With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #19.
We’ve visited many small churches on our journey. Except for this one, all these tiny congregations desperately desired to grow numerically. But is this God’s perspective?
Increasing the number of people in a church is partly for survival, since a church needs to maintain a core base of people to function and pay their bills. However, striving to be larger also buys into society’s unshakable conviction that bigger is better.
Yet evaluating the significance of a church based on their size is man’s perspective. Whereas God’s perspective judges success by a different standard.
I suspect that from God’s point of view, it’s not numeric size that matters. Instead a kingdom focus—one that values unity and spiritual depth—is more important.
This pastor is one man who truly understands this. His focus is on growing the kingdom of God, not the size of his congregation. His view is so refreshing.
He wants to help all of Jesus’ church, not just one branch. We need more ministers like this and more churches with this perspective.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #13.
If not for a prior commitment, this pastor and his wife would have invited us over for lunch. I would have enjoyed getting to know them over a shared meal.
Yet, I’m relieved it didn’t work out. I would have felt guilty receiving their generosity when we have no plans to return.
Such is the dilemma with only one Sunday allocated per church.
This husband and wife team inspire me in many ways. They pour themselves into the church they serve. They complement each other thoroughly. The way they mesh for a common purpose amazes me.
Their church is small and their congregation older. From a human perspective, the future is bleak. Surely the work must be discouraging.
I pray they will persevere, that God will bless their efforts and provide the strength they need to press on.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Make Sure That What Draws People to Your Church Is What Matters Most
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #12.
This United Methodist Church drew me. I wanted to make a return trip, attending for a full month. That would allow us to experience their variations of service styles.
However, when I learned the pastor left, I lost all interest in going back. That’s when I realized I wasn’t drawn to the church but to its leader. Her style in conducting worship had a peaceful demeanor: full of wonder and respect.
Although it’s common in our hero-worship culture, choosing a church based on the minister’s style and personality is a bad idea.
When the minister leaves, so will most of the people who attend because of him or her. The focus of our church attendance shouldn’t be on the minister, but on God.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #7.
Churches typically spend the majority of their money (at least half, often quite a bit more) on staff compensation but not this church. The pastor of this church is a bivocational minister.
That means he has a regular job during the week and serves the church as a volunteer. This means they can direct much more of their money to help others and reach out into the community.
I applaud this bivocational minister. It’s closer to how the early church functioned and follows the model of Paul in the Bible (Acts 20:34).
I wish more churches and church leaders would follow the example of this pastor, Paul, and what I read in the Bible.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
We walk into the church and receive an engaging welcome, as two greeters celebrate our presence. “If you’d only come in a couple weeks,” they playfully jest, “you’d be able to meet our new minister.”
They’re most excited about her arrival, anxious for her time as their shepherd to begin. I tease that we could leave and come back later.
They assume I’m joking, but to be safe, they urge us to stay today—and then come back in two weeks.
We head into the sanctuary and soon another member approaches. After greeting and exchanging names, he shares with enthusiasm that in a couple weeks their new minister will arrive. He oozes excitement, unable to contain his glee.
As more conversations unfold, we learn their new leader is a recent seminary grad and this will be her first church. She’s in her late twenties. Even before her arrival, she’s pumping fresh life into this mostly older congregation.
Her ordination occurred yesterday, but in order to fulfill an existing commitment, it will be a couple more weeks before she can actually join them.
Today’s guest speaker celebrates yesterday’s ordination and the impending arrival of their new minister. Before we leave, several more people reiterate this news. There’s a collective anticipation over her arrival.
This church welcomes us well: before the service, after the service, and during the official greeting time within the service.
They excel at this and are among the best we’ve encountered on our journey. But my key impression is the anticipation they have for their new minister.
I pray for their success; may all go well. Perhaps when our journey is over, we can make a return visit.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Seminary Doesn’t Prepare People for Ministry; It Merely Meets Manmade Expectations
I know many people who have gone to seminary. And I have friends who are going to seminary. I encourage them, pray for them, and once even helped pay the tuition.
I respect those who have gone to seminary and graduated. But here’s the truth about seminary.
Yet for most ministry-minded people seminary is a waste of time. Truly.
Seminary Is Man’s Idea
Attending seminary is a human concept. Nowhere in the Bible is there a command to pursue advanced education in order to minister to others.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Before you go into the world, spend three years in advanced studies,” he just says, “Go.”
We made up the seminary part because it seemed like a good thing to do, but it isn’t God’s idea.
Seminary Isn’t Required
None of the disciples, apostles, or elders went to seminary or received any sort of special religious training (Acts 4:13). The only one requirement is that they had spent time with Jesus. Yep, that’s it.
The one essential qualification to ministry in the New Testament is having spent time with Jesus (Acts 1:21). Paul barely qualifies because, as one too late, he lacks one-on-one time with Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:8-9), but…
Seminary Knowledge Confuses People
Paul is the closest example in the New Testament to having a seminary degree. However, this detracts rather than helps. After Paul talks to Felix, the governor exclaims, “Your great learning is driving you insane,” (Acts 26:24, NIV).
Yet Felix is an outsider. What do insiders think? Peter, the church’s first leader, writes this about Paul: “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand,” (2 Peter 3:18, NIV).
At best, advanced learning creates a gulf between ministers and other people.
Seminary Doesn’t Help
I read that ministers who haven’t been to seminary are happier in their jobs than ministers with religion degrees. Furthermore non-seminary ministers are deemed more successful in ministry than their diploma-toting peers.
So it seems seminary prepares ministers who will not be as happy or as successful.
Seminary Delays Ministry
I’ve had my heart broken too many times by people who say, “God has called me to full time ministry—so I’m going to seminary.” The first part excites me. The second part vexes my soul. If God calls you to full time ministry, then obey him and go.
Don’t waste three years to get more schooling that doesn’t really matter, because…
Seminary Trains the Wrong Things
Seminary does little to draw students into a closer, personal relationship with Jesus, help them connect with God through prayer, or partner with the Holy Spirit. And it doesn’t focus on the essential people skills needed to lead a congregation.
The one thing seminary is good for is to prepare people to teach at the college level. A seminary graduate possesses the academic credentials universities require.
Of course to actually teach seminary requires a PhD, but an MDiv does give great credentials to teach at a Bible college.
Seminary Wastes Money
While a few seminaries are free, most cost money to attend. Spending money on something that isn’t commanded or required by God, delays ministry, and prepares for the wrong things is foolish and an example of poor stewardship.
Instead invest that money in kingdom-facing initiatives that will actually do some good.
The Truth about Seminary
The one thing seminary does accomplish is that it fulfills the expectation of people that their clergy have endured the rigors of advanced education. Indeed, in some religious circles a seminary degree is a necessary document to gain entrance.
Yet this manmade requirement does little to equip ministers with the skills needed to do their jobs well.
If God actually tells you to go to seminary, then go. Otherwise just start serving him and leave the advanced education to the academics. Jesus is all you need. And that’s the truth about seminary,
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Some People Blindly Accept Church Rhetoric, but They Risk Going Down a Dangerous Path
We’ve all heard stories of people taken in and indoctrinated by cults. Though some stories end happily after they extricate themselves from the control the cult, too many situations end badly.
There are many common characteristics to help us identify cults and cult-like behavior. Here are some of the key things that reoccur on many of these lists.
Utopia: The community seems too good to be true. Everything is wonderful; there are no problems. Peace and harmony abounds. (And when a potential problem surfaces, it’s quickly squelched.)
Exclusive Leadership: One person, or a handful of people, exercises excessive control over the group and restricts other people from participating in leadership.
Absolute Beliefs: Their group has the only true understanding of truth. All other groups are false.
Loyalty: Devotion and submission to the group is expected.
Persecution Complex: Everyone else is against them. The group has an us-versus-them mentality.
Critical Thinking Opposed: Questions aren’t tolerated and are quickly repressed.
Isolation: Members are separated from family and friends.
Shunning: People are discouraged from leaving, with excessive penalties for those who try.
Dependence: The group creates an emotional dependence by offering excessive love, acceptance, and support.
Lack of Transparency: The group’s finances are hidden from members, and inappropriate behavior by its leaders is accepted without question.
When we read this list, we’re quick to agree these characteristics are both wrong and damaging. We would never want to be in a group that behaved this way.
Unfortunately, I’ve seen some churches whose behavior and attitudes parallel many of these characteristics of a cult. While I won’t label them a cult, the way they function fills me with apprehension.
These churches have a dynamic, charismatic minister who people follow without question and accept every word he or she says.
The church’s doctrine is presented as the only true understanding, with everyone else being an error.
Members are encouraged to separate themselves from those who disagree with the church’s teaching, including their family and friends.
The church envelops its members, providing a tight emotional bond and offering support to such an extent that members worry about what they will lose if they leave.
Though threats aren’t given, the outcome is clear they risk being cut off from the community.
Am I claiming that some churches are cults? No. But I am suggesting that they’re veering too close. And from the outside it’s sometimes hard to see the difference.
What’s the Solution?
Don’t allow one person to control or dominate the group.
Share leadership broadly.
Be transparent.
Be egalitarian.
Encourage questions.
Seek diversity.
Make Jesus the focus.
Let the Bible guide in all things.
When I read about the early church in the book of Acts I see this type of positive, open community demonstrated in how they function. We must consider their example carefully.
The challenge in this is to examine our own church’s practices in the light of these characteristics of a cult. Then take whatever steps are needed to avoid even the appearance of cult-like activity.
With so much at stake, we can’t risk even the appearance of impropriety.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Our Spiritual Leaders May Fail Us and Let Us Down but Jesus Never Will
Relevant magazine cited a Gallup poll that revealed America’s trust in the clergy has hit a record low. And it’s fallen steadily since 2002.
In the early 80s two thirds of people respected spiritual leaders. Now only a bit more than one third (37 percent) do.
