Jesus, CEO?

  I only know of a few leaders who have discovered that they need to do what the bible says and practise church biblically which means the leaders are not central to the show.  It results in less likelihood that the leaders will 'accidently' have their profile raised, their status enhanced and their notoriety expanded. I can understand the logic - bigger profile = bigger platforms = more people reached.  But, the logic is flawed.

To think that spirituality works the same way as a company or business is profound error. I have a business and the challenges are around visibility, marketing and image.  I want my product to become notorious for its value. If the way we think people can be won relies on the Christian becoming notorious we are simply wrong.  Jesus did not speak of marketing, or visibility or image.  "But we are supposed to be light!"  Yes, but this is what we are before we attempt to gain notoriety.  The very act of having a level of notoriety and telling others to aspire to this creates a debilitation to the Christian in most Churches.  If we ask someone who already is light and salt to aspire to the leaders levels and measurements they miss what they are already, just by being in Christ.  The way the early Church won the known world was because each individual had leaders who didn't ask them to aspire to anything but taught them to be who they are in Christ.  In this way everyone knew they were entirely capable of going into their own contexts and winning people over time for Christ.  Spirit filled and met by the Christian family in ecclesia, they had no-one telling them they needed "XYZ" to become more effective or "ABC" to validate their Christian life.   Preach Christ, and people will be shown why they are light rather than feel they need to arrive at 'pastordom' or something.

In our western context, to look to the leader who is stood at the front is natural. Since being 5 years old this is how leaders have presented themselves.  People who become Christians or experience church see this form of leading and do what they did since the conditioning started at 5 years of age in reception school.  They sit and accept that because the person at the front is...er... at the front, they must know what they are doing and if a few more people are also sat listening to the leader then 'who am I to question this?'  Leadership in other contexts involves a person talking, instructing or proposing but the difference is those listening are able to question, debate, correct, comment, validate and cheer the leaders contribution.  In other words leadership is not always done the same and there are freedoms across the board for everyone in the conversation.  In this way people feel they are in the process, valid, affirmed by their presence and important to the group.  The Bible says that people should 'be persuaded by"  leaders.  This was made into 'submit' by King James in order to have a level of control over the people.  Strange how things have changed little, even that particular text.     Let us not forget also that Britain was a vassle of the Holy Church of Rome and in this time of great development, the 'way to lead' was lifted straight from the way the RC Church leads.  They got their leadership from the ungodly tribes and cultures. So, if your church has people with titles, status or profile, you are practising a Roman Catholic structure.  If you meet in a special building that has chairs lined up to face the front where a series of praying, singing, talking, preaching takes place, this is the RC Church practise. Then there's hierarchy and so on....

So Rome had a developing influence but with a cost.  Business, if modelling Rome, will have the structure to see success.  The church however does not exist for the same reasons as a business.  Business revolves around product or service.  The church has neither unless you invent one.  Evangelism is seen as the product of the church.  While a Christian's heart needs to be broken at the thought of someone spending eternity without God, evangelism is not the primary reason for the church's existence.  The enemy has told Christians that evangelism is the end product of the church and this is a lie. Christians being encouraged and built up is the end result of church.  Evangelism is the consequence of this.  Because most churches believe evangelism to be the product, they fail to prioritise the encouragement and up-building of the brothers and sisters.   The result is Christians going about their lives not having been met by God's extended family.   Unable to be a contrast (light) they have a message without substance.  Someone who has been met, affirmed, loved, cared for, validated, understood etc... will be a contrast and therefore any message will be backed up with an authentic witness.   This can only occur within the context of the church practise Paul and the other apostles taught and with people who are losing their own life not setting up an environment where, 'oh I never realised this would draw attention to me me me!'.

To finish, it would be good if the business-like-church was actually like that.  At least be a business if you're going to say this is how God is leading you (which he isn't).  Leaders, we are told, measure their leadership by who is  following them.  Surely this is not true if the people following are not able or wanting to think for themselves or challenge the system?  True leaders gain following from free thinkers who have their own opinions yet find a leader able to accommodate them unconditionally.  What is difficult about having people who agree with you stand in a room every week?  Incredibly I know some leaders who cant even keep that going!

