I have given years of attendance to a few churches during the course of my life and have visited many others. I've come to understand something that you have probably realized yourself: there is no perfect Christian church. When I say "church" here, I am referring to a local gathering of people to a single location to share in the practices common to their denomination's beliefs.
I think that most people can find a church that emphasizes something which is important to them personally. Nevertheless, how many people can honestly say that they've found the perfect church? By "perfect", I don't mean absolutely flawless. I mean, a church that does everything right. You may be convinced that you've landed at such a church. Because I don't know your personal experience or situation, I'm going to share my thoughts from my own experience, as well as a discovery I made during recent meditation on the topic.
Like most of you, I've often found myself in the odd position of appreciating many features of the church I attend, while simultaneously longing for the features I find lacking or the changes I wish would take place. There's that part of us that recognizes that not all things are as they should be. You might think to yourself: "I like that part of Denomination X, and that part of Denomination Y, and that part of Denomination Z - but it seems as if no churches have all of those features." You are not alone.
As a child, I went along with my family to a Baptist church. In high school, I switched to a "non-denominational" community church. In college, I attended a Covenant church. Then I switched to an Evangelical Free church, where I am now. Like you, I choose to remain a part of this particular church body because I find that they are solid in many areas which I value. In my case, this church has a very unique form of church leadership in which there is a body of elders who lead the church and take turns preaching and teaching. Everything they do is done as a group. This is different from the standard model of my past experience in which there resides a single "head" pastor who sits above everyone else. This "plurality of elders" approach is the best I've ever seen, and it has some solid Biblical backing.
This church also has sincere elders who fit the model of elders described in the New Testament letters. These are open and honest men who seek God's glory first of all. To match their level of sincerity and integrity, these men teach sound Biblical doctrine. The men who preach most often are also Biblical scholars/professors. To top it off, they are passionate for God's work, for Jesus, and for the gospel message as it goes out into the world.
This church body is also unique in that every member is considered to be an essential minister in the body, and externally to the world. The genuine fellowship and love expressed throughout the body is reminiscent of the early church as described in the book of Acts.
Finally, the worship is led by a man who is uncommonly thoughtful in his programming of the worship portion of the service. He writes many of his own songs to fit the need of the sermon's theme. He is sensitive to the congregation's desires in the worship setting. He organizes appropriate and fitting readings, meditations, and prayers to contribute to the flow and depth of the worship time.
These are the features that keep me at this church. And yet, this church, like yours, is not doing everything right. You might say: "That's only your opinion!! Who are you to determine what's best for a church?!" You are right to say so. Truthfully, I am nobody. I can't say with absolute certainty that my views are correct. But I do think they are correct - otherwise they wouldn't be beliefs. I can only talk about what I have come to believe through my own study. That said, let's move on.
"If I were to leave my church, what church would I go to?" This is a question I have asked myself, and maybe you have too. Over time, I have narrowed my answers to:
- the Catholic church
- the third-wave charismatic church
I have found aspects of these churches to admire. I have friends and acquaintances who have left the standard conservative evangelical church to join one of these other two churches. I can't blame them. My friends have brought up great points about these other churches.
Why the Catholic church? There are two things that have draw for me in the Catholic church.- Appreciation for tradition
- Emphasis on spiritual formation and true discipleship
I think the protestant church, despite its strengths, is still living in a state of overreaction to these facets of the Catholic church. I'm no church history expert, for certain, but I do know that the current evangelical church still bears signs of reaction against Catholicism. Not only do we lack appreciation for tradition, but we swear by the phrase "sola scriptura" and take it to the extreme. Not only do we appreciate the authority of scripture and its usefulness in showing us the way to true salvation in Christ, but we throw tradition out the window, reciting slogans like "If it's important, it's in the Bible" (a slogan I happen to disagree with). The Bible becomes the end of all things. J.P. Moreland adequately discusses this topic in his controversial article "How Evangelicals Became Over-Committed to the Bible and What can be Done about It".
I believe that tradition holds some good things for the church. I think tradition gives us insight into useful Christian spiritual disciplines, as explained by Dallas Willard in his book, Spirit of the Disciplines. It also teaches us what honorable saints long past have discovered to be useful in the Christian life and practice. I would love to see the evangelical church at large give up its shy attitude toward Christian tradition.
The thing I appreciate most about the Catholic church is their appreciation for spiritual disciplines and spiritual formation. While most churches I've participated in greatly deemphasize the topic of spiritual formation, I am thankful that many Christian teachers are eagerly pursuing the topic. Most of the books listed in my recommendations - to the right - relate to this topic. Willard's Renovation of the Heart powerfully opened my eyes to the topic in a new way. From there, I dove into the pool of good literature on the topic. Biola University has its own Institute for Spiritual Formation, which has been training sincere Christians in this field for a few years now. I am grateful that such programs exist. We need this training, and we aren't getting it in the church most of the time. The extent of spiritual disciplines (though they won't call them that) commonly discussed in the evangelical church can be summed up as: "Read your Bible. Pray. Think correctly. The Holy Spirit will do the rest." While churches might sometimes go beyond such a minimal ideology, this summation of spiritual growth is inadequate, I think.
Why the third-wave charismatic church?
The reason I am attracted to this church is that they are expectant. As a group, they expect to see the Holy Spirit work in real and powerful ways among the people. I can only imagine entering my local church meeting place and sensing the mutual expectation among the people, ready to receive the Holy Spirit's graces as He stirs in the "body of Christ". Powerful works of the Holy Spirit are happening all over the world, but much less, relatively, in western cultures. One reason for this, I suspect, is that we have naturalistic minds. We are products of our culture's teachings, as much as we wish we could deny the fact. But where a group of people is united in expectation, there I think it is far more likely for the Holy Spirit to act powerfully. He is welcome there.
So why does any of this matter? Recently, when I was running these ideas over in my head, it struck me that there is an answer.
This issue is exactly what J.P. Moreland was addressing when he wrote Kingdom Triangle. He saw these issues and realized that all of the church's strengths were scattered into pieces, spread out among various Christian church types. He realized that the church, as God would have it, would have all of the strengths mentioned above.
This was a real-life application of the ideas presented in Kingdom Triangle. J.P. had an answer for my questions. Once again, I recommend grabbing a copy of this book.
A few weeks ago, I was tucking my boys into bed. I had recently finished the book of Beatrix Potter's Bunny stories, so it was time to choose something new to read them before they dozed off. I looked on their bookshelf and saw an old copy of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. I had never read the book, and hadn't seen the movie for many years. I prefer to read them imaginative books, usually with some element of fantasy or fairy tale, so Baum's book seemed a good enough choice.
I've been reading a chapter to them every night or two. The last time we opened the book, we read through the chapter where Dorothy and the Scarecrow meet the Tin Woodman, rusted and groaning. Once the Tin Woodman is well oiled and functioning, he declares that he will accompany the others on their journey to find the Wizard of Oz. He narrates his lengthy tale of woe, sharing with Dorothy and the Scarecrow how he was tragically kept from marrying the munchkin woman he loved and how he had once been a real man, losing his body parts piece by piece. He had been repaired by a tinsmith until he was completely made of tin. He explains to them that he had carelessly stayed out in the rain one day, rusting until he was completely frozen in place.
He mentions that, during his time of frozen solitude, he had "had time to think that the greatest loss I had known was the loss of my heart. While I was in love, I was the happiest man on earth; but no one can love who has not a heart." (The Wizard of Oz, Grosset & Dunlap, 1981, p.43)
The Scarecrow philosophically responds that he would rather have a brain because "a fool would not know what to do with a heart if he had one." (p.44)
To this, the Tin Woodman replies: "I shall take the heart . . . for brains do not make one happy, and happiness is the best thing in the world."
This says something about the worldview of the tin man.
I wonder what "happiness" is, for the tin man. I wonder what L. Frank Baum thought "happiness" was. I have not finished the book, so I don't know yet whether this comment was a statement of Baum's own worldview or if it belonged only to the Tin Woodman. Regardless, the Tin Woodman seems to be describing what most living souls today believe to be true. "Happiness is the best thing in the world."
You might ask yourself what affect this statement has on your own life. Does this describe your own worldview?
In Kingdom Triangle, J.P. Moreland gives thorough attention to the topic of happiness in relation to our worldview. As you have probably already determined, the word "happiness" must first be defined. Certainly our understanding of what happiness is will affect our analysis of the Tin Woodsman's (and our own) worldview.
Moreland explains succinctly that the modern definition of happiness is: "pleasurable satisfaction". Is this your own understanding of happiness? When we seek happiness, are we seeking merely pleasurable satisfaction? It's worth mulling over.
J.P. Moreland and Klaus Issler also discuss the topic of happiness in their aptly titled book, The Lost Virtue of Happiness. In both this book and Kingdom Triangle, Moreland explains that pleasurable satisfaction (modern happiness) is a primary goal of the "empty self". (I highly recommend reading these books for his full discussion of the empty self.) But, the empty self seeking pleasurable satisfaction is a recipe for endless disappointment, Moreland argues in so many words. This is one large aspect of the widespread depression and discontentment today. The reason for this is that we have replaced classic happiness with modern happiness.
Moreland writes:
"According to the ancients, happiness is a life well lived, a life of virtue and character, a life that manifests wisdom, kindness, and goodness." (The Lost Virtue of Happiness, Navpress, 2006, p.25)
This wording was very useful for me. As you can see, classic happiness is the result of a very specific type of life. But in a worldview which embraces modern happiness, that "happiness" is always the primary goal of one's life, the treasure being sought above and before all else. It drives us to manipulate people and circumstances, subtly or not, to achieve our own ends. This pursuit has as its purpose the filling of the empty self. Self. Think about how often that word, that person, is our central focus.
Having this knowledge, I think we are required to decide which we desire, a life of virtue, duty, and character, resulting in classic happiness - or - pleasurable satisfaction for the Self?
My guess is that the Tin Woodman was not thinking of happiness in the classic sense when he shared his ideas with Dorothy and the Scarecrow. To him, fulfillment of his desires was the best thing he could imagine. To him, that was the extent of his happiness. He could have said, "I shall take the heart . . . for if I had a heart I could devote my life to loving and serving others in imitation of Christ." Sure, that sounds silly - it's just a story after all. But the point is - how closely does our own worldview match that of the Tin Woodman?
In a previous post, I described God's gift to me of the book, Kingdom Triangle, by J.P. Moreland, and briefly posted some early feedback. I am pleased to report that I've finally finished the book and am compelled to share my thoughts.
First of all, let me explain the basics of the triangle Moreland has so keenly presented in this book. The book has 4 basic sections:
- "The Crisis of Our Age" (Chapters 1-4)
- "The Recovery of Knowledge" (Chapter 5)
- "Renovation of the Soul" (Chapter 6)
- "Restoration of the Kingdom's Miraculous Power" (Chapter 7)
Chapters 1-4 describe in lucid detail the reason we need the Kingdom Triangle right now. Our culture is in a state of crisis, and Moreland explains the what, why, and how of it. With sharp awareness, Moreland has observed and studied our world and its history, recognizing what God intended, and pinpointing how we've gone against those intentions. Having failed as a race to follow God's intended course has resulted in a widespread crisis, namely, our abandonment of classic philosophy and life practice in exchange for modern substitutes. The inevitable outcome has been a pandemic case of human enslavement to "the empty self". We have exchanged the "thick" worldview of Christian monotheism for the "thin" worldviews of scientific naturalism and postmodernism. Moreland explains what is required for today's church to function as God intended, encouraging readers to effectively take action, penetrating the culture around us.
Moreland brings the reader up to date on the relevant facts of the matter and writes informatively about the subject of knowledge. This is the heaviest and deepest part of the book, which Moreland admits. But he also encourages the reader that these things are essential for everyone in the church to understand. He writes as clearly as possible on these complex issues, sharing great wisdom in a way the layperson can understand.
Having set the stage with the appropriate background, Moreland now moves on to explain the "triangle". First, he explains the importance of knowledge and its importance, recovery, and value for the Christian church. Second, he concisely explains the role of spiritual formation and discipleship in the inner life of a Christian, giving a brief overview of some classic spiritual disciplines. Finally, he completes the triangle with a thoughtful discussion of the role of the Holy Spirit's power in the life of the church, manifested in various miraculous signs, wonders, and providential acts. This section will be one of the biggest and most useful wake-up calls to many readers. Moreland sensitively presents well-informed ideas about the supernatural realities absent in so much of the Western church, while they thrive in other parts of the world.
Moreland is one of today's greatest Christian philosophers and thinkers, and his years of experience spill forth in this book. He has gleaned rich knowledge and experience from various mentors and friends and from his own spiritual journey. The range of books he has studied is vast and his careful research is evident throughout.
While reading, the value of this inspired book quickly became apparent to me. By the time I was done, there was no question: Kingdom Triangle has climbed to the top of my personal stack of "the greatest books of all time," sitting right there with my Dallas Willard collection. The book demands that the reader change his or her life for the best - which is my favorite kind of book. The challenges presented are very relevant for the current Western church, and Moreland argues for them masterfully. If I had to pick one part that most affected me, it would be the section where he explains a plan for living a life of self-denial, taking up your metaphorical cross (Mark 8:34-35), and living to love and serve others, after Christ's own example.
I can't recommend the book enough. I think every Christian in our culture should read it, consider its truth, discuss it with friends, and apply its wisdom to a life of spiritual transformation. Pastors, grab a copy and start recommending it to others. This book is an honest and realistic call to participate in the life of greatness God has designed us for in his eternal kingdom.
In the future, I may post a few quotes from the book to entice your mind and encourage you to pick up this book. Moreland is onto some revolutionary thoughts, and my hope is that you will give them a place in your own studies by picking up a copy of Kingdom Triangle.
Links:
Buy the book at Amazon.com
Go to the Kingdom Triangle website
Go to the Kingdom Triangle Discussion blog
I am posting briefly to talk about J.P. Moreland's book, Kingdom Triangle.
A few months ago, I posted about how God unexpectedly provided a copy of this book for me out of the blue. After recently finishing Van Kampen's, The Rapture Question Answered, I moved on to reading Kingdom Triangle. I had heard good things and was very intrigued having read the introductory pages.
I have decided that this is a book every Christian should read. I am only in the first part of the book (the first part of the triangle), but every bit has been rich. Moreland has jammed these pages with vast amounts of wisdom and well-tested knowledge. He is writing about very important matters which every Christian needs to know, if the church is going to function at its best.
If you haven't bought the book, I suggest you do so now. Where to buy? Here are some options:
Bookstore Max
Tower.com
Overstock.com
Amazon.com
Some of the material has been deep and somewhat philosophical, but Moreland argues that these principles are necessary for Christians to understand if we are to face the "crisis" of our culture.
J.P. is one of the great Christian philosophers and thinkers of our time. I highly recommend this book, which Moreland claims is his most important work to date.
