Community, Creativity, and the Celts

The New Testament, first-century picture of ministry is similar, and yet radically different than the corporate style of ministry we see taking place in most of our churches. They are similar in that many of the same basic activities are accomplished. Evangelism and missions and Bible study and all such comparable activities were practiced by the early church. There is nothing new here as far as practice is concerned.

There is one word that describes the major difference, in my mind: Community.

The corporate, American church emphasizes the pragmatic and gets results. The ancient church founded Spiritual ministry out of a spiritual community.

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place?
Acts 2:44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
Acts 2:46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Acts 15:22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.

These are just a few examples of how this ancient church served the world in community with one another. The picture in the Bible is of a people committed to God and committed to each other. The result is a gathering of people who are sacrificing and pouring out their lives together for the Kingdom of God.

The typical, contemporary, corporate church births its ministries our of a board room or an elders meeting or a leadership think tank. It seems that Acts gives us a very different pattern. Ministry in the first century church was birthed by the Spirit of God out of a people who were committed to each other. Fellowship and outreach were not separate functions of the church - but were organically linked and, therefore, there was no disconnect.

The paradigm of this community and outreach link was also found in the ancient Celtic church of the fourth and fifth centuries. Celtic leaders such as Patrick and Columba created apostolic, non-cloistered, monastic communities in the heart of heathen commerce centers. These communities contained families of craftsmen and artisans and shop keepers who lived a unique, New Testament lifestyle, which proved radically different than that of the city-centers and shipping ports surrounding them. From the basis of such communities, the ancient Celts effectively evangelized and apostolically planted churches. It seems to me that we have much to learn from those who have gone before us.

Here's the concrete conclusion that I've drawn: Effective Biblical ministry will only be birthed out of Spirit-filled community.

Here's what I am still wrestling with: How does the 21st century church in America - with all of our cultural trappings - take on this Biblical rhythm of community and outreach? Community in our context is fractured, at best, and most of our churches are satisfied with a mere Sunday Morning production. Granted that most of our productions are on the scale of an R.E.M. concert, it seems that an R.E.M. concert will result in a greater sense of community among its participants than most churches. We must be awakened by the Spirit of God in our understanding of the fact that this tie between Community and Ministry is absolutely critical.

One thing I know. This local body must defiantly adhere to our stated values of community and creative ministry and reject any vestige of top down, corporate manipulation.

May God help us to remember and learn from those who have gone before us.

Feel free to add your comments. I'd love to hear from you. Send to bernie@fccfranklin.com.

We just completed a fantastic night of prayer and we're about to leave for Florida to face off with Hurricane Ivan. I just packed my paperback copy of Jim Elliot's journals and here is my prayer as we leave for a week of vacation:

"God, I pray thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, Lord Jesus"

Jim Elliot, Martyr

Cynical Materialism

I confess to you that I am a cultural cynic. In that confession, I must say that cultural cynicism definitely has its downside. Most people in our blissful, gregarious society consider cynicism to be evil, dark and pessimistic with quite negative side effects. "This guy is a disparager of humanity and is like a pesky backside rash - awkward to sooth and not pleasurable to ignore." The imperative of a Biblical worldview must override our tendency to an American Pollyannaism. This requires the work of a certain amount of godly cynicism, for which the pastoral vocation is duly qualified.

It is necessary to take a pointed aim at our here-and-now, get-as-much-as-you-can, Franklin-American, live-for-today lifestyle. I'm increasingly convinced that we are victims of the wrong sort of materialism. Most of us seek treasure that is of this earth - Jesus calls us to seek a treasure that is eternal. Randy Alcorn in his book, "The Law of Rewards" shows the foolishness of seeking our treasure on this earth in this statement:

"When the Lord returns, all remaining money and possessions will burn, like wood, hay, and straw, when it could have been given in exchange for gold, silver and precious stones. Money that could have been used to feed the hungry and fulfill the great commission will go up in smoke."

The American community is all about gaining for the moment and accumulating treasure that will rot and be stolen and burn. Our earthly investments will ultimately fail. It is good to be cynical of those kinds of values.

In two weeks I am planning to show you from the Bible and from the life of Jim Elliot that if we invest our money our time and our lives in the way our cultures invests its money and time and lives we are extremely short-sighted. It doesn't matter if the investment is in Roth IRA's and growth stock mutual funds. That's too short term. The Bible teaches us this. The life of Jim Elliot puts this to the test.

Jim Elliot's life is capsulized in the oft quoted, "He is no fool who gives what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose." This is the lesson we will learn - and must learn tangibly in order to bring greater glory to God on this earth. Of course, Jim Elliot was a martyr and most often his life is thought about in terms of his martyrdom. I would like to take a slightly different approach. I think it's important that we think of his life in terms of investment, so that we can think of our lives in terms of investment, for the sake of a Kingdom. The application and implication of this truth will be absolutely staggering.

Here's my dream: What would happen if the church (i.e., the called out people of God) began to think about all of life and all of their resources and time and money in terms of eternal investment? What would happen if we began to actually view God as the owner of everything and ourselves as mere managers versus God being our own personal consultant to whom we dish 10% for his services? It only takes a slight shift of perspective to radically change everything about our lives.

My prayer is that this message which will kick off our mission conference in two weeks (Sunday, September 19th) will provide this kind of slight but radical perspective shift for our church. The Bible and the life of Jim Elliot teach us lessons that run completely against the grain and tendency of our culture. The Bible and those who follow its teachings tend to do that.

I would qualify that by saying "I don't mean to be cynical", but as a matter of fact and principle, I do.

Comments? Send an email to bernie@fccfranklin.com