Also, it is my understanding that business was about creating an economy with a product or service.  Most churches rely on giving to run their comings and goings while the leaders act like they are ingenious business leaders.  Iv'e seen Pastors talk to each other like they created their own wages by ingenuity, hard work and acumen.  In reality all they have done is extracted people's money and forgot to explain that the Tithe was Israel's taxation system meant for Israeli's who live in Israel.   Giving?  Yes.  But if the individual wasn't compelled by OT Law to provide a set amount the leader wouldn't know how much was coming in.  Wow!  Maybe then the leader would have to live by faith.  Imagine that!

An open letter to the Christian Family

Church: The Dilemma

Gary Ward

If you are reading this it may be because you have heard that our family have some ‘other than’ view about Church.   We are keen that no-one get the wrong end of the stick and we don’t end up in the ‘nutter’ department, at least for our church-views anyway :>)    In a nutshell, we believe that the church that the Apostles championed in the first century was more like the light groups than what happens on Sunday morning.  We like the vision of the light church because Sunday morning and light groups are both termed ‘church,’ and we agree with this.  Our position however is that light groups are church scripturally whilst Sunday morning is church socially and culturally.  Whichever way up these land, people meeting together to worship, pray and hear the word of God is ALWAYS good and none of the approaches are ‘wrong’ per se.

Our reason for meeting together with other Christians is because we are in Christ and we are brothers and sisters.  It matters little if that is on Sunday or Thursday or the set up of the meeting.  However, if God wanted Christians to meet in a certain way as seen in 1 Corinthians, we believe we should listen.   My exploring this area has spanned 10 years doing  The Century One Project and hopefully these observations will help.  Check them out, all Major Christian scholars agree with this -

The New Testament Scriptures, especially 1 Corinthians, shows a group of people meeting possibly in several different places or maybe a larger group.  They gathering centred around a meal  and they had open and equal sharing. The church had leadership but echoing the words of Jesus to the sons of thunder in Mark 10, Paul underlines that hierarchical leadership is not what God intends for his followers.  We also need to take note that the Bible only describes believers meeting in homes.  So,

Non-hierarchical leadership.     Centred around a meal.     Open and equal sharing.   Home based.   Sounds like a light group to me!  But here’s what happened historically in the ensuing centuries- After the Apostles died the next important leaders were the early church fathers.   These did amazing work to defend the emerging doctrines we have today.  They fought tooth and nail in an environment of hostility and persecution.  One thing that occurred however was the church Paul and all the Apostles agreed and taught  began to change its form.  Some of the early church fathers, either as a compromise to help the times or for more earthy reasons based on Man’s pride, did the ‘done thing’ when man sets up a group.  Paul reminds us that the culture and system of the world is very strong and the church must push against this. The Early Church Fathers set up provincial Bishops, had the church meet in prepared halls and professional ministers came to teach people the things of God.

 “So?” you may ask, “what’s wrong with that?”  If we observe what happened to the Law at the hands of the Elders we can perhaps see what occurred with the Church Fathers.  Jesus was asked constantly why he allows the disciples to flaunt the ‘Tradition of the Elders.’ Jesus did this on purpose because the Tradition of the Elders (halakah) were rules that Men had invented to stop people breaking the Law of God and thus incurring God wrath.   So, for example, the Law says people cannot grind wheat on the Sabbath.  So that no-one accidently walks through a field and wheat drops into their shoe and they unknowingly grind wheat, the elders banned people from fields on the Sabbath! In scripture we see Jesus purposefully leading his disciples through a field on the Sabbath.  These ‘fence rules’ then, were supposed to help people avoid breaking the Law of God but over time they became a rigid set of traditions that OVER-RULED the 613 Laws of God.  Not only that, but over time ANOTHER set of fence rules were made to protect the first set!  Crazy, but true!  In the same way the Early Church Fathers departed from the Apostles teaching  that was teaching to be held to and followed the established way to conduct a group of people.  The instructions for Church practice were ignored and Man again built his own version of what Church should be like.  The Church Fathers motives may have been to protect Christianity in the same way the elders wanted to protect the breaking of God’s Law.  A good idea but not what God wanted.

Gradually church met in special temples with special people leading the service.  The meal had been replaced with bread and wine whilst the leaders taught the people what the word of God means. The distinctive of the church that the Apostles taught disappeared in this order:  First church practice, what people do for church changed.  Secondly the gifts departed from the church.  Lastly the theology went away. This became the standard way to meet and in the fourth Century a ‘Christian’ Emperor made this the state religion.  From here, the Catholic Church grew and the world had 1000 years of dark ages.  

In the 16^th century there were widespread rumblings in the known world.  All over Europe, scholars were waking up to the fact that the Catholics were stealing from poor people, controlling people but more importantly, their teaching had little to do with the Bible.  The more famous of the ‘reformers’ was Martin Luther.  His cry was ‘sola scriptura’ which means ‘by scripture alone’ (we live out our Christian lives). From here grew the ‘Protestant’ movement, people who protested against the Catholic Church practises.  So Theology was being restored to the church.  In the early 1900’s strange things were occurring in churches and this became clear that, for some reason, the gifts of the Spirit were returning to the church. Ironically, this also heralded histories most significant progress in industry and technology – the 20^th century! 

It appears that God is restoring the church in the reverse order to how it lost its distinctive... Theology with Luther, the Gifts restored circa 1900.  The thing that has yet to be restored to church is Church practice, what people actually do for church.  We believe that God wants people to meet how the Apostles taught.  But here’s the problem- Britain’s heritage includes Catholicism in the very weft and weave of its development.  The way we lead, the way institute behaves and the society we engage every day is steeped in Rome! It has other influences but anyone born in Britain has been brought up with the cultural, educational and societal hangover of the Roman Catholic Church.  

This is also true of what we accept in our Church practice.  Ouch!  I know it’s hard to hear but it’s a challenge I believe we all have to face.  The long and short of it is none of us are responsible for how we meet, we were born into it and accept it.  My own journey started with asking the simple question, “If Jesus said we will see greater things than these” {things he was doing!} then where are they?  Where are the days of acts where 5000 people are saved in one day?  My conclusion is that like a radio that has many pieces of circuitry, they are no good in my hands!  It needs to be in a form where when power flows through it, it produces sound.   The amazing truth about the church that the Apostles taught was that in its foolishness, its weak-looking existence, it is placed firmly in Jesus’ hands!  This way, He can flow through it.  Basically that’s the reason why light groups are ‘church’ scripturally for us and Sunday morning is ‘church’ culturally.  Light Church then, for us, is not just a good idea that promotes community, it is God’s idea in form!

My heart is that the Church returns to meeting in homes.  It seems to me that people can experience God’s extended family in an environment that encourages this – the home.  Also, encourage the idea that we are all one under the head of the Church, Jesus.   Open and equal sharing has everyone able to express themselves and minister to the body in smaller groups where it is easy to do so.   Becoming elevated either by self promotion or by people putting others on a pedestal is blindingly obvious in such a small group where Christ is centre to the subject matter.   Furthermore, When people are met by people who love them and are able to express this through the body, they are built up and encouraged.  When people are met with affirmation, affection, love, warmth, understanding and all the characteristics of a Godly community, they don’t need the motivation or directives to go and win people.  They are tangibly different to this cold, dark, mean, loveless world.  Different attracts, especially when it is a different that everyone is looking for. 

Lastly, it would be ideal if Jesus told us that this is what we are to do for church.  He did!  The last supper was what we are to do when we meet together.  We are to remember Christ with a meal that includes bread and wine.  We are to have him central and no individuals directing, but all are able to share.   “Whenever you meet together, this do”  said Jesus, “in remembrance of me.” 

Love in Christ

Gary Ward and Family. 

Authentic Christian Living - more thoughts

Jesus said the entry level requirement for discipleship is to be 'losing your own life.' What a negative marketing strategy for something that God wants to be embraced by the lost!  "Come to Jesus and DIE!!! However, the only way God can have us become a transformed individual is by this process.  The problem is a little like the present position of the England football team after the world cup 2010.  To play for England you have to be English.  The strange thing is, the manager is Italian and the idea is that his success can be imported to the team. They were very poor in the world cup and this confirmed my thoughts.  I would rather see an English manager lead the team and the team find its own true level that attempt to bring in outside influences that may bring about imported success at some stage.  To me there's no point in winning if the entire outfit didn't reflect the true state of English football.  Its cheating!  In the same way, many Christians import things from the outside to aid Christian living.  This doesn't allow the individual to have a reality check on the true state of their heart, like the England team, it draws from foreign elements to gain authentication.  Jesus has an authentic way that involves 'losing your own life.'

So what mechanism has 'losing your own life' got in God?  There are two ways in which we can live our Christian lives.  Firstly, we can change our behaviour and practices in order to live like God wants us to.  This seems fine until we realise that we are able to bypass the real state of our core self  and change behaviour based on expectations of the pastor, pride, people, performance etc.  God didn't tell us to be-have, he told us to be-changed!  The way 'losing' works is by eliminating all the elements that would protect our core self.  God sees our core self but he wants us to see it!   So here's an example-  Peter: "ill never deny you Jesus" (bypassing core self)  Pete later : "Jesus who?" (the core self). When this was revealed to him, and I'm sure many things not recorded, he was able to be changed.  The reason is because when we see the true state of our hearts we are broken and crumple to our knees in repentance before our Lord. This way we can offer our core self to God, not just perceived behaviours that we think constitute a Christian walk. The result is that when God has worked in a transforming way, practices and behaviours naturally pour from the believer. These become the catalyst for change in this world rather than just surface adjustments, expected Christian nuances and controlled temperament which leads to 'having a form of Godliness, but denying it's power.' 

The way we can ensure we are aware of our core selves is to ask ourselves a series of 'ouch' questions:

• Am I committed to give up the conditioned responses of Christianity to be ACTUALLY changed?
• Am I ready to undertake the process of exploring my true heart motivations, warts and all?
• Is my Christian environment asking me to be-have or allowing me to be-changed?
• Does  preaching, leaders or discipleship courses change my core self or just ask for a change of behaviour?
• Do I want to be changed at core level to perhaps NEVER be a prominent minister/ministry?
• Can I distinguish between God's expressed will for me to be transformed and the expectation on me to perform?
• Have I imported 'managers' to play karaoke to Jesus in my life?

The challenge to Christianity is authenticity.  We have rightly appealed for Godly character to be formed but have we settled for Caricatures?  Does our insecurity or lack of faith lead to being more like a Christian than more like Christ? Do we fail to question our church environment because it perpetuates 'self' when self needs to be cross-bound?  I don't want England to win the world cup with imported help and I don't want to take another step in Christ unless it is entirely managed by my Creator.

Gary Ward

The Ego's need for Genius

One of my main passions is to refocus the nature of gifts in the church.  Many Christians have been taught that they are a gift to the church, an idea that has led to inflated ego and a value system being imposed upon God's children.  The bible says we are given gifts and like all gifts they need to be passed to the one they are meant for.  Taking on the identity of a gift is error in the church as God is the giver of every gift and we simply pass it on to others as led.

I was recently watching a talk by writer Elizabeth Gilbert and she pointed out something very interesting.  She said that genius used to be something that was detached from your being and the genius would work through you to create.  If God works through Christians then it could be fair to say that this idea fits with Christianity.  I have no problem at all imagining that a third party such as an angel can work through us in our general field of creativity and this also applies to demonic forces should we let them.  I wouldn't force this into a doctrine  and right now I am just playing with ideas.

That said I have always been struck with Eph. 2:10 For we are God's workmanship...   the word workmanship is 'poema' in the original Greek.  The word 'poem' comes from this.  Amazing!  God's creativity is worked through us!  You have a genius working through you and he is the great 'I Am.' we need no other!   The drive for Christians to develop some kind of identity for themselves is driven by the misconception that a gift is their own identity.

The idea that 'genius' was a third party working through a person disappeared as Europe strove for self importance in the Renaissance .  Instead of 'having' a genius people 'became' a genius!  Identity was taken on by the person and if you take this to its logical conclusion you will agree it can lead to  the 'have's' and the 'have-nots.'  From here we then have a class system imposed upon gift, talent and ability.  Does this sound familiar?  Isn't gift, talent and ability rewarded at different levels in this world?  Of course,  that's how society sees our roles, tasks and functions on earth.  When this set of values is imposed on church we have a problem.  How can a 'have' and 'have-not' system work amongst brothers and sisters?

It doesn't, yet millions of Christians exist within these wrong attitudes to 'ability'.  The truth is that God is your Genius!  He wants to work through you and your only challenge is to find how God can work through YOU! Don't be fooled into thinking that others are somehow superior or you are less-than amongst brothers and sisters.  And don't be thinking creative genius is just how you paint, act or sing.  God's Genius does not fit into our narrow perspective.  It is far reaching and involves every step of our interaction with this world.  Enjoy being you.

Finding God as your Source

There are loads of people who acknowledge God to varying degrees.  Some are happy to pay a weekly homage in church but others follow the Bible and try to have God become their all.  I believe the latter is part of the fulfilling life we can lead in Christ - to find God as our source.  You don't need qualifications or a special insight to have God become your source.  You simply need to know that God loves you and wants to be the one that becomes your dependence.  God wants this because he thinks you are amazing despite the flaws and failures we all have and experience.  I meet so many Christians who know what I have written above but find it difficult to make it a reality day to day.  Read on to explore how to make God your source every day of your life.

I have worked with young people for many years and I observe how they grow as young adults into a world that  tells them what I call the 'ten acquired laws of western living.'  These are acquired attitudes that present a problem for some young people.  These laws also plague some adults:

1. Others will only think well of you if you present an acceptable image to them
2. What others think is the key to feeling accepted.
3. Because my life is boring, it must be a mistake.
4. You need to accumulate self worth by talent, gifts and ability.
5. How I feel about myself is the indicator of truth about me.
6. I must be lame to have low self esteem.
7. My aim is to be like a person who is respected, even famous!
8. Everything in this world tells me I should be a someone, but I'm not!
9. Others seem to be happy about who they are.
10. I feel frustrated, even angry, about not being happy with me.

We are assessed by this world
The key to all 10 of these laws is to have God become your source for all the issues described.  Every one of the laws have a common thread that connects them all.  This connection is that the person who feels like this is recognising that this world, society, other people are stakeholders in your life.  Simply put, they aren't unless you allow them to be! It is true that we have to live in and interact with our communities but we need to take charge of them, not them take charge of us.  If you assess your life by anything that lies in this world you will at some point become utterly miserable. Young people are trained to assess themselves against others by the exam system for example.  You are graded at an early age.  Many become unstuck as this accepted system of education tells us that we are part of a structured labelling system.  This can become a yardstick to tell us what we can and can't become.

We are valued by this world
Our language has examples of how we buy into the assessment of fellow human beings.  Some people dont 'measure up.'  Measure up to what?  The second we answer that question is the moment we have graded a human being.  Grading is a short step from valuing.  "Listen to your superiors!" This is what I was told about adults and teachers in school.  A superior directly infers that in some way I am inferior!  This world we live in has systems of value, worth and grading and if we listen to it we will have to accept the pigeon holes and labels it dishes out.  Ever been told about the 'career ladder?  It exists because the perception is that someone on a higher rung is higher, therefore better than you!  I know people who recognise the folly of the above but only a Christian can re-source their value system.

God accepts us in this world
God shows us through the Bible initially that his love for you is not based on performance or status.  He loves the intrinsic you!  So if we are going to begin to depend on God you can stop looking to your own gifts, talent and ability as a measure of how you fit in this world. "So you have riches, fame and attention.... God, who made this world loves me with nothing added, just me, as I am!"   Many who acknowledge that God loves them still struggle with the fact that they feel useless.  The church doesn't help!    The majority of western churches are geared around 'task.'  Churches should be working in social action in communities and many do an amazing job.  Within the congregations however, the people are generally urged to find their gifts and abilities and serve God there.  There's nothing wrong with this IF the basic principles of Christianity are present.  In the first century the Apostles taught that church was about brothers and sisters being together in Christ. This is the primary reason for church existing and the New Testament contains chapter after chapter of of this 'being' in Christ.  So many Christians know God loves them but concentrate on what they have to do for God rather than 'being.'  A 'doing' philosophy takes us into the area of grading and measuring.  Pastors are seen as 'superiors' and many sermons are how we fail to 'measure up' in our service to God.

Shifting your perspective
Our lives in Christ have no directive to do anything that lies outside of who we are already.  In other words, you already are all you will do in Christ.  The gifts are all spiritual gifts and spiritual gifts cannot be enhanced, customised or upgraded by anything from this world.  So on a church level you are already equipped for what you can do for Christ.  In churches that have the worldly system of measuring and grading you simply are not able to be yourself.  It is the needs and requirements of the leadership of the church that decide how you fit and function.  One ministry couple told me they 'release' people for ministry.  Whose holding the people that need releasing?  Often those who are leading churches do so because they have experienced the need to feel valued and some because they want to feel superior.  The drive to fill the feeling of emptiness brought on by low self esteem is worth being involved in the 'people business.'  It is a difficult job but the pay-off is worth it.  Feeling fulfilled doing 'God's work' hits the spot, but would you feel fulfilled NOT doing anything?  This is an indication of how dependant you are on 'doing' when the whole point of Christian life is 'being.'

In Christ we are equal
What I have described in church is also true of this world.  ALL your formative years will be based on your pending career.  The higher up the ladder you go, the more you will service the list of 'laws' above.  Fitting and functioning will be your grading and measuring tools.  Money and notoriety are pay-offs here.  Status, profile and fame are also carrots on the road to filling the gaps.  Christians have no need to engage the way this works.  It isn't just opting out either!  God made all people spiritually equal so to have measurement, superior/inferior mindsets and grading structures is nonsense.  Ill address the 10 'laws' above from a Christian perspective:

1.  It matters what God thinks of you and he thinks you're ace!
2. God accepts you the way you are.
3. You are friends with the Lord of the Universe.  Is that boring?
4. God values who you are, not what you can or cant do
5. The truth about you is God loves and cares for you. Does that feel good?
6. Facts are indicators of truth. Fact: God thinks you're ace!
7. You are related to God Almighty.  Fame at last!
8. The Lord of the Universe knows your name.  Now are you a someone?
9. Who you are is a child of God.
10. See 9.

The church was designed by God to be based in a family environment around a meal with open and equal sharing.  Leadership was nothing to do with presiding over people and service was something people did naturally rather than a platform for superior/inferior placing.  It was the Roman Catholics that produced the worst kind of abuses where religious class was concerned.  Today's Protestant church still suffers from the structural anomalies that Roman Catholicism still adheres to.  They structured the church in such a way that places man in charge of the comings and goings of the things of God.  Not fully free from the mindset and structure of the Roman Catholics, the church tends to make 'calling' a reason to remain in the God-rejecting system.  Some Christians need to be in charge to fill the gap of low self esteem and occupy a position that makes them feel important.  Because they don't acknowledge the observations above, they become people who grade, assess and value people based on their own lack.  They call this their anointing.  Out from the church go people with a message that is not outworked in their own life:

God loves and accepts me! (but my value system still subject to the opinions, systems and rules of man).

Lost people see this and are happy to remain untouched by the 'Good news.'  Some ministers have told me that the way people meet doesn't matter and what they do God tells them to do it.  Increasingly though, the case for reform of church practice is becoming more and more urgent.  Whilst wanting to build up the body of Christ and make people whole, the church adheres to the worldly value system that comes directly from structure.   People exist within an environment of expectation but cannot meet the expectations.  The reason is because making God your source requires a person to withdraw from all the things trying to be sources.   By being in the church that is in the New Testament, God takes away the temptation for man to fill the gaps with status, position and profile. Of course, any gathering of people can become manipulated by people but it is easier to identify someone not free from their own need to be superior to others.  Any one who needs to gain value and self esteem from their own position and status would most likely run from an environment where everyone is equal.  With no outlet for being in charge and feed the monster, the only place to find value, worth and self esteem is in God!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of modern day church

The Good.
Having hung around 'church' in the UK for 20 years or so, its interesting to reflect from time to time.  There's a lot of good happening in Christianity today and its always amazing to see people just living to please God and getting busy doing things to be his witnesses in this dark world.  Projects that get loads of people focussed  on Jesus can only be good, and when they become Christians it is fantastic news. My own journey is day to day educating the hard to reach in communities in the UK for TLG a Christian Charity.  I share the desire to see people repent and follow Jesus.  I also take my hat off to anyone who steps up to the plate and gets involved in God's work.

The Bad
Most church leaders are not at all aware of the following information:  The practise of meeting in a hall with a central leadership directing the meeting is not what God intended for Church.  The model where leaders preside under or over the congregation is anti-scriptural and leads to a separation amongst equals.  This in turn leads to people following people instead of following Christ... the whole point of being a disciple. Paul the apostle meets these issues head on in 1 Corinthians and goes on to underline the practise all the apostles taught and agreed upon - a fellowship meal - a family environment - leadership but no hierarchy - open and equal sharing.  Historically the church can be seen, starting with the early church fathers, to stray from what the apostles taught about meeting together.  Having great social action programs is Good but if the hub of the activity is not biblical, this creates a problem for good people who want to genuinely out-pour their lives for God.  Our example of rejecting God for some human-leader is 1 Sam 8 and the first 4 chapters of 1 Corinthians.

The Ugly
Some church leaders are aware of the above and do nothing about it.  And that is ugly.  Knowing scripture warns of mixing 'the done thing' with 'my agenda' should be enough.  However this isn't enough.  If you aren't doing God's thing then you are just doing what Man does.  Didn't we see all that before?  Didn't we repent and turn from wicked ways?  Yet many live in two worlds, the world of wanting to please God and the world of ugly self promotion.  The separation among leaders and the congregation is allowed to become the springboard to polish the narcissism which all humans are plagued by.  If we understood what it took to have all authority, power and dominion handed to Jesus so he could be our leader and head of the church, we would be on our face with our crowns offered to him.  But alas... so many get caught up in the 'self,' missing that 'Bless' has 'less' as the main point.  Some church leaders need to study the one thing Jesus hated - the practices of the Nicolatians.  The word means 'suppression of the people.'  So many leaders are presiding over the people and this makes them subject to that leader, especially in this institutional society we live in.  If you are reading this and feel it strikes a chord then do get in touch.

Yours in the fight for truth.

Gary Ward

Stuff God wants us to know. 1

Jer 33:3 'Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.'

Thinking that becomes part and parcel of everyday life can be termed as 'institutional conditioning.' This is when something is unquestionably and routinely accepted by ourselves. Christians are good at taking on new concepts and mulling over information as that is part of our responsibility as God's children. However there are aspects of Christian life that are not questioned and therefore routinely accepted, not realising the dangers.

A fun example is 'who said Australia is 'down under?' I can accept that since it was discovered fairly recently by people from 'up top' it will be termed 'down under.' Given that there is no up or down in space the whole idea of direction is a man made suggestion. Australians consider themselves to be down under also, thus also buying into it all. It doesn't really affect anyone if we consider whose down or up in this world but there are some things readily accepted in life that do affect people. History has set things in motion based upon perspectives someone had long ago. These things become the fabric of our society and no-one questions them. An example that harms people is the class system. Sure, the terminology may have started with observing peoples socio-economical status in relation to others but then became a tool used for political ends. Some people are refused jobs because of postcode prejudice. Certain areas are labelled as socially challenged because of labels assigned many moons ago. This thinking is part of our society and while the evidence of the classification is in our towns and cities, has the branding of people set many up to fail? Labels become concepts and that's a short step from concepts speaking back into the situation and producing accepted paradigms.

