TRADITIONS: GOOD, BAD, NEUTRAL AND APOSTOLIC

Traditions: Good, Bad, Neutral, and Apostolic

(BY LINK HUDSON)

In the United States, one meal that some families enjoy is a big ham. A ham is a piece of pork, smoked, and cooked in the oven.

One day an American woman was cooking a ham, and her daughter was helping her prepare the meal. The mother cut an end off the ham, put the ham in the pan, put the end of the ham on top of the ham, and put it all in the oven.

The daughter asked her mother, “Why do you cut the end off the ham before you cooked it?”

Here mother thought about it. “I don’t know,” her mother replied, “My mother always cut the end of the ham and I just cook it the way she taught me. I’ll have to remember to ask Grandma about that some time.”

One day, while visiting with Grandma, she asked, “Why do you always cut the end off the ham when you cook it? Does it cook faster?”

“No,” Grandma said, “Our pan was too small, so I cut the ends off the ham to make it fit.”

The Influence of Tradition on Church Styles

Many church traditions are just like this illustration. So many things we do in church we do because of what we have seen and heard in our church experience, and not because of what we read in scripture.

Go into a Charismatic church in Indonesia. You may see electric guitars and keyboards. You may hear a style of worship music that comes from America. The preacher may be wearing a tie. Is there anything in the Bible that teaches us that we must use electric guitars and keyboards in our meetings, or that a preacher must wear a tie? The apostles lived before the tie was in style. There is nothing in scripture that tells us that we must sing all our songs in a particular style of American praise music. But some people in these churches associate this style of music with a proper church meeting.

Go into a Protestan church and look around. In some churches, you will see a high pulpit on the left, nice wooden pews, a piano, and an organ. Listen to the music in a Protestan church. You will hear old hymns written in musical styles that were popular in northern Europe several hundred years ago. Nothing in scripture commands us to have a raised pulpit on the left, wooden pews. Nothing in scripture teaches us that our church music must sound like northern European music from several hundred years ago. Yet some people feel that a church is in error if it does not sing this style of music.

[footnote] The Open Church by James Rutz says that the white collar Roman Catholic priests wear was once the style for shirts in France for about a decade. Priests, not having as much money, did not always keep up with the newest trends, and kept wearing the older style collars. Over time, the white collar became associated with Roman Catholic priests. According to the same book, , during the Reformation John Calvin wore regular business clothes when he preached in church meetings. The fancy, religious ceremonial clothes now worn by some Protestan clergymen are the clothes that regular businessmen would have worn in Geneva four hundred years ago!

Special clothing for church leaders has actually been a point of controversy since the Reformation. Many feel that it is appropriate for ministers to dress like regular people in accordance with the priesthood of all believers. If John Calvin dressed in regular business clothes for church, it is ironic that the regular clothes he once were are now associated with being a member of a holy pendeta class.

I have gotten to know an Irian Jayan minister of the Gospel named Bpk. Danis. He has shared with me about how the Gospel came to His people group, the Dani, in the 1960’s and transformed it. Some Dani still live in very remote areas. Some men still wear a koteka, though some may have a pair of shorts. In church meetings in some of these villages, the men will attend wearing nothing but a koteka-- but not the preacher. He will wear a tie- no shirt, no pants- a tie and a koteka or a pair of shorts. Why does he wear a tie? Because he is a preacher? Wearing a tie during a meeting is a common practice for some western preachers, but it isn’t something the Bible teaches us that we must do.

Many of these practices, such as wearing ties or singing European-style hymns are not wrong. It is just strange that we, as humans, have a tendency to consider non-essential traditions to be sacred. Many of these traditions evolve over time. Unfortunately, some of these traditions can actually hinder the spread of the Gospel.

Church Planting and Cultural Imperialism

Sundar Singh was born a well-to-do Indian Sikh. His mother hoped that he would become a sadhu, a religious holy man who traveled from place to place. After his mother died, as a teenager, Sundar Singh led a band of boys who threw rocks and Christians. He hated Christianity. On the verge of suicide, he prayed to God to reveal himself and had a revelation of Christ. In his teen years, Sundar Singh became a radical Christian. While still young, he began to travel from place to place as a Christian sadhu, evangelizing Indians. He spent his life evangelizing in India and Tibet and even traveled to Europe.

Sundar Singh wore Indian clothes, ate like an Indian, talked like an Indian, and acted like an Indian. This method of evangelism was quite revolutionary. Some call Sundar Singh the apostle to India. Why was this so revolutionary? It was common for Christians in India to forsake local customs and act like the English. The Christians wore different clothes, at with different eating utensils and adapted other practices of English culture. The English wanted a class of educated Indians who could speak the local languages, speak English, and adapt English culture. As a youth, Sundar Singh saw Christians as a tool of the British Empire, and associated them with a regime that colonized his country.

What do English-style clothing, English cooking utensils have to do with Christianity? The earliest believers had none of these things. The Jerusalem saints probably sung their music on a different musical scale from the European scale used in so many church hymns.

Let us consider Paul’s philosophy of ministry in regard to evangelizing people of different cultures:

1 Corinthians 9:19-22
19 For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
20 And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews; to them that are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law;
21 To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.
22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

If a preacher every had a good reason to impose his culture on others, wasn’t it Paul? Paul was Jewish. He was from a nation that God revealed Himself to and through. God gave Israel laws and customs. Jesus was Jewish. But God realized that God had created the Gentiles and put them in their nations, and tried to relate to them according their own culture.

There were some things from Jewish culture which were important and carried over into the practices of the Gentile churches. Jews would greet one another with a kiss, and the Gentile Christians were to practice the holy kiss. The Lord’s Supper, practiced by all the churches, had roots in the Passover feast.

Let us consider the issue of church music. Gentile churches developed hymns. Think of the old hymn Oh Come Let Us Adore. [semba dan puji dia] This Latin hymn is believed to date back to the 300’s. No doubt these hymns sounded quite different from the hymns sung by the Jews in the temple. The earliest Jerusalem saints would have sung the Psalms on a Jewish music scale. The notes the Jews sang were probably different from the Latin hymns. We can recognize that both this Latin hymn, and the inspired hymns of the Israelite temple as beautiful, godly music.

If the early Christians were not completely adapt Jewish culture-clothing, musical styles, and various other customs, should a modern Gentile Christian group expect new believers from other cultures to accept their culture?

Let us suppose that a missionary reaches a very remote village in Bali. These villagers have never even heard any kind of popular music. Their concept of music is based the tunes played on the gamelon. Would it be better for a missionary to teach hymns written in the musical scale of this village, or to introduce completely foreign-sounding hymns on a musical scale the villagers do not understand? If the missionary that reaches them is from a Christian village in Irian Jaya, should he teach all the Balinese to wear koteka like his fellow Christians back home, rather than the type of clothes the Balinese like to wear? (I know an Irian brother who plants churches in Bali, and he does not teach people to wear a koteka to the meetings.)

Sometimes the foreign culture missionaries introduce into new native churches can make the Gospel seem unnecessarily foreign to unbelievers in that area. Missionaries need to be careful not to compromise to pagan customs, preserve essential Christian traditions, but also keep from evangelizing people with their own culture, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The early churches we see in the Bible met in homes. Yet some people seem to think that pews, pulpits, and church buildings are essentials to plant a new church. The apostles did not wear neckties, white collars, or purple robes, yet some think that preachers must wear special clothes. The apostles had no organs or electric guitars. Yet some feel uncomfortable without one of these instruments in their meetings. Let us truly consider what is Biblical Christianity, and what are aspects of our own culture associated with religion.

European hymns and American worship choruses are beautiful. Western styles of music are now a part of mainstream Indonesian culture except in the remotest areas. There is nothing wrong with a little bit of cross-cultural experience in church. Americans sometimes like to sound Russian sounding hymns. But we err when we begin to think that Christianity has to be wrapped in western garb in order to be legitimate. To this day, there are people who think that a church is not singing properly if it sings worship choruses rather than the old hymns. Is this because the Bible teaches us to sing old European hymns? No. Those who believe this way usually believe it because they sung hymns in their own church experience. It is what is familiar to them, and what ‘feels right.’

A lot of what we do in church we do because we are imitating what we have seen and heard, not because of what the scriptures teach. These are traditions that we hold to. Some of these traditions can be good, some can be bad, and others are neutral.

Churches Must Be Reproducible

George Patterson is an American missionary who planted churches in Central America. The churches he planted grew into a house church movement. This brother has since served as a church planting coach for YWAM and other organizations, coaching teams of missionaries who have started churches in under-evangelized areas like Cuba and Mongolia.

One principle that George Patterson stresses is that new churches that are planted have to be reproducible. For example, if a missionary goes into the jungle and uses an overhead projector to teach discipleship lessons to new believers using colorful overheads, this is not a reproducible pattern. Some of those young believers may eventually turn into teachers. The way these believers know how to teach discipleship methods is with color slides. If they have had no experience even hearing a lesson presented another way, the model they have learned is not reproducible.

Later, when the missionary has gone on to another work, and this jungle church wants to plant a church among their fellow tribesmen

Imagine a missionary from Jakarta plants a church in a remote, unreached Dayak village in central Kalimantan. He teaches the people through an interpreter. This Jakartan instructs the Dayak to build a church building with a steeple on top. The villagers are not very skilled in making pews, so he returns to Jakarta, and raises some funds to buy nice wooden pews. He also buys a spiral staircase with a pulpit on top. He ships these items to the new Dayak church.

These Dayak believers now associate pews and raised pulpits with church. Obviously, they are important, they reason, or else the missionary would not have bought them. Later, when the missionary has gone on to another field, this Dayak church decides to reach out to other Dayak in other villages. Each time a new church is planted in a village, special care is made to either construct nice polished pews and raised pulpits, or else to raise money to buy them from another island. The process for completing the pulpit and pews may take nearly a year.

Slowly, one year at a time, one village is reached and one church building complete with pews and pulpit is assembled.

Just imagine the difference if a missionary from Jakarta were to reach this Dayak village, and simply instructed them to meet in homes or in a clearing in the center of a village. When the believers Dayak village later started their church planting campaign in other villages, they could focus on preaching and teaching, and leave new village churches with the simple, Biblical, reproducible pattern of meeting in homes.

One missions magazine reported on the missions efforts in Mongolia. Many Korean missionaries had gone to Mongolia, and, due to similarities in language, were able to learn Mongolian and were able to preach in a year. The missionaries from Korea are a great blessing to Mongolia. However, one Korean missionary brought with him a gold communion chalice from their church in Seoul. Imagine how slowly Mongolian churches would reproduce if new Mongolian church members got the idea that communion should always be served in a gold chalice?

Following Apostolic Traditions

To many evangelicals, ‘tradition’ is almost a bad word. Many think of tradition as the enemy of scripture. But the Bible tells us about certain kinds of tradition that are actually good. Read the verse that follows carefully.

2 Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

Not only are we to follow the doctrinal teachings of the New Testament, but we are also to follow the traditions of the apostles. By studying the New Testament, we can learn the way the apostles did things, and imitate them.

Paul realized that people imitate what they see. Just think about a little child. A little boy learns to talk like his father. He may walk like his father walks, use his father’s gestures, and repeat the phrases his father says. If his father says dirty words, you can expect that the child will imitate him.

Paul, as an apostle, had to live a clean life-a life worthy of imitation. He also had to demonstrate the proper traditions to the churches to imitate. Paul wrote, “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. Now I praise you, brethren, that ye remember me in all things, and keep the ordinances, as I delivered them to you. ( 1 Corinthians 11:1-2.)

Paul wanted believers to imitate him, and also to imitate the traditions concerning church meetings he passed down to them. Look at the arguments Paul made to persuade the Corinthians to follow his instructions for church meetings given in I Corinthians 14.

1 Corinthians 14:36-37
36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.

Look at verse 36. Paul tries to persuade the Corinthians to obey his instructions based on the fact that the word of God did not originate with them and they were not the only people to have received it. The word of God had come out from Jerusalem, and there were certain church protocols that were to be followed in all the churches. In verse 33, Paul makes mention of ‘all the churches of the saints.’ (v. 33.) The Corinthians did not have the right to ignore God-ordained principles for church meetings.

In verse 37, Paul offers an even stronger argument for following his instructions. They were commandments of the Lord.

What kind of practices do we see the apostles and the early church carrying out when we look in the scriptures? The Jerusalem church met at the temple. The temple was the center of Jewish sacrifice. There was one temple for the Hebrews in Jerusalem. Rival temples in the Old Testament would have been classified as ‘high places.’ The Jerusalem church met on Solomon’s porch in the temple compound. They also met from house to house.

Acts 2:46 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,”

After the Gospel was preached among the Gentiles, who lived far from the Jerusalem temple, we see that Gentile Christians gathered in churches that met in homes. (Romans 16:4-5, 23, I Corinthians 16:19, Colossians 4:15, and Philemon 1:2.) There is no record of any believers building a special-purpose church building in scripture.

This principle of apostolic tradition is one reason many people in house churches choose to carefully study the patterns of scripture, and implement them. We all realize that there were some things practiced by the apostles that were only for a certain time or only for people of a certain area. One example would be participating in temple rituals. Paul was arrested while preparing to participate in a temple ritual. Yet we know from the teaching of scripture that this is not required for Gentile Christians.

In some areas, Christians will disagree on what is a required apostolic pattern. One passage in scripture shows believers meeting on the first day of the week. (Acts 20:7.) Another verse instructions Christians to save their money for a particular offering on the first day of the week. (I Corinthians 16:2.) Some Christians adamantly argue, based on this, that Christians must meet and eat Holy Communion on the first day of the week, even though Acts 2:46 shows the Jerusalem church meeting and breaking bread daily.

We as believers must be tolerant of one another, and be sensitive to other believer’s consciences. It is possible for some to go to far with reading apostolic traditions into scripture. On the other hand, much of the church pays little attention to many Biblical patterns and traditions.

In regard to church planting, there are many Biblical patterns that can be applied to modern evangelistic efforts. From the first century to the fourth century, Christians, though persecuted at times, grew rapidly until the pagan Roman Empire fell. What were some of the secrets of their church growth? What methods of church planting do we see in the New Testament?
© Paul L. Hudson, Jr. 2001