ECCLESIOLOGY Part 11 - DEVELOPING A HEALTHY CHURCH CULTURE

Every local church has a culture. Culture is a sociological term. It encompasses what a community regards as: proper, acceptable, and honourable. Sociologists refer to these as morēs. Conversely, culture conveys what is: not proper, not acceptable, and is disgraceful and shameful. Sociologists refer to this negative behaviour as deviant. Culture celebrates what a community regards as important, and, what it frowns on. Every local church as a culture, but sometimes that culture is not entirely healthy. In this instalment in the Ecclesiology series, I am sharing some of the insights that we deal with in my church leadership seminar.

 

WHAT HEALTHY CULTURE ACHIEVES

The other week I saw a YouTube video of a Western tourist in Japan who showed a video of passengers on a Tokyo train. The passengers sat in an orderly fashion and were seated in silence. The tourist wondered if there was a Japanese law requiring the passengers to sit silently on the train. He found out that there was not. The reason the Japanese passengers sat on the train in silence was due to their culture. They didn’t need to be told to sit quietly – they just knew that it was the proper thing to do. This kind of positive culture is something any local church can achieve, if it works on the following two principles.

When I Kim and speak at a church for an extended weekend it is our mission to serve that church community and to help them to be even more effective in their mission to reach their community. This involves sharing on a Friday night with their youth or young adults about relationships; then sharing on a Saturday morning with Kim speaking to the ladies and myself speaking to the men; then a mid-morning leadership seminar with Board members/elders/team leaders;  a Saturday night dinner with the pastor/s elder/s; and on Sunday sharing in the morning service/s followed by an open (for anyone attend) Q&A luncheon. In the church leaders’ seminar we look at what makes for a healthy church. It is in this interactive seminar that we discuss the elements of what makes for a positive culture in a church. In essence, from my study, and the feedback we have received from these seminars, I can reduce what is needed are these two factors: firstly, the leader, and secondly, the attitude of the church.   

 

1. THE INDISPENSABLE RÔLE OF THE LEADER

The leader of a local church may be identified as the elder, pastor, senior pastor, senior minister, rector, or even the leader. Their title is not necessarily a critical issue. What is indispensable though is that they lead. It simply can not be overstated just how important their role is. The leader carries the weight of responsibility for the tone of a local church’s culture. It is not only the leader’s preaching which contributes to their culture-setting. It is their example –

• How they treat people, how they deal with interruptions,
• How they speak to their spouse and child/ren,
• How they interact with their staff and/or volunteers,
• How they manage their time,
• How they admit their mistakes,
• How they take correction,
• How they deliver correction,
• How they respond to tragedy,
• How they they open their home to show hospitality,
• How how they use those who are better than them,
• What they laugh at – or – what they get angry at, and,
• How they strive to improve their strengths and weaknesses. 

 

2. THE ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH

While the leader is ultimately responsible for teaching sound doctrine and to exposit the Scriptures, as critically essential as this, it is not enough to ensure a positive and healthy church culture. It must be supplemented with a demonstrated explication of sound doctrine and the Scriptures. That is, a preacher can be a brilliantly powerful preacher who is an amazing teacher of God’s Word – but this is almost irrelevant if this preaching and teaching is not reflected in their godly attitude. When a leader consistently models a godly attitude it has an incalculably positive effect on their church’s attitude. Therefore, the senior leader must preach, teach, and model the biblical description of a godly attitude. This description is found in Colossians 3:12-17.

(12) ¶ Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience,
(13) bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
(14) And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
(15) And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.
(16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
(17) And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
COLOSSIANS 3:12-17

If I was to list these attitude qualities, and then ask you, “How would you feel if your church was described by others as:

+  Compassionate

+ Kind

+ Humble

+ Meek

+ Patient

+ Forebearing

+ Forgiving

+ Loving

+ Harmonious

+ Peaceful

+ Thankful

+ Biblically literate

+ Wise

+ Prayerful and Pious (worshipful)

+ Sincere and holy?

