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; Ephesians 4:11-12 (NASB)

Instead of adopting a strategy to invite people to church meetings to hear the gospel from a main speaker, equipping churches develop disciples who are competent to share the gospel themselves outside the four walls of the church.

Leadership Strategies of Equipping Churches

Leaders of equipping churches necessarily will be missional, and they also must be committed to training. This is the biggest difference in leadership strategy. Instead of maximizing their own pulpit time, they will seek to step aside to make room for their disciples.

This means equipping churches are willing to put less polished speakers and worship leaders in the forefront in order to develop them. This runs counter to the accepted attractional strategy, which always puts the best of the best in front of the crowd.

Think “teaching hospital” when you think of the equipping church. Think rock concert when you conceptualize the attractional model.

Equipping churches can be led by any of the “five-fold” ministry, but missionally-minded teachers always will have a large role to play.

Equipping churches do not rely simply on classroom or lecture style teaching. Instead, they use Jesus’ method, which blends instruction with demonstration and application.

This means their disciples will be able to effectively share the gospel, pray for the sick, cast out demons, counsel, and do other facets of ministry. The doing is part of the learning. Until the disciple does, he or she is not a disciple. Unless churches develop a way for people to have “hands on” opportunities to practice their ministry skills under supervision, equipping will not take place. Obviously, listening to a talking head for an hour each Sunday will never accomplish this. Equipping church meetings are designed to maximize disciple making. The small group setting is ideal; although, it is quite possible to break a large church down into small discussion groups on the fly. In order to facilitate the application of teaching, ministry opportunities must be created, ideally outside of the church meeting. All sorts of creative options are available, everything from door-to-door visitation to men’s nights out, to starting or joining some sort of affinity group or club.

A necessary part of equipping and launching disciples is decentralization.

Nothing bottlenecks ministry as much as forcing all decision making through a top-level choke point. Equipping churches expect to produce mature ministers who have the wisdom and courage to be spiritual “entrepreneurs.” Just as natural dads release their sons and daughters to establish their own families, equipping churches adopt a strategy of equip and release. For this to work ideally, launched disciples will maintain a healthy relationship with their mentors and launching churches, having the same values, mission, and strategies.

Integrating the Attractional and Equipping Models

Neither the attractional nor the equipping model is perfect. Both have strengths and weaknesses that can be complemented by the other. In his book, AND – The Gathered and Scattered Church, Hugh Halter advocates creating a hybrid church that incorporates elements of both. (You can read my summary here.) Having pastored both types of churches, I am intrigued with the possibility of integrating the two into one “mean, lean missional machine.”

Larger attractional model churches usually have nice facilities, established programs for youth and other sub-groups, and resources. Equipping churches, especially the small group variety, may have none of the above, but be rich with missional vision and committed people. The blending of the two can provide pastoral stability (modality) with missional passion (sodality).

Such a hybrid makes room for people who may not be willing to go the more radical missional route of the equipping church, but who support it. It also provides programs and resources not otherwise available to smaller equipping churches.

Such hybrids will necessarily be led by those who see the need for both expressions of the church.

The leadership team will need to make room for the more fluid expression of missional sodality within the protective covering of the modality, the larger “mother” church. Disciples and leaders that come out of the equipping ministry of the hybrid church, can be plugged into the various small groups as leaders or be encouraged to start their own through evangelization.

Hybrid missional churches will be able to conduct schools of ministry for training and equipping future leaders. This training will include hands on mentoring in the doing of ministry.

Hybrid leaders will need to resist the desire to “rein in” the more sodalic expression of the church, and sodalic leaders will need to properly relate to the modalic church. This will have to be worked out over time, but the possibilities for mission are huge and probably worth the effort.

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Developing Missional Churches – Part 2: Using the Attractional Model for Mission

 

 

 

 

The church was created for mission, namely the Great Commission, which requires the church to…

  • Go – There is an apostolic mandate on the entire church to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
  • Make Disciples – Disciples are followers of Christ who obey his teachings, his Spirit, and the Great Commission.
  • Teach them to obey – Disciples must train their disciples to do as they do.

