Archive for November, 2007

 The Christian blogosphere is abuzz with reaction to Willow Creek’s revelation that spiritual growth in their church has been less than satisfactory.  Village Missionary Steve Hall originally directed my attention to a blog at “Out of Ur.”  Attendance at programs in the church did not translate into changed lives.

Much of the reaction falls in the category of “Gotcha!”  These writers knew all along that Willow Creek was like the Platte River-a mile wide and an inch deep.  For example, Bob Burney writes:

Just as Spock’s “mistake” was no minor error, so the error of the seeker sensitive movement is monumental in its scope. The foundation of thousands of American churches is now discovered to be mere sand. The one individual who has had perhaps the greatest influence on the American church in our generation has now admitted his philosophy of ministry, in large part, was a “mistake.” The extent of this error defies measurement.

Much gentler, H.B. London writes in the Pastor’s Weekly Briefing, Nov. 9:

As I read various reports, I could not help but think of the thousands of pastors who did not buy into the “seeker sensitive” strategy who lost members and even their own ministry because they were out of touch. Teaching the fundamentals of faith was not enough.

You can find just about every blog article you wish about the controversy and then some at BILLYCHIA.COM.

Personally, I commend Willow Creek for their courage in asking hard questions about their spiritual effectiveness.  They could have easily coasted along surviving and thriving on their numbers.  They surveyed their attendees because they were interested in much more than numbers.

Not that I didn’t have problems with the Willow Creek approach, at least as I perceived it.  I never felt that the worship of the body of Christ was to be directed toward “unchurched Harry.”  I have this old-fashioned idea that we should worship God.  The idea of selective preaching to gain a crowd rather than preaching the whole counsel of God is abhorrent to me if that is indeed what was done.

I also had problems with the performance mentality in which everything done had to have the quality of a Broadway production.  Bill Hybels once spoke to a class I attended.  I asked him about Virginia.  Virginia definitely stood out in a crowd.  She was a large, over weight woman who was mentally handicapped.  She cut her own hair or, I should say, she chopped her own hair.  She had black, high-topped sneakers and always wore a ragged dress.  She sang in our choir, always wanting to stand in front.  Virginia didn’t know any better.  So, I asked Bill what he would do with Virginia.  He told the class that he would try to find a place for Virginia out of the limelight.

Of course, I was being smug and setting Bill up for an unspiritual answer.  I too was playing “Gotcha!”  He was exposed as not valuing the “least of these” and not being Christ-like.  In actuality, however, Virginia often embarrassed me.  I often wished she would quit the choir, especially when we had a visitor who did not know the story behind her.  I didn’t want her up front either!

I think a country church has the wonderful potential to produce growing Christians.  A pastor in a country church can model what it means to follow Christ and he knows the spiritual level of his people.  He has a unique opportunity to mentor them.  I experienced this myself as Village Missionary Ray Bell mentored me.

But we shouldn’t be too smug as we learn of Willow Creek.  Would our people be any better off spiritually if we surveyed them?  Would we have the courage to ask them about the effectiveness of our preaching or our programs?

Big or small, rural, suburban, or urban any of us can fall into the trap of ministering to succeed.  I did at times.  If we minister out of faithfulness to God and His Word perhaps He will be pleased to produce true spiritual fruit.  Perhaps then, according to Hebrews, we will be able to give adequate account for the souls under our charge.  Even such souls as Virginia!

 As word of my cancer has spread, many people have come up to me and expressed their loving concern.  Several have told me that they are praying for me and asked me how I was doing and how I was feeling.  This has been especially true at Stonecroft Ministries where the staff takes very seriously the ministry of prayer.  I am extremely thankful for your concern and the tremendous missionary family I have the privilege of serving.

Physically, I am feeling better than I have felt in a long time because I have lost some weight.  My prostate cancer was not diagnosed because of the presence of symptoms.  Instead, my annual blood work indicated an increasing P.S.A. level that led to a biopsy.  Actually, it is very serious if you have symptoms with prostate cancer, as symptoms are an indication that it hasn’t been detected early enough.  Men, please have your annual blood work done!

As I write this, it is exactly one month until my surgery on Dec. 3.  I am doing well emotionally and spiritually now but it is conceivable that as surgery draws near I won’t be doing as well.  I can imagine that the closer the day is, the higher my anxiety will be.  Could it be that the day of the surgery, as I pull into a parking space at the hospital, my hands will freeze fast to the steering wheel?  Will they drag me kicking and screaming into surgery with me only becoming calm when they give me the “La-La” juice?

The possibility of my becoming a basket case brings me to another way that God is strengthening me.  God has strengthened me through the knowledge that no matter how weak I become God will not forsake me.  His staying with me through any trial has nothing to do with my strength but everything to do with His strength and the completeness of what He has done for me in Christ.  Are not the fantastic (virtually unbelievable, but completely believable because they are from God) promises of Romans 8:31-39 perfectly appropriate for minor trials such as mine as well as the severest trial?

I can be weak, fearful, full of anxiety about the surgery or its outcome without ever worrying that my weakness will separate me from God.  He has promised me it will not!

Of course, it would not be good public relations for the Executive Director of Village Missions to be screaming as he enters the hospital!  Neither is it good for a Village Missionary to scream in panic when encountering a trial!  Unfortunately, many of us maintain the appearance of strength on the outside while inwardly we are screaming.  After all, we have to maintain the image of the pastor or the director who is in control!  That is nothing but hypocrisy and such false spirituality does no one any good.  Yet total weakness in the face of adversity would undercut everything we have ever preached about the sufficiency of Christ!  It would certainly undercut everything I have written in this blog thus far about my cancer.

What is the answer?  In my weakness, knowing that God has not forsaken me, I must cling to God’s strength.  It is good to come to the end of our resources and it is even necessary to come to the end of our resources so that we turn to the strength of God.  We must turn to God in the midst of our anxiety and panic.

Paul identifies and illustrates what we must do in 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.  He came to God in his weakness caused by the “thorn in the flesh.”  God kept reminding Paul of the sufficiency of His grace.  He informed Paul of a spiritual growth process in which power was “perfected in weakness.”  I think the process was a weaning away in Paul his reliance on his own strength in favor of a developing reliance on God’s strength.  He came to the place where he even relished weakness because of the opportunity for the display of God’s power in him.

I have entered the school of weakness.  It has a curriculum that can be learned in no other way.  I am strengthened in this trial by knowing of an unending love that does its greatest work of grace in the times I am the weakest.  How am I doing?  I am actually doing better by having this opportunity for the display of God’s power than I was doing before I had cancer.

May we embrace every trial we encounter as part of the rich and thoughtful design of God to display His power in our life!