Pray for the Houghton Summer Celebration Program

The 2016 version of the Houghton Summer Celebration Program is about to launch at The Mission. Every weekday from now to late August scores of children from the area will be at our church. They are going to have fun, and they are going to be taught the Word of God. I encourage you to pray for them and their leaders. What happens this summer could leave an imprint on some children that will last for a lifetime and eternity.

Most of my years in ministry have been spent facilitating ministry to children. I say "facilitating" because even though I'm not really very good at working with children for some reason God clearly called me to dedicate myself to child evangelism. So I facilitated, making it possible for those who are really good at it to minister to kids. I also considered myself as an advocate for children, helping Christian adults understand why ministry to children is so important. Though I am no longer involved in children's work, I believe as strongly as ever that planting the seeds of the Gospel in the lives of children is one of, if not the most important work of the church.

In 21st century Canada the church is in a state of decline. Church attendance numbers are failing all across the country. I believe one of the reasons for that is our failure to pay adequate attention to the children. We have failed in recent decades to plant the Word of God in the hearts of people at an age when they are open and responsive. We have allowed them to grow up with no understanding of the Gospel, no Bible knowledge, no connection to church, and a totally inadequate concept of who Jesus is.

Studies, both Christian and secular, clearly show us that a person who has had no Christian teaching or influence as a child is far less likely to be responsive to Christianity in their adult years. People who were exposed to Christianity in a positive way as children, even if they never followed that up as teens or young adults, have warmer feelings and are more receptive to the Christian message when approached in their adult years. And they are far more likely to want their own children to have a Christian or church influence.

In Canada today fewer than 5% of children attend any kind of regular church program. That means 19 out of 20 children do not go to church and probably have never been in a church. Startling statistics like this are one of the reasons why a program like the Houghton Summer Celebration is crucial to the future of the church.

Our success or failure to sow Gospel seed among this generation of children will have a huge impact on the future of the Church (that's Church with a capital "C", as well as individual church congregations). God can perform miracles in anyone's life, and we see lots of examples of adults coming to the Lord in spite of never having had Christian teaching as a child. Yet statistically the chances of that happening are very low compared to those who had a positive Christian experience as a child.

What's happening this summer at The Mission must be seen as more than a summer daycare. The planners and leaders have an opportunity to bear eternal fruit. We need to get behind them in our prayers and support. We need to pray that children and families will be forever changed because they have a chance to hear the Word of God presented this summer.

Thanks to Megan and Brianna and all those who have a part in ministering to the children of Houghton this summer. May God bless you and give you fruit for your labour.

A Place of Refuge

At the end of 2016 I will have been in ministry for 30 years. Almost all of that time has been spent in interdenominational para-church work. That has given me the awesome privilege of preaching in, working with, or otherwise visiting literally hundreds of churches all across Canada. I've been in formal liturgical churches, and in wildly charismatic churches. I've been in churches of 30 people, and in churches of 3000 people. I've been in tiny communities at the end of the road, and in all of Canada's major cities.

Over those years I've seen most of what there is to see in the Canadian Church, and I want you to know something.  The Mission is a very unusual place. 

Our vision statement says we are a place of refuge, restoration, and transformation. My interpretation of that vision statement is this. 

Come as you are, with all your problems and baggage, and you will be welcome here. Then let us come alongside to help you grow in your understanding of God and your relationship with Him.  Let us help you become more and more what He wants you to be, because none of us should stay where we are.

Our vision statement is one that many churches would happily subscribe to. For some of them it's still just a vision. For others it has moved beyond that toward becoming a reality. I'm pleased to say that The Mission is one of those churches where the vision is taking form, a place where people who are hurting and struggling and carrying baggage can find a place of refuge, restoration, and transformation. 

When struggling people find their way into a church they are usually very aware of the problems in their lives and are looking for a solution. Sometimes those who haven't quite got it all together yet find the church experience to be uncomfortable and unwelcoming. Thankfully, people are finding that is not the case at The Mission. We need to rejoice because God has been molding us into a place of refuge and restoration. 

Spiritual growth is an ongoing process for everyone, but some people who come in our doors are closer to the beginning of that journey than others. Those of us who have had an opportunity to be on the path for a longer time have a responsibility to come alongside and help. That's the process of discipleship, or to use the term Pastor Paul prefers, spiritual formation. It's the process of supporting one another, teaching, praying, and challenging one another. It's like a team where each member works to help every other member become the best they can be.

Does that mean The Mission is the perfect church or we have a lot of perfect people? (okay, stop laughing now)  If you know us at all you know we have a long way to go. In fact, being a place of refuge that welcomes struggling people also means opening our doors to a never ending succession of challenges of a kind that may not be quite so evident in a church full of "mature" Christians. But if we want to be like Jesus (you know, the Jesus who invited a tax collector to be his disciple, spoke life saving words to the woman at the well, saved an adulterous woman from stoning - you get the message), we need to continue being a place of refuge and love for hurting people.

