“Why are American Christians so opinionated in the church and out of the church?” I asked my to-be American husband. As a mainline protestant Canadian Christian immersing myself into Midwest American Evangelical Christianity, I was struggling with the personality of the American Christian. The American Christian was far too outspoken and politically active for my Canadian sensibilities.

I came to understand and believe that my American Christian friends were simply a by-product of the larger American revolutionary personality; outspoken, confident, proud, generous, courageous, action-oriented and reflecting the entire political landscape, not just the extremes of the right OR the left. I learned that American Christians, living in a culture that values personal opinions and debate, needed to have discourse concerning any and all church matters. My experience was that the stereotypical Republican American Patriotic Christian was the exception and not the rule.

At the same time, I was blessed to experience the American Christians’ generous and courageous personality when Believers from my church community rolled up their sleeves to become the Body for me in my darkest days while facing the illness and death of my husband. I was privileged to witness American Christians at their best, ministering to me in the most difficult of situations when boldness and confidence were needed to proclaim victory in Christ in the midst of tragedy.

After spending almost two decades in the US, I returned to Canada, socialized as an Evangelical American Christian. Even after three years of working to re-establish my Canadian Christian identity, there continue to be times when I feel that my adopted American Christian personality is too much for the fundamentally strong but gentle, reserved, quiet “living out your faith with few words” Canadian Christian community and the larger very tolerant Toronto Canadian culture where the cultural narrative declares that Christianity is at best one of many equal paths to God. I find it harder to live out my life as a Canadian Christian than as an American Christian, despite the outward niceness of the Canadian Two Solitudes personality (two nations trying to live side by side peacefully).

The culture wars are an ever present part of daily life in the US; court battles on behalf of the Christian Right (but not always on behalf of all American Christians) are a daily event. Despite the larger political and societal conflict, I lived openly as an American Christian, with freedom to discuss my faith with friends and decide my position on any issue independent of any personal political affiliation. In contrast, proclaiming Christ as The One and Only True Way to God in Toronto is viewed as un-Canadian, narrow, and God forbid even intolerant and American. Living out my faith in Toronto Canada feels counter-cultural and indeed subversive as I try to find ways to proclaim Christ in a culture that at best values equality of all religious beliefs in the name of peace and tolerance.

Nonetheless, God has used the Canadian national personality that is exhibited in Canadian Christians to bless me, support my healing and to further my growth as a Christian. The faithful and committed Christians in my spheres of influence in the Toronto/Hamilton area have demonstrated gentle caring for me during my transition back into a Canadian life and have modeled a contagious desire to grow deep in Christ. At this time in my faith walk, this is what God had clearly ordered for me that the Canadian Christian can deliver in a sensitive, strong yet gentle manner.

God does indeed work in wonderful and mysterious ways through the very cultures that greatly influence His precious Saints!!

Ike made a comment on my recent piece on Recession and Church growth that I think deserves some further attention. Ike begins by quoting from Thomas Kelley who wrote:

The deepest need of men is not food and clothing and shelter, important as they are. It is God. We have mistaken the nature of poverty and thought it was economic poverty. No, it is poverty of soul, deprivation of God’s recreating, loving peace. Peer into poverty and see if we are really getting down to our deepest needs, in our economic salvation schemes. These are important. But they lie farther along the road, secondary steps toward world reconstruction. The primary step is a holy life, transformed and radiant in the glory of God.

Thomas R. Kelly, A Testament of Devotion, page 123.

Ike continues by writing:

Our economic recession began in a recession of the soul. If our hearts were filled with the Holy Spirit, we would be so freed from financial foolishness that we would not have established lifestyles, personally and nationally, that we now know are practically unsustainable, politically divisive, economically backward and perhaps even militarily risky.

The most relevant message to our nation today, and to ourselves, is personal repentance, confession of sin, newness of life and hope in the gracious promises of God in Christ.

Over the last few days I have been thinking about this, particularly as it relates to this blog. I don’t won’t to get so wrapped up in other statistics and other thing that I forget the focus that this blog was supposed to be about. It is about the good news of Jesus Christ, and how that is lived out throughout Christianity. Sure I find the numbers interesting and I am going to continue to put up posts along those lines. As much as possible though I want to try and tie them back to what it means concerning the good news of Jesus.

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.

I am not sure whether to laugh or cry when I read this joke. It was overheard at Internet Monk and attributed by Ed to Emo Philips.

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”

He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”

He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”

Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over.

This strongly reminds me of how much we quibble over the smallest things, and are not generous with those who differ slightly from what we believe. Pastors and denominational leaders, take a good look at your membership requirements. What is essential to the gospel? What other things can you put aside in order to fellowship with someone in your church and call him brother. Who are you excluding that Jesus has already included?

Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

When I visit a church, I like to visit as if I am going to church for the first time to try and envision how a first time visitor would feel. These are all experiences either I have had visiting churches for the first time, or that friends of mine have had. I have combined them into a quasi-fictional account, as if all the experiences happened on a single Sunday, and I was indeed a first time visitor to church. I will tell you the purpose behind the story at the end of the posting.

I visited a church today. It was my first time in many years, but we had been having family difficulties, and a friend had suggested that a good church might be a good place to find help.

We wanted to go to the closest one, unfortunately it had no service time of its church sign, which looked like it had seen better days. So I tried the church website, no luck there, the church did not have one. I then tried the phone book, no answer on the first try, and no recorded message either, the second try I did get someone, (not sure who), who brusquely told me that the service was at 11:00 a.m.

So Sunday morning arrived, we decided we wanted to be early, so we got there at 10:55. The parking lot was full (I found out later that if fills up for Sunday School at 9:30). There was not much street parking available, but we finally found a spot 3 blocks away. By the time we got to the church, it was 11:05. Part of me wanted to just turn around and go home at that time, but we decided to persevere.

The church had two sets of doors. We were not sure which ones to go in, but settled on the big main doors. We cautiously opened the doors to the church to find… a completely empty room. After what seemed like at eternity, we heard singing coming from the double doors in front of us. A sign above the doors read “Sanctuary”, though I wasn’t sure what that meant. I slowly opened up these doors and I could see that we were entering in at the back of an auditorium. A man seated on a chair at the back, waved a folded piece of paper in our face. “Here”, he said, “you will need one of these”. It was program of sorts, though I could find no list of what was about to occur.

People were standing and singing, and I couldn’t really see where there were empty seats, there were certainly none at the back. As we were standing wondering where to go, the song ended, and everyone sat down, except us of course who were still standing at the back. Once everyone was seated, I could see that there was an empty row of seats close to the front of the auditorium. As we quickly made our way to the front it felt like every pair of eyes in the place were on us. I could feel myself turning red with embarrassment.

“We would like to welcome our visitors”, intoned the man at the front. “If you are visiting today, please raise your hand. We have a little gift for you.” With some trepidation I put up my hand. Someone came over to me and gave us two little rose lapel pins. The pastor encouraged the visitors to put them on. This is interesting I thought, it means that as we leave, every one here will know that we are a visitor, and will be able to make us feel welcome.

“We will now present the Lord with our tithes and offerings”, the man in front continued. I was confused, what was a tithe and what was an offering. Was I supposed to give two things? How much was I supposed to give. A plate was being passed down the aisle. I saw that most people had put envelopes onto the plate, but a few had put in cash. I hastily put in ten dollars as it passed by me hoping that it was an appropriate amount.

All of a sudden everyone around us was standing. We hurriedly stood too, not knowing why people were standing. Another person was reading from a Bible at the front. People around us seemed to follow along, but even though we had brought a Bible with us, we had no idea where to find the reference in it. By the time I had found the reference and the place in our Bible (thanks to the table of contents), the reading was over. Everyone started sitting again, so we followed suite.

After another song, my kids were starting to get ansy. A person behind us whispered, “I wonder why they don’t take them out for the kids program?” There was a kids program? No one had told us. I turned around and asked for the location of the childrens program. “Out the doors at the front of the sanctuary, and down the stairs.” I looked at her incredulously. “Can I access it from the back?” “No”, she said, only through those doors. My five year old was getting noisier, and more people were starting to stare. I thought the best bet was to make a quick dash for it now before things got out of hand. Up we went to the very front of the church. Again I felt the eyes staring at the back of my head. We got downstairs, only to discover another bunch of closed doors. We heard some kids behind one, so I knocked, and opened the door. “How old are your kids”, the Lady asked. “Five and Seven”, I responded. “The seven year old can stay here, but the five year old has to go into the next room.” “But I want to stay with Amy”, my five year old responded. “Sorry”, said the lady, “That is against the rules. She will have to go to her own class.” “If I can’t go with Amy, then I won’t go”, said my younger child. I tried to take her next door, but she started throwing a tantrum. “Would you like to sit with Daddy instead”, I asked. “Yes”, she sobbed.

