(This post is a followup to this one about the purpose of church.)
A few months ago while watching Brad Cooper’s effing Bible video, I saw the basic difference between the way he and I approach church.
To set the scene, Cooper is welcoming his congregation to a newly built (bamf) facility on the NewSpring campus. He has a very important point he wants his people to understand, so we get this illuminating piece of dialog.
Cooper: I want you right now to tell the person beside you, “This building was not built for you.” So you say, “What do you mean by that, Brad? Who was this building built for?”
Seminary student who hadn’t read the script: Jesus!
Cooper (in yes-but-really-no mode): Yeah, absolutely. But why would Jesus give us a tool like this?
He explains that because anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved, that it’s really for the unsaved friends of the people there, who need to be invited so that they’ll be able to call on the name of the Lord in Cooper’s church. Cooper then lays down the law:
Do you want me to tell you what is failure? Let me tell you what is failure if you believe what we just read. Failure is you showing up by yourself next week.
Look at me in the face! You don’t believe the Word of God if you show up by yourself next week!
Although Cooper grudgingly agrees with Ms. Seminary that it should be for Jesus, his real LOOK AT ME IN THE FACE point is that it is built for unbelievers who have not yet visited the church. Who’s more important here? God, believers or unbelievers. Certainly it’s unbelievers. Existing believers are told that they essentially are faithless if they also don’t agree with Cooper’s hyperventilating pleas to turn the church inside out to get the unsaved there.
Cooper is not alone. The $700 man, Steven Furtick, flat out told the believers in his church that his church wasn’t for them.
We preach so that people can come to faith in Christ, and we want them to get in a small group and serve so that other people can come to Christ.
If you know Jesus–I am sorry to break it to you–this church is not for you.
“Yeah, but I just gave my life to Christ last week at Elevation.”
Last week was the last week that Elevation Church existed for you. You’re in the army now. We do one thing; we preach Jesus so that people far from God can know Jesus, and then we train them up so that others can know Jesus.
It’s called kingdom multiplication. It’s what Elevation Church is all about, and over 500 people have given their lives to Jesus for the first time in this church in the last five months. That’s over 100 per month.
If that doesn’t get you excited, and you need the “doctrines of grace” as defined by John Calvin to excite you, you’re in the wrong church. Let me get a phone book; there are 720 churches in Charlotte. I’m sure we can find you one where you can stuff your face until you’re so obese spiritually that you can’t even move.
Watch the video to witness the profound anger here.
Perry Noble shares Furtick’s distaste for churches who cater to God and believers. In fact, Noble’s vision of the church is so backwards and distorted that he sees expressions of worship as insulting profanity.
We have a purpose…and it’s not to be a country club with a steeple on top that gives our community the middle finger and tells them to go to hell because reaching them would make us uncomfortable!
The architectural purpose of the church steeple was to exalt God by pointing skyward, and to invite people to worship by being an unmistakable local landmark. As one Kentucky steeple maker said,
A steeple points one to the heavens, symbol of the dwelling place of Christ. Through city streets, across the valleys and lakes, through the countryside far and wide, the steeple declares Christ.
Where most of us see Christ, is it a complete surprise that Noble sees a middle finger? Actually, it seems that he sees a lot of Christianity this way.
Every week people show up at their stained glass fortressed and give their community the middle finger and tell them to go to hell.
I never see it prescribed in Scripture than when a church reaches a “comfortable” size–usually around 120 people–that the community should be given the middle finger and told to go to hell because additional people might mess up the holy huddle!
Noble equates the discipleship and equipping of believers as middle fingeresque.
Like it or not–Jesus didn’t go to a bookstore, get a theology book by a dead white guy, get a group of guys together that were just like Him and give the world the middle finger because He was obsessed with “going deep!”
If I meet one more group of guys who think they are becoming more like Jesus because they are theological superior to people (which, by the way, is PRIDE!) but do not know a lost person by name or refuse to exercise their spiritual gift…and yet claim to be godly…I am going to punch them in the throat!
I suppose Noble’s fist trumps devout middle fingers.
In one of his middle-finger diatribes, Noble lays out his own description of his church, which you can find here. It is all about reaching unbelievers, but you’ll have to look hard to find mention of the worship of God (church purpose #1) or the assembly of believers (church purpose #2).
Noble, Furtick, Cooper, Lamb, Warren and many, many others are trying to redefine church by making it primarily about nonbelievers. If you ask them, they’ll give a perfunctory answer that church is really for God, as Cooper’s seminary guest forced him to do, but their actions and emphasis tell us that it’s mainly about nonbelievers. Cooper and Furtick specifically told their audience that they were more interested in people outside the family of God.
Getting people in the doors is much more important than offering them anything once they walk in. Make them feel bad, conscript them into the army, and get more people in the doors.
Several terms have been used to describe these new churches: emergent, emerging, etc. It’s all very confusing, so I offer a new term: The Turnstile Church.
Definition: Churches that attract people for the purpose of attracting more people for the purpose attracting more people for the purpose…
If you were to boil my disagreements with Perry Noble and NewSpring down to a single issue, it would be over the answer to this question.
Here, in order, is how I would answer the question.
God. As God began to reveal himself to his people, one of his early steps was to create a house for himself. Not only was God to have his own house, but he was very particular about how it was to be built and how people were to act when they visited it. From Deuteronomy 12:4-5:
You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God.
But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.
When I built my house a few years ago, I was keenly interested in adapting the plans and monitoring the workers who were constructing it. Large sections of the Old Testament are devoted to God’s detailed instructions on how the tabernacle and, later, the temple were to be designed and outfitted. God designed his house so that he would enjoy inhabiting it. It had to be just so before he would move in. From Exodus 40:34, after Moses had completed the tabernacle:
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
If you visited my home, I would expect you to act in accordance with the customs and rules in my home, and if I visited yours, one of the things I would be trying to do is to figure out your rules. Who sits in what chairs at the dinner table, for example. In an analogous way, God expects visitors to his house to act in accordance with his rules. Deuteronomy 12:8:
You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes.
Outsiders and unbelievers especially were not be be a standard for behavior in God’s house. Look at Deuteronomy 12:30-31.
Beware that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they are destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire after their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations serve their gods, that I also may do likewise?’
You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods.
God also expects his own people to come near with respect. Leviticus 22:2 (and many others):
Tell Aaron and his sons to be careful with the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they dedicate to Me, so as not to profane My holy name; I am the LORD.
Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 also reminds us that church is not primarily for us, and that that understanding should affect our behavior:
Guard your steps as you go to the house of God and draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools; for they do not know they are doing evil.
Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.
Believers. By his grace, God opened his house to his family to join him and enjoy him. The Psalms often refer to assemblies of believers who gather to worship God. Psalm 149:1:
Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of the saints.
It’s interesting to note that the label of Christian was given to describe believers who gathered in church. From Acts 11:25-26:
And he left for Tarsus to look for Saul; and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch And for an entire year they met with the church and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
Christians and church are inseparable. Christians were defined in part by their attendance in church.
Church is also necessary for preserving the saints in their faith. Note the progression from preaching to discipleship to church government in this passage from Acts 14:21-23.
After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Paul tells Timothy that proper behavior is expected in church, which is to be so honored because it is essential for understanding truth.
You will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)
The church is given to us as a venue to worship God, and as his venue to teach, bless and discipline us.
Unbelievers. Although church is not created for unbelievers, it does not exclude them. Paul instructs the church on the proper use of tongues by telling them to consider whether unbelievers will be there. From 1 Corinthians 14:22-25:
So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.
Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad?
But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.
Although this verse is sometimes misused to justify turning churches into virtual pagan temples, note that Paul assumes that unbelievers are not a regular part of church. The repeated use of the word if shows that church is not lacking anything if they are not in attendance, but neither should they be excluded.
Paul also assumes that if an unbeliever is attending church, they are quite likely about to be saved and begin to worship God. These are not seekers Paul is talking about; they are people ready to be turned inside out by God.
The reason they’re in church is probably because God has drawn them there. We know that they’re not there of their own volition to seek God, as Romans 3:11 makes clear.
There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
The reason this matters is because our understanding of the purpose of church will affect the way we behave in it and how proper our worship is when we’re in it.
(Tomorrow we’ll look at what Perry Noble and his friends believe about this question and how it affects their worship.)
As this blog gets older, it has become quite noticeable how impossible it seems for any committed NewSpringer to criticize their church. Note, for example, one commentator’s tortured defense of Brad Cooper’s use of Bad A** Mother F****** to describe the church, as well as another’s commitment to confront sin and quick backtracking on that commitment.
The blind loyalty to corrupted leaders makes more sense after you read Steven Furtick’s perspective on what it’s like to lead one of these modern churches.
I think most leaders struggle with a measure of paranoia. For some it’s a fear of abandonment. For others it’s the looming threat of betrayal. Whatever form it takes, the power of paranoia can be paralyzing….
Leaders shouldn’t be oblivious to the loyalty level of those he leads. But it’s equally detrimental to give precious attention to reading into everything everyone says, approaching every day like it’s a witch hunt, consistently putting our team members on trial.
Because the fact is, there will always be someone saying something undermining about you. People (you included) are not perfectly loyal. And when you see that disloyalty in a tangible form, by all means, act on it. Don’t tolerate it. Be decisive and severe.
Furtick is here advising fellow pastors to stop their paranoid witch hunts, because they’re certain to perceive disloyalty somewhere if they’re looking for it. Notice also the Morgan Solution (TM); slightly imperfect loyalty demands severe punishment.
It’s also a consequence of thinking you can arbitrarily redefine church government, and by redefine, I mean ignore it and substitute absolute authoritarianism.
I believe each church must wrestle with the Scriptures and personalities that are present and allow the Lord to show them the best way to structure for maximum effectiveness.
