22/22 Vision: Part Two
INTRODUCTION
In my previous article, I identified two foundational challenges for the church: Reality and Community. We are weak and weakening in both. And the prospects are not promising.
Concerning the Church and Reality:
Studies reveal the following statistics about the Evangelical Church (see part one for more):
- 79% of Evangelicals do not have a Christian Worldview.
- 52% of Evangelicals argue that people are basically good;
- 57% of Evangelicals say Jesus is not the only way to eternal life.
In other words,
- Our Worldview – our view of Reality – is not in line with that of God;
- Our Doctrine – what we teach about Reality – does not agree with God’s teaching on Reality;
- Our Discipleship – how we live out what God teaches about Reality.
Finally,
1. The statistics on the subjects above weaken with every new year of studies;
2. Recent study results yielded the lowest numbers for biblical fealty since studies began;
3. Numbers are healthiest for older Christians, weakest for young adult Christians.
The Evangelical Church has a foundational Worldview and Doctrinal problem in the church. And it’s growing worse. NOTE: To read part one of this article, click here.
Concerning the Church and Community:
Study after study says we are not finding meaningful relationships in the church. We are not a community of believers but a collection of consumers.
Put the two together, and though we continue to talk about our “faith community,” there is clear evidence of a weakening faith and community in the church.
Neither our faith (Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship) nor our Community are healthy.
We ended Part One by asking what can we do about it? What must we do about it?
In Part Two, we offer two words of counsel.
DIRECTIONAL COUNSEL #1: Get A Firm Grip On Reality
The issues I raised in part one of this two-part article are foundational matters in the church – our ministries will live or die on them. If the Worldview, Doctrine and Discipleship of our churches are weak, a pay day is coming, a bankrupting one for church and pastor.
For example, who ever imagined the Evangelical church – not just society, but the Evangelical church – would today be arguing the issue of gender? This cultural issue is seemingly settled (or should I say “unsettled?”) in government, education, pop culture, and media. That means this issue is in our homes and our church. I hear it often from pastors: Christian youth and young adults do not know if they are male or female. One wonders why the church has been so silent in teaching the Christian theology of gender? Were we assuming everyone understood? Were we too busy teaching how to have our best life now or all God is doing to make us happy in this life? Whatever the reason, the harvest of our weak attention to Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship is now in the Church.
And this is just one example. The point is, without an emphasis on biblical doctrine in the church, there will not be biblical faith or practice among believers (I do not say, “disciples”).
But as evil and dangerous as false teaching on gender is, it can’t compare with the evil and danger of a church designing its own God and writing its own Bible, a church that no longer knows its Head, people seated in the presence of God, yet far from Him. Without biblical faith and practice, there is no pleasing God, our Creator, Redeemer and Judge.
Pastor, attempts to address the issue of Worldview topically (preaching a sermon or series on gender, homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, etc.) is insufficient. At the end of the day, our people will be left with a choice between “Pastor says” and “School, government, media, celebrities, and friends say.”
Call it, “Your truth, my truth.”
We must give followers of Jesus the context in which these cultural issues set, and so can be addressed, as well as the foundation on which these issues rest: A Christian Worldview.
THREE C’s
Consider. How did an unchristian Worldview come to be so prevalent in the Evangelical Church? Two possibilities stand out. First, pastors are not teaching fundamental biblical doctrine that presents a Christian Worldview, Reality as God designed and defines it. Second, pastors are not properly prepared to deal with these individual cultural issues because they have not studied, and so, do not understand a Christian Worldview. In either case, pastors are not giving their people the tools they need to understand Reality and navigate cultural issues. As we have already seen, studies on the beliefs of Evangelicals reveal the carnage among our people in Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship.
Confession: I see little that convinces me pastors understand the seriousness of this situation or the importance of giving ourselves to studying, understanding, and teaching Christian Worldview. The foundations of our churches (Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship) are being destroyed while we focus on the window dressing of building brand, attracting attenders, providing experiences to draw people back to our meetings, and distilling discipleship down to a handful of classes.
