The Miscellaneous Christians Of Orange County

The last thing I expected was to get into a debate over theology in the nursing home.

Our house church family was going from room to room at Fountain Care Assisted Living Center singing Christmas carols and praying for people as we'd done for the last four years. Already we'd had some amazing interactions with a few people who had broken down in tears as we prayed over them, or sang to them. A few had even gone beyond our expectations and brought us to tears as they shared their amazing testimony with us. But this room was different.

After we sang a few Christmas carols to the two men in the room one of them asked us about our church. One of the sisters with us responded, "We're just a group of Christians in Orange County who love Jesus."

The man bristled at the statement. "But what do you believe?"

I stepped forward to explain; "The main thing is that we love Jesus and we're following Him in our daily life," I said.

"But different people believe different things about Jesus," he countered.

"Yes, that's true," I said. "But as long as you follow Jesus and you're trying to obey His teachings in your actual life, that's all we're concerned about. The other issues are not as important to us."

His roommate responded, "So, you're non-denominational?"

I nodded, "Yes, I guess you could say that."

He turned back to his television and his friend continued the interrogation. "So, you're just a bunch of miscellaneous Christians, then?"

"Yes. We're a group of miscellaneous Christians who love Jesus and want to follow Him daily."

The man seemed disgusted at our lack of doctrinal purity. He stared at us for a second and then he said, "The Miscellaneous Christians of Orange County?"

I could tell that he was interested in knowing what we believed so that he could assess whether or not we were his brand of Christian based on a comparison of doctrines. He seemed very upset that he could not get us to play along. So, as nicely as possible, we all said, "Merry Christmas!" and backed out of their room.

Afterwards, we all met back at our home for hot chocolate, tea and Christmas cookies. As we reflected on the various people we met at Fountain Care that night, someone invariably brought up the confrontational exchange we had with the two men.

"I think we should call ourselves the Miscellaneous Christians of Orange County!" someone suggested and we all had a laugh. But I wonder if maybe we shouldn't stop and consider the title more seriously?

If we define Christianity as the practice of following Jesus daily, and if we understand that following Jesus means doing they things he said to do, then it makes perfect sense for our church - for every church - to identify themselves as "Miscellaneous Christians".

In other words, if we identify ourselves based on the doctrines we believe, then we either have to break fellowship with one another when those beliefs change, or we have to pretend that we still believe certain things (even if we don't anymore) to preserve fellowship with one another.

Is that what Jesus had in mind when he prayed that all of us would be one even as He and the Father are One? I don't think so. Denominationalism is man's idea, not God's. Everytime we align ourselves with belief systems and doctrines, we naturally (or unnaturally) exclude ourselves from the fellowship we are intended by our Lord Jesus to share with one another.

What does the bible say about unity? It says, "For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28)

It does not say that we are all one in our doctrines, or in our denominations, or in our views of the end times or in our opinion about bible translations. Those things divide us, they do not unite us.

What unites us? What makes us one? What is the common denominator between every person in the Family of God? It's Jesus. If we love Him and if we are in daily relationship with Him, then we are in the Family of God. Those other issues are secondary.

So, maybe we should all consider ourselves "The Miscellaneous Christians" of our city? In the end, that's what we are anyway. Whether we meet in this building or in that living room or under that tree or in this gymnasium, we are still members of the Family of God and we are still brothers and sisters because of Jesus.

What do you think?

-kg

ANATOMY OF AN OPEN MEETING: What Leaders Do?

Part 5: OTHER FUNCTIONS OF A LEADER IN AN ORGANIC CHURCH

In this, our final installment, we'll talk about a variety of things that leaders (or "elders") in the open meeting or new testament church should be prepared to do, as-needed.

Making Disciples
The purpose of the Church is to disciple others to follow Christ and to obey everything that He commands. Obedience to Christ, then, is critical to the life of the Body, and our gatherings together should be one of the primary places we learn how to follow Christ together on a daily basis.

Discipleship, I believe, is not always a leader/student arrangement where the mature Christian is teaching the baby Christian how to follow Christ. Not that it can’t be that way, of course, but I don’t believe it’s the only way we make disciples.

In our house church family I’ve found that a by-product of our fellowship together is a sort of constant discipleship where the Body works together to help everyone else follow Christ daily. It’s an ongoing reality where we are learning together how to follow Christ personally.

Dealing with Conflict

As an elder in the Body of Christ, one of our roles is to deal with conflict when it arises. It might be an argument between individuals in the group, or it might a divisive person who stirs things up, or it might be a disagreement over an issue of doctrine or a point of contention over a practice in the Body.

Our group has had a variety of these issues over the last six years. Sometimes the issues are trivial, and other times they are challenging. As always, spend time on your knees asking the Lord how to proceed. Remember, Jesus is the one who is building His church, not you or I. Always, continually, submit everything to Jesus and allow Him to move and to lead your church family through this process of healing and reconciliation.

Discipline

Sometimes, a leader might have to confront a member who needs to be disciplined, and for that I recommend a group of elders within the Body who are motivated by love and full of wisdom and Godly insight. The goal is always reconciliation and restoration. Be as discreet and private as possible as long as the person is cooperative and repentant. Only take things to the entire church body as a very last resort, and then again, only with the desire to bring repentance, reconciliation and restoration.

Guarding your Family
Sometimes there are predators who come into your church family and you need to have discernment to recognize them and move quickly to remove them. This might involve meeeting with them in person to let them know why you're asking them to leave, or you might need to pull them aside and give them a warning if you think they just need a friendly reminder to change their behaviors.

The kinds of behaviors we need to be wary of are those who cause division or strife in the Body:

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.” (Romans 16:17)

Also look out for those who seek to have their way or to run the show. If this is something that you're not called to do, then it's certainly not something that anyone else has the right to do:

“I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, will not welcome us. So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us. Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other believers. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.” (3 John 1:8-10)

Rather than allow one person to have their way and drive others out of the church, you should step in with other elders and ask this person to leave if they cannot fellowship without throwing their weight around.

You, of course, need to watch out for people who claim to be Christians but who are actually not following Jesus at all. As Paul explains:

“But now I am writing to you that you must not associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or slanderer, a drunkard or swindler. Do not even eat with such people.” (1 Cor. 5:11)

What Paul means, literally, is that we should not allow these people to gather with us when we eat and fellowship as a Church.

As always, the goal is reconciliation and restoration in the Body, not to damage people or to condemn people. So, if you're doing this right, no one else in the Body will ever know that you've met with anyone to discuss anything because you're honoring the people you love, not engaging in gossip or slander.

Again, this is not about control. We don't want our church fellowships to be about making people act like us or think like us. Please don't use this as a license to police the behaviors of your church family.

 Defend the Liberty of Everyone

This one, to me, is the most difficult but one of the most important things to remember in an open meeting. In our church family we like to say that "everyone is in process" and this means that we're all coming from different denominational backgrounds and we're all at different levels of maturity in various areas of our walk with Christ.

This means that we do not ever attempt to get everyone else in the Body to agree with us on every point of doctrine. Our group does not have any Statement of Faith for this very reason. Our only criteria for gathering together, and for accepting people into this Body is simply this: "Do you love Jesus? Are you actually seeking to follow Him in your daily life?" And if your answer is "Yes" then you are welcome to be a member of this Body.

All we ask is that you don't attempt to change us to believe what you believe and we promise not to try to change you to believe what we believe.

This simple attitude of liberty has allowed our group of former Baptists, Pentecostals, Charismatics, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. to fellowship together for over six years without heated arguments over doctrine. We gather only to seek Jesus together and to help everyone else in the group to follow Him in their daily lives.

Unless you want to create a church that is full of people who act and think and believe just exactly the way you do (and to me that's a nightmare), I encourage you to learn how to disagree agreeably and to major on Christ when you come together, not on this or that little pet doctrine or theory.

You'll not only learn things from people who think different from you, you'll also fulfill Christ's desire that everyone in His Body be one, even as He and the Father are one. Our unity isn't based on agreement on doctrines, but on our sincere love for Christ alone.

Did I miss anything? If you've got any further questions about anything I've talked about in this series, please leave a comment below. I'm open!

-kg

[END OF SERIES]

OUR UNITY IS BASED ON JESUS AND NOTHING ELSE

I’ve written a little before on the unique blending of denominational backgrounds within our little Mission House Church. Somehow, even though we each come from divergent and oftentimes hostile denominational streams, everyone within our simple church family has managed to overlook our differences and love one another in spite of this.

So, why am I writing about this again? Well partly because I’ve started to notice that a lot of the other organic and simple churches in our area share a common denominational background, which means that their unity isn’t strained by the same forces that a group like ours might encounter. In our group we can't appeal to a common set of doctrines. If anything, we've all abandoned our identity as members of a particular denomination and embraced our core identity as followers of Jesus.

On paper, then, our house church family shouldn't be so united. We come from Pentecostal, Calvary Chapel, Vineyard, Brethren, Baptist, Lutheran and non-denominational backgrounds. How can we all sit together and worship together without sparking an argument? Simply because we have intentionally avoided centering our gatherings together on issues or doctrines that we know are potentially divisive.

Because we’re sensitive to these theological landmines we’ve instead focused our meetings on the One Thing we can all agree on – Jesus.

Not that other groups aren’t centered on Jesus and what it means to follow Him daily. I'm certain that they are. But since our group is not all on the same page when it comes to doctrines I think we have a tendency to emphasize following our Lord Jesus and discovering together how we can put His teachings into practice in our actual lives.

This also doesn’t mean that we don’t tend to stray over into areas where there are differences of opinion. We have had our share of disagreements and in those cases we’ve done our best to allow everyone an opportunity to communicate their perspective on scripture. Thankfully we’ve stopped short of trying to impose a particular perspective on everyone else in the church. No one has to agree with me, or with anyone else, on a peripheral issue in order to remain a valued and loved member of the church family.

For example, my wife and I have a huge personal conviction when it comes to our calling to love and serve the poor in the context of following Jesus. We formed the Mission largely because we wanted to plant a church where 100% of the offering could go to help people in the community (and even within our own church family) who were struggling financially or in poverty. We regularly serve at a local motel and share free groceries with families living there each month. But at no time does anyone in our house church family feel guilty for not joining us in this service. (Yes, we've asked them to make sure). Of course, we freely invite people to come along with us, and we regularly share testimonies of what God is doing through this service, but we don’t impose our conviction on anyone else in the Body.

Again, it’s not as if our group is perfect. We’re continually learning from our mistakes. But one thing we’ve tried to hold on to is the idea that everyone is free to share in our church family and everyone is free to disagree as long as no one attempts to sway the group to “go their way” in a certain practice or doctrine.

As Christians we have to admit that our calling is to love one another, not to argue one another into agreement on doctrines that are non-essential. We’re totally ok with people sharing their perspectives on the scriptures. That's how we grow together! But what we advocate is an attitude that listens and doesn't have an agenda to change the other person's mind.

Think about it: If you wanted to find something to argue about in your church fellowship I'm sure you wouldn't have to look very hard. The question is whether or not your desire is to seek for what things you disagree on, or if your desire is to seek for the things that you all agree on?

Here’s another example. A few months ago we had a new visitor to our group. In the course of our open sharing time someone brought up an issue of healing. This new brother shared his firm conviction that it is always God’s will to heal. He was allowed to share his perspective and no one interrupted him. After he was finished I shared that my perspective (and I was clear to state that I could only speak for myself) was that sometimes God choose not to heal and instead used the sickness or the struggle to work the character of Christ into our lives.

Again, my goal was not to convince him that he was wrong or to change his mind. I knew that I probably couldn’t do that anyway (and I didn’t). To be sure that this brother was ok with my sharing a counter point I invited him to lunch the following week and he and I talked together about our group’s commitment to allow differences of opinion. The great thing was that this brother understood and celebrated our open share time and our desire for freedom and acceptance of one another.

Our group only asks: “Are you following Jesus daily and is it your aim to know Him and to let the Bible be your guide?” If the answer is “Yes” then you’re in! We ask nothing else of those who desire to fellowship with us, as long as their desire is also to walk with others who may, or may not, agree with them on everything.

Our aim is to avoid being distracted from our main goal which is to love God and to love one another and to follow Jesus in our actual lives.

I think that whatever church you’re part of, you have to be ok with sitting next to someone who holds a different opinion about eschatology or baptism or spiritual gifts, etc. and still call that person a brother and love them simply because they are part of the same family of God.

If someone denies the Gospel or teaches a strange doctrine that distorts the Gospel or character of Christ, then yes, of course, you need to correct that. But we're not saved by having the correct information about the Bible, nor are we saved because we can communicate complex theological ideas, we are saved because we have a transformational encounter with the living Jesus and we fall in love with Him and His Word.

By the Grace of God our church family will continue to love one another and to accept one another on the basis of Christ and not on the basis of agreement on a set of doctrines.

-kg

UNITY?

God has been teaching me lately that I have to be ready to speak the truth in love. Often I am eager to speak the truth, but I forget to remember that I am commanded to love the people I am speaking to.

What makes it difficult is that, even with my best efforts, there are those who will respond to me in anger, and who will also forget to love me, especially when it comes to issues concerning the Church such as paid pastoral staff, tithing, running the church like a business, etc.

I am currently trying to reconcile and make peace with a few of my friends who have more vocally and publicly opposed me here on my blog. It's slow going, but I believe it's a worthy effort, especially in light of the fact that I am called to be a peace maker, and to take up the ministry of reconciliation, and to live at peace with all men - as far as it depends upon me.

Of course, the aim is not to bring my friends around to my way of thinking. In fact, whenever I do finally sit down with my friends my hope is that we do not debate or argue or discuss these issues that divide us at all. Instead, I hope that we can remember what we hold in common and agree to love one another even though we know we disagree on these issues.

So, yes, I will continue to write and to speak and to publish articles regarding the New Testament ideas of leadership, church modality, the priesthood of the believer, making discisples, caring for the poor, and everything else I have always been passionate about. My calling has not changed. But my approach may have.

For the last several months I have all but stopped writing my book, which is about the New Testament teachings concerning the people of God as the new temple, the new priesthood and the living, daily sacrifice. Why? Because I needed to make sure that I was really hearing from God about this subject and to be certain that what I was saying was done in love.

During this time I even went so far as to invite men of God, some of them my peers, some of them far above me in maturity, to rebuke me and to correct me on these issues. I needed to know if I was really off base or if my reading of the New Testament on these issues was accurate.

After this season of introspection and evaluation, I feel even more passionate about the book, and the subject of new testament ecclessia, but I have resolved to write a book that communicates these ideas in a more winsome and less provocative fashion.

I still haven't shaken my position that much of the traditional church today is a Jewish Temple-based form of Christianity which attempts to repair the veil that God ripped in half as Jesus finished his work upon the cross.

There is still, and always will be, a little of the reluctant radical in me. All that I'm writing about and the way I'm living my life and practicing my faith really is all about crossing those boundaries and many, many people are pretty upset that I would dare to think this way or encourage others to behave as if none of the Temple Christianity was valid (because it's not based on the New Testament).

I'm also learning that God is still working on my attitude and my heart in all of this, too.

My challenge is to point out these things and oppose these man-made ideas while still maintaining a sincere love for my brothers and sisters in Christ - even when they oppose me and respond hatefully.

Maybe there isn't a way to speak these things and write these things without severing these bonds, but if there is a way, I know I must try, for the sake of the Body and for unity among brothers.

Peace,
kg