Is your church a stumbling block to full devotion or pathway to discipleship?

Reggie McNeil made a bold statement at the Exponential conference that I have been pondering the past few days.  He said that if the church is not producing disciples then all it is doing is producing consumers.  In the book And: The Gathered and Scattered Church, Hugh Halter writes, Consumerism reflects what Jesus came to call people out of. It's exactly the opposite of what Jesus is telling us to go and make!
It is the consensus of many pastors and church leaders that the church in general does not do a very good job of producing disciples.  Therefore, if the two statements above are true, then we must conclude that the church is actually leading people away from discipleship.  The church can be and is often a stumbling block to many believer's pursuit of Christ.  Now that is something to chew on.

Jesus on works vs grace

People today are still very much like those in the New Testament times.  They want the blessings of God more than they want God.  We see in John 6:26-40, after Jesus feeds the 5,000, they begin to follow him wanting more food.  Feed us every day just like when Moses fed us as our ancestors wandered in the wilderness.
We see the same kind of faith or lack of, today in the prosperity gospel churches where people come to receive "blessings".  "Give and you shall receive", the preachers proclaim.  "See how God has blessed me!  You too can have a nice car, a beautiful house and riches untold if only you give to God (me) your money".
The prosperity gospel churches are not the only ones though that rely upon such tactics.  You see it also used in mainline churches, just not as much.  It's not the major doctrinal belief system that the church is built upon like the prosperity gospel churches. But in many mainline churches members are asked to give testimony to the fact that God has blessed them when they give to the church, building campaign, pastors discretionary fund, etc.  It is a manipulatory tactic to get people to give more.  Ironic that we use manipulation on our people by manipulating them to believe we can manipulate God into giving us material wealth, if we give to the church.
It was so in the new testament also.  People wanted to know just what they needed to do to gain the blessings of God, to get a free meal every day.  Jesus didn't say you need to give money to me.  He didn't say you need to pray five times a day.  He didn't say you need to sacrifice a lamb or go to the Temple on the Sabbath.  He said in verse 29, "believe in Me".  "God provided the bread from heaven, not Moses.  I am the bread.  I am the manna.  Put your faith and trust in me.  It is a relationship with you that I want.  Not works, or your money.  Just your time, your worship, your heart."
What would it look like if we understood that Jesus wants our devotion not works?.  How would I live my life differently if I could fully comprehend the depth of that relationship and the grace that Jesus offers?

Like a Good Neighbor, Where Is The Church?

I watched the Secret Millionaire this week for the first time. Or is it Secret Billionare? In this episode, the wealthy owners of the Curves workout facilities go on what is basically a "mission trip" to inner city Houston for one week where they live on $6 dollars a day in an old roach infested house and visit several social ministries and agencies. In the end they put a face to the needs of the community and are moved to help out the social agencies with generous contributions. It is one of the positive television reality shows that have become popular as of late.

I find it interesting that the secular world has co-opted the business of the church and is teaching and promoting principles that the church seems to have abandoned.

Think about how often you see commercials and popular programs promoting community involvement and charity. From the NBA Cares program to American Idol give back show, the world recognizes the benefit and need for one to take care of their less fortunate neighbors in the world.

My brother-in-law while working as a manager for UPS was required to take two weeks off and go on a "mission trip", (his words but not what the company called it). He chose to go work with a church in inner city of Chicago. He described it as one of the most inspirational and educational two weeks of his life, even though he got sick and had to go to the hospital at the end of the two weeks. The only requirement that UPS pbutton their managers was that they had to bring back what they learned from the experience and implement the concepts into their management at UPS. Here is a secular company that values the experience of going on "missions" and yet it is often difficult to get a pastor to promote a mission trip in their own church. Seldom do you see churches who actually instruct, encourage and expect their members to be going local or globally.

I think it is great that society feels the need to promote the idea of charity and responsibility for one's neighbor but isn't it sad that secular society values community involvement more than the church? Wasn't this Jesus' idea? Didn't he instruct his followers to do this? What happened to the church taking responsibility for the welfare of their community?

A good question to ponder; if your church picked up and moved tomorrow would your community or neighborhood in which your church is located miss you?

Lessons in losing control

I had two experiences this week that reminded me how much I desire to be in control and how I need the help of others. If you want to get a lesson in letting go of control, try teaching someone how to drive. I offered to help one of the refugees this week to learn to drive. We took my SUV to the Grace Point parking lot and switched places. I thought he'd had some driving experience in Nepal so I was not too concerned. He just needed to get used to driving an automatic and driving on the right side of the road. To my suprize he was like a young kid behind the wheel for the very first time. With some instruction about the brake and the gas peddle and some practice stopping and starting, I gave the go ahead to drive through the parking lot. Easier said than done. Everything was fine until we made the first turn. On one side of the lane we were turning toward was the end of the parking lot and a grassy ditch and the other a row of cars. Stupid me for having him turn into this lane because as he turned left, he began to press more on the gas which sped the car up. As he over-corrected the steering we turned toward the cars parked on the left. I'm glad we had practiced braking because I was screaming step on the brake! He stopped just in time, only a foot or so shy of one of the parked cars.

Over the next twenty minutes, it was all I could do to not jump out of the car and end the lesson. But I had to make myself trust that he could drive without hitting a car, a light pole or building. I had little to no control except through my vocal instructions. But until I let him drive, he wasn't ever going to learn. No damage done except to my nerves. It was truly a white-knuckle experienc.

Two nights ago, God seemed to further instruct me on the art of humility and dependence on others with another experience in which I ended up having no control. Barbara and I went for a walk in the early evening. We always take the garage door opener and lock the house. When we returned back from the walk, low and behold the remote didn't work. The garage door would not open. We had no keys and no way to get back into the house without breaking the door or window. Of course, I blamed it on Barbara. I let her know that she knew the batteries were low on the remote and she should have taken keys just in case. After checking the doors and windows to see if we had left something unlocked, which we hadn't, we realized we needed help. I wasn't the one to go ask, that was for sure. After all, I again reminded her that it was her fault. So Barbara went next door to humbly ask for help. Perhaps their garage door opener was the same as ours and had a battery. Well that wasn't a solution, but the college age son of the Iranian parents next door offered to take us to Wal Mart to get some batteries. They also had to loan us money to buy a battery because we didn't have any on us.

Our trip was actually very pleasant and we got to know the young man better. He was attending UTSA and studying premed. I got to tell a little about my ministry. After searching all over for the battery in Wal Mart we found the right one and it actually worked. All was back to normal in the Walters' house. Why do we have such a strong desire to always be in control of circumstances? Why is it so hard to ask for help? Why can't I anticipate that the little trials are ways for God to work through me? Life is so much more interesting and richer when we have these kinds of experiences. (Looking back). Help me God to learn to trust you, to know that I really have no control of my life and to not hesitate to rely on you and others. Help me to not always blame others, especially my wife and to take responsibility.

Haiti mission trip

Observations on Haiti mission trip
This being our first trip to Haiti, our first impression as we drive around Port au Prince is that this is a country devoid of your basic needs of decent food and shelter, the worst I've ever seen. There seems to be a total lack of a government structure to help deliver basic services. And there is little evidence that there has been much done since the earthquake to clean up and repair damaged buildings. A country that was in desperate need before the earthquake, is now even further behind. Although we see some teams from mission organizations trying to do some cleanup, for the most part there seems to have been very little cleanup and removal of the rubble left by the earthquake. But life goes on for the millions who call Haiti their home. They seem to be an incredibly resourceful people, making due with what little they have.

Port au Prince is extremely crowded with very poor roads to travel on and incredibly dirty. There are people in need wherever you turn. Any public land within the city of Port au Prince that once was a park or open area is now filled with tents. This nicest areas of Port au Prince would be considered extreme poverty in the United States.

There seemed to be opportunities for ministry all around us. The most impressive mission opportunity we visited was the Nehemiah Project outside of Port au Prince developed by Campus Crusade For Christ with other partnering mission organizations. Near a small community about 15 miles outside of Port au Prince, the mission has a School, Children's Home, clinic and housing for mission teams. They also provide a feeding ministry for the community at large. http://www.nehemiahvisionministries.org

We also visited an orphanage near where we stayed. Michael and Heather Popp had made contact about adoption through this orphanage and so we spent one afternoon interacting the with children and talking with the manager of the home. This would be a mission opportunity.