In my life I have never been handed a book or seen a documentary on why our leaders govern the country the way they do. I've had to accept so much of 'the done thing' because...er.. its the done thing. Again, to answer why things are done a certain way we can point to history, decisions made by men and women to set in motion ideas that will govern people and systems to meet an end result. I sometimes feel pressured by the thought that I can't come up with a better idea so just accept the way it is done. This is a wrong way to think. Just because I may not suggest solutions doesn't mean that I cannot recognise the problems. Class systems, government and geographical anomaly may be impossible to change but we can and must address whether institutional conditioning affects church practise.

The Bible tells us to pray and not be angry about the way things are in the way this world is run. Too many Christians have the same kind of auto-acceptance about church. "It's just the way it is, God must have led the church here." But we all know how far off the mark Roman Catholicism is... did God lead that? Whilst staring at the man made religion of Roman Catholicism many Christians cannot cope with the thought that there still may be a way to go before we are rid of those elements still lingering in church structure and systems. Whilst preaching "God led us here" don't forget all the spectrum of denomination today came from the Great Reformation, a protest against Roman Catholicism. Whilst ironing out some of the Theological issues the emerging Protestants did not stop doing doing what the Roman Catholic priests did, preside OVER God's people.

Given our propensity to readily accept what we were born into, isn't it of the utmost importance to make sure 'church' is not subject to institutional conditioning? Moves have been made towards not doing the done thing where church is concerned. Leaders may have removed the garb, made the preaching relevant to today and produced user friendly environments. However, in our society anyone who steps up to the responsibility of leadership will be automatically in a hierarchical system. How so? Because western history, society, culture and what we readily accept in day to day life accepts hierarchy and rank as standard.

If you don't want church leadership to automatically equate to rank you will need to do three things:

1. You will need to tell people who you lead that they should not see you the same as the teacher, policeman, army officer, supervisor or parent, all of whom are in a ranked position in this society for all their lives.

2. You will need to get rid of all the things that reinforce the idea that you are in a higher ranked position. This means forsaking position, status, labels, privileges and all visual confirmation you are the superior officer ie. the platform, pulpit, front row, titles and church structures that rank the people who attend.

3. You will have to live as a brother who may or may not be a leader amongst your sisters and brothers. What you do will have to become secondary to who you are among others.

The primary reason the church has been hindered in effectiveness despite centuries of activity is because the progress made in what the church looks like and how she appears in society has not changed what she is. Christians are not institutional because we belong to the state or don't, we are institutional because we readily-accept-and-never-question the historical amendments made to what church should do. Leadership doesn't look the same as the Roman Catholic church but it sits in a society that will see church leaders as priest-types, set apart, more than brothers or sisters.

So what form does leadership take if not following the post-Catholic model? How will people who are institutionally conditioned be led if the leadership model is of another nature? The answer to these questions lie in the need to remove anything that promotes the priestly rank and other things that hinder the nature of Christians gathering together for ecclesia. When we do this we find much of what we do, and how we do it, is there to serve the priestly rank and all that means in practise. Scripture shows Paul and the other apostles in agreement to teach church as a smaller gathering in family environments around a meal. Each contributed, not just the few professionals. God in his wisdom wanted us to live under the exclusive leadership of Christ and all that would promote the priestly rank was avoided.

We were born into this world where invisible rules and practises worm their way into our consciousness. Our contentment with 'the done thing' should never be blind acceptance. Only God can open our eyes to the extent of how we have been shaped by the environment of this world. We are a product of church history but not subject to it so can you become free by taking the bold and courageous steps toward biblical church?