The Achilles Heel of the churches of Christ

A Dangerous Flattery

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and now that my daughter is two and parroting everything my wife and I do, I’d like to think that they’re right. I wonder if the first-century Christians would be flattered by our imitation? I was raised in California at the tail end of the heyday of the churches of Christ; when Acapella was selling out church auditoriums and brotherhood lectureships. When weekend youth rallies regularly numbered 1000+ teens and the summer bible camps were turning kids away because of bunk shortages. I remember climbing Half-Dome in knee-high socks at the annual Yosemite Family Encampment until it grew so large that the national park service asked us not to return- we were cratering their alcohol sales. Most of all, I remember our common aim and rallying cry, instilled into me from my very earliest days- Restoring New Testament Christianity.

Today, I am serving Jesus in Lisbon Portugal and the spirit of the restoration lives on in our lives and our work among the churches of Christ. When I read the New Testament through the lenses of our heritage I feel the weight of responsibility to carry on the church of Christ legacy, New Testament imitation; we don’t merely want to be like the first-century Christians, we want to be first-century Christians. This has been and remains our common goal. While this is a well meaning and spiritually sounding goal it carries with it a treacherous weakness that I fear will be our ultimate downfall. It is our Achilles heel, which if left unaddressed threatens to undermine the churches of Christ as a movement.

I will concede that not everyone nowadays shares the restorationist passion, nor does everyone subscribe to this as creed (“Have no creeds but the Bible”) but in general, among the churches of Christ this aspiration comes as close to creedal teaching as anything else we profess. Historically, it formed our core and established our identity yet today, for many in the churches of Christ it is no longer a noble desire it is the goal to be maintained at all costs, This high cost I’m afraid, is insidiously diluting our momentum.

Why is having this goal so dangerous? Because it is fundamentally different than of those we claim to imitate.

World’s Apart

If the numbers prove to be accurate, the churches of Christ have already begun their slow decline. I am in no way insinuating that should the churches of Christ cease to exist that God’s work on this earth would cease, God will not be moved. Nor do I believe that this trend is irreversible. However, the churches of Christ have much to add to Christian dialogue and therefore we who wish to see the movement advance have a responsibility to get our priorities straight. Listen carefully; if our goal is to be first-century Christians, we will never see that desire fulfilled because as noble a goal as this may be, it is a different goal altogether than those we’re professing to imitate.

How can I be so sure? First, we know that the aim of our first-century forefathers was different because we have Jesus’ instruction “…go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV) Second, we know the goal of those first disciples was to go and make more disciples because of the results. The early church grew by tens of thousands very early on until it turned the Roman Empire on its head. Not only did they accept Jesus’ mandate, they succeed in it, leaving for us a legacy to follow. However if you visit our congregations today, attend our lectureships, or talk with the members you will discover that, for many, the noble desire of “first century Christianity” is itself the objective; the means have been swapped for the end.

The telltale signs are all around us: shrinking congregations still arguing about baptismal regeneration, arguments about instruments in the first century, one cup or two, or the King James as the litmus test for fellowship, ad nauseam. The longer we ignore the fact that the goal we’re striving for is the polar opposite of our first-century brethren the quicker our demise will be. The more effort we exert in trying to be “first-century Christians” the less passionate we’ll be in making new disciples, planting new churches, and sending missionaries to reach the unreached. Most intriguingly I’ve discovered that the opposite is also true; the more passionate we are in being and making disciples of Jesus Christ the more like our first century brethren we'll become.

If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery then we need to start imitating by doing what the first century Christians did. Anything else is just a cheap knock-off.

11 "Lessons" About Driving in Portugal

I've lived and driven in many places including learning to drive on the opposite side of the street and I've discovered through the years that every culture has a unique take on driving. Portugal is no exception. A part of our decision to move to Portugal was to take our car with us. We had a number of reasons for this, chief among them being that we already owned it outright, and two years on we're still debating on whether that was the right decision or not. Last week I finally received my official Portuguese drivers license so to celebrate I'm sharing some of my most important lessons learned about driving on Portuguese roads.

Happy driving!

1. There will always be someone driving faster and more aggressive than you.
2. Parking is a premium so go ahead and take that space on the side walk, in front of my driveway, the shopping center exit, or double-park behind my car. Oh, you have your hazards on? That makes it all better.
3. Buying a station wagon in the following brands: Mercedes, BMW, VW, or Audi grants you exclusive access to the "Nutty Speeders" club.
4. Things such as speed limits and common driving courtesies become mere suggestions upon entrance to above said club.
5. Remember, though you've done nothing wrong its always, always, always your fault.
6. Rear-ends and fender benders happen, a lot. I've been rear-ended more in 2 years here than my entire driving life in the U.S. (See #5)
7. Traffic enforcement you say? Nope, they're not patrolling the roads because they're too busy doing random neighborhood document stops. Those papers aren't going to check themselves.
8. Of course there are posted speed limits but there are only two real speeds on Portuguese roads, ultra-fast and ultra-slow. Finding yourself caught in front of one or behind the other will ruin your mood. (See #5)
9. Window tint is a privilege that you pay the government to have. "May I make my car cooler your excellency?"
10. If you're changing lanes one by one you're doing it wrong. Nutty Speeders change across 4 lanes and only seconds before needing to exit. Extra points for spraying everyone behind you with windshield washer fluid at the same time.
11. Trying to find that place armed only with an address? Good luck. It doesn't matter what Google Maps said.

The Most Important Lesson I've Learned (So Far)

Frustrated. No, utterly discouraged. This is how I had arrived to our usual weekly meeting, ironically, at a Starbucks.

I was in a real funk.

The stresses of the past 18 months had compounded to the point where I was starting to wonder if we had made a huge mistake moving to Portugal. It was more than the usual cultural differences, constant language mistakes, or loneliness. No, it was the aire of hopelessness and utter uselessness starting to take hold.

I had done this all before (minus the language part) having lived and worked in Ireland. Why was I feeling this way now?

"I should be a pro. I should know what to expect." I mused to my colleague, in broken Portuguese.

Instead the horrible feelings overwhelming me that Wednesday afternoon were clouding my vision and straining my resolve. How could I possibly reconcile the great mis-matched differences between my American culture and that of the Portuguese? How could I ever learn the language well enough to serve effectively? Would I ever be able to bridge that gap despite being so different?

I was beginning to believe the lie that our decision was hopelessly idealistic, a fools errand of the gravest kind.

Moreover and even more disturbing was the nagging fear that we had lashed our then 18 month old daughter to the mast of a sinking, broken country. Could we provide her with enough opportunities to set her up for a successful life or would her future be dimmed because of our decision? Had I driven a wedge that would one day turn into a unbridgeable cultural gulf between our daughter and us? What had we done?

Portugal is the poorest country in Western Europe. It is also the least educated, and that has emerged as a painful liability in its gathering economic crisis. -WSJ.com

I paused to take a sip of my coffee, lost in my doubts and fears. My colleague appeared to be pondering my comments and hesitated before responding in Portuguese:

"São grande diferenças entre as nossas cultures, sem duvida." (Without a doubt, there are huge differences between our two cultures.)

"But," he continued, "we are not trying to meld our two cultures. This isn't about mixing the American culture and the Portuguese culture together or trying to find some common ground between them. This is about creating and living out a new type of culture, a Christian culture that only God, through his church, can create."

His words rang in my head as if I had been standing inside a clock tower bell at noon time. How had I missed one of the greatest powers available on planet earth? How had I been so foolish and so timid?

Jesus didn't die to combine different cultures together. He didn't die so that we would play nice. He died so that we would die to our selves, our prejudices, and to our cultural cruft. He died so that the sinful cultural baggage we've collected during our tenure on this earth would be reborn, refined and renewed. He died to create a reborn culture:

"For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace…So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord." Ephesians 2:14-21

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Six months have passed since that afternoon at Starbucks and I still reflect on our conversation almost every day. It has been a profound lesson, probably the most important lesson I've learned so far as an immigrant. What had become an almost impenetrable fog of doubt was pierced by the light of gospel clarity.

We're all immigrants, this world is not our home and my task is not to become more Portuguese and less American… but more like Christ. Never-mind the irony of having learned that lesson while sitting in an American coffee shop from my Portuguese friend.

