Leading a Horse to Water: Introduction

I am writing a book which I intend to publish in serial fashion here on my blog. What you have in this post is the chapter titles and the introduction. The first post of each chapter will be in the nature of a rough draft. I would love to have readers' comments, criticisms and suggestions on each post. If you would like to be certain to see each chapter as it is posted, please leave a comment to that effect and I will put you on an email list to see that you are kept up to date. If you would rather stay somewhat anonymous, you may find the posts by searching "Leading a Horse to Water" in the blog labels and making comments on the blog itself.

Leading a Horse to Water: The Great Commission in the 21^st Century

Alternate title

Leading a Horse to Water: Making Disciples in the 21^st Century

Introduction

Inviting pagans to church is not the best strategy; after leading the horse to water…

                Unbelievers won’t get anything if it’s real church

                Believers won’t get anything if it’s all evangelism

                Doing a little of both shortchanges everybody… and it has failed

Chapter One: Matthew 28:19-20

The Great Commission: Make Disciples

What is a disciple

How to make one follow

                Offer something they want/like

                                Deo Gloria: make God look good

Chapter Two: John 13:34-35

Do the obvious thing: love one another

                Do the less obvious thing: love the “enemy”

Chapter Three: 1 Corinthians 9:22

Package the Gospel for atheists and agnostics

                Philosophy 101: what works

                                Avoiding nihilism and utilitarianism

                Guarding against syncretism

Chapter Four: Matthew 9:17

New wine for new agers: God as ET

                Reading the enemy’s playbook: the sci-fi gospel

                What does it mean to be “extra-terrestrial”?

Chapter Five: Matthew 10:16

What not to do

                Don’t be so earthly-minded you’re no heavenly good     

Don’t promise wealth and health

                Don’t promise happiness

                Don’t expect holiness

                Don’t use church language

                Don’t be ostentatious

                

Chapter Six: Ephesians 2:10

epilogue: it’s all God’s doing ultimately

                “Not by [our] works, lest any should boast”

                “I do what I see my Father doing”

Introduction

I attend a pretty good little church. Actually, it’s not little; it’s on the high side of average statistically. We run about 100 on any given Sunday. According to the Christian pollster George Barna, the average Protestant church size in America is 89 adults. 60% of protestant churches have less than 100 adults in attendance. And anyway, size is not the most important statistic about a church.

I am very happy with just about everything we do as a congregation: we have vital praise and worship times; we hear Bible sermons every week; we have several Bible study opportunities going on all the time; we pray openly for one another; we help each other out as needs arise; we collect enough money to maintain church operations and make significant contributions to a number of local and foreign ministries. So far, that’s the portrait of a healthy church.

However, as I look over the group that gathers under our local banner each week, I discover that almost all of the attendees are refugees from churches elsewhere in the area. I am quite certain that less than ten percent were brought to Christ through the ministry of our church; possibly less than five percent. I assume that the majority attend my church because they, like the founders of this body, were not happy in their previous church. This may be fine; I believe in different strokes for different folks. No one church will be perfect for all believers. That too is healthy.

What is not healthy is the lack of new converts. Even a cursory reading of the New Testament makes one realize that evangelism, sharing the Gospel, reaching the lost is a major focus of the church. If new people are not being added to the church, an important purpose of the church is not being fulfilled. Because I know many of the people I share my Sundays with, I am certain that they would agree with what I have said. I am also certain that many of them would respond as one did recently when I expressed my dismay about our lack of new converts: we need to invite more people to church. That may be one answer, but I don’t think it is the best answer.

The idea of inviting people to “church” to convert them to Christ leads ultimately to the question: what is the Sunday service for. The answer is debatable. Some believe that Gospel proclamation or evangelism, is the primary purpose of the Sunday church meeting. Others believe that teaching the Scriptures primarily to believers is what it’s all about. Not a few modern churches attempt to balance both of these elements in every meeting, particularly on Sunday morning.