Our message is "come as you are, but don't stay as you are". We welcome people in love regardless of where they are at. Then, also out of love, we show them how to come to faith in Jesus and be transformed into the kind of person He wants them to be. At least, that's what we are striving for.

As I look around the congregation at The Mission, I am amazed. We have people who have suffered alcoholism and other addictions. For some the battle isn't over. We have people who have spent time in jail. We have people who have been abused or perhaps perpetrated abuse. And we have people who have grown up in Christian families and served God all their lives in healthy nurturing environments. And all of us, regardless of our backgrounds and experiences, come together each Sunday morning in a spirit of acceptance and unity to worship together. Isn't that wonderful?

So what am I trying to say? I guess my message is this. If you see The Mission as a place with some problems and warts, and it makes you frustrated at times, you're not imagining things. But I encourage you to look beyond those issues to see a church that is welcoming and loving and discipling people as Jesus would. That's fantastic, and it's rare. 

So let's never lose sight of what we have or fail to give thanks to God for all He is accomplishing at this church in the middle of nowhere.

DID GOD REALLY SAY?

I'm concerned about a trend I'm seeing among Christians. I'll introduce the topic by referring to a group that launched in 1985, calling themselves "The Jesus Seminar". 

This group of "scholars" was established to review all the words of Jesus in the Gospels and other writings, and decide which things are accurate and which were fabricated. After discussing each passage they would vote using coloured beads. Each delegate voted on whether or not,in their opinion, Jesus actually said or did what was recorded. This went on for years and the published results concluded that only 18% of the recorded words of Jesus, and only 16% of the recorded deeds of Jesus, were authentic.

Was there some new evidence that led to these conclusions? No. They just voted according to their opinion of what they think Jesus would have said or done. In other words, they decided what they liked or didn't like. It was an opportunity to re-create Jesus in the image that suited them best. They could keep the parts they wanted and throw out anything they found to be offensive or inconsistent with the image of Jesus they preferred. They kept the parts about being kind and loving one another, but discounted any of Jesus' teachings that would hold people to account. They also concluded that Jesus never claimed to be the Messiah or the Son of God.

Now, does it strike you as somewhat ludicrous that someone could arbitrarily decide what Jesus really said or did based on nothing more than what they like?  Of course it is. Yet people are doing exactly that every day.

Just about everyone likes the "peace and love" parts of Jesus' teachings, but other things He said are becoming increasingly unpopular. For example, His claim to be the only way to God is highly offensive in 2016. The idea that lust in your heart is the same as adultery doesn't fly well in our sexually charged society. Jesus said lots of things that potentially infringe on people's desires, priorities, and lifestyles.

So if you like Jesus, as most people do, but don't like everything He said, you can do like The Jesus Seminar and simply dismiss it as not authentic. Or you can twist His words it so it sounds more like what you wish He had said. 

It's not just Jesus' words we might want to throw out. Letters written by Paul, Peter, John, and James are filled with things contrary to today's culture and to postmodern thinking. The Jesus Seminar tossed out 82% of Jesus teaching and I suspect most people today would be quite happy to do the same.

I should point out that there are legitimate differences in interpretation of what the Bible says or means, or how it relates to today's culture. Committed and intelligent Christians sometimes disagree on these things. Honest attempts at interpretation are not really what I'm talking about. I'm concerned more when differences in interpretation get stretched past the breaking point because someone is determined to make the word of God say what they want instead of what it really says.

It's not a surprise when non-Christians reject pieces of the Christian faith that they find hard or objectionable. It is surprising and alarming to see how much that's creeping into the church. More and more Christian people are ready to say "the Bible didn't really mean that" or "times have changed so that really doesn't apply anymore". There is a growing tendency to re-shape the Bible and in essence to re-shape Jesus into what we would like Him to be, rather than what the Bible actually says.

Way back in Genesis 3 Satan began his conversation with Eve with the words "Did God really say..."  That question has been building in recent times to the point where even Christians are paving the road to disobedience by questioning "Did God really say that?"

God is truth. He is perfect and unchanging, and He gave us the Bible as our guide for what's right and true. But the cry of postmodernism is that there is no absolute truth; everything is relative; everything depends on the circumstances: everything is up to me to decide for myself. Relying on our own imperfect and biased judgement rather than what God said is a dangerous path for a Christian to take!

When the society we live in gets to be diametrically opposed to what the Bible teaches, as it is, the temptations and pressures to conform are enormous. I guess that's why Jesus said the gate that leads to life is small and narrow, and not many find it.

I suspect to some this blog entry may sound like a fundamentalist rant. I hope it's not that. Please consider it more as a couple of honest questions. 

