Barriers to Mercy Ministry

Prepared for a Grace Gathering of Grace Church of Philly:

In Matthew 25:31-46, our Lord Jesus Christ clearly and unambiguously states that those who belong to Him will demonstrate this fact by ministering to the “least of these”: the poor, the hungry, the sick, the naked, the prisoner, the stranger.

Just as the new birth event produces evidence of its occurrence like church attendance, Bible reading and study, a prayer life, and a thirst for spiritual things (frequently called the “fruit” of salvation), Jesus indicates that the fact of your new life in Him necessarily manifests in a life of service to the poor and needy.

Many within the American Christian community have erected an intricate and artificial network of barriers that prevent them from living out their faith commitment by serving the poor and homeless.

In the coming days, Lord willing, we will be investigating and discussing these barriers and their ultimate illegitimacy.

My desire in so doing is to create in us a sense of Holy Spirit-induced urgency to live out our identities in Christ in a fuller way by ministering to the poor as a regular part of our Christian existence. It is my firm belief that service to the poor is not some special spiritual “calling,” but a normative part of the Christian life, just like attending church or praying or reading your Bible.

Some of the artificial blockades to mercy ministry that we will be exploring in the coming weeks include: ignorance (about homeless people themselves, the homeless experience, and the causes of homelessness), suburbolationism (chronic, generational suburban isolation caused by the flight from and continuing purposeful avoidance of urban areas), recent conservative Christian church tradition, fear (of homeless people, of new situations, of outreach and evangelism), pride, sloth, an inchoate (rudimentary) view of the church and its mission in the world, a defective and dishonest hermeneutic of Scripture, and defective theology.[1]

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[1] This list is not exhaustive in nature, but is comprised of simple observations I’ve made as I’ve engaged with conservative Christians in the course of doing ministries of mercy over the last year.

Our vision of a multi-site church for Grace Church of Philly

Our vision of a multi-site church for Grace Church of Philly

This multi-site church would be one church whose members worship and serve in various neighborhoods. Each congregation would bear a geographical identifier that reflects its mission to a particular neighborhood such as Grace Church of Philly (University City) (East Falls) (Overbrook), etc. Each neighborhood congregation would have a site pastor for preaching and leadership at the local level. Each site pastor would regularly meet with the other site pastors for prayer, training, coaching, encouragement and missional strategizing under its lead pastors.

This unified church meeting in multiple sites would be governed by one team of elders that meets quarterly to pray for and oversee multi-site movement. This session would be divided into commissions of elders drawn from each local congregation, in charge of shepherding and oversight of their respective local congregations.

This one church of multiple congregations would share administrative resources such as office, finances, equipment, and other resources. This new multi-site church would come together occasionally for regional gatherings, seminars, retreats, youth groups, community outreaches, etc. This church would work together to promote the formation of new congregations throughout Philadelphia and in supporting a global missions program. All of the sites of Grace Church of Philly would benefit by this union and, even more so, the kingdom purposes of Christ are advanced in the city.

The first site is Grace Church of Philly in University City.

Our Philosophy of Ministry

Along with others on our leadership team, I currently find myself in a ministry context of planting a new church in an urban area that is racially, culturally, and socio-economically diverse. Add to this mixture a highly transient student and young, urban professional population and further challenges to long-term ministry become immediately evident. In this short piece I will set forth my philosophy of ministry in general (regardless of any temporal or geographical circumstances) and my philosophy of ministry in the immediate context of University City, Philadelphia.

The ultimate goal of my life is to serve and minister in a way that is radically Christ-centered, radically gospel-centered, and radically other-centered by the power of the Holy Spirit to the glory of God the Father (Matt. 22:34-40; 28:18-20). It is the God-man Jesus Christ whose life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension gives meaning to the gospel and displays for me the precious value of each and every human life (John 3:16; 1 Cor. 15:1-8; 1 John 4:9-10). It is through the gospel that I am reconciled to this Jesus and empowered to love and serve others (Rom. 1:16; 5:5; 1 John 4:19). It is through indiscriminately loving others that I can live out this gospel and serve Christ by serving others (Matt. 25:31-46; 1 John 3:14-19).

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Why Start Another Church?

Why plant new churches?

This question is commonly asked by those both inside and outside of the Christian faith. There are many misconceptions about church planting and the need to engage in this activity.

The following quotations from Tim Keller and J. Allen Thompson’s Church Planter Manual may clarify the absolute necessity of planting new churches.

Why plant new churches? Because it is really the only way of fully obeying the Great Commission:

Virtually all the great evangelistic challenges of the New Testament are basically calls to plant churches, not simply to share the faith. The “Great Commission” (Matt. 28:18-20) is not just a call to “make disciples” but to “baptize.” In Acts and elsewhere, it is clear that baptism means incorporation into a worshipping community with accountability and boundaries (cf. Acts 2:41-47).

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Brokenness or Criticism

Brokenness or Criticism

Dr. John P. Davis

Imagine George and Jeannette who have been married for 15 years. They profess to be Christians. Their lives are pressured with raising three children and all the demands of daily life. George works hard to provide income for the family. Jeannette’s life is consumed with children and household. Both of them struggle with a growing dissatisfaction over the monotonous routine of their lives. They have learned how to play the ‘blame game.’ Both are sure that the other spouse is at fault for their unhappiness. Bickering, criticism, or silence often marks their time together. Their sex life falters. Their children sense the unhappiness of the parents. George and Jeannette exist together in the same house. They long for something better. They either hope that somehow the other one will change and stop causing their unhappiness or they quietly search for a way out of their unhappy life.

Though the names of the characters change, George and Jeannette’s story is the story of millions of couples. Through the years, I’ve counseled many married couples whose homes are shattered with criticism. There is no magic wand to wave that makes all the hurt go away. There is no simple formula that transforms a failing marriage overnight. But, there is hope!

I like to ask George and Jeannette this question. “Share with me the last meaningful time you spent alone with God and what that time consisted of.” Invariably, their answer to the question reveals the barrenness of their souls. Usually the following are true of George and Jeannette.

First, I find that their walk with Christ is sporadic, sometime emotional and mystical, but rarely substantial because it does not include regular Bible reading and prayer and church attendance. God’s Word is the means by which He speaks to broken lives and brings restoration. Our prayer is our confession of love for Him and need of Him. Church attendance is that primary weekly ritual wherein I declare that I am a follower of the resurrected Christ and the church is that community where I am nurtured in fellowship with other believers.

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Outreach in Drexel Park – John Davis (Part One)

Lead pastor John Davis speaking at a pre-launch outreach and fellowship with the core group of Grace Church of Philly at Drexel Park in University City, Philadelphia on 09-19-2009.

Neo-docetism and the Judgment of God

If one asked the average American Christian why ancient Israel was punished by God and sent into captivity, the usual response would probably center around the nation’s disobedience to the covenant, or its idolatrous tendencies, or some combination of both. Rarely, if ever, would one expect to hear anything about the failure of the nation to seek after social justice or care for the poor.

However, the Holy Spirit of God speaks very clearly to Israel through His prophet Isaiah that a failure to look after the poor was a major component in the broader picture of judgment upon the nation:

Is. 1:10 (ESV) Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!  11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.  12 “When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?  13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly…. 16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, 17 learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause (emphasis added).

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An Introduction to Grace Church of Philly

The dream for Grace Church is to see God create in University City a Christian Church which clarifies what it means to be “Christian.” We know we live in a culture that has witnessed many misrepresentations of both the Christian life and Christian message and that, consequently, finds neither Christians nor the church very attractive.

The term “Christian” has come to mean just about anything in our time. Everyone who is even remotely connected to Jesus in any way calls themselves a Christian. From Mormons to Roman Catholics; from Liberals to Conservative Fundamentalists; from people involved in New Age belief systems to people who call themselves “born again.” The word “Christian” has become a meaningless term.

Our desire is to bring clarity and re-infuse this term with its proper, biblical meaning. Our desire is to get out of the way so that the Holy Spirit of God can minister to people through the faithful proclamation of His Word. The preaching of the Word will be accompanied by deeds of love and mercy in outreach to the community. Such deeds can only be empowered by the love of Christ that has been poured into our hearts at the new birth. Our prayer is that skeptical attitudes will be changed about the Christian faith, and that it will begin to look attractive to unbelievers who are alienated from God and have never had a saving conversion experience with Jesus Christ.

We believe that Christianity is the most joyful, beautiful, and attractive belief system and worldview that this world has ever seen. We need to stop making this beautiful, precious thing so utterly unappealing to so many.

We want to teach, embody, live, and faithfully represent Christianity before a world and culture that has totally rejected the Church and everything she stands for. We believe that a good amount of the hostility and skepticism that outsiders have toward Christianity is not so much a rejection of the pure, biblical faith of Jesus and His apostles, but is a rejection of the misrepresentations and distortions of the faith that many churches have gotten hung up on.

Many unbelievers think that the Church is filled with arrogant, prideful, materialistic, uncaring, legalistic, homophobic, bigoted people who are primarily focused on promoting a political agenda or party. And unfortunately, their observations are not without merit. We believe that when outsiders look at the Church, they should see love, mercy, and grace rather than hatred, hostility, and hypocrisy. Our desire is to fully embody and incarnate the love, mercy, and grace of God before others.

Acts 2:42-47 tells us that the early Christian community was so filled with people who had humility, confidence, understanding, courage, generosity, sincerity, and joy that they had “favor with all the people” of the surrounding community. There was a beauty resting upon the church (Keller & Thompson, p. 183). Our dream is for this type of Holy Spirit-empowered beauty to rest upon Grace Church of Philly.

Acts 2:47 states that the early Christians in Jerusalem had “favor with all the people.” We want to be a ministry that has “favor with all the people” in University City and in Philadelphia.

We want to be a church that has an “outward” stance toward the world rather than a church that is “inward” in its focus. An “inward” church is one that pours all, or nearly all, of its energies back into itself and the saints present in that ministry. Churches with that are inwardly-focused usually have a hostile stance toward unbelievers and the world. We desire to have an “outward” stance, dedicated to engaging our culture for Christ, faithfully and lovingly bringing the saving Gospel to unbelievers whom we love and who desperately need our Savior.

GRACE

We have chosen the word ‘grace’ for our church as a starting point in clarifying and communicating the essence and simplicity of Christianity.

Grace is that undeserved, unearned blessing of God that meets us where we are and transforms us. Grace is what we want to show to others, indiscriminately serving them and loving them in the name of Jesus.

We ask you for the opportunity to share life together with you in an environment marked by grace. At the outset, we confess the imperfections of our grace and our need for more grace, but we desire to meet you as you are and to grow with you in understanding and living the magnificent grace of God.

Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

OUR DISCIPLESHIP COMMITMENTS – 4G

•We gather each Sunday to worship our great Lord and Savior in spirit and in truth.

•We grow through small group Bible study and fellowship to lead grace-filled lives of genuine significance for the glory of God with other believers.

•We give our resources and time to support the work of God and to love our community with acts of kindness.

•We go to intentionally make disciples both locally and globally in announcing the Good News of God’s grace to all peoples without regard to ethnicity, gender, or social standing.

Our discipleship commitments are our discipleship process. This is part of our overall “simple church” philosophy of ministry (following Rainer and Geiger). Our philosophy of ministry includes the following concepts: clarity, movement, alignment, and focus.

Clarity – Our commitments and process is simple to communicate and easy to remember. It is not overly complex or complicated. We believe that the discipleship process should never be left up to chance and should never be a mystery.

Movement – Our focus is going to be on moving people through this process, facilitating their building up and edification in the faith.

Alignment – All of our ministries, from the youth programs to small groups to mercy ministries, will be aligned around this simple 4G process.

Focus – We will not be a “program-heavy” church. Our philosophy is not “more programs,” but excellence for the glory of God in the programs that we will have.

OUR CORE VALUES – TRIM

Being transformational means that we are prayerfully depending upon the power of God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to transform any life. The grace of God means that there is no one alive who is beyond the hope of redemption and transformation in Christ Jesus.

Being relational means that we are joyfully offering love and grace to everyone, regardless of where they are on their spiritual journey. First, this means we will actively cultivate redemptive relationships with believers as well as non-Christians. Second, we will be conscious of and welcoming of non-Christians in our midst. Third, we will communicate not just what we believe but why, in a way that invites questions, engages people in dialogue and take a process approach (not a crisis approach) to communication. Tim Keller observes, “Many people simply have ‘process personalities’ – they will never come to faith if they are pushed. They need to come in stages.”

Being incarnational means that we will strive to live out and model the gospel of grace within the culture. We want to be deeply involved in our communities. Ed Stetzer remarks, “We don’t back away from godless people but instead embrace godless people because we understand the hearts of lost people conquered by the lordship of Jesus builds the Kingdom.”

Being missional means that we are intentionally committed to engage those who either do not know or misunderstand Jesus. We are intentional about and absolutely committed to adapting everything we do in worship, instruction, community, and service so as to be meaningfully engaged with the non-Christian society around us. Being missional, we understand that we are co-citizens with non-Christians and seek to build redemptive relationships in the culture instead of totally separating ourselves from the culture.

Each of the TRIM values undergirds and empowers every aspect of our 4G discipleship commitments. How we fulfill out 4G discipleship commitments should always reflect our TRIM values.

OF IMPORTANCE TO US

We believe that God calls every believer to wholehearted discipleship. A church full of Christians running hard after God, living with intent as His children and using their gifts to extend his kingdom, brings God great glory and is a powerful witness to the world. We are eager to help every Christian live as a learner, minister, evangelist, and steward.

We believe that the church is a ‘glocal’ mission outpost. By ‘glocal’ we mean being missional both locally and globally. As a mission outpost, the church actively seeks ways to penetrate the community, the nation, and the world with the Gospel. Bob Roberts, Jr. states, “When we start a church, we realize we are doing so not just for the community but for the world, based out of that community. Every church you start is a church for the world” (p. 124).

We believe that effective ministry must be biblically based as well as culturally relevant. We do not need to sacrifice either biblical truth or cultural relevance. All of our ministries will be in the ‘vernacular,’ speaking directly to the immediate culture and people without compromising Scripture or theology. Regarding speaking directly to the culture: Christians, frequently, are great at speaking to each other, but not so great at communicating with the wider culture. Our desire is to speak to the non-Christians of the culture in a powerful, compassionate, Scripturally-saturated manner.

AN INVITATION TO BECOME PART OF OUR GRACE COMMUNITY

We ask you to prayerfully consider becoming part of the GCP core group for the birth phase of the church for as long  as the Lord leads you for the following:

1. To pray daily and persistently for the city of Philadelphia and for the launch and establishment of Grace Church of Philly in University City.

2. To be involved in the lives of the believers and unbelievers in that area; to build bridges with them that might serve to further the kingdom of God.

3. To maintain a consistent devotional life and consistent walk with Christ.

4. To open yourself to the Lord as to what types of ministry roles He may have for you at Grace Church.

5. To give to the work of this ministry as you are able to do so.

We want to encourage people to commit for as long as they believe that they are being ministered to, for as long as they believe that their gifts are being effectively used for kingdom purposes, and for as long as they believe that this is what the Lord wants them to be doing.

Grace and peace be with you.

References:

Keller, Timothy J. and J. Allen Thompson. Church Planter Manual. New York: Redeemer Church Planting Center, 2002.

Rainer, Thom and Eric Geiger. Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples. Nashville, TN: B&H Books, 2006.

Roberts, Bob Jr. The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008.

Hold the Core, Not the Forms

The Christian Church in America is dying and has been dying for decades now. It is my conviction that one of the main factors in the descent of the Church into side-show irrelevance is that older generations of Christians have failed to adapt to the changing landscape of our culture. Frequently, I have seen elder brothers and sisters in Christ fighting just as hard (or even harder!) for their temporal religious forms and traditions as they do for the eternal and unchanging truth of the Gospel itself. Many appear to care more about the propagation of their religious habits than with the propagation of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. For some, it appears that it is more important that one look “right” in church, dress “right” in church, act “right,” speak “right,” play the “right” music, and worship in the “right” way than if one truly has a soft heart toward our Lord and serves others in a self-sacrificial way.

The confusion of nineteenth and twentieth-century American cultural forms with the core of the Christian faith has resulted in a movement that has lost its breath and voice in the late twentieth century and early twenty-first century.

The Church has lost its breath in the sense that it doesn’t seem able to marshal any significant effort to impact the culture for Christ. Many churches seem like they are conserving the little bit of Holy Spirit-energy they have left so that they can pour it back into their own congregations. The Church appears utterly exhausted from the religious and cultural wars of the later-twentieth century that were fought over issues that are not central to the spread of the Gospel and the multiplication of disciples of Jesus.

The Church has lost its voice in the sense that it no longer is able to speak intelligently, or even understandably, to the surrounding culture. For so long, conservative evangelical and fundamental churches have been immersed in the safe bubble of their own suburban sub-subcultures. As a result of decades of such behavior, they have developed their own language and jargon that is not at all well understood outside of this bubble. Outsiders have a hard time understanding our religious language, which is sometimes rooted in Scripture, and sometimes not. This hinders and obscures the power of the Gospel. Christians erroneously take for granted that unbelievers have a basic understanding of even the simplest biblical terms and concepts. For the most part, many outsiders do not even share a common view of God and who or what He is, let alone a common understanding of what it means to be “born again” by the Spirit of such a God. The entirety of our faith must be explained patiently, lovingly, and graciously to those who live and move outside of the walls of our self-constructed fortresses of faith.

The Church needs to own its role in the paganization of American culture. Frequently, Christian leaders let loose on the culture itself with both rhetorical cannons, blaming it for its own demise. This is the equivalent of blaming a squirrel for climbing trees. What else would we expect unbelievers to do than to run away from God and His Word? Why do Christians get all huffy and self-righteous when they talk about the individual and corporate sins of our nation? Shouldn’t observed depravity motivate us to compassionate, missional living instead of to a nose-in-the-air moral superiority complex?

Much of this has happened because we have taken our eyes off of the ball: the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Church needs to focus on the core, not on the forms, of the faith.

The following quotation is from the recent book The Multiplying Church: The New Math for Starting New Churches by Bob Roberts, Jr. (Grand Rapids, Zondervan):

Jesus movements surge from the young…. The most important ministry and focus in our local churches must be our youth ministry. Those of us who are old enough and have gained enough credibility to lead the institutions, handle resources, and become voices in the faith community must not focus merely on building the church for our generation but on extending the church to future generations. That means we keep our core but release our language, music, and methods. Emerging churches must hold on to truth in their core, but communicate to and be shaped by emerging generations. Failing to do so is why the church has become empty around the world.

Old men and women play a crucial role in the future church; it isn’t to hold on to the forms, but to hold on to a personal Jesus movement in their hearts so that young people can say of old people, “Oh man, I want to know Jesus like they know Jesus.” It is not, “I want to do church like they do church.” The only way that will work is for old folks to pour themselves into young hearts and mentor and love them so much that they would die for them. What that happens, you become more concerned about our youth than you do your tight grip (pp. 36-7, emphasis in bold added).

Grace Church of Philly – An Introduction and Invitation

An introduction to Grace Church of Philly in University City and an invitation to be a part of our core group for the birth phase of our ministry, or perhaps even longer. Presentation available on SlideShare and YouTube.