The nature of the church (part 1) - Todd McCauley

So what exactly does the Bible teach about the church and how it should be run?

That question will hopefully be answered in this as well as subsequent articles to follow. It is my intent to help us rediscover what God’s word says about the church.

Over the next series of articles we will examine such topics like:
1. The purpose of the church
2. The activities of the church
3. The leadership of the church
4. The discipline of the church
5. The power of the church
6. The membership of the church

Let me begin this first article by examining what I’m calling, “The nature of the church”.

When you talk abut the nature of something, you are speaking about the “essential character of a thing, the qualities or quality that makes something what it is” (Webster)

Let me ask you this, “If someone were to ask you to define the church, what would you say?”

Without thinking some of you would probably say, “oh”, the church is that building on the corner of main and crossway blvd, I go there on Sundays” Others of you might answer, “the church is a denomination or an organization that a person belongs to” (e.g., The Southern Baptists or Assemblies of God or Catholic).
Though these are popular responses, they are unbiblical responses. We must understand once and for all that the church is not an organization, nor a denomination, nor is it a building on a corner, but according to the Scripture, the church is a people. In other words, the true nature or essential character of the church is that it is a people.
The official Greek word translated by the English word church is the word Ekklesia. This word is used 114 times in the Greek NT(New Testament). This word basically means, “A called out assembly”, in other words, a called out people(an elect people). In each of the Scriptural passages listed below you must translate the idea of "people" for the word church, and these verses then take on a whole new life.

1 Cor 12:28
“…And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues” (nasb).

(Paul writes that God has appointed among the People of God, first apostles…..).

Col 1:18
“He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything” (nasb)

(Paul writes that Christ is head of the body, which is the people of God).


Rom 1:16
“I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea”

(Paul states that Phoebe is a servant of the people of God, not of the denomination, or some organization or some institution).

Okay, Todd, we get it! The church is people, what’s your point already?

I guess my point is this, If we really understand this first fundamental reality concerning the nature of the church, I believe this would make a huge difference in how we acted.

As long as the church remains in the minds of most nothing more than an institution or organization or denomination or even just the building on the corner, one of the devastating consequences is a severe lack of accountability and responsibility. Let me elaborate just a bit. If the church is nothing more than an organization or institution where is the accountability? You can choose or not choose to be or apart of it, and if you don’t like what’s going on, you can move on to another organization, where are the accountability and responsibility? But if the church in the words of the NT is a vitally connected body (i.e., people), you must function, you are both accountable and responsible. You can’t leave when you want to, you can’t do what you want when you want. Listen, the true church is not like being part of some civic or social organization, No; you are part of a vital, living organism.

Read these powerful words by the Apostle Paul concerning the true nature of the church, he wrote in 1 Cor 12:12ff

12.For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13.For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
14.For the body is not one member, but many.
15.If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.
16.And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body.
17.If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
18.But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.
19.If they were all one member, where would the body be?
20.But now there are many members, but one body.
21.And the eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; or again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
22.On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the
23.and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable,
24.Whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked,
25.So that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
26.And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
27.Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it.
Another consequence of not thinking rightly about the nature of the church (i.e., not understanding that the church is a living organism versus a man-made organization or club) is the danger of minimalizing people. In an organization only certain people can contribute in significant ways, only certain people can be in leadership, only certain people can have a say. In an organization or institution you’ve got the Indians and the chiefs, you’ve got the VIP’s and the scrubs. But as Paul writes, in the body, everybody is necessary and important. In an organization, the rank and file members may be suffering, yet the VIP’s (very important parishioners) are eating steak. Not so in a body, if the toe hurts, the whole body hurts (I know; my feet hurt right now!).

A third consequence of not thinking rightly about the true nature of the Church is we can lose sight of who really owns the church. Many a man has been used to start new churches across the planet. The problem begins when these men forget to whom the church rightly belongs. Just because you are the “founder” does not mean that you are the “OWNER”. Organizations may belong to men, but the Organism called the church belongs to the living God – Christ Jesus our Lord (Matt16:18).

