AMERICA, THE UNGRATEFUL

"Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers...and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them and served them: therefore hath he brought all this

evil upon them." (2 Chronicles 7:22)

The God of our fathers
Led them to this land;
Forsaking creature comforts,
His wish was their command.
Their purpose was to worship God
In accordance with their choosing,
Throwing off the King's shackles
Meant many of their lives losing.

Freedom of worship their motive,
With no other gods before them,
The founding documents writ in blood
That we who follow avoid mayhem.
Two centuries have come and gone
With the god of materialism in place;
As we accede to its demands,
We do despite to the God of grace.

The god of situation ethics,
With everyone doing his own thing,
Maligns the God who made us,
His judgment on us to bring.
The evil which is upon us
Is a ploy of our own making--
The direct result of disobedience
And the God of our Fathers forsaking.

Modern generations pride themselves
On relegating God to mythology;
Assuming He lacks power to perform
They bow to the throne of psychology.
Materialism has proven its mettle,
Having fully run its course;
When the flesh can't be satiated,

There'll be ample cause for remorse.

Our country is in trouble
Because we've turned to other gods;
Our prayer will be heard
When we repent and turn to God.
We can say "There is no God"
And scripture calls us fools!
Or, we can bow the knee
To the God Who reigns and rules.

Judgment begins at the house of God
That it might lead the way;
The people called by His name
Must humble themselves and pray.
Denying ourselves and taking up the Cross,
We turn from sin to seek His face;
As he hears from Heaven and forgives our sin,
We learn the true meaning of grace.

  C. R.Solomon  12-29-08

THE CHURCH MOBILIZED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST, ". . . for such a time as this" (Est. 4:14b)

Introduction

As the world economic situation continues to escalate, it behooves us to investigate its impact on the Church so that the Church impact on the world might be maximized. The modern trend of living beyond our means has been extrapolated from the individual to business and to the government. Businesses operating on a line of credit have become commonplace, and individuals have gone from mortgages on their homes to borrowing to purchase cars to becoming enslaved to credit card debt. Churches have not been immune to such practices with a great percentage of churches financing some part of their facilities.

The scriptural injunction to "Owe no man anything, but to love one another:" (Rom. 13:8a) seems to have become passé, with some churches carrying a heavy debt load in addition to extensive overhead. It has become common practice to create paid positions for ministry that were formerly the role of lay personnel. All of this can be justified in an expanding economy, but a contracting economy rapidly creates chaos such as we are experiencing to some degree presently.



Those churches with large overheads and major indebtedness are already beginning to feel the pinch. Not only will adjustments have to be made to deal with the economic aspects but also to minister effectively to those of the membership and community who are suffering adversity. It is a certainty that such ministry cannot be confined to paid staff, and the vast majority of churches have not trained their populations via discipleship to step into the breach. In fact, scriptural discipleship has been all but missing from the modern day church. Therefore, it must be instituted swiftly with little in the way of precedent on which to base such training. It will amount to a paradigm shift in ministry to meet the possibly overwhelming need. Though few churches have implemented such ministry, Grace Fellowship International has pioneered an approach to discipleship/counseling which would ideally be accomplished as a key ministry in all local churches. There is nothing to be developed or proven as all of this is history; the materials and methodology can be transferred directly to the Church where God intended for it to be. The rationale for doing so is the purpose of this article.

THE CHURCH MOBILIZED FOR DISCIPLESHIP

With the way the country and the world are beginning to shape up from an economic standpoint, it is the part of wisdom that we calculate the corresponding impact on the Church and how it must comport itself to be able not only to minister in the world but to be able to have a positive impact on it. To bury our heads in the sand and wait until the effects are upon us, will be foolhardy to say the least and could bury us alive in the wake of its economic tidal wave. Though we cannot escape the impact, we can take some proactive measures to lessen it and to trust God for a strategy to minister effectively in an adverse set of circumstances with which we have not had to deal heretofore. I am afraid that the 'good life' has been an enemy of the spiritual life, with little in the way of sacrifice required; from this point on, there are likely to be sacrifices on the part of many who are lacking in that experience! Few who went through the Great Depression of the 1930's are alive to recount the deprivation which was rampant at that time.