Obrigado mano, abraço.

10 Musts for Countercultural Living

Yesterday I wrote about the difference between being countercultural versus contra cultural. Below is my follow-up with 10 absolutes for the countercultural life:

10 Musts for Countercultural Living:

1. Major on what you're for
2. Minor on what you're against
3. Don't over generalize or mischaracterize
4. Be a builder/creator/contributor
5. Represent Christ's culture well
6. Be smart & tactical
7. Break the mold
8. Live a distinctive life
9. Live to hear "Well done, good and faithful servant"
10. Do everything with excellence

Counter or Contra Cultural?

The decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare) by the United States supreme court yesterday has sent shockwaves through the political, cultural, business, and religious communities across America. It's evident that both commentators and pundits are still grappling with the historic implications of yesterday's ruling by the sheer avalanche of commentary coming out. Here are some of the more insightful: George Will, Jeffrey H. Anderson, & Peggy Noonan.

For us culture-makers its important for us to sit up and pay attention to the rhetoric and tactics coming from the political anthill. While the law itself and the arguments before the court are political the ramifications are cultural. Big government vs. small government; social care vs. individual choice; shared tax burden vs. small tax bill; federal mandates vs. individual and states rights. Where you draw the line falls mainly to political ideology which is in itself an expression of culture.

I don't want to rehash the argument or even take a side here…I'll leave that to the political talking heads. My focus is to highlight the difference between being countercultural versus contra cultural. Whether in politics or in cultural endeavors there is a tendency for us to confuse counter-culturalism (sic) with contra-culturalism and call it good. I see this all the time in political circles and the argument over ObamaCare is no exception. There are many on the conservative right that have angrily voiced their contempt for the ACA but without contributing any substantive counter policy. Being against the law does nothing to advance the debate towards a solution, it only defines what you're against.

Sidestepping the Trap

As Christians working to redeem culture we must not fall into the same trap. It is so easy to look around and condemn the byproducts of unredeemed culture (even if it deserves condemnation). In a word: being contra culture. Its a whole different ball-game and much harder to be countercultural by contributing a different type of culture altogether.

It's much easier to explain what I'm against than to clarify what I'm for.

The early Christian disciples were able to successfully live the distinction which made them so successful. They were operating in a godless, sexually charged, idol-filled society and could have easily made a stink to the Roman authorities through protests, petitions, sit-ins, and news articles but instead they lived counter culturally by living out a new, redeemed culture.

"And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, 'These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,'" (Acts 17:6 ESV)

They understood the difference and lived it out. Are we?

Exporting the Churches of Christ: Communion

Communion.

The Lord's Supper.

The Table.

If you've grown up in the churches of Christ as I have you are sure to be familiar with the above terms. Known by various names depending on where you are, the form has remained relatively the same for generations; someone to present the "communion talk" and various men grabbed at the start of the service to "pass the plates" with the "giving back to the Lord" talk shortly thereafter.

I'm not being disrespectful about the weekly practice of the Lord's Supper. I am glad to be counted among the churches of Christ that have faithfully administered the weekly ordinance. The practice was something undertaken by the earliest Christian disciples as a weekly reminder of the Lord Jesus' obedient sacrifice and the institution of the new blood covenant and therefore something that should be done today. Even though the broader evangelical movement has strayed away from a weekly remembrance the churches of Christ (and other restorationist groups) have remained consistent. We have not bought into other's justifications ceasing weekly observance for fear that "the supper will lose significance" even though doing so ironically robs it of all significance. While we have perhaps substituted our understanding of what elements actually constitute the Lord's supper (wafer and grape juice vs. a communion meal) our motivation remains pure; remembering collectively the great sacrifice of our Lord on a weekly, corporate basis.

Having returned to cross-cultural living again I have begun to see that we have been a little careless about what we're exporting regarding communion. American churches of Christ have exported not only the gospel but some of the bad habits that make a church of Christ service, well, a church of Christ service. Regarding communion, the most harmful is the traditional communion talk. No matter where I've travelled the tendency has always been the same, to use the communion talk to talk about communion. You know the scriptures well because they're repeated every week ad nauseam:

1 Corinthians 11 or Matthew 26:26. Rinse and Repeat

They've been repeated so often that a pattern has emerged at the weekly commencement of communion, a communion talk about communion. That's like the master chef describing his sumptuous creation by talking about the scientific theory of hunger! Every week our people around the globe are being reminded, not about the sacrifice of Jesus and the eternal purposes behind that event, but about the reasons why communion should be a weekly ordinance! That people ought to be prepared to receive the Lord's supper is not in dispute but the few moments before we partake of the communion meal are wasted when we use the time to talk about the communion meal itself. What a waste. As I've been leading and teaching our people to think differently about this here are some of the ideas I've used to assist our members to think not about the communion meal but about God:

1) The cross, wrath, mercy, judgement, and propitiation.

2) The holiness of God.

3) The grace of God.

4) The resurrection of Jesus.

5) The worthiness of God.

6) Repentance and reconciliation.

7) Jesus, the Greater Adam.

8) The Once-for-all Sacrifice.

9) Forgiveness (horizontal & vertical).

10) Jesus, the Great High Priest.

There are a multitude of scriptures for each of these, all capable of leading us through the worship event of communion. They are the things that stir our hearts, wills, and emotions to a deeper more profound love for God. They are the doctrines that serve as conduits to the mercies of God that overflow into soulful adoration.

Stop using the communion talk to talk about communion and start talking about God. Stop reminding them that they ought to be talking communion every week and lead them to scriptural truths that will produce their desire to do so.

God deserves it and our people need it.

A Voice of One...

I've wondered what it must have felt like for John the Baptist

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’” Matthew 3:1-3

to stand against the tidal-wave of his culture; Dressed in his animal skins when robes were the rage, eating locust and wild-honey when normal food was plentiful, choosing homelessness in the wilderness when he had other options. I think it was because he saw the hand of God at work and chose wisely the right side of history.

God will not care about your personal net worth.
God will not care that you owned the latest smart phone.
God will not care that you climbed the corporate ladder.
God will not care how many "friends" you had in your online circles.

His greatest concern is that you see his hand at work and choose to join him for your good and his glory. What's holding you back from becoming a lone voice?

Why I Wear Two Wedding Rings

Like most normal guys now days, I'm not a jewelry person. I don't even wear a watch. In my younger years jewelry seemed cool, rebellious, tough. Gold earrings and gold necklaces for tough guys were all the rage…but then again so were New Kids on the

Block Vanilla Ice and Heavy D & The Boyz. Thankfully those days are long gone. Ever since then I've been on a gradual jewelry diet so that today the only accessories I take with me are a wallet, phone, and two wedding rings. Yep, two wedding rings.

I'm still only married to one woman (this year celebrating 10 years) and I've never lost my original white gold wedding band, so what caused me to go and get another wedding ring?

Gold Culture

After moving to Portugal we noticed something that we had never noticed as visitors all those years; 99% of married couples wear matching yellow gold wedding bands. Its traditional. Being from America, when we got married we followed the American tradition of a nice diamond ring for her and a rugged, utilitarian band for him.

"Can this ring withstand rock-climbing, auto-repair, skydiving, and bear cage-fighting?"

"Why, you do all of those things?"

"No. I just want to make sure this ring can handle it if I ever decide to."

Now, I'm certain that it would have been no big deal to just keep our old wedding bands. No one here is expecting us to get matching yellow bands just like immigrants to Eastern Europe aren't expected to wear their wedding bands on the right hand. But we're doing it regardless, because no one expects it.

Love Is…

I've come to realize that ministry is as much about loving people as it is about doctrine. It's what Jesus did when incarnate he entered into our world; not only to preach but also to serve and die. We're wearing two wedding bands because it says something, albeit, small about how we feel about our adopted culture. It expresses our desire to be servants. It demonstrates that we uphold and honor the institution of marriage. It's our small way of becoming… and who knows, it may just be the catalyst to a conversation about the hope within us which is worth far more than the cost of a second wedding ring.

Sorry Joey, Jordan, Donnie, Danny, and Jonathan…This time I think I have you beat.