If we are going to see reform in the BC (I hope in my lifetime) we must get a firm grip of what the Bible teaches about the true nature of the church. I think once we begin seeing the true Biblical picture of the church several awesome things could happen:

1. BC’s across the nation would begin cooperating verses competing with each other, why? Because we truly understand that there is only One body (i.e., people) of Christ. The songwriter is right, “I need you to survive”.

2. The members of the BC would begin to value every other member of Christ’s body as important. Also, I believe in the importance of leadership, but in the black church, leadership has gotten out of control. Leadership walks on water, while the rest of us walk through mud, the church has only one head, Christ.

3. We would stop squandering our resources on building bigger chicken coops but focus rather on building better chickens. Millions of dollars, in my opinion, are being wasted yearly because we’re trying to build mega organizations verses building a godly organism. If we truly understood the church to be a divine organism verses organization, we would stop our crazy obsession with church growth and begin focusing on church health. I don't worry about my children's growth, I do worry about their health. If my kids are healthy, more than likely they will grow. I've said this before and it bears repeating, "If we with a proper biblical understanding focus on the depth of the ministry, God will take care of the breadth". If we focus on the health of the organism, God will take care of the growth. Many leaders in the BC are focusing on organizational growth rather than organism health.

Much more to come...


Until we all attain to the unity of the faith

CoolImprov

Lessons learned from Josiah

Take your Bibles and turn to Second Kings, once you’ve located second Kings turn to chapter twenty-two. In this chapter and the next you find one of my favorite historical accounts in the entire Old Testament, the account of young king Josiah. Since this blog is all about reform and revival, there is not a better real-life illustration of attempted reform than Josiah’s.
Chapter twenty-two begins during a time in Israel’s history when things are a mess because of the sin of the people and her leaders. Through the leadership of the rulers, Baal worship was introduced (1 kings 16), the people of God are in total rebellion (2 Kings 17:7ff) and the house of God, the place of worship is in need of repair (2 Kings 22:6). Under the reign of Hezekiah there was some reform for about 29 years. Hezekiah dies and his son and subsequently his grandson take over leadership and Israel is plunged right back into moral and spiritual depravity.

In an earlier post I declared, “As go your leaders, so go the followers”
Well, it’s true!

Now stepping up to the plate is a young man named Josiah. Chapter twenty-two verse one states, “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem….”
How did young Josiah avoid the corruption of his father and grandfather? Verse one states, “…..his mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath.

Thank God for Godly mothers!!!

Verse two reads, “He did right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the way of his great, great, great, etc,., grandfather David, nor did he turn aside to the right or to the left”.

Verse three declares, “Now in the eighteenth year of King Josiah (he’s 26 yrs old). Jump down to verse 8 it states that Hilkiah the High priest said to Shaphan the Scribe, “I have found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord”. Hilkiah then gave the book (The OT Torah; the first 5 books) to Shaphan who also read it.

Look at verse ten, “…Shaphan the Scribe told the king saying, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book, and Shaphan read it in the presence of the King”. Verse eleven reads, “When the king heard the words of the book of the Law, he tore his clothes”.
When Josiah was confronted with God’s word, he was soo convicted by what he heard that he took action immediately,

First, he dispatched his royal staff to go and get further clarification, “concerning the words of this book that has been found” (vs 13). They went to Huldah the prophetess to get clarity (vss 14-20).
Okay let’s not get sidetracked, Yes, God can and does use women, but looking at the whole of scripture her prophetic gift and ministry was not like that of the men who prophesied before her nor after her. In the New Testament we see another woman who had a prophetic gift. Her name was Anna (see Luke 2:36ff). She lived her life after the death of her husband in the Temple and for the remainder of her life continued to speak (the nature of the prophetic gift) to all those looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Therefore can a woman have a speaking gift? Absolutely!! But the use of her gift or anyone’s gift must be regulated by the Scripture and God’s sovereignty.
Okay let's get back on course

     Second, according to chapter 23, he sent for the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem-the Southern kingdom -The Northern Kingdom of Isreal had been taken captive by Assyria several years earlier because of her sin and rebellion - He gathers the leaders together in the house of the Lord along with the men, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and prophets and all the people small and great and he read in their hearing all the words found in the book of the Law that was lost in the house of the Lord.