Conclusion: For this single omission the future of the church will be greatly challenged as people not only continue to leave the church, but many who remain will become a part of statistics I cite, causing those numbers to further weaken. Church attenders with weak or unbiblical Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship will be unable to answer the cultural issues like gender that will continue to come in the years ahead. Result: they will live in opposition to the God they believe in. Even worse, more people will leave The Faith and The Church, or they will leave The Faith even as they remain comfortably in your church.
Worldview student and teacher, Os Guinness, writes,
“Everyone thinks from their worldview, but only a few think about it.”
Restated, everyone looks at Reality and understands it through their own Worldview lens, but few pay attention to the accuracy of their lens, how it defines what they see or don’t see. Paying loose attention to how we see the world, i.e., interpret it, it means in a sea of icebergs (cultural issues), Titanic collisions await our people ahead as they encounter a world that demands they see reality as it does or be cancelled and crushed. Except that our “ahead” is already upon us: biblical faith is taking a deadly beating in the church.
Help Is At Hand
But don’t despair, Pastor. Help is at hand as you make the decision to read solid authors and works on Worldview. There are many outstanding thinkers who work in this area. Let me suggest a handful. Authors like Nancy Pearcey, Os Guinness, Francis Schaeffer, Mark Bertrand, and James Sire are all very readable, and their work in making Worldview understandable is pure gold. Here are suggestions on books written by these Worldview writers:
- Os Guinness: Long Journey Home, Impossible People, Renaissance, A Free People’s Suicide, Carpe Diem Redeemed, Fool’s Talk.
- Nancy Pearcey: Total Truth, Finding Truth, Love Thy Body, Saving Leonardo.
- Francis Schaeffer: How Should We Then Live (prophetic!), A Christian Manifesto, Escape From Reason, The God Who is There, He Is There and He is Not Silent.
- Mark Bertrand: (Re)thinking Worldview
- James Sire: The Universe Next Door
And a bonus for children’s pastors and parents:
- Hillary Morgan Ferrer: Mama Bear Apologetics (a great book for teaching worldview and apologetics to your young children.
Pastor, your people are already wrestling with Reality – how God sees it vs how the world sees it. Or worse, they’re not wrestling with it or the issues of the day. It is your job to be ready to walk them through these challenges to truth and falsehood, who they are, who God is and what He requires.
DIRECTIONAL COUNSEL #2: Become a Community Activist
You and your church need to have a new understanding of who God says you are as a “faith community.”
You are not a club to be branded for consumption. You are not a schedule of meetings designed to attract attenders. You are not a therapy center instructing people in how to feel good about themselves or have happier __________.
You are the Church of Jesus Christ. You are the purchase of His blood: you belong to Him. It is in Him that you live and move and have your being. It is from Him and for Him that you even exist. He is your Savior and Lord, your boss. It is He who defines who you are and what you do. He sets your mission and course: make disciples of Jesus in all nations and do so by all means possible, beginning where you as a local church gather. You are not a club unto yourselves, not if you are a part of the church of Jesus Christ. You are a continuation of the church that has existed for 21 centuries, you are a members of a church that encircles the entire globe today – you are bound as one with all churches everywhere and throughout all time: those who prosper and those who are persecuted; churches traditional and churches contemporary; churches who agree with you on every detail and churches who don’t (but do hold to the Cardinal Truths). You are not a kingdom unto yourselves; you are a local representation of the body of Christ, given life by Him and always accountable to Him. You are the bride of Christ for whom He will one day return, a bride preparing yourself not for acceptance by the world, but by Him.
With this in mind, Pastor, it’s time to take a “Reality” approach to your church gatherings, whether they be your Sunday worship service, small groups, or even one-on-one mentorships, focusing your efforts on helping believers grow in their understanding of Christian Worldview, their knowledge of Christian Doctrine, and their faithfulness to Christian Discipleship. It’s time to remember that what your church is doing this year, this week, even this day is not only important every day to people in your church, but eternally important to people everywhere. The new heavens and new earth will look different because churches like yours give themselves to serious growth and ministry in the areas of Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship. They will be populated by people whose lives were transformed by the Gospel, as presented by followers of Jesus Christ who are able to explain the Gospel in the context of this culture and its current issues.
