What Makes Church?

Before I go too far into this, let's get our priorities right, maybe with a very loose paraphrase of I Corinthians 13:

If a fellowship group happens to excel in all the points that I bring up in this and coming blog entries, if they are the model of the perfect church -- but don't have love: they are no more than a bunch of futile idealists.

On the other hand, if a church is so ingrained in all the traditional ways that the building and pulpit are looked on as icons of holiness; their cannon of scripture includes Scholfield's Notes; and when Messiah returns, they believe He will actually touch down at their denominational head office; and yet the first thing you notice about them is their sincere fervent love for the Lord and for one another and they would give their lives to extend that love to the world, I'd rather attend that church than the "perfect" one, as that's the one where you'll find Yeshua.

Becoming perfect is not the rout to perfection.

If you really want to know what I feel is most important in a church, here are my eight criteria. They have nothing to do with format, leadership model, authority structure, minor doctrines like eschatology etc, what day of the week they worship etc etc. I believe they are more important than any of the other points we've discussed so far in this blog, or that we will discuss. I'd really advise you to click on the link and read them before going on with this discussion. Yet, I don't know if there is a church that excels in all eight. If I did find such a church, I would stick with that one, no matter what good things could be said about Emergent and/or Messianic etc.

Having said that, I do believe that the quickest way to becoming such a church, one that fulfils the eight criteria, could be discussed under the following five headings:

1. community and relationship
2. authority structure
3. giftings and ministry
4. foundational teaching
5. worship

I hope to discuss these in the next few entries.

However, I suppose this should come with a warning label: I am not, at present, involved in the leadership of a church, let alone an Emergent or Messianic one. I believe that teaching like this should, ideally come up from one's experience. However, I have done church planting in the past. I believe I did a few things right, but I also made mistakes. I've also been involved in the development of various churches, though none of them are what I believe a church could be. I wrote a short autobiography called My Journey So Far for the express purpose of revealing where I'm coming from in what ever I teach or impart.

Quiz Result

Here's the results of a quiz I took from QuizFarm.com. The first one, What is your model of the church?, I took just now, and the results are below. A few weeks ago, I took one from the same website on my Theological Model. I've pasted the results for that below as well -- although others who took that one didn't seem to feel the results fit their perception of themselves. Alan Creech thinks the Model of the Church quize was accurate for him, however. Any, click on the links below and see what your profile is....

You scored as Sacrament model. Your model of the church is Sacrament. The church is the effective sign of the revelation that is the person of Jesus Christ. Christians are transformed by Christ and then become a beacon of Christ wherever they go. This model has a remarkable capacity for integrating other models of the church. Sacrament model 89% Mystical Communion Model 72% Servant Model 72% Herald Model 67% Institutional Model 17% What is your model of the church? [Dulles] created with QuizFarm.com

... the one I took a few weeks ago:

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 100% Charismatic/Pentecostal 68% Neo orthodox 68% Emergent/Postmodern 68% Fundamentalist 68% Reformed Evangelical 61% Classical Liberal 46% Modern Liberal 36% Roman Catholic 29% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Terrorism -- the spirit of Amalek

From an article entitled Terrorism By Sara Esther Crispe, in Chabad.org Magazine:

The negative force of terror has been with us since the dawn of human history. The names and faces and national identities of the terrorists change from place to place and from era to era, but the primordial force that drives them has a single name. It is Amalek.

The Torah teaches us that, "G-d is at war with Amalek for all generations" (Exodus 17:16). "In every generation," say our Sages, "Amalek rises to destroy us, and each time he clothes himself in a different nation," (Me'am Loez; Devarim vol.3 p. 977).

Our first encounter was long ago. Since that time, there have been many others. Yet our mission and commandment remains the same:

"Remember what Amalek did to you on the road, on your way out of Egypt. That he encountered you on the way and cut off those lagging to your rear, when you were tired and exhausted; he did not fear G-d. Therefore... you must obliterate the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. Do not forget." (Deuteronomy 25:17-19) ... more

Signs and Wonders

Roger at House Church blog gives a ballanced perspective on signs and wonders.

My home church

The fellowship I attend, Emanuel Christian Fellowsihp in Lurgan, is neither Messianic (Jewish) nor Emergent. It does have its good points though. The pastor is a lorry driver. If he walked up in the foyer and shook your hand, you wouldn'd guess he was the pastor. He also believes in sharing his authority with a group of elders, and one of their priorities is equipping all the believers for ministry. They also have the beginnings of a cell group ministry. They recognise that many of their attenders need to come out of themselves and interact in one anther's lives.

