Think Organically, Not Pragmatically

Last year I spoke at a pastor's conference and my theme was "Think Organically, Not Pragmatically." The Church is a living organism. It is not something that was brought into being by the planning and strategy of man. Neither does it grow by carnal ambition or program-driven activity. Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how" (Mark 4:26-27 - emphasis mine).

Whilst God uses us to sow and water the seed of the Word, yet it is He who gives the increase. Only God can impart spiritual life. Jesus said the wind blows where it chooses. We hear its sound, we know which direction it is blowing from, but we cannot determine when and how it will blow. So it is with those who are born again. It is the work of the Spirit.

And spiritual growth is not something that can be manufactured or manipulated. People do not grow because we tell them to or because we get them hyped into a frenzy. They grow because they have life. There's nothing more natural than growth. Growth is only an expansion of the life we already possess. Just like plant life, people grow when they are placed in the right environment. Peter says we are to, "Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Pet.3:18). A Christian may be stunted in their growth for years. But place them in an environment of grace where Jesus is constantly being unveiled through the Word, and then watch them grow!

We can easily forget that the Church is a living organism and when we do we tend to operate pragmatically. We think we have to do things to make the Church grow. When this happens, in a subtle way, the living organism becomes an institutional organisation.

A Living Organism, Or An Institutional Organisation?

What's the difference between the Church as an organism and the Church as an organisation? Here are some distinctions:

1. As an organisation the Church is an institution governed by the appointed board. As an organism the Church is the Body of Christ directed by Jesus the living Head.

2. As an organisation the system determines the way we will function. As an organism our spiritual gifts determine the way we will function.

3. In the Church as an organisation, growth may be measured in terms of numerical increase and facility expansion. In the Church as an organism, growth is measured by conformity to the image of Christ.

4. The power of the Church as an organisation is in the rules of the system. The power of the Church as an organism is the life of the Spirit.

5. In an organisation the leadership control the people. In an organism the leadership empower the people.

6. The Church as an organisation encourages co-dependency. The Church as an organism encourages Christ-dependency.

7. The Church as an organisation emphasizes the event. The bigger, the better. The Church as an organism emphasizes the journey.

8. In the Church as an organisation the leader is the anointed superstar. In the Church as an organism, there are no superstars, but everyone is anointed.

9. The people are responsible for building the Church as an organisation. Christ builds the Church as an organism.

10. In the Church as an organisation, success is measured by results. In the Church as an organism, success is measured by obedience.

I am certainly not suggesting that every local church is like the organisation model, or that your church is; but I am sure that this is what Jesus encountered at the self-made church in Laodicea. He said to them, "... you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'-and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (Rev.3:17). This church had everything - except Jesus. He was on the outside, knocking at the door! The Head was detached from the body! Someone once said that if the Holy Spirit was taken from the Church, 80% of it would carry on as normal.

When we were first saved it was all about Jesus. If you have made it all about the organisation, and you are weary of empty, hollow activity, He is standing at the door of your heart today. He wants to come in and make it all about a relationship with Him. The door handle is on our side. Your call.

What Is the Soul?   Christmas the Religious Day Observed By Both Christians and Non-Christians   Shuffled Priorities   Love Is an Act of the Will, Not a Burst of Emotions   Abraham's Thoughts While Preparing to Sacrifice Isaac   There Is A Civil War Coming In The Church!   

3 Models of Christian Mentoring

For those interested in growth over the lifespan there can be no better aid, notwithstanding a relationship with Jesus Christ, than mentoring. When we consider that we either grow or regress in life, it pays to plan for growth. Growth is true success. But growth is such an abstract concept.

Because it is impossible to chart our progress, mentoring helps simply chart the journey. It makes nothing of measuring the immeasurable. It works on the observable, on opportunities for strengthening our strengths, and on honing what is identified by the person being mentored as problematic.

Mentoring involves the assistance of a discipler, spiritual guide, coach, counsellor, teacher, sponsor, and hero. And these roles can be combined into three modes of mentoring: intensive, occasional, and passive.

1. INTENSIVE MENTORING

This concentrated variety of mentoring encompasses the roles of discipler, spiritual guide, and coach. This intensive process involves equipping those being mentored with the basics for following Christ, engaging them for accountability and for the provision of direction and insight, and for motivation and skill development.

The style of mentoring is likely to be frequent, targeted, and possibly directive. This is the most deliberate style of mentoring. We can imagine those involved in this mentoring meeting fortnightly.

2. OCCASIONAL MENTORING

With less directive mentoring the roles of counsellor, teacher, and sponsor come into effect. What is less directive is less deliberate. The mentor under this regime is more of a wise friend than an accountability partner, though wise friends will always step into the breach.

The counsellor provides the subtleties of timely advice and correct perspectives on views of self and others, circumstances, and ministry. The teacher will help with knowledge and understanding in a particular subject. The sponsor provides career guidance and protection as the person being mentored moves through organisational strata.

Being less directive and less deliberate, those engaged in this mentoring would meet 4-6 weekly. It is intentionally a hands-off process and it's typically driven by the person being mentored.

3. PASSIVE MENTORING

Role models or heroes best suit the idea of the mentor in passive mentoring.

This usually involves no relationship at all, as the 'mentor' is a contemporary or historical figure we simply admire, observe, and try to be like. We emulate what they do and teach by reading what they wrote or listening to what they say or said. This sort of mentoring has influenced every single one of us. Every one of us has had a hero we looked up to.

***

Growth is our opportunity to advance in the faith, enabling us to love and serve others better, to live more hopefully, and to worship God more fully. Mentoring is central to growth. It is a very wise and godly thing to come under the charge of good mentoring.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

Further Reading: Paul D. Stanley & J. Robert Clinton, Connecting: The Mentoring Relationships You Need to Succeed in Life (Colorado Springs, Colorado: NavPress, 1992). The three models proposed above are sourced from this text.

What Is the Soul?   Christmas the Religious Day Observed By Both Christians and Non-Christians   Shuffled Priorities   3 Steps to Find Rest When You're Weary   

Are Muslim Immigrants Humble Guests Or Aggressive Invaders

With all the uproar about how the world is changing to conform with the demands of immigrant Muslim demands, I felt it was the right time to make a statement. Feel free to distribute this article as you wish.

There are many examples such as creating special time slots for swimming pools and sports games, and the rescheduling of university exams because they were on a Sunday, which was a time for Muslim prayers.

What about the rights of the Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, and other various religions who had no objection to taking the exam on a Sunday yet had to rearrange their lives to suit the Muslims. This is Canada, not a Muslim country but a Christian one. They do not make exceptions for the Jews when some events are held on a Saturday, their holy day.

Europe is even worse, although Australia is standing up to a degree. With all the animosity that is brewing, we must consider some very important facts about the religion of Islam.

The koran, like other religions, teaches the basic morals and good ethics required to be a decent human being. One very important principle is Adab. This very profound quality of character that must be cultivated covers too many english words to describe, but the basic principle is good conduct. Adab teaches how to be a good guest conforming to the rules of the host and culture.

Adab is a main tenet of the Islamic tradition and the demands that the guests are making on the host countries are in total opposition to its principles: Respect your host, respect all beings, do not disturb others in their way of life.

The importance of adab is beautifully summed up in the words of Ibn A'rabi, the greatest of Sufi saints and teachers, when he said; "100% of your spiritual growth is dependent on your adab."

Anyone who does not follow or agree with this principle, or would follow the muslim tenet that everyone must be converted to Islam or die, is not coming as a guest but rather is coming as an invader to conquer people in another land.

The point I would like to make is that immigrants either conform to the customs, laws and culture of the host country or be treated as invaders and deported. Anyone who goes to another person's home or another country and says; you must do it my way, should be treated as an invader, if not simply as too rude to be welcome in your home.

Since the changes being demanded concern religious regulations, such actions could be compared to a form of Jihad, a religious war. You generally do not grant citizenship and bestow all the benefits of citizenship to an invader who has declared war on you, but that is exactly what is happening in so many generous democratic countries.

I am not saying that anyone should not have the right to live as they choose, but rather that if you elect to emigrate to another country, you should know and accept and adapt to the new environment you have chosen to live in. For example, you do not take a trip to the Antarctic to see the penguins and pack only bermuda shorts and a t-shirt.

You know what you are getting into, and if you want it to be like home, then do not go where life is different, unless the entire purpose of your trip is to change the place you are going to. Again this is the behaviour of an invader, not a guest.

I call upon all non-muslim countries in the world to join together and adopt the attitude that every citizen or visitor should be allowed religious freedom, but anyone who demands a change of the way a country and its citizens function in favor of a newly arrived guest should be deemed an enemy infiltrator, establishing a position inside the country to which an attack is being planned. We were here first!

We must learn from history. How many countries have been invaded by the British and other European countries. Look what has happened to the indigenous people, they were massacred. History is repeating itself, but I hope that this time we can wise up and prevent the inevitable.

Of course no country will take affirmative action for the simple reason that they are very scared of violent repercussions, and rightfully so. This valid fear itself justifies my point.

Why is it that the Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews and many other religions who have immigrated do not make demands on the host country to change the way the hosts live? Another more important question is why no changes have been made to accommodate those religions?

The reason is very simple, they do not pose the threat of violence if the host country does not conform. Here again we have further evidence that these are not grateful guests but rather violent aggressors, which need to be put in their place for the sake of the natives of the land.

I am asking all Muslims to be respectful guests and respect the rules of the host country who has welcomed you, provided you with a better quality of life, the benefits, services and privileges that come with having a western passport, and stop asking your generous hosts to change the way they live. This is very poor adab and will return bitterness and hatred, as you can see.

This article may sound like I am trying to incite non-Muslims against Muslims, and that may happen of course, but rather, my goal is to bring peace and harmony to our world.

We should all have the right to live as we choose, and if your way means that other people cannot live the way they want, and have been living for hundreds of years, then something is very wrong with your way.

The greatest supporters of this article should be Muslims who simply want to live a better quality of life in a new country, peacefully. It is they who are suffering the most by the radicals making unreasonable demands. A person should not be hated because they are born into a religion or wear a head scarf. But they are, simply by association to the radicals. This is unjust to everyone and is caused by the people who are demanding so called justice and freedom to live as they choose.

I am asking Muslim immigrants globally who are integrating peacefully in their new home to reject the demands of the fanatics and entreat the those who are demanding changes to back down and fit in, or go back to where they came from.

We should welcome with open arms any guest who immigrates and wants to share their culture as they settle in their new home. I am not saying to reject all Muslims, but only those who demand that the host country and people change the way they live.

If this article insights some fanatic to kill me, I am very happy to die as a martyr, just in case they are right and I get a plethora of perpetual virgins, I just hope they are all young and gorgeous. However, I would even be satisfied with the koranic promise of the Beautiful Eyes. Yes, that is the truth, the koran does not promise any virgins.

The gift to the martyr is Hur al Ein, the Beautiful Eyes. But no one knew what that meant, so men, as men do, translated that into something more enticing. Please refer my article entitled; "The Beautiful Eyes, God's Gift to the Martyr", on my web site.

May all people on earth be happy and stop telling other people how to live and what to change so they can have it their way. The world is not Burger King!

What Is the Soul?   Christmas the Religious Day Observed By Both Christians and Non-Christians   Shuffled Priorities   Shutting the Door on Shame   

Taking Control of Your Life, Today

The practical considerations of taking control of our lives shouldn't be thought of as thwarting God's purposes to the end of our disobedience. On the contrary, we ought to take control of our lives, making out of them testimonies of glory to God's faithfulness. We do this by receiving our call and living it out as God's workmanship, created to do good works (Ephesians 2:10).

The opportunity, then, is to take control of our lives; to not be swept along by the currents of ambivalence and indifference (James 1:7-8).

That is, with courage, we wrest control from the would-be thugs commanding our attention and dictating our response. And we don't underestimate the power we, also, exert over ourselves to inflict a merciless level of thuggery to satisfy our own fear for exposure - especially before others. Why would we be both master and slave, where the slave is both abused and neglected? Why be master when we can, otherwise, follow the perfect Master? Following the Master, Jesus, we are thankful slaves and fully in control of the lives God now gives us. Following the Master is about seeking and knowing our purpose.

Taking control of our lives is, first, about knowing where we stand.

KNOWING WHERE WE STAND

Almost as important as being in control of our lives is in knowing where we stand. If we are floundering it's best to know. It's only when we acknowledge the issue we can do anything about it.

We can begin to plan; to schedule an assault on the wresting of control.

Knowing where we stand is a critical input in planning the better way; in knowing what needs to be done.

We have everything to live for; to make the most of life. But we also know when to apply patience - to not lose sight of the overall picture of what God's doing in and through us. We keep the faith regarding that vision.

Knowing where we stand is also crucial in not getting ahead of ourselves.

We most probably have a humble role to play - but we play it as well as we are able. This process of existence from birth to death seems long, yet it doesn't compare with the scope ahead for eternity. Even in a life requiring less of us than we are prepared to give, we give - and gratefully, to boot.

MAKING A STAND - RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW

Taking control of our lives is probably most accurately about a repetitive practice.

Over and again we will be required to take the reins and rise in ascendancy. Upon each day, and many moments throughout, is borne the opportunity. We prepare and we wait, for the time comes unexpectedly and urgently.

Making a stand is the requirement. Knowing when and how to make that stand is the key. Only we, guided by our discernment of the will of God, can know these things.

Only we can choose.

God is with us, not against us.

***

The greatest obedience is to take control of our lives; to align our thoughts, words and deeds to the will of God. When we do so our hearts pound with passion, our minds are stimulated, and our souls are nourished. We live by faith in accord with the truth. And, what's more, we please God.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.

What Is the Soul?   Christmas the Religious Day Observed By Both Christians and Non-Christians   Shuffled Priorities   How Can We Walk on Water?   Love Is an Act of the Will, Not a Burst of Emotions   

Do Not Worry

"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matthew 6:25 KJV)

Do not worry? All too often when considering the idea of "taking no thought" in the sense of not worrying, people tend to toughen up, stiffen the lower lip, and become more determined that they are not going to do whatever they have been told not to do. I am not so sure that actions which reflect a hardening reflect an accurate understanding of this command. To not give something a second thought can easily be misrepresented as either a callousness or a laziness. Our delima is that when we hear "take no thought" we draw the straightest line we can to "take no involvement in". We think we need not worry because we think we will escape that which causes the worry. Somehow we will remove ourselves (or be removed) from the turmoil of a situation. This is a natural thought process for people who distance themselves from situations that they cannot manage. A school boy told not to worry about an impending fight with the bully concludes that either the bully will not be there or his dad will be there in time to pick him up. Naturally very few want the work of either brushing up on diplomatic skills or discovering a new found reason to take a self defense class.

There are dozens of very real and present needs that we have. We all want to secure them as best that we can and many want to insure that his neighbor has the chance too. In the process of securing your needs for food, shelter, a friend, etc... is Jesus your first stop in making these requests? No one is denying the realness of the need and no one wants to deaden your sense of touch and sensitivity to an otherwise brushed off toughen up lesson. So what does it really mean to "take no thought for your life"? The first big irony is that the quickest way to meet your needs is to take no thought for them. I am not sure how much that helps the first time hearer, but it begins the suggestion of trust. You are a uniquely important and wonderfully made individual that God cares about very much. Even on the days that you do not feel it.:-) In order to best realize this, you must have an understanding that the closer you are to Him, the more you are going to see what He puts in place for you. This is not to be confused with a prosperity doctrine as that is your attempt to manage your provision by how close you think you are. To be able to not worry about the supplies you have or do not have is a direct function of trust bathed in surrender to your provider. In this case (and all others), Jesus.

A very revealing couple of questions to ask yourself would be, does relying on the Lord's provision make you more or less likely to obey and follow when prompted by His Spirit? Would managing a little more of your sustenance change your ability to obey or would it simply reveal whether obedience was there to begin with or not? These questions can be revealing in the same sense that if much is given much is required (see Luke 12:48). When Jesus provides illustrations of birds and flowers, He is not merely pointing to something smaller than us, but to others who are in the employ of His Father. Similarly David sites God's work in defeating a lion and a bear as evidence of God's potential success with the giant. Jesus is reminding us that God has other successful projects that we can reflect on to know that He is worth working for. The tools that we need to accomplish His work are worth asking for and in so doing they will be provided in His timing. The trick is not to separate yourself from the work because it appears unmanageable, but to surrender and get to it. The rewards are always well worth it in the end!

"Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." (John 20:29 KJV)

What Is the Soul?   Christmas the Religious Day Observed By Both Christians and Non-Christians   Shuffled Priorities   Shutting the Door on Shame   Abraham's Thoughts While Preparing to Sacrifice Isaac