Conclusion: The Gospel informs us that a culture can change. People can change. But what is needed are champions of cultural change who embrace the Church’s God ordained charge to be counter-cultural. When there is a champion of change – and better still – a champion team of change – building a healthy culture within a church is absolutely possible. And as this culture continue to be pursued I suspect that there will be many people who will be attracted to this church’s Christ-fragrance. Please pray that it does!

Amen.

Complementary Audio Podcast

ECCLESIOLOGY Part 1 - SOME SAY CHURCH, BUT I SAY ECCLESIOLOGY

WE NEED TO TALK MORE ABOUT ECCLESIOLOGY 

Ecclesiology is the study of the Church. The reason we need to talk more about ecclesiology is that many people are involved in a church - or even leading a church - and yet they don’t know what GOD intends for a church to be. In the next few posts I will discuss the purpose of a church, the structure of a church, the importance of the assembling of a church, the mission of the church, the ministries of the church, and the propagation of the church. 

I am a student of the Church. Some of my earliest memories involve being in church. In fact, I have no recollection of never going to church on a Sunday. But, before I was a teenager, I knew that I was increasingly bored during the church services. On one occasion, I came up with an ingenious idea on how to get out of going to church. The idea came to me when I realised that if a car's battery went flat, the car could not start. I then reasoned, that if, on a Saturday, if I went to our family car and opened the car’s glove box - so that the little glovebox light would stay on, then, by Sunday morning, the car’s battery would probably become flat by then! The result would be that I wouldn’t have to go to church that Sunday. The next day, my younger brother and sister and I got into the family car to go off to church as usual. Only I knew that the car would not be able to start. But alas. It did start! And off to church we went. My plan had been foiled. Never again would I attempt such a less than genius plan. In fact, it wouldn’t be too long before going to church became one of my greatest delights.  

THE DAY CHAPPO TURNED UP

Before I was fifteen years of age, my church experience involved going into an old, dark building with a huge timber cathedral ceiling held together by hundreds of massive metal bolts. In the duller moments of the church service I would attempt to count the number of these bolts, but never successfully. Then one day, my world changed. The minister, Rev. Peter Payne, invited Canon John Chapman, from Sydney, to be the guest speaker. He spoke in a way that I had never heard anyone speak. He had my attention. Even though I had been going to church all of my life, I had never heard anyone speak like John Chapman. He obviously also had an impact on my parents too because, from that moment, my parents, and that means “we”, all went to church Sunday morning and evening services! 

When I turned 15 after the visit of Canon John Chapman, I went through the preparation for Confirmation. I met with Rev. Payne one-on-one as he unpacked the implications of the gospel. He asked me read Paul's Epistle to the Romans. I did so using the Living Bible, a recent paraphrase by Kenneth Taylor. By the time I finished reading Romans, my heart was transformed and my eyes were opened. Perhaps it was the seeds sown by John Chapman's recent visit, or the pastoral care and discipleship by the prayerful Peter Payne, or the careful reading of Paul's Epistle to the Romans, but the process of preparing for Confirmation was turning point in my life. In the ensuing years I was to have several more turning points, and with each turning point, I was to grow in my understanding of what a ‘Church’ was. The next turning point for me, and for my parents, was how the church seemed to force Peter Payne to leave our church.

WHO IS THAT PREACHER?

I was  probably too young to understand what had happened to Rev. Peter Payne after I was Confirmed. As far as I can recall, he was apparently “too evangelical”. At the time, I didn’t know what evangelical meant, but whatever it meant, it had apparently upset some of the members of the vestry to the extent that they wanted Rev. Payne to leave.

I cannot recall any message that Peter Payne preached. As I said earlier, I do recall Rev. Payne speaking to me during the Confirmation preparation. I also recall him coming around to our home to see my parents who were facing some challenges. Interestingly, it was a few years later, after I had begun the voracious habit of listening to audio cassettes from Bible teachers from the Christian Cassette Lending Library (New South Wales), that I found another cassette in our lounge room that I couldn't identify. I listened to it and was very impressed with the calibre of preacher. In fact, he was amazing. I wanted to hear more from this incredible preacher. I took the cassette out to have a closer look at it for any identification of who this preacher might be. To my astonishment, it was the Reverend Peter Payne! All those years of Sundays that I sat in the church when he was preaching there, and I couldn’t hear him! But after listening to him on that cassette, I realised what I must have actually been missing out on while I sat there during his sermons. Instead of listening, I had been trying to count wooden truss bolts! As a preacher this discovery has taught me the importance of ‘demanding’ that people listen to what I have prepared for the good of their soul in what I am preaching. This is one of the reasons why I have never read my notes during the sermon.

Murray Harkness

CONFIRMATION TO PENTECOST

The first time I visited a Pentecostal church was a Sunday night down the Bellarine Peninsular. My dad had been introduced to a Christian businessman, Murray Harkness, who was also a lay pastor of a small Pentecostal church. I was only 16-years old. My earliest memories of church was the church that I was confirmed in. Therefore, for most of my 16-years, I had only experienced a liturgical church. But this  little Ocean Grove Pentecostal church had no organ, no prayer book, no priest, no choir, and no order of service! I was well and truly out of my comfort zone. I suspect that Murray must have suggested to my parents that if they wanted to go to a Pentecostal church, there was one in downtown Geelong (instead driving all the way out to Ocean Grove). And this is how we came to become a part of the oddly named, Apostolic Church. The contrast between the church I grew up compared with the church that I fell into for nearly 5 years, contributed to my later fascination with what the bible prescribed for what constituted a church. This eventually led to a quest - a quest to understand as much as I could about Christ's plan for His Church. This is how I became a student of the Church and therefore the study of ecclesiology. If you're interested, I have things to share about what constitutes ‘a church’ in the next few posts. 

And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

MATTHEW 16:17-19

FINDING JOY IN YOUR CHURCH THROUGH HUMILITY

 ¶ For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body,though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.

First Corinthians 12:12

What is a church? Whatever it is, based on what we read in the Bible, it is an institution that can bring tremendous joy to Christ’s followers and provide a source of great grace. I have previously written about the ten distinctives of a local church which distinguishes it from what it is not – namely, a: (i) Bible study group, (ii) a para-church organisation, or even (iii) a ‘ministry’ (such as an evangelistic association or regular conference). At its core, a ‘church’ is a spiritual organism of the Body of Christ which is comprised of believers who are “in Christ” (Rom. 8:1). This is a point that Sam Allberry has made in his latest book, One with My Lord: The Life-Changing Reality of Being in Christ. Being “in Christ” means that every believer is intimately connected with Christ. This is profound. This realisation should cause a believer to regard such things as partaking of Communion together in an overwhelmingly different light. Thus, when we, the body of Christ, partake of the Bread, the Body of Christ, and the fruit of the vine, the Blood of Christ, we who are “in Christ” then have “Christ in us” through ingesting this sacred meal. It is, as the Church has long declared, “a visible act of receiving the invisible grace of God.” But there is something else more wonderful about the local church experiencing Christ together in this way: we do this as a new family. Just like in any family the church family is a means of God for each believer to minister to each other believer God’s grace in its ‘manifold’ forms which enables a believer to be strengthened and helped, resulting in and from — joy. This tremendous blessing though can only be administered and received when it is done so with humility.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
First Peter 4:10-11

It is the work of the Holy Spirit in each believer to “place them” into a local Body of Christ and to knit them together as a “dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Ephesians 2:19-22

This means that in the wisdom of God He will bring together people from different nations, cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds and experiences and make them a united family.

This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
Ephesians 3:6

But this comes with great risks. Bringing people together from such diverse backgrounds who may not have yet been instructed in the ways of Christ and His Church can quickly degenerate into enmity, factions, and schisms. This is why Christ has ordained that His Church be both ordered and led so that “the unity of the Spirit” can be intentionally upheld without compromise (Eph. 4:1-4).

 

The Role of Local Church Leaders

We noted in the opening biblical reference from First Corinthians twelve that the church is like a human body. Just as the parts of the body including its internal organs have a particular function and work together to enable the body to function as a unity, so it is with the church. Thus, Christ gifts members of His body with abilities which they are to use for the benefit of the whole body. This is the point that Paul made to the Romans (who were , based on Romans 16, meeting in many separate ‘house churches’ around Rome).

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Romans 12:4-8

In writing to the Corinthians he uses even stronger language to the describe the place of leaders within a local church (note that First and Second Corinthians was specifically not addressed to any leader or group of leaders – partly because there were so many people claiming to be the leader!). Paul counters the claim of his proud opponents at Corinth that he had no right to tell them what to do, by pointing out that Christ ordained that His church be led, “first” by apostles:

That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together. ¶ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.
First Corinthians 12:25-28

The unknown writer to the Hebrews writing about AD 63, told them that:

¶ Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith….Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Hebrews 13:7, 13

This anonymous writer tells the Jewish believers in Jerusalem that their support and cooperation with their leaders should result in joy for their leaders. It it reasonable to see how this would also result in joy for the congregation as well since their shepherds would be leading with joy, care, courage, as they taught, prayed for, discipled, trained, and equipped those in their pastoral charge. This then leads to us considering the posture of a congregation in a joy-filled church.

The Role of Local Church Congregation

In Paul’s climax in his Epistle to the Romans, after he has spent eleven chapters explaining the gospel and what means to be saved, he then describes the posture of a believer. They are to “present their bodies as a living sacrifice” to God (Rom. 12:1). They are “not to be conformed to this world, but be transformed” in their thinking (Rom. 12:2). In additional to this, he introduces their essential virtue necessary for a local church to be functional rather than dysfunctional: humility.

¶ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Romans 12:3

From this foundation the apostle spells out what humility within a local church for each believer looks like as he continue in Romans 12:9-21 (see the small-group Bible study teaching series I have written on this important passage- Building a Covenant Community of Believers).

I encourage you to consider this list of twenty-seven fruits of the humility virtue and see for yourself that none of them are possible without being committed to the local church where Christ has placed you. Here is the conclusion to this observation: it takes humility to surrender to Christ as you Saviour. It takes humility to be a member of a local church family. It takes humility to cooperate with a godly caring leader-shepherd within that local church. It takes humility to serve others within your local church with the gifts and ministry the Holy Spirit has given you. But the pay-off, your great joy and your church’s, is unattainable if you don’t.

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.

BUILDING A MOODY CHURCH

 

The three things that make the Christian life exciting and enthralling are the same three things that enable a believer to develop a closer relationship with God. The combination of these supernatural gifts gives the child of God an awareness that there is more, much more, to this world than we can see, touch, taste or feel. When the Christian’s faith is grounded and buttressed in God’s Word, godly prayer, and God’s house he or she flourishes. But there are forces at play that are determined to stop the believer from reaching their spiritual destiny. While we might think these enemy forces only use the fiery darts of doubt to hinder the believer’s journey to glory, there is something that they successfully use far more often: our mood. This is why, for any church to be successful, it must discover how to build a moody church.

¶ Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Philippians 2:12-13

 There are three things essential for any Christian to have in their spiritual foundation with Christ as their cornerstone (Acts 4:11; Eph. 2:20). Firstly, a devotion to know, understand, and apply God’s Word. Secondly, a devotion to prayer – to know, obey, and love God. Thirdly, a devotion to a Christ-centred, Spirit-filled, Word-based, church. The enemy of our soul continually seeks to undermine each of these foundational sources of our spiritual strength. This undermining is nearly always done subtly and barely without the believer even noticing what is happening.

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith.
First Peter 5:8-9a

THE ROLE OF FAITH FOR A CHRISTIAN

The Apostle Peter told the young Christians of Bithynia to “stand firm in your faith” (1Pet. 5:9a). Some critics of Christianity assert that faith is “believing things that are not true.” You either have facts or you must have faith, they claim. But this is not true. Faith, including the Christian faith, is not mere wishful or fanciful thinking. As if J.M. Barry’s famous line from Peter Pan – “I do believe in fairies” – could ever make the existence of fairies reasonable.
Faith is always grounded in reasonable evidence. Faith is trusting that evidence. Life is therefore not possible without faith. We have faith that the road we have driven over hundreds of times – or on the road we have never driven over but others have driven over hundreds of times – will not collapse under us as we drive over it. We have faith that when we sit on our favourite chair it will hold us. This functional faith is grounded in good reasons and so is Christian faith.
The Apostle Paul described Christian faith as being based on facts and good evidence – particularly for the physical resurrection of Jesus the Christ. If Christ was not raised from the dead then there is no salvation from sin for anyone. If this was the case, then life itself would be meaningless (“vain”). This is how he stated it:

