Jun 02 2011
9 Comments
Current Events, Leadership, Missional Living, Theology

Campolo’s Beer Church: A Reasoned Response

I believe Christians must exercise great care in condemning the actions of others seeking to do good in the name of Jesus. That doesn’t mean there is never a time or a place for this as misguided souls, regardless of motive, will sometimes engage in things apt to do more harm than good.

That being said, here is a bit of food for thought regarding Campolo’s “Beer Church” friend:

1. Drunkenness is a sin, but legal alcohol consumption in moderation is not with a few exceptions.

From beginning to end, the Bible indicates drunkenness (i.e. binge drinking/alcohol abuse) is sinful. However, it is also clear that there is absolutely nothing wrong with legal consumption in moderation unless 1) someone has a problem with alcohol addiction and by drinking are simply “asking for it”, 2) if consumption will violate one’s own conscience (i.e. they believe they are sinning whether they actually are or not), or 3) one exercising their liberty to drink will cause others to stumble (like a friend or neighbor who struggles with alcoholism). With these exceptions, it is okay to have a drink, and there’s no need to demonize alcohol simply because it can be abused.

2. Campolo’s description of what actually takes place at these events is vague.

Remember, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge” (Proverbs 19:2). I’m not sure one can, in reality, wisely affirm or defend what Campolo described based upon the limited information provided. All we know is a church in the UK has people showing up to their services on Sunday because they throw a party every other weekend that involves alcohol and dancing.

There are too many unanswered questions here. Are guests showing up and getting wasted thereby having sin affirmed by those reaching out to them, or is there an understanding this isn’t that kind of party? Is the church truly making disciples, or are they simply drawing a crowd of people who think they’re cool because “they know how to party”? Are lives being changed for the better, or is more harm being done than good?

We simply don’t have the answers to these questions, and one should refrain from judgment – especially the harsh kind – when so much information is lacking.

3. One must take culture into account.

I mentioned in the initial post a conference I attended in which a minister was drawing several hundred college students to his on-campus Bible studies by providing alcohol (in addition to live music) for those who showed up. I left that conference appalled at this minister’s method of outreach because I understand a thing or two about campus culture in the United States.

The temptation to binge drink has been labelled the worst problem facing American college students to date. For a minister to provide free or cheap alcohol weekly to a group of hundreds of them in the name of “outreach” isn’t just stupid – it’s sinful. It’s like throwing a hand grenade in the middle of a day care center playground and saying, “Here kids, play around with this for a while!”

Romans 14:21 says, “It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.” That’s speaking specifically about Christians’ interaction with other Christians, but I believe applies to interactions with outsiders as well, and the likelihood of causing someone to stumble in the situation outlined above is near 100%.

And to make a statement to the effect of, “Yeah, some of them will get drunk, but at least they’re getting drunk at a Bible study” is on my top ten list of the most ludicrous things I’ve heard come out of a church leader’s mouth. What if kids who came to his Bible study and got drunk left college believing God thought that was okay since the Christian group affirmed it, and never learned otherwise? Scriptures like Galatians 5:21 and others indicate that those who live a life characterized by drunkenness “will not inherit the kingdom of heaven” – does that sound like something we should take lightly?! Good grief – affirming that sin by enablement and an “at least they’re at Bible study” attitude is irresponsible and ridiculous – how could one consider that loving?

I can say this only because I understand college students, their culture, and the general weakness that exists as it pertains to 1) that sin, 2) at that life stage, 3) in that social setting.

Certainly in that situation it is, but is serving alcohol at a church event always wrong?

There’s a church a few minutes away from me here in California’s wine country that throws a wine tasting a cheese party every once in a while, and they do it specifically to invite outsiders to it.

You see, nearly everyone in wine country enjoys wine, and, from what I understand, those in attendance are mostly married couples in their thirties or forties, are quite a bit more mature than your average college student, and they don’t come to these parties to binge drink. In fact, it would be considered in bad taste for someone to get drunk at a party like that, and would likely be embarrassing for them.

The social climate is completely different in this situation because the culture is different as are social expectations, and I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with that church meeting people in this way – it’s done responsibly and lovingly. That’s quite the contrast to the other situation.

And I really do appreciate what Campolo said at the end of his article: “people are being met where they are at and told about the life changing relationship they can have with Jesus Christ.”