As the recession begins to take its toll, the local church will be in the forefront due to its dependence upon contributions which is already beginning to be felt. In fact, a recent Barna poll said that the contribution shortage is already in the billions. Of course, those infrequent churches which are debt free will not be affected as drastically as those which have fallen prey to the pervasive trend of living beyond our means. Almost all churches which build or buy facilities think nothing of first seeking a loan with some taking advantage of all assets and giving patterns to enable them to secure a loan of sufficient size to build the size building that is desired, whether or not actually needed. In fact, it is the unusual church which pays as it goes in a building program. Again, in an expanding economy, this has been a way to utilize facilities while paying for them. A large plant, with some the size of a city block, requires a staff commensurate with the ample facilities. The creeping growth usually does not take into account the maximum use of unpaid staff but expands the overhead to take advantage of possible ministry outreaches, including family life facilities with various sports opportunities from walking to swimming to various athletic activities. While there is nothing wrong with any of these, continued expansion and diversification involves continually increasing overhead.

In such a scenario, it is necessary for the pastor to become a CEO or to hire an administrative pastor who fulfills such responsibilities which may tend to detract from the spiritual ministry for which the church was founded. With all of this expansion, the worship center is but a part of the mammoth plant rather than being part and parcel of the mission of the church. Formerly, the non-worship activities took place in homes or in community buildings; but the church facility has expanded to become all inclusive with some even adding restaurants and coffee shops. Coping with the economic situation taking place in our society is inescapable, and reducing the ministry of paid personnel is much more difficult than the happy prospect of adding them! Releasing beloved brethren, when jobs are hard to come by, can be heart-wrenching. Also, it may be that reduction in pay scales will make it impossible for them to maintain the same housing accommodations and standard of living in other ways.

Since many churches will have to reduce the ministry staff, there will have to be a corresponding increase in filling such voids by laity. Also, it will be necessary to rethink the approach to ministry, not only to take up the slack but also to render the ministry more effective and efficient while at the same time not sacrificing the spiritual content.


Concomitant with the decrease in paid staff will, in all likelihood, be a drastic increase in human need requiring ministry, both inside and outside the church. The major material needs created by unemployment and underemployment, along with possible scaling back of salary levels, combine to create massive needs on the part of many who have been able to handle their own families and even to help others.

The auto industry is presently planning on reducing salary scales to make Detroit competitive with imports, and this could signal such reductions as a ripple effect across the country. In some cases, parents will have to open their homes to married children with families which will involve increased stress on everyone. Interpersonal conflict due to several people being confined in close quarters will contribute toward the massive increase in counseling needs throughout the church at a time when most counseling is referred outside. Since family and church budgets will already be strained, it will be necessary to handle it in-house which will require a paradigm shift in the ministry of most churches.

While it is not insurmountable and the training may easily be done, there will have to be the commitment on the part of leadership to gear up for such an eventuality. Waiting until it is upon us is not wise, since those who will be trained to render such ministry must have time to learn and mature in order to discharge such responsibility. The training would be in the nature of discipleship or sanctification which has been all but missing in the ministry of the modern church, whether among staff or laity. Though long term discipleship will be required, most will require individual discipleship or counseling before being assimilated in a group for long term follow up. Individual or clinical discipleship would have the nature of leading a believer to understand the full impact of being crucified with Christ which is the beginning or entry into discipleship, according to Luke 14:27. Though some may live such a life, few have been trained to teach others to embark on such a spiritual journey. All believers are on a spiritual journey, and a few will be at a point of extreme need where understanding this aspect of the Cross will be not only desirable but absolutely necessary!

After it is revealed reality by the Holy Spirit, it will be necessary to learn to walk in such truth before being effective in sharing it with others. Then, there will be a period of time of personal sharing or ministry before being able to train others to do the same. Although it is not a complicated process, it is contrary to most church practice today, which makes it sound like a foreign concept. It is tried and proven over 4 decades, but the Church has not been forced to embrace such ministry because of needs which cannot be outsourced.

Once the need cannot be denied, and the human need must be squarely faced with no referrals as an alternative, it will be necessary to 'hunker down' and prepare for the long haul. A conference on the material content and a workshop on the basic methodology can be done in as little as ten (10) days, once the church is firmly committed to a thorough discipling of its congregation. Believers with less than a high school education have been trained, so formal education in counseling, education, psychology or theology is not a requirement. It is spiritual ministry which has been neglected for most of the last century and will require some crash training to fill the void and to give discipleship or sanctification an equal footing with justification. However, even in the matter of justification, its inculcation in evangelism has largely become a spectator sport with professionals being emplaced rather than major equipping of the saints. While evangelism, or soul winning, is taught in many evangelical churches, it is safe to say that the majority of Christians have never led anyone to Christ.



Then, those who are most proficient in evangelism have led few, if any, believers to the Cross for sanctification or discipleship. In fact, it is not accorded a place in the curriculum of most seminaries or Bible schools. This means that the whole Christian community is lacking in this vital aspect of ministry which, in all likelihood, will become front and center as the most needed emphasis in the Christian Church. It is a very simple approach to implement and can be done speedily with all necessary materials, methods, and message readily available. The only lack at this point is the distribution system for the materials/media which have been proven in a number of languages and cultures over the past 4 decades with approximately a dozen books published to support such study/training. It is a simple matter of publicity, logistics, and finance that are required to implement the approach widely and witness the Holy Spirit's transforming lives to the glory of God. Each life so transformed experiences revival or renewal which can easily spread from church to church as the message of the Cross is clearly taught from the pulpit and translated into the pew by means of one on one discipleship.

Summary



The discipleship herein described and commended has been the major need of the Church in recent decades, but there has not been the 'open nerve' to necessitate its inception. As a result, those needing a deeper walk with the Lord to resolve inner and interpersonal difficulties have been unhesitatingly outsourced to world system developments in psychology, with much of this being taught in our seminaries. That being the case, pastors have largely bought into the notion that counseling is a specialty which requires advanced education, so neither they nor their staff usually minister to such living needs, most of which should be the domain of clinical discipleship [Christ-centered counseling].

This mindset must be reversed so that the average church member will be equipped to live and share the Cross in a meaningful way and see the lives of other believers transformed. Those who have matured in their walk, where the experienced Cross is reality, will find that learning to share it with others in the Spirit is a simple matter. Hurting believers, as well as unbelievers, could then turn to the Church and get an answer rather than a referral! Though such ministry is presently not even on the horizon, much less in the comfort zone of the average church, the basic training could be done in as little as ten (10) days if pastor and people had a mind to do so. Such a church could have a whole new lease on ministry with a vision for the Holy Spirit to be regularly transforming lives and releasing such believers for ministry according to their spiritual gifting.

While there are a number of exceptional churches which are implementing the above to one degree or another, Dr. Phil Jones at First Baptist of Powell, TN has done the most thorough integration into the ministry of the church. In doing so, he has developed TELL (Teaching Exchanged Life Living) material for use in the local church; all who desire to unite with the church participate in such teaching. This was the project for his doctorate at Southern Seminary in Louisville KY. www.FBCPowell.com

SUFFERING IN PERSPECTIVE

Suffering is God's crucible, (1 Pet. 1:7)
Our value to refine;
Since God is our example (1 Pet. 2:20,21)
It is His grand design.
Not only to believe on Him (Phil. 1;29,30)
But to suffer for His sake;
It is by taking up the Cross (Lk. 14:27)
That He does disciples make. (1 Pet. 5:10)

The godly shall suffer persecution- (2 Tim. 3:12)
A source of great pain;
But we have His promise:
"If we suffer, we will also reign". (2 Tim. 2:12)
Jesus learned obedience by suffering (Heb. 5:8)
Which took place without the gate; (Heb. 13:12)
Being partakers of His sufferings (1 Pet. 4:12,13)
Allows us His passion to relate.

Though no ne enjoys suffering
It perfects our walk in Him (1 Pet. 5:10)-
Establishing, strengthening, settling,
So our vision will not dim.
When suffering has had its way
And the way of the Cross we've trod,
We can comfort them in any trouble (2 Cor. 1:3,4)
As we ourselves are comforted of God.


C. R. Solomon, Korea 11-25-08

THE ULTIMATE BAIL-OUT

 We know our country's in trouble;

Fewer know the Church is, too.
Politics based on human wisdom
Is the expected thing to do.
The birthright of the Church
Is to follow the Spirit's leading;
But ministry in our strength holds sway
While ignorance we are pleading.

Many are those which are seeker friendly
So the world we will not offend;
Others preach a clear gospel
That sin to Hell does send.
But once the person comes to Christ,
The Cross for the believer is seldom preached; (Gal. 2:20)
The eternal destination has been changed,
But the goal of discipleship is not reached. (Luke 14:27)

We decry the need for bail-out
To compensate for government's failing;
With most of our churches in decline,
We can't deny the Church is ailing.
As with the government so with the Church,
We have fallen short of the mark;
We have taught the way of salvation
But on a "doing to be" syndrome we embark.

When we conclude the Church is powerless
We plead for God to intervene;
We know revival is the answer
And pray that God will grace the scene.
Though we have failed to preach the Cross
We ask God for His visitation,
Not realizing that our crucifixion
Must precede our resurrection.

