The Jesus Life: The Church Life is Not the Jesus LifeA response to the Newsweek Article/Cover StoryBy Stephen W. Smith April 3, 2012 The church is in crisis but being a follower of Jesus is not. This week’s cover story in Newsweek correctly documents our dilemma. Let me explain.You might find it interesting to note that Jesus spoke the word “church” only two times in his entire life that we have documented. While Jesus came to offer us the way to follow God and the way to experience life as he envisioned it, what’s true is this: we’ve lost our way that leads to life and the church has actually helped us lose our way rather than follow Jesus.Let me explain. While the Bible is seen and held to be authoritative and expresses God’s ways for us, the church has been the guardian of these ways and for many of us, seems to have hijacked the words of Jesus and held them hostage unless we get involved, get committed and follow the church more than we follow Jesus.I once heard a preacher say while pointing to the floor of his multi-million dollar sanctuary, “This is what matters. This church and this building.” It’s not surprising that his tenure did not last and that his church split several times. We have to have a greater reason to live, to be and to act than the church and the property that the church owns. Perhaps it owns far, far too much stuff. The stuff can get in the way of the message and perhaps this is what has happened. We’re tripping over the stuff the plethora of doctrinal statements, creeds and strategies for church growth and have lost our reason to exist at all.While Paul, Peter and John, the authors of much of the New Testament, described what Jesus meant by his words and ways, we know that the people who followed Jesus got involved in power struggles, debates and arguing that even began the night Jesus was arrested, tried and hours before his death. John describes the vivid scene on the last night Jesus was alive. He gathered his followers for an intimate dinner and what resulted was a sad power struggle with arguments over who would be the greatest—and Jesus overhead the whole sad plight. While the Bible is true, people are somewhat less than trust worthy. That is why it’s important to trust the Bible but to hold people at arms length sometimes.As in insider—one who has spent the majority of my life inside the church—and not outside the church, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s people who have screwed up the intent of Jesus—not Jesus himself. Like the very disciples who argued the night Jesus was arrested about power and controls issues, we have not really changed all that much in 2000 years in the church business. Jesus had another idea and we have twisted his intent and desires to meet our own need for power, authority and the need to be needed. If we want the life that Jesus promised, we will need to follow the ways that he lived. You can’t have one without the other. But you can have church and you can have church without the Jesus ways. This may just be where we are today: church without the Founder’s values and insights is like the United States without the Constitution.Jesus spoke more about the church of two or three than he did about the institution. He spoke more of following him that leading the throngs; than he did of organization, strategy and hierarchy. We’ve gotten a lot wrong in the thousands of years that Jesus offered us his message. We’ve tried to understand and implement Jesus’ intent, yet when the facts are in and you look at the statistics about the church, it’s in jeopardy.The way of Jesus is not the way of the church. It can be but when church promotes itself more than Jesus; when we speak more of the church than we do Jesus and we are per-occupied with denominations, splits and doctrine more than the words of Jesus, we only give witness to ourselves that we have lost the way—the way that leads both to Jesus and to life itself.Having pastored churches in North America and Europe for more than 25 years, what is clear to me is this: We cannot have the life of Jesus—the life he promised and described without following the ways of Jesus. When a church helps you on the way, then it’s good, right and blessed. When, however a church hinders someone from following God; when the church becomes the place where the wounded are shot rather than healed; when the sins of our fathers continue on to this generation and beyond and there is little to no transformation, then we have to ask ourselves the really important question: Why didn’t Jesus speak more about the church than he did? Have we missed something? These are good questions that need to be addressed.In working with church leaders all over the world, one of the reasons that has become obvious to me that the church is in trouble is because the leaders of the church are in trouble. Leading busy, over-committed and running on empty lives, how can a leader find the way back to Jesus again? Surely the answer lies in more than going to more meetings and attending more functions.The answer is by returning to the very way and ways that Jesus lived his life. We cannot have the Jesus life without the following the ways of Jesus. We’ve replaced these ways with doctrinal debates, power struggles and activities—something Jesus himself disdained evidently because of his sharp words to the religious leaders of his own day—the Pharisees and other religious folks.It’s not about being religious or playing the games of religion. It’s about following the way and ways of Jesus. Being a follower of Jesus is in—now more than ever before because so many are finding the life he promised by following his ways. The church will need to also become a follower—to discover again what Jesus actually meant.While I can not go as far as Thomas Jefferson did in cutting out words of the Bible he did not agree with, I could buy myself a “red-letter edition” of the Bible and focus on what Jesus actually said and did—thus finding the way—the way that will lead to life!____________________________________________________________________________________________Stephen W. Smith has written a new and exciting book, The Jesus Life: Eight Ways to Re-Discover Authentic Christianity published by David C Cook. Released April 1, 2012. Smith’s views here are drawn from his most recent book in reaction to Andrew Sullivan’s cover story in Newsweek Magazine (April 2, 2012).
Easter: Why do you really need it?
In this week before Easter, each day I’ll post a few thoughts and a reflective question to sit with and reflect upon prior to experiencing Easter. For Monday, here’s the thought and question: Easter is about second chances and a new beginning. Nature is showing off these days that winter’s woes did not kill off nature’s glory. The Dogwoods bud; the Azaleas blossom in glorious hues of springs arrays; the daffodils buds are in full blossom. All nature is calling us to remember that death gives way to life. Easter is much more than flowers though. It's about someone who was dead coming back to life. It's about second chances to really live before you really die! It's about the power of God over the power of dead-end situations that you might be facing this week before Easter. In just a few days, we will be celebrating this fact on what is really the hallmark of this important lesson: There is a new beginning in every death. Today, sit with this question and see where you go in your heart: What in me is waiting for the second chance? What in my life needs the touch of Easter upon it cause if it doesn’t touch this place, I will for sure stay dead? --------------------------Here's an amazing review of The Jesus Life.http://beccawithpeninhand.blogspot.com/2012/04/jesus-life-book-review.html Paste this into your browser and see what's being said about the book and why you need to read it!Amazon just released the KINDLE version. You can have it in just a few seconds right now!
In Search of the Abundant Life
Our best hope for actually experiencing this abundant life is for us to go back to the One who said “I am the way, the truth and the life.”[1] The problem is that many of us have majored on only one-third of this amazing, self-disclosing, God-revealing decree. It seems we have developed a fetish for the truth. Churches offer what they think is the right doctrine instead of helping people discover the life Jesus came to give. We fight over dogma insisting that believing the right thing will yield the right life. The truth is the Pharisees in Jesus day did the same thing so many Christians are doing today. We are on information overload. We go to Bible studies, attend seminars and have heard thousands of sermons but this one reality remains: information and the amassing of information, no matter how true it is does not lead to life transformation.
This is not the age of information…
This is the time of loaves and fishes.
- David Whyte
We have believed that the pursuit of truth alone will yield a life worth living, and so we have emphasized doctrine over life, facts over vitality, and information over transformation. Because of our relentless pursuit to get everything right, we’ve gotten it all wrong.Transformation is an experience. It’s something that happens to a person that alters the trajectory and quality of life from that point forward. It’s transformation that we most need to live the life we most want.It saddens me that my own church is embroiled in a denominational squabble which is now on the news and TV. We can build our theological silos and hunker down in them but the fact remains, that what most people are looking for is life--a life that is vital, real and sustainable. Here's the bottom line, it's Jesus who offers this life--not a denomination--not even a single church! What worries me when churches squabble is that we move off center of the real message of Jesus. We get sidetracked in lesser messages; splintering people and making mountains out of molehills. Because I've been through this squabble once in my life in a former denomination which split, I just simply will not get involved in this one. There are far too many people who are surviving than thriving and my life's purpose is about helping people THRIVE! I want people to experience The Jesus Life!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I'm excited that the Jesus Life is in the warehouse--and at the moment in trucks moving across the country--soon to be showing up in your local bookstores. Potter's Inn is offering a very special offer to our friends! If you buy your copy of The Jesus Life through Potter's Inn, then we'll send you FREE a copy of my book, Embracing Soul Care, which is a daily devotional; a 360 journey around your heart and soul. Each entry is topical and comes with three questions which go below the waterline to help you think through your own life more clearly. You get two books for the price of one. The Link on the blog takes you to the Potter's Inn store when you can purchase this special offering--and only through Potter's Inn!It's our way of saying thanks!
