How can a local church community reach out to its immediate surrounding community with the gospel of Jesus Christ, if its members do not live there and have no intentions of moving there?

As I gather on this Lord’s Day with brothers and sisters of my local church, I am encouraged and challenged by the large numbers of church members who have moved into the immediate community of the church so that they would be able to live as the hands and feet of Jesus, so that they could proclaim the gospel through building relationships with their neighbors.  I am convicted of living where I live, on campus of Southern Seminary, without any intention of moving off campus.

So often I’ve seen churches who just plan programs and activities and just “wait” for people to see them there, waiting even longer for somebody — anybody — to ask them “why” they are doing these programs and having these activities.  Without any plan to get the gospel to the neighborhood, and without any plan to proclaim the good news to the people who come for those “outreach” activities, such churches are left stagnant and un-growing, and even worse, less than a handful of people are added to their numbers yearly if any.  The worship and sermons during Sunday Services lack Christ-centerdness and further lacks a clear presentation of the gospel in every sermon.

Church members don’t live in the church’s surrounding community, and even worse, they live very far away.  As if such wasn’t bad enough, new young couples move out of the neighborhood instead of moving in, for their own pastor is not even an example of “reaching out by being there”.  Maybe he preaches one thing (”Dearly beloved, let us move into the community!”) and lives out another (he lives far away from the church in another city).  Such hypocrisy is not only a failure to be an example to the church body, but is completely unhelpful in encouraging church members to heed his preaching.

Further, parishioners argue that proclaiming the substitutionary atonement in every sermon and worship set is not necessary, because they assume that unbelievers already know that that is why the church exists, because they assume that believers no longer need the gospel after becoming a Christian.  Little do they know that nonchristians and unbelievers are visiting their churches every Sunday, yearning to hear of the hope of a God who has crushed His son Jesus for their sins, looking for a gracious God whom they could put their faith in — One who is worthy to be praised.

If only those parishioners would know that the very thing that they think is unnecessary and hindering to the church’s ministry is the very thing that their neighbors desperately need: the good news of Christ and him crucified, a friend who would come next door and sit with them every week to hear about Jesus’ redeeming blood.

This is a simple question that requires a biblical answer: Can a woman be in authority over a man in the local church? For in this question, the purity of the local church is revealed in how it is answered.  Whether or not a church truly permits women to be in authority over men is seen through the actual function and structure of the church itself.

In recent years, the church in the west has answered this question in ways that contradicts the whole council of God in his Word.  From a standpoint of supposed biblical equality, women have been given authority over men in the local church.  The positions, roles, and functions of women in the church has found its birth not in the local church per se, but at home and in the level of the family.  We ought to be attentive to such trajectory of our own local church, and the direction of our denomination at large.  We must keep a close watch at where the evangelical church is going in this day and age.  As we do so, what we find may surprise us, if not frighten us to the very core of our faith.

Numerous so-called evangelical churches today have women in the Elder Board. In these churches, the Elder Board does not function like a “council of elders” as commanded by the Bible — with men exercising spiritual leadership and being gifted to teach — but rather as an administrative board that follows worldly, unchristian business models of organization and structure.  Some Baptist churches also have women pastors on their paid staff, and even more significantly, some congregations have ordained women as “Reverends“, as well as inviting women to be guest preachers for their Sunday Services.

Other Protestant churches who desire to be more biblical may not have women in such authoritative positions or formal teaching roles, but they do allow women to be in other teaching (and thus, authoritative) roles.  Women are Sunday school teachers, teaching hermeneutics or books of the Bible over younger Christians — which inevitably include men.  And further, even many young girls in their teens and early twenties are leading Bible study over other Christian guys.  Or maybe the girls are very skilled and trained musically, leading worship music for fellowship gatherings and Sunday services.

These are but a handful of examples where I’ve heard of many congregations falling away from a biblical understanding of leadership and authority in the home and the local church.  Many of these areas of ministry described are at their foundation shepherding responsibilities that have a pastoral emphasis.  But despite the fact that many women in these examples are not “pastors” or “elders” in local churches, these roles and functions are all being done by women, and in essence the women are exercising authority over and teaching doctrine to many men in the local church in varying degrees.  Women in many Christian homes and churches are not only taking care of servant tasks in the household of the family and of the church, but they are exercising authority and spiritual leadership over men

Whether this be an organized authority or simply something that “just happened,” this has in many places become the accepted norm, and thus is now something that regenerate church members of both genders accept and do not even argue about.  Maybe you’ve heard similar words like these:  “There’s wrong with this — it’s just the way things are done in my home and my church!  I think the Bible promotes equality between me and my husband.  I should be allowed to teach Bible lessons at church as he does!” Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent IM conversation I had with my sister, I ended up confessing the fact that I didn’t feel that I “got” much from the previous church I was a member of. Apparently she already knew that, and added that such didn’t make me any better than the people from that church. I haven’t discussed with my sister about sharing that conversation in this post, but I did feel pushed to a corner — as if words were put into my mouth.

The fact of the matter was that I wanted to convey to her that I have stayed as a member at a church in which I did not feel fed or amicable doctrinally not for my sake, but for the sake of the others. I’ll try to say this as humbly as I can: even though I disagreed with some of the methods and theology of that church, I patiently endured such areas of disagreement because I wanted to honor the Lord through serving others. I chose to stay as long as I did because I desired to encourage and build other brothers and sisters up in Christ. I let the main things remain the main things, not letting disagreements in secondary issues get in the way of the mission for the kingdom, until the Lord saw fit to call me to depart.

Do nothing from rivalry (NIV: selfish ambition) or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:3-4

Having grown up in the same church since I was 5 or 6, it was very easy to just get used and be accustomed to what things were being done and how things were accomplished. It is so very easy to just get used to the status quo — how things have always been — and not care to challenge the current state of affairs. It is very easy to just sit back and relax, and think that as long as everybody’s happy, then all is well. At one point in my journey as a follower of Christ, I felt like that. I was in my teens back then, an active member serving in various capacities in fellowship and for Sunday worship service. All the t’s were crossed and all the i’s were dotted. Everything seemed fine.

But it wasn’t.

And it isn’t. Read the rest of this entry »

I love my church.

I am part of a visible, local community which cares deeply doctrine.
I am very thankful that every church member desires deeply to live out what we believe.
I praise God that we take the time and effort to carefully discuss how we should run our church.

I love my pastors.

I am part of a body that is shepherded by gifted elders ordained by God.
I am very thankful that every deacon serves the members humbly and self-sacrificially.
I praise God that my church leaders have taught us well in loving God’s Word and living it out daily. Read the rest of this entry »

From The Baptist Faith and Message (2000):

VI. The Church

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

Matthew 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Hebrews 11:39-40; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 2-3; 21:2-3.

Read the rest of this entry »

Today is a good day to wish you lived near your local church, especially if you’re a Christian whose lives more than 20 minutes away from their local church in Toronto. The reason being that those of us who live along the Great Lakes are in the middle of a major snow storm: ever since late Saturday night, snow has been falling at a rate of 2-5cm per hour. By the time this storm passes through Monday morning, there would be almost 30 centimetres of snow accumulated. That’s Canada for you!

The church I go to at home in Toronto was open today for Sunday Service (9am for the English Service, 10:30am for the Chinese Service) but everybody was late, and the start of the worship service was delayed for about 15 minutes. Many who lived more than twenty minutes away, especially those who live in the suburbs like Markham, were either very late in arriving or never even bothered to come to church because of the snow. Numerous churches in the city have called it a Snow Day and canceled their Sunday activities. Today is a bad day to be driving anywhere, but the issue lies not so much on there being snow. We Torontonians are used to bad weather and traffic congestion. The problem is that the large majority of church attendees and members do not live near their church. Thus, I was moved to write this post after reading an article on this issue by Ryan Townsend (a fellow M.Div student at Southern Seminary) on the 9Marks blog — it appears to be a modern issue that many churches face today.

The Commuter Church

I may only speak for Chinese churches in the Greater Toronto Area, and I can only comment on what I have observed in my local church setting. But my local church in Toronto is a commuter church. Every Sunday morning there are numerous Acuras, BMWs, Mercedes Benz-s and a Porsche or two that make the 20 minute plus commute from their luxurious homes in the suburbs in York or Durham Region to church in the north-eastern corner of Toronto. Undoubtedly, questions arise as to why the large majority of the congregation lives so far away from their local church, and why they do not live nearer to where they fellowship and worship every week.

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”
–Luke 14:26-27

The truth is, many who are long-time members of my local church have chosen to move out of the city and out of the local church community. Well, if we’re to be really honest, they actually may not have ever lived near the local church. Over the years, rising housing prices and land taxes have driven many out of the city to find larger and newer homes for cheaper prices in the suburbs of Toronto. Few housing options in suburban Toronto itself (Scarborough, North York) provide the luxury and space they desire, and so they flee, and over time, they flee further and further away from their local church. And since they have made so many friends at this church over the years they have been here, they stay.

The Heart of the Problem

I never wanted to write anything substantive on this issue of one’s proximity to their local church, but this issue has moved into my radar because at the heart of the problem is a Gospel issue; it is a matter of values. This issue can be very touchy, where somebody reading this may take it personally and be insensitive to the crux; I have no intention of attacking anybody personally for where they live (for there may be extenuating circumstances for where one resides, i.e. being nearer to their job). However, I do want to hit the pinata straight on its head and confront the over-arching Gospel issue. Read the rest of this entry »

In an article by Robert M. Bowman Jr. on Mormonism, he begins the article with an insightful overview of Christianity through the lens of a 5-ring delineation of churches that are included in the religion of Christianity. What is noteworthy is who is included in the 5th ring, which is generally regarded as technically not Christian in terms of the validity/soundness of their expression of Christian faith:

Christianity includes an incredible diversity of belief and practice. (The numbers I use here are extremely rough approximations for sake of getting the big picture.) (1) About a billion people—about half of all Christianity—are found in the Catholic Church. (2) About a quarter of a billion people belong to one of the Orthodox or Eastern churches (which includes Greek Orthodox, Russian Orthodox, etc., and also the Coptics and other groups). (3) Nearly a third of a billion people are associated with some conservative Protestant church or movement, either evangelical Protestant or Pentecostal. (4) Another quarter of a billion people belong to mainline, mostly moderate to liberal, Protestant denominations.

(5) This leaves roughly a quarter of a billion people whose forms of Christianity do not fit into any of the aforementioned categories. Within this none-of-the-above category is a wildly diverse assortment of religious communities. If each major type of Christianity represented in this fifth category were its own species, it would look like the Mos Eisley Cantina on Tatooine or an assemblage of delegates to a parliamentary meeting of the United Federation of Planets (take your pick!). It includes (deep breath) Adventism, British-Israelite groups, Christian Science, the Family, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Latter-day Saints, Messianic Judaism, Metropolitan Community Churches, New Thought, Oneness Pentecostalism, Rosicrucianism, the Sacred Name movement, Swedenborgianism, the Unification Church, Unitarian Universalism, The Way International, and many, many others.

Read Bowman’s entire article here.