The Beree Baptist Church which hosted us, is a very traditional Baptist church which ministers to the educated and business class in Haiti. Pastor Jeanty preaches in French although he sometimes uses Creole when he feels it is appropriate. Pastor Jeanty sacrificed several days of his schedule to be with us and show us the city. We met with the mayor of Port au Prince and got to pray for him and visited the Baptist Seminary.

We also visited a hospital which was started by Pastor Jeanty's aunt. It was a nice, clean facility in port au Prince. We were surpassed to see so few beds occupied. There were only a handful of patients. We were told that most Haitians do not go to the hospital because they can not afford it.

One day was spent working with children at the Christian Academy. About 90 children came, either members of Beree Baptist or those who attend the Academy. We played games, did crafts and shared the Gospel with them.
While we were working with the children three of our team members lead a one day conference on Emergency medical training and medical care for amputees and the physically handicapped.

Any future partnership with Beree would be in either Prison ministry or conferences (medical or ministry related). The pastor and volunteers from the church visit the women's prison on Monday and Wednesday of each week .

The Walls International Guest House was a convenient place to stay. It was located near the church and orphanage. It hosted a lot of mission teams and was clean with a good breakfast and decent dinner included in the price. The downside is the lack of bathroom facilities. Our team of 12 shared two bathrooms and others in the house were using our bathroom also.

The one downside of doing missions in Haiti is the cost. Considering this is a third world country, the cost of food and services seem to be extremely high. Food costs are double what they are in the United States. We had to pay for our lunches each day and they were about $10 a person for meals that the church provided. We did have sandwiches one day at the seminary which were about $5 a person. Gasoline prices are incredibly high so the cost of transportation during your visit will be about double what it is in other third world countries.

The path that leads to many paths of blessings

As I pondered Romans chapter 6 on freedom from sin, I pictured the contrast of a life of bad choices, living for oneself with that of a life choosing to live for Christ, making decisions based on your relationship with Jesus. The more bad choices, or the more sinful life you lead the narrower your choices become. You lose more freedom with each bad decision. It's like a funnel, narrowing you down toward death. When you live for Christ, each right decision opens up a whole host of good choices, sometimes making it difficult to choose what to do next.  A good example of this is when we choose to follow Jesus to serve others.  As I have gone to countries on mission trips or across town to share God's love in the inner city, I am amazed at suddenly the flood of opportunities that seem to come my way to bless others.  I begin to see that there is a world of people out there waiting to be blessed by God and often times, I have that potential.  But if we are looking at life through the lens of self, we don't see those opportunities.  We just walk by and miss the obvious.  But when we choose the right path, that path leads to other paths and life begins to become an adventure full of opportunities.  However we must choose to take a step on that pathway.  We can't stay home or we will miss out on the opportunities and the fullness of life that God has for us.   God will continually give us opportunities.  Just open your eyes and heart to them, and join Him in his work.  Don't miss the abundant life! 

Posted via email from John Walter's Life Stream

Would God lead me into the valley of death?

Does God's will always lead us to safety and security or does He sometimes lead us into trials and hardship?  I was reading Acts 21 today and writing in the discussions in Chapter of The Day groups about the leading of the Holy Spirit and find it an interesting study in determining God's will.  Paul, being led by the Holy Spirit is focused on completing the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. It has been obvious from the start of his amazing journey that he has followed the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Yet prophets and others are not only warning him but forbidding him to go to Jerusalem because of the danger there.Sometimes the counsel of friends, even well meaning friends, filtered through their fears and desire for safety, can actually be counter productive. Those who commit to going on mission trips often times find that the biggest hurdles are their friends and relatives who try to dissuade them from going because they are concerned for their safety.We in the west have an unhealthy regard for security. The early Christians and the heroes of faith were willing to put their lives on the line for Christ. Today it is hard to get believers to go into an unknown neighborhood because it might not be safe. How willing are you to sacrifice for the sake of Christ? Where are you not willing to go, to share God's love? 

Posted via email from John Walter's Life Stream