The Church – A Community of Faith

January 9, 2013 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Culture, Theology, Worship

America is blessed with a lot of churches. Some sit astride prominent street corners proudly displaying their architectural glory while others are tucked away indiscreetly between a used shoe store and a day old bakery in a weary strip mall on the tired side of town. Some have one word names like “Grace.” Others have names so long that you can’t say the full name without stopping to breathe. Most have the stereotypical church look, while others resemble something between a cinema and a warehouse. It is not, however, the architect they display, the appellation they wear, or the affiliations they boast that makes them a church.

The New Testament doesn’t provide a simple concise definition of the Church other than what is found in the meaning of the Greek word for Church (ekklesia) which is “the called out ones.” What it does provide is long narratives portraying the Church in action, colorful word pictures of what the church is like, specific duties that the Church should fulfill, doctrinal standards that the Church should teach and prophetic insights of how the Church can stray from the path and lose its way.

History has taught us that the Church needs periods of reformation and times of revival to keep it doctrinally sound, morally pure and faithful to its calling. At other times, the Church needs change that is less radical and might be described as a course correction. These internal corrections need to be made because the Church has a hard time keeping its balance. Certain imbalances can be attributed to the peculiarities of leadership. Others are derived from simply over-emphasizing one truth to the neglect of other balancing truths. The worse imbalances, however, grow out of the fertile soil of fear. When the church and its leaders do what they do or fail to do what they should do out of fear, the church will inevitably suffer from some imbalance.

The Call to the Conservative Holiness Movement, by its very nature, is a challenge to the CHM to address particular areas of weakness or failure. The call is not designed to enumerate all the good things that could be said about the CHM. Article III of the call speaks to the CHM’s community of faith and addresses some of the imbalances in the way the CHM views its own community of faith and the community of faith at large. I think it is important to note that even though these imbalances are real and need addressed, the average conservative holiness church is a wonderful place to worship. In my opinion, they still offer one of the best environments available to raise a family; hear the Word of God fearlessly proclaimed; feel conviction for sin while at the same time find the power of grace; hear fervent praying; sense the moving of God’s Spirit; worship with people who are serious about everyday holiness; and find an environment that truly helps one to keep his feet on the narrow path that leads to life eternal!

Nevertheless, the CHM does have a significant imbalance in the way it views its own differing communities of faith as well as how it views the larger community of faith. The Movement at large and the various denominations within suffer from a culture of suspicion toward those who do not share their particularities. They also suffer from a certain insularity that robs them of the insight, wisdom and balance that could be derived from the larger Christian community. This condition varies in degree from denomination to denomination and from church to church, but it is present and needs to be honestly confronted and openly addressed.

A Culture of Suspicion

The CHM highly values the Biblical call to separation from the world. As appropriate and good as this may be, inherent in any serious commitment to “Biblical separation” is the temptation to be suspicious of others who may have a lesser degree or even a greater degree of separation that we do. Just as the call to holy living can veer off the path into perfectionism, the call to separation from the world can veer off the path into isolationism – an isolation that breeds a carnal suspicion of anyone and everyone that doesn’t see it like I do or share my particular version of how the faithful ought to manifest their faith. This has been a perennial bane for the CHM. Rev. Tom Reed says this kind of suspicion has caused us to “play God – determining who is or is not a Christian based on the way we see things.” Clearly if this suspicion is left unchecked, it will lead to a spirit of judging and condemnation of the larger community of faith as well as to divisions within our own CHM family. Even now many groups within the CHM will not use a speaker from another group within the CHM because of suspicion and fear. Conservative leaders could use their influence and voice to help remedy this disease with a cure that doesn’t require anyone to compromise their corporate values or personal convictions. It only requires a renewed understanding and commitment to the teachings of I Cor. 8-10 and Rom. 14. Add to that a fresh supply of the “love of God poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” and we can be well on our way to removing the ethos of suspicion and division among us.

A Detachment from the Larger Christian Community

In I Cor. 12 Paul reminds us that the Church is a body made up of many different members; each contributing something that the other members cannot give. This has an application to both the local body and to the larger body of Christ. It seems to me that God has given the various traditions of the Christian Church particular insights into truth and practice that He has not given in the same degree to all. He must expect us to learn from one another. I have learned much about prayer by reading from both Catholic and Evangelical writers. I have been immeasurably enriched by the writings and teachings of evangelicals like C. S. Lewis, Dallas Willard, Richard Foster, Ravi Zacharias and Chuck Colson. The expository preaching and teaching of men like John MacArthur, David Jeremiah and Howard Hendricks have added great value to the life of the whole Church and challenged others to take the Scriptures more seriously. The work of William Booth, Mother Teresa and Erlo Stegen have challenged me to the core of my spiritual being to be mindful of the downtrodden and disenfranchised among us. Where would America’s families be today without the ministry of James Dobson? Personally, no one has challenged me more in the area of spiritual intimacy and holiness than Dennis Kinlaw and John Oswalt.

It must be noted that not a single name mentioned above identifies with the CHM. Yet each one of them has spoken powerfully into my life and the lives of many conservative holiness people. In preparation for writing this article I spoke with the Rev. Tom Reed, who is an elder statesman within the CHM. He shared with me a list of men outside our tradition who have been used of God to advance his own spiritual life. He mentioned: H.A. Ironsides (a former pastor of Moody church), A.W. Tozer (he visited his church often on Sunday evenings), Paul Rees, Vance Havner, S. M. Lockridge and Howard Hendricks. He added this insightful comment, “these were not holiness men but they were holy men and I refuse to write them off just because they see some things differently than me”.

The CHM has tended to isolate themselves from these “outside” voices. They fear that they might be a corruptive or a persuasive influence, or even worse, that if we allow anyone to minister to us that does not fully share all our values we have somehow compromised and demeaned those values. Some of this kind of thinking grows out of simple fear. In other cases I think it is because we have failed to distinguish between a Romans 14 category issue (opinions, preferences, interpretations, etc…) and a Galatians 1 category issue (false doctrine or heresy) and have treated all outside voices as if they were in the Galatians 1 category. Mature leaders should be more discerning than this. I know many laymen who already exercise this kind of discernment by means of radio, books, CD’s and DVD’s that they buy and listen to.

Let me clear, I am not advocating an open door policy on “outside voices”. I am certainly not encouraging local churches to open up their pulpits to men and women from other traditions. What I am suggesting is that in our large conventions, conferences and forums we need to occasionally hear what our brothers and sisters outside the CHM have to say to us. God is working powerfully in His world through many of these choice servants. There are many outside our little circle who are far outstripping us in their passion for the lost, their zeal for the disenfranchised, their insight into scripture and their love for holiness. To hear what they are doing, to be challenged by their successes and to learn from their insight will not and does not diminish my love for my Zion nor make me want to jettison my spiritual tradition and values! It simply makes me a better servant of the Lord!

We Have Something to Offer the Church

The sword of isolation cuts two ways. We are cut off from what the larger Christian community can give us and the larger Christian community is cut off from what we can bring to it. The CHM is the beneficiary of hundreds of years of rich holiness heritage. We have grown up embracing and experiencing truths that some in the body of Christ will never know or experience. We have some preachers who are as capable and anointed as any out there anywhere. Our emphasis on personal transformation, purity of heart, perfect love, real character development, growth in grace and freedom from the power of sin are emphasis that are needed by the larger body of Christ! Surely what God has freely bestowed on us we ought to freely share with others!

My plea is not for some silly, stupid ecumenicalism! It is a simple plea for us to both reap and share the bounty of spiritual riches that are ours in Christ and found within the various members of His Body – including our own. The late H. E. Schmul, one of the greatest conservative holiness statesmen I ever knew, use to lead us in singing, “I don’t care what church you belong to, Just as long as for Calvary you stand. Just as long as your heart beats with my heart, You’re my brother, so give me your hand”. Somebody strike the tune and let’s sing it again!

Don’t Miss Christ This Christmas

January 9, 2013January 9, 2013 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Culture, Ministry, Theology, Worship

The early American spiritual, “Sweet Little Jesus Boy” has a profound insight running through its lyrics. The writer appropriately reflects the world’s failure to recognize the incarnate Son of God when He says: “We didn’t know who You were.” The third verse proves to be even more remarkable. “The world treats you mean, Lord, treats me mean too, but that’s how things are down here. We don’t know who you are.” The writer deliberately shifts from a historical ignorance to a present-day failure to recognize the Son of God and then to live out the implications of knowing Him.

The world completely missed Him on that first Christmas (John 1:5, 10). Their kings were born surrounded by pomp and circumstance. But Jesus came silently, in a stable, with only a few shepherds to pay him homage. Their kings lived in palaces, dressed in splendor, dined with heads of state, and traveled in gold plated chariots pulled by majestic steeds. Their vision of a king was one to be served, feared and honored from a distance. Jesus wore the garb of common men, had no place to lay his head, traveled by foot, rubbed shoulders with the poor and diseased, held children on his lap and first revealed His glory at the wedding of a poor village girl. The very thought of a king, dying on a cross to redeem his people and establish His kingdom, was to the world foolishness.

