ECCLESIA - THE CALLED OUT ONES!

Church in America is complicated business!

It seems to require a space where people can function as the church.

It apparently requires a leader (or leaders) who typically – in our culture – are willing to take a salary from the church in recompense for their service [I did this for nearly 40 years].

OBSERVATION:

As a strong supporter of my church’s missions department [and as a former missionary for three years], I notice that the places where our church is growing fastest and making manifold new disciples are in countries like Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, India, etc. where pastors rarely have buildings, receive little or no income and rarely even have a mode of transportation to get to their various charges.  Meanwhile, the American church continues to shrink – so much so that my denomination’s annual yearbook no longer lists attendance figures!   Two churches that I formerly served ran near or over 200 in attendance;  today, both have attendances that are a small fraction of what they formerly had.  Something’s wrong! 

To be viable, it seems – again in our culture – to have to provide specialized ministries to children, youth and young adults.  For a fledgling church, these are extraordinary demands when numbers are small and leaders are in short supply [not to mention money being also in short supply]. 

To be able to receive tithes and offerings, the church must acquire a 501c3 from the government. 

Then there are the many other ‘necessities’ that quickly encumber a new church: 

• Computers, phones, copiers, chairs, sound system, etc.
• Parking space, people to help with set-up and tear-down,
• Instrumentalists, worship leaders, sound and visual operators, etc.
• Finances for publicity, facilities, salaries, equipment and so much more is overwhelming!

In light of all this, it’s always interesting to remind ourselves that the New Testament Church found a way to manage for nearly four hundred years without any church buildings!   ;-)

Maybe we need to simplify?  Or at least evaluate our methodology.  Could there be a better way?  Perhaps we need a conference led by our pastors from Nepal and Thailand? 

New paradigms might be helpful:

Instead of full-fledged children’s and youth ministries, maybe we should just focus on training parents in raising godly, well-adjusted children and youth! 

One of my most fruitful and helpful ventures was inviting five couples who had raised children that continued to walk in the faith of their parents to come and share their methods.  Each couple shared different ideas and practices that they had used to establish their kids in the faith! 

I have wished many times that I had videoed those sessions!  They were priceless!

Perhaps we could just facilitate times for families with children and youth to get together for fun, learning and relationship building?  

Regarding worship:  Do we really need a platform full of worship leaders and instrumentalists?  I have been in worship settings where just a single person with a guitar led in powerful times of worship!  I recently attended a church where all the worship music was digital.  I was surprised at how fully the people responded.  The worship and atmosphere was vibrant! 

I'm open to a variety of ways of doing things, but the trend toward dark worship venues puzzles me.  I realize that it facilitates the use of video and PowerPoint.  I understand the belief that it may be thought to help the worshiper focus and forget the crowd.  But it is a radical change from what we’ve experienced in past years.  Sanctuaries were flooded with light that was occasionally filtered through stained glass reminders of the principals of our faith!  The darkness countermands the fact that we are a light set on a hill!  Jesus is the light of the world!  However, I am willing to concede that we can make space for a variety of ways of doing worship!  If nothing else, there’s room for discussion and engagement here.

I spend a lot of time wondering if the time and conditions are suggesting that the church should return to the home?  I have seriously considered starting a house-church. 

We have attended a church for over three years now.  My wife is far more engaged than I am – partly because she has joined and I don’t because of my ordination in the denomination I served for forty+ years.  [Her engagement might also be affected by the fact that she worships every Sunday with several of her siblings.] 

I enjoy the warm and caring people who populate this church and am happy to see that it is a healthy place with a desire to be more effective.  My wife is currently part of a revitalization team that hopes to impact the church’s future.  But I struggle with the ritual-approach to worship.  Coming from a freer style of worship, I get bored with the predictability and sameness of worship Sunday after Sunday!  I miss several things that were meaningful:  altar prayer, laying on hands for the sick, increased lay involvement in worship, calls for decision.

There is a sharing time where people can relate personal needs, praises and prayer requests.  Following this, the pastor leads in a prayer mentioning each of these.  From experience, this is something that can be done until a church reaches a certain size.  It is appreciated in our church though, and rightly so.  

Somehow, I long for something more engaging, personal, responsive and meaningful! 

Are these things being debated in the church today?  Is our mission, purpose and methodology being evaluated?  Does anyone question our effectiveness – or lack of fruitfulness? 

American culture is caving in around us.  Clearly – by my estimation – the church is not getting a very good grade for its impact in forming and shaping our society!  We’re doing our own thing while the world crumbles around us! 

I’m asking questions and making observations.  Is anyone else?  Does anyone want to talk about these things?  I’m struggling.  I want to be part of something again that is making a real difference.  I’m ready and willing to make adjustments and to make a contribution.  I don’t have the answers, but I do have lots of questions.

Grab me sometime and let’s talk… 

APOSTLE PAUL AND SAMUEL LAMB

The Apostle Paul speaks candidly about his life experiences in II Corinthians 11.  He speaks with a measure of mockery that he claims to have learned from the three-ring preachers.  He clearly can’t understand why the Corinthians have so much admiration for these rip-off artists.  Consequently, he goes on to compare himself to them.

• Do they brag about being Hebrews, Israelites, the pure race of Abraham? I’m their match.
• Are they servants of Christ? I can go one better. [Paul feels some awkwardness taking this approach.]
• I’ve worked much harder
• Been jailed more often
• Beaten up more times than I can count
• I’ve been flogged five times with the Jew’s thirty-nine lashes
• Beaten by Roman rods three times
• Pummeled with rocks once
• I’ve been shipwrecked three times
• Immersed in the open sea for a night and a day
• In hard travelling year in and year out
• I’ve had to ford rivers
• Fend off robbers
• Struggle with friends
• Struggle with foes
• I’ve been at risk in the city
• At risk in the country
• Endangered by desert sun
• Endangered by sea storm
• Betrayed by those I thought were my brothers
• I’ve known drudgery and hard labor
• Many a long and lonely night without sleep
• Many a missed meal
• Blasted by the cold
• Naked to the weather
• And that’s not the half of it, when you throw in the daily pressures and anxieties of all the churches.

He continues:  If I have to “brag” about myself, I’ll brag about the humiliations that make me like Jesus.

Then, Paul shares one final memory:  Remember the time I was in Damascus and the governor of King Aretus posted guards at the city gates to arrest me?  I crawled through a window in the wall, was let down in a basket, and had to run for my life. 

I read all this and can only imagine the stories this guy could tell!  What a phenomenal life!

___________________________________________ 

I was privileged to meet such a man during one of our annual conferences while we were in China.  Our meeting was held in Guanzhou which is in extreme southern China.  This is the city where Samuel Lamb’s church met.  Our leaders had arranged a time for us to meet Pastor Lamb.  His church was on a back street and didn’t look at all like a church.  It was a large, common-looking, multi-story building.  I remember going up many passages of narrow steps to a small conference room where we sat at a large table with Pastor Lamb and a few of his leaders and caretakers. 

To bring you up-to-speed, here is an outtake about Samuel from Wikipedia:

Samuel Lamb or Lin Xiangao  (October 4, 1924 – August 3, 2013) was a Protestant pastor in Guangzhou, China. He was a leader in the Chinese house church movement and known for his resistance against the state-sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM)

Lamb was born in a mountainous area overlooking Macau. His father, Paul Lamb, was the pastor of a small Baptist congregation. In the 1940's, Lamb worked with pastor Wang Mingdao.

Lamb was imprisoned for more than 20 years (1955–57; 1958–78) for his refusal to join the TSPM. In spite of "honey-bucket" duty at labor farms or backbreaking work in coal mines at labor camps, Lamb continued to teach.

In 1978, Lamb was released from prison and, in 1979, he restarted the church in 35 Da Ma Zhan, Guangzhou. Because the attendance grew quickly, he then moved the meetings to 15 Rong Gui Li, De Zheng Bei Road. The house church is now known as Rongguili Church, under the name Damazhan Evangelical Church. The house church continued to hold four main services each week, with an estimated attendance of four to five thousand, but was closed on October 14, 2018, and a second time on December 15, 2018.

Starting in 1979, Lamb published a series of booklets called "Voice of the Spirit"; now there are more than 200 booklets.

He died in Guangzhou in 2013, aged 88. For reasons of security and site elements, the date of the farewell ceremony was changed from August 17, 2013 to August 16, 2013, in Baiyun Hall, Yinhe park, Yinhe cemetery, Guangzhou. There were nearly 30,000 mourners in attendance.

He spoke to us in English.  He was a handsome man and very charming – even at his advanced age.  His people were clearly devoted to him and very protective.  He challenged us strongly and allowed us to ask questions.  He sent us away with bags of books and other materials.  We felt very privileged as we toured the church and saw the extremely limited conditions.

People filled the building several times every Sunday, with only a few able to be in the actual room where Pastor Lamb spoke.  His message and the worship was extended to many other rooms via a speaker system.  The pews were just benches tightly packed with very little space between. 

I will never forget this meeting!  He was indeed a modern-day Apostle whose life had impacted tens of thousands – largely because of his willingness to suffer for the Gospel! 

Raise up more like this, Lord!  We need men and women ready to suffer for the extension of Your vital message!

Here are some of the gifts he gave us: