The phone rang at 2am again. I knew who it was before answering. In recent weeks, Anita (not her real name) often called in the middle of the night.

She claimed to feel the fires of hell all over her body with no desire to live.

My wife or I would drive to her home and sit down and pray with her. We would speak to Anita and rally the church to pray for her. After a couple suicide attempts through overdoses, she was hospitalized for several months. We rallied around Anita as best we could. We would encourage her and read her Scripture, but it felt like talking to a wall. It was a discouraging time, but also a time when my wife and I felt utterly helpless. We were frustrated with Anita for not listening, and yet, grieved for her inability to listen. We felt defeated as if we had let Anita down.

Anita is not a unique case.

Although her depression was severe, 1 in 5 people in the UK will suffer depression. This highlights the importance of the role of the local church in helping sufferers of depression. But how do we help? Should we feel as helpless as my wife and I felt with Anita several years ago? There are many ways the church can approach depression.

In this three-part series, I would like to briefly look at three things we can do as the church by: Promoting Culture, Providing Training, and Practicing Priesthood.

Promoting Culture

A culture is the way in which groups of people live and think.

Everyone brings their culture into the church, and as the church, we have developed an Evangelical culture that is more based on moral excellence and stoicism than on the realities of our humanity. On Sundays, it is not uncommon for a family to be falling to pieces, yelling at one another in the car, and then walking into the church building with smiles, hugs, and handshakes. Typical church culture relegates life’s hardships and sufferings to behind closed doors. The emperor’s new clothes are “I’m ok, you’re ok.”

Any sufferer in that context can scream on the inside, but fear being viewed as inferior for having a quivering upper lip. In many ways we have an anti-suffering (and anti-depression) theology within the church.

The purpose of suffering is often not considered, and so when suffering strikes (and it will), many find difficulty weathering the storm. Suffering seems an obscure stranger, and our legalistic bent suggests that intense suffering comes upon those who are not trusting God. David Murray is right when he says in his book Christians Get Depressed Too that, “There is still a stigma attached to mental illness and to depression in particular.” Sometimes that stigma is not just that a person does not seem to be coping well, but that he/she fails to trust God.

In promoting a biblical culture, the local church must promote a culture of progressive sanctification. In other words, we are all in process.

We put on a sanctified show for others to see whilst ignoring the fact that we are not as together as we portray. Truly, we make sure the scaffolds of sanctification are erected on the inside of the building rather than the observable outside. This is why D.A. Carson wrote his book on suffering, How Long, O Lord? Carson begins by saying, “This is a book of preventative medicine. One of the major causes of devastating grief and confusion among Christians is that our expectations are false.” Suffering is a human problem, and depression is a form of suffering. People suffer from depression because of others (abuse, expectations, etc.), Adam (the curse, physiological factors, misery in work, death, etc.), and Satan (conspiring with the curse, spinning lies, etc.). These contributors work along the grain of our sinful hearts.

There is no single cause for depression.

Every one of us finds him/herself living amongst the same brokenness vulnerable to its effects. When Paul speaks of overcoming temptations, he points out that they are common to all (1 Cor. 10:13). Thus we must promote a new culture in the church—a culture that recognizes our likeness to one another. Truly, our struggles and temptations are more alike than different. That means that we are not a church that loves to help people with problems, but a church of people with problems.

In other words, we need a church culture that locates ourselves in the community of sufferers, rather than the community of the perfected.

Practicing such a culture would help invite openness about struggles, including depression, so that the sufferer receives care. In many cases, it may provide a preventative dynamic as the community can help hear and carry one another’s burdens before they break an individual’s spirit! This allows us to see ourselves included as sufferers; thus, we can enter into the world of the depressed without excluding them from our world.

Just when people started coming back to church… Omicron. How many more Greek letters will we go through? As a pastor of a local Church, I’m concerned about the social implications on fellowship. Since the beginning of the pandemic, through technology, we can be close while keeping our distances. If we miss the worship service, we can fill our homes with an atmosphere of positivity by streaming albums or videos produced by world-class musicians. Also, there are millions of podcasts, e-books, audiobooks, and sermon audios and videos to keep our minds occupied with wholesome thoughts. What a blessing for those who are quarantined, who have a newborn at home, or are immunocompromised.

That being said, the effects are not all positive, as the studies of increased loneliness¹ and statistics on violence² can attest. It would appear that our generation has been granted a view into the effects of a technological Church over against a live meeting of the sanctified imperfect. The new situation has provided the type of experience where no one has to be offended, where the illusion of closeness lasts the length of a video that I can pause or choose not to show my face. It’s reminiscent of the pure, sharp, cold lines of modern architecture. Or to quote French Philosopher Jacques Ellul: “All this not only sterilises the intervention, but institutes a false relationship to a false real. I take for reality what is shown to me, and reality fades away.”³ This to me seems to be one of the more silent dangers, a loss of what’s real to what’s pictured, presented, and downloaded. A sterilised or homogenised version of what should be life changing—meeting God in the assembly.

So I’d like to ask myself and my readers, why do we need community? Is it truly necessary for our Christian experience? Before I begin to worry those who know me, I’ll state bluntly my position. Yes! I believe in the Church. I believe in fellowship and the need to meet in person with other believers, and I’ll limit my arguments to only five.

Community is part of Creation.

To begin, we need community because it is part of Creation. As God placed man in the garden to cultivate it and have dominion over creation (Gn 1:26-27; 2:18-20), He said, “It is not good that man should be alone” (Gn 2.18). The Lord then proceeded to create the woman as a helper. This was to be the beginning of culture, a series of relationships that was destined to be “a place of human flourishing.”⁴ It can be argued that God’s intention to meet man’s need was found in the marriage relationship in Genesis 2:18 and not the Church. Certainly, the immediate text would support this, as would the fact that no New Testament author cites this as a reason for community. But I would respond that within the Cultural Mandate to cultivate wholesome relationships through a generous stewardship of what God created for man’s care is an implicit design that humans aren’t made to live alone. I would also point to the fact that the English word we use for “church” is our translation for ἐκκλησία, “an assembly or gathering of people.”

Community helps us understand biblical covenantal relationships.

Closely tied to the last point, we need community because it helps us understand biblical, covenantal relationships. In our day, the word “friend” has come to mean anything from an acquaintance, to a marriage partner, to a digital name I can block whenever I no longer agree with their opinion. I’m convinced that most understand the varying degrees of friendship and commitment, but I wonder what the devaluation of the term has produced in relationships. When we consider the covenantal ceremonies in the Bible, like the one the Lord celebrated with Abram in Genesis 15:9-21, or the Lord’s supper in Matthew 26:20-29, we can read a permanence lasting throughout a lifetime. Although these are covenants concluded between God and man, the impact outlasted the lifetime of those men with whom God interacted. In both cases, the men involved were called friends (Gn 15:6; 2Chr 20:7; Is 41:8; Jn 15:15).

Before I get too far off subject, let me underline two observations: a friendship involves cooperation and togetherness. In the covenantal relationships, each one has a part. God gave blessings and promises, while Abraham believed and received. The Lord Jesus laid down His life, while we believe and receive today. Cooperation.

As for togetherness, both covenants involve two parties closely knit together. Is this not what we see in Paul’s description of the Church and its use of Spiritual Gifts in 1 Corinthians 12-14? The Church made of members so tight that Paul describes them as parts of a same body, working in harmony, and in a sense, the many become one. This is impossible to learn alone watching a screen or singing with Siri or Alexa. Although the nearness of God can be experienced, the full sense of community cannot.

Community helps us understand ourselves.

In a very similar way, we need community because it helps us understand ourselves. C.S Lewis spoke of this in The Four Loves. He wrote: “In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets.”⁵ His idea was that as we get to know another person, we find common interests and loves, perhaps discover new ones. We enter a conversation that becomes unique to the relationship that is felt as a true loss when the person is gone. In the same way, someone with a spiritual gift of administration needs a community of people with organisational needs, a teacher must have students, and someone who speaks in tongues during the service needs an interpreter. It’s much like a dance. As we move our feet to the music, we discover if we can feel the rhythm. As we hold our partner’s hand, we learn if we can lead fluidly or tend to step on toes. In this way, as applied to using our spiritual gifts in fellowship, we discover our unique place in the body of Christ.

Community helps us know God.

This brings me to another idea—we need community because it helps us know God. Church isn’t only about the sermon or the worship. We learn about God as we eat the bread and drink the cup, just as we do while watching a new believer baptised. But there are some things we can only learn about God while we are in relationship with other believers. It’s part of being created in His image and having that image restored through the New Birth. As I serve with a sister who has a different gift than I, she shows me how God works in ways I wouldn’t otherwise have known. It’s in her response, her gifts that I don’t posses. In the same way, I learn about God as a brother ministers to me or prays for my needs. More that just a perspective, it’s God working through him, so that if given eyes to see, I learn more about God than a simple transfer of information I can read in a book. I’m speaking of an experiential knowledge: observable, palpable or, to borrow a phrase from theologian John Frame, “to know God is friendship.”

The Bible imperatively demands community.

Lastly, we need community because the Bible imperatively demands it. Hebrews 10:25, probably one of the most quoted verses on the subject, says, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” As far as a lexical prooftext, we almost have an airtight case with this one. Note that the word translated “the assembling of ourselves,” ἐπισυναγωγή (a word composed of ἐπι—on + συν—with + αγω—to bring or lead), is the same word used in “the gathering together to the Lord” at His return in 1 Thessalonians 2:1.

This clear exhortation to persevere in meeting together is actually part of a much bigger thought. It’s the imperative to a powerful indicative statement, meaning it’s the application of what we’ve been given in Jesus (Hb 10:19-21). Because we have boldness to enter into the Holy Place (v19a), because Christ was the sacrifice that opened the way (v19b-20), and because He is the Great High Priest over the house of God (v21), we should not abandon the assembly. So in the end, meeting together is a vibrant and life-giving privilege that comes from above. It originates in what Jesus accomplished for us and translates into an act of worship.

_NOTES

_{¹ Hwang, Tzung-Jeng, Kiran Rabheru, Carmelle Peisah, William Reichman, and Manabu Ikeda. “Loneliness and Social Isolation during the COVID-19 Pandemic: International Psychogeriatrics.” Cambridge Core. Cambridge University Press, May 26, 2020.}

_{² Stripe, Nick. “Domestic Abuse during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, England and Wales: November 2020.” Domestic abuse during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, England and Wales – Office for National Statistics. Office for National Statistics, November 25, 2020.}

_{³ Jacques Ellul, La parole humiliée, (Paris: La Table Ronde, 1981, réédition 2020), 229.}

_{Personal translation of the original: “Tout cet ensemble non seulement stérilise l’intervention, mais institue une fausse relation à un faux réel. Je prends pour réalité ce qui m’est montré, et le réel s’efface.”}

_{⁴ I borrow this phrase from Andy Crouch who uses it often in his written work.}

_{⁵ C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1960), 92, Digital Copy.}

Dear CGN,

Calvary Chapel Jinja would like to express our deepest gratitude for your generous contribution towards COVID-19 relief to Calvary Chapel Jinja and the church members. Your donation was very helpful and timely to the church members and the community. It helped the continuity of our commitment to serving the community and church members. This would have not been accomplished without your act of generosity in support through the church.

As it’s said, “God is never too late to respond,” this relief came at a time when it was most needed.

Below is a highlight of how the donation was utilized:

Click here to read the full report

Disaster Relief Update

In the last two days, Mercy Chefs has served 9,999 hot meals to the people of Pensacola and neighboring Foley Alabama.

At the same time, CDR has a team from Florida in the Folly area helping homeowners while another team served 250 hot meals to the community of DeQuIncy.

Prayer Request

Please pray for these ministries as they are working long hours with limited resources in the midst of this pandemic.

For more information on how you can get involved or support these operations please click the links below:

www.mercychefs.com

www.calvarydisasterrelief.org

Update on Hurricane Laura

In this video, Jimmy Schauerte of Roots NYC shares a praise report of the Calvary Global Network churches who came together and sent funds to help them as they continue through this season of healing!

Through this COVID-19 pandemic, Roots NYC (and NYC overall) has been greatly impacted by the virus. Jimmy shares the church’s experience through this season.

To stay up to date with Roots NYC, visit rootsnyc.church. To learn more about the CGN Church Relief Fund, visit calvaryglobalnetwork.com.

If anything is certain over the last few months, it is that the predictability of ministry has been anything but certain! Because of the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, people around the globe have been asked (or ordered by their respective governments) to shelter in place, practice social distancing, work, and school from home, and avoid any and every crowd that consists of over 10 people. The very community we long to be meeting together with is now suggested to be a perceived threat to our health. This has caused most churches to transition to online services, pastors to preach to empty rooms and into a camera lens, and the gathering together of God’s people in person to be restricted to viewing their church’s streaming content from their own homes.

Church budgets simultaneously pay utility bills to keep lights and a/c on in empty buildings, while finding new line items to make room for camera, sound and lighting upgrades. Every pastoral team suddenly found themselves attempting to be video producers. Every home fellowship either was postponed, or moved to video conference calls–where our koinonia has been digital, virtual, and fumbled. If that weren’t difficult enough, our economy went into a tailspin and many congregants were unable to make their bill payments–so our benevolence funds have been tapped, maxed, or exhausted. People in our communities are frightened, anxious, and desperate for hope–and yet are seemingly unable to congregate with the body of Christ and hear the transforming hope of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In short, we long to meet together again!

Many states are reopening and establishments such as restaurants, gyms, and movie theaters are safely accommodating their customers and patrons as they open back up for business. And though the church never ceases to be “closed”–whether due to a pandemic or due to a government decree–we do praise God for the amazing opportunity to be gathered together again with the saints to worship God and be equipped. However, there are some challenges ahead that we should be prepared for. Here are five best practices for the reopening of local churches after the coronavirus pandemic:

1. Give people options.

There are many Christians who are not living in a paralyzed panic–but who are genuinely “high risk.” They may have pre-existing conditions that put their health at risk. They may be a caretaker for someone who is high-risk. They may have a family member who lives with them that is more susceptible to disease. Whatever the unique cases may be, there are plenty of people in each and every church who will not have the flexibility, freedom or peace to immediately gather again in-person. We need to make sure we extend an online viewing option to them for the foreseeable future. There are many great resources out lately for churches to offer an online option–do some research and keep it simple!

2. Give people reassurance.

Make sure the congregation knows that the building(s) you will be meeting in will be sanitized and disinfected in between gatherings. Ensure that seats are spread out or partitioned to allow for social distancing. You may have to move to an additional service in the meantime to accommodate a smaller crowd in a bigger room–but in this season (and in every season for visitors!) people will appreciate a little distance or empty seats around them.

3. Give people grace.

As we begin to meet again, one of the new social norms we will be adjusting to is the face-to-face greeting. In the past, a handshake or hug was an expression of welcome or affirmation (or for the first-century church, a holy kiss!). Today, people may misinterpret a fist-bump or an elbow bump as a rude gesture. If someone goes to hug another churchgoer who is not comfortable with physical contact yet, this can create a tense exchange that can leave people with misunderstandings and awkwardness. We need to champion grace in this season: grace for those who don’t want to shake hands, and grace for those who want to hug every friend they’ve missed for two months. The more we can communicate grace from the pulpit in these confusing times, the better.

4. Give people clarity.

Each church should take the necessary time with their leadership teams to have a clear strategy for reopening. What is the timeline for your gatherings? If there is a limitation on size, what kind of registration will we be offering, and where online will this registration be found? What are the next steps for people to give financially, serve the body, or respond to the call to receive Christ? Will we have health screening, hand sanitizer, masks? Will there be children’s ministry, or will we be having a family service for the foreseeable future? What safeguards have been put in place for volunteers, and what are the options for future home fellowships? The more clarity we provide, the less confusion and frustration we will experience as a church community.

5. Give people hope.

More than ever, our communities need the hope of their sins forgiven and their standing with God to be made right. They need to know that God is sovereign, good, and in control. They need to know that in His great love for us, He sent His Son to put on humanity and take their place, receiving the wrath they deserved. As the world scrambles for a vaccine as a relief from the threat of sickness and death, we have the true answer for the brokenness of sin: Jesus Christ! So as the church begins to gather again, give more opportunities in your church than ever before for unbelievers to repent and trust Christ. Take the time now to plan out new believers’ classes and evangelism training for your congregation. Spurgeon said, “The fact is, brethren, we must have conversion work here. We cannot go on as some churches do without converts. We cannot, we will not, we must not, we dare not. Souls must be converted here, and if there be not many born to Christ, may the Lord grant to me that I may sleep in the tomb and be heard no more. Better indeed for us to die than to live, if souls be not saved.”

Let’s be the city on the hill that is ready to draw a dying and desperate world to the hope that is only found in Christ.

Let’s be ready to “open” and to gather together again in-person with God’s people.

Let’s thank God for this sovereign interruption–even as it has wrought incredible difficulty, challenges, and even death for many–as part of God’s wise and trustworthy rule continues to provoke our praise, gratitude, and submission. In our current cultural moment, can anything be more essential than that?

An update to all of our CGN church friends from Pastor Brian Brodersen about the coronavirus pandemic.

Having pastored a church without small groups, and now having pastored a church where always at least half of the congregation is in a small group, I can tell you the latter is preferable. People need to know each other. People need to interact with healthy Christians. People need community.

But many churches have a hard time establishing a thriving small group ministry. I know this through observation, but also through many conversations I’ve had with pastors and leaders who ask me for advice about small groups in their setting. And it has been a joy, over the years, to help a handful of churches lead and launch fruitful small group ministries.

What follows is some of the advice, along with some observations, I give to churches.

1. My Bible teachings aren’t the only things needed for transformation to occur.

I love the Bible. I dedicate roughly half my work week to studying, writing and teaching the Bible. When I was 18, I heard the voice of the Lord say, “I’ve called you to teach my Word.” I haven’t looked back. This task has consumed my life. I love the Bible.

But I know people need to live out the Bible with other Christians. Someone can hear about purity from the pulpit for 20 years, yet remain in secret sin. However, when they get into a small group, the impurity manifests itself. Someone can hear about wise financial management, but never do anything with the word they’ve heard. But in a small group, they’ll interact with Christians who have handled their finances well. Their lives will back up the message. From the pulpit, they will hear about the cross of Christ. I try to teach everyone about the importance of their newfound identity in Him. I urge them on toward sanctification. And I apply the great doctrines of Christ to their personal holiness, relationships, workplaces and family life. But I’ve seen how someone can hear those messages for years, yet never evidence any real change, and then, through interaction with other believers, watch it all come together.

You see, I can talk about confession, but where will they confess to others? I can talk about loving others, but where will they have an outlet to do so? I can talk about the importance of Christian fellowship, but where will it occur? I can talk about parenting your children in Christ, but where will they see it exemplified? So often, it’s been in the context of the smaller group.

If my pulpit work alone is responsible for transformation in people’s lives, I’ve put too much weight on the pulpit.

2. I shouldn’t overemphasize the personal aspects of the Christian life while neglecting the communal life of the church.

The early church expected to go through life together. They were instinctively tuned toward a “together” life. But our modern age and western thought often highlight the individual rather than the community. We think a lot about ourselves, focus on ourselves and prefer ourselves.

But the Christian life cannot be lived alone. Yes, our faith is personal. Each individual must submit to Christ and follow His lead personally. A Christian’s devotional life, consecration and service to God are personal in nature.

Still, we shouldn’t only emphasize the personal aspects of the faith. We are a community, one which reinforces the doctrines and practices we want to employ as individuals. In other words, the group helps each person become what they should. The “one-another” of the New Testament helps the church live life together, and this leads to greater spiritual health in each individual.

3. I don’t need to develop small replicas of a church service.

As I said, I love the Bible and have received a strong tradition in the Scripture from those who came before me. I love Bible study. I like teaching it. I like listening to others teach. It’s one of my favorite things to do, just not in a living room.

In a small group, I want to know people, not hear another sermon. I want to hear how the Word of Christ has affected the people I’m in regular interaction with. I want to know what the Lord is saying to them.

Honestly, hearing people talk about how the previous Sunday’s text and teaching ministered to their hearts is so encouraging. Then, over the years, watching people grow and develop as the Word messes with them is one of my greatest joys.

But, often, because we love the Word so much, churches will let small groups be a little replica of a Sunday or midweek church service. First, the small group sings. Then, announcements. Finally, a teaching.

All this can be fine, but we need places to apply the Word, pray for others and be known. We need a place to talk about the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, break bread and pray together (Acts 2:42).

4. I have to get out of my comfort zone.

Many pastors are more comfortable behind a pulpit than in a living room. They like communicating to, but not with, others. Get them sitting on a couch in someone else’s living room, without any other assignment, to listen to and love the people they’re with, and their palms get sweaty. Can’t we just have a church service? They might think.

But the Lord wants us to spend time with people. Many people claim to be introverted, but I assure you, I am. I try to let God use it for His glory. It’s part of what makes me comfortable with extended hours in private study, writing or prayer. But I also know it would be unhealthy for me only to be alone with God; I must also be with God’s people. And though I can’t spend personal time with every member of the church, I certainly can with my small group.

If a pastor doesn’t like being in a small group, he won’t emphasize them. If he doesn’t value Christian community, he won’t prioritize it for the church.

5. I must recognize the need for a holistic approach to spiritual development.

Since the Word of God is perfect and pure, our teaching of His Scriptures helps shape the mind, heart and soul of the people we serve. But people need other venues to become balanced and whole believers. While the development of the mind and intellect are important, so is the maturation of the emotions or the body. Feelings and habits are often shaped in the context of a Christian community.

I’ve found many pastors have been so powerfully shaped over the years by the teaching ministry of others, that they forget this isn’t the normal experience. I spent my first decade in Christ, consuming massive amounts of teaching and preaching from others. I am still an avid listener and reader of Bible teaching. And I feel all of it has shaped me into a more Christlike version of Nate Holdridge. But, if I’m not careful, I will think my experience normative. Many folks, though, will need more of their breakthroughs to take place in the context of community.

Let me give an example. When I was younger, I went through a phase where I wasn’t taking care of my physical health at all. It was a what-really-matters-is-the-kingdom-not-my-weight kind of attitude. Now, obviously, people obsess and worship their health quite often in our modern world. But I kind of let myself go. All the while, I received teaching about stewardship, even stewardship of the body. But I did nothing about the message.

One day, some friends and I got to talking. We determined we weren’t taking care of the bodies God gave us, so we challenged each other to start taking our physical health seriously. And that short season changed my life, setting me on a trajectory of physical fitness. Now, I try to steward my body well so I can, with strength and stamina, serve Jesus for many years. But it took Christian community for the lesson to sink in. The Word had shaped my mind, but I needed a community to live it out in.

And in small groups, the Scriptures are discussed, but we also talk about our feelings. When we vocalize our feelings, doubts and insecurities, the Spirit receives some room to operate. When we commit to various habits and disciplines, the community helps us recognize whether we are staying the course.

6. Our small groups don’t have to threaten the unity of the church.

I don’t think you can be a church with small groups if the secondary and tertiary doctrines of Scripture are treated like primary ones in your church. For example, if a pastor can’t talk about eschatology without humility, and instead insults Christians with views other than his, then the small group experience will suffer. People won’t know how to handle Christians who, though being solid on the primary doctrines of Scripture, aren’t exactly like them in the others.

But if a church is able to give treatment to the secondary and tertiary doctrines with conviction and charity, then they will become a place that can more easily handle small groups. A pastor’s tone in the pulpit will help set the atmosphere of the small group.

And, yes, small groups can unearth all kinds of things: not just doctrinal differences, but interpersonal conflict. The thing is, these often already exist. Why pretend they don’t? Instead, face them head-on. And, though life gets real inside small groups, I have found our church much more unified than before. Every awkward moment, disappointment, or conflict, in my estimation, has served as an opportunity for sanctification to take hold.

***

Our fellowship has enjoyed a prioritized and vibrant small group ministry for the past eight years. We were a collection of people before, but now, after years of meeting together in smaller settings, thousands of quality relationships have formed. We know and love one another.

It has been a joy for me, as a pastor, to watch this development. It has been messy. People have gotten hurt. Complaints have come. But sin is going to be part of the church until Christ returns, so it’s inevitable, especially when you put people in the same room with each other, that offense and misunderstanding and anger will occur. But, through it all, we have encouraged, loved and walked with one another through life. We have so far to go to become like the earliest church, but we are growing more into Christlikeness every day, and I believe these smaller settings are working so well with our larger gatherings toward that goal. If I had to do it all over again, I would lead us toward small groups because people need community.

In our last installment of Ecclesiology 101, we began to look at how the local church lives and breathes in relationship to prayer.

We laid the foundation by noting that prayer in its essence is man talking with God. It is using words to express to God what we sense and feel. It is using words to express our needs to God. It’s the use of words in responding to who God is, what God is doing or what God has done.

If that is what prayer is, then the book of Psalms is God’s textbook on prayer. Though the psalms have much to say about God — each author prays (talks to God) in response to what they know about God. That is the prerequisite of prayer. What we know about God is the soil in which prayer grows.

The prayers of David are a great example of this.

“Psalm 3 A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son.

O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people!” (Psalm 3:1-8).

“Psalm 34 Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:1-8).

“Psalm 51 A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”

They held back nothing from their intense, personal, in the moment prayers. They even made sure to write down the wrong attitudes and flawed passions that they spoke openly to God for us to see.

We ended by noting that what they PRAYED ALONE was also intended to be PRAYED TOGETHER.

David clearly intended Psalm 3 to be read and prayed in community:

“I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah” (Psalm 3:4).

David intended Psalm 34 to be prayed in community:

“Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?” (Psalm 34:9-12).

David intended that radical, intensely personal and brutally honest prayer of Psalm 51 to be sung in community. The full title of Psalm 51 is “To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”

The book of Psalms became the prayer book of Israel. These prayers were prayed collectively when they gathered in the synagogue. They prayed these psalms as a community — knowing the needs of individuals in the synagogue — knowing who those prayers hit home with and knowing how those prayers resonated with the heart and spiritual state of the community as a whole.

Many of these prayers were put to music so they could be committed to memory. The Book of Psalms was the prayer book of Jesus — the Song Book of Jesus.

This “gathered” form of prayer continued in the newborn church.

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).

“Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour” (Acts 3:1).

Peter and John were on their way to seek God in prayer with other believers. They did this together on a regular basis — at a regular time.

AGAIN — For a community of believers to live and breathe in connection with prayer presumes the individuals that comprise that community pray.

Prayer is an incredibly personal and privileged vertical conversation between an individual child of God and his or her heavenly Father. Prayer does have a necessary private context. Jesus modeled this in His own prayer life. He would get up before it was light and find a deserted place to be alone in prayer with His Father. He would come forth from those times of prayer with marching orders (“No, I can’t stay and preach to the crowds in Capernaum; I have to go to the unwalled towns and villages” — He chose the 12 after spending the night alone with His Father in prayer.)

Jesus taught about praying privately.

In Matthew 6:6, He taught about going into your own room and shutting the door behind you to pray. But the main point was not to encourage isolated prayer. That instruction was a warning against the temptation to pray publicly for the wrong reasons.

YES — prayer often begins when we’re alone. We pray our guilt, our pain, our joy. We pray on our bed at night (as the psalmist did). We even pray privately when surrounded by unbelievers in our neighborhood, or at work, or in the classroom. But we can never be with others non-stop. And by the way — we should never be with others non-stop. But we should always be aware of the fact that we are always with God.

God wants His children to have personal conversations with Him. Sometimes He demands them, right? But He also wants to have family conversations with His children. He wants us to call our friends into prayer. He knows that our prayers and our prayer life mature when they are integrated with the community of believers God has placed us in.

I really like how Eugene Peterson puts it: “By ourselves, we are not ourselves.” There is a very real way in which we are not fully ourselves until we are a part of a community of believers.

There is something extraordinary that happens when we pray with others who have prayed. There is something amazing when we put our knees on the ground together with others — we have the sense that we are on the same ground — our knees are level with their knees. By the way, It’s okay to get on our knees when we worship and pray together. I become more fully me when my hands are raised with your hands in praise and adoration, when my voice joins with your voices in praise and prayer, rejoicing or weeping. The point of worshiping and praying with all of you is not to express myself — but to become the person God saved me to be. By myself, I’m not really myself. By myself, I am not really myself — I am not the man Jesus redeemed me to be!

We are NOT naturally good at this.

It goes against the individualism of culture. It goes against the grain of how we are so very self-conscious about what others think or feel about us. It goes against the grain of how we would rather not be known. We would not have the psalms if that were the case. The psalms were self-disclosing! Those prayers made known the deepest needs, greatest failures and personal fears of the writer to the community of God’s people.

And as they were prayed in community, people owned those same needs, those same failures and those same fears as their own. As individuals, we are wonderfully and beyond comprehension of the objects of God’s grace and love. But when we pray in community — grace and love suddenly have objects outside of ourselves. And as we pray with others — praying about our needs and failures and fears — we also become the object of God’s grace and love through His other children.

We do pray in song today. Sometimes we sing the lyrics of the psalms.

When we sing the psalms, are we singing them as OURS?

DO we sing the words as OUR prayers? Are we self-disclosing? When we do, we experience community! When we do, we actually become more of who Jesus saved us to be.

This is why I struggle so much with so much of what is called worship today. It is more about musicality — more about performance — more about vibe and production than praying together.

“We call our worship ‘dynamic’ or ‘exciting’ or ‘engaging.’ The unintended message is that worship is not for God — but really for the worshiper. Which raises the question – who are we worshiping?” –Jared C. Wilson, Prodigal Church

“Between 1995 and 2000 I’d traveled to a host of worship-driven churches — On the good occasions, the worship experience was transporting… Too many times, I came away with an unnamed, uneasy feeling. Something was not quite right. The worship felt disconnected from real life. Then there were the services when the pathology… came right over the platform and hit me in the face. It was unabashed self-absorption, a worship culture that screamed, ‘It’s all about us…'”– Sally Morgenthaler

If prayer is an integral part of how the local church lives and breathes, how do we get past our natural inclination toward individualism and self-consciousness?

I believe it’s crucial to remember why we find ourselves in a specific gathering of believers.

God saved you — quarried you out to be a building block — a living stone built on the foundation of Jesus — related to the cornerstone and fitted alongside other living stones. All that you are in Jesus, all that He is desiring to do in and through you is inextricably tied to the fact that He places us next to a very specific collection of other living stones.

You will never be the living stone Jesus saved you to be until you do life with the other living stones around you — and a huge part of that life means that you move from PRAYING ALONE to PRAYING TOGETHER with and for these other living stones.

In 2010, a horrific incident happened in New York City. A woman was accosted by a man on the street. Another man named Hugo Tax-Yale stopped to help her, but he was then stabbed by the woman’s assailant. The woman ran off in one direction and the assailant in the other. Hugo fell to the ground and lay bleeding and dying. Many people walked past this man, but nobody stopped to help him, hours later, when someone finally stopped to check him, he was already dead.

Of course, the question that immediately springs to mind is: Why did nobody help him?

Did nobody notice that a man they were walking past was bleeding to death on the street? Were these people totally, morally devoid? There are two main sociological reasons why nobody stopped to help him, and both are troubling.

1) The bystander effect

This is when, for example, you see someone lying unconscious on the street, but because everyone else is just walking by them, you assume it is okay. You think to yourself, perhaps someone else is doing something about it? The amount of people on the scene diffuses individual responsibility, and so people tend to just ignore the situation.

2) The blasé attitude

This social phenomenon is most often seen in cities and centers of culture and civilization. The term “the blasé attitude” was coined by a German urban sociologist called Georg Simmel. He argued that, for people who live in the city, there is so much stimuli going on around them all the time, that they eventually have to shut down and begin to ignore everything that is happening around them in order to stay sane in their environment. They become “blasé”; they determine not to be affected by anything, because if they allow themselves to care, it will crush them. This leads to a highly individualized society where people look out for their own needs but not for the need of others. Because post-modern people, (particularly city dwellers) have so much stimuli to deal with every day, they subconsciously or consciously choose to ignore those around them who are suffering.

When we start to allow the “blasé attitude” to creep into our psyche, we begin to reduce the value of human life.

The example I gave in the first paragraph of how a man was allowed to bleed and die on the street in New York, while hundreds of people walked past him, is a perfect example of this. Of course, this incident reminds me of the parable of the Good Samaritan found in the gospel of Luke.

Let’s look at this parable below. Jesus said:

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘And when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ ‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”

In this parable, the priest and the Levite are like our modern-day, well-educated, enlightened city dwellers. They have all of their well-thought out reasons for passing by the bleeding man: Perhaps their religious beliefs were a deterrent; perhaps they simply didn’t have the time, or perhaps they felt the bleeding man was a vagrant or of a different race. But whatever their reasons for not stopping, their actions show they simply didn’t think the bleeding man mattered enough to be helped.

Jesus highlights the kindness of the Samaritan. A race of people who were despised by the Jews, and yet in all their intellect, the priest and the Levite had allowed themselves to become blasé about the suffering of the man, while the Samaritan simply saw a fellow human in need and cared enough to help. Jesus quite simply ends the parable by saying, “Go and do likewise.”

When I think about the terrible suffering and human degradation in this world, I am tempted to become blasé. I don’t want to think about the reality of the suffering of the broken people in my city because it is too crushing for me. But I need to remember that there are things in life that I cannot be blasé about, because somethings are sacred. In a world that wants to laugh about everything (because if we don’t laugh, we might just cry) I want to remember that somethings are not funny. Somethings matter too much to be blasé about, such as human lives that I pass on the street every day. I want to remind myself to care.

In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 it says: “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I admit today how weak I am.

I find it hard to face the sufferings of those people I see on the streets, I want to be blasé because it seems easier. I want to let them be somebody else’s problem. But! Thank God, when I am weak, He is strong, He is strong in me. God called us to care about our “neighbors,” to love them as we love ourselves. But He has not left us to try and do it in our own strength; He has filled us with His strength and love and grace, so that we can pour it out on others.

Today, let’s pray to God to give us strength to care more, not less. Let’s look at the people around us, and in the light of the Gospel, see them as our responsibility. Because they are our responsibility; we have been instructed to love them. Let’s stop ignoring and being blasé, and let’s remember that there are things that are sacred, things that cannot be pulled down into the mud of the mundane. Jesus Christ is sacred, and He died for us. Jesus is our good Samaritan; He didn’t walk by us when we were in need. He stopped and tended to our wounds. He paid for our restoration and is coming back for us. So let’s see the people we pass by on the street the way God sees them, and He sees them as precious enough to die for. He has put His love in us, so let’s share it in practical ways in our community today.

It is an interesting time that we live in. People are more connected than they have ever been yet more isolated than ever as well. We literally have thousands of “friends” in our pockets whom many of us interact with on a daily basis. Yet the depth of our relationships are exceedingly shallow. As I was thinking through this, I had a visual of social media as an ocean vast as the Pacific but an inch deep. It may look impressive from a distance, but no matter how far you wade in, you will not find depth of any kind.

I recently read a couple articles about the correlation between social media and isolation, one was by NPR and the other from Psychology Today. Both articles were pointing out the vicious cycle of isolation and anxiety, saying isolation produces anxiety and depression, then anxiety and depression cause people to isolate farther. This is a destructive circle we can get in, and contrary to what one might think, these articles showed that social media not only does not help, but fuels this cycle.

The article in Psychology Today said this:

“The relatively modern phenomenon of social media and its associated technology adds a new dimension to loneliness and anxiety by offering the young person a way of directly quantifying friendships, viewing the friendship networks of others for comparison, and providing immediate information about social events. You can compare your own popularity with that of your peers, and manage that adolescent ‘fear of missing out’ (FOMO) by continually monitoring what’s going on socially. So it’s easy to see how technology use can take the place of more traditional social interaction and provide a yardstick for one’s popularity – or more significantly, one’s feelings of loneliness and alienation.”

The NPR article references a study from the American Journal of Preventive Medicine that showed that people who visited social media outlets more frequently (58 or more times per week) had more than three times the odds of perceived social isolation than those who visited less than nine times per week. They hypothesize the cause as follows: “You might watch all these interactions where it seems like everyone else is connecting…That could lead to feeling excluded. The images of other people’s seemingly perfect vacations, homes and lives, even though those are not likely to represent reality, can make you feel like you’re missing out.”

So, we are living in the middle of this tech era, ruled and governed by social media outlets of various descriptions, who are all promising friendship and community, but are bearing the bad fruit of isolation, anxiety and depression.

However the reality is, social media is not ultimately at fault, and social media is not evil. The true problem is so much deeper, and it is not new; I would like to make the case that you can trace it all the way back to the beginning of humanity, and then I want to show that Jesus is the only solution!

So I have five points that I hope will provide some clarity on this subject of our need for and struggle with community.

1. Community is in God’s very nature.
2. We were created FOR community.
3. Sin broke (and breaks) community.
4. Jesus redeems us TO community.
5. The Church IS community.

1. Community is in God’s very nature.

The God of the Bible is a Triune God. He reveals Himself as such from the start. Genesis 1:26 says, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…'” As The New City Catechism so eloquently states in questions two & three:

“Q: What is God? A: God is the creator and sustainer of everyone and everything. He is eternal, infinite, and unchangeable in his power and perfection, goodness and glory, wisdom, justice, and truth. Nothing happens except through him and by his will. Q: How many persons are there in God? A: There are three persons in the one true and living God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They are the same in substance, equal in power and glory.”

The implications of God’s Triune nature are vast, one of the most significant of which is that it means God Himself not only is in community, but that He Himself IS community. God, in His very nature is a loving community from eternity past. And from that communal nature, He created us, His image bearers, as communal beings. Which brings us to our next point.

2. We were created FOR community.

God is a community of love, and He created us to live in loving community. In Genesis 2:18 we see a glimpse into the mind of God as He was creating humanity: “Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.'” This is why isolation is damaging, as the studies I referenced show, isolation produce anxiety and depression, because it is not good that man should be alone! Community is our created intent, so when we are not living in it, we do not thrive. The nature of the community God created us for is twofold. It is 1) Loving (as I mentioned) and 2) Shares purpose or mission.

God’s design for community is that we would live in loving harmony with Him and with one another. Serving and obeying God, while preferring and complementing (completing) one another. Additionally, God’s community has, from the start, always revolved around shared purpose or mission. In Genesis 1 we see that God called our first parents not just to be fruitful and multiply, but also to subdue the earth, have dominion over the creatures and tend to the garden. If our first parents would have walked in this, humanity would live in paradise and harmony! But you know the story. Genesis 3 comes along and everything starts to fall apart. Our first parents sinned against God and against one another. Hence point number three.

3. Sin broke (and breaks) community.

In Genesis 3, the account of the fall, we see a systematic deconstruction of our created intent: The Serpent arrived and called the command of God into question, and our first parents began to doubt, or disbelieve, God’s word, which led them to betray their mission. Rather than caring for creation, they abused it, using it for their own selfish gain (eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil).

Their disbelief and their rejection of their purpose caused the community they were created for to begin to break down. They rebelled against God, which broke communion with Him. Rather than walking with Him, they hid themselves from Him out of shame. Then rather than loving and preferring one another, they turned on one another! The man blaming the woman for their rebellion (shocking, I know).

From that point on, as we read through the grand narrative of scripture, and of history for that matter, we see this pattern over and over: Community broken by sin. Sin breaks community because, as I mentioned, in order for community to work, its foundation must be love.

But sin, at it’s core, is selfish, and selfishness is the antithesis of love. We could talk about this on a large scale, in reference to nations waring against nations, or political parties, or social and racial conflict. All of which are examples of community that is broken by sin.

But let’s bring it a bit closer to our personal lives. Returning to what I mentioned in the start of this article. In this age we live in, we are increasingly isolated because the spirit of our culture is individualism, independence and success, where the end of all is being successful, wealthy, powerful and glamorous. The narrative we are fed is watch out for “#1.” Do whatever it takes to succeed, love yourself, work yourself to the bone to advance your career because it’s a dog-eat-dog world. It is this godless philosophy that drives us away from true community. We are so “busy” with our own lives that we do not make time for real community. But we have this pseudo community that is social media, which gives us the illusion of friendship but with no real personal investment, no sacrifice and no love. And as I said in the start, we are beginning to see the fruit of this broken system.

This is the great tragedy of our existence, the struggle between our God-given need for community and our inherited sin nature that rules us apart from Christ. So what is the answer? JESUS.

4. Jesus redeems us TO community.

If the problem goes all the way back to creation, sin breaking communion with God and community with one another, then the solution needs to resolve the root of the problem, not just the symptoms. Queue Jesus.

Romans 5:12-16 shows us that Jesus came to this earth to undo the work of Adam, our first father. Jesus, as He walked on this earth, was the first man who ever fully and perfectly lived out our created intent. He had unbroken communion with the Father; He did not rebel against Him. He selflessly loved those around Him. He fulfilled the mission and purpose of God without wavering. And finally, Jesus gave Himself up freely to the cross to pay the penalty for our sin; He went to the grave and was raised by the power of God, victorious over sin and death once and for all. So now, as you and I place our faith in Him, we share His identity and are freed from the power of sin in our lives. Through the work of Jesus, God restored our communion with Him by breaking down the barrier of sin, freeing us from the prison of our destructive selfishness, so we can love Him. And consequently, He saved us TO a redeemed community as He adopted us into the family of God. See Romans 8:14-17.

In short, by the grace of Jesus we are set free to walk in our created intent. Though we will not do it perfectly, in Christ we are able to live in communion with God, community with one another, fulfilling the mission and purpose of God in our lives. This is what it means to be part of the Church.

5. Church IS community.

When we understand the Gospel in this light, it changes the way we see church. Church is not something we do on Sundays; it is certainly not a building. Church is the community of God’s people who commune with God together and share HIS mission.

We see this lived out in the snapshot of the early church in Acts 2:42-47. For them church was not a once or twice a week thing, it was day by day meeting in the temple and in one another’s homes. They were receiving teaching. They were fellowshipping. They broke bread. They prayed. They had all things in common, sacrificially giving to one another. They praised God and had favor with all the people, and God added to their number day by day those who were being saved. This type of community is hard; it takes sacrifice and time. It takes a shifting of priorities. But this is what it means to be a part of Christ’s church. This is the very thing Jesus commands us to do.

” A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

Esther needed a Mordecai moment and message–and so do many local churches today.

“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).

In the first two posts in this series, I laid out the reasons for why I believe God has commanded every local church and every one of His followers down through history to participate at some level in making disciples from among every ethnic group that He Himself created. Yet despite that goal-embedded command, the guaranteed end game outcome He has already revealed, and the unique ability we have to know how much progress has been made in obedience to the command, only a small percentage of local churches in the United States actually participate in one of the fundamental purposes for their very existence.

To be totally honest, this reality is both confusing and frustrating to me.

Not long ago, I pleaded with the Lord once again for His wisdom to understand how it’s possible for Bible-teaching churches to be apathetic about participating in global missions. And I also asked Him to show me what I can do to help local church leaders to begin taking the Great Commission as seriously as our missionary God does. As I cried out to Him, He directed me to the verse listed above. Not just the easily applicable portion of the verse that has helped many Christians view their circumstances through a sovereignty of God lens, but the whole verse.

I plunged more deeply than ever before into thinking about the situation Esther found herself in at that moment in time, and Mordecai’s bold and prophetic declaration to her. From there, I began thinking about the situation local churches find themselves in, especially in the United States, and my mental and spiritual alarm bells went off.

I saw the following similarities between many of the specifics of Esther’s situation and those of a local church in America, and they are too much alike to be coincidental.

SIMILARITIES BETWEEN ESTHER AND LOCAL CHURCHES

1. By God’s design and plan from eternity, Esther was the bride of a king at a specific moment in time, and every local church is the bride of the King of Kings at a specific moment in time.

2. Through God’s orchestration of events beyond their control, like Esther in her days, every local church in the United States today lives in a position of privilege with a standard of living that places them in the top one percent of the people on the planet. This includes a level of comfort and safety that few others on the earth enjoy.

3. Both have access to unrivaled resources, rights and power that few others have, and relationships with people that have some level of influence.

4. Both live in a comparatively cozy bubble, insulated from the awareness of, or exposure to the day to day rigors that are a part of the lives of the masses outside the cocoon.

5. Because of all of the above and more, both are in need of a jolt of reality from God about the responsibility that comes along with receiving the level of grace He bestows upon them.

ONE MAN, ONE MESSAGE–FOR TWO VERY DISTANT MOMENTS IN TIME

I’m now convinced that God didn’t just send Mordecai to wake up Esther with a sobering message at her moment in time; He used Mordecai and a shockingly similar message to wake up each local church at this moment in time.

Because he knew God’s already revealed end game plan for the distinct ethnic group of people that we know as the Jews, Mordecai knew that the decree to commit genocide on them would not be successful. He knew God was going to rescue those called by His name, but he didn’t know how the rescue would be accomplished.

Mordecai had already challenged Esther to go to the king and intervene on behalf of her people. He had also heard her fear-laden description of what happens to those who approach the king without previously being summoned by him.

In response to Esther’s explanation for why she was reluctant to do what he had exhorted her to do, Mordecai’s proclamation contained these five God-generated truths that are exactly the things Jesus knows each local church, especially those in America, need to hear.

FIVE TRUTHS ESTHER HEARD THAT APPLY TO EVERY LOCAL CHURCH TODAY

1. God has already revealed His future plans to rescue people from a specific ethnic group. In Esther’s case, it was the Jews, in our case–He is going to rescue the people called by His name that come from within every ethnic group that He has created (Acts 15:17).

2. God has placed your church in the privileged position you currently find yourself in, and it is for a purpose larger than your own interests.

3. God invites your church to be an active participant in bringing about the guaranteed outcome that He has already revealed in His word.

4. To accept the invitation to participate could require putting your church’s current status/way of life at risk, with no guarantee that it will continue as it is. For Esther, it was literally her life that she had to be willing to risk. For a local church today, it could be the death of doing church the way that we do.

5. Recognize that although your church can choose to ignore the opportunity to bring about God’s guaranteed outcome, not participating will bring severe consequences. For Esther, it would have been her and her family. For local churches today, it could be their very existence as His true bride in their local community.

Esther heeded Mordecai’s message, invited others to join her in prayer and fasting, accepted the risk and by faith stepped into participation in what God was already going to do.

May the leaders of every local church heed Mordecai and his message and follow Esther’s lead!

A number of years ago, an anthropologist from Poland, Alicja Iwanska, conducted a study among farmers in the Northwest section of the United States. One of the conclusions of the study found that within the realm of interaction with other people, these “average” Americans basically placed people into one of the following three categories: people, machinery or scenery.

A TRI-FOLD DESIGNATION OF OTHER PEOPLE

PEOPLE: were those that the study participants had “real” relationships with. This included immediate family members, close friends and a few others. They knew the “stories” of those they considered PEOPLE, shared their own story with them, and were genuinely concerned about what was going on in their lives.

MACHINERY: were those that they had the need to interact with as part of just living day-to-day life, and who usually were fulfilling some kind of function that the study participant needed in order to live life–like the teller at the bank, the gas station attendant, the waitress, the lady behind the counter at the DMV and so forth.

The service these people provided and that was needed by the study participant was all that mattered. There was no interest in showing any care for them, getting to know them at any level or revealing anything about themselves.

What mattered was whether this person accomplished the task that the study participant was deriving a benefit from. And if that task wasn’t accomplished to their satisfaction, then even less thought was given to that person, as a person, and a mental note was made to discover someone else who was more competent at completing the function.

SCENERY: were those who sporadically came within their field of vision at a distance, were from different cultures and/or from a lower socio-economic status.
The study participants knew they were out there and that they occupied space in the same little part of the world that they lived life in, but they didn’t have reason to interact with or engage them.

In many cases, they said that the distinction between these people and the actual scenery that surrounds day-to-day life such as trees, stoplights, billboards, fences, etc., had been blurred to them. Every now and then something would trigger a thought in them that forced them to recognize that these people really were people and not scenery, but that didn’t happen that often.

CATEGORIZATION IS COMMON TO ALL PEOPLE

In my own travels and ministry to Americans and those of other cultures, both here in America and in other countries, I’ve come to the conclusion that categorizing people like this is common among all people. In fact, I’m convinced that placing other people into one of these categories springs forth from two realities that are interwoven together.

First, it’s the result of our knowledge of our own limitations. We think we know our capacity for meaningful relationships, and once we have reached that number, we become comfortable with the idea of viewing those outside of that number as either machinery or scenery.

Second, that perceived limitation, under the control of the sinful, selfish nature that is our natural state, amplifies that perception of others. It provides a plausible explanation for our unwillingness to desire or to exert any effort to stop categorizing people and to start viewing others as we ourselves would like to be viewed by everyone else–as fellow human beings.

When these two realities are coupled together, it isn’t surprising to me that categorizing people in this way is the result.

IT’S NOT THE SYSTEM JESUS OR HIS KINGDOM USES

What is surprising to me is that this universal, sin-influenced way of viewing others continues to be the norm among those that are new creations in Christ–including those in local church leadership positions.

Jesus didn’t navigate life using the same categorization system of the people of His day, especially the one the religious leaders used. His interaction with everyone He came in contact with, and the truths He taught His followers about God’s love for all people, produced conflict with the religious leaders. And as the book of Acts and the epistles make clear, the world’s categorization system has no place in His Kingdom.

WHAT THE SYSTEM LOOKS LIKE IN A LOCAL CHURCH

And yet, whether they’re aware of it or not, many pastors and leaders of local churches view and interact with their attendees/members using the same categorization lenses as the study participants.

Which means:

1. They view the majority of the people sitting in the sanctuary at each service as nothing more than beautiful SCENERY that is to be enjoyed with their eyes alone. The gathered congregation is viewed in the same way a beautiful, hopefully ever expanding forest is–as something awesome to behold as a whole, with little regard for the health of the individual trees that actually produce the forest.

2. They view those that make the service run, (ushers, the audio & visual guys, parking lot attendants, even children’s ministry servants and so forth), as MACHINERY that is essential for the functioning of the various ministries of the church. They recognize that these servants do need attention on occasion, but the motivation for providing it is not from a genuine interest in them as people, but because they are crucial for the ongoing operation of the machine.

3. They only view their own families and fellow paid staff members as PEOPLE, and they are satisfied relating to the other members of the church as MACHINERY or SCENERY.

IS YOUR CHURCH USING IT?

If you’re a pastor or a church leader and you’ve just read the above and concluded that doesn’t describe your church, I’d like to challenge you to do something radical.

Why not ask four or five of those you interact with as PEOPLE, (not just paid staff, but others who serve in some capacity in the church on a regular basis) whether they feel like they’re treated as people, machinery or scenery by the pastor and leaders of the church?

And then humbly accept their perspective as valid–even if it is different from your own perspective–and then respond accordingly.

On Labor Day, my wife Karen and I hosted a BBQ in our condo complex, and some of our neighbors joined the fun. One couple has been married 59 years. They met in Memphis and were high school sweethearts. His sister used to hang out with Elvis, as his career began to skyrocket. The wife talked about what it was like watching Elvis become famous. I asked, “What was Memphis like growing up?” And she talked about small schools, white clapboard churches, warm nights on patio swings and the like. Then I gently asked, “What was it like to live in the South in those days?” She paused and replied, “We were so unreasonable! Black people in the back of a bus, separate schools, drinking fountains, dining … We were so unreasonable!”

To be a reasonable person means to be fair, sensible, just and having sound judgment.

Are you reasonable?

The Christian faith, unlike any other worldview, philosophy or religion is reasoned and reasonable. Thus, a Biblical worldview can withstand critical analysis. Therefore, God invites us to think, “Come now, let us reason together says the Lord” (Isaiah 1:18). And we are called to love God with all of our mind (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Matthew 22:37-39). Thus, followers of Christ should be reasonable since Jesus is reasonable.

The term “reasoned” is related but distinct. We see this term regularly applied to Paul’s ministry. For example, Paul reasoned with Jews in the synagogue at Thessalonica (Acts 17:2). The Greek term translated “reasoned” is dialegomai. It is not too difficult to see the connection to our English word “dialogue.” Dialogue seems like a benign friendly conversation. Nevertheless, dialegomai, as it related to Paul, wasn’t simple dialogue. The term in Paul’s context related to the practice of listening to another’s worldview and then refuting that view point-by-point to persuade them of the correctness of your view. This style of reasoning can be very effective in contrasting the gospel and Christian worldview with other beliefs. On the other hand, this style of dialogue may not be reasonable when discussing countless issues that are important to God.

People are passionate about many issues. And they may discover that others have a polar opposite perspective. Unfortunately, there are too many people who claim to be followers of Christ who are unreasonable as they enter into these conversations. It misrepresents Christ when we are rude, proud, dismissive, condescending, unloving, unfair and unjust. We should be able to dialogue and share perspectives with gentleness, respect, humility and compassion. Jesus displays compassions without compromise and so should those who claim to be His followers.

We need spaces to share and exchange our views regarding: racism, sexual harassment, gender discrimination, sexual sin – hetero and homo, gender identification, LGBT discrimination, the triumphs and tragedies of government, the idea that Jesus didn’t come to save America (nationalism) but Americans, and Nigerians, and Koreans – both North and South. We need safe places to talk about politics whether you’re liberal, conservative, apolitical, communist, socialist or undecided. We need to have places to discuss what can we do to help the homeless, the widows, the orphans, the fosters and the refugees. We need safe places to talk about how the local church tends to treat as lepers those who have had an abortion or have been divorced. We need to be encouraged that it is okay to talk about gluttony, over-indulging in alcohol or drugs. We need to experience the hope that problems that appear polarizing and likely to stir passions can be discussed in a reasonable way by people seeking to be reasonable.

I dream of God’s people gathering together and sharing their values, perspectives, and seeking to learn from one another, and listen to one another. I imagine people discovering how to be more reasonable as they learn God’s Word and heart on each of those issues and more. The Church, God’s people not the building, should be the most likely to create that space. But it requires reasonable people. And alas, they seem to be on the endangered species list. We need people willing to listen with a desire to hear and understand and empathize, not simply to listen to plan a rebuttal. We must learn how to respond in the Spirit and not react in the flesh.

What I often see on social media is ranting and so unreasonable.

Yes, a rant on social media will stir your constituents to like your content, but it is generally unlikely to exchange ideas, change values or change culture in a God-honoring way. Typically, it is not loving nor reasonable. Generally, social media is not the ideal platform for a healthy reasonable exchange. Similarly, a Sunday morning worship gathering is less than ideal. It is a passive learning environment, characterized by a primary speaker(s) and many passive listeners who are actively rehearsing their rebuttal silently in their heads as they tune in or out, while the speaker seeks to share his or her take on these complicated matters. The speaker may earnestly try to be reasonable, as in fair, sensible, just and having sound judgment. Even if the speaker studied the Scriptures, and the issue was researched and approached from varied perspectives, it is unlikely to be truly reasonable. The speaker cannot remove their own bias and prejudice, and competing views are not heard or considered. I’m not suggesting that we do away with sound Biblical teaching, because it is necessary. I am stating that I believe that it is inadequate for a reasonable dialogue and exchange of ideas and values.

If you are a reasonable person, who is interested in discussing these and other similar issues, with other reasonable people who may have very different views from you, I have an idea I’d like to share …

I’d love to see small groups meet in neighborhoods in coffee houses, homes, apartments, condos, parks, Mars Hill, etc. I’d love for people to share with one another what they believe, and what they think that God says about the issue and why. These gatherings would not be the debate club, nor the exchange of two opposing commentators seeking to mock their opponent, but reasonable people engaged in dialogue as disciples of Christ. People who recognize that to truly love God supremely and to love their neighbor as themselves requires engaging the most polarizing issues in a reasonable way. And, I’d love to invite group leaders to stand on the platform on Sunday morning and share about the messy, glorious experience and invite more people on a reasonable journey.

Sometimes it seems like Christians have a particular knack for looking down on and judging one another. Often this has to do with differences in personal convictions over grey areas. These are areas where Scripture does not give an unequivocal “thou shalt not…” or “do this…”, requiring Christians to work out a of wise approach to the matter at hand as they navigate the issue through life. In Romans 14:9-23, Paul deals with how to approach the question of convictions in amoral areas in a way that honors Christ and our brothers and sisters in the process.

“19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeedare pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense. 21 It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. 22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin.” (NKJV)

The passage contains four important principles for Christian unity:

Be Careful How You Define Sin

“All things indeed are pure.” In other words, if the Bible doesn’t say something is sin, you must not universally define it as sin. If the Bible is silent on a particular issue, or gives freedom in an area, or doesn’t set forth a specific stance, then no Christian, no matter how insightful and spiritual they think they are, has the right to declare it as sin or universally unacceptable. There are plenty of things the Bible does say are sin (which you would think would keep us busy enough as it is). Interestingly, spiritual pride is near the top of the list. As soon as you take any of your own, personal convictions and try to force it on others or turn it in to a blanket rule for all Christians, or simply quietly look down on others who don’t share your conviction, you have effectively become a Pharisee. These areas of conviction include things like moderate alcohol use (as opposed to drunkenness, which is clearly prohibited in Scripture), birth control, watching Harry Potter, eating bacon, playing cards, listening to secular music, using electricity, and on the list goes.

Follow Your Conscience

“Whatever is not from faith is sin.” This means that if you are personally convinced God doesn’t want you to do something, even though the Bible is silent on it, then don’t do it! For you it would be sin! The reason it would be sin is not because the thing or action itself is wrong, but because, in as far as you are convinced, it would be disobedience to God, and that is sin. So stick to your convictions. Live by them if you believe God is leading you to. Just don’t force them on others because then you’ll have a much bigger problem than eating bacon or watching Harry Potter.

Serve Your Brother, Not Yourself

“It is good not to do anything by which your brother stumbles.” That is, if the option is between using your freedom to do what you want and serving your brother, we should always go with the latter. Always. We are given great freedom in Christ not so we can do whatever we want, but so that in surrendering it for others we may become more like Jesus. The Cross of Jesus proves without a doubt that serving others is more important than standing on your rights. Those who have freedom in an area should be mature enough not to force their freedom on one who has more sensitive convictions. But does that mean we have to stop drinking coffee, eating bacon, watching TV and using electricity just cause it might stumble someone, somewhere in some hypothetical situation?

Wield Your Freedom in Love

“Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God.” To answer the previous question, no, to serve others with our freedom doesn’t mean that we become as strict in our convictions as they are. It does mean that we use our freedom with discretion and readiness to surrender it for others. The principle is not “if this might stumble someone, somewhere, I should never, ever do it.” Otherwise you’ll end up being a raw food vegan who doesn’t use electricity because “somewhere out there” is a vegan Amish person who might be stumbled by your freedom. But the thing is, love doesn’t exist in “theory”, only in practice. The principle Paul states here is this: “If my freedom in a given area does stumble the person I’m with right now, then in his presence I will refrain.” So enjoy the freedom God has given you, but use your freedom in places and ways it won’t stumble others. At the very least, you can enjoy your plate of bacon as you sit before God in solitude and thank Him for making pigs so delicious. Don’t worry, it won’t stumble Him. Understand, this principle does not mean we stop using freedom. But it does mean we surrender it at times for the good of those people we are actually serving and whom it would stumble at that moment.

If we as Christians would all apply these simple Scriptural principles, there would be a lot less petty fighting and contentions among the body of Christ.

Final Disclaimer

One disclaimer should be mentioned at this point: if a person is attempting to set up their own, personal convictions as a law for all other believers, it really means they are trying to set themselves up as God, since He is the only One who has the right to establish commands for all Christians. In that case, what we should do? We should do what Jesus did: contradict and break pharisaic pseudo-laws boldly. And if they are contradicting the will of God through their man-made convictions, we should ignore them and even be willing to rebuke them. Jesus often practiced this when the Pharisees attempted to thwart the work and will of God with their extra-biblical convictions. Jesus’ response was to boldly contradict them and continue on with the work His Father was doing. He even seemed to take delight in pressing the buttons of religious Pharisees at times. After all, He could’ve avoided offending their sensitivities if He wanted to, but He didn’t. Perhaps this was to show those upon whom the Pharisees had laid their burdens that one can truly love God without all the extra baggage of man-made restrictions.