Folks, whether you like Tony or not, he could be making a great point here. We need to be intentional about lovingly meeting people where they are at. This doesn’t mean we affirm sin, but it does mean our approach to people may need to be a bit different than it traditionally has been.

That leads me to my last point …

4. The church is called to make disciples, not to simply draw a crowd.

Going back to the guy on campus throwing the keggers – I had the opportunity to ask him how many people came to Christ as a result of their campus worship service in the previous year. He informed me that one person, out of hundreds who attended, came to Christ (he actually threw out a larger number in front of a group of people, but when I met with him alone later that evening he told me he had misspoken and it had only been one – whether he had been intentionally dishonest or not in front of the group I don’t know).

So one person came to Christ – praise God! And I’m sure many more than that learned a thing or two, and were deepened in their faith as a result of the Bible study that took place (the word has a way of doing that to people) … but think about this: how many kids did their activity possibly harm compared to how many learned to be radically obedient disciples of Jesus Christ?

One was led to Jesus – wonderful. But was one also led away from Him … just one? If so, then get this: that’s too many. And I have a feeling it was many more than that.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out free alcohol and good live music will draw a crowd. Heck, expensive alcohol and poor live music will draw a crowd and regularly does … just go visit your local bar this weekend.

But is our job to draw a crowd, or is our job to make disciples?

While the two are not exclusive of one another and sometimes go hand in hand, they are definitely not the same thing, and we must be intentional about the one while worrying with the other only when it makes sense.

Campolo seems to think this church in the UK is carrying out Christ’s command to do this, and, honestly, he’s made a great point: people need to know Jesus, and we should never let fundamentalism get in the way of  rejoicing when a group is carrying out the Great Commission.

I, for one, simply hope that commission is being carried out, and if people are being led to Jesus and not away from Him, then I say, “Praise God!”

I hope you do too.

Tagged , , , , , , ,
May 28 2011
49 Comments
Current Events, Leadership, Missional Living

Beer Church: Yes or No?

So I ran across an interesting article Tony Campolo posted today describing a church he recently visited in the UK near London.

Tony describes this church as being pretty large, and, while he never shares an exact number, says there are multiple services each filling the building with people from within walking distance.

When Tony asked the pastor how they accounted for the good attendance, here was the reply:

The pastor explained to me that every other Saturday night they make arrangements to rope off a city block. The police cooperate. They bring in a barrel of beer and a barrel of wine. They add to this a good band. He then went on to say that a hundred of his young people come to this block party and start dancing. It doesn’t take long before people come out of their houses and join them. After a night of dancing and having a good-time party, these young church members say to the people they have been partying with, “How about coming to church with me tomorrow? If you are willing, I will stop by and pick you up.” In reality, it happens and the pastor said, “Every week we pick up about 30 or 40 people who come to our church for the first time. Church growth goes on easily from that point.”

I once attended a conference for ministry leaders in which one keynoter was lauded as “the most evangelistic minister in the United States”.

He organized a worship service on his local college campus and had several hundred students attending each week, many of them non-Christians.

His outreach secret? In addition to having very well-crafted outreach-oriented teaching, “Get a really good band, and serve a few kegs of beer.”

His rationale? “Yeah, some of the kids will get drunk, but they’re going to get drunk anyway. At least they’re getting drunk at a Bible study … right?”

Most church leaders reading this will find that kind of logic idiotic if not down right offensive, but look at what Campolo says:

Some may see this as a dangerous outreach method for a church to utilize. Questions like surrounding the image of the church in the public eye or “Won’t people drink to much and get drunk” are sure to arise. But the beauty of this is that people are being met where they are at and told about the life changing relationship they can have with Jesus Christ. I say Praise God!

Does Tony make a good point, or not? I have my feelings, and would love for you to share yours.

Tagged , , ,
May 24 2011
18 Comments
Prayer, Teaching, Theology

The Holy Spirit: Do We Make Waves, or Ride Waves?

I just finished watching Francis Chan’s lesson on the Holy Spirit via the free Basic Series preview I told you about yesterday.

He said something around the 11:00 minute mark that got me thinking. Here’s an imperfect quote:

“When you surf, you don’t make a wave. You don’t know when the wave’s coming – it just happens, it moves, and once you’re on it, it’s got a power of its own. You don’t manipulate it – you just get on it and go along for the ride. That’s what you see in the book of Acts multiplied 1000 times.”

