Tag Archives: church

Checklists, orthodoxy and leaving a church

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There’s a little questionnaire making the rounds of Church of Christ discussion groups on the Internet. I haven’t seen the original source, so I won’t mention who is said to be the author.

It’s titled “QUESTIONS FOR MY LIBERAL BRETHREN.” Most of the questions are in a yes/no format. Question #17 has multiple parts. I’ll paste it in here as I’ve seen it on other sites:

17. Which of the following practices do you think you nullify a congregation’s standing with God?
A. Use of sacred images and paintings in worship___ B. Use of holy water___ C. Burning incense____D. Use of clerical garments___ E. Communion with bread alone?____F. Communion with bread and water____G. Offering sprinkling or pouring for baptism___H. Speaking in unknown tongues___ I. People being “slain by the Spirit”___J. Instrumental music in worship____K. Praise by paid performers____L. Daily Communion____M. Communion observed with weddings and funerals___N. Communion as part of a potluck meal____O. Infant baptism___P. Woman preachers and elders_____Q. Charging for baptisms____R. Dancing for worship____S. Reciting the Nicean Creed___ T. Lighting sacred candles___ U. Singing or praying in Latin, Greek or Hebrew___ V. Expecting Holy Spirit baptism____W. Infant baptism___X. Making the communion service a sacrifice of the mass___

When this was posted to a group that I’m a part of, I pointed out that the items listed said more about this person’s bias than anything else. When challenged as to how I would “improve” the list, I suggested a few additions:

Owning a building
Paid preacher
Sunday school
Allow unscripturally divorced people to place membership or be baptized
Multiple cups in the Lord’s Supper
Homogenized grape juice in the Lord’s Supper
Use of non-KJV Bibles
Taking Lord’s Supper on Sunday night
Taking Lord’s Supper on ground floor
Support orphan’s homes
Support cooperative evangelistic efforts

There are members of the churches of Christ who would call others “liberal” for doing the things I’ve listed. If we’re going to offer an honest list for evaluation, shouldn’t we go beyond the things that we personally object to? Shouldn’t we list what others object to about us?

All of this got me to thinking about when and why I would leave a church. I want to explore some of that, but thought I’d ask my wise readers to guide me as I get started. When would you decide it necessary to leave a church? On what basis?

How would you go about it? Would you leave quietly or would you want others to know of your decision? Would you approach the leadership? Would you discuss it merely with a close circle of friends or would you contact as many people as possible?

Looking forward to your thoughts.

Is the future really that grim?

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Following on the heels of yesterday’s post, I couldn’t help but think about cultural changes. I was thinking about the warnings I hear time and again about postmodernism. To hear many talk, to have a postmodern outlook on the world is to deny the faith. Some despair of being able to reach out to postmodernists.

My question is: was modernism all that friendly to the church? I’m no expert on these terms, but from what I know, modernism changed the way we look at the Bible, not to mention the way that we look at the world. My hunch is that a modernist outlook and a postmodernist outlook each impact our views to a similar degree, just in dissimilar ways.

It gets back to one of my favorite sayings: “The fish doesn’t know that he’s wet.” When you grow up in a modernist environment, being taught to think and reason in modernist terms, it seems like the “natural” way to do things. More specifically, if you’ve always read the Bible from that point of view, other ways of looking at the Bible seem heretical. Like always, our way is the right way; anything new and different is wrong.

Postmodernism offers unique challenges to the church. But we first need to deal with the challenges of modernism, dig past its effects, before we can objectively evaluate the effects of postmodernism.

Those are my thoughts. I’d like to hear from someone who has a better handle on the meaning and implications of each of these viewpoints.

Was yesterday better?

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On Friday, Steve Teel made a comment on Thursday’s post, an insightful thought that doesn’t deserve to languish in the comment section. Steve is a former missionary to Argentina who now preaches for the Hendersonville Church of Christ in North Carolina.

Steve said:

Tim, what do you suppose would be the snap shoot, or the bullet points on the North American Christian movement 50 years ago? 1961?
1. Racism prevades the Christian church. A number of “Christians” participated in a recent lynching in South Carolina (actually happened), and vowed that the KKK was founded on Biblical principles.
2. Christian colleges are staunch on their segragation policies, “after all there are Black schools for them to attend.”
3. Despite the growing number of studies against smoking, a majority of Christian men smoke at least two packs a week.
4. In the churches of Christ, large numbers of churches are taking a stand against orphan homes. Outsiders see it as a power play, though long public debates defend the split on doctrinal reasons.
5. Spousal abuse remains a closet topic among Christians. A new study, however, indicates that beating a wife falls within the range bringing her into subjection as dictated in Ephesians 5.

That’s a great reminder. It’s easy to look at the church today and say, “Oh, things are getting so bad.” However, if we look objectively, each era has its own problems. It’s not that we have challenges today whereas there were none in other times. We have different challenges today.

Any thoughts? Would you add to Steve’s analysis of the church in 1961? Any thoughts about the implications of the fact that each generation faces a different set of challenges?

“Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?” For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10)

Megathemes in the church in 2010

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Last month, Barna Group Research published a list of megathemes in American Christianity in 2010. If you haven’t seen them, let me summarize them here:

  1. The church is losing theological literacy. This includes knowledge of the Bible and knowledge of general Christian (and non-Christian) theology.
  2. Churches are focusing their attention inward, not outward. Wish I could say that that is a surprise, but I think that’s been a “megatrend” for a long, long time. Even the “seeker friendly” churches quickly become “member friendly” churches.
  3. People are less interested in spiritual principles and more interested in practical solutions. I’d guess that’s more true in America than other places because that describes a general trend in our culture. Pragmatism is king.
  4. Interest in community action is on the rise. I’ll admit that I like this and hate it at the same time. I’m glad it’s happening, I just wish we wouldn’t neglect other things along the way.
  5. Postmodernism’s “tolerance” is beginning to become a popular theme within the church. Fear of being seen as judgmental leads us to not want to condemn anything. Waning trust in absolute truth leaves Christians willing to accept anything in the name of keeping the peace.
  6. The church has little to no influence on people’s lives and the culture around us. I heard of one pastor in Houston who worked for decades at a large church. He commented late in life that his greatest frustration was the lack of change in the community around his church. The church grew, but it’s influence didn’t.

From my vantage point, I think this research is spot on. I’d like to hear your thoughts and reflections.

Caged hunting dogs

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I was talking with a coworker yesterday, recalling an illustration by Joseph Aldrich, author of Lifestyle Evangelism. He said that many in the church are like caged hunting dogs. With no birds to hunt, they turn on one another, biting and fighting. When set loose to do that for which they were trained, they work together to accomplish their goal.

When the church turns inward, we can fight over whether that was a gnat or a mosquito that we strained out of our water. When we turn our focus outward, we can find the unity described in the Word.

I’ve found that illustration to be very helpful to me over the years.