Filed under: God, environment, life, people, religion | Tags: christianity, church, david herndon, environment, God, going green, hybrid, recycling
Its been a while since I posted a controversial blog. I know you’ve all been waiting for one, so here you go:
With gas prices soaring and global warming heating up, everyone from Woody Harrelson to Rob Bell has something to say about “going green.” It is a real issue and the state of the environment is something we all need to seriously think about. It is also a movement that is on the rise within Christianity and the Church’s voice on the matter gets louder every day. As an avid outdoors person myself, I am a big supporter of the “go green” movement. That being said, I do have some concerns with the way it is being presented in Christian circles. It seems that the Christian view is being taught that if you are a believer, yet are not environmentally conscious or active, then you are committing a sin. In some ways “go green” is being taught as the Eleventh Commandment (thou shalt drive a hybrid), and as usual I have a little different view on the spiritual side of this discussion.
The question that keeps popping up in my head as I hear green sermons and have green discussions with people is this: What is God’s perspective on “going green?” Is it really as big a deal to Him as it is to us? How concerned is God with our environment? If Jesus traveled by jet, would he buy a carbon offset? It is often taught that God is green and that being environmentally aware is vital to our spirituality. I’m not so sure.
The most famous scripture quotation would come from Genesis 1, in which God gives man authority over the earth, the vegetation, and the animals with the command to subdue to the earth and be fruitful and multiply. The interpretation is often that God’s command for man to “care for the earth” is really a command to “take care of the earth,” that our responsibility is to do our best to preserve it and protect it. But is that what God is saying? He could be saying, “I’m giving you the earth - do with it whatever you want -it’s yours.” In Isaiah God talks about how the grass will wither and the flower will fade, but the word of the Lord will stand forever. I interpret this as God saying, “Don’t get too invested in temporary things, but invest in what is eternal.” He presents the earth as being a temporary thing - a material thing, if you will. It will not always be here. God’s word is eternal. It will always be here. It will always stand. It is the only thing worth truly investing in. Biblically speaking, no matter what we do environmentally, no matter how green we get, the earth is eventually going to be destroyed anyway. It was never meant to last forever, so how concerned should we be in preserving it? In Genesis 6, God himself decides to flood the earth and start over (talk about a global warming crisis). He doesn’t seem too concerned there about “going green.” He does seem concerned with preserving righteousness.
The truth is, I just don’t find much in the bible that presents a strong spiritual argument for “going green.”
One day someone asked Jesus what the greatest commandment is. Jesus did not say to recycle or install solar panels on your house or to drive a hybrid. He did say this: “you shall love the Lord, your God, with all of your heart, soul, and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself. All of God’s laws hang on these two commandments.” It seems Jesus’ priority was less in how we treat the earth and more in how we treat the creator and the people of the earth.
Before you get too angry with me and misinterpret what I’m saying, let me be clear: As humans, we should try our best to be good stewards of the earth. As Christians, we should be the front runners in this movement. I’m not telling you to start throwing all of your trash on the side of the road or to start burning down forests or to start killing bunny rabbits or anything. Out of respect for our Creator, we should respect His creation. I just think we’re going about things the wrong way.
Instead of opening the newspaper and seeing articles about how to care for the environment, I would be delighted to see articles about how to care for people. Instead of seeing a movie star on TV talking about being green, I would like to see a movie star talking about being loving. Instead of governments imposing pollution taxes, I would like to see governments imposing uncompassionate taxes. Instead of Nobel prizes being awarded for environmental accomplishments, I would like to see Nobel prizes for evangelical accomplishments.
I think if we as humans became consumed with loving people, then our environment would be in a better state. Our world is going to great lengths and spending incredible amounts of money in the interest of the environment. What would our world look like if we went to such lengths and spent as much money in the interest of loving people?
The grass will wither. The flower will fade. The earth is temporary. God’s word and God’s ways will stand forever. You tell me which is more important.
I look forward to your comments.
Filed under: religion | Tags: church, God, jesus, mega-church, religion, willow creek
Okay, folks, here we go again - Since my mega-church blogs always get so much attention (fifty million dollars, part 1), I had to share this post (and I won’t even mention Northpoint).
Willow Creek is undeniably “the” mega-church. Dating back to the 70’s, Willow Creek Community Church is the church that started it all - Small Group Network Philosophy, Contemporary Worship, Drama, and big, big numbers. I’m not sure what their exact attendance is, but I’m sure its ridiculous. As their website says, “we’re big enough for you to blend in and investigate the claims of Jesus Christ anonymously, if you choose to.“
I recently read an article about a multi-year research project Willow Creek has been doing on itself. The topic: is Willow Creek’s Mega-Church ministry effective? The result: Not even close! Oops. Here is an excerpt…
Willow Creek has released the results of a multi-year study on the effectiveness of their programs and philosophy of ministry. The study’s findings are in a new book titled Reveal: Where Are You?, co-authored by Cally Parkinson and Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek Community Church. Hybels himself called the findings “earth shaking,” “ground breaking” and “mind blowing.” And no wonder: it seems that the “experts” were wrong.
The report reveals that most of what they have been doing for these many years and what they have taught millions of others to do is not producing solid disciples of Jesus Christ. Numbers yes, but not disciples. It gets worse. Hybels laments:
“Some of the stuff that we have put millions of dollars into thinking it would really help our people grow and develop spiritually, when the data actually came back it wasn’t helping people that much. Other things that we didn’t put that much money into and didn’t put much staff against is stuff our people are crying out for. We made a mistake.”
There are two kinds of Church growth in my opinion - 1) growth in number, 2)growth in spiritual transformation and maturity. I don’t believe the two are exclusive, but my experience sadly has been that usually churches focus on one or the other. Focusing solely on maturity does not make for the most “attractice” or seeker friendly church service, and so often churches opt for the easier to swallow ”Starbucks” model. To achieve growth in number, just give people what they want more than what they need. This seems to be what Hybels and his church discovered, but now they are discovering something new - being attractive simply is not enough. If your staff and pastors are the only spiritually mature people in the church, how long will the church last after the mature people are no longer around - and for what reason does the church exist if not to help people grow spiritually?
I celebrate with Willow Creek that they were willing to ask the hard questions and that now they are trying to correct their mistake and do things more effectively. Greg Hawkins, executive pastor of Willow Creek says this of the recent findings, “Our dream is that we fundamentally change the way we do church. That we take out a clean sheet of paper and we rethink all of our old assumptions. Replace it with new insights. Insights that are informed by research and rooted in Scripture. Our dream is really to discover what God is doing and how he’s asking us to transform this planet.”
Upon this note, I would like to reemphasize my heart in all of these blogs: Mega-Churches have a responsibility to make sure they are leading the way responsibly. How many small, medium, and even large churches have modeled themselves after Willow Creek? And now what good has it done? I sincerely hope that ALL churches, large or small, will follow Willow Creeks new example and ask the hard questions. I sincerely hope that ALL churches will learn to value true spiritual transformation over simple numbers. I sincerely hope that ALL churches will strive to accurately reflect Jesus rather than dress Jesus up and try to make him “attractive.”
Click HERE for the article this blog is based on. And thanks to my Dad for sending me the link
Yesterday, while listening to the radio, I heard one of the most interesting products I have ever heard. Its called the Itty Bitty Bible. It is basically a business card that unfolds and has the complete Bible printed on the inside. Over 1,200 pages were reduced 285 times to accomplish this. It comes in the King James Version or the Catholic Latin Version, and it only costs 10 bucks.
At first I thought this was the most amazing thing ever - an entire Bible on a business card? The news story on the radio was that these Itty Bitty Bibles have been shipped overseas to the troops in Iraq so that every soldier could carry a Bible with them, but not be loaded down with any extra weight. What a wonderful idea - invent a business card that holds every page of the bible on it and give it to soldiers so they can all read the bible anytime they need it, but not burden them with extra weight. Then the best part of the story ran. I laughed out loud when I heard the dj say this:
“The Itty Bitty Bible is the size of a business card, holds every page of the Old and New Testament within, and is readable using any standard compound microscope. How wonderful that now our troops can carry a bible with them at all times.” …and a compound microscope?!
Am I missing something? We don’t want to weigh our troops down with the weight of the bible, but now they so have to carry around a compound microscope? Is that something standard for soldiers? At first I thought the microscope would also fit in my pocket, but after researching I find this microscope is just like the one I used in my college biology labs - its the size of a football and weighs about 15 pounds. I might as well carry around Strong’s Concordance with my Itty Bitty Bible.
What a great idea - let’s invent a Bible that is only readable with the use of a compound microscope! What is the point? Maybe instead of sending it to the troops, they should send it to micro-biologists… or they could market it to Christian Scientists (think about it).
Has Christianity become such a novelty that amoung the Witnessing Breath Mints, the WWJD bracelets, the Financial Blessing Hankies, and the Prayer of Jabez Magnets, now we have a Bible that requires the use of a microscope? I’m all about showing our faith and giving people any resource they need to grow closer to God. But what is the use of a Bible you can’t read?
I don’t know what else to say, except this is ridiculous…. Nay, Ridonkulous! Does anybody else see the lunacy in this invention?
Check it out - Itty Bitty Bible, a Compound Microscope, a Prayer Hankie, and don’t forget the Mints.
If you have any consistency in reading this blog, you will know that I have some pretty big concerns about “mega-churches.” My most recent blog in this arena apparently ruffled some feathers, raised some questions, and began what I think is a significant thought process. I do not oppose mega-ministries, but I do have some serious concerns about how/why they do things. It is never comfortable to be the one asking the questions of accountability. Thanks to all who responded… hopefully you will have some response to this blog, so here we go…
I find it interesting that a few months ago I wrote a blog about the ordination of homo-sexuals, which only received 3 comments out of 71 total views (1 of which should be disqualified because it was my mother -she has to respond). A couple of weeks ago I wrote the “fifty million dollars” blog, in which I made some negative comments about a certain Atlanta based Mega-Church and I received 17 comments out of 160 total views. Apparently we have stronger feelings about Andy Stanley than we do about Gay Ministers. So the Mega-Church issue is obviously a subject many people have mixed feelings about, and it might be good to talk about it some more. Here are my top 3 grievances with the Mega-Church. The rule is, if you read them, you MUST comment. This page is meant to be a discussion.
Grievance #1. Multiplication: I think it is clear when you study the Bible that God’s method of increasing His impact is through discipleship and multiplication. Elijah poured into Elisha, Jacob into Joseph, Moses into Joshua, Samuel into David, Jesus into the disciples, Paul into Timothy, and the list goes on. Jesus was God’s Son, solely charged with man’s redemption, but even he did not try to do it all himself. He commanded the disciples to make some more disciples that would make some more disciples, etc, etc. They did, and that is why I’m writing this blog right now. Think about that for a minute.
Most Mega-Churches are into planting campuses - not new churches - campuses. Attend one of these campuses. You’ll be greeted by a person, you’ll be musically led in worship by a band, but the message will come from the sole Pastor of the church via satellite or internet or dvd. Where is the multiplication in that? These churches often make a habit of hiring professionals to “work” the service - professional musicians, PR, production companies, etc. They raise the “quality” of presentation, but create no opportunity for volunteering in a significant capacity. Where is the multiplication in that? How can you follow Jesus’ commands of making true disciples if you never give the followers a chance to do more than be a spectator?
Also, often these spectators are lost on the biblical mandates and vision behind why the church does what it does. I hear more about how cool these churches are, how technologically advanced they are, who is leading worship, who is speaking, and how much money they are spending. But I hear very little in regards to what spiritual experience and connection with God is happening. Even Northpoint’s own employee thought it more important to inform me of how much money was spent on their Buckhead campus rather than WHY they even built a Buckhead campus. True Discipleship requires you to explain the Why. If people don’t understand the Why, then they will never get the What, the How, the When, or the Who. Think about that for a minute.
Grievance #2. Spending: Many people argue that you cannot put a price on evangelism, that we should do whatever it takes to reach the lost. The result is that many of the Mega-Churches are spending billions of dollars (collectively) to build structures to “attract” people to their “campus.” They will spend ungodly amounts of money in the name of serving Jesus. First of all, this is not how Jesus did ministry. He went to where the lost were. He did not wait around and wait for them, nor did he bribe them to hang out with him. If we have to spend millions of dollars to make church “attractive,” then I would say we are not truly being what the Church is meant to be. Read Acts 2 sometime.
Often the church will spend money in the name of “quality.” We want to give Jesus our best, so we feel we need to buy the best. As we speak, I am making decisions for my own church’s new building and sound system. My salesmen demand that my church “deserves” the best speakers, etc. I’ve also heard this pitch at a car dealership - you deserve the best, but lets be honest, a Honda Civic can get me just as many places as a BMW. I may deserve it, but do I need it? And at what cost? If I buy the $22,000 soundboard for my church instead of the $5,000 what potential ministries are being missed in that $17,000 difference. Mega-Churches have a duty to draw the line between what you deserve and what you need. Jesus always gave us what we needed over what we deserved. Think about that for a minute.
Furthermore, most of the people who criticize the church do so about money. If we are trying to reach our critics, then we’re not doing ourselves any favors by spending money just because we have it. I agree, we should do whatever it takes to reach the lost. But “whatever it takes” is not always “everything you have.”
Grievance #3. Pride: also known as the “know it all” complex. Many Mega-Churches hold annual conferences for other (small) churches to come learn “how to do church the right way.” In other words, “this is how we do it and so should you.” Many of these Pastors write books on how to be a pastor and how to run a church. In other words, “this is how I do it and so should you.” What mandate says that if your weekly attendance surpasses 10,000 people then you are doing it “right?” I know Jesus often ministered to thousands of people, but in the end it was a very small group that actually did what he taught. I think we fool ourselves to say that numbers equals success. Just because people are attracted to what you are saying does not mean your saying the right thing, or rather, true things. Think about that for a minute.
All churches should first and foremost challenged to listen to God and do whatever He says. When Jesus was questioned about his methods, his answer was always some form of this: “I say what I hear the Father say and I do what I see the Father doing.” My church is not made up of the same people that an Atlanta church is made of. Our circumstances are different. Our struggle is different. Our calling from God is the same, but the method is almost guaranteed to look different than anything else. We are meant to conform to Christ, and not to each other. The Church universal could make so much more of an impact in the world if we would embrace our differences rather than try to outdo and redo each other. We’re not all a bunch of feet (II Corinthians). Think about that for a minute.
So there you have it. I tried to convey my worries without hurting anyone’s feelings. I hope that you commenting folks will respond with as much passion and insight as you have before. Also, I think it would be fun to forward this blog all the way to a Pastor of a true Mega-Church and get a response, so if you have any connections…
Okay, I’ve been sitting on this one for a couple of weeks and I can’t hold it in anymore. It is sure to step on some toes and rattle some cages, but in the end I hope I can start a healthy discussion here about what is necessary.
A couple of weeks ago I bumped into an old friend at a wedding. This friend currently works at Northpoint Community Church in Atlanta, home to Andy Stanley and other Pop-Christian-Culture Spiritual Gurus. As we talked he began filling me in on all that is going on with Northpoint and everything he’s working on. Then he invited me to come up to Atlanta some time so that he could give me a tour of their newest Buckhead Campus. Here is how the conversation went:
Friend: You really need to come see our new Buckhead Campus.
Me: I’ll give you a call next time I’m in the area.
Friend: But you really need to see this building. It cost Fifty Million Dollars.
Me: FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS?!
Friend: Yeah, fifty million dollars. (said in a “what’s the big deal” tone)
Me: SERIOUSLY, FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS?! (no, this is not a typo)
Friend: Yes, fifty million dollars. (now he seems a little annoyed)
Me: Don’t you think you guys could have used fifty million dollars to eradicate world hunger or something instead of adding another building to Atlanta?
Friend: Yeah, but this building is like a work of art… it’s all glass… the view is amazing… its beautiful… its even up for an architectural award… we hired the same architects that built the Atlanta Aquarium. (now he’s really annoyed)
Me: Don’t you think you guys could have used fifty million dollars to eradicate world hunger or something instead of adding another award winning building to Atlanta?
Friend: Well, we raised 25 million within the church. (does that mean a 25 million debt?)
Me: Don’t you think you guys could have used 25 million dollars to eradicate world hunger or something?
Friend: Well, property in Buckhead is really expensive, so that’s where a lot of money went.
Me: I hear real estate is pretty affordable in third world countries that don’t have schools or hospitals or churches.
Friend: Well, it was good seeing you. Call me next time you’re in Atlanta.
I’m not sure if we’re still friends, as I may have offended him. I’ll be the first to admit I came off a little strong, but am I the only one who has a problem with this church spending such a ridiculous amount of money on a building? I mean I know buildings cost money - a lot of money - but not fifty million dollars. So I left that conversation (or rather was left in that conversation) with a lot of questions:
Is it necessary to spend that much money on a church? Is it necessary for churches to use award winning architects to build their buildings? Is it necessary for churches to be made of all glass and to have amazing views? Is it necessary for churches to build in the most expensive areas of town? Do we go to such great lengths because we are trying to make church and Jesus attractive to the world around us? What kind of message are we sending to people when we try so hard to get them to come to church? What kind of message are we sending about Jesus if we have to try so hard to get people to come to church? How can we teach people about Jesus and compassion and justice, ask for their money, and then waste it on a building instead of replicating Jesus’ compassion and justice?
Northpoint is not the only church going to such great lengths to reach people. “Mega” churches all over the country are spending enough money to buy the moon building worship facilities. But for what purpose? Does Jesus really need us to make him attractive? When Jesus prayed for all believers in John 17, was he envisioning the mega-church? Is Christianity suppossed to be attractive? Is this the same way Jesus would have done it?
Jesus did not need a fancy building to teach and heal. He did not need flashy backgrounds or the latest presentation software or a Mac. He sought necessity and sufficiency over flash and splurge. He was relevant. He was authentic. He was effective. But He was not wasteful. He presented the Truth and let the Truth do its work.
He told all of his followers to lose themselves and to die to themselves and to love others more than they love themselves. As a result all of his followers abandoned him and He was killed as a result. It doesn’t sound very attractive or fun or easy, but it made the biggest impact the world has ever witnessed.
I think Jesus would have spent fifty million dollars feeding the hungry, healing the sick, and freeing the oppressed.