This confusion over the purpose of Sunday meetings may explain at least in part why the church has not experienced significant growth in the last couple generations. It may also explain why young people are not staying connected to any church when they reach adulthood. The bottom line of a study done by Lifeway recently seems to indicate that irrelevance played a role in the decision of young people to leave church. Young people don’t think church has anything for them. Although what’s-in-it-for-me may be a selfish motive, it is legitimate to ask the purpose of attending Sunday church. If the leaders are confused about purpose, is it any wonder the attenders are too?

The answer to the confusion may be to choose to be either fish or fowl. If the leadership of a local body believes that evangelism is the main reason to hold services on Sunday morning, they should swing whole-heartedly for that fence. Make everything about Sunday attractive to non-believers (more on this later). This is basically what the “seeker friendly” churches have been trying to do for the last couple decades. While this is a worthy goal, current research suggests the tactic has not been an unmitigated success. Perhaps the tactic needs rethinking.

If on the other hand, a church decides that Sunday morning is for believers, then they must find another path than the Sunday morning service to appeal to the unbelievers. Assuming good Bible teaching is part of the service, sooner or later the congregation will come to the realization that a significant command of Jesus is being ignored for all practical purposes. I am not suggesting that solid preaching of the Word cannot bring some unbelievers to repentance; nor am I disregarding the important work of the Holy Spirit in conversion (more on that in the last chapter). But delving into the intricate beauty of the Word of God will be lost on all but a few unchurched listeners. “Pearls before swine” may be an apt analogy. The challenge is to determine how to reach the not-swine.

The authors of Simple Church, xxx, have researched successful churches and found what they believe is the key to success: in a word, focus. According to xxx, growing, vital churches have one main goal, and every program they offer leads directly to that goal. Although the churches studied by xxx use different language, I will summarize what they are doing by calling it what the Bible calls it: discipleship. Successful churches are successful because they are making disciples. My purpose in this book is to offer suggestions to help less-than-successful churches become successful in this truly biblical sense. I will not answer the question of which type of Sunday meeting is best; perhaps either will work if done properly.

Because I believe that all the best ideas come from the Scripture itself (what a concept), the suggestions I will make rely primarily on at least one specific passage of Scripture. Hence what you hold in your hand is a series of exegetical sermons on the topic of church growth. Someone is saying at this point, “Oh goody! As if we haven’t had anything like that before.” I say with all humility that there are countless other books available which do what I am proposing, and they have been written by Christians with far more serious qualifications than I. However, I am a unique person with a unique way of looking at things (as are all persons), so I will nonetheless undertake this challenge. Besides, God seems to be prompting me to do this. Whether it is just for me or for others too is for you to decide.

The first chapter will explore just what Jesus was asking of His followers when he commanded them to “make disciples.” If we don’t know what the task at hand is, it is pretty hard to know if we are doing it. There is probably nothing startlingly unique in my exposition, but I feel it is necessary to lay the correct foundation for what follows. Subsequent chapters will offer conceptual understanding and practical applications of some very specific things which I believe flesh out the command: make disciples

                If you follow me to the end of this literary journey, you will find me saying in the last chapter that nothing we do, no matter how brilliant – how biblical, will result in anything eternal if the Holy Spirit is not in it. Some have heard this before and concluded that if it is “all God” anyway, there’s no use troubling ourselves about evangelism. Wrong. It is one of the great mysteries of God’s purpose that He does, in fact, want our participation in this greatest of endeavors. It is my prayer that this little book may contribute in some small way to that purpose. Having read it, I pray readers will be better able to fulfill Jesus’ last command to us all: make disciples.

(Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the English Standard Version.)

How Could a Christian Vote for Hillary?

After the recent election, a friend asked me if I could help her understand how any Christian could have voted for Hillary Clinton. What were they thinking? She wondered why they aligned with the Hollywood elite. She wondered what's wrong. I suspect there may be some others who are asking the same questions, so I am posting my response.

