Thanks for the Memory...

This fall, Bakerstown United Methodist Church has been celebrating 175 years of ministry to our community! From our humble beginnings back in 1832, BUMC has had a constant vision and attitude of expanding God's Kingdom. Recently, our senior pastor Mark Stewart reminded us all of that vision and attitude, and we are moving forward with more exciting programs and ministries.

Last night, we celebrated our "Thanksgiving Eve" service as the final portion of our anniversary celebration, and it was absolutely incredible. Pastor Mark, our choir and new praise team led us in some incredible worship, DS Don Scandrol was in attendance, and Bishop Tom Bickerton gave a great sermon about the importance of constantly giving thanks. It was truly an incredible worship experience.

I'm a history buff, so I love learning about past events, whether they are the past events of a local congregation in Western Pennsylvania, or of the first European colonists in what has become the United States. Our past is riveting story. But especially as I have gotten older, I realize that studying and celebrating our past is mainly important for one reason: it can motivate us to look to the future. It can remind us of the faith, dedication, and ingenuity of our forebears, and it can challenge us to utilize those same qualities to be proactive in expanding God's kingdom today.

Think about the courage of those first pilgrims, who braved a rough Atlantic passing and set foot on a new continent, all so that they could worship God freely.

Think about the faithful men and women of the past who planted the seeds of faith that have germinated into the communities that you are now serving.

Then ask, how can WE make the same impact today?

Let us be thankful for our past... but let us also challenge ourselves to move towards a compelling future.

Christian Heroes

As a history buff, I've always been fascinated by the way certain religious themes are played out with very different nuances in different eras of our past. Whether it is the Doctrine of the Atonement, or church administration, our forebears in different time periods have often reflected diverse understandings of these issues, while still attempting to maintain the integrity of the basic Gospel message.

One thing that has changed considerably is the image of the "quintessential disciple" - the heroic Christian ideal, so to speak. At different times in the life of the church, Christians have projected very different conceptions of what it looks like to follow Jesus with absolute consistency, in a way that deserves admiration.

For example, the early church existed in an Empire which was largely hostile to the message of the Gospel, and in that early time the MARTYR was seen as the hero of the faith. Not only Christ Himself but Peter, Paul, James, and early church administrators like Ignatius of Antioch were faithful even unto death, and as Tertullian once remarked, "The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." By their deaths, Christian faith was preserved with integrity.

After Constantine, the church was beset with institutionalism, materialism, and nominal Christians who compromised on both doctrine and lifestyle. In that situation, the Christian ideal was the MONK who fled the temptations of the empire and went into the wilderness (or desert) to pursue a radical discipleship in solitude or in small, intentional communities.

In the Middle Ages, with the advent of the Crusades, the KNIGHT was the extreme disciple, willing to take up the sword and risk death, not for any personal or nationalistic pride, but for the sake of Christ's Church and the defense of the Holy Land. After the crusades, it was often the MYSTIC who devoted his/herself entirely to a life of spiritual contemplation.

The Reformation era produced the ideal of the REFORMER who, with prophetic voice, holds church doctrine and practice up to the umblemished standard of scripture, willing to risk excommunication and (at times) martyrdom for the sake of the Word of God.

Finally, the modern era seems to have upheld the MISSIONARY and SOCIAL REFORMER as the two types of Christian ideal. In both cases, their concern was not merely reform of the church, but the expansion of Christ's gospel through both evangelism and social action. Those who surrendered everything in pursuit of those aims have been greatly idealized in the modern church.

So after all this history, I just have two points to make:

1. Notice that Church Administrator has never been upheld as an ideal Christian vocation. Necessary, of course. Biblical, absolutely. But never the ideal. Why, then, do we in full-time ministry spend so much of our time, energy, and passion on administrative duties? If we are going to be leaders in the church who say "follow me as I follow Christ," should we not be more interested in modeling an ideal Christian discipleship than getting trapped in the quagmire of committees, budgets, business meetings, and worship planning? Can we not loosen our grip on administrating our churches, surrendering those responsibilities to trusted laymen and women, while we focus on living a more genuine Christian life among our people?

2. What do you think will be the "extreme disciple" of the Postmodern Church? I can think of two possibilities: The "worldly Christian" (ala Bonhoeffer) who lives in full commitment to the world and its systems but maintains complete Christian integrity; or, a "new monastic" who is willing to renounce the individualism and materialism of our day to live in intentional community with others. I'd be interested to hear more from you all.....but I think it's absolutely necessary to find "Christian Heroes" in our day.

Thoughts on Teenagers

I remember a while ago reading Jonathan Edwards' A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God. In a nutshell, it describes the outbreak of revival in New England in the 1730's, generally viewed by contemporary scholarship as the beginning of the First Great Awakening in America. Many historians (even unbelievers) have averred that this religious movement provided the spiritual drive that first gave the 13 Colonies a national identity and ultimately led to the War for Independence. The Awakening had political, social, and economic consequences which, I'm sure, Edwards never imagined while preaching in his church in Massachusetts.

Given my professional orientation at this point in my career, I am struck by one particular aspect of Edwards' Faithful Narrative. He continually gave attention to what the youth of his congregation were doing. He writes, "I proposed it to the young people, that they should agree among themselves to spend the evenings after lectures in social religion, and to that end divide themselves into several companies to meet in various parts of town; which was accordingly done, and those meetings have been since continued, and the example imitated by elder people." It was out of this initial leadership on the part of the youth that the revival began.

Later in his narrative, Edwards also writes, "Those of our young people that are on other accounts most likely and considerable, are truly pious and leading persons in the ways of religion. Those that were formerly looser young persons are generally, to all appearances, become true lovers of God and Christ, and spiritual in their dispositions." Apparently Edwards recognized that much of the impetus for, and leadership in, the Great Awakening came from youth.

It has been under two weeks since my youth group and I returned from our Summer Work Mission Trip. As one of my former blogs testifies, it was an incredible week in which the teens and chaperones worshipped our Triune God, became an authentic community of faith, and reached out their hands to others in love. I'm sure its impact will continue to animate conversations here for some time.

Since that trip, I've held two events for the youth: A Movie/Game Night, and my youth bible study where I take interested students into a deeper examination of the texts of Scripture. The youth have invited eight of their friends--some unchurched--to those two activities, and I had the incredible chance to meet them, get contact information, and invite them back for more activities.

I have read enough in adolescent culture and development to know that today's youth are extremely cynical, deeply distrustful of traditional institutions and authorities (and I've seen enough to confirm that observation) but that is only a half-truth, and I think it says more about our traditional institutions/authorities than it does about teenagers.

Youth are hungry for relationships, eager to make a difference, and searching for something into which they can pour their whole heart and soul. When ministers are able to model for them that Jesus Christ can provide the answer to all three quests, I truly believe they will get excited about it and invite others to be excited about it as well. I believe that youth will rise to what is expected of them. If we treat them as selfish adolescents who sit up in the balcony, pass notes during the sermon and giggle during the hymns, that's all we'll get from them. If we follow Jonathan Edwards' example and treat them as leaders who can grow in holiness and influence others, we might just find another spiritual awakening that can transform the church...and maybe our nation and our world as well!

A History Lesson (the first of many!)

I recently finished a book by Robert L. Wilken entitled The Christians as the Romans Saw Them. It details the rise of the Christian Church from 100-400 C.E., from the perspective of the Romans who critiqued them. Not only was it just a good read for a history buff like myself, but it also was a very important reminder that we Christians should always be sensitive to how we are being perceived by the culture around us.

Interestingly though not surprisingly, I found many parallels between the situation of the early church and that of American Christians in the 21st Century: Christians being persecuted for their beliefs; intellectuals outside (and even inside) the church asserting that Jesus was not the very incarnation of God but merely a wise man or moral teacher; relativists proclaiming that Jesus is just one of many gods from which one may choose; and government officials trying to remove any trace of Christian truth and morals from the public systems of education.

It is very encouraging to know that 21st Century Christians are not the first to deal with a culture that seems hostile to our message. Indeed, the bitter sense of persecution is probably just what the Church needs right now. Christian Churches have been so concerned with "Power" for so long - whether at the national, denominational, or local level - that we sometimes forget about humility and service. We forget that it is not our calling to force our agenda onto the world, but merely be a loving witness to God's agenda of transforming human beings by the power of the Cross.

As human institutions go, the Roman Empire did very well...existing for well over a millenium, and several of its monuments still exist in Europe as testimonies to its greatness. Yet it fell. All human institutions are destined to one day crumble to the ground. Sooner or later, such will be the lot of the United States of America, the mainline denominations, even my own local church in Bakerstown. This should fill us with despair, but in my case, it doesn't.

Because while human institutions rise and fall, the Gospel of God's redemption has been steadfast and faithful from Noah and Abraham up to the present day. It has redeemed--and will continue to redeem--the only thing on this earth that is destined to live forever: the human soul. As C. S. Lewis reminds us in "The Weight of Glory," next to the sacrament of Communion, our neighbors are the holiest objects presented to our senses. If the Church of Jesus Christ wants to be involved in something that is truly eternal, it needs to be less concerned with maintaining its institutional polity and greatness, and more concerned with its original job description: Love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, and love our neighbor as we love ourselves.