A Call for the End of "Perfect Church"

My last post generated quite a bit of discussion (at least on FaceBook); and the comments seemed to share a common desire to return to a more biblically authentic worship experience, along with a bit of frustration for the increasing theatrical production quality observed in many churches.

Today I would like to call for the end of "Perfect Church," where every note has to be on tune and every announcement video is broadcast quality, where only auditioned singers can get on the "team" and where sermons come from the pastor being shut in with his/her creative team instead of simply being shut away with God.

I'm not advocating "Hokey Church" or "Wing-it Church," but simply a re-assessment of why and how we do things. We should strive to do things well and to the best of our ability--but that's just it; many are trying to do it to the best of Broadway's ability. I feel like the sense of authentic community has been destroyed by the hiding of our human imperfections. Why would a person who is being convicted of sin ever walk the aisle of "Perfect Church" before the amassed group of "perfect members?" We need a restoration of the Acts church model!

Now I realize that the New Testament is full of human blunders--even church ones. How about the attempt at communal living that ended with dishonest offerings and dead people? But I'm afraid that our church marketing friends are trying to re-write early church history and sanitize its frailties with an unholy airbrush. How can we read Acts and then attend one of our modern 55 minute multimedia extravaganzas and think this is what Jesus and most of the Apostles were martyred for?

Here's the bottom line question; how did we let things get this way? I'm afraid the answer won't make us feel too good. Our western church culture has demanded that the wishes of the people are met or else we pull up our roots and move down the street to another church that will cater more to our self-indulgent and un-sanctified lives. Perfect Church has emerged--at least in part--as a church survival technique, feverishly trying to corral the unhappy and un-satisfiable masses. That does not, of course, excuse anyone--the church organization, or us--the real church--of our shared responsibility for this distortion.

Jesus speaks directly to us today through the words He originally spoke to the Church in Laodicea:

14 Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God’s Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God’s creation, says:
15  “I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! 16 You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit.
17 You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.
18   “Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.
19   “The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!
20   “Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you.
21 Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors!
22   “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”

--Rev. 3:14-22 the Message

"Father please heal our eyes to see that the 'Perfect Church' we desired and constructed is in reality 'Wretched, Poor, Miserable, Blind and Naked Church.' God help us to lay aside our appetite for "Perfect Church" and our passionless, commitment-less expressions of faith and re-discover what a true disciple of Jesus looks and acts like."

I look forward to your comments.

What's in the Original Pentecostal Secret Sauce and how did we lose the recipe?

Disclaimer: Please excuse the following rant.

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF A CHRISTIAN WORSHIP SERVICE IN ACTS
So we've discussed some missing elements in previous "Secret Sauce" posts but what are the key elements of true corporate worship gatherings in Acts? The following is only a quick list and I need your input to make it more complete:

1. Corporate Prayer
2. Reading of the Scriptures
3. Teaching
4. Time for supernatural interaction
5. Worship (this is only mentioned once that I have noticed--Acts 13--and this is probably not 30 minutes of songs)

What am I missing?

HOW DID WE LOSE OUR SECRET SAUCE RECIPE--OR DID WE JUST LAY IT ASIDE?
Now, how did our worship services end up looking they way they do now?

Is anyone else getting tired of Broadway production church services or am I just getting old and grumpy? It seems like we are more concerned with "pulling off a successful show" than we are with having a biblically accurate expression of worship--no matter what public opinion says.

What ever happened to the audience of our services sitting on a throne instead of trendy matching chairs? Shouldn't Jesus and His Word determine what our corporate worship services look like? Shouldn't everything we do be directed towards pleasing Him?

What do you think? Is there any virtue to my questions or do I need a Prozac?

Yet another interview...

Interview with Steve Pike (Church Multiplication Network) about church planters/younger pastors and the Holy Spirit.

Tim Enloe from Church Multiplication on Vimeo.

Interview with Dr. George Wood

Here is our recent interview with Dr. George Wood, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God.

We discuss issues relating to the rational mind and the working of the Holy Spirit, particularly Spirit baptism.

21st Century Pentecostalism: Bland Burgers with No Secret Sauce? PART TWO

Have you ever seen a devotional book that has only a snippet of scripture for each day along with several paragraphs (or pages) of the author’s thoughts and reflections?  Devotional books are a helpful, practical tool to consistently assimilate the Word of God into our lives—and for that I’m thankful—but could it be that having a partial verse excerpt along with greater amounts author’s content may not satisfy our RDA of scripture intake?  Perhaps we need some more Word in our diet.  Don’t throw out your new devotional, just make sure to also dig into the Word for yourself.

Here’s where I feel the Holy Spirit is applying this principle to the church:  our corporate practice of Pentecostal spirituality often overlooks the public reading of scripture.  It is very easy for leaders to take a “devotional book” approach to constructing a worship service, insomuch as the only scripture read in some church services is the preaching text.

Paul encouraged Timothy, “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (1 Tim 4:13).  I think we practice the exhortation and teaching part with passion and diligence, but do we truly value the public reading of scripture enough that we “give attention to it” as much as teaching? 

Rochelle and I were recently ministering at a church that valued publicly reading the Word so much that it was an essential part of each service—and not just an obligatory snippet.  The leadership would either begin each service with or after worship read a pertinent chunk of God’s Word.  They would typically read together out loud as a group off of the projection screen.  How refreshing!  The paragraph/s read were prayerfully selected, relevant to the direction of the services and had a noticeable effect on the spiritual climate in the room.

I would like to dare Pentecostal leaders to evaluate how much scripture is read in the worship contexts they lead.  I would even suggest the occasional cutting back of other non-essentials to make room for longer portions to read.

I vividly remember a leadership retreat while studying for the ministry at Central Bible College.  The speaker that night was Dr. Terry Bleek and his entire message was simply the reading of Psalm 119.  At first—I must confess—I looked at my watch in disbelief, but in a matter of minutes the room’s spiritual climate changed.  By the time Psalm 119 was read, the room was seized with a new passion for reading the Word.  Some students spent hours that night digesting large portions of the scriptures, as the Word had become its own appetizer.

As Pentecostals, we are people of the Word.  We believe in the inerrancy of scripture and in the transforming power of words inspired and preserved by the Holy Spirit.  I believe we need to rediscover this biblically essential part of our public worship times; perhaps this would stir up a greater hunger for the Word in all of our hearts?

Missions project in Indonesia

Hi everyone.

Many of you know that we as a family and as a ministry are deeply invested in Indonesian missions and humanitarian aid.

Click here to see the exciting project that is almost completed!

This Children's House is a miracle in progress.  Please take a moment, look at the pictures and add it to your prayer list!

21st Century Pentecostalism: Bland Burgers with No Secret Sauce? PART ONE

Even if you're not a hamburger fan, the thought of eating a Big Mac without the culinary clown's  "secret sauce" seems  sacrilegious.  I wonder just what is in Ronald's top secret concoction?  Perhaps only Mayor McCheese knows for sure.

Recently I've been scouring the book of Acts to reverse engineer the Early Church's "secret sauce" recipe.  What made their practice so dynamic, so demonstrative and so compelling?  

Over the next few posts, I'm going to look at the elements of true Christian practice--both corporate worship and private practice--that together season our Christianity with God's secret sauce (I bet you've never heard that metaphor before!).

I want to begin this short series with the ingredient I am presently most concerned about.

CORPORATE PRAYER

Acts 4:24 recounts a practice that was common in the early church, extended seasons of corporate prayer: 

"...they raised their voice to God with one accord..."

This reference shows the automatic response of the church to challenging circumstances, but there are several other Acts references that demonstrate true corporate prayer was a staple of early Christian worship services (see Acts 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, etc.).

Corporate prayer is when we together, in concert, call on the Lord.  It is a unifying, verbal confession of the existence of God (Heb 11:6) and a spiritual expression of humility and dependence.  This is a time for new believers to be mentored in their prayer lives, for mature believers to grow and for crusty ones to be de-barnacled; everyone--except the spectator--is involved and is practicing what they believe.

How does the Acts model superimpose over 21st century American Pentecostalism in general (please understand that this is a sweeping generalization)?  It seems that open-ended corporate prayer has become a thing of the past in many circles, having been substituted by a priestly (or pastoral) prayer time only.  Don't misunderstand me; I believe that our shepherds should publicly (and privately) pray.  However, this priestly prayer time does not fulfill the need for a group of worshippers spending time "raising their voices to God in one accord."  

A current trend is for churches to cancel their Sunday night services because of poor attendance.  I can understand renovating an obsolete schedule to become more effective; there's nothing sacred about a time slot.  But what about the open-ended times of prayer that characterize a Sunday night service?  Do they get cancelled too?  We need to maintain the key element of corporate prayer consistently in our church services!  And don't just move it to become an optional "only if you're exceptionally needy" bonus feature after a service dismisses.  Corporate prayer is not an optional part of biblical worship; it's an essential part.

Our modern consumer-driven church models tend to give people what they want rather than what they need.  How can we expect to transact Acts-style church services in one hour?  Thirty minutes of singing, ten minutes for announcements, pastoral prayer and offering then finally, twenty minutes of preaching.  Where's the secret sauce?  That's like saying, "I know I need to eat, but I only want to digest the bare minimum to keep my vital signs going."

We must ask ourselves this question: Does our typical worship service place value upon the core Christian practices of prayer, public reading of scripture, teaching of the Word and worship?  If we cancel events that headline corporate prayer--such as Sunday nights, we MUST make sure that we include it elsewhere in the course of each Sunday morning service.  If there's no time in our present schedule, modify it; dispense with another part of the service schedule that is not biblically mandated to make room for something that God will bless.

What do we value most?  What gets the most time in many Pentecostal worship services? Singing worship songs.  I love to worship by singing songs, but that is only one ingredient in the sauce.  Some churches have ten minutes of greeting time.  I have personally witnessed announcements lasting over twenty minutes!  That's a lot of coercing for the bake sale!

The people we lead learn what we personally value by what we live out before them.  I learned to pray because my parents prayed with me and my childhood pastor, Rev. Phil Bongiorno, publicly modeled his dynamic prayer life before the church during seasons of corporate prayer.

Is it enough that we tell people they need to pray but don't give them a consistent opportunity to practice it together?

Let's discuss this some more.  I look forward to your input.