XCVIII. Quid est Ecclesia?

What is the Church?

 

Old Testament terminology equates it to the Temple.  The first temple was the Tabernacle or the Tent of Meeting.  Everywhere the Jewish nation went they would set up a place to where the priests and Moses could go to God and talk to Him, sacrifice, pray, and worship God.  When the physical Temple was built by Solomon all of the symbols and items from the Tabernacle were placed inside, most importantly the Ark placed behind the Veil.  The Temple was divided into parts.  Depending on who or what you are is where you could go inside the Temple.  But only those close enough to God were allowed to go behind the Veil, the curtain that symbolicaaly separates man from God, which Jesus's death caused to be torn in two.  For more information on the temple see http://ideasoftimreligion.blogspot.com/2008/08/iv-worship.html.  The point here being that no matter where God's people are there is God as well, permanently.

 

New Testament terminology equates it to us.  This new temple is what we are.  The Church are not individuals though.  The Church is a body.  Some are hands.  Some are feet.  Some are speakers.  Some are seers.  But these both have something in common and its the same connection the Old Testament Temple had; God is always there.  And if God is always there how can you let worldly ideas and actions into the Church and/or Temple?

Keep in mind, the church is not the Church.  Small "c" means thet building.  Capital "C" means Christ's body.

 

The Church is suppose to be:

1. Spirit-led, not man-led
2. Glorifying God, not humanistic
3. Use of gifts to help serve people and God, not show casing human ability
4. Holy, not worldly
5. An organism, not an organization
6. Loving, compassionate, hospitable
7. Witnesses!

But what has the Church become?

1. Leaders with egos that can not see past their own accomplishments to see the hurt in some.
2. Worried about growth in numbers instead of growth in spirit.
3. Entertainment focused and "jamming" instead of true worship (putting God first).
4. Lost in culture and becoming immune to the world's sickness.
5. Business and less personal, more worried about reputation than character
6. Divided, hypocritical, worried about reputation instead of character
7. Bad examples because the world sees no difference between living a Christian life and a non-Christian life.

The Church is supposed to be separate from the world for we are not part of this world.  Yes, we have to live in it and deal with it but nowhere in the Bible does it say we are to become part of it.  The book Animal Farm, although not about Christianity, ends exactly the way what the Church has become.

• "Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike.  No question now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs.  The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to, and from pig to man again but already it was impossible to say which was which."

The pigs who were supposed to be different and make a change ended up taking on what the humans were doing and in the end became just as bad as humans.  Now, we are all sinners, so do not take away from this Thought that Christians are "better".  That is far from the truth.  What it is saying is we are supposed to act better.  We are supposed to change the world.  But the Church has become so liberal and weak, has watered down the message of Christ so much, has lost the true meaning of worship so much, that the culture ended up changing it.  We have allowed the culture to change sermons, our service to people, our charity, our education, and the worst is we allowed it to change our worship.  A non-Christian would say that is a good thing because it would make the Church easier to deal with.  But due to this changing the Church has become insincere and less relevant to this world.  Ask Europe.  http://ideasoftimreligion.blogspot.com/2008/10/xiii-church-of-culture.html

 

Yet, the big problem is those who are supposed to be temples do not live holy and don't see the problem.  They want to justify their own beliefs and actions.  Church leaders get egos and prideful and blinded.  They look for validation from friends and family.  The people find excuses to not live outside the culture.  The Church is dying because it is not being the Church.  The Church is supposed to be a witness to the world.  The Temple (you) is with God always.  So, how can we as the Church as a whole or as an individual Temple allow the culture inside?

And the last thing, the Church is not INSIDE a building.  It goes OUT to the world.  Too many people think the church building is the place to get saved.  No, technically the church building is for the Church.  You get saved in your heart, not a building.  But still the church building is there for a reason as well.  It is a place of worship and education but it is also a place where people can feel safe and comforted; a haven, if you will.  The building is a symbol of where someone cango who is feeling down and out because the world has beaten up on them.  When people come into the church building they want to feel safe.  They want to forget their troubles that the world and culture has caused them.  Yet, what does the Church offer?  Programs, sermons, and worship that is filled with the same culture that destroyed the individual in the first place, and mostly just to get a good reputation in the community.  It's like an alcoholic goes to church and the Church offers them a drink and people think the church is cool then.

 

After reading this many will try and rationalize that reaching the culture means we have to use their ways to bring them in. Jesus went into the culture, He did not become part of it. This is not to say that church buildings cannot hold fun events and be entertaining to crowds. But the event has to be real and sincere, it is not a place to showcase one's talents for their own glory.  Coffee and donuts never saved anyone.  How far can worship service use secular ideas before true worship is sacrificed?  Where is the line?  Answer:  it should stay out as a piece of worship, unless there is a point to it.

Other Thoughts you need to read for more explanation:

http://ideasoftimreligion.blogspot.com/search/label/Worship

XCIV. It's the Culture

As Resurrection Sunday (Easter) was this past week many television stations chose to air movies and TV specials about the Crucifixion of Christ. The one that of course that is most notorious of our age is the Passion of the Christ. There is a scene in the movie that explains it all about our culture. Well, actually the Bible explains it all but in the day of electronics who is going to literally read pages?

The scene is when Pilate has given the choice to the Jewish people whom he would release to them as part of a tradition of releasing a prisoner for Passover. The two choices were Jesus of Nazareth or Barabbas. The crowd overwhelmingly chose to release Barabbas. To understand this story more and what it has to do with politics you have to look at the underlining themes. One thing neat about the Bible is the circular pattern of the writings. Hardly any verse or any part of the history can stand alone. The names of these two men we usually hear in Greek since most of the New Testament was written in Greek. Traditions, and the Hebrew translation, state the full names are actually Y'Shua Ha'Natzeret and Y'Shua Bar-Abba; Jesus the Nazarene and Jesus Barabbas, respectively. Oddly enough they had the same what we would call first name. Nazarene of course means the first Jesus was from Nazareth. But what does Barabbas mean in English? Bar means "son of", Abba means "father", or "God". So the choices that people had for release was Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Son of God.

Why is that important to the Church? Because metaphorically speaking the real Son of God was the one who people humiliated, punished, beaten, mocked, spit on, bruised, and ultimately crucified while the fake son of God was let go. The truth was sacrificed for what mankind thought was the truth. Too many times Biblical truth is sacrificed to be politically correct.

The same it is with today's truth. People think that what they feel is correct and just because others back their feelings up then they feel they are justified. They take the truth and beat it up. They stretch it. They bruise it. They mock it. The truth becomes the lie to them, while the actual lie lives on. Those who stick up for the truth are made to sound like they are idiots or bigots.   Liberalism in its modern form is the lie.

 

Church leaders have embraced this idea.  The idea that the Church should change due to the culture becoming more liberal is what is killing the Church.  The new way of thinking is "succumb" to the culture.  Don't say things that the culture doesn't want to hear because then they won't show up to church.  Well, no one is supposed to show up to church, the church is supposed to show up to them.  All the church cares about today are the numbers.  One of the first things we see in any church bulletin is the attendance number.  The church building is not for the lost, it is for the ones who already know Christ.  Christians are supposed to be witnesses---OUTSIDE the church building.  And sometimes that means going against the culture, staying true to the truth.  Acceptance of life actions, practices, and styles are now common.  This seems like it is the right thing to do but this is why the Bible says there is a way that seems right to a man but in the end it only brings death.  Just because it seems like the right thing does not mean it is.  That does not mean compassion for those who are lost should be stopped, on the contrary, telling someone the truth is more compassion than letting someone live a lie and die in their sin.  Sometimes the truth hurts but the truth is what sets you free.  Stop accepting the lies of this world.  We need to change the culture.


Note:  This thought is also located at www.ideasoftim.blogspot.com but focuses on the political aspect of our culture.

LXXXVI. The New Asherah Poles

Does anyone really care about the presidential election coming up on Tuesday?  Do you think God judges us on which candidate we vote for?  Do you think we should vote based more on human reasoning, things that we feel are important personally or or biblical reasoning?  Does the Bible say anything about any of the issues we deal with today?  Actually it says quite a few things about politics or at least what leaders should be like.

 

There is an old saying that says an organization is only as good as its leadership.  If you have bad bosses to work for and they don’t know how to run the business it won’t make it.  Places like Nike and Ford only got to be as large as they are because of the way their leaders did things.  It is the same with countries.  If their leadership is bad the country falls apart but if it is good then it can last.

So picking the right leader is really quite important.  But why is important?  Most of the people would say because that’s what creates jobs.  But the Bible says in Psalms though that government is only there to protect people from each other not to take care of them.  God will do that.

We are supposed to listen to government.  Jesus recognized the role of government when he told his disciples to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s which was talking about taxes.  He even went to trial when he was accused.  He knew government had a purpose and we need to respect them.  But if it tells us to not to listen to God’s words then we have to remember that God’s word has more authority.  Even if that means it can get us into trouble we need to take a stand.

Daniel in the OT disobeyed the government when the king Darius told everyone that prayer to anything but him was a crime.  Daniel stood his ground and prayed to God anyway.  The ones who were in charge of making that law saw Daniel do it and told the king.  The king because he signed the law had to do something to Daniel in the form of punishment so he threw him into the lion’s den.  But Daniel trusted in the Lord and was saved.  The point here is that Godly values are higher than man’s values.  So what happens when man starts to think he knows more than God?  The men who thought they could overrule God were then thrown into the pit and eaten.

Before Israel moved into the Promised Land they were told not to worship false idols and false Gods that all of the people living there were doing.  It is even one of the Ten Commandments.  But when they got there they started to adopt the practices of the nations they had just got done defeating in battle.  One of the biggest things they started to do was use as a worship object something called the Asherah Pole. 

Asherah was a Sumerian goddess.  She was supposed to be the wife of God, his equal.  She was worshipped as one who had excellence and was powerful over the seas.  Now of course God has no equal.  By the way satan was supposed to be full of excellence and John’s vision in Revelation says he saw a creature coming out of the sea.  Anyway, this was a mythological creature created by the early Sumerians who did not follow the Jewish God called Yahweh or Jehovah. 

Asherah worshiping is mentioned over 30 times in the Bible.  The problem is the Jewish people did not get rid of this worship idol and even built poles in honor of her and each time God burned with anger against His own people.  He told them to tear down these poles.  Some kings did not do what they were supposed to do and neither did the people.  God then handed over the Israelites to certain nations.

When kings like Josiah tore down Asherah poles then Israel was seen a righteous and God returned to them.

Now I am not telling you to go mosques, Buddhist temples here in the US and tear them down.  This story is for us to understand that we are not to tolerate sin or things that lead us into sin.  We don’t have Asherah poles but we do have things that we have tolerated in this country too long.  We are not supposed to let “asherah poles” into our lives.  We are supposed to stand up against it and sometimes that means politics.  So how?

The most talked about topics in the Christian world are: Abortion, sexual impurity, and family values.

The Bible is very open and strict about these two subjects.  It says that God knows us in the womb.  He knows us because he made us; which means we have personality, a heartbeat and a life even before we can see the world.  There are many passages about sexual purity and how the family works.  I won’t bore you with the rest.  These aren’t the only three things that we need to deal with but they are important.

This is not to tell you which person people should vote for because there are over 75 candidates that are running for president.   Every individual has to make up their own mind.  But God is supposed to be part of our laws and moral standards whether people want to admit it or not.  And having people in the government allowing the “asherah poles” into our society is wrong.  God cannot be placed side by side with “asherah poles”.

However with that said, one political party argued about God this year and many of them in that political party were angered when the word “God” was put back into their ideas.  When we as Christians allow our leaders to kick God out and to act like He doesn’t matter, then shame on us and we get what we deserve.

·    Proverbs 29:2--- When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan

God doesn’t care about your political party.  Abortion and things like that are wrong but there is a bigger problem in this country and that is disobedience of God’s word.  Abortion, and all that, are only a symptoms of falling away from God.  The Church for some reason isn’t teaching that anymore.  Christians have to take a stand like Daniel.  The Church needs to make a stand.

Because God said in…

·    II Chronicles 7:14---if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sins and heal their land.

Remember an organization is only as strong as its leader.  The Church needs to be a leader.  And if we are weak then so is our country. 

He may not care about your politics but he does care about what you stand for.  We have to stand for Godly values because in the end He is in control.  He gave us guidelines to live by.  He is the ultimate authority.

And no matter who wins on Tuesday we need to pray for our leaders.

·    1Timothy 2:1-4 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving be made for all men, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, godly and respectful in every way.

LXXXV. Diary of a Wimpy Church

Morals, values, and mores (pronounced mor-rays).  These three things have been less net worth in this world as time keeps on slipping away.  And the main proponent for the destruction of these ideals measuring devices is none other than the Church.  Too many pastors, leaders, elders, bishops, and even the congregationalist just sit back and let the culture drive them instead of them driving the culture.

 

This is why things like the divorce rate in the Church is just as high if not higher than it is in the secular world, of course the secular world in today's time place less value marriage to begin with and decide not to do it anyway so the numbers may skewed a little.  But nevertheless this is just an example of how the Church isn't driving home any messages anymore.  They are afraid of offending people.  They are afraid that they will be considered politically incorrect, without realizing that it is the secular world who came up with that terminology in the first place.  The Church no matter what will always be considered politically incorrect so why not teach what the Bible actually says and not worry about?

 

Examples that the Church has wimped out on:

1. marriage fidelity
2. abortion
3. family traits and roles and raising children
4. politics
5. importance of fathers
6. abuse and neglect of parents
7. sexual immorality of ALL kinds
8. drug abuse and alcoholism
9. taking care of the sick and needy
10. evangelism
11. witnessing

No, today all churches preach about are handling headaches, feeling good about tomorrow, having good music to listen to in church, and how to improve your life in 40 days.  The Church is the wimpy kid on the block.  Hypocritical, childish, and wimpy.

 

And we wonder why the world is going to hell in a hand basket.

LXXVII. Christianity-Lite

We were called to be the light of the world not lite in the the world.

Churches reach out to seekers but without any substance.  They cater to those who have never known Christ but show them just a shadow of who He really is.  Here is an example of this:  a certain church service used a song by a modern pop rock band as a worship song.  The song did have a strong message and if some words were taken out it could have been mistaken for a Christian song.  But the band when looked at from a fuller picture does not have the most positive message for people to hear.  What type of message is this church giving to the congregation and the culture that is looking for Christ?  Worship God by using non-meaningful words to stir a secular emotion?  And then try to tell people the greatness of God...

It's not the music style that is the problem.  It's not the song in itself that is the problem.  It is the deeper meaning of what worship is supposed to be about.  God looks for those who truly worship not ones that just go through the motions.

• The purpose of Christ is simple:  He died because of our sins and He rose again so those sins are gone.
• The message of Christ is simple:  follow His teachings and you have eternal life.
• The teachings of Christ are simple:  there is a way that leads to life and that is to leave your pride behind and do what is right

If all of these are simple then why are churches making it so hard for people to understand who Christ really is?  They give them the watered-down version.  When this type of version is given to the people then the three simple things mentioned above become hard to follow.  Jesus becomes less important because lifestyles aren't changed that much.  Sure, we all have messy spirits and souls to deal with, but those who know the truth of Christ know not to be satisfied with this messiness.  When we accept Christ we are supposed to be a new creation, one that has gotten rid of the old life.  Jesus said that we can not serve two masters.  If we do not give up our old lives then how do you live a new one?  We are supposed to use the new wine with new wine skins.  What does this all mean?  If you really want to believe in Christ and want to live a new life, then you have to get rid of the old ways.  If you do not, your life will never be fully complete.