His own people missed him (John 1:11). The Jews were looking for a conquering warlord that would throw off the yoke of Rome, liberate their country and return them to the golden age of Solomon. But Jesus said His kingdom was not of this world, spoke of going the second mile, turning the other cheek, and loving your enemies. The Jews watched in complete horror as He healed a Roman’s Centurion’s servant, talked to a Samaritan adulteress, stayed in the home of a tax collector and spent most of His time with a group of ignorant fisherman. For their Messiah to be crucified on a Roman cross as God’s perfect sacrifice, proved to be a huge stumbling block.

His disciples had problems recognizing who He was. Peter, speaking for the twelve, announced at Caesarea Philippi that, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus’ response to that was to explain that being the Christ involved a cross. To which Peter replied, “Not so Lord.” When Jesus washed the disciple’s feet, Peter’s paradigm of the Messiah came out again, and it was not one of self-sacrificing servanthood. Even after three years, His disciples saw His death and resurrection as the ultimate end rather than the consummate victory.

You don’t have to miss Him. Those who were in tune to God’s redemptive plan and activity recognized Jesus right away. Simeon and Anna recognized Him as God’s means of salvation when He was still a babe in His mother’s arms. The wise men worshipped Him, John the Baptist announced Him as the “Lamb of God,” and the woman of Samaria said to her friends, “Is not this the Christ?”

Even a Roman Centurion who witnessed His crucifixion said, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

If Jesus were reincarnated among us today, would we be prepared to recognize Him? Or have we created a Jesus so much to our own liking that we would never know the one walking through the pages of our New Testament? This Christmas season, go back to the gospels and look for Him. You will be awed by what you find.

Holiness and Social Concern

January 9, 2013January 9, 2013 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Theology

Today over a billion people in the world live on less than a dollar a day. That means over a billion men and women face a daily struggle to find food, water and shelter with less money than you would spend for an order of fries or your favorite donut. More than 24,000 children die every day from preventable causes like diarrhea (contracted from unclean water); while more than 16,000 die from starvation.

The average American finds it hard to grasp this kind of poverty. Especially since the hardest struggle many face in their daily routine is to fasten their pants. Yet not all Americans are blessed by being average. More than 16 million children live in households that struggle to put food on the table. There are almost 14 million single parents (84% single moms) endeavoring to raise 26% of America’s children and half of them live in poverty. Over one-third of America’s elderly live below the poverty line. Thousands of panhandlers and homeless people beg on the street corners and sleep over the warm grates of every major city. Multiplied thousands of the working poor have homes in need of repair or cars in need of maintenance that can’t and won’t be fixed because there is neither the money to have it done nor the skill to do it themselves. Many of these folks sit in a pew next to you.

Should this really bother me?

Bob Pierce often prayed, “Let my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.” Every serious Christian prays this prayer. They also go further. They strive to learn what breaks the heart of God and then act on what they learn. Fortunately for us, God’s view on the subject is not hidden. In the laws given to the developing nation of Israel, He addresses every segment of society that needs a voice of compassion spoken for them: the widows, orphans, strangers (aliens), the injured, the hungry, women, those who have been enslaved by debt, the marginalized, the disenfranchised and others who are oppressed or disadvantaged in some way (Leviticus and Deuteronomy). He makes it clear to the Jewish nation that honoring these laws is so close to His heart that their peaceful existence and continued ownership of the land is conditioned on their obedience to these laws (Jeremiah 7:5-7). The prophet Amos gives us a glimpse into both God’s attitude toward and judgment upon those who ignore justice for the distressed and exploit the poor.

The New Testament speaks loudly on behalf of this same group of people. Jesus communicated his concerns powerfully through such parables as: the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), the rich young ruler (Mark 10:17-22), the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) and the sheep and goats (Matt. 25: 31-46). The newly formed Church appointed a group of deacons just to care for the widows (Acts 6). When the Jerusalem Council gave Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship and commissioned them to go to the Gentiles, it was with the admonition to, “ remember the poor” (Gal. 2:10). The Apostle John, who may have known the heart of Jesus better than any, spoke these words, “But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”(I John 3:17). James tells us that pure religion and true faith are validated by how we respond to those in need (James 1:27, 2:15-17).

“There is no Holiness but Social Holiness”

The above quote is not from John Wesley but from Mike Avery! Yes, Wesley made that statement but he was talking about “Lone Ranger – separated-from-the-body religion” not social action. But I am referring to social concern and action. Why? Because social concern is where the central issue of holiness – love – meets the road! If the heart of holiness is centered in loving “the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself” then holiness is inextricably linked to the way one treats his neighbor. It seems to me to be quite impossible to claim a heart full of love for God yet offer a hand empty of compassion toward my neighbor. Dag Hammarskjold was correct to say that the road to holiness passes through the world of action (I John 3:17).

Calling the CHM to Social Concern!

The Call to the Conservative Holiness Movement Article IX states that the CHM has to a great degree turned its gaze away from society’s neediest people toward the “cloistered walls of a narrow and narcissistic piety.” It further states that by doing so the CHM has forsaken the pattern of her spiritual forefathers who not only declared the gospel verbally but demonstrated it visibly by building orphanages, establishing homes for unwed mothers and planting Gospel Missions on every skid row in every large city of America. To them taking the gospel to the “least of these my brethren” was the only way to both fulfill the command to “preach the gospel to every creature” and to “love my neighbor as myself.”

Has the CHM failed?

It is not as easy as it might seem to evaluate the extent in which the present day conservative holiness churches are engaged in social action ministries in their local communities. There are many cases where individuals (who attend a CHM church) are involved in volunteer work, or give significantly to fund these types of ministries, or are directly assisting individuals who are needy while the church itself has no formal participation in any social ministry. For example I found a situation where two men are supporting a single mom and her two children – housing, Christian school tuition, a vehicle to get her to work, etc. . . . Since it is not a structured ministry it would not show up in a list of ministries operated by a church. Nevertheless it is the very kind of social action that the Bible addresses and clearly reflects a passion for social concern. I am hopeful that this example is a norm rather than an exception.

I found a few cases where a church chose to give a small amount of financial support to organizations that specialize in some particular area of ministry to the needy rather than directly engage in these ministries themselves. Organizations like LAHIA, The Salvation Army, Regional Food Banks, Habitat for Humanity, City Missions, and Christian Clearing Houses. These and a host of others like them specialize in social outreach and do a good job on the local level.

The question remains as to the movement at large. Is the CHM failing in the area of social concern as a whole? The only way I had to find an answer to this question was a less than perfect method of just looking at the number of actual ministries operated and funded by conservative holiness churches. I did not include ministries that were federally or state funded with the exception of food banks. Out of approximately 3,000 churches identified as conservative holiness churches I was able to locate: 5 prison/jail ministries, 3 rescue missions, 6 food distribution ministries, 2 free clothing ministries and 1 home for unwed mothers. I am quite sure there are other churches with ministries that I did not discover. Nevertheless, even if the numbers above were doubled or tripled the ratio of ministries to churches would still be quite small. I will let the reader draw their own conclusions.

I also contacted World Mission organizations that identify with the CHM to see what they were doing to: provide care for orphans, clean water for villages, medical care for the destitute, and food the hungry. According to the Rope Holders Newsletter there are approximately 31 organizations that serve the CHM as Foreign Mission agencies. We were able to get responses from 29. With the one exception of work among Native Americans, all responses involved work outside the US. The Table below gives the question and the percentage that answered in the affirmative:

Care for orphans 17%

Food provided daily 27%

Education for the poor 48%

Clean Water 20%

Medical Clinic 20%

Medicine for preventable causes 34%

What is being done by individuals within the CHM is being done, as it should be, without knowledge to others so there is no way to draw any valid conclusions. If you look at what the CHM is doing organizationally in America and overseas one can draw their own conclusions. However, there is one conclusion that can be drawn that may not be as obvious as others but needs to be pointed out nonetheless. The CHM has clearly lost the full measure of the social conscience that gripped our forefathers. Our Methodist holiness forefathers filled their cities and towns with acts of mercy. John Wesley, it is estimated, gave over 30,000 pounds (Over $4,000,000 in today’s value) to other people during his life. He opened the first free dispensary in England for medical aid to the poor. He organized a society to aid strangers in need. He supported education for the poor, opposed the slave trade, and encouraged prison reform. Succeeding Methodist battled slavery, alcohol, ignorance, poverty, gambling, racism, political corruption, abortion and sexual degradation. Phoebe Palmer, known for the Tuesday Meeting for the promotion of holiness, may have done some of her best work through her Five Points Mission. Many of the churches among the Nazarenes and the Pilgrim Holiness had their origins as rescue missions. Many, if not most, of the early Bible Schools located in large cities so they would be near those who needed help in both soul and body. Martin Wells Knapp pushed God’s Bible School to the forefront of the “soup, soap and salvation” work in Cincinnati. Lela McConnell saw the need outside the cities and carried the same passion for acts of mercy to the Appalachian poor in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky. As Larry Smith would say in reference to our history, “we Wesleyans have punched our holes in the darkness.”

Reasons or Excuses?

It would be simplistic and irresponsible not to acknowledge the many problems associated with undertaking many of these ministries. For example, the regulatory role of government through federal and state agencies has made it next to impossible for small denominations or churches to operate any type of facility for those who need both Christian compassion and professional care. Furthermore, government’s involvement in the whole arena of care for the needy has created such a “welfare culture” that it has taken the heart out of many who might otherwise be involved in helping the less fortunate. They are turned off by a generation of poor who not only expect help but demand it. However, this is not sufficient reason to face our communities with a closed fist.

There is also a very real danger that we allow social concern to become an end in itself. Our attempts to help society will not make a society with better men. It is the power of the gospel that changes hearts thereby making better men who will in turn make better societies. On the occasion of William Booth’s 80^th birthday he wrote to his officers these words, “but while you strive to deliver them from their temporal distresses, and endeavor to rescue them from the causes that have led to their unfortunate condition, you must seek, above all, to turn their miseries to good account by making them help the salvation of their souls and their deliverance from the wrath to come. It will be a very small reward for all your toils if, after bringing them into condition of well-being here, they perish hereafter”.

Many have sought to alleviate the sufferings of someone in need only to find they had been duped by a professional con artist. I truly understand this dilemma. Since I travel a lot I am often asked for help with fuel when I stop at a service station. Of course I am skeptical, but since I have no way of knowing if the need is real or not I often help (I do so by putting fuel in their tank and never money in their pocket). I do not believe we should foolishly give money away or subsidize laziness, addictions or sin. But I believe it is better to help a hundred fakes than to close my heart to humanity and end up failing to help the one truly in need.

You may excuse yourself from helping others by claiming you can’t find any real needs or that you are too poor yourself to help someone else. You may not feel wealthy or think you are but if you have running water, a shelter over your head, clothes to wear, food to eat, and some means of transportation (public or private) you are in the top 15 percent of the world’s people of wealth. It has been my experience that those with less means are generally more willing to help than those with great means. The same is true with churches. Generosity is not controlled by ones bank account but by ones heart! Rich churches who neglect the poor are not the communities of God just as rich people who neglect the poor are not the people of God!

What can we do?

First, start with becoming a Christian who takes the Bible seriously! Our lives should be a living witness against a worldly church that has become self-satisfied with its affluence and privileged position. We should be a living reproach to the nominal Christian who cares more about the number of shopping days left until Christmas than he does about the poor. We should simplify our lives so that we can share with those who truly need our help both in our own community and around the world!

Second, care enough to be informed. Educate yourself about global issues such as preventable disease, clean water, hunger, sex trafficking, the plight of the unborn and education. Find out what is happening in your own sphere of influence and do something about it. Commit to practicing the law of love. Develop a systematic approach to helping others that follows the Biblical admonition to: care first for one’s own family (1 Tim 5:8), then fellow believers (Gal. 6:10), and then to every human being possible (Gal 6:10; James 1:27-2:26; cf. Rom. 13:1-10).

Third, give your financial support systematically and thoughtfully not just emotionally. It should be noted that the early church used great care in discerning who should receive their support. For example, a widow was to be put on a list for permanent, life-time support only if she met certain criteria. Paul sets these down clearly in I Timothy 5:3-6: she must be at least 60 years old, “left alone” without family or presumably any other means of support, a woman of prayer, married only once, and a reputation for good works, among other things. In contrast, Paul admonishes the Thessalonians to withhold their social care to those unwilling but able to work: “if anyone will not work, neither let him eat” (II Thess. 3:6-15). Giving should always be done in a way that doesn’t support bad behavior or subsidize addictive habits or close the door for the gospel. Give wisely but give. This also includes being wise in your giving to mission organizations and agencies that care for orphans and feed the hungry. Do some investigation into any organization that you plan to support. Ask for a public audit or go online and read the audit. Ask how much of your money actually goes to the need and how much stays in the local office for administrative overhead. If no answer is forthcoming, find another organization that will give answers. Legitimate ministries are more than willing to share any information that will help you give confidently and generously.

Fourth, pray. The giving of your time and treasure may be small but the offering up of your prayers can be large! We cannot take up every kind of injustice or concern in the world – to even try to do so would do us in. But we can enter the arena of social concern on the wings of prayer. Prayer is necessary if the forces of darkness and the demonic principalities that are behind the institutional structures that are responsible for so much poverty and suffering are to be defeated.

Everett Hale said, “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do”. I cannot cut the ropes that bind the little girls of Thailand as they wait to be sold to some vile monster but I can pressure my government to get involved, support the organizations that do and be faithful in my prayers to defeat the demonic forces that hold this corrupt system in place. I can’t save every child that dies in the Sudan but I can support a missionary who braves the risk of working there. I can’t alleviate all the suffering in Cincinnati or even all that is found on the street where I live, but there are some things I can and must do! I will probably never feel that what I did was quite enough even though it was my best. I may always feel a little skeptical as to whether they really needed my help or truly appreciated my efforts. But I am always comforted and motivated by these words, “Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me” (Matt. 25:40).

Developing Deep Christians

January 9, 2013 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Theology

If you had the opportunity to attend a public event at the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY you would see an impressive group of young men and women who are being prepared to go anywhere in the world, under any circumstances and swing into action the minute their boots hit the ground. They are military officers in the making. Upon their graduation they will be commissioned as “leaders of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, and Country . . . prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the Nation as an officer in the United States Army”.

Is there any similarity between what happens at West Point and what happens at your local church? Does your local church have a systematic process that produces mature Christian disciples who can pray, share their faith, explain the Bible, defend their doctrine, put the wellbeing of others ahead of their own, stand up under persecution or do whatever they need to do for Christ’ Kingdom wherever their feet hit the ground?

You don’t have to answer that question because we already know the answer. The church is struggling to produce men and women who fit the biblical standard of spiritual maturity. We are failing to produce people of depth – deep in spiritual character, deep in faith, deep in prayer, deep in love for God and others! This process is actually called discipleship and it is not happening in the average church.

The Call to the Conservative Holiness Movement speaks to this in Article VIII. It decries the fact that we have, “largely abandoned our Methodist system of spiritual formation and forgotten how to fulfill our Lord’s command to make disciples. We have sought revival without preparing to preserve its fruits. We have emphasized spectacular conversions and neglected the biblical necessity of disciplined growth in faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love”. The end result is that the CHM suffers from too many shallow Christians.

I felt the “push back” and irritation from a lot of conservatives as soon as that last sentence formed on the page in front of me! But alas it must stand! Conservatives face the normal fallout of failing to disciple their people. However they also face another subtle danger – that of appearing to be deep rather than actually being deep! It is very easy for us to look spiritual while actually being as shallow as the carnal Corinthians. Being deep is more than just knowing and honoring the Bible in visible ways (especially those that make us look spiritual in our setting). That can happen while failing to demonstrate the character it commands. One can be meticulous, even legalistic, about his tithe and yet fail ever to develop the spirit of generosity. One can dress modestly and still have a sensual spirit. Sheer knowledge of the Bible doesn’t make one godly. The mere application of a few visible commands doesn’t mean we have cultivated holy character. One can read the Bible daily, acquire significant amounts of Biblical knowledge, adopt standards of dress and behavior, yet have no straight-line correspondence between that and real Christlikeness. One can embrace the conservative creed, adopt its life-style principles, and learn the language of the “old fashion way” and still be shallow.

Many conservative leaders readily admit that the CHM is not getting the job done when it comes to the discipleship of new believers. Some recognize that we also are not taking the second step and engaging in the lifelong mentoring process that creates deep Christians. However, few if any are talking about the problems that result from not discipling – a problem that Thomas Bergler calls the “Juvenilization of Christianity.” When converts are not placed on a deliberate trajectory toward spiritual maturity, the character traits of duty, discipline, scriptural living, holy habit, holy affections, denying oneself, sacrificial loving and giving – all traits of mature Christians – are decoupled from normal adulthood and moved down the road to some future time that may or may not arrive. The shallowness that is left is a self-centered, emotionally driven and intellectually empty faith that is focused more on “being fulfilled” than on “being faithful.”

Discipleship the only Cure!

New believers do not develop into deep Christians on their own any more than a little boy playing soldier becomes a great general on his own. We know this from church history and from personal experience. More importantly, we know this because the Bible gives us examples of how God Himself develops deep people. Jesus chose to spend the majority of His time discipling His twelve disciples. With only a three year public ministry, I think it remarkable that He made a limited number of public appearances and preached relatively few sermons while investing the vast majority of His time in the men who followed Him. Watching this process unfold in the Gospels, it looks like just three years of walking, talking and eating with them. But in reality Jesus was building character, teaching them how to think as He thought and reshaping the spiritual parts of their lives in such a way that would prepare them to live, suffer and die for His Kingdom. This three year investment had such exponential results that we still feel its effect today!

Christians who are spiritually deep people have gone through God’s discipleship program. Whether it is Moses, Paul, John Wesley or John Doe, all deep people have three things in common. Each has been cultivated by God through direct encounters, experienced the character development made possible by difficult circumstances, and has been exposed to deliberate mentoring by resourceful people.

Divine Encounters

The journey to becoming a deep person begins with a direct encounter with God. This is what the church has called a person’s conversion. No man can or even wants to become a deeply spiritual person who has not had a heart change wrought by the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus was such an encounter. He was not only converted to Christ but given his life’s calling. But there are other encounters with God. Some are very personal like Jacob’s encounter with God at Peniel. That was an encounter that gave Jacob a painful insight into his own carnal self and left him with a changed nature, a new name and a life marked forever by an amazing touch from God. Other encounters give us insight into the character and nature of God. Moses’ encounter with God in Exodus 34 is an example of this. Moses had asked to see God’s “face” (glory) and was told he would be permitted to see God’s “goodness.” What he asked for and what he received was quite different – a difference that is important. Dennis Kinlaw clarifies this difference with this comment, “you can have a spiritual experience that is very exciting and yet is contentless or you gain an insight into the character of the Eternal that will change you forever.” These encounters with God along the path of life are crucial to our development into deep people.

Difficult Circumstances

A.W. Tozer reminds us that, “It is doubtful whether God can use a man greatly, until first He wounds him deeply.” In my almost forty years of walking with the Lord, I have been blessed to receive numerous words of appreciation and kindness. They have encouraged me and strengthened me in my work and walk. However, it has been the difficult circumstances of life; the harsh winds of trial and adversity; the unjust words of a foe; and the dark night of the soul that has done more to shape my character in Christlikeness than almost anything else. Deep people have been discipled by the character shaping experience of difficult circumstances.

Deliberate Mentoring

Deep people are not self-formulating. Their lives are enriched by the counsel and wisdom of others. All of us need Godly men and women who have experienced life and know God intimately to speak into our lives. Most often this comes in a person to person encounter. However, it may take the form of books or other spiritual resources. Moses had his father-in-law Jethro. Paul had his traveling partner Barnabas. Timothy had his spiritual father Paul. Wesley had his books, his brother and his Moravian friends. The early Methodists had the class meeting – a system that produced a steady stream of deep people. Tozer had the writings of the Early Church Fathers and the Mystics. Deep people will always have someone in their life that affirms, instructs, corrects, and holds them accountable.

The Implications of Failing to Disciple

The CHM has got to stop using the altar as the primary place of spiritual formation. The altar can certainly be a place of spiritual transformation and decision. But spiritual formation and growth takes place in the discipleship phase of Christian living. The work of discipling believers and mentoring deep people can no longer be a point of mere discussion. It must begin in earnest. Our failure to disciple deep people has already created a scarcity of spiritual leaders who have that blend of maturity, wisdom and balance that is needed to lead effectively. If we do not reverse the trend, the CHM could well be headed into irrelevance.

Alan Redpath wisely noted that the conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, but the maturing of a great saint is the task of a lifetime. Our Methodist fathers understood this and modeled for us the art of making disciples like no one else in the last 200 years. It’s our heritage—it should be our practice—it may be the key to our survival!

Worship

July 30, 2012March 21, 2013 by Mike Avery, posted in All Articles, Christian Living, Church, Ministry, Music, Worship

I love the Church! I love the branch of the church called the holiness movement where God has placed me! However, neither my love for the church nor that part which I serve has made me blind to the spots and wrinkles of either. The Call to the Conservative Holiness Movement is an attempt to restate the strengths of that tradition, to recognize weaknesses that have developed over time and to dialogue on how to restore what is vital to its future. Article seven is a call to the CHM to honestly evaluate its present practices of corporate worship. The importance of such an evaluation is underscored by the importance of the act of worship itself. The Westminster confession reminds us that man’s chief end is to “glorify God and enjoy Him forever”. Scripture teaches us that worship is vital to our “creaturehood” and central to our faith. If things are not healthy in our worship experience then things are not healthy in our church no matter how well we do other things.

Warren Weirsbe defined worship as the believers’ response of all that they are – mind, emotions, will, and body – to what God is and says and does. In the best Methodist holiness tradition worship engages the whole person in a well-balanced blend of joyful celebration and reverential awe that is often reciprocated by the manifest presence of God. When worship succeeds in this fashion, I know of no other worship tradition that enables men to worship God any better.

