Competing Visions of Church

Posted on August 4, 2014

People’s visions of church differ. When I first moved to Austin I asked people what they thought about church and if Austin needed another one. Some said, “Only if it does good.” Others said, “No way; we’ve got enough bigots.”

A Massive Vision of Church

Christians are also divided on their visions of church: “more community, better music, less preaching, more social justice” Paul trifles with our visions of church when he says: “Do you not know that you (plural) are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Co 3:16). God’s vision of the church is holy community, a distinct, interdependent people that stick out in the culture. This distinct flavor is the result of being holy, “set apart” to God, as opposed to being set apart to our own vision of church or set apart to our personal freedoms. God has a collective holiness at the center of his vision. The implications of this vision are huge.

Individuals Apart vs. Saints Together

Paul can’t conceive of a disembodied Christ, of stray Christians disconnected from one another. Which means loving Jesus but not the church severs the head from the body. Christians who complain about the church, gossip, judge, and quarrel are like cutters, who cause self-injury to the Body. So if your vision of church doesn’t include being holy together, which builds up the body, then it’s not God’s church you’re day dreaming about.

We all possess alternate, broken views of church. If you have church background, you can name off the things you don’t like about your church experience, probably more than the benefits. Why? It’s highly likely that you care more about your views on the church than embodying God’s view of the church—holy temple, where his Spirit dwells, where people live who are just as deserving of forgiveness and grace as you are because of Christ. Even if you’re part of a Christ-centered, missional church, you would be naive to think that your old, individualistic, default visions have dissipated.

Gut Check Your Church Vision

We often act like individuals apart instead of saints together when divide the church by:

  • Attending church gatherings only when our preferred preacher is speaking
  • Just “catching the podcast at home” (as if church is mere information)
  • Refusing to pursue the holy joy of others in your community, especially different or difficult people
  • Forming judgmental opinions on the style of music, personality of a leader, or philosophy of ministry.

When we dwell on minors instead of majoring on Christ crucified we act like “Individuals Apart” not saints together. We build a vision of church around ourselves, not Jesus. We miss out on Jesus’ grand, temple-vision of church and diminish its witness to the world.

How (Not) to Be Secular [video]

Posted on July 10, 2014

This is a fascinating account of our present secular experience that resonates, clarifies, and inspires.

Believe Me! – This is a Great Movie

Posted on June 25, 2014

BELIEVE ME is the film a lot of people have been waiting for. Part satire, part substance, part laugh your head off humor (can you say Ron Swanson or Christopher MacDonald, aka “Shooter McGavin”?), Believe Me does what many films have tried to do with Christian subculture, and the gospel message, and have failed. Believe Me succeeds, in flying colors.

The dialog is excellent. Stephen Jones calls the humor “comedic perfection.” The cinematography isn’t just industry standard, it takes some creative risks, and lands them with skill. The ending is pitch perfect. On top of all that, the soundtrack is killer.

I’m proud of the guys behind this film. Don’t miss it.

Interesting Books I’m Reading this Month

Posted on June 16, 2014

Summer lists are rolling out, so I thought I’d throw out some titles I’m enjoying this month. Last week, I posted books on 1 Corinthians, so I won’t relist those here.

Original Sin

This is a cultural history of human nature, not humanity’s first sin, as Alan Jacobs emphasizes. It’s a fascinating read. So far he’s culling from Greek mythology, Bibilcal stories, anthropological case studies, and theology.

Sabbath as Resistance

Americans can’t read and reflect enough on the sabbath. Once a cultural fixation, the sabbath has largely left the Christian field of view. Bruggeman argues that it is “the most difficult and most important” of the Ten Commandments. The Preface is worth the book, where he makes a distinction between the Adamic man–who creates through work, and the Mosaic man–who cultivates reflection and worship through inaction and devotion.

Most of us have an “under-developed” Mosaic man, sucked into production and consumption by work and play, we no longer know how to resist the flow of consumerism and capitalism, and are losing our distinctive, sabbath identity as Christians.

Most of us have an “under-developed” Mosaic man, sucked into production and consumption by work and play, we no longer know how to resist the flow of consumerism and capitalist, and are losing our distinctive, sabbath identity as Christians. Church attendance, alone, is a sign enough of that, but the signs run much deeper and further.

Apostles of Reason

Based on the recommendations, I’m expecting a lot out of this analysis of the 20th century culture wars and how American Evangelicalism is really a struggle for authority in a faith that advocates both faith and reason.

The Twilight of the American Enlightenment

George Marsden is back at it, drawing ideological conclusions as he deftly sweeps in and out of decades of American history. Probably the shorter version of Apostles of Reason, but I’ll have to read that to find out for sure. I liked his observation about how America jettisons God in the 50s and 60s, while keeping God’s values of human freedom, self-determination, and equal rights. If you boot God, its harder to make a case for these values.

Jettison God and it’s hard to keep God’s values of human freedom, self-determination, and equal rights.

Soul Keeping

This book is an entirely different pace than the rest of the titles above, but touches on similar themes to Bruggeman and Jacobs. It’s very accessible exploration on the meaning of the soul, how we’ve neglected it, and what to do about it. Lots of Dallas Willard and story-telling in here. The closing description of Peter’s harbinger in the Gospel of John has stuck with me: “Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.”

When you’re young, you go where you want to, but when you’re old, you learn to go where God wants you to, and you embrace the cross-shaped life.

Called to be Saints: An Invitation to Christian Maturity

I really enjoy the balance, clarity, and pull of Gordon Smith’s writing. His book, Transforming Conversion, was great. Here he argues maturity is a vital dimension of the church’s teaching that often goes neglected. He writes:

“Congregations that do not pursue with passion and vigor a dynamic maturity in Christ are surely as fraudulent as a hospital that is not passionate and vigorous in its pursuit of healing and holiness.”

Stew on that one for a while.