First let me say honestly that I don't know how anyone who is a committed follower of Christ could have voted for Hillary. But I know some did. The obvious answer to the question of what's wrong is sin; sinful humans don't make perfect decisions. I know that's not very satisfying, so I will suggest some things that may have influenced their behavior.

1. You want to understand what they were thinking. I suggest they did not think. People vote for a variety of reasons, and for some, thinking is not part of the process. 

2. Some Christians think that socialism is a more biblical type of government than our free market capitalism. I disagree heartily. I wrote about this in detail during an earlier election; follow the link if you want more on that.

3. I suspect that some Christians were so disgusted by the media portrayal of Trump that they voted for Hillary in protest. We believers often forget that God can use broken people... good thing since we are all broken.

4. Your comment about the Hollywood elite also hints at a possible reason people voted for Hillary: as a culture, we are way too impressed by what our icons (another word for idols) think and do. If God is not the center of one's life and thought, those replacement icons from sports or entertainment hold great power.

5. To be political about it, it might be that Trump simply did not put enough detail into how he would "make America great again" to convince folks to vote for him. I know that does not explain how a Christian could choose Hillary instead, but it may have played a part.

6. To be sexist about it, some women may have voted for Hillary simply because she is a woman. Wrong reason, but powerful among a certain group of women.

7. Maybe they really like Obama; he is so likable.... Hillary said she would be a third term of Obama's policies. Some Christians would be OK with that.

8. Maybe some are beneficiaries of the programs Hillary supports and fear losing the benefits.

9. If you didn't read my blog, Seeking Signs on Election Night, check it out; that too may give you some peace about our crazy situation.

Having said all that, none of those explanations is nearly enough to outweigh the negatives Hillary carries in my opinion. With the decades of scandals, her status as a pathological liar, the dozens of mysterious deaths of people who crossed the Clintons, the pitiful record as Secretary of State (think Benghazi, Iran, etc.), and if nothing else, her support of infanticide, I cannot imagine that anyone who claims to be Christian could vote for her. 

But some did. They may be just as confused about how any Christian could vote for Trump. This is the beauty and the danger of participatory democracy. One can never be certain that those who vote will see things the same way we do. But I stand by what I have said before: as believers, we have to vote. We won't always have the same feelings as our brothers and sisters about the outcome, but it is our responsibility to learn what we can about the candidates and then vote. After the election, it is our responsibility to get along with our brothers and sisters... even if they voted for Hillary.

Veteran’s Day 2016

I believe today is one of the most important national holidays we observe in America. Because of a lost sense of history in our culture, many citizens of this great country do not realize how uniquely blessed we are. The American experiment, as some have called it, was truly a new thing when it was undertaken in the 18^th century. Not since the days of ancient Athens or perhaps the Roman republic had it been suggested that “we the people” should play such a large part in their own government.

It should be noted that the British system at the time of the American Revolution was nominally democratic, but the monarchy still kept a tight hold on the reins of power; Parliament’s role was primarily advisory in nature, and it was strongly influenced by the upper house, the House of Lords, which was populated by the monarch’s peers. The people’s house, the House of Commons, could not unilaterally propose or enact policy. Thus the “democracy” was essentially a plutocracy, the rule of the rich and powerful. Against this, the Patriots revolted.

Beginning on a fateful April morning in 1776, a “shot heard around the world” created the first American veterans. Throughout most of the following decade, men who were largely militia, rather than professional soldiers, fought the most powerful army on earth at the time and won America’s independence from Britain. The 19^th century is peppered with conflicts, small and large, wherein American citizens took up arms to defend the American way. Most people don’t need to be reminded how the 20^th century looked: two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, and most recently, the Middle East. Each of these wars involved ordinary citizens who stood up for their country, and many laid down their lives in the greatest sacrifice. These are our veterans.

Sadly, the treatment of our veterans has a depressing history. Revolutionary War soldiers often went unpaid, and veterans’ benefits were few. Civil War vets had to fight an often losing battle to receive the benefits they had been promised. The GI Bill and housing benefits offered to WWII vets is one bright spot in an otherwise grim picture, but no one should be ignorant of the pitiful plight of our veterans today.  Mismanagement and outright malfeasance plague a system that is itself not sufficient to repay our veterans for what they have bought us.

The Presidential election of 2016 has put Republicans in control of all three branches of government. Philosophically, Republicans favor improving military and veteran benefits. I would like to suggest the we the people who wish to honor and respect our veterans properly press our representatives in the federal government to put their money where their mouths are. Pardon me: they need to put OUR money where OUR mouths are. Let’s really go to bat for our veterans and demand more equitable treatment for them. They have put their lives on the line for our freedom; let’s not squander the opportunity we have to repay them. Romans 13:7 says, “pay… honor to whom honor is owed.” If that’s not our vets, I don’t know who it might be.

Seeking Signs on Election Night

I have been casting about lately, looking for some sign that God is still active in human affairs. When you study Isaiah, as my Sunday School class just did, you can’t help but be impressed with the level of God’s working in history. I’m not referring to “religious” history, because Isaiah’s record makes it crystal clear that God directs all of human endeavor, not just that of his “chosen” people. Granted, the context of Isaiah reveals how God dealt with other people as they related to Israel, but the fact remains: the fate of entire nations rested squarely in the almighty hands of the Creator of the universe.

Having recently finished Almost a Miracle, by John E. Ferling, I am fresh from the thought that the success of the American Revolution and subsequent founding of this nation was either a case of multiple serendipities or divine intervention. The same conclusion can be drawn from events in more recent history such as weather “coincidences” at Dunkirk and D-day and countless more. The problem with all of these is that we don’t have an Isaiah predicting them hundreds of years in advance so we can read later how clearly they were God’s orchestration.

Jump to my present-day search for signs. A report on WND by Garth Kant points to a “coincidence” that occurred during the evening of our recent Presidential election. Kant reports the observation by former US Representative Michele Bachmann that at precisely the time when millions of Christians began to pray very specifically about the election, the tide turned. Clinton had appeared to be winning handily as the first returns came in; then a sudden, dramatic shift occurred in the post-election polls: Trump began rising as Clinton fell precipitously. That dual trend never changed. Significantly, the graphic you see here was created by the New York Times, not WND or Fox News.

Christians who are repulsed by the thought that God may have chosen Trump need to remember that the “apple of God’s eye,” David, was an adulterer and murderer. Cyrus the Persian who released the Jews from Babylonian captivity was a pagan. Peter insisted that the Jewish rulers who crucified their Messiah were doing God’s work. The ruler Paul declared to be “ordained by God” was the tyrant Nero. God doesn’t need perfect people to do his work; he doesn’t even need willing people. As the Psalmist once observed, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathens; I will be exalted in the earth!” End of line.

In light of all this, I ask myself if I am being too critical or cynical or just blind. I wish I could jump for joy with Bachmann and say, “Look what God did with our prayers.” I may be overthinking this, but I think if Trump was God’s man for this hour, Trump would have won whether we prayed or not. I cannot convince myself that America is God’s chosen nation. Theologically, I can’t conceive of any nation being chosen. According to Peter, the holy nation is believers, not Americans. “But you [believers] are… a holy nation, a people for his own possession.... Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.”

So here is the irony. God will accomplish His purpose with or without us. Yet if we wish to be “God’s people” (aka believers), we must attempt to align ourselves with his purpose. Jesus said His followers would keep His commandments out of love. He also said that he counted certain ones as his “family” because they did the will of His Father. The only way we can know the commandments of Jesus or the will of His Father is to study God’s Word. And then pray.

I think C.S. Lewis summed up the need to pray best when he said, “I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time – waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God – it changes me.” I don’t know whether Trump won because people prayed, but I am encouraged that people prayed. We should keep on praying. I should keep on praying, not to change election results, but to change my heart. That’s the sign I should be looking for.