He spoke this in an attempt to illustrate the work of the Holy Spirit, specifically in the context of the unity of the early believers. In other words, “You can’t create waves of the Spirit just like you can’t create waves in the ocean – you simply ride them.”

I first ran across this teaching from Rick Warren years ago in his book The Purpose Driven Church. Rick basically says near the beginning of that book, “If you want your church to make an impact, find out where God is already moving in your community and join in. Ride the wave, because you can’t create waves of divine activity just like you can’t create waves in the ocean.” I’ve since heard this teaching repeated by a number of preachers at lectureships and leadership gatherings continuing through this present instance with Chan.

That’s disappointing, because I have an inherent problem with this illustration and teaching, and believe you should too.

Here’s why: a great truth revealed through scripture is that things happen when God’s people pray.

When the Holy Spirit first appeared in Acts 2, what were the believers gathered together doing? Leading up to that time, Acts 1:14 says the believers “joined together constantly in prayer” – prayer was their main activity. Did Jesus tell them earlier to wait on the Counselor to come? Yes. Would He have come if they hadn’t been praying? Probably so, but I find it interesting He shows up in the middle of their prayer meeting, and believe we would do well to note the connection.

The story continues, and after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of thousands, prayer was one of several things the people “devoted” themselves to every day.

In Acts 4, after Peter and John were threatened with imprisonment for preaching Jesus, what was the first thing they did? They gathered with believers, and prayed for God to give them power to “speak the word with great boldness,” and He did. In fact, the whole room shook as if God were saying, “You got it!”

In Acts 6, the apostles delegated the work of caring for Grecian widows to others so they could “give their attention to prayer”, in Acts 10 the first Gentile convert was made so because “God heard his prayer,” and Acts keeps going like that – there are many other examples I could cite from that book alone.

And what about the rest of scripture? Were you aware that the apostle Paul’s number one request to churches he corresponded with was that they pray for his evangelistic work to be effective? Why? Because Paul understood prayer moves the Spirit to touch the hearts of men and women – to prepare them to decide to enter into new life with Christ.

And what about the prayer life of Jesus and the things He associated with it? What about the enormous number of Old Testament stories involving massive moves of God specifically due to prayer – sometimes a single person’s prayer at that?

I could keep going, but I think you get the point.

Were massive waves of Holy Spirit activity present in the life of the early church? You bet there were.

But what were these waves of the Spirit in Acts always accompanied by?

Prayer. Heartfelt, genuine, God-moving prayer.

I can tell you many stories about souls Airiel and I have prayed for who came to Christ, I believe, specifically because we prayed earnestly and consistently for them – that the Spirit would move and touch their hearts. God answered those prayers, and this has been repeated over and over in our ministry.

Those that know my story are aware I was a pretty rough character when I was younger. Want to know when my heart began to change? When my parents requested a group of disciples get together and spend time praying specifically for me. Things began happening in my life almost to the day that led to my eventual conversion, and I didn’t even know anyone had been praying for me until later.

That being said, when a person says something like, “We don’t make waves of the Spirit, we just ride them,” they’re putting on display, for the world to see, a shallow theology of prayer.

Prayer is not just something Christians practice because it’s what Christians practice – prayer is a weapon against the dark spiritual forces that surround us.

And the Holy Spirit doesn’t just guide our path, He is also a weapon who revels in bringing light to dark places – He loves it! That’s why He’s here – to assist us in this ongoing war against the darkness!

Speaking of that, there’s a battle scene in one of the Lord of the Rings movies (I forget which) in which the wizard Gandalf appears with a group of mounted soldiers riding down a hill, weapons raised, toward the goblin army. His staff, held high above his head, suddenly begins to emit a great light that not only illuminates the battlefield, but is also used as a weapon against the enemy.

That’s what the Holy Spirit is like. He illuminates, nudges, leads, guides, but not just that. He’s also a warrior adept at destroying the strongholds of Satan. He moves before us, shining brilliantly, but not just to illuminate. He moves before us through prayer, I believe primarily, to fight.

While it’s true that in some respects we’re just along for the ride on this journey, make no mistake: we are allowed to give input as to the direction and focus of divine activity along the way.

And that’s why prayer is so powerful, because prayer is our way of having a say.

Prayer moves the Spirit, therefore, prayer is dangerous.

Prayer makes waves.

—

When have you witnessed prayer “create a wave” of the Spirit that had amazing consequences?

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →