Revolution can be defined as a forcible overthrow of a government or social order or system of operation in favor of a new system. I would, however, like to utilize the etymology of the word to demonstrate a truer meaning. Revolution has its origin in late Middle English and comes from the Old French word revolvere, which means to roll back.
It is my honest belief that GOD is calling His Community as a whole to a godly revolution; not an action that forcibly overthrows the current system with violent action, but rather a steady and purposeful rolling back of our processes and systems to GOD's original intent. GOD is calling us to return. There's an old adage that says if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm not sure who added this, but another adage continues, and the Church ain't broke. I agree. GOD's Body isn't broken, but our system is. We can either choose to ignore the reality that is occurring all around us, or we can determine that we will roll back and become what GOD intended.
So, you're probably asking, how was the 1st Century Community different than today? Notwithstanding the political and socioeconomic differences between then and now, there are vast differences between what was and what is. The primary difference was the diaspora [referring to the contagion-like spread of the Good News after the Day of Pentecost]. Before Paul ever wrote the first book of the New Testament there were thousands of missional communities functioning all across the known world. I recently read a dissertation by a theologian in which he posits proof of missional communities as far out as the Britannic Islands before the advent of cath holos in the 4th Century. I have no idea if there were Britannic missional communities, it doesn't really matter, but I bring this up to point out that the Good News spread like an unstoppable virus, and it spread fast. Luke tells us that GOD added to the Ekklesia, daily [Acts 2:46-47]. The spread has slowed. In many ways, the contagion of the Good News has been staunched. Much of this is part of the process, but there is much of the staunching that lays at our feet as well.
How did diaspora occur in the 1st Century? To again reference Luke's account [Acts 2:46, 5:42], we see that the Ekklesia not only worshiped in the Temple every day, they also met in their homes. These home meetings were missional communities that were established specifically to not only grow together in unity, but also to grow in numbers through personal and collective discipling. If you do even a cursory study of the diaspora you'll find that these missional communities would spring up almost overnight, then—once established—duplicate themselves and start all over again. This is why the New Testament references specific Communities by city rather than by leader [i.e., the Community at Rome, the Community at Jerusalem, etc. vs. Pastor ________'s church]. They were dedicated and sold out to GOD, not the pedigree of their pastor. In fact, Paul openly addressed this issue in his letter to the Corinthian Community [1 Corinthians 3:1-15]. In this section of his letter, Paul openly admits to a practice that not a few of our modern pastors would shy away from: he says that he's a part of a team. He says that he laid a foundation, but someone else built. He says this after he questions who he is, who Apollos is. Paul was not setting himself up as the ultimate authority in the minds and lives of the Corinthian Community, he was establishing himself as one aspect of a GOD-inspired team. A team that has at its core a strong dependence upon GOD [verse 6]. Diaspora is a result of team efforts, not individualistic kingdom building.
Is it possible that the spread of the Good News-contagion has slowed because we're more focused on building our individual congregations rather than GOD's Kingdom?
How many of the individuals in our congregations are in attendance simply because they are addicted to the dynamics of their pastor's personality and/or preaching style? This can be measured by observing how many people don't attended services if they know the pastor is not going to be present. This is also a result of our event-oriented methodology, where we focus our outreach and worship efforts on one or two primary weekly events [i.e., our weekend and mid-week gatherings]. Call it what you will, but this is nothing like our 1st Century predecessors. In my opinion Paul would have a field day with the modern day Community. Far too many of us have reduced living for GOD to our congregational gatherings, completely ignoring the fact that GOD wants to interact with us daily, relationally.
Diaspora has been staunched because we're not spreading.
Examine the congregations here in North America that are experiencing the most rapid and sustaining growth. Each one of them will attribute the majority of their swell to their in-home communities. Some call them small groups, some use the moniker cell group… at a glance the name doesn't really matter as long as the purpose is to provide community between a smaller group at a more intimate level (although you could make the argument that the group becomes what you call it; call it "small" it will stay that way). These congregations have discovered the truth that if individuals are given the opportunity to experience community throughout the week rather than only in one or two mass events, that they will become more connected and ultimately stronger believers. Forget for a moment all of your philosophical differences with these congregations, you can't deny the fact that this is truly 1st Century. This is nothing new. People have been trying cell groups, small groups, whatever for years. Some have experienced solid diaspora, others haven't. If your congregation hasn't seen true diaspora after tying this, you might be missing one small, yet integral component: common unity.
In an event-driven congregation it is very difficult to experience real common unity [community] because the congregation only interacts at the events. It would be extremely difficult to stand in front of several hundred or more people and openly confess sin, thus making it nearly impossible to bear up our brothers and sisters who have stumbled or are struggling. Yet, we were instructed by James to confess our sins to each other so that we may be healed [James 5:15-17]. While this is virtually impossible in a congregational sense, this transparency and trust is a key ingredient to a thriving, healthy missional community.
People being Spirit-baptized is not, in and of itself, diaspora. Yes it is a fundamental part of the process, but if we're not discipling, nurturing and developing these new believers they won't last; and as a result, diaspora will not continue. Perhaps our multiple text messages, tweets and or reports should focus on the number of new believers who last out the month (just a thought). If we roll back to the concept of team, in which we all are involved in the growth of a new believer, will see the holes in our net steadily shrinking.
In the 1st Century—because of the reality of the common unity that existed in the Ekklesia—it is highly doubtful that there were any individuals who weren't heavily involved in the function and operation of the individual missional community. It's easy to disappear in the crowd, but a far more difficult task to shirk responsibility when there are less people in the room. Add to this reality your missional community receiving letters from GOD's Apostle reminding you that if you don't pull your weight that you should be cut off.
How many of your congregation simply attend the main events?
Please don't misunderstand me, I'm not advocating a desertion of our mass congregations. Nor am I asserting that the existence of large congregations are somehow against GOD. I simply want to point out that this was not the original plan, but a result of outside influences. Imagine how much more effective every member of your congregation would be if they were interacting with each other, shining Jesus and discipling individuals, daily.
We've got to shake ourselves out of this lethargy. GOD is calling us to a revolution, a rolling back to His purpose. We've got to cast off the trappings of cath holos and Protestant denominationalism and return again to His Commission: to go make disciples. Yes, I talk about this a lot, but I have no choice. This is my passion, this is my Calling. It would be easy to shrug off this call to revolution as the "next new thing." But, shrugging it off won't make it go away. Either we are contagious and are effecting our world or we're not. And if we're not, who are we to think that GOD's just going to ignore our ineffectiveness? Have we forgotten that He turned away from His chosen people because of their inability to fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant? Are we so arrogant to assume He won't do it again? GOD told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply. He told Abraham that He was blessing him so that he could bless the entire world. He Commissioned His disciples to go make disciples. Are you starting to see the theme? Diaspora is GOD's plan. Attrition is the result of our apathy, not the enemy. We need to stop blaming everything on the devil and man up to the fact that we're not fulfilling our task.
To quote Jack Black, it's time to get naked and start the revolution. We need to strip away all of the trappings of everything that we are that isn't GOD. We need to leave behind so much of our process that stems from the 4th Century and go back further to where it all began. We need to roll back to our Commissioned Purpose. When we fully engage in revolution the contagion of GOD's Good News will be spread around the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment