What is the Christian life in its simplest form? If we disbanded every denomination, every mission board, all seminaries, and the massive Christian “industries” in our world—book publishers, professional music groups, bookstores, conferences, seminars, workshops, and the list just seems endless—what would be left on the table? Think about that for just a moment…
Now consider the following scenario. Imagine God sending a prophet into our modern world, calling for His people to return to a simple relationship with Him as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are commanded to discard our present “crutches” that we have inadvertently crowned as “ministries” and just learn to love and enjoy Him for the rest of our days. It’s time to clean house…completely! The only thing we’re allowed to keep is one copy of His Word, either the old-fashioned paper-and-ink variety or the latest audio version downloaded to your favorite MP3 player of choice. All other Christian publications mysteriously vanish: like the fictional “Left Behind” series, except people don’t disappear, but billions of Christian books vanish overnight.
What about internet resources? Go ahead. Try it. Google “John Piper” or “justification” or “emerging church” and you get nothing! Glad you invested in Logos or the PC Study Bible? Christian software no longer functions either, disabled by God’s divine decree, on every single computer in the world. The only “good news” available to the world is contained within the hearts of His people. That was the original plan, so He’s decided to knock down our contemporary towers of Babel, even though built with the noblest of intentions.
Another thing: all church property must be sold and the money given to charity. That should make a huge dent in global poverty, especially when the powers in Rome and Nashville liquidate their assets, don’t you think? Church leaders now have to find secular employment and work alongside their friends and neighbors in the marketplace.
Hmmm. No church buildings. Can we get together with other believers? The Bible says something about “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,” doesn’t it? Sure, the prophet says, as long as the groups are no larger than twelve and no one tries to develop structures beyond the most simple “brothers and sisters in Christ.” There’s only one exception: large groups are permitted if the number of non-Christians equals the number of Christians. So you want to have a huge picnic at the park with fifty other Christians? That’s great, but they must invite fifty friends to the party who don’t know Jesus.
So what’s left when you strip everything away? Our vertical relationship with God and our horizontal relationships with other Christ-followers. I see lots of time (and other resources) becoming available to God’s people: time to learn how to live in the light of God’s love and grace; time to invest in those around us who do not yet know Jesus; time to enjoy one another’s company along the way without bothering with titles and degrees; and time to love and serve one another, rather than jockey for position and power and influence. Those are just a few of the things I see. What about you?
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A popular saying in Latinamerica is to say something without “pelos en la lengua” (hairs on the tongue). This post does exactly that, in a well-written way what you are doing is speaking the truth in love. It is indeed a post to pause and reflect upon. Thanks for taking the time to write such a thought-provoking post.
Wow… are you saying its possible for believers to meet as the church and go out into the world without all of the trappings and structures?
Yes, that is what you’re saying, and thank you for saying it.
-Alan
I am going to fail in communicating what I hope to, but I am going to try nonetheless…
What you seem to be proposing won’t work unless we are being discipled under the authority of a person that is under the authority of the Holy Spirit. When I study the Word, despite my efforts, I bend it to my will. God breaks through, but at times I ignore Him or just get it wrong. To combat this, the Bible teaches time and time again that we need God’s will verified through witnesses; preferably two or three (seldom more lest groupthink kicks in… that my opinion anyway.) There are lots of cults that “know” the Word better than most Christians—The Way, the Mormons, The 12 Tribes, and so on. For me, I love to study the Word, but I need accountability that I am getting it right—that comes from Christians. However, they are usually infected by “Churchianity.”
If we want to discuss raw Christianity, it seems dangerous to do so w/o explicitly mentioning the primacy of discipleship. I think that’s the key ingredient most churches lack, and thus I think it’s what most Christians lack. If organic/simple churches don’t provide it, I don’t think they will be much better off, and may well be worse.
Guy: They say the same thing in Italy—peli sulla lingua—usually in the negative, too. It means “he speaks plainly or bluntly, without flattery.”
I know from reading your blog that we often see things in the same way. Someone wrote me, “but wouldn’t that mean you would have no one to support your missionary work in Wales?” What do you think as a fellow missionary? Would there be less missionaries under the simple approach or perhaps more?
Alan: I’m a little surprised (and delighted) by your response. Shall we carefully watch out for the “thought police” to come and get us?
Tom: Thanks for taking the risk of putting your response in writing! I’m certainly with you on the matter of discipleship: it’s part of the Great Commission, isn’t it? Like you, I think discipleship happens best informally—one-on-one or in small groups—and it’s also part of our mutual “one-anothering” responsibilities.
Sure, we’ll often “just get it wrong” as you put it, but that’s part of the journey where Father’s grace gets put on display over and over. My son once came running to me with tears, “Daddy, I was trying to fix my bike and I think I broke it.” Did I roar at him, “Broke it? You idiot. What were you thinking?” No, I said, “Aw, son, don’t worry about it. We can fix whatever’s wrong. I’m sure of it.” Now I’m just a man, but God in His infinite grace CAN fix anything. His lavish grace covers all our occasions of getting it wrong.
Our Christian journey isn’t so much about “doing” or even “knowing.” Surely, you don’t think Father shows His approval or disapproval based on how much we know about the Bible? Maybe I’m reading your comment completely wrong here, Tom. If so, please forgive me. But I’m not too sure I agree with your statement, “the bible teaches time and time again that we need God’s will verified through witnesses.” What do you mean by that?
Bill- I will have to do some re-research to answer your question. The quick/rough answer is that God’s people in scripture were often told to have a witness. For example, when you bring a greviance against an elder you should have witnesses, when someone was cured they were to have a witness certify the cure, and so on. I will try to get better references soon…
Okay, so I am not an accomplished theologan, and I readily admit that most of this is info that I’ve mostly received in digested form from folks who have studied the Bible a lot more than me.
That said, I think that even in context, there is sufficient data in these passages from which you could get the gist of my point when I said, “the Bible teaches time and time again that we need God’s will verified through witnesses.”
Deut 17:6
Deut 19:15
John 8:12-20
Matt 18:15-17
I John 5:7-12
I Tim 5:19
Review these and I think you’ll see where I am coming from. Am I correct in how I apply this? That’s a different question. I think I am, but what do you think?
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