In my first post of this blog, I said very clearly who the intended audience I wanted to reach was. I felt some kind of calling to reach out to those who love Jesus but for whatever reason felt that the True Jesus Church was no longer meeting their needs as far as helping them drawing closer to Him. In that blog post, I shared my own very personal reasons that I don't come to church very much anymore, mainly as a way of telling this intended audience that I know some of the things they've gone through.
So the audience for this blog was supposed to be very, very targeted. Neither Facebook nor Google have advertising filters (yet :P) that allow me "Show Content Only To People Who Love Jesus But Haven't Been To Church For A While" as a target, so I had to blast it to the Web. And unfortunately it got out much quicker and more widely than I'd expected it would.
Yesterday I received a looong email from one of my former RE students (as I said, if I can dish 'em out I need to be able to take 'em in). I mentioned two posts ago that I take the verse "the last shall be first and the first last" to heart, and this was another situation where this brother I once taught was now teaching me (or more accurately, schooling me :P). I'm thankful he wrote me. I appreciated the measure of "salt" and "grace" that his email exuded, and that I could tell that the gentle correction came from a heart of love and respect for me and not out of a blindfolded defense of the church.
He said that while he didn't doubt my intentions were good, my writing was being passed around to youth and holy workers and was ending up being discouraging to some who are trying their best to serve God, as well as disheartening to those who themselves were still in church but on the verge of giving up. He said, quite rightfully, that some people, whether consciously or not, were focusing only on the negativity in what I was writing but for whatever reason (most likely human nature) weren't seeing any of the constructive things I suggested (which are there if you look for them).
That was never my intention. Not in the least. And if you fall under either of these categories I urge you to read the rest of this post carefully.
One of my favorite poems is from a Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel in the Canadian Expeditionary Force named John McCrae, written during the devastation of World War I.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Let's make a few things very clear. I have NOT given up on the church. If I had, I wouldn't be writing this nor any of my posts.
However, I have given up on my own ability to effect organizational or cultural change within the church. I tried my hardest, I really did. But at the end, nothing I said or did seemed to make any difference. I felt in isolation and pretty much useless to anyone. If, as many are suggesting, I just force myself to come back and serve again within the church, in my current state I would do no one any good and I might even do tremendous harm. This is my own personal failure, and one I will be accountable to God for.
For those of you who are still hanging in there working so hard for the Lord, I give you this message. Take up my quarrel with the foe. And let's be clear. The foe is not the IA. It's not the GA. It's not Pr. Yang, the chair of the IA, or for that matter any other brother, sister, minister, deacon, or elder. The foe is Satan.
Satan's #1 tool is to isolate and destroy. A hungry lion doesn't run into the flock. He looks for the little lamb that's to the side.
So please, look for that brother or sister that's sitting alone during lunch. Don't just make small talk. Don't spend 10 minutes with them and then leave because you've "done your duty". Be a true friend and brother and sister to them, just as Jesus left the group of people he was comfortable with and ate with people that everyone avoided.
Look for that newly baptized member who a week before baptism was showered with love and attention from all over but a week after baptism suddenly is sitting alone. Your goal in evangelism was not to get them to the waters of baptism, it's to get them to the shores of Heaven.
Look for that holy worker who is burdened and distressed. Don't just say to them "pray harder" or "read more Bible" or tell them they need to have more faith. Sit with them. Cry with them. Pray with them. Listen to what they have to say and don't stop until you feel true empathy and understanding for the deepest things they're going through in their struggles. Learn how to speak to them in a way that provides them more than lip service.
Look for that person who's no longer coming to church and reach out, NOT because it's your duty as part of "The Lost Sheep Patrol" to bring them back, but because you're a brother or sister that they know in their deepest being will still love them unconditionally regardless of whether they ever do step back in a church or not (and trust me, we can tell). And when they do come back to visit the church, don't say to them "I haven't seen you for a while" or "You should come back more often" before you even ask them how they've been (we hate that).
Look for the "bruised reeds" and the "smoldering wicks" among you. If you've ever built a campfire, you know what a smoldering wick is. It's that little piece of wood that flew away from the fire and is still pulsating with orange and red light. If a cold wind comes or a tiny drop of water falls on it you hear a sizzle and the orange and red turn to black in an instant. But if you take it gently, protect it from the wind, surround it with kindling, douse it with fuel, and blow on it ever so gently that tiny splinter of wood can not only ignite again but might even start a lot of other roaring fires around it.
You do that in your small corner, and I'll try to do it in mine.
I'm not leading a revolution. I'm not bashing the church. I'm just a middle-aged dork sitting in front of a computer sharing an alternative point of view, granted in a decidedly unfiltered way. If anything I say inspires you or challenges you or spurs you on to good actions, great, please don't just nod in agreement but pray and ask what you can do about it. If anything causes you distress or disappointment or causes you to be discouraged, and if nothing you read is helpful to you or your growth of faith I very respectfully ask you to please close your browser and don't come back. Hopefully you and I will find another venue where we can communicate in the future, but this is not the place for you.
For those of you who do stay, I'll say this: question everything I say. But not only what I say. Question everything, what you hear in sermons, what you read on Web sites, magazines and articles whether published by the church or not; and the words that any brother, sister, deacon, minister, elder, church board, human, or human organization say, regardless of how popular or unpopular their opinions are or where the prevailing winds are blowing. To question does not mean to disrespect, to doubt, or to challenge. It just means to think for yourself instead of being a baby bird with your mouth always open waiting to be spoon-fed what to think or how to think.
I'm not a parent quite yet, but I've observed that kids once they learn to talk ask a lot of questions. Mommy, why is the sky blue? Why is that man so smelly? Why aren't there anymore dinosaurs? Why does Johnny next door have more toys than me? The child isn't trying to be annoying. He's just on a search for truth. And as a parent, it might be concerning if a child sat quietly and never asked a question. You'd wonder if your child was growing.
You've heard of blind faith and you've heard of simple faith. There's a difference between the two. Blind faith never questions. Simple faith does. Blind faith follows the guidance of humans first. Simple faith follows the guidance of God first. A person with blind faith says, "God is on my side" while a person with simple faith says, "I am on God's side". A blind faith leads to atrophy and death. Simple faith leads to the heart of God.
Questioning is something I'm personally doing with the Pr. Yang situation. While my post may have seemed one-sided, the main reason I did it that way was because the other side was being heard very loud and clear and this one wasn't. I'll be honest, even now I'm still not sure which side is in the right, or if there even is a right side. In the past days I've received emails from people on both sides explaining their perspective of what happened. On the one hand I heard both sides recount, with absolute sincerity, the most disturbing, vile, treacherous and fruitless deeds of darkness about the other. But on the other hand, I know for a fact that brothers and sisters on both sides have a genuine love for the Lord and seem to me at least to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Was that an isolated case concerning yet another fallen minister? Or does that incident somehow reflect an existential danger to the very life of our church? I honestly don't know. What I do know is that something is wrong, and as a sister wrote to me, it's clearly a spiritual battle. It's not something that one blog post, or a Web site, or an announcement posted on the bulletin board will solve. All of us need to get on our knees and pray for wisdom and ask for everything to be brought to the light.
I'm going to hang up this blog for a little while. Don't worry, I'll be back, but this is draining a little too much of my time and energy...I have two big projects for work I have to finish and my poor wife who's 35 weeks pregnant has been patiently waiting for me to clear the second bedroom which is still a mess.
If you've emailed me, forgive me if I need to take some time to reply--but I have read your email and without exception I am deeply touched by your ability to be open and honest with me without fear of condemnation on either of our sides, I am thankful for your love and concern for me, and I cherish you as a friend and brother or sister in Christ. That is what it means to be in the kingdom of God.
One last request. In a few weeks a new little girl is coming into the world. If I may ask, in your prayers tonight or for the next few weeks, please pray for her. She is a miracle upon miracles, because her father should have died of cancer in 2003, her mother should have died from liver failure in 2012, and the odds have always been stacked against her. Pray that she and her mother have a smooth and safe delivery, but even more important, pray that she have a wonderful, blessed, and joyous life, and a church that will welcome her and love her unconditionally--no matter what kind of girl and woman she ends up growing into and no matter who her parents are.
And most importantly, pray for my little girl, so that she can discover Christ and become a friend to him, someone with whom she can speak face to face and who, even after I'm not there for her, can still comfort her when she's sad, can laugh with her when she's happy, can provide her with wisdom and sustenance for her life's journey, and can love her unconditionally even at those times when no one else will.
God bless you. If God wills, see you in a few weeks.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Out of the Darkness Part 1: Exposing three ministers of the true church for their shameful behavior
It's been an interesting couple of days since people discovered the last post. I've gotten emails from a few people who described in detail to me the accusations again Pr. Yang. And I have to admit, those emails got me thinking a lot about what I posted.
What struck me most is that while the accusations against Pr. Yang sound pretty harsh, I can tell you flat out that there are at least three other ministers whose behavior has been even MORE damaging to the church than his has been.
I've really been debating whether or not I should write this post; after all, it concerns some really disturbing things about highly respected ministers in the church. These are men that I once respected, but their behavior has been so shameful that someone needs to stand up and expose them for who they are. I've held my tongue on these men for years, but in light of all that's happened recently I cannot anymore. The Word of God instructs us that such deceit is to be brought to the light.
I won't mention their names, but I will describe the things they are doing. See if you won't agree with me that harsh disciplinary action must be taken against them.
The first minister has been a minister for a very long time. I'd always thought of him as more open-minded than most, and in fact, even though he was older than us he'd routinely sit down to lunch with us and talk with us very openly and frankly about issues in the church. Specifically, we'd discuss those areas where we felt the church's culture needed to change. And he agreed with us. He said flat out that he felt the church was sometimes too unwelcoming to members who didn't necessarily fit into a certain "mold".
But one day during lunch when a bunch of ministers and elders were visiting the church from headquarters, he seemed to have changed overnight. Just a short time earlier he would hang out with us and talk with us openly and honestly about church issues. But all of a sudden these ministers showed up and not only did he not sit with us, he acted like he didn't even know us when he was around them! And I thought to myself, what a jerk. A hypocrite like this isn't fit to be a minister in the true church.
And then there's another minister I heard about from someone in another local church. He was an outspoken minister, so much so that the church leaders didn't want him to visit their church. But this minister was stubborn and wouldn't take no for an answer. So he did something incredibly unprofessional. He went behind the church leaders' backs to write directly to an influential member of that church. This member passed this letter to other members and it caused all kinds of chaos. I actually saw a copy of the letter. In it, the minister insulted the church leaders and even used words like "evil" and "malicious" to describe his fellow workers for God. Again, utterly shameful behavior that should not be tolerated.
Finally, there's a third minister whom I respected at one time, but lately he's been preaching what seems to be heresy about the Holy Spirit. I know this is one of the things that Pr. Yang has been accused of, but this other minister took it to the next level. I actually heard him preach that ministers in other churches have the Holy Spirit! As unbelievable as it sounds, he actually preached that as long as these other ministers talk about the divinity of Jesus Christ, it means they received the Holy Spirit. I really can't believe that this minister hasn't been called out for this yet, because I think reckless preaching like this is dangerous.
We're supposed to be the true church, and yet from these three supposed "men of God" we see even more reckless and hypocritical behavior than the things that Pr. Yang was accused of. If Pr. Yang is a tool of Satan, these ministers are 10 times that.
In fact, when I started this post I said I wouldn't mention their names, but because I feel so strongly that I feel that I must expose their names here.
The name of the first minister is Peter. The second one goes by the name of John. And the third one is called Paul.
Okay, you see what just happened there? In all three cases, everything I described about these men was factually accurate. But in all three cases my conclusions were completely wrong. In each case I told one point of view of the story, but you didn't hear the whole story.
When Jesus described the process to confront someone who sins, he said this:
If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
There's an old Borscht Belt joke that goes something like this. A man walks into a psychiatrist's office and the doctor says, "you're crazy". Stunned, the man asks the doctor, "can I get a second opinion?". And the doctor replies, "ok, you're ugly too".
When Jesus, as well as the verse he's quoting in Deuteronomy, says to take witnesses along in a dispute, they're not saying to cherry-pick only those people who agree with your opinion. The whole point of getting multiple witnesses is to make sure you've looked at a story from all sides. And Deuteronomy goes on to say that the judges who hear these witnesses are obligated to investigate it thoroughly.
And so the question I have for any of you involved with Pr. Yang's case is. In the dispute about YM, or for that matter any "controversial" issue that faces the church, are you looking at it from all sides?
I've heard a lot of comments from people telling me I "shouldn't judge". After all, the Bible says "judge not, that you be not judged".
A lot of people take this to mean that you shouldn't criticize anyone. But if that were the case, then as a parent you're committing a sin when you tell your child not to stick his fingers in the electrical socket. It would mean teachers are committing sins when they give one student an A and another an F. It would mean that there shouldn't be any courts. What, you just murdered someone? Well, who am I to judge?
That's ludicrous of course. And that's contrary to the Word of God. In 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul instructs Timothy to "preach the word, be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction". In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul writes "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness". Were these verses only intended to be used by ordained full-time ministers like Timothy, or were they intended for any of us who have been called into the royal priesthood?
Yes, Jesus said not to judge others. But then he continues. "A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap." A lot of us skim over these words without really understanding what Jesus is talking about, but if you've ever baked a cake in your life you know. You take a big measuring cup and stick in into a bag of flour. When you take it out, if you're anything like me, flour fills up the air and falls all around you. When you take a knife and try to level the flour against the cup, more flour spills all over and, again if you're anything like me, ends up getting all over your clothes.
Of course Jesus isn't talking about flour, he's talking about sin. What Jesus is saying is, if you do judge, be very, very careful. If you dare to judge someone or something, you need to examine yourself very, very carefully before you utter one word. And you need to think very carefully about what would happen if the shoe were on the other foot. Would you be able to stand up to the same kind of condemnation that you're dishing out?
I didn't start this blog to be the Pr. Yang Apologetic Blog; as I wrote in my first post I started it to reach out to my fellow "lost sheep of the True Jesus Church". But since the last post caused such a stir, I'll spend a few more posts on it. For all you guys who couldn't care less about the whole situation--and honestly, unless you're someone who's already involved in it I strongly suggest you do NOT get entangled in this mess--don't worry, we'll get to the "real stuff" soon :)
But for those on each side of the whole Pr. Yang debate/debacle, let's try something fun. Whatever side you're on, do this. Take a sheet of paper and write all the grievances you have about the other side. They're short-sighted. They're hypocrites. They're dangerous. They refuse to consider the whole story. They're making judgments without really understanding the other side. They don't take the time to examine themselves. They close their ears when people bring up questions or want to discuss the truth. They cannot take criticism. They are too proud and they are driving people away because of it. They have been warned many times but fail to heed the warning. They are hurting the church, especially new and impressionable believers. They are the cause of divisions in the church. They do not preach according to the Word of God. They are not on God's side.
Now, take that sheet of paper, cross out the word "they" and insert the word "I". And again, I'm talking to members on both sides of this debate, not just one.