Seven Movements Necessary to Re-Claim the Church
by Stephen W. Smith
I received so many emails from my last Potter’s Inn Journal and I’m very grateful for your thinking, comments and encouragement. In this issue, I want to explore with you, “Seven Necessary Movements to Re-Claim the Church”. I really want to encourage you to use the “Comment” section on the blog. This way, we can all participate in a lively and much needed discussion.To reclaim Jesus’ intent for the church, we will need to experience at least seven different movements which will require change, transformation and reformation in how we are doing church today. A “movement” is defined as a group of people united on similar values which initiate change. When John Calvin and Martin Luther, the two most well-known reformers of the Catholic Church wrote, spoke and led people into change, the movement of the reformation resulted. Today, I believe we are in dire need of new movements which will focus on these seven aspects:1. The movement from being an institution to becoming an organism. It’s clear from the New Testament that the leaders had in mind an “alive” organism which was alive, moving and dynamic. When an organism morphs into becoming an institution, we may be sacrificing the original intent. Institutions die. But organisms live and change, adapting to culture and forces. Being Spirit led is far different from being program driven. An organism which is restricted by programs and structure will diminish in life and morph into being a dormant institution.2. The movement away from being led by an ordained clergy to being served by ordinary people who are gifted. You don’t find the word “ordination” in the Bible but you do find gifted men and women leading people into the mysteries of the faith. Ordinary people doing the extra-ordinary things of God is what it means to live out of faith in authentic ways.3. The movement from the “me” to the “we.” Becoming a follower of Jesus means that we renounce the “me” and move to the “we.” We were made for community and were formed to live connected in vibrant, reciprocal relationships. Saying, ‘It’s just Jesus and me” is not a confession of faith you will find in a faith that is alive, contagious and vibrant.4. The movement from being a “place that we come to” to being a platform that we send people out from. One of the major challenges for a church is when a church settles into a place—a building and an institution rather than becoming a platform from which to launch new, creative and relative initiatives which push the darkness back rather than congregate all the light in one place—perhaps under a basket even. We model and mimic God when we send rather than hoard.5. The movement from the complex to the simple. Pastor’s roles changed from being shepherds to CEO’s because the church adopted so many programs that we needed first directors, then executive directors to run the programs and hold the reins of the church. Leadership replaced servanthood and a “professional clergy” evolved rather than releasing people to do the work of the ministry. Jesus, without any trappings! Can we return to the concept of being a simple church rather than a multi-layered organization which requires efficiency and excellence at the expense of washing the feet of people and giving a cup of water in Jesus name?6. Being consumer driven to becoming real followers of Jesus. Yielding to the temptation to be all things for all people, the church can become a quasi-Wal-Mart which offers many things at discounted costs. Changing the question from “What do you like in a church?” to “What do we need to be and do to become church?” is the starting point from moving away from consumer Christianity to being followers of Jesus Christ.7. Replace church talk with Jesus speak. When we talk more about “the church” than we speak about Jesus, we should note the clue that we are off course and change our conversation as well as our direction. “You should come to my church” is often code for “Come to my institution because we are offering a new program which we are trying to enlist as many people as possible to join or attend. ” This is different from a conversation which might go, “Let me tell you what God is up to in my life and my community. You won’t believe it, but it’s true. People are changing their lives and lifestyles and encountering Jesus.Try this:1)Write the two major words down on piece of paper with a line in-between them. Like this: organism--------------institution. Place an “x” on the line which indicates how you feel your church is leaning.2)Discuss how your church can become a movement rather than a static building.3)Make a list of five adjectives you most want in the church you attend and share these with your “we.”Let's all do this: In the "reply" section write the five adjectives you most want in a church and let's compare our lists and see what we agree upon! Go ahead. Pause for a moment and dig out the five things you most want and need in a church.
Five Reasons the North American Church is in Trouble!
by Stephen W. SmithFriends, because of some much reaction to my entry today in the Potter's Inn Journal, we need to switch this discussion to the blog so more folks can read what I'm reading. So feel free to leave your comments here. If you want to write to me personally, then just email or use the "reply" to the Potter's Inn Journal.So here's what I wrote and sent out to 1400 people this morning!Never in my life time have I personally experienced so much discontent with the church. It’s been brewing for years but now it seems to be at a feverish pitch and in many ways this is very, very good. Many pastors and leaders are hemorraghing while thousands are giving up on the church. As one 35 year old market place leader told me, “I’m not convinced that Jesus wanted us to be “little churchians.” I want to be a follow of Jesus and that may or may not include the church as I experience it now.”
We are not the first, to become dissatisfied with the church. The history of the Christian church reveals epoch battles between people who hold the power and the keys to the church and those who are demanding change. The good news here is that the church can change; has changed and will change. I hope that in my own lifetime, we will witness a complete reformation of the church. I say this because it is my personal belief that the church is in deep trouble. It is holding on to old paradigms that need to die in order to be re-born. Please let me explain.1. The church is in trouble because the church has become more shaped by culture than by the Word. Paul’s words are clear: “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. (Romans 12:2, Message). Like a dry sponge many churches and denominations have soaked the culture of bigness, greatness, technology, performance and being program driven without thinking through the consequences. The result—well, it’s easy to see. Architecture that has shifted from “sanctuary” to performance halls. No windows blocking out God’s glory in nature and Power-Point overload. When churches absorb the corporate climate of North America, focusing on leadership rather than shepherding, we have swallowed a pill that is resulting in a dis-ease within the church. When a church models a CEO mentality rather than servant leadership, the church has knelt before the idol of power and human personality more than the Spirit of the Living God.2. The church is in trouble because we have forgotten that Jesus spoke more about the Kingdom than he did the church. When church talk and obsession with programs replaces meaningful conversation about God’s kingdom—namely ‘what God is up to in the world and in my own life’ we are in water which is way over our head with no bottom to stand upon. Let me be clear. The only church Jesus talked about to his followers was the church of 2-3. I sometimes wonder if Jesus would even recognize what we’ve shaped the church today to resemble? Would Jesus know: multi-site worship? Would he condone meganess rather than the church of two or three? Would he even understand all of the jazz about being missional? Would he bless a movement which would ordain gay and lesbian leaders? Somehow, I think we’ve been swept into a current that is just plain hard to find the shore these days. We’re caught up in whitewater and calling it church.3. The church is in trouble because the church has forgotten the basic message of Jesus. We herald programs. We espouse tips and techniques. It’s very clear from even an initial reading of the red-letters of Jesus’ words that he was about: transformation, life-change and service. Making more grease to oil the gears of the machine—never!4. The church is in trouble because we are more captivated by technology than we are the things of the Spirit. We have become addicted to our iphones and the church of Facebook connects us more than sitting in mass in an auditorium where no one know my name and no one even cares. We call Steve Jobs an icon, Facebook our life-line and have swallowed the purple pill which says “faster is better; bigger is greater and new is where the action is always at!” We forget—even deny that the Bible says the direct opposite: stillness is where the action really is; Jesus celebrates the individual not the masses; and being in a herd and following the herd has always, historically been the wrong choice.5. The church is in trouble because we need modern day prophets to rise up like aJeremiah, Hosea and Amos who are not afraid of speaking the truth even when it hurts us and makes us feel bad. We’ve lost the way today because quite frankly many of us have settled to be secure and comfortable rather than follow Jesus. Last time I checked, Jesus never talked much about security—except in heaven and there’s very little at all about how any follower of his is entitled to a life of comfort. The true church of the 21st century must walk the tightrope of being cutting edge along with being anchored in truth.What is fascinating to me is to realize that in the 4th century and gain in the 15-16th century major movements rose up which turned the established church upside down. People left the church like they are leaving today. They left the institution and whole new movements began to arise which offered hope, comfort and platforms for learning how to live the Jesus way. We need this again. I, for one, want to be in that number.Lastly, let me remind you that I am not throwing stones because I am an insider. I’ve always been on the inside. It’s just that now, there’s so much smoke, I can hardly breath. How about you?I’m not going to leave us hanging here. But there is no space to continue this week. I’ll offer some clues, hints and suggestions for how to reform what has gone wrong!