Growth vs. Death

I’ve been talking with people from a couple of churches over the last month or two. During a number of conversations I’ve been asked repeatedly various forms of the same question. Boiled down to its simplest form the question is:

“Why do some churches grow and others die?”

I’ve tried to answer this question several different times but I think each time I’ve failed. I’ve talked about a consumer mentality and the pros and cons of developing a church around this modernity model. And this seems to be more confusing then helpful.

I have been thinking about how to answer this all-important question and I’ll take another swing at this I’ll try to answer this again.

Jesus Christ took on flesh and dwelt among us. Theologians call this the vertical incarnation of Jesus Christ. After He rose from the dead he told us that we were to be his representatives here on earth until His return. We are called the body of Christ, with Christ as the head. As the body of Christ here on earth until His return we are the horizontal incarnation of Christ. It has been said that we are the only Christ that some people will ever see on this world.

As such the reason that some churches grow is because they embody Christ here in this world. While the churches that are dying have forgotten how to be the body. Oh they are still going through the motions but their focus is inward and not outward.

What is the difference?

Inwardly focused people are usually busily fighting each. Quite often these believers are fighting and dying on a mound of nonessentials. (Think worship styles, dress codes, Bible versions, carpet color… you fill in the rest of the blanks)

Outwardly focused believers are willing to die on the mount of nonnegotiables. They are willing to be Christ to those who are the disenfranchised and the people who need the touch of Christ’s love.

Learning to be the Body of Christ,

Dr. Val

The Speechless Word

The Word became human and thus became a word-user, but not before being speechless. Think of it, the Son of God, called the Word (know as the Logos in the Greek language) the one who was involved in speaking creation into being (See Genesis “God said . . . “) comes to earth. He becomes human in every aspect and as a baby the in ability to speak until His human body grew and developed.

This is not simply a reiteration of what God has already revealed in the ancient writings but a new revelation of who God is and how he will relate to humans. The wordless Word is the light in a darkened world, piercing the darkness and creating a new creation by the power of His word. He comes to become the second Adam and the beginning of the new creation.

The Word was made flesh and not simply words. He chose to take on our human flesh and not some other flesh. It pleased God for the Word to dwell for a season with like flesh of humanity. Malcolm Guite in his contribution to the book Beholding The Glory, the fullness of God chose to dwell in the flesh of our humanity. The oldest term in the English language for a human being is “reord-berend” or “word-bearer” and we are of all the creatures of flesh, especially word-bearers. It is an even more profound truth that followers of Christ bear the Word in our hearts!

He chooses to empty Himself and the Word becomes wordless for a season. He must grow as a human and learn what He already knows.

I recently read a sermon excerpt of a seventeenth century preacher, Lancelot Andrews who spoke of this paradox.

He says “the Word without a word. The eternal word not able to speak a word.’ Just as our wounds are healed by His stripes so our loss for words to express our fears, our guilt, and even our praise is redeemed and energized by His Spirit that takes up residence in the lives of followers of God. And in our incoherent silent anguish He speaks for us to Father.

T.S. Elliot takes up this thought in his work entitled

“Ash Wednesday”

If the lost word is lost, if the spent word is spent
If the unheard, unspoken
Word is unspoken, unheard;
Still the unspoken word, the Word unheard,
The Word without a word, the Word within
The world and for the world;
And the light shone in darkness and
Against the Word, the unstilled world still whirled
About the center of the silent Word.

Think of it, the eternal Word of God begins the redemption process by ‘speaking” silence. And He ends his ministry of redemption with the echo of His final words ringing in the silence – It Is Finished!

May the silence of our hearts be filled with the Spirit’s pleadings for us today.

Dr. Val

The Legend of Christmas

The past few days I read a number of interesting articles on line. One UK article interviewed the Archbishop of Canterbury who told us that that Christmas was a legend. Well I have to tell you that caught my interest!

As I read the article I realized that the Archbishop was referring to things that the Christians have added over the centuries.

“What additions?” you ask.

Well, we don’t know for sure what animals were in the stable if any. But we can assume that there would be cattle, or oxen, sheep or even a donkey.

We also don’t know how many wise men there were. We do know that they gave gifts of three different substances (gold, frankincense and myrrh).

The wise men didn’t show up at the birth of Christ but probably a couple of years later. The passage in Matthew’s account of the wise men’s visit indicates that Jesus was no longer a baby but a young child. Additionally due to Herod’s order to kill all male children two years of age and under we gain a sense of the outside possible age of Jesus.

What do we know?

Jesus the Christ was born and we have three accounts of His birth. We call those accounts Matthew, Luke and John. These accounts are called gospels (good news).

Matthew looks at Jesus’ birth from the Jewish perspective. Jesus is seen as a direct descendant of David the founder of the dynasty of the nation of Israel (and the subsequent kingdom of Judah). Matthew lists Joseph (who would be Jesus’ “human” father because Joseph was married to Mary when Jesus was born and therefore by law the father of Jesus) genealogy and Jesus lawful right to the throne.

In Luke we have the second account of Jesus birth. This time we see him from the perspective of a man. We also are given His mother’s genealogy. This is important for a couple of reasons: first, we have Jesus’ ancestry that goes back to Adam and establishes His claim to David’s throne through His mother’s line. Second, God promised that one particular King of David’s line would never have a son sit on the throne again and Joseph was from this line. Thus God keeps His promise even while keeping the official line in tack.

In John’s Gospel we have the story of Jesus birth from God’s perspective. The Word who always was and is of the same essence as God the Father becomes flesh to do the Father’s bidding and to redeem all of creation.

Each account of Jesus’ birth gives us the story from a different perspective. Think of the truth of Christ’s birth as a multifaceted jewel. Each time you turn the gem slightly you see the gem and the fire of the gem from a different angle and thus from a different perception.

May the Creator who became the Created in order to redeem His Creation grant you a blessed and joyous Christmas this year!


Peace on earth

Dr. Val