Missional churches embrace the Great Commission and focus their resources and energy toward that end.

We live in a culture that has been warped by consumerism and has produced a church “clientele” that begs to be entertained. Recognizing and capitalizing upon this bent, attractional churches use their resources to provide the most attractive church services possible in order to gather the largest following. In this article, I assume their motivation is to advance the kingdom of God.

Ingeniously many very large churches use the attractional model missionally as a platform for preaching to seekers. I call these missional-attractional churches.

Many people are being drawn to these churches and are responding to the Gospel, and many of these churches take spiritual development and growth seriously. These churches are most likely led by apostles, evangelists, or missional pastors.

The Missional – Attractional Leader

Anyone who is an Ephesians 4:11 “five-fold” or “ascension gift” minister / leader (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, or teacher) may be primarily pastoral or missional. Every true apostle will impart an apostolic (sent or missional) mindset to the churches they oversee, making them apostolic in their own right. By looking at Paul’s and Peter’s apostolic ministries, we also observe a strong pastoral element.

Apostolic churches will take care of their own people while maintaining an outward thrust of evangelism and discipleship of new converts.

Evangelists are by nature missional. Prophets and teachers may be either. Pastoral leaders naturally focus on the well-being of the sheep under their care and can easily be consumed with doing so, at the expense of the Great Commission. However, Jesus advocated missional pastoring in his parable about the one lost sheep.

So he told them this parable: 4  “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7  Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. Luke 15:3-7 (ESV)

The Christlike missional pastor never loses sight of the lost, and even prioritizes his ministry toward them, but his work with those outside the church will always have a pastoral touch to it. Jesus exhorted his followers to pray for more shepherds to be sent out into the harvest.

And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37  Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38  therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 9:35-38 (ESV)

These laborers by context are clearly shepherds. Hurting people cry out for caring individuals to wade into their world of sorrow and pain, bringing pastoral grace and ministry with them.

Caring for lost sheep is just as pastoral as taking care of the church.

Missional churches can be led by any form of the five-fold ministry, as long as mission is prioritized. But if only the core leaders are missionally minded or if the church’s ministry focuses on the use of the gifts and abilities of a select few, is that really being true to the Great Commission? Attractional churches that focus on winning the lost by effectively leveraging their resources and the talent of a few may win a lot of people to Christ, yet miss the mark when it comes to developing disciples who make disciples. We are seeing today what happens when attractional churches succeed in gathering lots of people who are not committed disciples. The center cannot hold in those churches. Either the people will leave or the leadership will cave to the soulish demands of their clientele.

There is a difference between serving the Great Commission by marshaling members to support the local church’s Sunday services and serving the Great Commission by equipping and launching all the members of the church into the harvest field as ministers in their own right.

Although I admire the effectiveness of attractional churches in drawing the lost, I still question their effectiveness in discipling them. The Great Commission is not to win the lost: it is to make disciples of the lost, which requires equipping. Equipping churches will be the subject of my next article. I hope you will continue on this journey with me.

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Developing Missional Churches – Part 1: Tensions

 

 

 

 

Developing missional churches is one of the great challenges facing modern church leaders who live in a consumerist world system.

By missional I mean prioritizing the pursuit of the Great Commission, Jesus’ marching orders to the church. This article will address two of the major obstacles to achieving this missional goal.

Tension #1: Attractional vs. Equipping

In the United States, we live in a pronounced consumer culture, in which people are trained from an early age to view life from a “what’s in it for me” vantage point.

This consumerist mindset has infected the church, too, resulting in many people having rather shallow reasons for attending or not attending a local church.

The culture has molded our people to look for a church that provides the most return on their investment, which is often measured by how a particular church blesses them personally. Unfortunately, because we are mostly selfish in our orientation, we gravitate toward those churches that are attractive, comfortable, and impressive. To put it another way, people will “shop” churches to find the one that offers the best programs, facilities, worship experience, preaching, and other benefits, such as being a place to network with other successful people in the area. Not surprisingly such a search often leads consumer Christians to the biggest and most successful churches in the area. This is to be expected because the church growth movement that began in the 1980s taught leaders how to market their churches to the masses. This leads us to a very important point that has proved to be a disaster in many cases.