Back upstairs we went, back in front of all those watching eyes. The sermon was just beginning. It was entitled “Law and Grace.” I didn’t understand most of it, largely because the preacher used a bunch of multisyllabic words that I didn’t understand. We sat for 45 minutes, not really understanding what was being said. All the time though, I was trying to figure out what he was saying would mean for me and my family. A couple times I had to nudge my older son awake. Finally the pastor finished with a prayer, the organ sounded and the pastor strode to back of the auditorium.

I had fixed my rose lapel, and my wife had done the same. At last, I thought, I will have an opportunity to meet some people. We walked slowly to the back of the auditorium, catching people’s eyes and smiling. A couple smiled back. No one introduced themselves. At the back, the Pastor was engrossed in conversation. I caught the word “substantiation”. After waiting three or four minutes for him to free himself, we left.

As we were walking down the stairs towards the lawn, I heard another lady behind us exclaim to a friend. “Wasn’t that a wonderful message!” “Yes”, her friend agreed. “Not like the pablum they feed them at some churches.”

We never went back.

So why did I write this little story.  This story, which I have seen in different forms, over and over again, is why I still believe in being seeker sensitive.  Being seeker sensitive, does not mean having to water down what you preach, but it does mean explaining it so that people can understand it and apply it.  Being seeker sensitive means training greeters so that if there is a kids program, visitors will be properly directed there.  Being seeker sensitive means roping off the last three rows of your auditorium for late comers.  Being seeker sensitive means printing an order of service, so that visitors can follow along.  Being seeker sensitive means that service times are properly communicated.  I know of one church that turned their auditorium sideways so that visitors would not have to exit at the platform.

The message does not have to change, but how it is presented often does. There are a lot of little things that can be done to say to visitors:  “You are welcome here!”

Traditionally, Jesus is said to be about 33 years old when he died. This date is calculated by beginning with Luke 3:23 which states that Jesus was about 30 years old when he started his ministry. John’s gospel mentions three passovers, so the assumption is that he was about 33 when he died. This is the most direct evidence that we have, so it is the dating that is most commonly accepted.

There are some questions about this dating. For example, Luke uses the word “about”, showing that he is not certain of the age of Jesus. And while the gospels seem to cover three years of ministry, no where does it say that his ministry was restricted to three years. So the question can be asked: Is there other information out there that would make us think differently?

Lets start back at with Jesus’ birth and see how everything fits.

Right away we are faced with a dating problem. Matthew has Jesus being born during the reign of Herod the Great, who we know died in 4 B.C. Luke on the other hand has Jesus being born during the “first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” The problem is that Quirinius was governor of Syria from A.D. 6 – 12. Either Luke is mistaken, or as some scholars such as F.F. Bruce believe, there was a mistranslation somewhere along the way, and “while Quirinius” was originally written as “before Quirinius”. We do know from Tertullian (Against Marcion 4.19:10) that there was a census that had been taken in Judaea by Sentius Saturninus the Governor of Syria, somewhere between 10-6 B.C. Either way, the earlier census, becomes the more likely census.

If Luke had the wrong census, then he would also have a tendency to underestimate Jesus’ age, by the differential between the two censuses. Jesus then would have begun his ministry somewhere between the ages of 42 and 46. Let us see if this fits with other historical dates.

Jesus’ closest contemporary was John the Baptist. We do have very exact dates for both the start of John’s ministry as well as his death.

Only Luke tells us when John the Baptist started his ministry. He does not give us a calendar date but tells us that John began his ministry in the desert during the reigns of several individuals and at the time of two high priests.

Luke 3:1-2 “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.”

Tiberius Caesar started his rule in A.D. 14. which meant that John started his ministry about A.D. 29. This date fits with the dates that we know for the others mentioned in this passage.

We also know that Jesus was crucified after John the Baptist was beheaded. So when was John beheaded? We know that John was imprisoned by Herod Antipas (also known as the Tetrarch) for criticizing Herod for marrying the wife of his brother. When did this happen? The Jewish historian Josephus ties the death of John the Baptist in with the defeat of Herod Antipas by Aretas IV Philopatris. This defeat happened in the years A.D. 36/37.

This of course give John a public ministry of 7-8 years, longer that what one would assume from reading the scriptures, but not in any way in conflict with it.

We know that Jesus’ ministry had begun roughly a year before the death of John the Baptist. (Using Passovers as a dating method.) Let us assume then, that Jesus’ ministry began in A.D. 35-36. This would fit with what Luke believed, as he thought that Jesus was born in 6 A.D. If Matthew is correct, Jesus is much older, possibly 41-46 years old.

What else supports the older dating of Jesus?

The recording of the death of John the Baptist (Matthew 14), comes just before the feeding of the 5000, which is also recorded in John 6. According to our calculations so far, this would put Jesus somewhere between the ages of 42 (6 B.C. to 36 A.D.) and 47 (10 B.C. to 37 A.D.) at this point in time. What is remarkable about this is how closely this fits to claims of the crowd in John 8:57.

“You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him

The early church father, Irenaeus, was the first to point out that you don’t call someone nearly fifty when they are only in their thirties.

From John 6 to John 13 is at least a year as both record passover events. So, based on this, this places Jesus age at death at between the ages 43 and 48.

Irenaeus, mentioned above, claimed that Christ was about 50 when he died (Against Heresies 2.22: 4-8). He uses a number of arguments to advance this claim including some of those above. However his primary argument was that this information has been passed down to him John and the other apostles. We should point out that Irenaeus is a very credible source, a disciple of Polycarp, who in turn was a disciple of John. As such, he is only one generation removed from direct contact with the apostles. Irenaeus was a church bishop who penned this information in his books “Against Heresies” sometime between the years 182 A.D. and 188 A.D. At the time he would have been in his sixties.

There is one other interesting side note that “possibly” speaks of an older age of Jesus. John 2 records the following at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry:

The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days? But he was speaking about the temple of his body.

The temple began its reconstruction in 19 or 20 B.C. Add 46 years to that date and it takes you to A.D. 26 or 27. These dates don’t make sense, because we know that John the Baptist only began his ministry in A.D. 29. This could mean one of two things. Firstly either Jesus had a ministry that lasted 10 years which began in relative anonymity two to three years before John the Baptist. The other option that some have suggested is that Luke misunderstood the conversation, again because of his misunderstanding Jesus’ age the conversation was misunderstood, and the 46 years is in fact a reference to Jesus’ age at the time. This would then fit with a death two years later at age 48.

So what does it matter?

Thirty-three or forty-three to forty-eight? Does it matter? It doesn’t really. How old Jesus was is not really that important. None of the creeds express it, no theology is built upon it, no one is going to burn you at the stake for having a view that differs from the norm. However, the fact that there is so much written about Jesus is important. He was a historical figure. He lived, he died, and many witnesses saw him alive after his resurrection. His life, his death, his resurrection all leave us with a choice. A choice to choose to follow, trust, and appropriate his death as a penalty paid for our own wrongdoings, or a choice to do nothing, to continue on as if Jesus Christ doesn’t really matter.

His age. It doesn’t really matter. In the end it is just a bit of interesting speculation. But all the information that was written about him shows that Jesus was not, and is not, some type of fictional character. His claim to be the Son of God, demands a response, and that response has eternal consequences.

As always, your thoughts and comments are welcome.

So:

-I have issues
-You have issues
-Those we work with have issues
-Those we interact with have issues

Add it all up and you get one big mess.

But a mess is what Jesus chose to be born into when he arrived on this planet. 12 messes were what he chose for 12 disciples. The Kingdom of God emerging from the mess was what he preached. Eventually he died for the mess.

Today, he is merciful enough to save messes like me; gracious enough to work in messes like me; generous enough to work through messes like me; and patient enough to stick with messes like me (despite frequent royal screw-ups).

Whatever you choose to do in the Kingdom of God, expect a mess. Remember that you are part of the mess. Be gracious with the messes (people) around you. While you’re at it, have fun. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Be a pleasure to be around. Avoid the ‘spiritual gift’ of speck-spotting (Matthew 7:3). Work hard. Do stuff when you don’t feel like it. Smile.

The alternatives to not being in a mess are: (1) another mess, (2) pulling out altogether. Since the latter is not an option biblically…

Choose your mess.

I live in a Middle Eastern (Muslim) country, and currently I have 12 days off work due to National Day and Eid Al Adha celebrations.  We enjoyed the National Day fireworks from the roof of our apartment building (45 minutes of dual-source synchronized fireworks!).  And then we put ear plugs in so we could go to sleep with all the young guys driving/honking//backfiring till 3 AM on our street.  We remind our kids that this qualifies as a cultural experience!

Eid Al Adha is the Muslim festival that comes at the end of the Hajj (required journey to Mecca) and about 6 weeks after the end of Ramadan.  It also commemorates Allah providing a ram so that Abraham didn’t actually have to sacrifice Ishmael.  (That is the Muslim take on it.)  Muslims normally slaughter and eat a sheep as part of the festival.  In years past, apartment staircases here have run red with the blood of slaughtered sheep, but now residents must take their sheep to authorized slaughter-centres that are set up for the occasion.  (Sort of reminds me of polling places appearing and disappearing over elections.)  So, a couple of days ago, i discovered a sheep in the parking lot of my building!  Didn’t take too much imagination to figure out what was going on.  This morning, Mr Sheepy was gone, and it looked like the short-term owner took the legal route on preparing his meal.  Fortunately for Mr. Sheepy, he didn’t have any clue what was waiting for him.  Sort of reminds me of many of my friends.

Like my hockey buddies (yes, ice hockey).  A couple of nights ago, HockeyGuy turned to me on the bench and says “I think Jesus showed us the ultimate example of humanity.”  I pulled out my CS Lewis Handbook and replied that Jesus claimed to be God, so either he was loony or else he was/is God.  Either way, you can’t take the “great man” approach.  HockeyGuy basically said to me “I don’t think the I-am-God stuff matters.  I just like the Great Moral Man stuff.”  Must be that post-modern mindset kicking in, i guess, that someone can pick and choose what they like or dislike about Jesus and totally ignore the rest.  Or is that just human nature?  Isn’t that what the Gnostics did so very long ago?  Anyway HockeyGuy, who *is* a good guy, doesn’t believe he needs a Saviour and misses out on Jesus as the Eternal Sacrifice.  Hmmm, kind of reminds me of all the Muslims i know…

Here is the Intro, Part 1, and Part 2.

Distractions from the Gospel – Part 3: Church Contentment

A few years ago I helped administer a survey of the members and adherents of the church that we were attending. One thing that we were able to determine from the survey was that by and large people were quite happy with ministries of the church, and weren’t looking to make and significant changes. When we shared these results with the District Superintendent (think Bishop), he cautioned us. “Let me be prophetic here”, he said, “Churches which are largely content with the way things are, and are not open to change, tend to stagnate, plateau, and even die.” Indeed he was rather prophetic, and within three years the church had closed its doors.

I am experiencing a similar situation in the church that I currently attend. Surveys conducted of the members and adherents also show a high level of satisfaction with the way things are going. On the positive side of things is that the Pastors are fully cognizant of this and are hoping to counter some of the complacency. The issue showed itself recently when the elders recruited in the congregation to form an evangelism committee of sorts. It was an open invitation, with certain people specifically asked. When push came to shove, although over half of the church is over the age of 50, only one person over the age of 35 came to the meetings. I believe it was because the older people have had as much change as they would like, are happy in the relationships they have in the church, and don’t see a huge need to be building new relationships in the community.

Another friend of mine is the Pastor of a church that resisted change for decades. As a result of this they have very few people in their church under the age of 60. When he came in as Pastor he warned them that he did not come just to lock the doors in 10 years time and that this would be the result if they continued on their present course. To their credit, they are starting to accept change. Time will tell whether or not it is too late for the church to start growing again.

The fact is, contentment and complacency destroys churches. We are warned of this in Revelation 2:5b.

Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

Almost all churches start with an excitement, a desire to share the gospel, a desire to reach out to others. My church started with a heart and a desire to reach German immigrants, and it was very effective at that. A loving community was built. That generation, however, is all in its retirement years. Contentment and complacency has set in. What we need a new vision and a new direction for the younger generation.

Proverbs 29:18 states: “Where there is no vision the people perish.” And where there is no vision, churches perish. It may not be immediately noticeable, but if a church fails to live by the great commission, it will slowly die. Its dying members will not be replaced by new converts.

What is your church’s vision for the future? Where does God want you to go? Are you content with where things are at, or do you want to see God do much more in and through your church. How you answer these question will ultimately determine the future of your church.