I was reading an article in the January/February 2010 issue of Relevant Magazine titled Bringing 2020 Into Focus. The article looks back on the past decade and several contributors write about what could happen in the next decade. In a portion titled The Reverse Flow of Missions (pg. 60), Jaeson Ma dissects the differences between the church in Eastern Asia with the Western church, primarily in America. He focuses on four areas of difference:

Doing Church

Denominationalism

Perspective On Money

Sacrifice

Jaeson’s article doesn’t appear to be critical at first glance, but when you take into account the fact that the American church is in decline, while the church in Asia is experiencing unprecedented growth, it makes one think. It makes one ask some tough questions.

What is the church in Asia doing that the Western church is not?

What is the church in Asia NOT doing that us Westerners are?

Are these cultural issues, or are they universal?

So, I figured why not address each area that Ma listed? Today I begin with Doing Church. Keep in mind, I won’t be republishing the entire article here so you should really check out the article yourself in the current issue of Relevant (the link is in the first paragraph, but you have to scroll to pg. 60).

Anyways, Jaeson points out the key difference in how “church” is done in the East and West. The West is based on a system of individualistic leadership while in the East churches are elder driven. Meaning that Western churches, even those with elders and/or deacons, are primarily pastor-driven.

While the traditional Western Church is focused on individualistic leadership, there are churches that are breaking from that. One example is Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. While Mark Driscoll founded the church, he is now only listed as a teaching pastor and elder. Not that he has sacrificed any influence, but if the other elders of Mars Hill overrule Driscoll on something, that’s it. He’s vetoed, overruled, whatever you want to call it. Another similar situation is North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia. While Andy Stanley has a title that is familiar to most American Christians (Senior Pastor), he has made it known that when it comes to major decisions that affect the entire church he must go to the elders for approval. He has even come out and said in sermons that the elders have the power to fire him, should they deem him unfit as a pastor. And in my time at Four Points Church one of our pastor’s goals was to install elders as soon as suitable men were chosen and could be trained to take on the role of elder – not just for teaching and leadership roles, but also for accountability. Pastoral accountability was high on Brent’s (lead pastor at Four Points) list of priorities.

Now, I didn’t write all that to convince you that pluralistic leadership is better than individualistic. Like the cliche says, “Too many cooks spoils the broth.” If you take pluralistic leadership too far, you end up with the local church being pulled in so many directions it eventually wears thin. I simply wanted to give a few examples of American churches that have found a healthy balance between individualistic and pluralistic leadership models.

Coming tomorrow: The Reverse Flow of Missions – Denominationalism

Today is the thirty-seventh anniversary of Roe v. Wade. If you don’t know what that is, here’s a link to get you caught up, but in short, it’s when the Supreme Court ruled “that a woman may abort her pregnancy for any reason, up until the ‘point at which the fetus becomes viable.’ The Court defined viability as the potential ‘to live outside the mother’s womb, albeit with artificial aid,’ adding that viability ‘is usually placed at about seven months (28 weeks) but may occur earlier, even at 24 weeks.’” The court also added that, “after viability, abortion must be available when needed to protect a woman’s health, as defined in the companion case of Doe v. Bolton.”

I’ve already posted my thoughts on this subject back in May of last year (What’s More Important? – Religion Sucketh), so I don’t want to rehash them when you can just click the link are read them. But I read a post today from Jared Wilson and couldn’t resist sharing a couple points and the link to his full post – in my opinion, he nails it.

As Jared said of himself, if the government put overturning Roe v. Wade to popular vote, I’d be in line as soon as the polls opened. However, like Jared, I don’t believe legislation is the answer. Jared has a lot of great ideas, but I don’t want to just copy and paste them here because you wouldn’t have a reason to read his post. But one idea that really sticks out to me is throwing more support into crisis pregnancy centers. One popular belief as to why abortion statistics are dropping is the increase and advancement of technology. Thirty-seven years ago ultrasound wasn’t available until months into a pregnancy – now it’s available just a few weeks after conception. Women and couples are now able to see their child earlier than ever before, which makes them realize that’s not some “pre-human thing” on the screen – it’s a human child. So if technology is helping decrease abortions, why aren’t pro-life organizations and churches throwing money at crisis pregnancy centers to help them get this technology (since it isn’t cheap)?

I know when I lived in Atlanta I didn’t see one crisis pregnancy center. I know there was at least one because I had a co-worker who was doing a fundraiser for it, but the fact that I didn’t even know what part of Atlanta it was in, yet I can tell you where several Planned Parenthood offices are located is sad.

Even sadder – a friend of mine manages a crisis pregnancy center and has told me the hardest part of her job is getting support from churches. Yet I see churches all the time who donate large sums of money to political groups who claim to be the “pro-life voice in Washington”.

I’m not saying it should be either/or, but I’ve actually heard lay-people argue that legislation is the only option – that abortion reduction is an “admission of defeat”. Ten years ago, George W. Bush ran on a platform which included ending abortion (unless the mother’s health is in danger). Ten years later NOTHING has changed in legislation.

Anyways, this is getting a bit long, so here’s the links for Jared Wilson’s post, my original post and a post by ChurchRelevance.com.

A Missional Way For the Pro-Life Passion – Jared Wilson

What’s More Important? – Religion Sucketh

Abortion Statistics Are Changing – Church Relevance

So if anyone tried to view my blog over the past couple days they probably saw a message stating “this website is parked free, courtesy of GoDaddy!”. Apparently last year when I thought I was switching domain and hosting provider from GoDaddy to Media Temple, I only switched hosting providers.

For the non-geeks out there, that means my web address/domain (religionsucketh.com) was still hosted by GoDaddy while all the files for Religion Sucketh were hosted by Media Temple.

My bad.

On top of that, GoDaddy had an old (and unused) email address on file. So while I’m sure they tried to contact me to notify me of my impending due date, I never got those notices.

My bad.
Again.

So I apologize to anyone who was forced to look at the ugly mess that is GoDaddy’s website, as opposed to the not-so-ugly mess that is my blog. Should be getting my domain switched over to Media Temple soon enough.

We must rediscover our faith as a way of life, not simply a system of beliefs.

- Brian McLaren

For many, the system of beliefs has become, in itself, a way of life. Many of us become so consumed with the rituals and practices of the Christian faith we forget the reasons behind those practices. An example from my own life: lately, instead of reading my Bible to learn more about Jesus and how to become more like Him and to grow closer to Him, it becomes a chore to complete to be a good Christian. So yeah, I read my Bible, but I don’t really read my Bible. Or how about when I ask God to give me opportunities to love and serve people who are hurting, and then I completely ignore all the suffering I see on a daily basis. Sure, I’m doing and saying the right things to make others think I’m a Christian, but in reality I’m putting Jesus on the backburner. Kind of a shitty way to treat the creator of the universe, huh?

Kind of like the pharisees. They did all the right things and said all the right things, but when God revealed Himself to them in the form of Jesus what happened?

I wonder how many times Christ has revealed Himself to me and I ignored or even shunned Him?

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’

Matthew 25:41-45