Churches that want to attract Christian consumers must choose to provide the things for which people are shopping.

Consumers need to be attracted, which has led to the development of the attractional model of doing church. This way of operating tries to present the very best Sunday service possible in order to attract the largest number of seekers and church shoppers, as well as provide a great experience for its members in order to retain them. The disastrous aspect of this model is that many leaders have compromised the gospel to “keep ’em coming.”

In stark contrast, Jesus taught his disciples that they must be willing to lose everything for his sake, which is a direct attack on consumerism.

So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:33 (ESV)

The opposite of the consumerist church is the disciple making church, which prioritizes training and equipping its members to do the work of the ministry.

Comparing attractional churches to equipping churches is like contrasting going to a concert with going to school. It’s pretty easy to guess which one most people will choose. Disciple making churches cannot be consumer oriented by definition. The two ways of doing things are diametrically opposed.

Strong disciples are built through teaching them self-denial for the sake of the mission, which will alienate consumers, whose purpose in life is to consume blessings for themselves.

What draws consumers will pull disciples off track.

Leaders who wish to prioritize the Great Commission will have to face the giant of consumerism and choose to turn their backs on its allure in order to make disciples.

Tension #2: Modalic vs. Sodalic

A writer named Rob Yule, from New Zealand, wrote: “A modality is the static or geographical form of the church, the church as a local or regional community. A sodality is the mobile or missional form of the church…” Another, perhaps, better way to conceive of the difference is that modality is a function of the pastoral ministry of the church to its own people; whereas, sodality is its outward (missional or apostolic) thrust toward those who do not yet know Christ. This second definition is how I use the two words in this article.

Church leaders, because of calling, gifting, training, and/or personality, usually emphasize either modality or sodality in their ministry. These two ways of seeing and practicing church seem to be in opposition to each other, creating some tension in the church world.

Jesus launched a worldwide missionary organization called the church, whose marching orders are found in the Great Commission.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19  "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20  teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20 (NASB)

He promised his disciples that the gates of hell would not be able to withstand its missionary advances. (Matthew 16:18) The preaching of the Gospel turned the world upside down in a very short time, as bands of early disciples, often led by apostolic (sent) ministers, went forth with the sole objective of preaching the good news of Christ’s resurrection and lordship and establishing churches whenever groups of disciples responded to the message.

But just as a conquering army must organize and consolidate its gains, the church found that tending its new converts tended to be a full-time occupation.

The Apostle Paul probably spent more time tending the newly formed churches than he did in active evangelization of unreached people. Nevertheless, he never lost his zeal for and commitment for taking the Gospel to unreached areas. (Romans 15:20) He used established churches as bases from which to launch and sustain his ongoing missionary endeavors. (Romans 15:24) In terms of a conquering military army, churches can be viewed as outposts from which greater advances can be made while maintaining conquered areas.

Both the pastoral (modalic) and the apostolic (sodalic) callings are fairly all-consuming. Paul was one of the few, it seems, who was able to keep both front and center in his life.

It is my belief that true apostles have this calling and ability. They are essentially missionaries who care deeply for and maintain a pastoral relationship of some nature with the churches they help start.

Unfortunately, however, many churches are led by pastors who may unintentionally stray from the Great Commission and settle for being modalic self-absorbed institutions. This is because it is difficult to maintain both sides of the equation – mission and pastoring.

The tension between the pastoral and apostolic calling is a second challenge in developing missional churches.

Most church leaders I know are in favor of reaching out with the Gospel to those who still do not know Christ, but fewer feel the need to devote their resources and energy toward motivating, equipping, and launching their members into the harvest field. Those who have prioritized mission are divided between using an attractional model or employing the equipping model. Which is better at making disciples? Which is better at bringing in new converts?

Two questions will be addressed in the following articles in this series.

