they will know we are christians by our... competition?!?

the day i returned from a long ministry trip that took me from walking into and over a mountain to bicycling out back over the mountain from village to village to long hours on busses and being crammed with 20 others in the back of a truck to overnight boat rides to Zanzibar and back to swimming through the streets of Dar es Salaam in the heaviest rainfall ever recorded, i found myself rushing back to our ministry’s home base so i could fellowship with other missionaries from other organizations in the same town as our headquarters. not the fellowship that is rampant in the western church, an opportunity to chat about our work week and our plans for the week ahead 15 minutes before the church service starts or the other idea, of eating together with other christians. no, when i say we fellowshipped, i mean we gathered to pray and to actively join together to worship our God.

the following morning, when, by all means, i should have been getting a little extra rest, i found myself volunteering to assist two other missionaries prepare a place for some guests from america. The night before i left on my trip, i had helped them to paint; this time, i was helping to re-wire the room.

the point is not that i did all of this, or to put myself in a place of exaltation. it was one of those missionaries who made a comment to me that had never had cross my mind. it wasn’t my goal, but it made perfect sense.

she looked at me and remarked, “david, you are an amazing example of what the Lord intended the Church to be.” as i said, it took me completely off-guard.

it was a peculiar idea- tireless servitude, or, rather, the fact that compassion fatigue does not appear anywhere in the four Gospels or the Epistles.

everywhere Jesus went, Jesus had compassion for people. He helped those who needed helping, healed those who needed healing and saved those who wanted to be saved, all the while revealing who He was on an individual level to all who sought after Him.

that’s what we are called to… we have been anointed to set free the captives, open blind eyes, preach the acceptable year of the Lord and His terrible judgments[i], all while revealing who is He is to those who seek Him. what an incredible concept!

where do we get the idea of growing bigger and stronger faster? it certainly isn’t supported in the Scriptures. our sectarianism (denominationalism for those who are afraid to call it what it truly is) is even warned against in the Bible!

paul warned the corinthian church about it in his first epistle to them.[ii] the reason we have different sects is because people cling to an individual’s specific teaching and not necessarily to the Scriptures.

while paul likens the christian faith to a race, the current races we are witnessing would be incomprehensible to paul. we determine our successes by size and numbers. i believe that the Lord looks at the underground church in china and says: “well, at least someone has the right idea.” We need to forget size and get substance.

pastors in the western church act more like CEOs in a corporation than people who are entrusted by God to care for the spiritual needs of the congregation. they look to numbers and cash flow, adopt the advertising strategies and bring in charismatic figures to help them grow their “business.” they also adapt their “product” to reflect the desires of their “customers.” sounds like the way God intended, right?

let’s look and see what He has to say about it.

2 Peter 2:1-2 (ESV)
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.

perhaps it’s not the way God intended. what’s even worse is that this mentality has worked its way through the western church and is now rampant in the third world church as carried by the “sales executives” commissioned and re-titled “missionaries.” But they sell a gospel of growing a corporate denomination-based church. don't believe me? there is a rift in a mainline church here in moshi, tanzania that mimics a rift in that same denomination in america. leaders on both sides of the issue maintain that they are the only "right" way. as it stands, there will be no reconciliation unless hearts are changed.

john piper said, “we’re still delivering the wrong books and preaching the wrong message, we’re giving a cheap gospel that makes you the central figure of the Gospel message instead of glorifying Christ as the central figure of the Gospel.”[iii]

there is much animosity between denominations in the third world and every congregational leader has given himself a title. not addressing them by their self-given title, incurs their wrath.

such practices have sprung as what is known as “back-benching.” it appears, at first glance, to be a Biblical and compassionate approach to the question of what to do with believers who have sinned. a deeper exploration reveals the evil in the hearts of those who practice such a method.

back-benching is simply the idea that instead of excommunicating the sinner, they are relegated to the back bench in the church, where they are refused the opportunity to participate in the service until the church leader determines that they have suffered enough away from the congregation.

the congregants, then, fear the pastor and his power to back-bench anyone who crosses him and they remain silent even when the pastor preaches an errant doctrine.

back-benching is to the third world church what excommunication is to the catholic church. it is to the third world church what the suppression of members out of a congregation is to the western evangelical church.

but that doesn’t happen in the western church! it most certainly does, more often than anyone can imagine. some people do it loudly and suppress themselves and turn themselves into false martyrs splitting a body of believers.

others attempt to remain in the congregation and are asked to leave, or are told not to return, or are simply preached against from the pulpit. how do i know this to be true? i have been subjected this treatment. not once. no, i’ve experienced it twice, and before you think i might have been alluding to the previous paragraph, let me interject that i was 8 years old the first time and 13 years old the second time.

why is it any surprise that the church in the far east and in the southern hemisphere, what philip jenkins calls “the new christendom” is bearing the role of the Biblical church and seeing mass movements toward Christ?

clearly, the persecuted church is a desperate people. desperate people are willing to give up anything to have what they value most. a man dying of thirst in the desert will give up diamonds for a glass of water.


for the world-wide renown of His sovereign glory...

[i] Isaiah 61:1-3. Paraphrased for space and emphasis.
[ii] 1 Cor. 1:10-13.
[iii] Sermon preached at OneDay 03, April 30, 2003. Sherman Oaks, Texas.