Easum, Bandy, & Associates Blog

I got a blackberry about a month ago. I know. I should have gotten one long before now. But now that Im “in” Im even more aware of how tight our world has become. Last week I was in the Dominican Republic fishing. We were ten miles out in the Atlantic and i noticed the deckhand talking to someone on the phone. Now, consider that the average deckhand in the Dominican probably paid a week or more salary to purchase that cellphone.  To  top that off we werent even on dry land and it was working. We are reaching the point where there alsmost anywhere you can go and not be connected with the rest of the world, at your convenience!

Now, bring that into the church and ask, which is more connected, the church or the world? and you get a rather nasty picture. the average church in the U.S. consists of opinionated individual consumers who vote with their feet the moment something happens they dont like. Worship styles are based on what they like rather than what will reach the unchurched. Organizational style is based on “what we’ve always done” rather than adjusting them to meet the fast pace of todays world.

Isnt it time we all realized that all of us should have our own blackberry? Do you see the metaphor? Jesus is the blackberry we all need. He is what binds up together and defeats our egos and opinions. So, Got Jesus?

Opps. my phone is ringing

Everything Must Change
Brian McLaren

As are all of McLaren’s book, Everything Must Change is extremely well written and researched prose bordering at times on poetry. His theme is simple yet profound – unless everything changes in our approach to the suicidal systems story that drives today’s world life on this planet isn’t sustainable. He argues for Christians to believe a new framing story- the story framed by Jesus.

Based on the context of the Roman Empire (and the U.S. empire) the new framing story of Jesus is:

·         The law of good deeds for the common good replaces capitalism’s law of progress through rapid economic growth

·         The law of satisfaction through gratitude and sharing replaces capitalism’s law of serenity through possession and consumption

·         The law of salvation through justice replaces capitalism’s law of salvation by win-lose competition

·         The law of freedom to prosper by building better communities replaces capitalism’s law of freedom to prosper through unaccountable corporations

I can’t see how any Christian can disagree with McLaren’s conclusion that life on this planet is presently unsustainable. I took away several beautiful “A-hahs.”

·         We are all related to one another; therefore it should come natural to us to love even our enemies.

·         The world would truly be better with religion

·         The more Americans consume the more the world hates us.  The more the world hates us the more we fear and stockpile weapons. The more we stockpile weapons, the more the world fears and hates us.  I could go on but one can’t help but get the message.

However, based on the sales of apocalyptic books as the “Left Behind” series, I can see how many Christians will disagree with the solution he offers – we must truly disbelieve the framing story that the worse things get the closer we are to the second coming (which means we shouldn’t worry about saving the planet) and passionately believe a new framing story of God’s love for all creation including the planet earth (which means we should do everything in our power to save it and by doing so save ourselves).

Whereas I totally agree with the basic sentiment of the book, I have some serious concerns about the direction McLaren seems to be going (I wrote about this earlier on my blog). He seems to make salvation totally social – in relation to others and the environment. I get the impression that he has serious issue with salvation even having the hint of a personal savior.

If McLaren was an atheist I would say this is a book on how to respond to the plight of our planet. However, McLaren is a professed Christian and as such his treatment of Jesus concerns me. He constantly begs the Jesus question.

So I have some questions of Brian (you should know we have been friends for a decade)

 Is he the eternal son of God? Was he God incarnate or just another great prophet? Or does his divinity depend on our language within the community of faith? Is salvation both personal and social? Can Christians have a personal savior and still have a concern for social justice? Is there a literally heaven and hell? Is salvation nothing more than the liberation from the framing story of the U.S. Empire?  Did Jesus understand salvation to be nothing more than freedom from the Roman Empire or did it also encompass one’s eternal destiny? (The reader should know that I have always thought of salvation more in the context of how it causes one to live in this life but I have always also retained the belief in its affects on one’s eternal destiny.)

I would have found the book even more persuasive if so much of it was pitted against Brian’s fundamentalist background. Not all evangelicals I know subscribe to a literal interpretation of the book of Revelation. Even as Brian wrote this book, more social justice ministries are being done by evangelical churches than by liberal churches. The book would have far more punch, credibility, and a wider readability if he hadn’t based much of the early part of the book on that background.

Is this a book to read by all Christians- YES, by all means! The book is a call to arms to adopt a totally new way of looking at everything we do and profess to be. It tackles the second most profound issue of our day – the sustainability of our world (what is our relationship to Jesus). Still I want Brian to answer the questions above. Until he does I will continue to be concerned.

Bill  Easum

I just returned from speaking at the Exponential Conference on Reproducing ministries in Orlando.  I have to say it was one of the most stimulating events Ive been to in a long time.

It was like asking how do we plant 100,000 churches over the next ten years? How can that be done? The answer? Every church become a parenting church of a church plant that is going to plant another church that is going to plant another church and so on.

Tim Keller was one of the highlights for me. His message was on target- we need to refocus our attention on Jesus and his full message.

Dave Ferguson was another highlight. He said,

Three keys

• The freedom to say no- this means you have a crystal clear vision of what God wants you to do
• Go! Instead of come. We don’t belong to a church. We aren’t members of a specific church. We are people of the Way, basking in the warm of God’s kingdom of love. That means that every staff person needs to be planning on where he or she is going to go to plant a church.
• No ego. We have to quit squabbling over our pity opinions of tastes.  When we understand grace, there is no place for ego. We can’t care who gets the credit.

Four shifts for reproducing churches to emerge as a movement

• Shift from church growth to missional movement – you can’t build buildings fast enough; values the new, the lost, the edge, the sent rather than the old, the saved, the center, staying
• Shfit from ministry managers to spiritual entrepnuers move people up from the ranks
• Staff shift from reactive to proactive – when you are ready (when you are spiritually ready) you reproduce even if you don’t need the space. Leader readiness -
• From addition to multiplication. 

I just finished an interview with Craig Henningfield who is the missionary coach for the Church Without Walls in Denver. The Church Without Walls is a growing, loosely networked group of  house churches. Question: Why the House Church?Every day I meet more people who are dissatisfied with the institutional church.  Most of these people have never read the books like Pagan Christianity or the Barna research. I also run into many pastors who have been dissatisfied with the institutional church but still want to serve. We can’t throw the baby out with bathwater just because a churched tradition no longer serves a growing number of people.Question: How do you fund your ministry?Answer: Most of our pastors are bivocational.  Some raise their support from congregations and individual Christians.  Funding and giving are two of our biggest issues.  People come out of the institutional church and join us thinking there is no need to give any longer.  We have to rewire them to give out of grace to a mission rather than support of an institution.Question: What do you think will hold your movement together over the long haul?

Answer: Jesus. I know that is clique, but it is what we think we do it.  We aren’t a church planting movement, we are a disciplining movement. We’re not interested in how many more house churches can we plant, but how many people can we disciple to be like Jesus. The key is longevity is to train leaders so if they move they aren’t lost and can start new groups wherever they go.  America is a churched nation- everyone has some view of what a church looks like. So the house church needs explaining. When they get it, they will talk about it with all of their friends.  

Question: What question haven’t I asked you that I should have?

Answer: I think getting more clarity on the relationship between denominations and the house church movement is essential.  In the beginning our denomination supported our work with some start up money but as the project developed the denomination found it difficult to figure out how to relate to us since we didn’t resemble anything near an institution.  Denominations need to continue thinking through the relationship with the institutional church to avoid the “us” versus “them” problem.

According to Henningfield most of the house churches are still along denominational lines. This fact surprised me.  

Ever since my third book, Dancing with Dinosaurs, in 1993 I have been shouting everywhere that the basic rules for effectiveness in leadership and ministry are undergoing exponential change. If that message were true in 1990’s it’s even truer today. In fact, one could say that we are living in a time of discontinuity from the past. What use to work, no longer works. Even what we consider to be truth is under radical siege. A good example is happening right now.

Since TV became a household friend in the 60’s people many people receive their TV reception through rabbit ears or an antenna on their roof which receive an analog signal. Over the past four decades their reception has incrementally provided them with reception.  Now the announcement has been made that in February of 2009 TV sets that receive analog signal only will no longer function. That means about a third of the country will have to either purchase a converter or buy a new TV set and a digital provider. The cheapest way to go is to purchase a converter but we all know you get what you pay for.

Now enter leadership and ministry. In times of great change most churches opt for the cheapest route so they try to convert something rather than adopt new techniques or technology or new leadership styles.  A good example is how most traditional churches attempt to convert to a contemporary service.  Rather than change the entire culture of the church so that is it contemporary with the times they merely tag a contemporary service onto what they have. And it sticks out like a sore thumb because the bulk of the church continues its inhibit traditional ways. Some even go so far as to try contemporary worship on a Friday or Saturday night in the hope they won’t have to deal with it and maybe it will fail.

But that’s not all.  How many people  do you think will not do either and when Feb. 18 rolls around and theri TV goes blank they will stare at the TV and wonder what happened when the rest of the world got the message? Some will wait till the last minute and rush out to purchase a converter only to find everyone else has bought all of them. Any comparisons here you can make with how most established churches have handled change over the past five decades?

Well buckle up folks.  That’s not all the example from the changes in TV. With the new digital age, in the very near future (like 2010) you will be able to get your favorite TV program on demand instead of having to wait till it airs at the regularly scheduled time. Not only that you will be able to go into the archives of the broadcast company and watch your favorite old programs from years ago.What does that mean for ministry? It means that on demand ministry and leadership will replace everything we know about either. People won’t have to wait till Sunday to worship, or office hours for support.  It means that leadership skills will have to be in flux every day of the year. It also means that seminary training as we know it will cease and our degree will take a life time to complete.Are you up for the changes? Are you one who likes a routine? If  so you are in for a very bumpy ride. I’ve got to go. Change is calling.

Leadership and the New Science, Margaret Wheatly
Kicking Habits,  Tom Bandy
Servant Leadership, Robert Greenleaf  
Growing Up Digital, Don Tapscott 
Growing Spiritual Redwoods, Tom Bandy & Bill Easum
The Continuing Conversion of the Church, Darrell Guder
The Missional Church, Darrell Guder
Difusion of Innovations, Evertt Rogers 
God’s Missionary People, Van Engen 
The Birth  of the Chaoric Generation, Dee Hoch 
Future Perfect, Davis Stanley
Steinbron, Melvin The Lay Driven Church
Heifetz, Ronald Leadership Without Easy Answers
Cordeiro,Wayne Doing Church as a Team
Ogden, The New Reformation
Townsend, Five-Star Leadership

You will either love or hate this post. And you will think I am either a prophet or a clown. Either way, the article is worth a serious read.Several years ago I made the observation that we were entering a time of fewer mega churches.  I have publically backed off that observation recently. Anyone who sticks their neck out very far has to be willing to pull it back in quickly before it gets chopped off. But before you sharpen your axe read on. The picture is shaping up quite different than I thought it would.  The mega church trend if anything is gaining momentum as well as larger forms of church life are emerging. According to Church Growth Today research, new non-Catholic mega churches are emerging now every week in the fastest rate ever recorded in the U.S.  Not only that, mega churches continue to grow larger. Once a church gets over five thousand in worship its growth seems to escalate.  For the rest of the post click here .

By Frank Viola and George Barna 

Pagan Christianity is not only a logical sequence to Barna’s recent book, Revolution, it also is an interesting and accurate account of the historic events that have shaped today’s form of Christianity.

Four sections tell most of their story:

“Healthy organic churches never produce a clergy system, a single pastor, a hierarchical leadership structure, or an order of worship that renders the majority passive. To our minds, such things… run contrary to New Testament principles.” Page 163

..there is a strong consensus among evangelical scholars that the early church did not have a clergy, did not meet in sacred buildings, did not take the Lord’s Supper outside of a full meal, did not have a fixed liturgy, and did not dress up for church meetings.” Page 165

“The ‘church meeting’ was devolving into a ‘service.’ Page 91

“Oratory tended to take the place of conversation.’ Page 92

Although the authors leave some wiggle room the only really logical conclusion of their arguments is the end of the institutional church.  My central question or criticism of the book is can that form of Christianity, thrive in an institutionally based and concert driven world like the West?  Whereas I agree the present form of Christianity we see today isn’t biblical, I still question whether what they suggest can survive much less thrive within our context.

So here’s my question: how can we take the unarguable truths in this book and apply them to our present day context? The West is very different from China under Mao. Even the house church there has evolved into more of an institutional form.

Their major criticism of today’s church, other than it being totally non-biblical is the passivity and the elitism of today’s Church. I agree the passivity and elitism of today’s church is deplorable and has to be addressed if Christianity is ever going be what Jesus wanted it to be. Every church leader ought to read this book and respond to its criticism of modern day Christianity with the goal of addressing the passivity and elitism of today’s church. Any positive movement away from these two sins of the church and this book has done its job.

The only place I totally disagree with the authors is in their argument about the non-biblical nature of the sermon.  I agree that as it is practiced in most churches it is non-biblical but it doesn’t need to go. Preaching in the New Testament was never directed to the saints but to those who have not heard. Preaching isn’t an in-house exercise. It is to spread the Good News. If one is to preach in church it should be directed toward the non-believer. When Wesley took to the fields preaching he was following a long line of New Testament preachers. 

Frank Viola is responding to comments, criticisms, and questions at www.ptmin.org/pcobjections.htm

Bill Easum

I just received the review (below) of my newest book, The Second Resurrection. The title of this post tells everything about what I think about the review. Like most mainline pastors, if a book doesn’t give out quick, one-size-fits all tips, it isn’t any good.

The problem with the mainline church today is it is totally brain and soul dead and no tips with suffice. There must be a spiritual resurrection before any tips will do any good and people need to wake up to that fact.

And when mainline don’t know what else to say they turn to the whipping boy- evangelism and call whatever is said about “narrow.” But I thought that was the point- narrow is the way that leads to life eternal? Didn’t I read that somewhere?

But alas, this major reviewer is still asleep. Sorry Van Meter, you missed the whole point.

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Resurrection’ lacks practical tips

Eric Van Meter, Jan 11, 2008

A Second Resurrection: Leading Your Congregation to New Life
Bill Easum
Abingdon Press, 2007
160 pages, paperbackBy Eric Van Meter
Special Contributor Most churches are dead, and dead people don’t need renewal or restoration—they need resurrection. 

I got one of those mailers the other day that’s meant for pastors to leaf through and buy all the latest and greatest bulletin blanks, choir robes, doctoral degrees, visitor packets, etc. I must have been very bored … or distracted … and I picked it up and leafed through it. I about fell out of my chair (laughing? crying? wailing?) when I saw the ad for a CD with a collection of policies and procedures for every church. The ad said, “It’s so great to say ‘It’s against Church policy’ instead of just plain ‘NO’. What a blessing to the pastor!”

Now, don’t get me wrong, I get what this is all about, but over 200 pages of ways to just say “No” is so typical of the crying and dying church. Last time I checked, the effective points of policies and procedures in the church is so we can just say “Yes!” to ministry and “Yes!” to Jesus. But alas, many, many, many (dare I expand that to most?) churches in North America are so concerned about protecting what few resources they have left that they’re almost paranoid that someone might possibly do something and use more than their fair share. Now, don’t get me wrong. The just say no policy and procedure manual is necessary for those churches who are clueless about their own mission, vision, and especially shared values. If you don’t know what you’re for, you’d better at least know what you’re against … that way you have an opportunity to feel like you’re in control. Sure, the church may be going down faster than the Edmund Fitzgerald, but we’re gripping the wheel all the way to the bottom.

Every church must have boundaries, but they have to be developed based on the church’s DNA and all toll they shouldn’t be longer than a half-sheet of paper. They could look something like this:

1. All church ministries must specifically further the mission of the church.
2. All church ministries must specifically further the vision of the church.
3. All church ministries must reflect the shared values of the church.
4. All church ministries must promote and be in the name of Jesus - no anonymous ministries.
5. All church ministries must be team-based - no Lone Rangers.
6. All church ministries must be led by a member in good standing. (Put this in words your congregation will understand - the ministry leader must be a practicing Christian who has made a commitment to the church’s DNA and supports the church with their treasure, time, talent, and testimony.)
7. All church ministry leaders must be in a ministry accountability partnership with another member in good standing who is not a participant or beneficiary of the ministry.
8. All church ministries must be self-sufficient or underwritten by the ministry’s team. (If your church will seed beginning ministries to XX dollars, then say so here.)
9. All church ministries using church property must coordinate their activities with the office. (Not a committee, but someone who can ensure there are no double-bookings of rooms, vans, sound equipment, etc.)

That’s it. Less than ten policies and procedures that pretty much covers everything that might come up in the church.

 Or you could buy the CD and wade through 200 pages of reasons to say no.

 Bill Tenny-Brittian
www.EasumBandy.com
www.NetResults.org