     According to chapter twenty-three, verse three, the king in the presence of all made a covenant before the Lord to do several things:
1. To walk (i.e., live) after the Lord
2. To keep (i.e., obey) all his commandment and
Statutes with total whole-hearted commitment
3. To carry out the words of this covenant written
In the book.

     The remainder of chapter 23 records the reforms that came about as a result of rediscovering God’s word. Let me list a few:
1. All the idolatrous vessels were removed from the house of God (vs 4).
2. The apostate priests who served in God’s house were removed (vs 5).
3. Sexual immorality in the house of God was brought to an end (vs 7).
4. The Passover was reinstituted.

These are just a few of the reforms that took place in Jerusalem all of which were motivated by a rediscovery of the Word of God.

I stated at the outset of this article, that this historical narrative is a great illustration of what’s going on and what’s needed in our day.

What’s going on in our day?

1. In our day many of our UC (i.e., Urban Church) leaders are corrupt and immoral.

2. Many of the people who make up the UC are corrupt and immoral (They have good examples).

3. The local UC has in many places become a den of thieves and robbers and a hideout for the sexually immoral.

4. The Word of God is lost inside many of our Local Urban churches (Suburban churches too).

5. The key ordinances that should remind us of our Holy obligation no longer exist in some of our churches. In some churches, the baptismal is used for storage.

So what’s needed?
Is it not clear?

The key to reform in the UC is a rediscovery of the Word of God.

In the next series of articles I will attempt to help us rediscover what God’s word says about the church and how it should be run.

For His Glory,
CoolImprov

Reforming the Black Church - Todd McCauley

Several centuries ago, a radical Roman Catholic monk was sick and tired of what he was seeing in the church and decided to post his 95 protests or complaints on the door of a local church in Wittenberg Germany. You know what? I feel what this monk by the name of Martin Luther did. I too am sick and tired of what I'm seeing taking place in a lot of our local African-American churches. Before I continue with my protest, let me say that I believe many local churches in general, whether black, white, Hispanic, etc, are in a serious state of confusion. But this blog focuses on the "Urban" local church because that is my experience. Like Luther, I propose to present my own list of protests or complaints and I consider this blog my "Castle" church door. Before I launch into the list of my protests, it is only fair to say that not everything in the black church (from here on out referred to as the "BC") is bad. In fact there are several things that I love about the BC: First, I love the Praise. There is nothing like urban gospel music, sung by an anointed choir. There is nothing more thrilling than sitting in an auditorium filled with on fire people singing and shouting to the Glory of God. Second, I love the preaching style. Now mind you I'm not always crazy about the content, but nobody can light and excite a room like an on fire black preacher. Third, I love some of the programs. I really appreciate the benevolent efforts that the BC tries to address. I believe it was James who said, "Show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works". Amen!! Fourth, I love urban Esprit de corps.  I've never felt ashamed to be a black man when gathered with black saints (y’all who are black know what I mean). These are just a few of my favorite things about the BC. Now let's get to the heart of the matter. Listen my friends, if the BC is to survive and thrive until Jesus comes, the following protests must be addressed and tackled(the following are not in any particular order):

1. The BC must deal with its Leadership crisis (out of all the protests that are mentioned, this is the chief one. In other words all the other protests stem from this one). Far too many of our so called leaders are unqualified for the job. The Bible makes it clear (e.g., 1 Tim 3 and Titus) that the leadership of any local church must not be dictators, adulterous, sexually immoral, abusers of substances or people, liars, thieves, covetous, new converts, immature, hypocritical, blasphemers, conceited, and greedy narcissists. Unfortunately you know as well as I do that many of our BC leaders are these things. These kind of leaders must step down or be removed immediately.  The way the local urban church deals with the "leadership crisis" is by pastors taking their equipping charge seriously.  Ephesians 4:11-12 is no joke, "And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.." Men might not be able to afford seminary or Bible college, therefore Pastor, "You, train em".  Men want the perks and privileges or pastoral ministry, BUT not the responsibility.  The "leadership crisis" that exists in the local church is NOT the fault of Seminaries, but of local churches themselves.  We must never forget, as go our leaders, so go our churches.


2. The BC must be excruciatingly selective in who serves in leadership. If a man does not line up with the Biblical criteria, they should not serve (it doesn't matter what kind of visions he has seen or the voices he has heard or the educational credentials he has received).

3. The BC must reaffirm gender based roles in church leadership. YES, I realize that our black sisters have been the backbone and in many cases are still the backbone of the local BC (Thank you!!) but this does not give you, ladies the right to disobey Scripture and usurp a role that God has not, I repeat, "has not" given to you. Urban Women, listen up! The pastoral leadership of the local church is for Godly men, I repeat, "Godly men", who meet the Biblical criteria. Ladies, for the sake of God's church you must step away from pastoral leadership, you don't belong there!! Shame on you men who foster and nurture female pastors/elders in your congregations, this is abject disobedience, and it sets our sisters up for eternal failure. God cannot and will not bless disobedience no matter how pragmatic the need is.


4. The BC must rediscover and regain the practice of loving church discipline. God has called his people to be "holy" as He is holy. Loving church discipline is a key to promoting healthy, Godly living in the body (Matt 18). A lot of the nonsense going on in our churches would be thwarted if church leadership had the guts to hold people accountable.

5. The BC must reaffirm the sanctity of Holy Matrimony. In other words we need to protect marriage. God can be no clearer in Scripture, He HATES DIVORCE Allow me to be clear, God hates unbiblical divorce.

6. The BC must regain a biblical versus a pragmatic philosophy of ministry. We must forsake all man-centered, man-generated visions and return to Scripture for our direction. Listen, it matters not what "Bishop" thinks, the question is, "What does God think"? (Or have we gotten "Bishop" and "God" confused?)

7. The BC pulpit must return to expository preaching (This is the art of clearly explaining the text of Scripture). Topical or thematic preaching is killing the BC. The scores of ignorant Christians are the direct product of Lazy topical and thematic preaching (Hooping). Listen! Preacher, If you don't know how to prepare good expositional sermons, you have two options:
1)Enroll in a good Bible centered seminary or Bible college that affirms and believes in Exposition. -or-
2)Step down from the pulpit and find another job immediately.

8. The BC must protect the roll of membership. The people that should be members of the local church are the same ones that are members of the Universal church (i.e., Born-again followers of Christ). The local church is not a lodge or social club, therefore just anybody cannot be members of our churches. The reason why our churches are filled with homosexuals, pagans, heretics, etc., is because our churches have failed to guard the front doors and are extending the right hand of fellowship to any Tom, dick and harry. What fellowship does light have with darkness? Also pastoral leadership must not be afraid to clean the roll of those who haven't darkened the doors of the church for years.

9. The BC must guard its associations. NO!! We don't all serve the same God. Muslims, politicians, Community activists, Masons, etc., have no business standing in our pulpits or having voice in any arena of our fellowships. We must guard the sanctity of our communion (1 Cor 6).

10. The BC must stop feeding at the breast of the Government. Too many of our churches are dependent on "faith-based" income to survive, forget the programs. If the truth be told, many of the so-called faith based programs are merely means of extra income for our greedy non-faith based leaders. Someone said, “God’s work, done God's way, will never lack God's supply" (AMEN!!!)

11. The BC must cease its idolatry (meaning, "excessive or blind adoration, reverence, devotion). The 1st commandment says, "No other gods..." Yet we disobey and make gods of our pastors. Pastor-worship is idolatry. Much of the excessive or blind devotion given to our pastoral leadership is due to poor teaching and preaching on Biblical leadership by the very ones who are supposedly leading. Folks, its okay and we should love and respect our Pastoral leaders. But, adoration, reverence and devotion belong only to the LORD.

12. The BC must protect the sanctity of the family. We must stop supporting as already mentioned, unbiblical divorces. We must stop being silent about abortion, we must stop being silent about child sexual and spousal abuse. We must stop being silent on homo, bi (i.e., down low) and transsexuality. We must stop being silent on teen pregnancy. We must stop being silent on "Shacking Up" and every other sexual immorality warring against the family. The BC shouldn't be the enemy of the family rather her fiercest advocate.

13. The BC Leadership must stop purposely keeping God's people ignorant, in the dark and dependent on him or the church program. Dear preacher, God has called you to equip the saints for the important work of ministry. You educate yourself to Dr. Status, yet your people languish in ignorance to your delight (I guess this means Job security if you keep the people dependent on you). This must stop, you must empty yourself on behalf of God's people. Stop holding out on God's property.

14. The BC must cease being the, "Keepers of the aquarium" and return to being the, "Fishers of men". The Gospel must again take priority both here and abroad. The BC has always been involved in world missions and we must not lose this God-ordained priority. For the sake of our future survival as an institution we must regain our passion for spiritual reproduction and our leaders must take the lead.

15. The BC must make discipleship along with evangelism our top ministry priority. Our preoccupation and fascination with programs cannot replace our God given duty to disciple all we win. Discipleship is God's long term strategy for effective, long term change.

16. Does the BC know what corporate prayer is? When was the last time your church had a real prayer meeting where all they did was pray? E.M Bounds writes, "All things and everything are dependent on the measure of men's praying. Prayer is the genius and mainspring of life. We pray as we live; we live as we pray. Life will never be finer than the quality of the closet. The mercury of life will rise only by the warmth of the closet. Persistent non-praying eventually will depress life below zero."


17. The BC must not let our culture lead our Christianity, rather our Christianity must lead our culture.


18. The BC must remember that it is not the size of the chicken coop that matters, but the quality of the chickens. We must stop buying into the success syndrome. God has called us to be faithful. One great preacher put it this way, "You take care of the depth of your ministry, and God will take care of the breadth of your ministry". AMEN!!!

19.Black church leaders must stop fleecing the flock in order to improve their own standard of living. Black preacher your greed is an affront to the living God.

20. Black church leaders must stop fleeing from the flock. Why do you live in a different zip code than the majority of your people? Why is you phone # unpublished?

 

How come nobody knows where you live? Preacher why do you only preach 15-20 Sundays out of a given year? Your first duty!! is to the local flock that God has assigned you. Unless you are deathly sick or you're taking your deserved vacation (some of y'all don't deserve a vacation) or sabbatical, you should be in your pulpit every Sunday morning and Sunday night. You want to be a guest preacher, do it on a Wednesday or Thursday night. I know, those nights aren't good money makers right? Listen preacher, it is impossible to disciple from a distance.

      These are just a few of the protests that I have, I'm sure there are more. If you can think of some to add, I would love to add them. Just respond by clicking on the word comments at the end of each post. Thank you for reading the ramblings of a mad man. It is my daily prayer that God would reform and revive the local urban church. I pray that God would remove the bad, lazy, ungodly leaders and replace them with Godly on fire men who have nothing but the glory of God in mind. When I look at the local urban church, I don't see just doom and gloom, I see awesome untapped potential. I truly am excited.

Warning!!!!!

For those of you who are currently serving in positions of pastoral leadership. Taking the things that have been communicated to heart, I believe will lead to transformation in your local church. I also believe that implementing the ideas communicated could lead to your unemployment. Therefore count the cost.

For His Glory,
Rev. Todd