The church is not a failure! True, it is failing in the Western culture, but abroad, in Africa, China, and other countries, the church is growing with amazing progress and under theologically sound teaching. I do not think it is incorrect, however, to say that the Western church has failed in its calling and goals. While we Reformed people may know this, I think the rest of the general churchgoing populace still needs to wake up and see the problems in the Western church. I am not convinced that pretending the problem isn’t there would lead to it being fixed (I don’t know if you meant that, Mr. Challies; I am referring to the arguments of others elsewhere). For the Western Church we do need a Reformation. We need to bring more people from the visible church into the invisible church.

Of course, the invisible church here is not a failure. :-)

In Christ,Albert Shepherd, The Aspiring Theologian

Knight of the Living God: A blog on Biblical Manhood.

Tim,

Excellent point, and a post that I believe is far more important than meets the eye.

There is an irony in the timing of this post. Alongside of your true exhortation to revel in the glorious thing that Christ is doing in us, the sometimes goofy Church, there is an ad for a church conference touting the “key” to “real church growth” as being Church Discipline.

The keynote speaker is the revered Jay Adams, founder of Nouthetic Counseling.

We owe a lot to Adams insofar as he broke ground in the early 1970’s urging the Church to take Psychology of of its pedestal, and to counsel people with the Word of God. Breaking from psycho-babble as the solution for the problems of believers was a needed thing, and we can be grateful to Jay Adams for that.

However, from the start Nouthetic Counseling has systematically made the serious mistake of gearing virtually all counseling (as it’s name implies) to noutheteo, “admonishing”.

Adams based it on Roman 15:14, which tells the Church that we are “able to admonish”, or “competent to counsel” as Adams translates it. Nouthetic Counseling thus was, and is, a basic process of finding out where a counselee is sinning, and correcting that sin, with appropriate homework to practice not doing whatever sins are isolated.

In fairness, they are often careful to explain that it’s not Behavioral Modification (though it often looks like it). But it nevertheless is 1) Law-based, and 2) Performance-based.

As a Covenant Theology guy, Jay Adams might be expected to have this emphasis, but the shame is that this model has bled over into almost every theological area of the Church.

There is virtually no real understanding of the change in identity of the believer from Sinner to Saint, nor an understanding of such foundational truths about the Church as:

Rom. 6:6, “…our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;” (they don’t understand our co-crucifixion with Christ, as also revealed in Gal. 2:20)

Rom. 6:11, “consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (they don’t understand the new nature, the new spirit, produced by regeneration, and the methodology of walking by the Spirit, whereby we won’t fulfill the desires of the flesh)

Rom. 6:14, “For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (they are wont to press the Law upon a counselee as the very solution for their problems, a counter-productive move even when it looks good)

And finally, they don’t teach the glorious truth of the unilateral New Covenant in which Christ said, “It is finished”, in the sense that all of our sins are forgiven, and we are declared righteous by God, and that we are fully accepted by Him in Christ, with no condemnation. (Though they will assent to these truths, if pressed, they don’t “get” them, and prefer to concentrate on Performance).

I don’t say these things as an ignorant outsider, but as a one trained in Nouthetic Counseling, enamored by the pioneering work of Adams in the 1970’s, long before it was “cool”.

I have watched it systematically point the Church to Performance-based Law-based Christianity (which “kills” - 2 Cor. 3:6), instead of Spirit-led New Covenant Christianity (which “gives life” - 2 Cor. 3:6).

Thus the incessant self-abasing of otherwise Bible-believing Christians.

Christ has indeed done, and is doing, a beautiful thing in the Church as His Body, and we should rejoice in this, as your post exhorts us. There is no room for pride, because it is Him that has accomplished it from Alpha to Omega.

Finally, let me say that there certainly is a place for “admonishing” (noutheteo) in counseling, but if it’s not based first on what God has ALREADY DONE regarding the New Creation (2 Cor. 5:17), complete forgiveness, justification, love and acceptance in Christ, then the counselee can’t help but view his role as a Performer who is required to pull up his bootstraps and Perform, hoping to “look good” enough for God to love and favor him. If he “performs” pretty well, he leans toward pride. If he “performs” not-so-well, he leans toward despair.

“II have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” - Gal. 2:20

Again, good and important post, Tim.

Blessings,Terry

Superb post. That needed to be said. All too often, so many of us focus on only half the picture regarding the church. And we forget the truth that Christ really can build His church in spite of our shortcomings.

That is a very refreshing read. Thanks for the thoughts, Tim. It’s good to hear the church praised for what it is instead of always focusing on its faults.

Appreciate your words and observations, Tim.

I hope I can be concise and clear here. There’s so much to say, that I fear I’ll not say it clearly.

As pastor of a small church in a big church town (Dallas, TX), I don’t so much think the church is failing, as much as she THINKS she is failing.