I see how the New Testament describes a church led by elders and deacons, but not any talk about how it’s all negotiable if you have an irascible or ADD leader.
When followers must completely sell out to the leader’s vision, they dare not question it publicly. The dogged insistence on emotional compliance with vision even seems to infect Noble’s mid-level leaders. Note this account from NewSpring’s Creative Arts pastor:
I had a meeting scheduled with a person on my team to discuss programing and communication flow on Sundays. As we went through the nuts and bolts of those things I sensed a frustration level in this persons demeanor. This led me to think that this guy wasn’t fully bought into the vision of our church and I began to question him – strongly – on his buy in level.
Slightly questionable body language earned this team member a first-hand look at NewSpring’s enhanced interrogation techniques.
Beyond even the vision, it seems evident that they also won’t question the leader’s behavior lest they be shunned or disciplined later on. NewSpringers constantly assure us that this is not about a man, but they betray themselves with their convoluted excuses for the man’s (and, by extension, his hirelings’) poor behavior and language. If this was all about Jesus, what harm would there be in acknowledging specific examples when your man falls short?
It’s also interesting that Furtick assumes that paranoia is a normal part of leadership. I haven’t seen that quality in leaders of most churches that I’ve been a part of. (They’re almost certainly hiding it from me, but perhaps I’m just paranoid.)
There seems to be a political parallel here. Look through history and you’ll find that the more tyrannical and authoritarian the regime, the more paranoid the leader, and the more obsessive the leadership is about not tolerating criticism or complaints.
Pastor Furtick, if paranoia is a problem, perhaps you might try changing your system of church government.
It’s fairly routine for Perry Noble to use his pulpit to rant against other churches. I’ve always assumed that the implicit assumption was that we should all just get back to a New Testament kind of church and we’d all be living in the ecclesiastical Promised Land.
Until Sunday that is, when Noble showed his distaste for the churches of Jesus, Paul, and the Apostles.
Keep seeing in the book of Acts that Paul would always go to the synagogue every time he went to a new place…why…BECAUSE religious people NEED JESUS!!! Not a program…OR a process…but a relationship with a PERSON!
The context was Noble’s sermon about how Jesus saves us from our churches and our religious programs. Problem is, the accounts in the Acts show that the Apostles liked religious programs and processes to the point of insisting on them.
Paul went to the synagogue wherever he went because it was the Sabbath and he wanted to worship with God’s people.
As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures. (Acts 17:2)
At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue.
It’s also in the synagogues that Paul meets the commendable Bereans (who insisted on “going deeper”).
As for religious programs, Paul was quite convinced that they provided the best context for meeting Jesus.
As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. (Acts 13:42-44)
Paul and Barnabas apparently believed that church was the best place to hear Jesus preached and invited the city to join them the next week for their weekly religious program. Yes, they spoke to the people outside the synagogue, but they recognized that the sabbath and the synagogue were God’s special time and place for preaching and hearing the Word.
Noble treats Paul’s sabbath synagogue trips as rescue missions into hostile territory, when it would be more accurate to say that the Apostles were eagerly and regularly obeying Jesus’ command to meet on the sabbath to worship with the saints.
So Noble doesn’t like most existing churches. He doesn’t like Jesus’ church. He doesn’t like Paul’s church.
Is there any church that existed before the age of Hybels and Warren that he does like?
“We don’t think there should be any barriers to hearing the good news of Jesus,” said Nick Charalambous, NewSpring’s web campus pastor. “We know people are living more of their lives online every day, and we want to offer them an option to learn how God can transform their lives with joy, hope and purpose without their having to visit a church.”
It must be nice, to do church without having to go to church and meet, you know, Christians who make you feel uncomfortable.
I wanted to create a stage persona for myself that allowed me to really speak about anything I want… So I can be a storyteller, I can be jokey, I can be corny, I can be a little vulgar, I can be a lot vulgar. And I’m not afraid to go anywhere to get the point of [the message] across, even if I have to just blabber like an idiot.
Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.
Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.
As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words.
Perry Noble recommended this post by Gary Lamb about the challenges that these emergent-church pastors face. Lamb says he doesn’t know what to do about it, though I think he is blind to the real problem.
In the early days of people attending your church they will love your passion. When the newness wears off, they will hate your passion.
People will come to your church because they love your heart to reach lost people. Over time when they realize it isn’t about them, they will hate that you have a heart to reach lost people.
People will love how “real” you are in life and from the stage but then you will do something they don’t like, that is human or they feel crosses the line and they will hate how “real” you are.
When you make church all about the pastor, these problems are inevitable and insoluble. Surely the solution is to make church about someone else.
This blog is mine alone and does not necessarily–or very often–represent the thinking or sentiments of anyone who disagrees with me, my wife, my employer, my friends, my family, my pastor, my brother, my church and, almost certainly, God. After I hit the Publish button, it doesn’t always even reflect my own thinking. It does seem to often reflect the thinking of Tommy F, Twit Conway and some guy in Minnesota, however.