  • Should church leaders equip the entire church (modality) to become members of a Great Commission harvest team, or should the Great Commission be delegated to specialized sub-groups (sodalities) in the church?
  • Should churches rely on drawing people to evangelist-led attractional meetings or focus on equipping average followers of Christ to competently penetrate their neighborhoods and relational groups with the gospel in order to make disciples?

I hope you will stay with me as I look at these two questions in the next two articles.

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How God Removes Deeply Embedded Lies

This is the tenth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

This article will show how God helps us to remove deeply embedded lies that are the building blocks for powerful logical arguments that seek to block us from knowing God or believing his promises.

One of the major ways Jesus sets us free from bondage is by identifying and removing these deeply embedded lies and replacing them with truth.

According to Paul, these strongholds are built upon a sinful logic or reasoning that sets us at odds with the truth of God’s Word and tempts us to impugn God’s character.

For though we live as human beings, we do not wage war according to human standards, 4 for the weapons of our warfare are not human weapons, but are made powerful by God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments 5 and every arrogant obstacle that is raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to make it obey Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NET1)

Satanic lies are very deceptive, and often we do not even know we believe and serve them until the Holy Spirit shows us.

An important concept for us to grasp is that we can believe one thing in our intellects and quite another thing at the heart level.

We may have good theology at an intellectual level but be practical idolators or atheists at the heart level. What we say we believe may be betrayed by how we act or think. If there is a disconnect between what we say we believe and how we act, there are probably embedded lies hidden deep in our hearts that must be identified and expelled. If we react emotionally and negatively out of proportion to the provocation, that also may point to a lie-based stronghold in our lives.

What we do, say, and think when we are under pressure usually reveals what we really believe down deep.

Unless we allow the Lord to reveal what these lies are and replace them with a revelation of himself and his truth, we likely will stay in bondage. Lie-based strongholds resist most attempts to remove them; so, simple debate is usually fruitless. We cannot reason with fear and unbelief. It takes divine intervention.

Lie-based strongholds are built upon stubbornly held internal arguments and conclusions (or speculations) which are based on our observations and experience of life.

Example of a Logical Stronghold Built on Lies

Over the years I have been privileged to work with many sexual abuse victims. Any person who has experienced the betrayal and traumatic pain associated with abuse as a child at the hands of people who should have protected him or her, will often have great difficulty trusting God for protection as an adult. I think this should be rather obvious.

The argument will probably sound something like the following. God did not protect me from being abused when I was young; so, why should I trust him to do so now? Either he was not able to protect me or chose not to protect me then. Why is anything different now?

This logic seems to be impregnable because it is based on personal experience, which cannot be denied.

We must concede that God, since he is almighty and sovereign, did allow the abuse to happen. Logically, based on his or her interpretation of personal experience, the person holding this position feels justified in concluding that God cannot be trusted. This argument can hold us tenaciously in its grip in spite of clear Biblical teaching that God is our defender and Keeper. (Psalm 121:7-8) This is a perfect example of a lie-based stronghold, one which I have seen God help several people to overcome.

The lie at the root of the stronghold is that God is not trustworthy.

This is the same lie that Satan presented to Eve in the Garden. It is perhaps the most insidious of all lies, especially when we are presented with seemingly inescapable logical proof that it is so. Perhaps you know someone whose faith in God was derailed by such an argument. I do. Anyone captured by this satanic logic is in deep trouble, and without the help of God’s Holy Spirit, will likely stay enslaved by the lie. How does God liberate us?

We tend to believe what we see and experience more than we believe God and his promises because deep down we are fiercely independent in our sin nature.

When we are born-again, we receive a new identity. Our reborn spirit is joined to and loves the Lord. (1 Corinthians 6:17 and 2 Corinthians 5:17). However, even though our spirits are reborn, we still have a connection to Adam’s sinful independence through our yet unresurrected bodies, which the Bible calls “the flesh” (Greek: sarx). We are beings who are a combination of a new creation spirit and an old creation not yet resurrected body. Our souls (mind, will and emotions – the personality) are conflicted as a result. (I have written on this extensively in my series, Living Free in the Spirit.) We have a sort of “split personality.” Part of us loves God deeply and wants to serve him, but the “flesh” still wants to be an outlaw and live off God’s grid.

The “flesh,” still insists on making its own decisions and evaluations instead of relying upon the Lord and trusting his words.

The “flesh” never disappears and cannot be rehabilitated. According to Paul, the “flesh” was crucified with Christ and also must be constantly put to death by us. The flesh wants to be able to provide for itself rather than trust an invisible God. It wants to protect itself, instead of relying on God to be its defender. All of this reveals that we still hold to a presupposition that we are better off on our own in life, which is exactly what prompted Adam and Eve to reject God and choose independence so long ago. They failed in their test.

We must overcome this temptation to opt for self-directed independence, if we are gong to experience the freedom Christ died to give us.

Sinful logic has a very limited perspective and does not factor in God’s wisdom and understanding. It is not built on any sort of revelation of God or faith in his promises. Think of how modern TV shows and movies are written and produced. Most of them present a version life in which God is never in the picture and people fend for themselves. Marx called religion the “opiate of the masses,” a crutch for weak-minded people who cannot handle life on their own. The “flesh” laps up this sort of logic, which is one reason so many fall for the lies behind Marxism and evolution, which are God-denying, man-glorifying approaches to life.

The Way Out

If a person who is captured by such a stronghold wishes to experience freedom, he or she must eventually reject sinful logic and make a decision to rely on what the Bible says about God and his promises.

I can almost hear you thinking, “Yeah, right. That sounds pretty easy, but actually is close to impossible.” Exactly! That is why we need God’s help. When we approach God in prayer, asking for his help, he will never let us down. He is more willing to help us experience freedom than we are to seek it. Jesus already paid the price for our liberation. The Holy Spirit is waiting for us to ask for his help.

Changing how we think about things is called repentance, which comes from the Greek word metanoeo and means literally to “change the mind.” Changing how we think precedes changing who and what we believe.

Repentance moves us from trusting in ourselves to trusting in God.

Repentance and faith are gifts from God. (Acts 5:31 and Ephesians 2:8) Unless God reveals himself to us in a personal way, we cannot repent or believe using only our own abilities. The Holy Spirit is always at work when people truly repent and trust in God from the heart.

Bondage derives from sinful logic, but a heart that turns back to God in simple trust will experience freedom.

That is why it is vital for us to take any of our lie-based logical strongholds directly to the Lord in prayer and ask him to help us with them through his written Word and the Holy Spirit. Lie-based strongholds are always arrogant and proud obstacles that stand between us and knowing God. The only way to destroy such a stronghold is to confront it head on with repentance, humility, and a determination to move forward with faith in God and the truth of his Word. We cannot make it through this process without God’s direct help.

This brings us to story of Gideon, which I will cover in the next article. I will show you how God helped him to confront the lies he believed about himself and God and how he became an overcomer as a result.

Go back to Part 9: All Bondage Is Built on a Lie

Read Part 11: How God Moves Us from Fear to Faith

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Part 9: All Bondage Is Built on a Lie

This is the ninth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

The very first attack Satan made against humans was in the form of a lie. It has always been his most effective weapon.

Jesus said the following about our adversary while speaking to the Jewish leaders of his day.

You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 (NET1)

The enslavement of the human race to sin, death, demonic oppression, and the world system began with a lie. Satan, disguised as a talking snake, suggested to Eve that God did not have her best interests in mind when He forbade her and Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The lying serpent flatly contradicted God’s warning that they would die if they ate it. Instead he promised them that they would become like God, knowing good and evil, something that was obviously very attractive. Eve swallowed the lie hook, line, and sinker, and Adam followed her lead, failing to stand for truth. Believing that first lie and acting upon it opened the door to sin and death through a flood of deception that still works to undermine the revelation of God and our love and devotion to him.

As a result of that first sin in the Garden, every human being enters the world procreated in the image of our first parents, complete with a fallen human nature. The Bible calls it the “old man” or the “flesh”.

As a result of our inheritance from Adam, we are programmed to believe lies and reject God and truth.

Adam and Eve did not have this problem, since God had created them perfectly without any default leaning toward sin. This only shows how powerful deception is. Adam and Eve were unable to resist the lie, even though they did not have a sin nature. Where does that leave us who do? In need of a Savior!

Deception appeals to our inborn sinful desire to be “like God” without having to be dependent upon Him in any way. This is the fundamental nature of sin – self-will in contradiction to God’s will. Since we now have a bias toward deception, Satan easily locks down humanity in a web of lies, with our pride being a willing accomplice in the suppression of truth. We choose to believe that we do not need God, or, even better, that there is no God at all. The deception called evolution perfectly illustrates this. When Darwin first announced his theory, the Russian communist party embraced it as the perfect “scientific” paradigm to support its godless atheism. Evolution is built on the premise that there is no Creator. Rather, the universe simply “happened.” Order and matter proceeded from nothingness and disorder. The second law of thermodynamics guarantees that this is impossible, and even a small child knows that this sort of reasoning, if it can be called that, is ridiculous. Nevertheless, thousands of highly educated people have accepted this “theory” unquestioningly. Today many insist that it be accepted as scientific dogma. It is taught as fact by our public school system and by much of the academic community. This is a willful suppression of truth driven by a determination to be independent from God and deny him the honor he is due, thereby bringing God’s judgment upon us. (Romans 1:18-25)

Our love of the lie is so strong that unredeemed humans choose to suppress any attempt to reveal truth. This is why those who believe in creationism are ridiculed by the media and the followers of evolutionary dogma. This is why our Lord Jesus was persecuted and eventually murdered on a cross.

People do not like the truth. We run from it, hide from it, try to cover it up, and attack it.

Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God. John 3:19-21 (NET1)

But truth will eventually win the day. Jesus, who is the embodiment and definition of truth, will reign victoriously over every form of deception both in our own hearts and in the world. Eventually every knee and every lie will bow before the Lord of Truth!

The refusal to acknowledge and glorify God is behind our seemingly hopeless addiction to deception. Rebellion is the root of our refusal to believe the truth. This is not complicated. If God is Truth, then the desire to be independent from God is the same thing as embracing what is false. Anything that is anti-God is by nature deceptive. Satan can only deceive, because to tell the truth is godly.

The refusal to acknowledge, glorify, and worship God always results in some form of idolatry based on a lie.

Man was created to be a worshiper. If he does not worship the true God, he will worship something else that is a pretender to the throne. Just look at how people idolize movie stars and rock musicians. Evolution attempts to put man at the top of the evolutionary chain, making him a god of sorts, who is accountable to no one but himself.

But What about Me?

But what me? I am a follower of Christ, but I still battle with bondage and oppression. Am I also suffering because I believe a lie? This could well be so, and here is why. In addition to our inborn connection to sinful behavior and thinking called “the flesh” and the general power and deceptiveness of sin itself, bondage derives from four basic sources:

  1. Generational thinking, behavior, and consequences that are passed down along family lines,
  2. Unhealed traumatic pain,
  3. Deeply embedded lies, and
  4. Demonic oppression.

We will cover each of these in great detail in this series of articles.

What Jesus accomplished on the cross and through his resurrection provides deliverance in each of these four areas through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

If we are not experiencing that freedom, there are three possible reasons.

  1. First, we might be ignorant of what Christ has done. In that case, instruction from God’s Word accompanied by repentance, faith, and obedience to that truth will provide the desired liberation.
  2. In the second case, despite sufficient instruction in regarding God’s truth, a deeply embedded lie may still be present that hinders or blocks us from repentance, faith, and obedience. I call these lie-based strongholds, which Paul addressed in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5. In this case, Jesus will help us to uncover and remove the lie, which is one of the main reasons for doing Personal Prayer Ministry.
  3. In a third possible scenario, in order to humble us, God may allow some form of oppression to remain in our lives so that we can learn to live by mercy and grace. To my understanding, this is what Paul experienced in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10.