One of my theories (which should be scrutinized, of course) is that Americanism and Revivalism have greatly distorted what the local church is meant to be.

Because of the church-growth movement and the pressure on pastors to be CEO’s more than shepherds, I think we’re faced with people who don’t see themselves as the church, but instead view the concept of church as an organization, sustained by capable leaders; or perhaps ruined by incompetent leaders.

What seems to exacerbate this is the prevalent belief that spiritual growth can be programmed and virtually instant. Americanized churchgoers seem to rely strongly upon “good leaders” to do for them what they must do for themselves (see Willow Creek’s recent confession).

Yes, as pastors, we have great responsibility for the care and guidance of the flock, but in my limited experience, it seems to me that people are expecting instant and dynamic results from their leaders, without considering the time, discipline and suffering involved in sanctification and mortification. When things don’t happen quickly or painlessly enough, people go somewhere else, searching for an elusive system of painless and instant spiritual growth, so that most churches aren’t growing much, just transferring dissatisfied people back and forth.

Ironically, many will say that they despise “organized religion,” yet it seems that many expect “organized sanctification,” relying on programs, movements, charismatic leaders, etc. I like to call it “The Vicarious Christian Life.”

YET in the midst of all this, there seem to be some movements in our culture of churches seeking to renew a more reformed ecclesiology … pastors who focus on the ministry of the Word and prayer, depending upon God to do His mysterious work in His timeframe … faithful to their calling, waiting upon revival … pressing on, regardless an acceptance of the fact that they remain in obscurity.

I know this doesn’t follow your observations as precisely as it should, but just an observation from a very imperfect man who often finds himself at wit’s end as a shepherd.

Poste

Thanks Tim for the encouraging insight.

I guess some may be like the anxious bride who looks at herself in the mirror with a critical eye - instead of seeing herself as her Beloved does - or the married partner who feels the rush of emotional love in the beginning of a relationship - and though replaced by something more substantial - still longs for the ‘surprise’ of discovery.

Just finished reading Matt 13 where Jesus talks about evil influences that will grow alongside us even in the Church until the end times. He didn’t do that to discourage us, I believe, but to give us a sense of the need for discernment and the inestimable value of the treasure we have found - so that we would not be as inclined to listen, repeat or indulge in discouraging words.

Great words Tim. This entire discussion reminds me of a quote from Bonhoeffer in “Life Together” regarding chasing the ideal form of Christian community.

“He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions my be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.”

He goes on to say that as pastors, we must be able to readily celebrate what God has done in the church!! If we cannot, then we are denying God’s good gifts and the workings of His Spirit in the church.

To be honest, the church is limping along its way. And it will continue to limp due to sin until her Bridegroom returns. And we should look squarely at its sin, call it such and repent. (Confession: The cynic in me wants to start listing these sins)

Considering that we were dead before God’s grace intervened, I would say we are doing pretty good given the original diagnosis!

Tim,I am always struck by how even-handed and qualified your posts tend to be. You have my thanks for this.

I am well acquainted with the difficulties in evaluating and admonishing the Church at large in our country. Writing an article, series of articles, or even a full-length book that attempts to encapsulate the whole of difficulties in the Church tends to end up being either inconclusive or narrowly focused and inflammatory. How else could so many books be written without drastic change done? All it took Luther (at least at first) was a single list of complaints to spark the great Reformation. I chalk this up to the wildly varying types of complaints had with the Church, the wildly varying suggestions for solutions, and the seemingly inescapable truth that every complaint that has been made and could be made can be corroborated by extensive anecdotal evidence. With a population as large as ours, and information dissemination methods as efficient as they are, we can find enough people to agree with anything, just so long as it’s an agreement against something.

I mean, how do you address a topic that covers theology, style, translation, social context and cultural issues? With a faith so multi-faceted, it’s no wonder that everyone can be a critic. Or maybe in our information-saturated society, the critics just get to be louder than they have been previously.

Tough questions, and I have no good answers. Thanks for the post.

Tim as expressed a very important point in regard to this issue…balance. Perhaps if we meditate more on the “praises” and the “rebukes” that the Lord expresses when he addresses the 7 churches in Revelation, we can gain more clarity as to what we should rejoice about and what we should confront and never become apathetic about.

It seems clear, in those passages, what pleases Him and what doesn’t. Let us therefore rejoice and find peace and comfort in what we see that pleases Him and let us never fail to use His words of warning and rebuke as the rule and guide for self-criticism and correction.

May God richly Bless You, Tim, for this post.

Tim,This post blessed my heart and the comments were good and God-glorifying! Thanks Jacob for your insight. And last comment by Brian too! May Jesus be exalted above all! “For I consider the sufferings of this present age are not worth comparing with the glory that is to revealed to us” (Rom 8:1)

Looking forward to meet Jesus here and forever,Francisco