To me, being Emergent and/or Messianic are means to an end. Since ECF seems to have got half way there without their help, I won't complain (anyway, who, among the best is any more than "half way there" anyway?)

The premesis that ECF occupies is an old supermarket shell, which extends into the area under the shops on High Street (actually called Market Street). A large part of that, they plan to use for a drop-in centre to minister to the needs of the diss-affected youth in the area. They are also located right on the dividing line between the two communities (the Roman Catholic and Protestant), which they feel is strategic.

The most current problem, however, is not between the two communities, but between two of the Protestant para-militaries, the UVF and the LVF, which looks like could erupt into a gang war affecting the peace of Lurgan. Last night, there was a special prayer meeting at ECF for this situation. One of those present felt lead to blow a shofar (ram's horn). Others had words, including one that it could be a time of shaking that will awaken many of the churches from their complacency.

putting experiences into perspective

The concept of dying is an under explored theme. Various Bible passages show it as the only way forward. Galatians 2:20 and I Peter 4:1 spring to mind. In the Bible, of course, it's an identification with Messiah, so we can fully partake of His life. Death is the only way forward to resurrection life.

Here's something about dying from a rather unexpected source. It's from the manifesto of a website called Killing the Buddha, a "religion magazine for people made anxious by churches, people embarrassed to be caught in the "spirituality" section of a bookstore, people both hostile and drawn to talk of God." ... which I find an intriguing description. Here's the quote:

The idea of "killing the Buddha" comes from a famous Zen line, the context of which is easy to imagine: After years on his cushion, a monk has what he believes is a breakthrough: a glimpse of nirvana, the Buddha mind, the big pay-off. Reporting the experience to his master, however, he is informed that what has happened is par for the course, nothing special, maybe even damaging to his pursuit. And then the master gives the student dismaying advice: If you meet the Buddha, he says, kill him.

Why kill the Buddha? Because the Buddha you meet is not the true Buddha, but an expression of your longing. If this Buddha is not killed he will only stand in your way. ...more

Is it possible that we may, at times, need to die to our own experience with God? Can our experiences, however blissful and revelational, get in the way of truly knowing Him? I believe it can.

Rick Joyner, in his vision described in The Final Quest, describes having been to the top of a mountain where he and others had an intensely glorified experience, so much so that their armour shown with that glory. On the way down, he saw some of his fellows, also illuminated with God's glory, setting off to attack the enemy. He saw something moving in the darkness behind them but he couldn't see what it was. Wisdom, who was standing with him, gave him a dingy looking robe, named the mantle of humility. It completely covered his armour, and hid the glory so that it no longer shone from him. Now, he looked like a plane ordinary person. However, he could now see what his fellows who had foolishly set off for the attack, couldn't: a whole regiment of demons set to attack them from behind. Moreover, he couldn't warn them, because they, not wearing the mantle of humility, wouldn't recognise the authority of one who wasn't letting the glory shine unhindered. However, the angels and others who did have on humility, did.

That's almost as good as dying. You forfeit the privilege of letting on you're any the better for your face to fact encounter with God. You're the same old bloke we've always known, with no pretensions -- or even fewer pretensions than before. In other words, easier to live with.

I once knew someone, whom I have no doubt was very close to God. When he lead worship, there was an atmosphere of God's glory about the place. However, there was one point of doctrine -- I won't go into it here -- he absolutely wouldn't listen to correction on. He felt he was sufficiently close to God to hear His voice personally, if He had anything to say. Therefore, he didn't need to listen to anyone else. Later, he went way off, left his wife (who never saw much of him anyway because he was off praying) and started living with his assistant.

Would he have benefited from "killing the Buddha", as in the Zen parable? It was tragic to see it happen, but a valuable lesson.

Scott McKnight on the Kingdom of God

A very central theam in Messianic Judaism is the Kingdom of God: Exactly what is it? What did the term mean to the Jewish community of Yeshua's time? What did it mean to Yeshua? What does it mean to us?

Scott McKnight, in his blog, Jesus Creed, has begun a discussion exploring what Yeshua meant by the term. He's already added his second entry, but this link will take you to to his opening entry on the subject.

I'm sure we'll get into it here as well at some later date.