Rearranging the Furniture - Drastically

In my post titled, “Who Can Fix This Mess?”, I alluded to the problems now prevalent in modern American evangelicalism, and concluded that the ultimate solution to these problems must come from God alone. Christ Jesus is the Head of the Church. He alone holds the prescription for the diseased state of many who claim to be of that Church, and He will administer that prescription in its proper time. I do not claim to have that prescription. The suggestions I am therefore about to offer should therefore be taken as the observations of a mere mortal, one of several billion, none of whom has a complete picture of everything.

Yet I do believe that these suggestions could help in the short run if they were adopted by a large portion of the modern evangelical community. However, the problem with the suggestions offered in this present post is that they involve large-scale, systemic, structural changes to modern evangelicalism. These changes, if adopted, would be very disruptive to certain people in high positions within the evangelical community, as well as disrupting certain secular figures who now profit from the present evangelical arrangement. Therefore, I do not expect modern church leaders to willingly embrace these changes unless they are driven to the wall. But I think I would be remiss if I didn't present these suggestions anyway. My next post, by the way, will present suggestions for individual responses to the present evangelical mess.

My strategy in this blog has been to characterize the present mess in terms of addictions to money, lust and power. While I have mentioned some symptoms of these addictions, I have tried to avoid becoming fixated solely on symptoms, since I did not want to lose sight of the overarching addiction behind those symptoms. I believe that the present problems in Western (particularly American) evangelicalism are indicative of the craving certain key people have for money, power, and the indulgence of their own lusts. Most people who choose to do evil do so out of some motive of self-interest. Therefore, a key to cleaning up the present evangelical mess is to eliminate the opportunity for individuals to use the Faith to acquire money, power, or opportunities to indulge their lusts.

Close your eyes for a few minutes, and let's play a little imagination game. (Don't do this at work, though!) Let's suppose that a large majority of American evangelicals woke up tomorrow morning in an entirely different condition – smarter, far more willing to use critical thinking skills, far more Biblically literate, more ethical, and far less lazy. These people would be the genesis of a new culture, since a culture is created and modified by the people who have cultural elements in common. Let's assume that that culture comes rapidly, shockingly to birth. What would such a birth look like?

It might begin with a sudden realization of the extent to which the culture of the Church has become commercialized. For instance, let's watch many of these people hop into their cars for their morning commute to work (or church, if it's a Sunday) and turn on the radio to Fish Music or something like it. But three minutes into their drive, most of them are becoming increasingly agitated as they wait for commercial after commercial to end before they get to hear any actual music. One thing they notice is that the commercials played on the supposedly “Christian” stations are paid for by the same businesses that advertise on “secular” traffic/weather/news stations. Only the spin of the commercials is any different.

When they go to church, instead of closing their eyes and getting into the worship music, they leave their eyes open long enough to see the “CCLI License # XXXXX” notices at the bottom of every hymn projection – even projections of lyrics of hymns that are over a hundred years old. Something doesn't seem right – “after all, aren't some of these songs in the public domain? You mean to tell me that in order to worship the God of Heaven, I must pay royalties to some secular copyright holder?” They might also notice the cheesy commercialism of supposedly “Christian” books, and how both “Christian” fiction and nonfiction is written for the purpose of tapping into the same cravings that are targeted by secular media. And they begin to notice that almost every activity of their church involves paying copyright or royalty fees to someone.

In short, such people would begin to discern and understand the present commercialization of contemporary Christian culture. But these people would be too savvy to preoccupy themselves merely with the symptoms of that commercialism, choosing instead to strike at its very root. Therefore, rather than arguing over styles of music in church, they would take the radical step of demanding that their churches sing only those songs that are in the public domain or that have been released for public use under a Creative Commons license. They would also insist that their church use only those stories, movies, multimedia presentations and Bible translations that were published as a freewill offering – no strings attached – or that are in the public domain, or that were released under a Creative Commons license.

And they would make a deal with their church leaders. That deal would begin with an acknowledgment that the Bible commands those who preach the Gospel to get their living from the Gospel, yet the apostle Paul chose to work for a living even while serving as an apostle, in order to distinguish himself from false apostles who tried to use the Faith to freeload off of the Church. Because of the problems faced by the modern 21^st Century Church in dealing with religious freeloaders in high places, congregations would now require that anyone who sought to be a leader in the Church must also have a full-time secular career, and must renounce relying on the Church for his material support.

This would cause an immediate and radical shake-up. Those who had been involved in the work of the Church solely for money would become swiftly apparent by the sound of their pounding feet as they raced for the door. A large number of “worship artists” would quickly become “crossover artists” in a desperate attempt to make it in the world of secular music. The rest might have to get a haircut, put on nice clothes, go to the local grocery store, and say “Gizza job! I can do that!” The pushers and promoters of modern “Christian” media would see their markets evaporate. The liturgy and hymnody of the Church would begin to stabilize, since there would no longer be any profit to be made by forcing constantly changing styles on the Church. Songs or books or any other creative content produced for the Church would begin to take on an entirely different character, since these would no longer be produced for the sake of making money.

Let's assume that the shake-up began not with money, but with power. Suppose that these newly smart and ethical American Christians all wake up one Sunday morning with a new and deep understanding that humility is a two-way street, and that leaders need limits to their power. Let's assume that they all drive off to what had been typical Warrenist or “wanna-be” Warrenist churches, or to churches which until this particular Sunday had taught that their pastors were to be in the place of Moses over their congregations, or who had employed some other subterfuge in order to give the pastors absolute and unquestioned authority over their congregations. This particular Sunday proves to be different, however.

Watch the pastor of one of these churches mount the steps to his stage or lectern or pulpit, full of the comfort of a nice Sunday breakfast at a local Denny's, punctuated perhaps by cell phone conversations with some of his colleagues in which they compare the membership of their various churches by asking each other “How many you runnin' this week?” Watch him look down for a moment on his property – er, I mean, his congregation. Listen to him clear his throat in preparation to give yet another glorious sermon – only, as he opens his mouth, suddenly someone in the congregation stands up and says, “Subject yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ!” The congregation responds with “Ephesians 5:21!” Someone else stands up and says, “That means you too, pastor!” Again the congregation responds, “You too, pastor!”

While the surprised pastor is trying to catch his breath, someone else stands up and shouts, “Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for 'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble!'” The congregation responds with “Amen! 1 Peter 5:5!” Yet another person stands and shouts, “That means you, pastor!” Again the congregation thunders, “You too, pastor!”

Such a situation might evolve into a rush by the congregation to surround the podium. While the pastor stood helpless, eyes glazed in shock, the congregation might hand him a copy of bylaws drafted by the congregation, in which they state that while they will obey their leaders according to the Bible, that obedience will not extend to anything which violates the consciences of the members. Moreover, the bylaws require that the congregation have full say in deciding the financial matters of the church, and be allowed full knowledge of the financial state of the church. The bylaws also give the congregation full rights to vote on the ministries of the church, and on the choice of who fills those ministries (Acts 6:3, 5-6), as well as its liturgy and hymns and everything else pertaining to the running of a church. Lastly, the bylaws give the congregation the right to fire the pastor if he violates the bylaws or is found guilty of immoral or criminal activity. They could then require the pastor to sign the bylaws as a condition of his further employment as their pastor. Now, that would be an interesting Sunday morning service!

I have yet other suggestions to make. For instance, congregations who found themselves pestered during election season by people standing outside their doors handing out “Christian voters' guides” could formulate a strategy to deal with these people, namely by requiring that these people fully disclose the source of their funding as a condition of being allowed on church property. Those who refused could be threatened with arrest. But these suggestions, and others like them, though offered whimsically, all have a serious aim: to eliminate the vast majority of troublemakers from the evangelical community by denying them the ability to use the Faith as a means of gaining money, power or the opportunity for indulging their lust.

Each of us in his or her personal situation can come up with ways of accomplishing this goal. If you are involved in a church or a Christian ministry, push for limits on the leaders. Push for accountability on the part of the leaders, and a real submission to one another, leaders also being required to submit to those whom they lead. Formulate tangible tests and conditions by which that submission can be measured. And if your church or ministry is not willing for this, vote with your feet. Leave such a church or ministry, lest you be found supporting something evil.

Note: All Scripture quotations are taken from the World English Bible, a public domain translation. No royalties are owed to anyone for its use, and it may be freely quoted in all settings, public and private.