This is the third installment of my “What Does Your Church Believe?” series. So far I have looked at the importance of open communion to DOC theology (post link) as well as freedom of belief (post link).
Today we will examine the belief in the oneness of the church.
According to the Disciples of Christ, the oneness of the church means that “all Christians are called to one in Christ and seek opportunities for common witness and service.”
One of the foundational tenets of the Disciples of Christ is the notion of ecumenical dialogue. This is vitally important in an ever changing theological and religious landscape. It seems like now that churches operate independent of themselves and in a sense, “compete” against one another. One church is trying to have the best youth program; this church is trying to have the best educational programs; this church is trying to have the best music and preaching. Churches are trying to grow the number of people in their church building on Sunday morning; whoever has the biggest congregation wins right?
Is this the church that Christ envisioned and died for? Did Christ really want differences in hymnals and Bible translations to separate others from doing the will of God together? In the end the fact of the matter remains, we are all serving, worshiping, honoring and loving the same God. No one denomination has a monopoly on God. As Disciples of Christ we are called to try to bridge gaps that have been place by years of separation and animosity. The people of this world who are suffering and need a healing touch of grace don’t have time for us to sit around and complain about “those people” over there.
From the beginning of the movement, the Disciples of Christ have been about the restoration of the church, to restore the church back to one body where Christ is served and God is worshiped in a way that is meaningful. But alas, humanity has messed it up. We want church our way and any other way is wrong. One of my favorite seminary professors said that the church itself has not really grown much, we have just found ways to divide ourselves. This is a sad but true fact.
It is because of this notion of ecumenical dialogue that I started ShareFest Orange which was held in March of this year. It was great to see 70+ people from around the city of Orange coming together to serve God in the public arena together for the benefit of others not a church role sheet.
God can be worshiped and served even when doctrinal beliefs are different.
Let is cling to the notion that God is bigger than our differences.
“We are one in the spirit we are one in the Lord…”
People and corporations are in the business to sell you something. Commercials and advertisements flood our radios, TVs and until you install a good pop-up blocker, the internet as well. These items could be anything from sales at Lowe’s to the new tacos at Taco Bell to IRS Tax advice to newest diet craze on the market today. Since the advent of the telephone, marketers have tried to entice people over the phone with special deals and people calling at inopportune times. It even got so bad that the government had to make a National Do Not Call list with punishments for violators.
With the rise in the modern computer, calling thousands of people at one time with the same message has become the norm. While this is helpful for evacuate purposes and such, it has however been used by politicians in recent years. Politicians have set up recordings for people to get ‘robo called’ to inform people of voting day and that their opponent voted to give five-year old guns and make the Cornish game hen the new national bird.
Until recently, I had never heard of ministers using this technology to promote their ministries. My friend in Nacogdoches (yes it is spelled correctly) posted on Facebook that he had received a robo call from Prophet Manasseh Jordan.
Here is a transcript of the robo-call.
” *CALM FEMALE VOICE* Hello, this is Manasseh Jordan Ministries. I’m one of the Prayer Closet Guards, and we are about to place your name in the Prophet’s Prayer Closet, but we noticed some of your information is incomplete. Please call 800 234-9071 within the next 24 hours, or press 0 to be transferred so we can complete your information and Prophet Manasseh can start praying for you *SUDDEN VOICE CHANGE, MALE* To be removed from this list, please call 1 800 318-7853, that again is 1 800 318-7853.”
Some general questions/observations:
why is it harder to be removed from the mailing list than it is to be added?
Why the sudden voice change from female to male?
How did they get my friend’s name and number?
What will happen after 24 hours if they do not contact them?
What is a Prayer closet and why does my friend need to be in it?
Is this the type of ministry that is advocated for in the Bible, robo-calling people and hoping that they give you their information so you can receive more information?
By just doing a quick Google search one will find a plethora of information and reviews of the Prophet. According to Web of Trust, a user community that rates websites on vendor reliability, trustworthiness, privacy and child safety, they rated the Prophet’s website as “Very Poor.” Now is this because people do like what he is promoting or is this because people on Web of Trust dislike Christianity? I’m not sure…
Of course my friend had his own opinion about the Prophet; he recently wrote:
At best, he represents enthusiastic but uneducated preaching, mixed with the danger to arrogance. At worst, pure scam.
Is this what Christianity has come to? Is this image that TBN ministers and tele-evangelist have today? Has Tammy Fay Baker and Robert Tilton (Just to name a few) ruined the cause of reaching people in their homes with the gospel message (even though at times I disagree with what they have to say)?
Is the most effective way to propagate the gospel message, by robo calling random people?
Is that what Christ advocated when he gave his Great Commission?
I get it… he wants to spread the message of Christ to all people in all places and I commend him for his faith but why does he need to solicit people randomly?
This type of in your face Christianity especially with the back story of needing money is what turns people off to the Gospel message.
A general rule of thumb for ministry is if politicians use it to get people to vote for them, it may not be an effective tool.
People are looking for community, they are looking for connections. Sure people do connect with ministers on TBN even to the point where they support them financially but that was their choice and no one hounded them on their personal phone under the guise of personal ministry care.
For me, I do not like it when on a minister’s site or a church’s site the “special message from the pastor/prophet” takes me to a video where the said pastor/prophet is asking for money. Where’s the message there? The video below makes it seem like a Ronco infomercial. I was expecting him to tell me about low easy monthly payments and 100% money back guarantees… no such luck. (Also if you watch the video about every 30 seconds there is a beep… the fire alarm needs a new battery :D)
Ministry is too important to leave to our new robot overlords.
So the next time you receive a phone call from an unknown number… it might be Prophet calling.
It’s a common question. It’s is a question that comes up in the most general and basic of conversations. You could be at a party for a friend, meeting someone for the first or in the chair getting your haircut. The question arises: “What do you do for a living?” For most people when they answer question the response is one that is met with probing or clarifying questions, not when I answer.
You see when I tell people what I do it strikes fear in their heart, I tell them: “I am a minister.” All at once a wave comes over their face as if they are shocked that a minister would come out from behind the pulpit and Bible commentaries to venture out into the world of sinners and commoners. Eye contact lessens as if people don’t want me to peer into their soul and see them for who they truly are.
Generally people immediately begin to tell me about their religious preferences and experiences. If the person I am speaking had not interjected what I call “God talk” yet, they promptly add it to the conversation. They will tell me about their minister’s sermons from the previous Sunday to prove to me that they were listening and that his/her teaching was effective. Someone actually turned on the Bible on CD while I was receiving a haircut.
Once someone inquired about my job and told them that I was a minister. They told me about their lack luster church attendance. This person in particular had stopped going to church because the service in the church she was attending was not connecting with her on a deep, spiritual level. If she had just told me that part of the story I would have been fine and we might have continued our conversation about her religious experiences or maybe abandoned that track and began a completely new conversation. Rather she began her conversation by informing me “I really don’t go to church that much, I mean I am not a devil worshiper or anything like that but I just don’t care for the service at my church right now.” Since when did not going to church for Christians become devil worshipping in a minister’s mind? Is that the dichotomy that exist– Worship God or you are a devil worshiper? Is this is perception that people have of ministers? Do people really think that I am a perfect, pious, self-righteous, judgmental person who goes from place to place condemning people for their lack of faith and church attendance?
Sadly that is an accurate description of about one percent of the ministerial population, but not me.
Ministers are human beings; we are people just like you. We go to the store, we shop online, and we try to make ends meet month to month. Ministers have taken on as their call or duty to ensure that the message of Jesus Christ is promoted and propagated in the world. Yes many ministers are educated in theology, divinity and pastoral care, but knowledge of the Bible and having good skills in the pulpit does not make one perfect. Yes ministers are seen as the spiritual leaders of their congregations but to place the label of perfection places a great weight on minister’s shoulders.
Ministers don’t walk around singing “The Old Rugged Cross” and quoting scripture, rather ministers have to find a way to get the kids to soccer practice, homework completed, dinner on the table and make that two hour evangelism committee meeting on top of writing a sermon, making visits and calls.
Am I perfect? No, far from it and I don’t claim to be.
I listen to music other than gospel (gasp!)
I make mistakes just like everyone else. (double gasp!)
I sometimes don’t pray as often as I should. (heretical gasp!)
Does this make me a less effective minister? I don’t think so, but it does make me human. Christ came to the Earth to restore people to wholeness and mend people in their brokenness. Nowhere in the Bibles does Christ command his followers to be perfect, rather he understands that humans are flawed individuals seeking completeness.
So the next time you see a minister tell him/her that you hope they are well and not too stressed, especially during the holy times (Advent/Christmas and Lent/Easter). Don’t try to impress them with your knowledge of Bible verses or church history. Don’t treat them any differently than you would treat anyone else.
So as you can see, you and I aren’t that different after all.
Sunday (Pentecost 2012) I preached a sermon entitled “What Does This Mean?” based on Acts 2:1-12. You can listen to the sermon by clicking the link below.
I didn’t think I would be writing another one of these post for while. But Christians are giving Christians a bad name… again…
For some reason unknown to any one but him, Pastor Charles L. Worley of Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina took to the pulpit to speak on President Obama’s recent statements affirming same-sex marriage. Now North Carolina was in a big debate regarding this issue and in a statewide vote denied same sex couples the right to marry; no doubt that was fresh on his mind when he came to service.
A little over a week ago I posted an audio clip from Pastor Sean Harris who advocated to hit your children if they “acted gay.” You can read (or re-read it here). While Pastor Harris’ comments were out of line, Pastor Worley’s comments leaves Pastor Harris’ comments in the dust… Why? Worley advocates murder.
In the video posted below, Pastor Worley goes on a two-minute rant about homosexuals, the President and what his solution to the “gay problem.” In the video he says,
“I had a way I figured a way out…a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers. Build a great big, large fence 150 or 100 mile long – put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing with the queers and the homosexuals. And have that fence electrified until they can’t get out. Feed them and you know what in a few years – they’ll die out. You know why – they can’t reproduce.”
On a personal note, the video was extremely hard to listen to. Not only does he advocate for a group of people to be killed he is doing it from the pulpit in a church which is supposed to be a holy place AND has the audacity to say this comes from God. At one point he says that the Bible is “again” it and that God is “again” it. Also, what is disheartening is that fact that members of his congregation were “amening” and agreeing with what he had to say. Glad they are practicing that love of Christ… glad they love all people just like God loved them dispite their faults. If (as some say) all sins are equal in the eyes of God then why are they stratifying this particular sin? Which is it Pastor Worley and the members who agree of Providence Road Baptist Church in North Carolina? Are all sins equal or does God have a “Top Ten” list of the sins one is not to commit with homosexuality at the top? Why are you trying to make disciples in your image of God?
Pastor Worley I believe you and I (and millions of other people) are reading different Bibles. Jesus Christ (the one you are supposed to be following) never called for the murder of a group of people just because they were different and didn’t think the say way he did. History lesson: Hitler did that… so… think about that…
Christ being the compassionate person that he was sought out the ‘other’ to be in relationship with him/her to tell them that God still LOVES them for WHO THEY ARE. Don’t believe me? Check out your Bible… there are more passages about loving your neighbor and being the hands and feet of God than there are about homosexuality being wrong.
Trust me… actually don’t… look it up for yourself, you might learn something. 🙂
You can watch the video below… if you want… as well as a member trying to defend her pastor’s position on CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360.
Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of one of the most infamous end times predictions to date. Harold Camping and his Family Radio called on Christians to prepare themselves for the end of the world, the date of this cataclysmic event? May 21, 2011.
Camping stated he had figured out through numerology and probably some complicated algebra problem that the Bible predicted the end of the world and if you looked closely enough you would find the date. This wasn’t Camping’s first trip to the rodeo when it comes to end times predictions. In 1994 and 1995 he made similar predictions, but this one gained some momentum largely in part (I believe) due to the internet.
Any time a Christian minister makes bold predictions it garners national attention. For days leading up to the fateful day, news organizations from around the world held interviews with Camping as well his followers. On May 20, people waited with bated breath to see if anything would happen in Australia. I thought this was interesting that the notion of the end of the world was supposed to start across the International Time Line. The International Time Line is a human construction; Camping was banking that God subscribed to the International Date and even Day Light Savings time to ensure the end of the world.
Of course, May 21, 2011 came and went and nothing happened, we are still hear. Camping tried to revise his claim and stated that May 21 was the spiritual judgment and the physical judgement was to come in October. That date as well came and went. Finally Camping declared that humanity was not supposed to know when the end of the world was going to be and therefore we should stop worrying about it.
In the wake of the prediction, hundreds if not thousands of people spent their money and said their good-byes for nothing. One report came out that a family in New York had racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt because they thought the end of the world was coming and no one would come calling for their payment. (Greedy?)
Time Magazine called Camping’s prediction one of the top ten failed predictions of all time. (Read it here)
People have been trying to figure out when the end of the world is going to be for millennia, the newest craze is the Mayan Calendar which goes out sometime in December 2012.
The fact of the matter is that it doesn’t really matter when Jesus is coming back or when the world will end; what matters is what followers of Christ are going to do in the mean time. Are we going to sit around and just wait or are we going to try to bring a piece of the “pie in the sky” Heaven here on earth? Brian McLaren (not sure if he is the originator of this quote or not) stated that we needed to stop teaching the Bible as an evacuation plan, but rather a transformation plan. This is was the fault of the May 2011 prediction. While they firmly believed that the world was going to end instead of trying to transforms people’s lives by allowing them to experience the same Christ they had experience they posted billboards and ran radio spots. No billboard, picket sign, radio commercial or even blog post will ever be as effective as personal, one-on-one, communication and contact.
Jesus was with the people. He didn’t sit from a throne and bark orders or look smugly down his nose at the outcasts of society. No, we got his hands dirty and mingled with people who most wouldn’t have touched with a ten foot pole. He transformed lives with his presence. We have ability as well.
It won’t be too much longer until we get another bold prediction and we will have to re-visit this. But in the meantime, let’s start transforming the world. It’s a big place and we have a lot of work to do.
It seems like yesterday we were sitting in the sanctuary that was decorated with greenery, the Advent wreath and songs of the coming of the Messiah into the world. How fast the Church calendar speeds by as we approach Easter. It can be an odd disconnect. One minute we are praising God for the birth of Jesus, the Holy One, the Messiah in our midst and the next we are at the foot of the cross while he is being crucified.
It’s a religious rollercoaster.
The story of Lent is one that is filled with images and stories of Jesus proclaiming the end of his ministry and the ultimate end that is to come. It is a confusing time for not only the original disciples but us today. We look forward to the time when the world is set right again and the promises of God are fulfilled. We long for the time when peace reigns on earth and that the gospel message of hope, joy, love and reconciliation is made manifest in every human heart.
As we look outside our window and see the world around us it is hard to imagine that day. But the Easter message is one that is full of hope and yearning. Through the glorious resurrection of Christ, God makes a statement that the way things are now, are not the way they have to be. Christ died but God resurrected him, darkness descended, but the light covered it, fear and dislike sent Christ to the Cross, but an all consuming love of God brought him back to the world.
The story of Easter can be glossed over so much because we hear it year after year, even to the point where we skip Maundy Thursday and Good Friday altogether. Easter has so much more to offer us as followers of Christ.
As one of my professors in seminary once said, “Easter is more than about the reanimation of a body.” Christ was resurrected but the story is more than that. Christ’s resurrection set into motion a story that the world has not yet stopped telling.– a story about how God indwelled with humanity.
This Easter I pray that God does make things new in your life, that you (and me) have a spiritual resurrection. May the Easter story have a special meaning to you this year.
Rev. Dr. Evan M. Dolive 