Though the clergy appears above the midpoint on the list, they’re still far from the top. Nurses hold the top spot at 84 percent, with the bottom slot going to members of Congress at 8 percent.
I mourn this decline in the
standing of our clergy.
If there’s anyone we should be able
to trust, it’s our spiritual leaders. Yet trust must be earned. And once it’s earned,
it must be maintained. As a group, today’s clergy isn’t doing enough to maintain
trust.
I won’t name names or mention specific organizations. I’m sure you can quickly make a list. It saddens me that most everyone can site a religious leader who has let them down through their moral failings or ethical lapses.
Standards for Clergy
Although the clergy are human and subject to temptation just like everyone, they must rise above their human failings. Because of their influence, they will be held to a higher standard (James 3:1). Yet they don’t always do this.
And when they falter, everyone knows it. Their sins are (eventually) broadcast for all to see (Luke 8:17).
They must be an example for us to follow, not to avoid. Paul got this. He urged people to follow him, in the same way he followed Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:1). That should be the standard for every leader in Jesus’s church
However, we shouldn’t judge Jesus by the shortcomings of our religious leaders. We shouldn’t turn our back on God and reject him, just because some of his representatives failed us and disappointed us.
Our spiritual leaders may falter and let us down, but we must remember that Jesus never will, and Father God never will either (Deuteronomy 31:6).
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
When we talk to others about God it’s critical we teach sound doctrine
Paul writes a letter of instruction to his protégé Titus. In it he devotes a lengthy section instructing Titus about how to teach others.
Paul opens this passage with the simple direction that Titus must teach whatever’s appropriate for sound doctrine (Titus 2:1).
I like this phrase, “sound doctrine.” The concept of having a healthy foundation for our faith should guide the things we tell others when we talk about God.
Sound Doctrine
This idea of having a worthy creed implies that there is a basis for it. The Bible is certainly our primary source for our doctrine.
We find further guidance in this by the direction of the Holy Spirit and in considering what others have to say about the Bible.
If we say something contrary to what we find in the Word of God or how the Holy Spirit directs us, this isn’t a doctrine that’s sound.
Unsound Doctrine
If we consider sound doctrine, the opposite might be unsound doctrine. What does this entail? Unsound doctrine includes things that aren’t in the Bible, notions we make up or sound good.
Our unexamined customs, practices, and traditions could fall under the category of unsound doctrine. We should avoid it.
Sound Heresy
Another opposite of sound doctrine might be sound heresy. What is sound heresy? It’s things that sound good, but aren’t. Sometimes this is people misquoting Scripture.
For example, “The Good Lord helps them who helps themselves,” isn’t in the Bible, but many people think it is. It is, in fact, sound heresy, because people believe it even when they shouldn’t.
Another example of sound heresy comes from preachers who say things with such passion and so frequently, that we accept their words as truth even if those things aren’t supported by the Bible.
We feel good about these ideas, but they aren’t relevant; they’re just sound heresy.
Instead we must seek to hold onto a sound doctrine, rejecting shallow doctrine as well as sound heresy. We should be like the people in Berea who check to see if Paul’s words are supported by what Scripture says (Acts 17:11).
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
Jesus Condemns Those Who Supersede the Word of God With Their Religious Practices
Jesus asks the people, “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your traditions?” (Matthew 15:3). He goes on to give an example that is culturally relevant to his audience, but which doesn’t connect so much with us today.
Of course we would never do such a thing, would we? Sadly, we too place traditions over God’s commands. Consider these four examples:
1. Vain Repetition
Jesus tells the people to not pray using vain repetition (Matthew 6:7), yet in church growing up we did this every Sunday, repeating a prayer from rote memory, as well as the Ten Commandments and often a creed.
Yet he commands us to avoid vain repetition.
Other translations say “meaningless repetition” and “babbling many words.” The Bible says to not do that, but we do.
2. Do Not Call Anyone Father
Jesus specifically teaches us not to call anyone Father (Rabbi or Teacher) because only God is our Father.
The principle seems to be against elevating our spiritual leaders with titles, perhaps suggesting we should avoid “Pastor,” “Reverend,” and “Doctor,” as well as “Father” and “Rabbi.”
Yet we do this (sometimes at the insistence of our spiritual leaders), and some traditions specifically use Father, but Jesus says not to (Matthew 23:8-10).
3. Give in Secret
Jesus tells us to give anonymously (Matthew 6:3-4), to not call attention to our charitable giving. Yet our Sunday offerings are a public event and certainly not done secretly. Yet our tradition trumps God’s command.
4. Seek Man’s Approval
Though it’s not a direct command, Paul condemns those who try to win the approval of people. Instead we should follow his example of trying to please God (Galatians 1:10).
Yet how often do ministers water down sermons in order to avoid human offense, which might cause parishioners to get mad, cause a stink, or withhold their donations?
These are a few ways we put our own preferences above what the Bible says. I’m sure there are many more. Be on the lookout for them, and then seek to do things God’s way, regardless of tradition.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
