Evening Light - 1
Tue/07/Oct 2008
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I believe the Church of God has the potential to prosper in the coming decades. I confess that I view the church through Church of God colored glasses, and thus am very biased. The truth is, every denomination and movement within christianity has an opportunity in every generation to be involved in the mission of God. History has proven this to be so. But I can’t help but see my church and get excited about the unique possibilities that are before us in the coming decades. The early leaders of our movement coined the phrase “evening lighters.” It was a term abstracted from Zechariah 14:7. Evening lighters believe the Kingdom of God has been unleashed, and is taking back God’s creation. Evening lighters believe they are part of the mission of God in the world. Evening lighters are those who believe God is on the throne, and that the best is yet to come. Evening lighters are convinced that the future is full of hard work, but is bright nonetheless. I am an evening lighter. So, that being said, here is one of the reasons why I think the Church of God has a very bright future.
The Church of God is agile and flexible.
This isn’t necessarily the biggest and best reason I have great hope, but it is a reality that I haven’t heard talked about anywhere. The Church of God has always been a living organism that has fiercely resisted rigidity. We fancy ourselves as a “movement” instead of a denomination (although I admit, we have struggled to adequately articulate the difference at times). We are a flexible church that is able to adjust and re-focus when necessary. In our history, we have proven we can adapt to our environment effectively. We made the transition from an evangelistic movement centered around the Gospel Trumpet to an organized collection of churches around the world. In the 1990’s we endured a leadership crisis, that necessitated a restructuring of Church of God Ministries. It wasn’t pretty, but we got it done. The century between included dozens of major hurdles and transitions that threatened the life of the church. Yet, we survived.
This seems like a small thing, but it isn’t. Attending Asbury has given me a chance to interact with several denominations and to learn their polity. The vast majority of denominations that I encounter are going through an identity crisis right now. The world has changed so quickly and turbulently, that they are scrambling to bridge the culture gap. Most are struggling to do so. Many denominations are not able to adapt because of their rigid structure. They are handicapped by their own inertia. Some within the CHOG would say we have been very much affected by this same issue. I would agree. However, we have an advantage that I think will allow us to break free from this problem. Namely, our flexibility.
The Church of God is small enough to change. She is agile enough to alter her course when she sees an iceberg ahead. Our structure allows us to efficiently (comparatively speaking) see the problem and respond accordingly. The path we are called to traverse has changed. In our existence, our North American context has moved from being predominantly christian to being predominantly secular. Our mission field was once to call religious people to an authentic relationship with Jesus. Our mission field is now to call irreligious people to an authentic relationship with Jesus. This changes things.
1. Church Planting. We must begin to focus on planting more churches, which requires that we develop and train more church planters. We have fewer churches today than we did 10 years ago. We have made some effort to plant churches, with little success. Much of this is due to the shortage of called and equipped church planters. When we have attempted to plant churches, we have often thrown the planter to the wolves with little- to-no training. This can change.
2. Equip the clergy for ministry in the post-christian world. We must train and equip pastors to do ministry in a post-christian world. This is especially true for our newly ordained clergy. Most of our pastors have not been equipped to deal with the cultural shift that has taken place within the last generation. This must change, and it can. I am proud to say my home state of Kentucky has made great strides in this area. This year the state ministry introduced a School of Ministry that will work to equip pastors seeking ordination with these types of tools and information. I have great hopes that the next generation of pastors will be better equipped when they enter the pulpit for the first time.
3. Church Revitalization. We must emphasize church revitalization. Most of our churches are on life support. We must help our people see this stark reality, and call them to do something about it. We must communicate to existing churches the dire need for things to change. All this demands that we make a significant investment of time and other resources into clearly calling for revitalization. We need to call a spade a spade. If a church is headed for an iceberg, we need to sound the alarm, and call them to change course. This too can change.
You may notice that these three areas of concern are not “new revelations.” They are all things that most of our leaders spend a great amount of time talking about. Church of God Ministries has plans in place to address these issues. I’m not saying the existing plans aren’t working or won’t work. On the contrary, I am saying that the Church of God movement is structured and sized in such a way that these three things can become a reality. Whether through existing initiatives or through something new, I believe these three things can become a reality in our church.
