Dear Friends
Some of you will
wonder why David Cho, former pastor of what was often noted as being the
world's largest church in Seoul, Korea and Victor Yanukovitch, former
president of Ukraine, are linked in this piece. In short, Cho was just
sentenced to prison for embezzling millions in dollars of church funds
and Yanukovitch's golden toilets have been seen by all the world while
the fraud, money laundering, blackmail and extortion to fund his
lifestyle have also been exposed.
I
used to think that failures like Cho's were the result of immaturity
and character flaws. However, years ago I came to the conclusion that
our religious system is the true culprit. We have embraced the same
power pyramid as the world, the same one which Jesus commanded us NOT to
embrace in Matthew 23.
Do not call any man "Reverend or Pastor" Do not let anyone exercise positional power over you for you are all brothers.
Do
not call any man "father". Do not let anyone exercise relational power
over you for you have one Father and you are all brothers.
Do
not call any man "teacher". Do not let anyone exercise intellectual
power over you for you have one teacher, Christ and you are all
brothers.
in
total defiance of the One whom we say we follow, we have embraced a
culture of leadership power and privilege and twisted scriptures about
blessing to justify the same This is not just a western problem.
There are now African "Bishops" boasting their own private jets while
their people cannot afford to feed their children and they tell these
same parents that the reason they cannot afford to feed their children
is because they do not tithe. This is not a private jet problem.
There are many small churches in the west that are more concerned about
the quality of their sound systems than children sleeping rough in
their neighbourhoods.
But
put Cho and Yanukovitch in the same box? Yes, the box is power over
people. The difference is one of degree, not of kind. It is like the
famous exchange that Bernard Shaw liked to have with upper class women
at parties. He would ask them if they would sleep with him for a
thousand pounds and then when he saw them hesitating and thinking about
the proposition, he would offer them ten. They would be offended and
some would slap his face. He would then say, "Why are you offended? We
have already established what kind of a woman you are. All we are
doing now is haggling about the price."
When
Jesus looked at the twelve and called them "friends" he forever
destroyed any possibility of any hierarchical system expressing His
kingdom. The One who could justly claim every title, position, name
and power over his creations, laid that aside and called them friends.
You cannot use friends to build a religious business. You must have
servants, slaves, members, parishioners, tithers- people that you use
and control. You must destroy friendships. That is why survey after
survey of leaders of institutional churches shows them lamenting the
fact that they have no friends. We are taught to exercise power over
people in order to build a ministry. We call that "having a vision"
and then "sow the vision" so people will support it with their time and
treasure. We are at the top of the pyramid and want them to keep on
making our bricks. (And in truth some love to make bricks since they
love freedom from responsibility but that is another story!)
We
have difficulty seeing what Jesus is saying because we look through
centuries of hierarchical religious systems and through our present cult
of leadership privilege and power. The result? Most "churches" are a
mix of prosperity and personality cult. We are unable read the New
Testament through its fifty plus "one another" commandments. We cannot
imagine small "bands of brothers" being the only expression of the
kingdom in the mind of Jesus even though that is what He taught and what
He exampled.
This
same Jesus looked at the twelve and told them it was best for THEM if
He went away. How could it be better without Jesus beside you? Jesus
said He would go and then would send them the Holy Spirit. It would be
better for them to live by the indwelling Spirit than to have His
physical leadership. And we think our leadership is important? The
only way you can show people that you trust them to the Holy Spirit is
to leave them to the Holy Spirit. Instead we build dependency. Instead
of maturity and release to the Holy Spirit the religious system keeps
the saints in perpetual immaturity needing another sermon, seminar,
training, conference, another......
How
does a non kingdom system get judged? Why does survey after survey
reveal that the majority (between 60- 80%) of Christian ministers will
not end well? They will crash morally or financially or simply burn out
and leave. Grace is withdrawn from those who serve the power system
and failure is inevitable. Pyramids are for dead people.
The
church is not a place, a building, a meeting. The church is a
spiritual family on a mission together with Jesus. The church invests
in people- primarily in the last and the least. As Neil Cole says,
"The main impediments to the multiplication of disciple making movements
are the three "B"s- buildings, big shots and budgets." Why? As
soon as you introduce buildings, big shots and budgets you are into a
religious business that uses people.
Want
to take a fresh look at the New Testament through the words and example
of Jesus? We have attempted to help with you take that fresh look with
our Luke 10 Manual which is available as a free download in over ten
languages on www.harvest-now.org.
When the page opens click on Luke 10 at the top and the various PDFs
will display. If you would like an electronic or hard copy, you can
order by clicking on the picture of the book on the left hand side. All
proceeds from book sales go to translation and publishing projects in
other languages for the majority world.
Your brother
Steve
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar