A Match Made in Heaven

Some things just go together -- ham and eggs, biscuits and gravy, macaroni and cheese, salt and pepper, bow and arrow, Amos and Andy, open and shut, night and day,  left and right, the list could go on and on.  These are all famous pairs.  It's just hard to imagine one without the other.

Here's a pair that came up in a discussion last week with some key church leaders -- good deeds and good news.  We were talking about ways of mobilizing churches to take on lostness when someone said good deeds and good news go together.  What a great reminder that was.

Dr. Rodney Stark, sociology professor at Baylor University, who has spent a lifetime studying the growth of the church has come to one undeniable, indisputable conclusion:  the gospel spread and the church grew because good news and good deeds were always tied closely together.

Life was difficult, especially in major urban centers, around the time of Christ.  Ancient cities were remarkably crowded.  Buildings were close together.  Streets were narrow, not much wider than footpaths.  People lived in crowded cubicles.  (To get a feel for what it would have been like, imagine living on a popular beach in mid-summer.)  When population density is high sanitation is a problem. Filth was prevalent (soap hadn't been invented yet).  Where there is filth, there is disease.  Illness and physical afflictions were probably the most dominant feature of daily life.  To top it all off, their cities were far more crime-ridden that our modern cities.  (So much for the "good old days.")  This is what urban life was like when Jesus came.

Jesus came into the world to save sinners, the Bible says.  Jesus carried out his mission with both words and deeds.  He taught with authority, and he went about doing good.  He preached the kingdom, and he healed the sick.  He called upon people to repent, and he handed out food to the hungry.  Jesus told his disciples to love others as he had loved them.  Following his example they went forth preaching the gospel and doing good!

"Christianity," Dr. Stark says in Cities of God, "did not merely offer psychological antidotes for the misery of life; it actually made life less miserable!" (emphasis mine)

Dr. Stark continues:

"The power of Christianity lay not in its promise of otherworldly compensations for suffering in this life, as has so often been proposed. No, the crucial change that took place in the third century was the rapidly spreading awareness of a faith that delivered potent antidotes to life’s miseries here and now! The truly revolutionary aspect of Christianity lay in moral imperatives such as “Love one’s neighbor as oneself,” “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “It is more blessed to give than to receive,” and “When you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it unto me.” These were not just slogans. Members did nurse the sick, even during epidemics; they did support orphans, widows, the elderly, and the poor; they did concern themselves with the lot of slaves. In short, Christians created “a miniature welfare state in an empire which for the most part lacked social services.” It was these responses to the long-standing misery of life in antiquity, not the onset of worse conditions, that were the ‘material’ changes that inspired Christian growth."

There is much we can take from this, but the thing I want us to note is this:  the mission of UBA is to "mobilize churches to take on lostness."   We want our churches actively and assertively sharing the gospel with those who've never heard it ... and we want our churches working to make a difference in their communities, dealing with the real life issues people face.  That's why I get excited when I hear our churches baptized over 10,000 people last year and cleaned up parks, restored homes, renovated elementary schools, handed out food, repaired automobiles for single moms.  That's the way it ought to be.

Good deeds and good news go together.  They are a match made in heaven.

 

 

 

Jesus? Yes! Church? YES!

I've heard more times than I care to remember folks saying things like, "Jesus? Yes!  But church?  No.  Not interested."

I understand why folks might feel that way.

Popular media will often cast the church in a negative light.  The church is often presented as opposing progress, trying to enforce archaic moral values, and teaching quaint but outdated fairy tales.  Sometimes we are our own worst enemies.  Church leaders do things that bring disgrace to the church; the news media is not hesitant to report cases of clergy sexual abuse, financial mismanagement, or any of a myriad of other indiscretions.  Add to that the plethora of other  religious options -- e.g., eastern mysticism, moderate and radical Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism -- which are the consequence of immigration trends.  What right do Christians have to tell others what they believe is wrong (and what we believe is right), that they should cease being Hindus or Jews and become Christians if we can't get our own act together?

Newsweek Magazine (April, 2009) went even further when it announced the end of Christian America.  Al Mohler, a seminary president and defender of the Christian faith, was quoted in the article saying, "The most basic contours of American culture have been radically altered.  The so-called Judeo-Christian consensus of the last millennium has given way to a post-modern, post-Christian, post-Western cultural crisis which threatens the very heart of our culture."

Is it true?  Is America turning away from Christianity?  Is the church outdated, irrelevant … a social appendix, a vestigial organ that now serves no useful purpose?

I wondered.  Being a nerd (who spends most of his time trying to not let folks know that's who I really am), I began to wonder what the world would be like if Jesus hadn't come, if the church didn't exist.  Would the church be missed?  Has Christianity really made a difference in our world?  

This is an especially relevant question for me since UBA exists to help churches spread the good news of Christ, to encourage people to become Christ followers, to help churches make a difference in their communities.

So I began to do one of the things I do do best -- read, study, research.

And the conclusion I came to is this:  the Christian faith and the church has been foundational and fundamental to our Western way of life -- to many areas of related to human rights -- the treatment of women, care for children, abolition of slavery, care for the sick--to capitalism, to our scientific world view, even our current educational system.

Over the next few months I'll unpack some of what I've learned in my research.  I'll show you what a radical difference Christianity has made.  And I hope you'll end with the sense that I have now -- that we can be proud of who we are and what we believe, that the world would be a much different place without Christians and that sharing our faith is one of the best things we can do for both the eternal and temporal destiny of folks.

That doesn't mean I'm blind to the shortcomings of the church.  The church isn't perfect.   We have our critics and we need to listen to and learn from them.  Church members and church leaders are not always well-behaved.  There are times we we should be ashamed an apologetic.  But we need not be ashamed of the gospel nor the difference it has made in our world!

Next time I'll start showing you just how.

 

 

'Tis the Season

I'm writing this between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The turkey is gone but the aroma of dressing and cranberry sause are still in the air.  Black Friday and Cyber Monday are behind me, but I've still got lots of Christmas shopping to do.  It's a time of betwixt and between, of giving thanks, of making lists and anticipating something special.  So it seems appropriate as I write this, my last blog of the year, that I spend a moment sharing some of the things I'm thankful for and wishing for in my role as Executive Director of Union Baptist Association.

 

Giving Thanks

I have had the opportunity to serve in the role of executive director of UBA for more than a decade now.  I began serving on the associational staff in a full-time capacity twenty years ago and moved into the role of executive director in the late nineties.  Over the past two decades I've seen many, many things change in our association.  We've grown in significant ways.

• We have more churches and baptize more folks than any association in Baptist life.
• We are one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse associations in Baptist life.  Once UBA was all Anglo association.  Today one third of our churches are Anglo, one third African American and one third language churches with Hispanic being the largest group.
• We work cooperatively with Baptists and non-Baptist groups so long as they share our vision and values.
• I serve with an outstanding team of leaders -- on our UBA staff and with our subsidiary corporations.  I don't spend time motivating people to work; my job is to resource them and get out of their way!  I could not ask to work with a more highly competent, trustworthy and dedicated group of people.  Thanks team!
• We enjoy the support of churches aligned with both state conventions.  Years ago we decided as an association not to make state convention alignment an issue at the associational level.  Consequently, we've maintained a high level of collegiality and cooperative among all our churches.  If you looked at the money we receive from our churches, we enjoy strong support from both BGCT and SBTC churches.  Thank you all!
• UBA has been known through the years as innovative and a leader in Baptist life.  That's due in great measure to the permission-giving culture of UBA.  We are not afraid to experiment, to try new things.  We are not tied to doing it the way we've always done it.

I didn't realize when the UBA Executive Director Search Committee informed me I was their choice as the new ED for UBA that it was one of the greatest days of my life.  Looking back now, though, I know that it was.

 

Wishing for More

Just because I have so much doesn't mean I don't wish for more, though.  (Isn't that just the way we are?)  So what would be on my wish list as ED of UBA?

A positive view of the church. I hope in 2012 we can begin talking more positively about the church.  The church in general suffers from a lot of negative press and bad attitudes, even among believers.  We talk about losing ground, being in decline, having apathetic and uncommitted members ... and there's some truth in all of that.  But it's also true that the world is a much, much better place because of Christ, the Christian faith and the presence of the church.  In 2012 one of the key initiatives for UBA will be promoting the positive aspects of the church!

Bold steps forward! Since the events of 2001 in Houston (the national economic downturn, flooding from Tropical Storm Allison, 9/11, the collapse of Enron), UBA has been in a protection mode.  We've had to reduce our budget, release staff, limit what we do.  We've lived all the cliches -- "work smarter, right size, think outside the box, focused on our core competencies, managed expectations, innovate" -- in our effort to do our job.  Truthfully, I believe we've done well.  We really have done these things, but it's not enough.  After a decade of consolidation, I believe it is time to take bold steps forward; to think about expanding, not retreating; to challenge our churches to take things to the next level, to push the envelope, to give 110% … I know, they're just more cliches, but they can also reflect our high level commitment to make a difference for Christ.

The list could go on ... more churches, more baptisms, more openness to the gospel  ... but this blog cannot, so I'll stop here.  As I do I want to say thanks to all once again for the privilege of serving as the executive director of UBA, and to wish you a Merry Christmas and a very happy new year!

 

Feliz navidad, y prospero año y felicidad en Christo.

Toppling Governments -- Spreading the Faith

 

A question:  what do secular movements like the revolutions in the Middle East and the protests against Wall Street have to do with the growth and spread of Christianity?

I've read accounts of what's going on in our world and wondered.  Here's some of what I've concluded:  these movements began when someone, deeply committed to a cause, starts to rally those closest to him or her to action.  Using Twitter, Facebook, texting or old fashioned word of mouth, the cause spread from one person to another along already established social and relational networks.  Movements spread like viruses, going from person to person, among those who are in close contact with one another -- a friend connects with a friend who connects with a friend.

According to Dr. Rodney Stark in his books The Rise of Christianity:  How the Obscure, Marginal, Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force and the just released The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World's Largest Religion, that's how Christianity spread in the first three hundred years following Christ.

Dr. Stark says by 40AD the movement Jesus founded had only about 1,000 followers.  By 300AD the number of Jesus followers had grown to around 6,000,000, or about 10% of the Roman Empire.  Never has any movement--social, religious, or political--achieved such a rapid advance in the dominant culture without the aid of a military force! How did this happen?

The book of Acts tells the story of the growth of the early church.  Much of Acts focuses on Paul and his missionary activities.  While we usually think of folks like Paul as being responsible for the spread of Christianity, according to Dr. Stark the spread of Christianity didn't depend upon religious professionals so much as on ordinary folk who shared their faith with family, friends and neighbors (you can catch a glimpse of this happening in Acts 11:19-26),

Dr. Stark writes:

Christianity was spread, not so much by the professionals, but by ordinary people whose names and deeds are not recorded.  Christian conversions followed networks of relationships.  Missionaries often led the way making initial contacts.  Once some insiders were converted, they became the key to the gospel spreading throughout the rest of the social network.

[T]he spread of religious movements is not accomplished by dramatic events and persuasive preachers, but by ordinary followers who convert their equally anonymous friends, relatives and neighbors.

The Roman authorities attempted to halt the expansion of Christianity by targeting its leadership.  Men like Peter and Paul were arrested, imprisoned and executed.  But that didn't stop the rapid, widespread growth of Christianity for it was a movement of the people, not the professionals!

We can find something very much like the growth of the early church happening in China today.  Despite decades of religious persecution, the church in China is growing and spreading.  The communist government tried to stop it by expelling missionaries and arresting and imprisoning pastors, but the church continued to grow because it was a movement of ordinary people.

Christianity conquered the Roman world without a strategic plan, without an organizational structure, without access to significant resources, without academic institutions, and without a professionalized clergy.  How?  Ordinary people, on fire with the love of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit, told their families, friends, and casual acquaintances what God had done for them.  There are many factors that influence a person's decision to become a Christ follower, but the most important factor seems to be a close and positive relationship with another committed Christ follower.

In my last few blog entries I've focused our attention on the concept of movements, wondering what it would take for there to be a spiritual, transformative movement of God spreading across our city like a wildfire. For there to be a movement of God do we need to call a group of pastors together, write a vision statement, develop a strategic plan, then figure out how we are going to fund it?  I don't think so.  There's nothing wrong with that approach, and it may help.  But whether there is a strategic plan in place or not, the only thing that really matters is this -- as Christ's followers we must be deeply surrendered to him, and then just begin sharing our faith with our those closest to us -- family, friends and neighbors. If this simply formula can be used to topple governments and change social policies, surely it can be used to bring Christ to our world.

 

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For those interested in more books by Dr. Stark, just click here.  It will take you to Amazon.com.  Not only will you have access to Dr. Stark's books, but UBA will receive a little income on everything you purchase using this link.  Other books you might consider are:

Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome

The Churching of America, 1776-2005: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy

Question: why? Our answer: "cause."

There are certain answers that fit most any question. As an adult my favorite is "that depends." Try it out.

Which shirt (dress, etc) do you like best? "That depends" (on whether you intend to use if for dress or casual wear, on whether you wear it with blue jeans or shorts, etc.). Do you like to listen to music? "That depends" (for example, on what I'm doing). It even works for highly specific questions which you might think have only one answer. For example, is Washington DC the capital of the US? "It depends" (on whether you mean political capital, or entertainment capital, or financial capital).

"It depends" can be used to answer many questions. It is my default "adult" answer. As a kid my favorite response was probably "because" which I shortened to "cause." It works best with why questions.

Why did you hit your brother? "Cause" he hit me first, or he took my toy. Why didn't you take out the trash? "Cause" it was too heavy or it smelled too bad. Why? "Cause."

Today "cause" isn't an answer so much as it's a question. What "cause" are you living for?

I've been writing about movements and asking what it's going to take if we are ever going to see a great movement of God in our city. I believe great movements occur when people find a cause worth giving their lives to completely!

John Wesley didn't plan to start a movement, but nonetheless that's what happened. The founder of Methodism, Wesley lived at the epicenter of one of the most significant religious and social movements of the eighteenth century.

Wesley's goal was to reform a nation by spreading Scriptural holiness over the land. Wesley believed that people without Christ were lost, that sin brought destruction in this life and the next, that faith in Christ should result in loving obedience to his commands, and that by faithfully following Christ the world could be changed!

Denied access to the church, he declared "The world is my parish!" He began preaching in open fields and public places. In his lifetime he traveled almost a quarter of a million miles on horseback, preached 40,000 sermons often preaching two or three times a day, and saw over 100,000 conversions.

Wesley didn't work alone. Wherever he went he appointed local lay preachers to carry out the work of ministry. This expansion of lay preachers was one of the keys to the growth of Methodism.

Wesley's commitment to Christ and his cause never wavered throughout his lifetime. He endured opposition and derision from ministers and magistrates alike. Mobs often turned up at his meetings to disrupt his work, but never wavered in his commitment to Christ and his cause.

When Wesley was carried to his grave, it's been said that "he left behind him a good library of books, a well-worn clergyman's gown" and the Methodist church. Records show there were 71,463 Methodists in Britain and 61,811 in the US around the time of his death (1791). By 1850 Methodists were the largest Christian denomination in the US! (For the story of how this happened check out my blogs on "How the West Was Won.")

Summarizing his life and impact, Steve Addison says: "Although there were many factors that fed into this amazing expansion none were more important than Methodists' discipline and commitment to their cause." [italics mine]

Why am I writing about movements and how they come about? Because I believe a great movement of God is needed -- in our city, among our churches, in our denomination. Christian influence is waning. Our denomination is poised for decline. We can't just keep on as we are and pretend everything is going to be better.

That's why at UBA we have a cause: to mobilize churches to take on lostness. We believe that without Christ people are lost, that sin destroys but faith transforms, and that following Christ can truly change our world. We believe that the church is God's instrument in society for change. Only by sparking a movement of God that ignites our churches to take on lostness in exponentially greater ways is there hope.

You might ask, Do you really think if people follow Christ it will change the world? Based on the way I opened this article you might think my answer would be "that depends." Not this time. This time my answer is a definitive "yes."

Will it happen? Will we see a movement of God? This time my answer is "that depends." Do we have a white-hot faith? Are we committed to a worthy cause?

A White Hot Faith

When Jesus said, "I will build my church"* I am confident he was starting a movement. He spoke with authority and conviction, and the common people heard him gladly and followed him devotedly. What began as a mission in the heart of God has become a transformative movement that has circled the globe and lasted for two thousand years!

Movements don't follow formulas; they follow passion.

The first great Protestant missionary movement began with Count Nicolas Zinzendof. His story is fascinating. Zinzendorf was born into one of the most noble families of Europe. As a young man he struggled with his desire to study for the ministry and the expectation that he would fulfill his hereditary role as a Count. As a teenager he formed a secret society, The Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed, whose stated purpose was that members would used their position and influence to spread the gospel.

When he came of age as a young man Zinzendorf took a Grand Tour as was expected of a person in his position. On his tour he visited an art museum in Dusseldorf where he saw a Domenico Feti painting titled Ecce Homo, "Behold the Man." It portrayed the crucified Christ with the legend, "This have I done for you - Now what will you do for me?" The young count as profoundly moved and appears to have had an almost mystical experience while looking at the painting, feeling as if Christ himself was speaking those word to his heart. He vowed that day to dedicate his life to the service of Christ.

In 1722, Zinzendorf became intrigued by the story of the Moravians after granting a group permission to live on his land. So taken was he with them that in 1727 Zinzendorf left public life to spend all his time working with the Moravians.

In 1731, Zinzendorf met a converted slave from the West Indies. The tale of his people's plight moved Zinzendorf deeply. As a result two young men were sent to St. Thomas to live among the slaves and preach the gospel. This was the first organized Protestant mission work. It grew rapidly spreading to Africa, America, Russia and other parts of the world. In two decades the movement resulted in more missionaries being sent out than all Protestants had sent out in the previous 200 years!

The missionaries that went out were were laypeople, mostly farmers and tradesmen; trained as evangelists, not theologians; receiving scant training in language acquisition and cross-cultural ministry; with no financial support and no organization to look after them. They were simply people of passion on mission for Christ.

Movements don't follow formulas; they follow passion!

In the book Movements that Changed the World, Steve Addison identifies a "white hot faith" as one of the characteristics of a dynamic missionary movement. How does God develop a white hot faith in us?

Addison suggests two things:

(1) A crisis which results in a surrendered life. Thoughout Scripture God takes the initiate to call a person to His service through a powerful encounter (Moses before the burning bush, Isaiah's vision in the Temple, Jesus in the wilderness, Saul on the road to Damascus). Before there is any outpouring of vision, there is a deep experience of surrender to God followed by an outpouring of God's spirit (remember Pentecost?). An experience of crisis, surrender and empowerment is central to Count Zinzendorf's story as well as throughout every missionary movement.

(2) A process that results in a disciplined life. Just what that process is varies from movement to movement, but deep personal devotion to Christ and highly disciplined life are always evident. The early disciples met regularly to read Scripture, hear teaching, pray, confess and share with one another. The Moravians and Methodists met in classes to do much the same thing. These classes also became accountability groups with confession of sin and repentance key components.

While we cannot orchestrate a spiritual crises, we be open to God at all times, look for Him in all our life experiences, ask God what He is trying to say to us at all times. We can consistently spend time in his Word and prayer, listen to good biblical teaching and stay in community with fellow believers. In other words, we can make sure we are in the right condition for a God to ignite a white hot faith within us.

Due to extreme heat and dry conditions wildfires are igniting all over Texas right now. The wildfires can result when a tiny spark meets just the right conditions. While we can't control the spark (that comes from God), we can make sure our hearts are in the right condition. And we can pray for a movement of God to break out in our city, a movement that will ignite the church to share the gospel with the nearly five million people in our city who need to know Christ.


__________

*Matthew 16:18

For more on Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf, check out: http://www.zinzendorf.com/countz.htm

The Church on the Move(ment): One Solitary Life

Dr. James A Francis was the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Los Angeles, California nearly a century ago.  You've probably never heard of him.  There are not many hits for him on Google.  There is no Wikipedia article on his life or ministry.  But probably everyone who reads these words has been impacted in some small way by something he said.

In a sermon, "Arise, Sir Knight," delivered on July 11, 1926, he spoke these words:

"Let us turn now to the story. A child is born in an obscure village. He is brought up in another obscure village. He works in a carpenter shop until he is thirty, and then for three brief years is an itinerant preacher, proclaiming a message and living a life. He never writes a book. He never holds an office. He never raises an army. He never has a family of his own. He never owns a home. He never goes to college. He never travels two hundred miles from the place where he was born. He gathers a little group of friends about him and teaches them his way of life. While still a young man the tide of popular feeling turns against him. The band of followers forsakes him. One denies him; another betrays him. He is turned over to his enemies. He goes through the mockery of a trial; he is nailed on a cross between two thieves, and when dead is laid in a borrowed grave by the kindness of a friend. Those are the facts of his human life. He rises from the dead. Today we look back across nineteen hundred years and ask, What kind of a trail has he left across the centuries? When we try to sum up his influence, all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned are absolutely picayune in their influence on mankind compared with that of this one solitary life."

Dr. Francis' sermon was published in The Real Jesus and Other Sermons (Judson Press, 1926).  He apparently edited these words a few times into the version we know today as "One Solitary Life."  Somehow over time his association with the words was lost and they came to be attributed to "Anonymous."  Ironic, isn't it, that the Jesus of whom he wrote was born and lived in relative obscurity though he had a profound impact on mankind, and Francis' association with "One Solitary Life" likewise became obscure for over three-quarters of a century though his words are known by many.

When talking about Jesus, Dr. Francis asks:  What kind of a trail has he [Jesus] left across the centuries?

I believe it is fair to say that when Jesus established the church he started a movement that is transforming our world for the good.

Most folks don't think of the church as a movement.  Today we tend to think of it more as a place where people gather, a building, an institution.  I'm rather confident that's not what Jesus had in mind.  When he told his disciples they were to be witnesses to all people throughout the earth, I don't think he had in mind building an auditorium in the heart of Jerusalem (just down from the Temple), installing Peter as pastor and inviting folks to come hear him preach.  I think he wanted to start a movement where all people could hear the good news, become Christ followers, and find the abundant life they long for.

Just look at the language of the book of Acts.  It's not about an institution.  it's all about movement.  The Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples as a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire.  Wind implies movement -- there is no wind unless there is movement.  And fire is in constant motion.  Again, movement.  Later the disciples are scattered by persecution like seeds scattered by a farmer as he throws them to the wind and they fall upon the ground.  Movement!

In the book Movements that Changed the World, Steve Addison defines a movement as "a group of people pursuing a common cause ... movements are characterized by discontent, vision, and action."  For good or evil, he says, movements change the world.  In the weeks ahead I'm going to consider the five characteristics Addison identifies as characteristics of dynamic missionary movements.  For the record here they are:

1. White hot faith
2. Commitment to a cause
3. Contagious relationships
4. Rapid mobilization
5. Adaptive methods

Dr. Francis wrote of that one solitary life that has had more influence on the world than the combined impact of "all the armies that ever marched, all the parliaments that ever sat, [and] all the kings that ever reigned."

The church began as a movement and became an institution.  At UBA we are committed to helping the church reverse it course and once again become a movement that will change our world!

For more information on One Solitary Life and Dr. Francis:  http://www.sjvls.org/bens/bf007sl.htm

To purchase Steve Addison's book Movements that Changed the Word: http://www.ubahouston.org/589318.ihtml