Did you find just one thing that possibly might apply to you? If so, put down your rock for now and walk away until you get that taken care of. And if you didn't, for the sake of your soul I'd urge you to look again and again and again until you're sure you're in the clear. And if you think you're in the clear, I'd suggest you ask your closest friends and family in the Lord to really check you on that.
As for me, that's what I did. I did it a hundred times. I prayed about it. I talked to brothers and sisters on both sides of the debate to make sure I got sufficient information from both sides to speak about it as objectively as I possibly could. And it wasn't until I was absolutely convinced that I was speaking the truth in love about the church, and not fulfilling some personal vendetta that I pressed the "Publish" button on that post.
As I wrote in that post, yes, maybe after all that I am still misguided. If so, then this blog will fade into blissful obscurity and I can go on with my life knowing that yes, I guess this posting was of "human origin" after all. But if for some of you there's just one thing in any of these horrifically long posts that might be from the Lord that resonates, pray on it and ask the Lord what you can do about it. That's not something I can tell you, only he can.
As far as whether I will be judged by the same measure that I doled out, that'll be something between God and me. And for you commenting on these posts on this blog, on Facebook, or on other various blogs, that's just a little something for you to chew on as well before you click "Submit" or "Like".
In my next few posts, I'll dive a little more into the complete stories of each of the "shameful" ministers I mentioned above, because each of these examples is very much relevant to our current crisis. Stay tuned.
Oh, and my apologies to all who almost had a heart attack when they read the title of this post. But I hope it worked :P
What struck me most is that while the accusations against Pr. Yang sound pretty harsh, I can tell you flat out that there are at least three other ministers whose behavior has been even MORE damaging to the church than his has been.
I've really been debating whether or not I should write this post; after all, it concerns some really disturbing things about highly respected ministers in the church. These are men that I once respected, but their behavior has been so shameful that someone needs to stand up and expose them for who they are. I've held my tongue on these men for years, but in light of all that's happened recently I cannot anymore. The Word of God instructs us that such deceit is to be brought to the light.
I won't mention their names, but I will describe the things they are doing. See if you won't agree with me that harsh disciplinary action must be taken against them.
The first minister has been a minister for a very long time. I'd always thought of him as more open-minded than most, and in fact, even though he was older than us he'd routinely sit down to lunch with us and talk with us very openly and frankly about issues in the church. Specifically, we'd discuss those areas where we felt the church's culture needed to change. And he agreed with us. He said flat out that he felt the church was sometimes too unwelcoming to members who didn't necessarily fit into a certain "mold".
But one day during lunch when a bunch of ministers and elders were visiting the church from headquarters, he seemed to have changed overnight. Just a short time earlier he would hang out with us and talk with us openly and honestly about church issues. But all of a sudden these ministers showed up and not only did he not sit with us, he acted like he didn't even know us when he was around them! And I thought to myself, what a jerk. A hypocrite like this isn't fit to be a minister in the true church.
And then there's another minister I heard about from someone in another local church. He was an outspoken minister, so much so that the church leaders didn't want him to visit their church. But this minister was stubborn and wouldn't take no for an answer. So he did something incredibly unprofessional. He went behind the church leaders' backs to write directly to an influential member of that church. This member passed this letter to other members and it caused all kinds of chaos. I actually saw a copy of the letter. In it, the minister insulted the church leaders and even used words like "evil" and "malicious" to describe his fellow workers for God. Again, utterly shameful behavior that should not be tolerated.
Finally, there's a third minister whom I respected at one time, but lately he's been preaching what seems to be heresy about the Holy Spirit. I know this is one of the things that Pr. Yang has been accused of, but this other minister took it to the next level. I actually heard him preach that ministers in other churches have the Holy Spirit! As unbelievable as it sounds, he actually preached that as long as these other ministers talk about the divinity of Jesus Christ, it means they received the Holy Spirit. I really can't believe that this minister hasn't been called out for this yet, because I think reckless preaching like this is dangerous.
We're supposed to be the true church, and yet from these three supposed "men of God" we see even more reckless and hypocritical behavior than the things that Pr. Yang was accused of. If Pr. Yang is a tool of Satan, these ministers are 10 times that.
In fact, when I started this post I said I wouldn't mention their names, but because I feel so strongly that I feel that I must expose their names here.
The name of the first minister is Peter. The second one goes by the name of John. And the third one is called Paul.
Okay, you see what just happened there? In all three cases, everything I described about these men was factually accurate. But in all three cases my conclusions were completely wrong. In each case I told one point of view of the story, but you didn't hear the whole story.
When Jesus described the process to confront someone who sins, he said this:
If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
There's an old Borscht Belt joke that goes something like this. A man walks into a psychiatrist's office and the doctor says, "you're crazy". Stunned, the man asks the doctor, "can I get a second opinion?". And the doctor replies, "ok, you're ugly too".
When Jesus, as well as the verse he's quoting in Deuteronomy, says to take witnesses along in a dispute, they're not saying to cherry-pick only those people who agree with your opinion. The whole point of getting multiple witnesses is to make sure you've looked at a story from all sides. And Deuteronomy goes on to say that the judges who hear these witnesses are obligated to investigate it thoroughly.
And so the question I have for any of you involved with Pr. Yang's case is. In the dispute about YM, or for that matter any "controversial" issue that faces the church, are you looking at it from all sides?
I've heard a lot of comments from people telling me I "shouldn't judge". After all, the Bible says "judge not, that you be not judged".
A lot of people take this to mean that you shouldn't criticize anyone. But if that were the case, then as a parent you're committing a sin when you tell your child not to stick his fingers in the electrical socket. It would mean teachers are committing sins when they give one student an A and another an F. It would mean that there shouldn't be any courts. What, you just murdered someone? Well, who am I to judge?
That's ludicrous of course. And that's contrary to the Word of God. In 2 Timothy 4:2 Paul instructs Timothy to "preach the word, be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction". In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul writes "all Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness". Were these verses only intended to be used by ordained full-time ministers like Timothy, or were they intended for any of us who have been called into the royal priesthood?
Yes, Jesus said not to judge others. But then he continues. "A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap." A lot of us skim over these words without really understanding what Jesus is talking about, but if you've ever baked a cake in your life you know. You take a big measuring cup and stick in into a bag of flour. When you take it out, if you're anything like me, flour fills up the air and falls all around you. When you take a knife and try to level the flour against the cup, more flour spills all over and, again if you're anything like me, ends up getting all over your clothes.
Of course Jesus isn't talking about flour, he's talking about sin. What Jesus is saying is, if you do judge, be very, very careful. If you dare to judge someone or something, you need to examine yourself very, very carefully before you utter one word. And you need to think very carefully about what would happen if the shoe were on the other foot. Would you be able to stand up to the same kind of condemnation that you're dishing out?
I didn't start this blog to be the Pr. Yang Apologetic Blog; as I wrote in my first post I started it to reach out to my fellow "lost sheep of the True Jesus Church". But since the last post caused such a stir, I'll spend a few more posts on it. For all you guys who couldn't care less about the whole situation--and honestly, unless you're someone who's already involved in it I strongly suggest you do NOT get entangled in this mess--don't worry, we'll get to the "real stuff" soon :)
But for those on each side of the whole Pr. Yang debate/debacle, let's try something fun. Whatever side you're on, do this. Take a sheet of paper and write all the grievances you have about the other side. They're short-sighted. They're hypocrites. They're dangerous. They refuse to consider the whole story. They're making judgments without really understanding the other side. They don't take the time to examine themselves. They close their ears when people bring up questions or want to discuss the truth. They cannot take criticism. They are too proud and they are driving people away because of it. They have been warned many times but fail to heed the warning. They are hurting the church, especially new and impressionable believers. They are the cause of divisions in the church. They do not preach according to the Word of God. They are not on God's side.
Now, take that sheet of paper, cross out the word "they" and insert the word "I". And again, I'm talking to members on both sides of this debate, not just one.
Did you find just one thing that possibly might apply to you? If so, put down your rock for now and walk away until you get that taken care of. And if you didn't, for the sake of your soul I'd urge you to look again and again and again until you're sure you're in the clear. And if you think you're in the clear, I'd suggest you ask your closest friends and family in the Lord to really check you on that.
As for me, that's what I did. I did it a hundred times. I prayed about it. I talked to brothers and sisters on both sides of the debate to make sure I got sufficient information from both sides to speak about it as objectively as I possibly could. And it wasn't until I was absolutely convinced that I was speaking the truth in love about the church, and not fulfilling some personal vendetta that I pressed the "Publish" button on that post.
As I wrote in that post, yes, maybe after all that I am still misguided. If so, then this blog will fade into blissful obscurity and I can go on with my life knowing that yes, I guess this posting was of "human origin" after all. But if for some of you there's just one thing in any of these horrifically long posts that might be from the Lord that resonates, pray on it and ask the Lord what you can do about it. That's not something I can tell you, only he can.
As far as whether I will be judged by the same measure that I doled out, that'll be something between God and me. And for you commenting on these posts on this blog, on Facebook, or on other various blogs, that's just a little something for you to chew on as well before you click "Submit" or "Like".
In my next few posts, I'll dive a little more into the complete stories of each of the "shameful" ministers I mentioned above, because each of these examples is very much relevant to our current crisis. Stay tuned.
Oh, and my apologies to all who almost had a heart attack when they read the title of this post. But I hope it worked :P
Saturday, July 25, 2015
Comments on Albert's Facebook Page About The Last Post
Hey guys,
Albert just friended me (strange, I thought we had been Facebook friends already :P), so I just got a chance to look over the great discussions you guys were having on Facebook. I have to say, as cynical as you see I've become about the church organization, reading your thoughtful comments there filled me with renewed joy and hope. Maybe where generations in the past, including mine, have failed, yours will succeed. "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
One thing you've no doubt noticed is that it takes me a loooooong time to communicate things in writing. At work I'm known as "the guy who writes 50 page emails". But I do that for a reason. We live in a sound-bite world, where no matter what kind of person you are your entire life is judged these days by a 5-second sound bite or a 140-character Tweet. But life is a lot more complex than that. So I try to lay it all out. Why? For one thing, if I feel inspired--whether it's by the Spirit or my own human efforts I'll let you decide--I feel obliged to lay it all out and leave nothing out. Plus, I don't give anyone a chance to quote me out of context because I can always point back and show them what I really meant.
Just for fun, I went through my post and started to think...if I didn't agree with what's in my post and wanted to discredit it ad hominem instead of engaging with me on the battlefield of ideas, what would I do? I might send a "warning" message to people saying...
This brother says that our church is sick, but he's really the sick one. He failed at a job the church entrusted him to do and the church deservedly fired him and now he's finally found his chance to get "revenge". All he does is complain. He says our sermons are boring. He says our Bible studies are fruitless. He's a hypocrite because all he does is sit back and point fingers and yet he himself doesn't come to church to help us.
Is this a true statement? Yeah, maybe it is. But again, context is important.
Yes, I did whine about being fired from my job in the IA. But there was a point in that. First of all, while of course not to the same degree of severity, I can see there were parallels between what happened to me and what happened to Pr. Yang from the same group of people. Where was the due process? Where was the transparency? Where was the "gentle correction"?
And second, today I'm someone who, thank God, is pretty successful in his career. Last year I did the SEO for one of the largest energy companies in the world and within a year they're already generating over $7 million worth of search traffic where they had none before (and no, I don't get a cut of that). Currently, I've been entrusted with working on sites for one of the largest pharmaceutical brands and one of the largest CPG brands in the world. I've gotten compliments from some pretty high-level executives in the corporate world.
I don't say this to boast, because I know full well that whatever gifts and talents I have come directly from above. Perhaps one day I'll write a 50-page blog post about the miracles that resulted in me getting to this point in my career. But I mention it only to make a point. What if this "bruised reed" were properly nurtured and encouraged instead of snuffed out? I'll tell you one thing, tjc.org probably wouldn't still be an 800x600 site and looking identical to the way it looked the day I left the IA. And similar to the brother I mentioned who wanted to help us 12 years ago and was rejected, if the church at any time had only asked me I would have gladly volunteered my talents to building a new Web site for them. But no, I'm evidently on the ol' Do Not Fly list. And so in some ways I think this blog is my last gasp attempt to try to use whatever talents I have to serve Him instead of burying them (incidentally, I first came up with the idea for this back in 2009, which explains why it's on blogspot.com).
As for my comments about the sermons being boring and the Bible studies being lifeless, again in a vacuum it looks like I'm just a whiny jerk. But if you read it in the context of the overall post it makes a liitle more sense. I know a full-time minister of the church whose sermons for the most part kept me engaged and awake. And this same person was someone who actively encouraged people to work out their own faith instead of always getting instruction spoon-fed to them. At a time when the church is struggling to find answers to these very things, I would have thought that such a minister would be lifted up as an example for us to learn from. Instead he was lifted up and had his head cut off. Again, under really bizarre circumstances.
This "preamble" is ending up turning into another of my tomes, so I'll stop here. I'll just conclude by saying while I was once a teacher to some of you, my comments (just as my blog) are NOT meant to "teach" you. It's just to provide food for thought. I'm sure someone, somewhere, is working on how to communicate with you that what I'm writing is dangerous and subversive and that by daring to visit this URL you'll fall under my evil spell. But I think just by reading your comments, most of you guys have already surpassed me in terms of spiritual maturity and wisdom, and so I have confidence that the Spirit will help you discern if what I'm saying is from above, below, or right here. I encourage you to test my words, but not just my words but the words you hear from any minister, brother, sister, or human being you encounter in this life. Measure them and test them with the Holy Spirit, who will really be the one to lead you into all truth, not some individual or committee.
Thanks to Albert for sharing my link. As I wrote in the first post I really did this more as an exercise for myself but now that it's out there, if there's anything in here where we can help spur each other on to love and good deeds, thank God :)
Thanks,
Steve
Now, onto your comments. Albert did an awesome job of answering most of these on my behalf exactly the way I would have (and no, we're not conspiring behind the scenes), but just so you have some of these answers with my insights, I offer them here:
David Liu My observation as a church interpreter: I get a LOT of "suggestions" (rightfully so). A lot of "You should have used this word instead of..." and "The correct terminology is...") They always come from people who never interpret on the pulpit. I also noticed that interpreters never criticize each other, but they are quick to point out a great interpreter. It's easy to point out other people's flaws when you've never done it before.
The same with sermon speaking. We may be able to give a heart-felt sermon once in a while, but when you have to do it week after week, it gets difficult to consistently come up with riveting topics each time. It is completely wrong to say that "Nobody inside the church is asking what could be done better." I guarantee you 99% are thinking it. No one enjoys giving sermons to people sleeping in the pews. Not many of us give sermons 50+ times a year and have all of them be touching and thought-provoking. If so, maybe we are in the position to criticize. Or better yet, TTP is still recruiting...
Hi David. I understand your frustration. Remember, for a couple years I was on the hook to give a sermon every month or so in multiple churches, so I know what it means to run on empty and watch helplessly as eyelids droop. I remember regurgitating some sermons so many times that eventually even I was practically falling asleep during them.
Criticism is tough to hear, but please remember that it's not an attack. But it is a challenge, especially if you get into a church leadership position, to start thinking "out of the box" instead of accepting the status quo as it's always been.
For example, what if sermons were 25 minutes instead of 45 minutes? Right there that doubles the number of sermons you can give, forces the sermon giver to be more focused and get to the darned point, and keeps a larger percentage of congregants awake to boot. Not only that, it provides more time for fellowship, especially with those teachers or board members who are always sequestered in meetings.
What if a sermon speaker were to talk about matters more practical to the congregation's daily needs in addition to the usual methodical Bible exposition week after week? You'd still have topics like "Jesus is the Bread of Life" or "The Relationship Between God and Malachi" some weeks, but maybe they could alternate with topics like "How to Help Someone Going Through Depression" or "How to Handle Workplace Conflict using Bible Principles" . Of course, if you do start doing the latter, those "repetitive platitudes" have got to go too. For the topic on depression, "Pray harder" and "Do more holy work" isn't going to cut it. You'd need wisdom from the Holy Spirit to really find Bible-based solutions, and maybe even tap resources outside the church.
And speaking of researching outside the church, what if instead of the church's current practice of warning members not to look to material from other Christian groups and churches, we actually encouraged it, trusting the Holy Spirit to guide us? I remember there was a sermon I gave 13 years ago where I ended up drawing from other Christian ministries for some of the inspiration. After my sermon I had people coming up to me telling me that they loved the sermon, and I could see it even brought some to tears. And when I re-read the sermon today (whose contents I incidentally still agree with 100%) I find the 33 year old me teaching the 46 year old me brand new things. But that wasn't me, of course, it was the Holy Spirit that spoke, and continues to speak, through those words--words that weren't just recycled TJC content.
And of course, like I said above, what if ministers and members who had these gifts but, oh let's just say, didn't go to church for a while or married an unbeliever or had failed one time in his life but has since repented--were allowed to come back and share with the congregation instead of being used as a shameful example of what you can become if you veer from the "straight and narrow" of the church?
These are just four ideas off the top of my head, smarter people than I can think up a whole lot more. But you see where I'm going here. We need new wine, and we need to do away with the old wine skins. The biggest challenge is breaking the status quo, though. These are all things I tried to do back in the day but I always got rebuffed. "We've always done it the way we're doing it" .But maybe your generation will have a better chance.
As for your thinly veiled suggestion that I should join TTP, I prayed about that for a long time but God's answer to me was no. Evidently He wants me to focus on other things. If you have an issue with that, I'd suggest you take it up with Him. :P
Kimber Oats I only skimmed as it got way too long, but it sounds like promoting 1 specific person. To truly belong to Christ is to follow Him, not any one person. It always bothers me when people say "I prefer Preacher so and so" because why should it matter? Listen to Him not him/her/it/they/whatever
Hi Kimber. Just to be clear, the same thing bothers me too. I remember from time to time in the old NYTSes, there'd be conversations about certain preachers as if they were rock stars and it'd drive me crazy. So you're absolutely right. Those who do that are like the ones who say "I follow Paul" or "I follow Apollos" and are completely missing the point.
The only reason I called this minister out specifically, and spent a bit of time expounding upon my personal experiences with him, was because I wanted to lay out all the things that I observed that went into my judgement of his character as a person and his faithfulness as a preacher. I have to admit I still perceive that there was something very much amiss in the whole process of kicking him out--as Albert said because so much of the details were obfuscated it's hard to judge rightly. I actually quite deliberately titled the post "Why the TJC is Wrong" and not "Why Pr Yang is Right" for a reason. I certainly don't consider him a saint. I see he has a lot of flaws, as do we all. But I also don't feel at all comfortable with the lack of transparency during that whole process.
As I wrote in my most recent post, I really thought about it and prayed about it before I posted it. While some may perceive my post as me hating the church, it's just the opposite. I love the church and hope that something in these fifty gazillion words will somehow help her. Whether you think Proverbs 15:31 or Proverbs 16:28 applies to me is something you and the Holy Spirit will need to decide.
But if something truly is amiss, I would hope our current church leaders can open their eyes and fix it, but if not it's your generation who's eventually going to have to. I'd only hope and pray the damage by that time will not be too great.
As for the length of my post, note that if you read the entire thing front-to-end, it'd be about a third of the length of one of our sermons. :P So if you can keep awake for one of those, you can certainly get through reading the post. I promise there's some good stuff in there :)
John Chiang "God will not hold you guiltless if you fail to speak." ...meaning what, exactly?
John, Albert's explanation hit the nail on the head, but just to give you a little more background, the quote is from a pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who foresaw and stood up to the Nazis during World War II when the vast majority of members in the churches of Germany were oblivious and content to follow their church leaders, most of whom were content to not "rock the boat". Bonhoeffer was eventually martyred for Christ by the Third Reich only about a month prior to the end of the German surrender. I'm probably going to write a blog post about this at some point so I won't pontificate, but I really suggest reading this book to find out more if you're interested.
And no, I'm not comparing anyone anywhere to the Nazis.
If you prefer, James said pretty much the same thing: If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.
Hsuanwei Fan You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness." Mmmm. / The first post was amazingly written though. I think some people find post #2 to be less palatable because the issue is contentious and people may have already picked sides, but post #1 is really worth reading
Hi Hsuanwei. Not sure how to interpret your first comment. If I've appeared disingenuous or hypocritical in any way, I sincerely hope you can point out where so I can improve. Heaven knows if I can dish it out I need to be able to take it in. The one thing I can tell you is that I know I'm certainly not perfect, but I did try to write all three of those posts out of love and in as constructive a way as I could.
Regarding the concept of "picking sides", I think my latest post addresses that a little. There really shouldn't be "sides". Or rather, there should be one side. Everyone is quick to say "God is on my side", but everyone (myself included) should really be asking, "am I on God's side"? Not sure how many of us are doing that.
Geoffrey Chu I only ask because my sentiment on certain parts has been the opposite. I feel like there is definitely introspection. Both as an organization and as individuals. Whether in local, regional, or national meetings I haven't ever felt that there was no introspection. These meetings consistently ask "what can we do better next time" or "what should we be doing instead" or "how can we be more effective". And with individual sermon speakers I can't speak on behalf of everyone, but no one goes up to the pulpit to speak with the intention of doing a poor job. If anything, I've suspected the issue to be more of actions (or lack thereof) that follow introspection. But perhaps we need more of both.
Then again that is also completely anecdotal to my own experiences as well.
Hi Geoffrey, yes, I agree that follow-through to introspection is of course important. But regarding introspection itself, I just wanted to point out something about the hypothetical questions you gave:
What can we do better next time?
What should we be doing instead?
How can we be more effective?
One of the challenges I've noticed (and again, it's because I've asked these very questions myself) is that these questions are really vague. For example, what is meant by "doing better"? What does "more effective" mean?
I've been in those meetings too--locally, regionally, and nationally. The measure of "doing better" is more often than not internally-focused metrics and rather mundane ones at that. Do we have enough sermon speakers to fill a schedule? Do sermons start and end when they're supposed to? I've rarely seen really contemplative discussions about the contents of a sermon, the style of a sermon, and most importantly whether a sermon is really reaching its intended listener--is the listener being engaged and do they take away things of practical value? Is there someone looking at the congregation and finding what points they fall asleep during, whether time-wise or subject matter-wise? All that can be used as data as part of the "introspection".
I remember I used to go to "sermon speaking seminars" run by the church and with all due respect they were really not very useful. Each time it was yet more methodical approaches to biblical exegesis (or whatever you call it) where you'd learn to break down Bible passages and basically give the same kind of sermon that has been helping make the term "Sabbath rest" quite literal for 30 years.
Honestly, I'd rather potential sermon speakers just sign up for Toastmasters or a public speaking class, or for the church to recruit speakers who are insightful, know their Scriptures, AND happen to do a lot of speaking and communications in their jobs (i.e., have a natural God-given talent for speaking). The Spirit will help with topics and content, but learning how to speak and communicate to humans comes with lots of innate talent, experience and practice.
Christopher Suen I was a lot less interested in the bits on Pr. Yang, and much more fascinated by his commentary on TJC's org structure/norms and operating culture - insular, repressive, and perhaps even boring, in his view. It would be fascinating to have Deloitte or some other third party consulting firm assess TJC's approach and likely effects on membership growth and membership engagement across different markets and demographics. I suspect that TJC will have to change its approach or risk bleeding membership amongst western-born millennials.
Hi Christopher, I love your thinking here. It might freak out some people to hear anyone considering "secular" approaches to looking at deficiencies in church operations, but the bottom line it'd definitely be fascinating to see you guys use the talents you've developed in the corporate world to see how they might be applied to the church.
It'd be interesting, for example, to consult the church as you would any other non-profit, looking at its org structure, its operations, its strategy, and its "marketing" (It almost seems sacrilegious to think of evangelism as "marketing" but that's all evangelism is--matching a product or service to a need. And in our case this "product" really does deliver on its brand promise and has a catchier tagline than Nike--Jesus Saves :)).
Of course this type of review wouldn't be able to look at the spiritual component of things, but I think just as in the human body the physical health can affect the spiritual health, I think the same must be true of the church. If you guys do embark on this, I'd love to hear the results!
Eugenia Liew I guess the main reason Pr Yang was excommunicated was due to his point of view in speaking in tongue. I can understand his point, which is the reason I was warned NOT to join TJC. Many TJC members can speak in tongue, yet do not produce the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. Some do not speak in tongue do show that their lives r full of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Other denominations emphasize more on the fruits than the tongue.
Eugenia, I never met you but from your comments I sense you are a relatively new member. If that's the case, if I may say so you are the perfect illustration of when Jesus said "the last will be first and the first last". Yes, you're absolutely right. What a lot of us "old timers" forget over time is that speaking in tongues is only the first step--an important first step to be sure, but hardly the most important part of receiving the Promised Holy Spirit. Just as an apple tree needs to bear apples and an orange tree needs to bear oranges, someone with the Holy Spirit must continually bear the fruit of the spirit and grow more like Jesus every day. On the day of judgement, a tree that hasn't bore fruit will be thrown into the fire, no matter how many tongues it speaks (okay the metaphor kind of breaks down there, but you get the point).
The next thing I'm going to say may sound disingenuous, but I assure you it's not. Thank you for teaching me. The older I get, the more I realize that I have so much to learn. I always have to be reminded that Jesus pointed people away from the priests and the teachers of the law and towards the children for them to learn what "perfect praise" meant. I think anyone who's been a member for over 20 years should be forced to lock themselves in a room for an hour with someone who's recently been saved and just shut their mouth and listen.
As far as Pr Yang's excommunication, as someone who's heard Pr. Yang speak on the topic of the Holy Spirit this is one of the things that baffles me the most. I've never seen exactly what it is he's accused of saying (which is one of the problems), but just as in the example I gave above and in my most recent post, I can't shake the feeling that somehow individual things he said were taken completely out of context.. Whether intentionally or unintentionally I can't say. But I'll be writing a post on my own perspective on the Holy Spirit in a little while.
Hsu-Chang Lu A church organization is, after all, a social machine where everyone interacts according to each one's intention. In the apostolic time, they #1 loved each other and worshiped God (which happened to please God). Introducing a subtle difference and now everyone in this social machine has #1 intention of pleasing God and all decisions from the church organization is equated to God's will, or worse, the church organization itself to God's body, there is a risk of having a social machine without God. If A=B and B=C, and B doesn't get used much, we just remember A=C. The machine keeps on churning, operating everything according to the schedule, getting rid of anything or anyone in it's way until it collapses under it's own weight since God and the love of each other, now more or less ignored, is not there to support everything anymore. I hope it does not happen to TJC. It already happened too many times in the history.
Just a note to everyone--back in the day in Elizabeth when Br. Lu and I taught J1 class, we decided to go through a few lessons on early Christian church history. I don't want to pump up his head all that much, but Br. Lu's classes on the topic were phenomenal. The saying is true: "those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it". While most religion college courses tend to be way too agenda-driven these days, I'd definitely recommend you and the Spirit within you look for objective reference material about what happened to the original Apostolic church, because there are lessons for us as a church in history. If you need tips on where to look for those, bug H.C. Lu :P
Andrew Lu Oh and Albert, he still comes to church sometimes.
Thanks Andrew :) Yes, I do indeed and I look forward to seeing you again sometime soon ;) And I still want you to give me table tennis lessons one of these days ;)
Albert just friended me (strange, I thought we had been Facebook friends already :P), so I just got a chance to look over the great discussions you guys were having on Facebook. I have to say, as cynical as you see I've become about the church organization, reading your thoughtful comments there filled me with renewed joy and hope. Maybe where generations in the past, including mine, have failed, yours will succeed. "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."
One thing you've no doubt noticed is that it takes me a loooooong time to communicate things in writing. At work I'm known as "the guy who writes 50 page emails". But I do that for a reason. We live in a sound-bite world, where no matter what kind of person you are your entire life is judged these days by a 5-second sound bite or a 140-character Tweet. But life is a lot more complex than that. So I try to lay it all out. Why? For one thing, if I feel inspired--whether it's by the Spirit or my own human efforts I'll let you decide--I feel obliged to lay it all out and leave nothing out. Plus, I don't give anyone a chance to quote me out of context because I can always point back and show them what I really meant.
Just for fun, I went through my post and started to think...if I didn't agree with what's in my post and wanted to discredit it ad hominem instead of engaging with me on the battlefield of ideas, what would I do? I might send a "warning" message to people saying...
This brother says that our church is sick, but he's really the sick one. He failed at a job the church entrusted him to do and the church deservedly fired him and now he's finally found his chance to get "revenge". All he does is complain. He says our sermons are boring. He says our Bible studies are fruitless. He's a hypocrite because all he does is sit back and point fingers and yet he himself doesn't come to church to help us.
Is this a true statement? Yeah, maybe it is. But again, context is important.
Yes, I did whine about being fired from my job in the IA. But there was a point in that. First of all, while of course not to the same degree of severity, I can see there were parallels between what happened to me and what happened to Pr. Yang from the same group of people. Where was the due process? Where was the transparency? Where was the "gentle correction"?
And second, today I'm someone who, thank God, is pretty successful in his career. Last year I did the SEO for one of the largest energy companies in the world and within a year they're already generating over $7 million worth of search traffic where they had none before (and no, I don't get a cut of that). Currently, I've been entrusted with working on sites for one of the largest pharmaceutical brands and one of the largest CPG brands in the world. I've gotten compliments from some pretty high-level executives in the corporate world.
I don't say this to boast, because I know full well that whatever gifts and talents I have come directly from above. Perhaps one day I'll write a 50-page blog post about the miracles that resulted in me getting to this point in my career. But I mention it only to make a point. What if this "bruised reed" were properly nurtured and encouraged instead of snuffed out? I'll tell you one thing, tjc.org probably wouldn't still be an 800x600 site and looking identical to the way it looked the day I left the IA. And similar to the brother I mentioned who wanted to help us 12 years ago and was rejected, if the church at any time had only asked me I would have gladly volunteered my talents to building a new Web site for them. But no, I'm evidently on the ol' Do Not Fly list. And so in some ways I think this blog is my last gasp attempt to try to use whatever talents I have to serve Him instead of burying them (incidentally, I first came up with the idea for this back in 2009, which explains why it's on blogspot.com).
As for my comments about the sermons being boring and the Bible studies being lifeless, again in a vacuum it looks like I'm just a whiny jerk. But if you read it in the context of the overall post it makes a liitle more sense. I know a full-time minister of the church whose sermons for the most part kept me engaged and awake. And this same person was someone who actively encouraged people to work out their own faith instead of always getting instruction spoon-fed to them. At a time when the church is struggling to find answers to these very things, I would have thought that such a minister would be lifted up as an example for us to learn from. Instead he was lifted up and had his head cut off. Again, under really bizarre circumstances.
This "preamble" is ending up turning into another of my tomes, so I'll stop here. I'll just conclude by saying while I was once a teacher to some of you, my comments (just as my blog) are NOT meant to "teach" you. It's just to provide food for thought. I'm sure someone, somewhere, is working on how to communicate with you that what I'm writing is dangerous and subversive and that by daring to visit this URL you'll fall under my evil spell. But I think just by reading your comments, most of you guys have already surpassed me in terms of spiritual maturity and wisdom, and so I have confidence that the Spirit will help you discern if what I'm saying is from above, below, or right here. I encourage you to test my words, but not just my words but the words you hear from any minister, brother, sister, or human being you encounter in this life. Measure them and test them with the Holy Spirit, who will really be the one to lead you into all truth, not some individual or committee.
Thanks to Albert for sharing my link. As I wrote in the first post I really did this more as an exercise for myself but now that it's out there, if there's anything in here where we can help spur each other on to love and good deeds, thank God :)
Thanks,
Steve
Now, onto your comments. Albert did an awesome job of answering most of these on my behalf exactly the way I would have (and no, we're not conspiring behind the scenes), but just so you have some of these answers with my insights, I offer them here:
David Liu My observation as a church interpreter: I get a LOT of "suggestions" (rightfully so). A lot of "You should have used this word instead of..." and "The correct terminology is...") They always come from people who never interpret on the pulpit. I also noticed that interpreters never criticize each other, but they are quick to point out a great interpreter. It's easy to point out other people's flaws when you've never done it before.
The same with sermon speaking. We may be able to give a heart-felt sermon once in a while, but when you have to do it week after week, it gets difficult to consistently come up with riveting topics each time. It is completely wrong to say that "Nobody inside the church is asking what could be done better." I guarantee you 99% are thinking it. No one enjoys giving sermons to people sleeping in the pews. Not many of us give sermons 50+ times a year and have all of them be touching and thought-provoking. If so, maybe we are in the position to criticize. Or better yet, TTP is still recruiting...
Hi David. I understand your frustration. Remember, for a couple years I was on the hook to give a sermon every month or so in multiple churches, so I know what it means to run on empty and watch helplessly as eyelids droop. I remember regurgitating some sermons so many times that eventually even I was practically falling asleep during them.
Criticism is tough to hear, but please remember that it's not an attack. But it is a challenge, especially if you get into a church leadership position, to start thinking "out of the box" instead of accepting the status quo as it's always been.
For example, what if sermons were 25 minutes instead of 45 minutes? Right there that doubles the number of sermons you can give, forces the sermon giver to be more focused and get to the darned point, and keeps a larger percentage of congregants awake to boot. Not only that, it provides more time for fellowship, especially with those teachers or board members who are always sequestered in meetings.
What if a sermon speaker were to talk about matters more practical to the congregation's daily needs in addition to the usual methodical Bible exposition week after week? You'd still have topics like "Jesus is the Bread of Life" or "The Relationship Between God and Malachi" some weeks, but maybe they could alternate with topics like "How to Help Someone Going Through Depression" or "How to Handle Workplace Conflict using Bible Principles" . Of course, if you do start doing the latter, those "repetitive platitudes" have got to go too. For the topic on depression, "Pray harder" and "Do more holy work" isn't going to cut it. You'd need wisdom from the Holy Spirit to really find Bible-based solutions, and maybe even tap resources outside the church.
And speaking of researching outside the church, what if instead of the church's current practice of warning members not to look to material from other Christian groups and churches, we actually encouraged it, trusting the Holy Spirit to guide us? I remember there was a sermon I gave 13 years ago where I ended up drawing from other Christian ministries for some of the inspiration. After my sermon I had people coming up to me telling me that they loved the sermon, and I could see it even brought some to tears. And when I re-read the sermon today (whose contents I incidentally still agree with 100%) I find the 33 year old me teaching the 46 year old me brand new things. But that wasn't me, of course, it was the Holy Spirit that spoke, and continues to speak, through those words--words that weren't just recycled TJC content.
And of course, like I said above, what if ministers and members who had these gifts but, oh let's just say, didn't go to church for a while or married an unbeliever or had failed one time in his life but has since repented--were allowed to come back and share with the congregation instead of being used as a shameful example of what you can become if you veer from the "straight and narrow" of the church?
These are just four ideas off the top of my head, smarter people than I can think up a whole lot more. But you see where I'm going here. We need new wine, and we need to do away with the old wine skins. The biggest challenge is breaking the status quo, though. These are all things I tried to do back in the day but I always got rebuffed. "We've always done it the way we're doing it" .But maybe your generation will have a better chance.
As for your thinly veiled suggestion that I should join TTP, I prayed about that for a long time but God's answer to me was no. Evidently He wants me to focus on other things. If you have an issue with that, I'd suggest you take it up with Him. :P
Kimber Oats I only skimmed as it got way too long, but it sounds like promoting 1 specific person. To truly belong to Christ is to follow Him, not any one person. It always bothers me when people say "I prefer Preacher so and so" because why should it matter? Listen to Him not him/her/it/they/whatever
Hi Kimber. Just to be clear, the same thing bothers me too. I remember from time to time in the old NYTSes, there'd be conversations about certain preachers as if they were rock stars and it'd drive me crazy. So you're absolutely right. Those who do that are like the ones who say "I follow Paul" or "I follow Apollos" and are completely missing the point.
The only reason I called this minister out specifically, and spent a bit of time expounding upon my personal experiences with him, was because I wanted to lay out all the things that I observed that went into my judgement of his character as a person and his faithfulness as a preacher. I have to admit I still perceive that there was something very much amiss in the whole process of kicking him out--as Albert said because so much of the details were obfuscated it's hard to judge rightly. I actually quite deliberately titled the post "Why the TJC is Wrong" and not "Why Pr Yang is Right" for a reason. I certainly don't consider him a saint. I see he has a lot of flaws, as do we all. But I also don't feel at all comfortable with the lack of transparency during that whole process.
But if something truly is amiss, I would hope our current church leaders can open their eyes and fix it, but if not it's your generation who's eventually going to have to. I'd only hope and pray the damage by that time will not be too great.
As for the length of my post, note that if you read the entire thing front-to-end, it'd be about a third of the length of one of our sermons. :P So if you can keep awake for one of those, you can certainly get through reading the post. I promise there's some good stuff in there :)
John Chiang "God will not hold you guiltless if you fail to speak." ...meaning what, exactly?
John, Albert's explanation hit the nail on the head, but just to give you a little more background, the quote is from a pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who foresaw and stood up to the Nazis during World War II when the vast majority of members in the churches of Germany were oblivious and content to follow their church leaders, most of whom were content to not "rock the boat". Bonhoeffer was eventually martyred for Christ by the Third Reich only about a month prior to the end of the German surrender. I'm probably going to write a blog post about this at some point so I won't pontificate, but I really suggest reading this book to find out more if you're interested.
And no, I'm not comparing anyone anywhere to the Nazis.
If you prefer, James said pretty much the same thing: If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn't do it, it is sin for them.
Hsuanwei Fan You tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness." Mmmm. / The first post was amazingly written though. I think some people find post #2 to be less palatable because the issue is contentious and people may have already picked sides, but post #1 is really worth reading
Hi Hsuanwei. Not sure how to interpret your first comment. If I've appeared disingenuous or hypocritical in any way, I sincerely hope you can point out where so I can improve. Heaven knows if I can dish it out I need to be able to take it in. The one thing I can tell you is that I know I'm certainly not perfect, but I did try to write all three of those posts out of love and in as constructive a way as I could.
Regarding the concept of "picking sides", I think my latest post addresses that a little. There really shouldn't be "sides". Or rather, there should be one side. Everyone is quick to say "God is on my side", but everyone (myself included) should really be asking, "am I on God's side"? Not sure how many of us are doing that.
Geoffrey Chu I only ask because my sentiment on certain parts has been the opposite. I feel like there is definitely introspection. Both as an organization and as individuals. Whether in local, regional, or national meetings I haven't ever felt that there was no introspection. These meetings consistently ask "what can we do better next time" or "what should we be doing instead" or "how can we be more effective". And with individual sermon speakers I can't speak on behalf of everyone, but no one goes up to the pulpit to speak with the intention of doing a poor job. If anything, I've suspected the issue to be more of actions (or lack thereof) that follow introspection. But perhaps we need more of both.
Then again that is also completely anecdotal to my own experiences as well.
Hi Geoffrey, yes, I agree that follow-through to introspection is of course important. But regarding introspection itself, I just wanted to point out something about the hypothetical questions you gave:
What can we do better next time?
What should we be doing instead?
How can we be more effective?
One of the challenges I've noticed (and again, it's because I've asked these very questions myself) is that these questions are really vague. For example, what is meant by "doing better"? What does "more effective" mean?
I've been in those meetings too--locally, regionally, and nationally. The measure of "doing better" is more often than not internally-focused metrics and rather mundane ones at that. Do we have enough sermon speakers to fill a schedule? Do sermons start and end when they're supposed to? I've rarely seen really contemplative discussions about the contents of a sermon, the style of a sermon, and most importantly whether a sermon is really reaching its intended listener--is the listener being engaged and do they take away things of practical value? Is there someone looking at the congregation and finding what points they fall asleep during, whether time-wise or subject matter-wise? All that can be used as data as part of the "introspection".
I remember I used to go to "sermon speaking seminars" run by the church and with all due respect they were really not very useful. Each time it was yet more methodical approaches to biblical exegesis (or whatever you call it) where you'd learn to break down Bible passages and basically give the same kind of sermon that has been helping make the term "Sabbath rest" quite literal for 30 years.
Honestly, I'd rather potential sermon speakers just sign up for Toastmasters or a public speaking class, or for the church to recruit speakers who are insightful, know their Scriptures, AND happen to do a lot of speaking and communications in their jobs (i.e., have a natural God-given talent for speaking). The Spirit will help with topics and content, but learning how to speak and communicate to humans comes with lots of innate talent, experience and practice.
Christopher Suen I was a lot less interested in the bits on Pr. Yang, and much more fascinated by his commentary on TJC's org structure/norms and operating culture - insular, repressive, and perhaps even boring, in his view. It would be fascinating to have Deloitte or some other third party consulting firm assess TJC's approach and likely effects on membership growth and membership engagement across different markets and demographics. I suspect that TJC will have to change its approach or risk bleeding membership amongst western-born millennials.
Hi Christopher, I love your thinking here. It might freak out some people to hear anyone considering "secular" approaches to looking at deficiencies in church operations, but the bottom line it'd definitely be fascinating to see you guys use the talents you've developed in the corporate world to see how they might be applied to the church.
It'd be interesting, for example, to consult the church as you would any other non-profit, looking at its org structure, its operations, its strategy, and its "marketing" (It almost seems sacrilegious to think of evangelism as "marketing" but that's all evangelism is--matching a product or service to a need. And in our case this "product" really does deliver on its brand promise and has a catchier tagline than Nike--Jesus Saves :)).
Of course this type of review wouldn't be able to look at the spiritual component of things, but I think just as in the human body the physical health can affect the spiritual health, I think the same must be true of the church. If you guys do embark on this, I'd love to hear the results!
Eugenia Liew I guess the main reason Pr Yang was excommunicated was due to his point of view in speaking in tongue. I can understand his point, which is the reason I was warned NOT to join TJC. Many TJC members can speak in tongue, yet do not produce the 9 fruits of the Holy Spirit. Some do not speak in tongue do show that their lives r full of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Other denominations emphasize more on the fruits than the tongue.
Eugenia, I never met you but from your comments I sense you are a relatively new member. If that's the case, if I may say so you are the perfect illustration of when Jesus said "the last will be first and the first last". Yes, you're absolutely right. What a lot of us "old timers" forget over time is that speaking in tongues is only the first step--an important first step to be sure, but hardly the most important part of receiving the Promised Holy Spirit. Just as an apple tree needs to bear apples and an orange tree needs to bear oranges, someone with the Holy Spirit must continually bear the fruit of the spirit and grow more like Jesus every day. On the day of judgement, a tree that hasn't bore fruit will be thrown into the fire, no matter how many tongues it speaks (okay the metaphor kind of breaks down there, but you get the point).
The next thing I'm going to say may sound disingenuous, but I assure you it's not. Thank you for teaching me. The older I get, the more I realize that I have so much to learn. I always have to be reminded that Jesus pointed people away from the priests and the teachers of the law and towards the children for them to learn what "perfect praise" meant. I think anyone who's been a member for over 20 years should be forced to lock themselves in a room for an hour with someone who's recently been saved and just shut their mouth and listen.
As far as Pr Yang's excommunication, as someone who's heard Pr. Yang speak on the topic of the Holy Spirit this is one of the things that baffles me the most. I've never seen exactly what it is he's accused of saying (which is one of the problems), but just as in the example I gave above and in my most recent post, I can't shake the feeling that somehow individual things he said were taken completely out of context.. Whether intentionally or unintentionally I can't say. But I'll be writing a post on my own perspective on the Holy Spirit in a little while.
Hsu-Chang Lu A church organization is, after all, a social machine where everyone interacts according to each one's intention. In the apostolic time, they #1 loved each other and worshiped God (which happened to please God). Introducing a subtle difference and now everyone in this social machine has #1 intention of pleasing God and all decisions from the church organization is equated to God's will, or worse, the church organization itself to God's body, there is a risk of having a social machine without God. If A=B and B=C, and B doesn't get used much, we just remember A=C. The machine keeps on churning, operating everything according to the schedule, getting rid of anything or anyone in it's way until it collapses under it's own weight since God and the love of each other, now more or less ignored, is not there to support everything anymore. I hope it does not happen to TJC. It already happened too many times in the history.
Just a note to everyone--back in the day in Elizabeth when Br. Lu and I taught J1 class, we decided to go through a few lessons on early Christian church history. I don't want to pump up his head all that much, but Br. Lu's classes on the topic were phenomenal. The saying is true: "those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it". While most religion college courses tend to be way too agenda-driven these days, I'd definitely recommend you and the Spirit within you look for objective reference material about what happened to the original Apostolic church, because there are lessons for us as a church in history. If you need tips on where to look for those, bug H.C. Lu :P
Andrew Lu Oh and Albert, he still comes to church sometimes.
Thanks Andrew :) Yes, I do indeed and I look forward to seeing you again sometime soon ;) And I still want you to give me table tennis lessons one of these days ;)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)