I will concern myself with the first two cases, in both of which there is a lie behind the experience of bondage. The uninstructed person believes a lie simply because he or she never knew the truth that Christ’s finished work actually sets us free. The second person, who is captured by a lie-based stronghold, has chosen to believe a lie that opposes or nullifies God’s truth, quite often without realizing it.

For those of us who have embraced such a lie, it may seem more real than God’s Word, producing a type of practical idolatry in us. Jesus is the truth; so, to believe a lie is idolatry. Sobering, isn’t it?

Sin, by its very nature, is based on the deception that it provides something better than does obedience to God. When we are deceived, we choose the temporary pleasure that sin often affords, along with the death that results, rather than hold out for the eternal rewards associated with obedience to God. This is a form of temporary insanity.

It is only God’s grace ministered by the Holy Spirit that enables anyone to escape the clutches of deception and embrace the truth. In PPM, we ask the Lord to speak his truth to individuals, which breaks the power of the lie.

But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth...  John 16:13a (NET1)

May the Lord help us to be lovers of truth and lovers of God!

Go back to Part 8: Inside Out Truth

Read Part 10: How God Removes Deeply Embedded Lies

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Inside Out Truth

This is the eighth article in a series entitled Wonderful Counseling. I sometimes use other names for this ministry, such as Personal Prayer Ministry and Biblical Healing and Deliverance. The adjective "wonderful" is used because Jesus is the "wonderful Counselor" of Isaiah 9:6. This ministry attempts to make room for Jesus to personally counsel people by means of the indwelling Holy Spirit, with the human ministers acting as facilitators. This makes it different from most counseling. It is highly effective at teaching the recipient how to hear the voice of the Spirit and to receive his life giving words.

 

Let’s begin with a beautiful verse of Scripture that King David wrote just after admitting to Nathan the prophet that he committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband and his friend to cover it up.

Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Psalms 51:6 (ESV)

Satan is a liar and master deceiver. He spews out deception as a means of misrepresenting God, subverting truth, and destroying people. Thankfully, God lovingly counters Satan’s every move. Whereas the Lord is never surprised by events, Satan never anticipates God’s wisdom and creative responses. Evil is clever but not wise. It may secure initial gains but always loses the war.

Since sin deformed humanity from the inside out by severing our connection to God in the spirit, God’s salvation works from the inside out, too. What our Lord does inside us who believe via the new birth is greater than anything Adam and Eve ever knew.

God, Immanuel, comes to live inside us! After giving us new birth in the spirit, God engages in transforming His people from the inside out by his Spirit.

When the eternal Logos, the Divine Son of God, became a human being (John 1:14), he called himself “the Truth.”

Jesus *said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. John 14:6 (NASB)

Jesus the Messiah maintained complete integrity between his inner thoughts, words, and actions, even though it eventually cost Him His life. He was a fearless embodiment and pursuer of truth.

A disciple is a person whose eyes have been opened through revelation to understand that Jesus is God’s Truth incarnate, the risen Messiah King. Disciples believe this in their hearts, confess it with their mouths, commit to a lifelong allegiance to Jesus and the truth, tell others about him, and cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the process of inner transformation.

Being a disciple means being committed to living according to God’s truth.

Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 (NET1)

Because of the way inheritance works, all of us received from Adam a default predisposition to being deceivers and liars. Jacob in Genesis has always been one of my favorite Bible characters, not because of who he was and what he did, but because, in spite of his many faults, failures, and sins, God still loved and remained faithful to him. Jacob’s name means deceiver and usurper. He is a picture of every person who comes into the world. Over time God changed him so radically that he was even given a new name – Israel. We serve an amazingly merciful and generous God!

Deception is so deeply ingrained in the human race that it takes an act of God to change us.

We must be spiritually reborn to start the process of transformation. This process continues over a lifetime. It involves God restructuring how we think about him, ourselves, and his Word.

Repentance is a word that literally means to change the mind. God works in us to change the way we think so that our lives can become conformed to truth.

Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. Romans 12:2 (NET1)

God gave Jacob a name that exposed his lack of integrity. Imagine being named, “Liar” or “Deceiver”. God is not afraid of telling it like it is, especially when he has a plan to redeem and change the person. Along the way, through God’s dealings, Jacob was forced to take a long hard look at his own deceptiveness. If we commit to following truth, God will also make us confront our sin, too. Today anyone named Jacob is a reminder of how God can take the most crooked of people and make them spiritual fathers.

God loves to force us into a corner from which there is no escape except by engaging in a wrestling match with Truth.

Jacob wrestled with the angel at the river Jabbok, and God prevailed in his life. The result was that Jacob became a prince with God and a great man in God’s kingdom. The same will happen to us if we commit to engaging the Truth.

Embracing truth is not easy. In fact, it can be one of the most challenging things we will ever do.

People often run from truth because we are afraid of it. We don’t want to face the truth about ourselves or God because we may think it is too painful or scary. According to Jesus, people prefer the darkness of deception to the brilliant light of truth.

And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20  All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed. John 3:19-20 (NLT)

If we want to experience the freedom offered in Christ, we will need to squarely face truth with the help of the Holy Spirit.

We need not fear the One called the Truth who chose to die for us. He has no desire to destroy us with truth. Instead he wants us to be free because we embrace truth on the inside.

The only way we can properly relate to God and experience true freedom is through the avenue of repentance, which is the process by which we reject the lie and embrace the Truth.

When we admit that we are wrong and God is right we have begun the repentance journey. We make the decision to reject deception and become honest with God, ourselves, and one another. Repentance is the opposite of hypocrisy, which is when we pretend to be something we are not in order to look good to others and hide our sin.

One of the scariest things any person can do is become honest.

That is why people become so angry when their sin is exposed. We usually go into cover-up mode (denial) to try to keep damage to a minimum. Friendships can be damaged or lost by being honest if one of the parties is unwilling to embrace truth. That is why King David’s response to the prophet was so refreshing. When Nathan declared, “You are the man!”, exposing David as an adulterer and murderer, David responded, “I have sinned!” (2 Samuel 12:1-15) How rare is that? How many times have you seen someone instantly and openly admit a transgression?

Deception is rampant in society and honesty rare. but, in the church, it is supposed to be the norm.

Politics survives and thrives on lies. Hollywood is built on the unreal product it presents. Some of the biggest blockbuster movies depend on special effects to transport the viewer into a surreal world where God does not exist and sin often has no apparent consequences. But life is not like that at all. Life is built on the timeless truth of sowing and reaping. It eventually brings us face to face with God’s truth. We will either surrender to it or be destroyed by it. There is no escaping a confrontation with the God of truth.

A life based on sin and deception will always lead us into a dead-end alley from which there no escape except by admitting our sin and accepting God’s truth.

Jacob was forced into a confrontation with his older brother Esau, something he had avoided for years. He feared what Esau might do to him, because he had previously tricked his brother years before and taken his blessing and birthright. God forced Jacob to confront his fears, and, by so doing, to confront his own deceptiveness, all within the protection of God’s love. The result was that Jacob overcame his fears and gained a new status with his brother and God. He no longer had to skulk about in fear, but could walk in boldness and freedom. The same can happen for us if we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us into truth.

God will help us confront things we have run from in the past so that we can experience Christ’s freedom. The more we grow in our knowledge of how much God loves us, the more we will trust him enough to be honest.

Prayer

Dear God, I have run from truth many times, but now I want to fully embrace it, no matter how scary it seems, because I know you love me and want me to be free on the inside. Jesus, thank you for dying and rising for me. Thank you for loving me even when I was your enemy. Thank you for being patient with me and helping me to get to this point. I rely on you to help me move forward in my truth journey. Come, Holy Spirit. You are the one who gives me the strength and ability to live for Jesus. You are the Spirit of truth, my friend, and my God. Have your way in my life. Make me a lover of truth. Amen.

Go back to Part 7.

Read Part 9: All Bondage Is Built on a Lie

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