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By pastorbillwalden
This little story is not directed towards any one church, but is a compilation of the stories of many people I have talked to and read about. May we love His Body, the Church.
Talk To The Hand
“Talk to the hand”. Hand liked the sound of that.
The phrase described Hand as a “go to” guy; the guy people would ask to help them get things done. Hand was a problem solver. Hand was selfless. Hand was happy to help Body with any need. He liked being a “go to” guy. If there was a need, Body would direct others to Hand. Hand thought the phrase had a good ring to it. “Talk To The Hand”. It was a compliment.
But as time passed, the phrase took on a new meaning for Hand. Hand had somewhere heard the phrase used in a negative way. When someone didn’t want to discuss something, he would hold up his hand and say, “talk to the hand”, meaning that the discussion had ended. For Hand, that eventually became the meaning of the phrase in his life.
Hand had been with Body since the beginning. He had served Body well. Because of Hand’s efforts, Body had grown and become strong. Maybe a little too strong, Hand thought. Hand had never imagined that he would ever separate from Body, but eventually he saw no other option. Body had become sick and dangerous.
It wasn’t that Hand had never talked about the problems that Body was having, but some very painful experiences had brought Hand to this point in life. Over time and much agonizing, Hand had made up his mind to separate from Body.
He didn’t want to talk about it. He was sick of talking about it. It hurt too much to talk about it. He saw no other option. After many words, prayers, and tears, Hand separated from Body. Hand was devastated, but such was life. Some didn’t understand. Others understood far too well.
In the beginning, the relationship between Hand and Mouth had been good. He enjoyed being Hand, and was happy to fulfill his part in helping Mouth with his ministry.
But things changed as time passed. Hand noticed that as Body grew, Mouth was saying a lot of pompous things, and was bossing people around horribly. As Hand objected to Mouth’s words and actions, Mouth insinuated that Body needed Mouth, but that Mouth didn’t need Body, or Hand, for that matter.
Hand also noticed that others were discussing Mouth. He hated hearing these guarded conversations. Body was dividing. Hand could see it.
Ear was too eager to hear gossip and pass it on. Mouth used the pulpit to remind Body that Mouth was in control. Mouth had forgotten that Body belonged to Head, and that Head was the real leader of Body. Mouth was getting mouthier. Foot got nervous, and left. Ear was too eager to hear gossip. Heart got hardened, and was unforgiving.
And everyone was asking, “Where is Head?”
All of this happened as Hand continued to serve, struggling with how to rectify the problems with Body. Hand loved Body, but he was torn over what he saw and felt. Hand had trusted Mouth for years, but he was now disillusioned.
Hand watched Body lose members. He felt lost in the midst of this dying Body. Hand tried to talk to Mouth, but Mouth felt threatened, and turned on Hand. Hand and his family were seen as the enemy of Mouth. Mouth made sure that Body knew Hand was a troublemaker.
Finally, Hand and his family left Body. Body suffered, because individuals were suffering. Like many of his fellow members, Hand wondered why Head seemed absent. Didn’t Head love Body? Where was He?
Invisibly and seemingly absent, Head suffered even more.
Fast forward some years.
Head proved Himself to be the faithful leader of Body. Head removed Mouth and some others, and brought NewMouth to speak His words. Members began to return to the blessings of Body.
Slowly, hope returned to Body. NewMouth spoke of grace, and others began to speak of grace too. Foot returned, Ear listened with love, and Heart became soft again.
Head was healing Body.
As Body healed, people began to ask about Hand. They missed him. Hand had been such an integral part of Body. Where was Hand? Had anybody seen him? Had anybody heard from him?
Questions became discussions, and discussions were finally recognized as promptings from Head.
Head was prompting Body to reach out to Hand.
“Someone needs to talk to Hand.” Prayers began to go up for Hand.
Spirit began to move, and Hand started feeling something inside.
By pastorbillwalden
One aspect of the modern media that I believe to be dangerous is the sound bite.
Regarding sound bites, Wikipedia tells us:
In film and broadcasting, a sound bite is a very short piece of footage taken from a longer speech or an interview in which someone with authority or the average “man on the street” says something which is considered by those who edit the speech or interview to be the most important point. As the context of what is being said is missing, the insertion of sound bites into news broadcasts or documentaries is open to manipulation and thus requires a very high degree of journalistic ethics. Politicians of the new generation are carefully coached by their spin doctors to produce on-demand sound bites which are clear and to the point.
Sound bites are designed to give us a very quick view of something, and then have us make up our mind based upon that very limited information. As Wikipedia rightly says, the sound bite is open to manipulation and must be presented with a high degree of ethics.
We like sound bites because they give us a little information that we don’t have to work hard to attain. They make life easy, but in the end, they can make us shallow.
Avoiding the sound bite mentality must be practiced when speaking of Churchianity (problems in the church) , and then also when we speak about the “Church” the way Jesus designed it to be.
Part of the problem of Churchianity is that leadership sometimes gives “sound bite” instructions to their congregations. People are told what to believe, how to live, and who to like, love or avoid. When questioned “why” such things are so, leadership sometimes responds with “sound bite” answers which can be intimidating, and don’t help the congregant understand why such things are true or supposedly true. Those questioning are made to feel stupid for even asking “why”.
Often, the end result of “soundbitism” is that Christians don’t have a deep understanding of why they believe what they believe. They simply parrot what the leadership told them, and believe what they believe because they were told to. They become more and more a part of a Churchianity environment. That was never Jesus’ plan.
If church leadership isn’t leading well, questions and criticisms should arise. When church leadership uses a sound bite methodology for answering valid questions and criticisms, the questioners are left with nothing. They are not treated as though their concerns are valid, and they they are ignored as the leader goes on to the next willing listener. These questioners are then ushered out the door.
When congregants are treated that way, they will often (and sometimes very rightly) leave that church. Or they may leave The Church, vowing to never be a part of “organized religion” ever again. I don’t think that second option is the right thing to do.
Church leaders, congregants, and ex/former congregants that claim to follow Jesus all need to be able to say why they believe what they believe, and support that belief system from God’s Word. Otherwise, anything goes.
Pastors who respond to questions with “Because I said so”, are, in my opinion, VERY wrong for doing that. That’s a sound bite. Church attenders who recite a creed or system for Christian living are not allowed to say, in my opinion, “I believe thus and so because the pastor said so”. Ex and former congregants who still follow Jesus but will not commit to SOME kind of Christian gathering cannot simply say, “Because that’s how I feel about it”.
These are all examples of “sound bites”. They are not clear explanations of the whole story, and they are designed to produce a desired result.
My hope in writing these articles is that all Christians will have a high view of Jesus’ Church. We cannot reduce His church down to sound bite discussions. Being in His church requires thought and commitment.
I am currently teaching a topical series on the Church. The notes can be found in the Sermon Notes link on this blogsite, under Topical Studies.
In brief, what we have studied so far:
1. The Church is built on Jesus. It is His creation. He died to establish it. (Matthew 16)
2. The Church presently, and forever will, display the manifold wisdom of God to both angels and demons (Ephesians 3)
3. When angels want to understand God’s incredible work of salvation, they look at the Church. (1 Peter 1)
May every Christian have a high and respectful view of Jesus’ Church, which is His Body, His Bride. In spite of the many wrongs done by both leaders and congregants, may none of us treat His church with any kind of “sound bite” attitude.
Jesus said that He would build His Church, and that the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. Regardless of our experiences, that is true. May we experience the truth of His words.
Blessings…
By pastorbillwalden
I live in Napa, CA, and I pastor here. We moved to Napa in 1991 and started the church that is called Cornerstone Ministries, which is a Calvary Chapel affiliate church.
When we moved to Napa, we entered into the wake of what was a big implosion of a Calvary Chapel. The church was at one time very large and influential. God used that church in a big way for many people. The attendance was over 1200, and that is significant for a city that at the time had 46,000 people. By the time we moved to Napa, that church numbered in the dozens.
I am not writing to try to resolve the issues of the past, or impugn anyone. I love and respect folks on both sides of the aisle of that event. We ought to be thankful for the good that did come forth from that church body. Regarding the negative aspects of what happened, it’s in the past, and needs to stay there, except for what we can learn from it.
I do write because the fallout affected me as a pastor, and in particular, as a Calvary Chapel pastor. It still does to this day. I have talked to many Christians who have been hurt by Churchianity and church problems. I naively moved to Napa thinking that all those displaced folks, or at least most of them, would be streaming into our new church. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
When we first started the church, a group of men met with me in our home. We talked about different philosophies of church ministry. One of the questions some of them asked me was this: “What guarantee will you give us that the same thing won’t happen with this new church?”
I didn’t have to think about the answer at all. I responded to them, “I give you no guarantee that what happened before won’t happen again.”
I am and always have been every bit a much of a son of Adam as the next guy. I am capable of backsliding, sinning, and being a carnal man. Only by God’s grace and my surrender to His Spirit, can I be kept from those things. Include in that list the fear of God.
I reminded them that they were capable of all those same things too. I wouldn’t demand a guarantee from them, and I asked them to not demand a guarantee from me. I had “risked” a lot to move to Napa. It seemed only fair that they would take a chance on me. If the church fell apart, I would be pushing a lawn mower, and they would continue on with life as they knew it. (By the way, I did push a lawn mower for about three years as the church SLOWLY grew).
I invited those men to be a part of what I believed God was doing. I invited them to grow in relationship with me, and I with them, and with us as a group. Some of them accepted the invitation, and others declined.
I didn’t understand it then, but I have grown in my understanding regarding their line of questioning. Some of them were very hurt, and they didn’t want to be hurt again. I can’t blame them for that. None of us can. At least, none of us should.
I don’t think that many of the people from that original church ever made it into Cornerstone in any kind of permanent fashion. Some of them did, and are in ministry and even on staff. Others filtered into other churches with different forms of church governments. I am sure that many of them were looking for a way to “do church safely”. Sadly, others have never made it back to church, and some seem to have turned away from Jesus.
I do not write about Churchianity and church problems as a victim, but as a very close observer. I have heard the stories, seen the responses, and been very close to the action. I have experienced the responses and backlash of those hurt by Churchianity. I have watched as some have taken years to recover and return to church. Others recovered more quickly, and others are still outside the church walls.
Some of them are genuinely struggling with hurt. Others have probably used past events as a reason to indulge their anger. Only God knows.
May this post serve to provide a bit of my background as I still hope to write regarding Churchianity, church abuses, and how Christians are instructed to respond to such things.
By pastorbillwalden
By God’s grace, this will be the first of a few posts regarding the problems related to Churchianity. Many voices have been sounding for a while now. I hope to be of some help.
I, like many, have seen the abuses of Churchianity. I have been one who has had to endure Churchianity. And since I am a Christian, a pastor, and part of the Church Universal, I have probably contributed to the problem of Churchianity.
If I have hurt any of you readers in that way, I apologize. Without defending myself, it’s just the nature of this beast. (Sounds like a defense, doesn’t it?)
I have followed the discussions regarding Churchianity for a few years now, and I am concerned about various things.
I am concerned about the wrongs that are done in the name of Jesus. I am concerned about churches with whom I am affiliated, and churches beyond. I am concerned for the victims of Churchianity. I am concerned about those trying to correct the wrongs of Churchianity. I am concerned for the Bride of Christ and equally for the unbelievers that see the wrongs done in Jesus’ name. I am concerned about the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Wikipedia tells us that…
“Churchianity” is a pejorative term used to describe practices of Christianity that are viewed as placing a larger emphasis on the habits of church life or the institutional traditions of a specific Christian denomination than on the teachings of Jesus.
It can also be used to describe churches across many denominations where the central focus has moved from Christ to the church. Hence the replacement of Christ with church in the word “Churchianity.”
I have also seen that…
Those who have been taught Churchianity have been greatly wronged. They have been taught the precepts of men instead of the truths of God. They have been told how to feel, what to think, and how to live. They have been denied the freedom to be themselves, to make their own discoveries, and find their own faith. They have been denied the right to succeed or fail.
They have been taught that “The Church” is what is important, and that the “Ministry” comes first. Everything else comes after that, including marriage, family, and personal time. They have been told how to live, but seen the exact opposite from their leaders. They have been expected to sacrifice everything for “the church” and as a result, sometimes families and marriages have been destroyed. They have been told to not question the “Lord’s anointed.”
They have been directed away from the fact that Jesus is what is most important. They have been lied to, taken advantage of, used up, and tossed out. Before they hit the curb, they were already being used as negative examples, and became the poster children of what backsliders and apostates looked like.
Upon their departure, their understandable anger has been pointed at to prove that “they were not of us”. They have often ended up broken, hopeless, bitter, and even hateful. All of that happens in the name of Christianity, via Churchianity. All of that and much more.
Those who witness such things, and those who endure such things, often seek to right the wrongs, and expose the sins. They try to share their stories, so that others do not suffer the same fate. They blog, they talk, and they try to speak to their abusers, often without even a courteous response. They write books, decrying the wrongs of Churchianity. They try to redefine and redesign Jesus’ Church.
And they ask, “Where is the justice”?
Fortunately, some of the victims of Churchianity seem to eventually recover in one way or another. Jesus is our Faithful Shepherd.
For some reasons, others never seem to recover on a number of levels. They become casualties of this ecclesiological mess.
There is an active discussion among many about how to right the wrongs of Churchianity, and bring people back to Christianity, which is centered on a relationship with Jesus, and should be about nothing but Jesus. Many web sites, blog sites, and books discuss the wrongs of Churchianity and the need for reform in organized religion.
I agree that there is much need for repentance within what is called Churchianity. Much of the Church needs to get back to Jesus. He stands at the door and knocks. (Revelation 3:20)
I agree about many of the problems found within Churchianity. My heart goes out to the victims of Churchianity. Jesus’ heart goes out to the victims of Churchianity.
This is a cyclical and ongoing problem that has been around since the Church’s inception. Some are just discovering the problems within Churchianity for the first time, and they are shocked. Others have seen these problems many times. I would say that I fall into the latter group.
There is great need for the re-discovery of the blessings of Jesus’ Church. Jesus created and designed His Church. It is built on Him, sustained by Him, is added to by Him, and is intended to bring Him glory, both in this world, and in the world to come.
I believe that He has a solution for each of us regarding the problems of Churchianity in our lives. I believe that Christians should confront the wrongdoings of Churchianity. I also believe that Jesus has a perfect way for each of us to do it.
Rather than re-hashing many of the thoughts that are in the blogosphere regarding the wrongs within organized religion, I hope to share some thoughts regarding the responses to those wrongs.
I know that this is serious stuff for many people. It ought to be. It’s His church we are talking about.
If we, as individuals, will look to Jesus, He can use us to bring Church closer to what it is supposed to be, instead of what it has become.
To be continued…with fear and trembling, and in faith.