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
First Corinthians 15:13-17

C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, that if someone was not persuaded by the evidence for Christ and His resurrection, then they should not accept Christianity:

“Now just the same thing happens about Christianity. I am not asking anyone to accept Christianity if his best reasoning tells him that the weight of the evidence is against it. That is not the point at which Faith comes in.”
Mere Christianity 2017 (1942), pg. 140

Perhaps surprisingly, C.S. Lewis states that even the person who has become convinced by the evidence for the truthfulness of the Christian message is still susceptible to fall away if something separates them from the three essential faith-sustainers. You would be forgiven for thinking that he is referring to the devil. After all, Lewis was very aware of the devil and his schemes to undermine the believer’s faith because he wrote a book about it, The Screwtape Letters. But he is not talking about the devil’s direct attacks as the most dangerous peril to be faced. Rather, Lewis describes our moods as our greatest peril to being established and flourishing in our faith in Christ.

But supposing a man’s reason once decides that the weight of the evidence is for it. I can tell that man what is going to happen to him in the next few weeks. There will come a moment when there is bad news, or he is in trouble, or is living among a lot of other people who do not believe it, and all at once his emotions will rise up and carry out a sort of blitz on his belief. Or else there will come a moment when he wants a woman, or wants to tell a lie, or feels very pleased with himself, or sees a chance of making a little money in some way that is not perfectly fair: some moment, in fact, at which it would be very convenient if Christianity were not true.

Lewis was not dismissing the inevitable doubts that creep into a believer’s mind. He wrote, “Those have to be faced and that is a different matter. I am talking about moments when a mere mood rises up against it ” (140). He goes on to say that the way to tame our moods so that the enemy can not exploit them, is to tame them by disciplining them in the three essentials for the Christian journey: God’s Word, godly praying, and commitment to God’s House.

Now Faith, in the sense in which I am here using the word, is the art of holding on to things your reason has once accepted in spite of your changing moods. For moods will change, whatever view your reason takes…That is why Faith is such a necessary virtue unless you teach your moods ‘where they get off,’ you can never be either a sound Christian or even a sound atheist, but just a creature dithering to and fro, with its beliefs really dependent on the weather and the state of its digestion. Consequently one must train the habit of Faith.

This is why a commitment to attending church is essential for maintaining a vibrant faith in Christ. Is it necessary for a Christian to attend church? When we understand just how influential our moods are to our walk with Christ, we might phrase this question differently. How does neglecting church effect our mood to continue in the three essentials for Christian growth? Lewis states:

“The first step is to recognise the fact that your moods change. The next is to make sure that, if you have once accepted Christianity, then some of its main doctrines shall be deliberately held before your mind for some time every day. That is why daily prayers and religious readings and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life.”
Pg. 141

For any church to grow and be healthy, it needs members who have learned to tame their moods, which Lewis describes as telling them “where to get off”! He states in very straightforward language why the believer needs to tell their mood to get used to the idea that they would now be going to church, rain, hail, or shine. “We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed” (141). 

A MOODY CHURCH

A church is comprised of those believers who have tamed their moods to delight in the things that Christ says are good for their souls. It is in the regular devotion to God’s Word that we are reminded of the truth. It is in regular devotion to praying that we are reminded of God’s presence. It is in regular devotion to church that we, encouraged by our worship, the ordinances of communion and baptism, and the ministry of God’s preached word that we are taught and encouraged in our understanding of and walk with Christ. This is what I mean by building a moody church. (And I apologise to all my brothers and sisters in Chicago who already attend “Moody Church” in honour of the great evangelist D.L. Moody.)

¶ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:13-18

Your Pastor,

Andrew

Let me know what you think below in the comment section and feel free to share this someone who might benefit from this Pastor’s Desk.