In other words: there is a greater purpose to our gathering than us and an “experience” that makes us feel good but doesn’t take us deeper into the goodness and greatness of God. And that means churches coming together around the shared fire of Jesus. A missional Community strong in Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship. A missional community that has more than shared experiences here and now, but whose experience is an ongoing transformation as followers of Jesus – our hearts, minds, and wills sanctified and strengthened through The Truth and seeing all of life as the Creator and Redeemer sees it.
Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship in the Real World
Our spiritual ancestors understood this. They were clear in their view of Reality and strong in Community. They were strong in Worldview, Doctrine and Discipleship. Theirs was a true Faith Community.
After Jesus’ ascension, 120 of his followers gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem. Ten days later they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and immediately cast into a cultural crisis. Thousands of Jewish people came to witness what was happening in the church, people whom the culture considered cultists at best, rebels at worst. Everything was on the line as the culture confronted the church, and considered its fascination with the rebel insurrectionist, Jesus. Convinced that Jesus is who he says he is, the Faith Community stood strong together, refusing to back down. The apostle Peter preaches the Gospel. He tells his Jewish listeners they have killed the very Messiah they had looked for. The culture around the Faith Community does not change, but 3000 people believe on Jesus Christ. They choose willingly to join the culturally branded “rebels,” not to foster a societal revolution, but to follow Jesus with His now more than 3000 disciples. But the culture does not relent. It applies even more pressure, i.e. persecution. Christians are canceled, abandoned by their families and friends. Christians lose their jobs and have no means of support. Their crime was not faith, but fighting the machine of the day.
What was the response of the Church?
Acts 2.42-47 tells us:
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
The lives of the first Faith Community were defined by a Christian Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship. The fruit of this emphasis is evident. We are the continuation of this church in the eyes of God, but not in our experience. Even with all our “experiences,” we cannot point to such transforming life among us.
Their story does not end there. In Acts 4.24-31, the leaders of the young Faith Community are again confronted by their culture and its expectations. Because they did not follow the party line – the Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship – of the culture around them, they were arrested and threatened. They were told to never again preach in the name of Jesus or be cancelled. The Faith Community does not hesitate. Its faith is firmly fixed on God. Its sense of missional Community is sure. They pray:
“Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, . . . look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.”
The church sees the cultural issue of the moment: persecution for being true to Jesus. Because their view of Reality (God, the world, themselves) is accurate, they do not flinch: they do not surrender or compromise to make the world more comfortable with them. Instead, they press forward. They pray, “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with boldness.”
Again, their lives were defined by a Christian Worldview, Doctrine, and Discipleship. The fruit of this emphasis is evident: more power, more speaking God’s Word, more boldness (confidence), more healing, signs and wonders.
A FINAL THOUGHT
One wonders what would be the response of the American Evangelical church in 2022.
What the church requires is 22/22 Vision: an understanding of the times in 2022 that comes only through eternal lenses of God, seeing this time, or any time, from God’s eternal perspective.
In 2020, the church was fitted with 20/20 lenses, seeing culture and church through rose-colored glasses that had convinced us all was well in the church, that we are were on the ascendancy in our mission.
But by the end of the year, the rose-colored glasses were off and we found we could no longer see who we were as The Church or our standing in the American culture. In the early days of 2020, the church in America had been dancing to a tune of consumer Christianity:
worship had become a concert set;
preaching was formed and framed for tune-ins and social media hits;
discipleship had been reduced to five classes;
faith community had been displaced by attractional-model church attendance.
Our brand was hot and our church décor was hip. Our music was banger and our gear was great. Our social media presence was growing and our metrics were good. Our CEO-leaders were CEOing well, and the only dilemma we faced was which celebrity preacher we were supposed to like best and be like. The view in 2020 was 20/20 rosy.
But 2020 is now rearview. And with it, so is what we then called 20/20 vision. To adapt a song from my high school days, “We couldn’t see clearly then, the rain wasn’t gone. We couldn’t see any obstacles in our way.” The year was 2020, but our vision was far from 20/20.
Those obstacles did not drain our strength as much as they revealed our weaknesses.
As we move deeper into 2022, it is time for 22/22 vision, seeing Reality as God has designed and defined it. It’s time for body-building in the church of Jesus Christ. That body-building must include training in Worldview and in living as a true Faith Community. May God give us 22/22 Vision that we might understand the times in which we live. Even more, may God give us 22/22 hearts that we might live in light of eternity.
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