• If we begin to pick and choose what we want to keep from the word of God, on what basis can we possibly make those decisions? Like the Jesus Seminar, it's inevitable that we will keep only what we like and what feels good.
• If we twist what God says and rationalize it to come into line with what we want, what will it lead us to? 

God never intended that His words to us be debatable or subject to change because of our own preferences or priorities. It's true that some of what He says may make us uncomfortable, or cramp our style, or run contrary to what we want. None of that gives us license to change God's words into what we want them to say. It's not up to us to put our words into God's mouth, or discount what God has said.

MY, HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED!

Like some of you, I lived my teen years at a time when Christians didn't drink, smoke, dance, or go to movies. Pool halls were out and playing pool anywhere was questionable. I had a childhood friend who wasn't allowed to go bowling with our Sunday School class because in his family bowling was considered to be a worldly activity.

A lot has changed since then. All of the things on the above "don'ts" list are common now and for the most part accepted in most Christian circles. So what happened? Did we have it wrong then? Do we have it wrong now? Or did God change His mind.

I will be the first to admit that to a very large extent we simply had it wrong. In spite of clear Bible principles against making up rules to please God, we were often guilty of defining our Christianity by the list of things we didn't do. Clearly some of our rules had no basis in scripture, on the surface at least. While the Bible says not to get drunk, it does not prohibit alcohol. Dancing was a common activity in Israel, and apparently it wasn't a problem. Smoking, movies, pool and the like didn't exist in the first century so obviously they weren't addressed at all. Clearly the prohibition against these things was man-made and smacked a bit of "Phariseeism" (not a real word, but you know what I mean). 

HOWEVER (you just knew there was a "but" coming), for many Christians these rules were born out of a sincere desire to serve God well. They were people who loved God and wanted to live lives that were set apart and holy. Though there was definitely a tendency to adopt rules for rules sake, many people in their heart of hearts truly wanted to keep from anything that would be displeasing to God or damage their testimony before their unbelieving friends. 

Pleasing God. Having a solid Christian testimony. Now THOSE are principles born out of scripture.

To use a cliche, the pendulum has definitely swung far in the other direction. Younger generations understandably rebelled against man-made rules that didn't make sense or were inflicted without any reasonable explanation. That has led to a radically different situation. Now, at the risk of exaggerating a bit to make a point, it seems that even in Christian circles almost anything goes. On issues where we once correctly took a Biblical stand, church bodies are increasingly prone to waffle and compromise. And while we corporately struggle to find a comfortable place on the fence, there is no shortage of individual Believers who quite openly challenge the standards with the question "what's wrong with that?" 

We shed the chains of man-made restrictions, and then rushed headlong toward embracing the cultural norms, even though they may be contrary to the word of God. I wonder if we may have missed a couple of really important points.

• Though some of the old rules now seem rather silly on the surface, were there some underlying reasons that could make sense even today?  To use another cliche, have we thrown out the baby with the bathwater? Let me give you an example. The prohibition against alcohol is not Biblical, but the warning against drunkenness is. Many of us choose to avoid drunkenness by avoiding drinking.  Here's another example. Dancing is not a problem, but sometimes the environment and surrounding activities are. Pool is an innocent game, but pool halls historically were not the healthiest environment for Christians. The rules may have seemed silly, but the motivation sometimes had merit.

• We used to go overboard with rules while determining to be different or set apart (the definition of "holy").  Are we now overboard in our determination to be as much like the world around us as we can, even if it clearly violates the principles and teachings of the word of God?

I'm not interested in debates over specific do's and don'ts. I'm more interested in whether there is a tendency today for Believers to incline toward what they can get away with rather than how to live in a way that is most pleasing to God. In other words,the goal too often is "how close can I be to the lifestyle and morality of the culture and still be a Christian?"  Contrast that with an attitude that says "God I want so much to please you that I am quite happy to forsake anything that may lead me away from your best for my life." 

Our mistake is when we think It's about making and following rules. It's really about love. It's about a love for God so deep that I don't want to get close to anything that may take me from where God wants me to be.

We haven't got it all wrong. As I look at the church today I think maybe we are more compassionate than we used to be. I believe we are more concerned about meeting the needs of our fellow man than we once were. That's scriptural and it's the way Christians ought to be. 

But the Bible still teaches a need to be "holy". There is a need for me to live my life sold out to pleasing God, rather than sold out to my own desires and pleasures. Am I suggesting we need a new list of "don'ts"? Absolutely not. I am suggesting we need to examine what the word of God teaches with regard to morality and lifestyle, and be willing to adopt those principles.  Why? Because God said so. And if God said so it must be good for me.

I would be interested in discussion over the things I've expressed today.  Share this with your friends, and share your thoughts in the comments section below.