For a gracious bail-out we are asking
To compensate for our disobedience;
We are asking that the Holy Spirit fall,
While to the Cross we should give credence.
When the Holy Spirit sends revival
Though the message has not been taught,
The problem will be its maintenance

Since we knew not what we sought.

God in grace does bail us out
Though the results of the flesh remain;
The Spirit moves with consummate ease
While we continue to grunt and strain.
The Cross must be made central,
That the fruit of the bail-out will remain;
Preaching the Cross, the power of God (1 Cor. 1:18)
Brings constant revival-clear and plain!

 C. R. Solomon 10-3-08

STEWARDSHIP OF THE CHURCH

                                                             

                                                                
In meditating on the subject of stewardship, I find it is usually restricted to the responsibility of the individual church member.  Frequently, the parable of the steward in the New Testament is used to teach that we, as believers, must give account of our stewardship.

But, if we carry it a little farther, should not the body of believers in the local church be accountable for corporate stewardship?  Since the church is all about ministry, there will have to be agreement on the results of the ministry put forth by the church.  As I see it, there are only two main objectives in such ministry, with all of the church's activities working together to produce the desired results.  One of the aspects is evangelism which can be evaluated is the number won for Christ; the other is discipleship of believers that results in their maturation.

Evangelism could be termed those who are saved from sin, while the beginning of the process of discipleship is a believer's being saved from himself.  This is defined in Luke 14:27 where we read: "And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple."  The sinner repents of sin and believes that Jesus died for him; the believer repents of flesh and believes he died with Jesus.  The unbeliever is saved from his sin, and the believer is saved from himself!

Just as the number of those who are born again is frequently tabulated to portray the results of evangelistic thrusts, the same may be done of those whose lives are transformed as believers-the beginning of a life-long process of discipleship.  However, the latter is ill-taught in the majority of churches with little or no discipleship being done.
If both of these avenues are assiduously pursued, there should be results which can be quantified;  if we do consistent planting, there should be some reaping in due season.   Negligible results in either category should be cause to question the stewardship of the church.  The machinery may be kept running with all of the gears properly oiled, but the lack of tangible and quantifiable results should bring stewardship into question.

In either case, something is amiss if souls are not being saved or lives of believers are not being regularly transformed.  At least, a regular report should be given to the body for praise and thanksgiving. The waters of the baptistry should be stirred regularly.  Then, the Holy Spirit would transform the lives of believers on a regular basis if scriptural discipleship were routinely practiced, which would result in greatly increased evangelism.  Why should believers desire to export what is not working at home in their own lives?

In any church, there is a good percentage of hurting believers who would be candidates for intensive discipleship which would result in transformed lives, if it were offered.  However, an unbeliever goes to a church and is given an answer by being led to our Lord; on the other hand, a believer goes for an answer and is given a referral all too frequently.  The vast majority of believers who are presently treated by mental health workers could be ministered to by the local church if credible, remedial discipleship were an option!

As far as I can read from the scriptures, these are the only two reasons (evangelism and discipleship) for the existence of the local church besides fellowship and worship.  A possible third emphasis would be to do the same in missions outreach.  Accountability for the funds invested in missions should be reflected in stewardship reports from affiliated ministries or from those who go out from the local church on short-term missions.

Rarely does any one of them report the lives of believers being transformed due to missions outreach or discipleship; just as at home, precious little is done on the mission field besides evangelism and some community projects.

The lack of tangible results in both areas should be sufficient cause to evaluate the entire ministry and make the necessary adjustments that the body of believers might be productive.  Continuing to support a ministry where lives are not being impacted regularly indicates a lack of stewardship oversight on the part of church leadership.
Of course, the whole congregation has such responsibility;  but the elected leaders bear the brunt of such breach of stewardship before God.  It is obviously easier to let a church ministry rock along until it becomes so ineffective that everyone can see that it must be addressed.

However, those who were in need during all of this process will have been neglected when many would have been open to ministry in their lives. Lacking such ministry, they drop out of church or move on to another where the same syndrome is very likely to be repeated so that such a hapless individual concludes that the church does not have an answer.

Since human need is going to multiply exponentially in the very near future, isn't it time that we examined individual and corporate stewardship to prepare for such an onslaught?  The need has been there and has gone wanting, but it will soon be impossible to ignore.  Too, those to whom referrals are made routinely could be too busy looking for answers to give any . . . .  What will the church tell them?

  -  Charles R. Solomon, Ed. D.