Many people, even church leaders, think using that are popular to the world is a way to reach a culture that has been lost.  They feel if you use their language and their styles then they will accept who Jesus is easier.  For the most part, of course this seems like the right thing to do.  These people need to see how much they need a savior in their life.  But if you never show them that the reason why they need a savior is because of their present lifestyles and then don't do anything to change their lifestyles because all you are doing to imitating them, then they will never know the truth.  But leaders will argue that Jesus went to the culture such as when he ate with Matthew and all of those whom the Jews considered sinners.  Yes, Jesus went to the culture but didn't become one of them.  Today the church has become part of the culture and is now being lost in the culture.

We are sending missionaries out into the world.  It is a shame that they may have to send them back into the churches.  Churches need to get back to the truth and stop pulling punches.

LX. Ozzy Chewed Off Bat Heads

Ozzy Osbourne used to bite off the heads of doves or bats. KISS wore make up. Bill Clinton said he was black and played the sax on the Arsenio Hall show.  McDonald's has Monopoly.  Geico has that stupid little gecko and thise even more inanely Twilight Zonish excerpts on saving money in only 15 minutes.  And then you have those free credit reports that make you pay a fee to actually get the free report.  Or electronic stores saying that they are having a 25% off sale only to come find out that they had raised the prices 26% before the sale event happened.  What is it about gimmicks, limericks, dumb hicks, and risky shticks?  Well, they work!  But how long does the effect last?  Eventually the person falling for these things has to find out one day if the product that suckered them in was worth anything or if it was just all hype.  Sure word of mouth is good for business and it brings people in but if your product is lousy you can have all the Hollywood endorsements you can get, all the catchy jingles you can think of, and all the funniest commercials one can come up with and it will still be lousy, like anything David Hasslehoff sings or acts in.  On the other hand, does McDonald's really need monopoly to get people to eat there?  Uh, no, as long as their fries are cooked correctly and not limp then they will always be at the top.  So if what you are selling is good and/or even perfect then why do you need a gimmick?  So if that is the case then why do churches feel the need to do things like businesses?

That brings us to the poll from last month:  Should Churches use gimmicks to bring people into the doors?

• 50% said No. There are more important things for the church to be doing.
• 22% said It doesn't matter if they do or not.
• 13% said Yes. But only to get people to hear the word of God.
• 9% said No. It is very un-Biblical.
• 4% said Yes. It is a good technique.
• 0% said Other.

If you add these together, 59% said something is wrong with this type of activity.  22% said it didn't matter, and  only 17% said it was okay to do and more than half of those said only to get people in the doors.

First of all what kind of gimmicks would churches use?

1. "Come on in and get a free sin".  Well, probably not, although that is what the Catholic Church did for a long time with the idea of indulgences.
2. "Come on in and play pin the tail on the devil.  Have some fun while you put the blame on where it belongs".  Sounds good but what does it prove?
3. "Come on in or we will come to you".  Enough said?

But there are some real ones and some quite serious ones that are being used in the Church today.  It used to be free concerts and/or festivals.  But now it is free donuts and coffee.  Charity funds with membership.  Win a car (seriously!).  Silent auctions.  Passion plays.  Some churches have even gone the casino route if you will, making bets but calling them challenges instead so as not to confuse or offend those who think betting is a sin.

Where is the line that is drawn? There isn't anything dramatically wrong with a friendly bet but when you use to it promote your church or to raise funds in a non-steward way, wouldn't it become wrong? Just because the money may be used to help certain groups of people, it should not be the focus. If we really wanted to help people then why doesn't the church staffs take pay freezes, or have messages from the pulpit be more about giving from the heart!  Is there something fundamentally wrong here or is this making it into something larger than it is?  The problem is the 17% who believe nothing is really wrong with this type of activity is the leadership.  A great person once said, the church is only as strong as its leaders.  If the leaders think that the Word of God has to be watered down to gimmicks then it is no wonder why atheism is growing faster than Christianity.

Now, it really isn't anti-scriptural as 9% said.  There is nothing in the Bible that says we can't do these things.  Paul even states that he didn't care how the message was brought to the people as long as they heard it.  But, he probably didn't mean that we should offer free coffee and donuts as a substantial gospel message segway.  Wow, donuts and salvation.  How could you lose?

Why not have something called "split the pot"? You go to church buy a ticket for $5 and get a chance to get half the tithes and offerings.  That would really bring people into church. A chance to win money and be saved! Even better than donuts.

All Jesus told us to do was basically lift Him up.  So maybe gimmicks aren't all that bad.

XLII. Types of Church Goers

From one man's perspective in the last ten years, subject to change:

On each given Sunday there are 7 types of people who attend church. Each person will have their own personal reason to be there such as to learn, or lead, or listen, or even be cynical. But each of the seven groups will also have their own characteristics and needs as a whole that will differ from the other six. Here are the 7 groups:

1. The Leader (The Minister/Elders)
2. The Teacher (The "Scholar"/Advice giver)
3. The Mature (The Worker)
4. The Newbie (New Babies in Christ)
5. The Rider of the fence (The Hurting)
6. The Non-believer (The Skeptic)
7. The Visitor (The Out of towner)

In a small church, let's say 100 people, there is usually only one leader, the senior minister or as many will call the pastor. What the pastor is,is another post and will not be the focus on this thought. This is the main visionary and will do much of the work that deals with spiritual matters. At this point there will usually be two or so teachers, hopefully elders, that will take some of the duties when the minister needs a break. They will probably be elderly gentlemen who are set in their ways but would like for more people to get involved. The ones who will get involved at this stage are the mature Christians who have been around for a long time. This will almost be half the church. Most of them will be either from the same family or close-knitted friends. Because of this group, they will invite other friends they wish to be a part of the church, and some will come from their invitation. This is the Newbie, which will be a small percentage, maybe 10% of the attendance. The Newbie does not know how to get involved and feels out of place. This group will be your revolving door group. Many will stay for a while, many will leave due to this out of place feeling. Then there will be those who are riding the fence each week. Another 40% or so will be there because they are seekers. They don't know why they are being called to church but they are hurting and are looking for shelter from this world. This will be the largest group who will become of course the next "Newbies". This is the group that can make a church look like they are growing or dying. The you have the non-believer. There will usually be a small number who show up just to see how skeptical they can be of church. They are dragged in by a spouse, or child. They will sit quietly in the back pew and wait for someone not to greet them so they have an excuse of not to come back and say that Christians are not that friendly. And then as always you will have a visitor or two you hope to give inspiration to so they can take something back to their home church. However, being a small church will not really give them much to take since they will be closely arranged, cliquish if you will.

If this church survives and grows to about 200 what happens to these groups? The numbers and their feelings will change. Some of the elders will become younger and start to become leaders and share responsibility with the minister. They will start to have visions of their own about what the church can be and will really get things going. They will train others into the teacher position so more classes can be taught. At this point there will be 3-5 leaders instead of 1. There will be now around 5 teachers to take on classes while the leaders are getting programs that are needed to start. The mature Christian group will not grow that much since they are still the workers and some will see what it takes to be committed to the church and keep it going and will not want to move forward with their faith. The Newbies will have almost tripled because family members have invited other family members and more friends but will stop not want to get completely involved. Those riding the fence will not grow in percent but will in numbers and be the largest group you have. They will have shown up in numbers because they start to hear what the church is doing around the community and will want to check it out. And of course that will bring even more non-believers just by pure natural growth of all the other groups. And since the reputation of the church is starting to spread more visitors will tend to go to your church than somewhere else. This will be your thriving church. Once you hit the 200 mark, the church starts to change.

What happens if this church keeps growing and hits maybe 500? The leadership starts to stop growing. There are plans to start programs but some will not see that as part of the original plan and will leave or step down because of that. Some may stay and remain teachers because they still feel a connection to the people. But now some of the teachers start to feel overwhelmed due to all the programs/lessons that need to be explained to the people. The mature group may grow in numbers but the percentage is becoming smaller and smaller, again because these are the workers and the field is ripe for harvest but the workers are few! At this point, the Newbies is your largest grower of the groups. They are riding the highs from the thriving church and are desiring to learn more, another reason why the teacher becomes overwhelmed. At this point many of the elders will not do the teaching since they are too busy starting programs and trying to figure out budget needs. But if they do not stay teaching then you will lose many of those who are new and they will become a revolving door (in and out of the church or go somewhere else feeling the same out of place feeling as before). And now that you have a growing reputation many non-believers will be at your door wondering what the big deal is. At this point, visitors start to become part of the furniture, no one really notices them anymore.

MEGA CHURCH! Your church hits or is close to 1000. The new creature of creation, the thing God created on the 8th day. A whole new mentality sets in. The leadership still hasn't grown that much, but now due to because they are afraid someone will change their vision. Egos may have already set in and that is not good for spiritual growth. You now may have plenty of teachers but some will be outside the vision (even perhaps outside the "denomination" and will not be allowed to teach because will teach others something differently than what the leaders want. The mature Christian at this point can't take it anymore and will start to leave. They are tired of the leadership not doing things for spiritual growth. And at this point the Newbie group is so large that the leadership thinks they are doing all the right things so they will turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to the Mature Christian. They will focus on this group for all of their programs. But they will not get them to the next point of growth. The vision is tunnel. Those riding the fence in a mega church feel comfortable because they are lost in the crowd. No one really goes after them because the closeness of the groups is not that tight. They do not feel pressured and so will never know that they need to get more involved and learn more about who Christ is. Where are the teachers? They are out-numbered because many of the Mature who could be teachers are gone due to frustration of the leadership. Still growing though in numbers are the non-believers. They finally become friends and regular attenders but have no clue what the story of Christ still is about because all of the programs are about finding yourself in today's world. To them these lessons make sense so they stay. But they never will know. And visitors? Who?

The point is: church needs something for everyone. Leaders need to get away and reflect. Teachers need help and support from the leaders and perhaps need to be the same people. Mature Christians are the core and need to be fed and not forgotten about their needs too. The Newbie needs guidance and something will get them to go deeper into the word. The rider needs something that makes them want to be a part of something but with substance. And the non-believer needs something to believe in. Stop watering down the Gospel of Christ, it's for everyone.

All sizes of churches can work. But you have to look out for the warning signs and deal with them. Too many time churches focus on the Newbie and leave nothing else for the rest. The leaders think they are doing right because their numbers keep growing. They forgot it's not about the numbers. It's about a spiritual warfare. If all you do is worry about the Newbie then the Mature Core of believers will fall away and all you have left are babies who can't take care of themselves.

XXXVI. Pastorized

(Some confusion of my statements caused others not to understand, so this has been edited. Hopefully it makes better sense. If not, I have two watching over my words and will guide me more. Some of the comments now may seem like they don't belong, but I used them in my editing)

There are four characteristics of a good pastor. To understand how these four describe a pastor we need to know what a pastor really is. The word that is used in the New Testament we get pastor from is the Greek word "poimen", which means to shepherd. However, there is a more direct translation into English from Latin (spelled the same way). To put it into clarification, it is one chosen by God to guide His people and watch over them spiritually, such as a shepherd does with sheep.

There are two types of pastors or shepherds. There is the preacher/teacher who is hired as the giver of the Word every Sunday morning to a local congregation. He is a spiritual leader. He feeds the sheep the Word of God. And there is an elder. An elder is also a spiritual leader but also needs to run the affairs of the church. He sheperds by making sure things going on in the congregation is sound, biblical, and correct in doctrine. An elder also has different titles that he can go by: bishop, overseer, episkopo, presbyter, even congregational leader. They all mean the same thing, i.e., shepherd.

A common mistake by too many churches is that they say the preacher is an elder. And that is not necessarily accurate. A preacher can be an elder but doesn't have to be one and is not automatically one. Or to sum it up: an elder is a always a preacher, but a preacher is not always an elder. The scripture that people will distort for this view is 1 Timothy 5:17

• The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching.

Somehow the words pastor and preacher became the same word and excluded elder and that would not be completely accurate. That is not what this passage is saying. It is saying that some preachers will come from the eldership. Not all elders preach. But one who does preaching is especially worthy of a high honor. Too many times churches that are small or ones with weak leadership allow the "pastor" or even claim the "pastor" to be the chairman of the elders when in actuality the "pastor" is only the preacher and is also under the authority of the elders.

Pastors (both types) are visionaries. They see the way a church can grow and be lead. But they present their ideas to the eldership. The eldership should pray about it and see if the vision is from God or from man. Too many times the visions come from man and his own ideas and that causes pride. It becomes his project instead of God's. So with this in mind let's look at what a good pastor does (in this case, this is referring to both types of pastors).

1. Preaches Christ-centered sermons. 2 Corinthians 4:5 says that when we preach so to speak, we should do so not to uplift ourselves but to spread the word that Jesus is the Christ. If a pastor preaches about how well the church does all the time and what it stands for then that pastor is not fulfilling his job. If a church is doing well, it doesn't needed to be patted on the back. It is supposed to be doing good things. What the pastor should do is always have a sermon that makes Christ the center of all things. That doesn't mean that once on a while they can talk about problems we all face but they still need to make sure that Christ is somewhere in the lesson. Some pastors (preachers, ministers) spend too much time on just prophetic messages or financial freedom. These are fine to talk about but too many focus on those things.
2. Shepherds the flock with a tender heart. If you take Jeremiah 3:15, Ezekiel 34:23 and Acts 20:28 it is easy to understand this. Acts says it clearly that we need to watch out for ourselves and for all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has placed us over as overseer. Be shepherds. But when they do lead as Jeremiah says, they should do so with understanding and knowledge. In other words they shouldn't be judgemental and/or harsh when they are pastoring. They need to lead such as a shepherd does with his flock. He doesn't whip the sheep, he gently nudges them back into the herd.
3. Watches over people and keeps them accountable. Hebrews 13:17 says that leaders need to be obeyed because they watch over us in a spiritual way. And we need to be careful for them as well because they will be held accountable for us. Too many times people leave the church due to some situation, whether it be a physical, emotional, or spiritual problem that has risen. But even worse, when a spiritual matter arises and the pastor does nothing about it and the person leaves then bad blood, if you will, has been spilled and no one cleaned it up. If it is a spiritual matter then it is the job of a pastor to clean it up. If it is a emotional problem, then it is someone with the gift of counseling to intervene. If it is a physical problem, then most of the time it is the problem of that individual and nothing really can be done.
4. Teaches and gently instructs. 2 Timothy 2:25 says that if someone is hurt or needs help that we should teach them (or oppose them) gently. Because the person may have gone through a lot to get to where they are at and if they see a spiritual leader take them down just like the world did then what separates us from the rest of the world? A pastor needs to be able to take some of the heat yet not dish any of the heat out.

So in essence a pastor needs to be a spiritual example that leads with compassion, understanding and knowledge. He needs to be tough yet gentle in his ways. The ego needs to be checked yet the vision needs to be explored. He does not have to come from a Bible Seminary but has to be God-lead. He is a spiritual leader but not the spiritual leader.