Incarnate Isn't Just a Buzzword

Over the last 24 years since I was ordained, millions of dollars and a ton of energy have been expended by churches and ministries on seminars…materials, worship & youth conferences, audio-visual equipment...all in a drive to keep the church up to date with this fast paced and changing society in which we live…to build all these things into our ministries, hoping to encourage growth. What has been the result?  Has the church in North America grown in proportion to population increase or declined?   It has clearly declined...and to such an extent, in many places, that it has not only become mostly irrelevant to the society around it, but will soon….if something drastic isn’t done, simply become extinct.

Is that because there isn’t need or a desire for spirituality anymore?  No! In fact, just opposite is true.  The statistics tell us that the society that we live in today is almost twice as spiritually conscious than the one in which most of us grew up.  But, even though…if you asked question, most young adults would admit to an interest in spirituality, they are not at all interested in our churches.  If that is the case, then it begs the question…what is the problem?    

A number of the authors that I am presently reading (Bob Logan, Neil Cole, Ed Stetzer, Alan Hirsch, Reggie McNeal etc) have said this in similar ways.  Simply put, we have been inviting people to church instead of introducing them to Jesus.  Church doesn’t change lives, Jesus does.  Instead of investing of ourselves in people, in the place where they live and work, where they laugh and play, where they struggle, hurt and cry…that is, instead of being incarnate and in their midst, we have been spending ourselves and the resources that God has given us on the structures that house and maintain the church.  We need to go where the least, lost and broken are and take Jesus with us....be Jesus to them, rather than building cathedrals and expecting them to come to us.

          I have had this sense of disquiet building in me for quite a while, at least the last three or four years….knowing that that something was drastically amiss…which is partially why we came to Squamish to start something new and (I thought) innovative.  However, if I am entirely honest about how we are pursuing this ministry, I can see that we are at least partially still stuck in the old paradigm.   I think that Hirsch, Cole and McNeal etc have got it right.  It is about people; it has to be about people, rather than buildings, equipment, organizations or church politics.  There is no life or restoration in those things...only bondage and death.  

The question is...how do those of us who were raised up and called out of that old paradigm, who have invested so much of our lives as ministers and pastors in the process of church, transition from the attractional model to one based on incarnation?  Pray for us, for if we can't find a way to do this, it may just be time to hang up the spurs...as it were!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3Lt9hk9fiU

The Cattle on a Thousand Hills

Isn't it amazing how the specter of financial insecurity can begin to cause us to doubt?  We know in our minds that God wants the best for us.  We hear Jesus words in Matthew 6 assuring us that we are valuable to God and that we need not worry about provision of life's necessities. He admonishes us not to behave like pagans and go running after security, food and drink, and calls us instead to seek first the kingdom and let Him provide all those things for us.  And yet, when the pressure begins to mount, the very first thing we begin to do is worry, and cast around for a man-made financial solution, even though we know that it makes no spiritual sense....and we have been told specifically not to!

This week I read again from Isaiah 50.  In verse 2 God asks, "Was my arm to short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength?"  I began to realize how much my lack of confidence is an offense to God. It displays mistrust. That behaviour is, as he states in verse 11,   like providing yourselves with flaming torches and walking by the light of your own fires....instead of His.  And....I am so ashamed. "who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life" (Matt.6:27 NIV)  Lord, forgive me for my unbelief.

And then Psalm 50 comes to mind...."the cattle on a thousand hills" (10) ...."call on me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver you..." (13).   God knows every bird, as we say in the liturgy, "...is the owner of all things." (12) ...."Ask and it will be given to you....for everyone who asks receives." (Mat.7:7-8) I have reoriented myself once again and am confident in God's love and provision.  My prayer for myself....and for others who have observed my struggle these last few weeks, is that we will retain that confidence the next time when trouble comes....as it surly will.  Amen

A Pleasing Aroma Unto the Lord

I was reading this morning in Numbers 28-29 about the offerings that Yahweh asked of his covenant people. Nine times we are told that the sacrifices offered in obedience to God`s command would be "an aroma pleasing to the Lord".  The Israelites were shepherds and farmers. Their livestock and harvest was their wealth.  Therefore, it is not a surprise that God asked...as a sign of their commitment to Him, for the first fruits of their labour, the best offering of their cattle, sheep and goats, their finest wine and first grain. The first, best and unblemished demonstrated to Yahweh that He occupied the number one place in their lives and that they fully understood their relationship to Him as servants and stewards of His creation, that Yahweh was their Saviour and Provider.

That, however, begs the question for us today.  What would be my first fruits, the best and unblemished that, when offered to Jesus, would demonstrate to Him that I am totally committed, sold out and accepting of my relationship to Him as a loved and redeemed servant? What besides the first 10% of the income God has provided me would reveal my willingness to steward his resources according to His will and purposes rather than my own?  Is my witness a pleasing aroma to Jesus?