Passive participation?

As part of the research for my doctoral thesis I conducted qualitative interviews with 17 church planters who have started churches in France by focusing on youth. In this way, I was able to distill principles from their praxis, methods, & approaches. 

One of the leitmotifs that emerged from those interviews was › youth do not want to watch, they want to PARTICIPATE in church. 

The French evangelical alliance’s final principle — number 6 — for churches attempting to be fully biblical and full witnesses in this perpetually fluctuating world, is “participation and transformation.”

By way of reminder, the navigational principles (found in David Brown's book: «Servir à nos Français»:

Principle #1: doctrine of warm welcome

1/ “We believe we need to bring together the biblical convictions of a professing church with warm welcome toward those who come in contact with that church.”

Principle #2: incarnation and reflection

“The church is as much the church when she is dispersed in society as when she is assembled.”

Principle #3: truth and coherence

"A major part of the work of the Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, is… to give form to the 'reality' [the Truth of God's eternal story] by providing a concrete expression of its existence, and that through the life of its members."

Principle #4: simplicity and creativity

"We seek to encourage a form of piety and spirituality that allows Christians to develop their relationship with God,” a simple spirituality that "will engender creativity among its participants. Mindless repetition, memorized phrases, and platitudes do not constitute an authentic relationship, either with God or with others." 

Principle #5: encounter and calling

“Without rejecting the importance of events and the use of electronic communication, we believe that the church must remain a place of true encounter, a source of happiness and growth. This is because loneliness and the difficulty of personal encounter are today, all too present.”

Principle #6: participation and transformation

Essentially this principle refers to the doctrine of the “priesthood of believers.” I often refer to this doctrine and my wife reminds me that “people don’t know what you are talking about.”

What I mean by the “priesthood of believers” is: 

a community of lay people (men and women) who have received the Holy Spirit by faith in Christ, who serve both the church and humanity; in this way, they serve God Himself.

Martin Luther put it this way: “The pastorate is not a priesthood, but only one of the functions of the Church of which all of the members are priests.… When it comes down to it, clergy and lay people only differ in function, not in rank, because they are all, in their spiritual status, true priests, bishops and popes.”° No wonder Luther had troubles with the Roman Church!

But the great doctrine of the universal priesthood of believers, says Alfred Kuen, never really found practical application within the evangelical church. Swiss theologian Emil Brunner commented,  “The protestant churches essentially remained pastor’s Churches.” 

Why? The evangelical alliance workgroup observes areas in which transformation must take place, where and why leaders do not entrust ministry to members. 

1) Pastors may fear theological unfaithfulness to immutable doctrines (a legitimate concern). 

But there may also a fear of unfaithfulness to denominational convictions and values that are not absolute. Missionaries and pastors, therefore, may be hesitant to delegate responsibilities to people not interested in perpetuating historical traditions.

2) The adherence to inappropriate foreign (anglo-saxons are specifically mentioned) methods that are not adapted to the local context. These methods may not make sense to locals or may simply feel strange to them. The nationals therefore may not adhere to or buy into such approaches.°° Missionaries and pastors may suspect this reaction and therefore not entrust lay people with responsibility. 

3) Finally, the training of new pastors and leaders must include, not only a strong theological formation, but equipping in savoir faire, hands-on training. (French education is notoriously theoretical.) 

David Brown writes, “Our [French] churches are filled with members who do not give fully their potential, and with pastors who are exhausted from the task.” 

I recently spoke to a French church’s youth group. The young people were anxious and nervous throughout the weekend as they awaited news from their pastor. Would he stay or would he resign? (He did in fact submit his resignation.) A church counsel member had attacked him (not physically) and the pastor went into depression. Even though that person left the church the pastor had been so marred by the incident that he withdrew himself from the ministry. 

Years and years ago, I was pastoring the church in Dijon that I helped to plant. I vividly remember two different church attenders tell me, on two separate occasions, that whenever a new pastor came they would either not follow him or would try to “cut the grass out from under his feet,” i.e. knock his legs out from under him. They explained to me that this is how one deals with leaders. 

(Today I view this as a form of hazing to test the mettle of an emerging French leader.) 

A few years back the Geneva Bible Institute changed their program. Why? They had discovered that 3-out-of-5 men entering the ministry had left during the first 5 years. The Institute has moved to a three-cycle program that involves theological training as well as two internships in different churches, with different mentors. This exposure to real church life and leadership under the guidance of experienced pastors has seen good fruit. (This is how the Dijon church received its first French pastor; Franck was my intern from the Geneva Bible Institute.)

For multiple reasons, the ministry can nor should depend on or revolve around one man. 

The biblical model is a “church composed of active members, not only in the sense of active doing, but also with the ambition to live holy lives in a world that encourages everything except that.” “There is need for a spirit of teamwork, with mutual listening and encouragement” (Brown, 255). 

Jesus wants, not just the participation of the pastor, but of all believers, both old and young.

° Quoted in A. Kuen, Je bâtirai mon église, 272.

°° These concerns are valid and are answered by application of the Four missiological “self-principles”: self-governance, self-financing, self-reproduction and self-theologizing. 

Church, a remedy for loneliness?

“Loneliness breeds in large groups of people” reads a postcard that I received from a teammate in London. I use my postcards as bookmarks, and selected that one for my current (airplane) read, Douglas Coupland’s, Eleanor Rigby. Yep, like the Beatles’ song, “Ah, look at all the lonely people….” 

I’ve read a number of Coupland’s books (he’s the one who coined the term “Generation X”) and this one, as usual, is insightful. It’s the story of “Liz Dunn who was too lonely to live, and too frightened to die.” The blurb on the back jacket says: “funny heartbreaking… a haunting exploration of the ways in which loneliness affects us all.”

Loneliness? I don’t believe that I have ever heard a sermon on loneliness, tangential references, yes, but not a treatment of the subject. And certainly that is not the best way to deal with the autonomous individual’s sense of isolation. The best remedy for loneliness is, not explaining how not to be lonely, not being in the same room with a large group of people, but in entering into relationship with people. 

The French evangelical alliance’s fifth principle for churches attempting to be fully biblical and full witnesses in this perpetually fluctuating world, is “encounter and calling.” They write:

“We believe that we pursue our calling as the people of God through the regular activities in the life of a local church, activities that promote true encounters. Without rejecting the importance of events and the use of electronic communication, we believe that the church must remain a place of true encounter, a source of happiness and growth. This is because loneliness and the difficulty of personal encounter are today, all too present” (David Brown, Servir à nos Français, 253.

In my travels I end up attending a lot of different churches. After having said “hello” & chit chatted with people (if I happen to speak a local language enough to do that) comes the uncomfortable moment when I wait around for my host, who is invariably engaged in conversation. 

I preached at this church in Stuttgart in March. My caveman German did not allow for much chit chat :-)

Now you may think that I’m about to criticize and say that the church members should be more welcoming toward me. Nope. I’m glad that this is more than an habitual meeting for the people who are there. They are generally welcoming enough for me realize that, were I present a bit more, I too could enjoy similar Christian friendship.

I facilitated Bible dialogue with the youth group of the Trinity International Church in Strasbourg for their ski weekend in February.

David Brown and company observe:

“If we want our preaching of the gospel to be authentic in the eyes of the world around us, and that it involves a true acceptance of others, we are called to first live these values in our local churches as a new humanity. Isolation and loneliness are realities of our age; we seek to live otherwise in the midst of our communities” (Brown, 254).

The warning the French Evangelical Alliance group issues is to be careful not to perpetuate activities simply because of tradition and obligation, activities that do not help us pursue our calling as the people of God. This calling that is concomitantly to-ward and outward — toward Jesus and one another, and outward to others who do not yet know Jesus.

David Brown reports:

Life lived in the local church community “seeks each person’s betterment in a spirit of mutual encouragement. It transforms us individually and collectively.… This transformational community moves outward, carrying the good news of reconciliation with God and of the restoration of all things in Jesus Christ. This double call to live the reality of the gospel in our communities and to make it known all around us” unites to create a dynamic interplay (Brown, 254).

Sounds good; the hard part is living it.

“If we announce to the entire world the coming of the reign of God, we are called to live this reign in our communities. If we emphasize spiritual journeying that promotes a true transformational encounter with God, we also emphasize the impact that the gospel has within our communities.” 

While worship experiences can be transcendent, sermons motivating & enriching, two questions we should ask about our church activities are:  “Does this activity promote true encounter with God and with others?” And “does it reduce the loneliness that people feel?” 

Because there are a lot of Eleanor Rigbys out there, both outside and inside the church.