CHM Worship Strengths

Conservative holiness people are singing people. Praise is central to worship. Music, in the present day church, is the primary form of praise. So music and worship are inextricably connected. Music marks the worship found in both the Old and New Testaments. It has marked the Church across the centuries and around the world. Step inside the average CHM church and you will hear warm-hearted, enthusiastic, highly-engaged singing that is often reinforced with expressions of praise like, “Glory to God”, “Hallelujah” and “Praise the Lord.” Holiness people know how to worship in song!

Conservative holiness people deeply desire God’s presence. All Christians claim the promise, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). Holiness people, however, truly expect the presence of God to be evident. Their zeal and longing for His presence is often rewarded with a gracious visitation of His manifest presence.

Conservative holiness people have a keen sensitivity to the work of the Holy Spirit. In the best Wesleyan holiness tradition order and structure are always present. But there is also present a willingness to let the Spirit of God set aside the planned program if need be to accomplish His own sovereign purposes.

Conservative holiness people have a strong love for good preaching. The preaching event still takes a very high place in holiness movement worship. Holiness people read their Bibles and carry them to church. They want good preaching, respond to good preaching and show sincere respect for the preacher who gives them the unadulterated Word of God.

CHM Worship Weaknesses*

Too many services lack thoughtful planning. Growing up in the CHM I was taught to be suspicious of liturgy, only to discover that every church follows a liturgy, either a good one or a bad one, written or unwritten. This fear or neglect of careful planning produces a worship experience that lacks continuity (is very disjointed and broken apart by things that could be avoided with minimal planning) and is random in its forward movement. It will fail to lead the congregant in a meaningful worship experience. Churches who have consistently good worship experiences or those where the worship service is thoughtfully planned, intentionally structured, steeped in prayer and executed under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Careful planning does not hinder the freedom of God’s Spirit to work. Actually, it gives Him a reliable framework through which He can inspire worship and minister grace to His people.

Too many holiness churches have stressed feeling and experiencing God to the neglect of worshiping and glorifying God. Jesus taught us to worship in spirit and in truth. Worship must have both heart and head. Worship must engage emotions and thought. Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy. On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. Many in a sincere attempt to feel God near have lost this balance and have opened the door to fleshly emotionalism and called it worship.

We have allowed worship to become something we do for our benefit rather than something we offer to God. Worship has an end – and it is not us! This twist in focus has turned church into a performance event where we are the recipients. We want the songs to bless us, the prayers to comfort us, and the sermon to help us feel better about our condition. True worship is not self-centered, but God-centered. In true worship God is the audience and we are the performers! Robert Coleman said it well, “Worship is the adoring response of the creature to the infinite majesty of God. While it presupposes submission to Him, to worship, in the highest sense, is not supplication for needs, or even thanksgiving for blessings, but the occupation of the soul with God Himself.”

Prayer is generally fervent but often lacks substance. The offering of prayers has always been a vital part of Christian worship and certainly an important part of worship within the CHM tradition. Prayer is so intimate and personal that we have been hesitant to critique it. But as a central part of worship, public prayer should be evaluated. Public prayer or the pastoral prayer is different from our private time with God. It should evidence thought and preparation. I know a pastor who spends a considerable amount of time writing out his Sunday morning prayer. He takes the responsibility of leading his congregation to God seriously. His prayers contain a wonderful balance of adoration, petition and confession. They are steeped in Biblical language. They have forward movement that is orderly and thoughtful. But more importantly, they are deep and powerful. On the other hand, unless one has trained himself in the art of public prayer, the average extemporaneous prayer tends to be shallow, directionless and often repetitious. Careful thought and preparation will not rob us of authentic sincere prayer. On the contrary it will help us truly attain it!

There is a noticeable lack of scripture. We have left scripture out of our present day worship services. Rarely do you find a CHM church that gives attention to scripture readings, calls to worship, and responsive readings. Quite often, you do not even need your Bible for the sermon! Often scripture reading is ignored in the name of “saving time”. However, I believe we fail here for two reasons: First, we think what we have to say in more important and effective than the public reading of Scripture. Second, we are poor readers. One only has to hear a good reader lift up the scripture to know the power of the read word!

Too Important to Ignore

There may be something optional about how one worships, but worship itself is not optional. Corporate worship is the exalted purpose and central pulse of every Christian congregation. If you are not worshiping you are not having church – you are just holding a shabby religious sideshow and calling it worship. What will it take to motivate you and your church to rebuild the altar of true worship? Think about it. There is too much at stake not to!

*I asked a group of Pastors and Church Leaders within the CHM to give me a list of what they believed were the worship weakness of the CHM. Their lists were remarkably similar and were used to develop the list in this article.