Simple Church Minute--Leadership among God's people over history

 Today, I am reprising my post of September 14, 2011.  About three years ago, I wrote a number of scripts for what, in my mind, were two minute radio commentaries on various subjects which are behind what has been called simple, organic church.  Almost all never got used as radio programs, but they do break down the reasoning behind non-organizational fellowship around Jesus from a belief and history standpoint.  On this one, at the bottom, I have added footnotes (when I originally published these, as I was thinking radio, I didn't write my sources down--I am attempting to correct that).  At the bottom, I reference www.hrscn.com, a website that services non-organizational churches in the Hampton Roads, VA area--at www.simplechurch.org, there is a place to possibly find similar connections in other areas of the world.
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2016—leadership in God’s people over history

            My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.  In the Old Testament, after Joshua led the chosen people into Israel, the Bible tells us that for about 200 years, God Himself was the leader, with persons called judges as the human leaders.  These persons had wider responsibility than what we think of a judge today as having. For one thing, having responsibility for people before God did and still does have a spiritual element.  Still, as it says in Judges chapter 21 verse 25, “In those days, there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”  There were threats by enemies in various directions, and the people, who were the chosen people not by faith but by to whom they were born, eventually demanded a king, the story of which is in First Samuel chapter 8 and following.

            In the time of the New Covenant, God raised up a new chosen people by faith, not ethnicity.  They were opposed by both the Old Covenant status quo supporters and the government who heard that believers in Jesus saw Him, not the emperor, as king.  The church had no buildings to destroy, and leadership was by gifting, not to which family you were born to or under what person or group you were trained by. As an underground group that wasn’t a true organization, there was no need to collect money, except to help the poor, both from within and neighbors in need nearby AND also to assist fellow mature believers who were constrained by the Spirit to travel to areas where people had not heard the message of Jesus.  Even then, the apostle we know the most about is Paul, who had a skill by which he didn’t have to depend on others as he spoke about Jesus in his travels around the northern Mediterranean.

            Whether it was intentional or accidental, when the Roman Empire made faith in Jesus officially legal, it forced the trappings of religions of the world it was familiar with onto Christianity—buildings, paid staff, regular collection of money to pay for the buildings and paid staff, and tax-favored status for the now formal organizations. History shows that if something is forced onto a culture for a period of time long enough that no one remembers the thing not being around, everyone treats it as normal.  For instance, in this culture, no one remembers not having radio, and almost everyone doesn’t remember not having TV, and with them, news from around the world being whipped to us almost immediately. 

            I grew up with it assumed that a church was a building and a pastor held a job that one went to school for years to be able to do.  When I was in high school, I learned that there were some pastors and people who taught them or were their overseers who did not believe the standard beliefs of faith in Jesus.  Years later, I learned about spiritual gifts, but where I was, most of the talk was about speaking in tongues, not about who was the one who appointed the leaders.  About this same time, I met persons who didn’t have a church leadership title, but did have a special ability to teach about faith in Jesus in a way that spoke to both my mind and into my spirit, or at least the latter.  Some of these people did normal, everyday jobs.  Only in the past couple of years did I learn that the title “pastor” was not used as a title for a leader until after the Reformation, and that that word’s appearance uniquely in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 in our English Bibles does not reflect a unique word in the original written language, but was a translation decision by persons who reflected their experience of church—whether accidentally or intentionally, only they knew.  Leadership in the true church, the believers desiring to follow Jesus, is not a title for any person or group to hand out, but a responsibility accepted by a believer in Jesus who cannot do other than whatever the Spirit guides, AND if that includes sharing with other believers or not yet believers what he or she has learned about following Jesus rightly AND if that falls into one or more of the categories of leaders mentioned in the Bible*, so be it.

             I can be reached by email at (757757tev@gmail.com--website posted originally is no longer in use) or by phone at 757-735-3639.  To see a transcript of what I just said, my blog is tevyebird.blogspot.com, and this is the posting of September 14, 2011.To find out more about simple church internationally, visit www.simplechurch.com, and in the local area, at, www.hrscn.org.
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Frank Viola and George Barna, Pagan Christianity, 2002: Present Testimony Ministry, later, Barna Books/Tyndale House, p. 12,13, 18, 21, 107, 176, 177.
2 Cor. 2:17 clearly connects to this discussion, but not mentioned in the text above.
*correction of the way I phrased the sentence originally.

Simple Church Minute 54--communion

54—communion

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Whether one calls in the Lord’s Supper, Communion, or Eucharist—why is there virtually no food?  The words used before this function in almost all traditional churches come from First Corinthians chapter 11.  We have been told that this was the institution of the ceremony, but how similar is it?  Jesus and the disciples were celebrating Passover.  Although it was an Old Covenant ceremony, it was also a real meal.  For the early church, it was celebrated as a festive occasion for a believing community that could potentially be, and in many places was, both Jews and non-Jews, rich and poor, slave and free, men and women.  Jesus’ resurrection, and the sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell them, that they could each be the temple of the Holy Spirit was a joyous thing.  Chapter 11 verse 27 may have had to do with some eating too much before poorer believers got off work to join the others, maybe some were drinking too much, and maybe some unbelievers were party crashing for free food—its impossible to know by now.  It wasn’t just a holy snack.

            Over time, pagan influences took the church out of homes of believers, set up buildings, ceremonies, and set up a caste of religious professionals.  It came to be not a meal, but first an offering, and later a sacrifice, which implies Jesus being a victim over and over again, instead of the final sacrifice for sin.  It went from being the Love Feast to being Eucharist.  Mystical explanations were attached to it.  The Reformation rejected the mysticism, but became a small piece of bread and a thimbleful of juice, to be taken with a serious attitude after examining oneself for sin.  In traditional churches, the church picnic comes closer to the original application of this directive as practiced in the early church.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com. For more info on organic

 Church*, visit http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute--pastor's chair, stained glass windows

30—pastor’s chair and stained glass windows

NOTE:  I originally wrote a segment for each of the 61 points Frank Viola and George Barna make in their book, Pagan Christianity, about traditions in the institutional church not based on scripture.  After writing it, I chose to not include this segment merely as I felt that in wouldn’t be an interesting radio commentary.

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute

            Today, I mention two traditions in some traditional church organizations, but cannot be found in the Bible.   The first is a special chair for the pastor or priest to sit in, sometimes plain, but usually ornate.  How’d it happen?  Back in the Roman Empire, a judge had a special chair, robe, and music in the courtroom.  As Roman pagan priests rose in influence, their temples copied the majesty of the court, including the special ornate chair.  When Rome legalized Christianity, the ornate chair was copied for the bishop, who over time became the priest.  The Reformation brought the word pastor for the person officiating over the congregation, the chair was made less fancy, but in many churches, the special chair exists today.

            The second tradition is stained-glass windows.  After Rome got church building started, the architectural style went from basilica to Byzantine to Romanesque.  At that style, which is about the 6^th century, Gregory of Tours introduced stain glass to the church building.  Sugar, abbot of St. Denis, took it to another level by having sacred stained glass paintings made for Gothic cathedrals.  This style is to this day renowned for their beauty and quality.  The architects were influenced by Plato, who taught that sound, light, and color had mystical meanings, and could induce moods to create a sense of splendor and transcendence.  Gothic architecture, with its excessively high ceilings, combined with the colorful windows, was made to create a sense of awe.  During that time, though, priests were mainly taught how to do ceremonies, the common person had no access to the Bible, and there was a great lack of spiritual light, which we now call the Dark Ages.

            You…

Simple Church Minute 28--An introduction (it should have been #1)

28—orthopraxy (an introduction, which should have been #1)

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            Martin Luther is recognized for, among other things, the phrase “sola scriptura”, in English, scripture alone.  The meaning is that God has communicated the truth that His people need for living so as to serve Him rightly through the Bible, and not the Bible plus any other tradition or book or secret communication that is to be held to be equal to the Bible.  Over the centuries, between the apostles who were inspired to write the New Testament and the Reformation, many doctrines and practices grew up in the church that cannot be traced to any correctly understood Bible passage.  Some have no connection to the Bible, and some were directly taught against by the apostles.  The Reformation targeted many points of incorrect doctrine, and in the following controversy many such incorrect points were corrected in at least some of the church, a few points in all of the church.

            The notable word I just said there was doctrine.  We use the word orthodoxy to mean right doctrine.  There is a similar word—orthopraxy—which means right practice.  The Reformation said little about, and to this day there are practices in all traditional church organizations that cannot be traced back to a direction given in scripture for the people of the New Covenant.  Some are not necessarily wrong in and of themselves, but if all or almost all of the church does a thing as if it is commanded in scripture, we walk close to crossing the line of violating the command of Revelation chapter 22 verse 18-19 not to add or delete from the Word.  Many of the problematical practices came from the Roman Empire forcing pagan accessories into the church.  The idea of this series of programs is not to say to any organization, “You are wrong,” but for you, as a believer in Jesus, desiring to do His will, to consider in your spirit problems of faith not being dealt with by parts of the Christian subculture, to God’s glory.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.

Simple Church Minute 19--what "pagan" means

19—what pagan means

My name is Tom; this is Simple Church Minute.

            In other blips, I have mentioned things in the church that have pagan origins.  I wish to clarify that the word “pagan” doesn’t mean bad or evil; it refers to an ancient religion that was the state religion during the days of the early church.  Greek mythology is connected to it.  It isn’t true, no significant amount of people believe it anymore, but that’s not the point.  Having a connection to it isn’t in and of itself bad—the names of the seven days of the week come from it, we can’t do anything about it, any seven words would do.  Roman paganism used chairs and carpets in their temples before the church did.  That doesn’t make chairs and carpets bad.  If you have a picture of the Roman sun god on your carpet, that’s another story.  Colossians chapter 1 verse 18 tells us Jesus is the head of the church.

            A Sunday or whatever day worship meeting is different.  An order of worship comes from paganism.  The Bible tells us about the Holy Spirit, not any person, determining order.  First Corinthians chapter 14 verse 26 tells us about mutual participation and edifying each other in worship.  That is impossible when one person does all the talking and believes its his job to set the agenda.  Preaching, as we see it today in most churches, isn’t what the Bible means by the word, and suppresses mutual edification.  Many services, when God isn’t allowed to be spontaneous, are boring.  Large numbers of people make mutual participation impossible.  How many people did Jesus mentor?  12, the disciples, and possibly at a lesser level, 70.  Personally, I’d advise against trying to do more than Jesus without specific guidance by the Holy Spirit.

            You can email me at simplechurchminute@gmail.com.  For more info on organic church*, see http://www.simplechurch.com/ or locally at (local website).

On the recording, at this time, it says, “house churches.”  While that phrasing is OK, to say “organic church” is better.  I comment on that in blip 94.