Yes, I have finally arrived. I am earning my proverbial salt as a blogger by using "changes" as the title of a post. You may not know it, but this is a
requirement for all bloggers. I think it's in the
Super-Secret 13th Level Blogging Handbook somewhere, anyway.
This is life-altering stuff, and since it is in motion and I've told a couple of groups,
I wanted to outline it in as much detail as possible so there would be no chance for hearsay, rumor, or speculation of motives. Some of that has started, and mercifully, it's been all good (a rarity!). I will be presenting the high points at
Wall Highway on October 11, in case there are those who haven't heard it from the horse's mouth.
Updated note: this post gives personal background and observation which I believe is based fully in fact, and it's highly likely to contain something that will make you mad. If that happens, remember that I didn't write it with you personally in mind. Read what I say, see if it aligns with Scripture, and if it does, you have no reason to get mad. If you don't fit the mold, you have no reason to get mad. If you believe I'm twisting Scripture, you may get mad, and you need to jump in to correct me.
I sometimes wonder if it’s as glaring to anyone besides me that money has become such an important part of the functionality of the Church today that the lack of it throws our servanthood and our ministries into chaos. This is a symptom of the march of “progress” over the past 1,800 years,
which has led the Church from being a family of believers with Christ as its head to being a well-structured business defined by people with similar theologies. While the Church hasn’t adapted to our culture in every way, we have adapted to it with alarming excellence in many ways.
With this in mind, about two years ago I began to study the Word more deeply and specifically than I had before, fully expecting God to reveal Himself to me more profoundly than I’d allowed Him to do in the past. I began to pray more fervently, expecting to see God work in mighty ways. In both cases God amazed me.
It seems to me that by and large,
our churches have become slaves to their systems of operation rather than bondservants of Christ. As culture has marched forward, the Church has marched forward with it, and all too often the two are linked arm in arm. “…the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.” These words of Paul have been taken to an extreme in the business of church. Isn’t it striking how much of a typical church’s budget
doesn’t go toward assisting other struggling church fellowships, caring for widows and orphans, or supporting itinerate ministers and those who carry the Gospel to remote places? To add insult to injury, isn't it also striking that the main thing that goes from our churches toward these areas
is money, not people?
Lately this has become all the more stark to me as I’ve learned of church fellowships that have let go of administrative and pastoral staff members due to financial strain, while others not far away are investing money in things like advertising campaigns, property improvements, new buildings, and ministries designed to bring people in for “growth” (as opposed to the Church going out).
Unfortunately, this doesn’t even raise an eyebrow among the people of God. While I am not suggesting that one fellowship is more or less Godly than another, on the whole,
churches continually prove through their actions that they’re primarily concerned with their own territories to the exclusion and detriment of others that labor for the sake of the Gospel.
(This is typically done with the idea that each church fellowship is called to minister to its specific area in its specific way -- that God has tasked each fellowship with sticking to its own area. While the sheer size of Christianity has necessitated multiple churches in neighboring areas, I maintain that the “territorial” idea isn’t Scriptural either in practice or in concept.)
In Acts 20, Paul talks to the elders of the church at Ephesus: “You yourselves know that
these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” (Acts 20:34-35, NLT, emphasis mine) While he admonishes the Church to care for its elders financially and he accepted one-time monetary gifts on at least two occasions, several times in his letters
Paul flatly states that he will not avail himself of this right on an ongoing basis.
In the spirit of Paul’s words, about a year ago it struck me that God had blessed me with a unique possibility: the potential to pastor and lead His people at Wall Highway Baptist Church while financially supporting my family independently. This would also have the benefit of allowing me to live and work daily among people who may not know Christ while still serving the Church in the leadership role to which I’ve been called. My wife and I began to pray about it, but although the idea surfaced a few more times over the year, we never received any word from the Lord or indication that this was a viable option or a step of obedience to Him… until a few weeks ago.
In one specific moment I began to feel a very real sense of urgency that I should move back into the “secular” workforce; that now was the time. That evening I presented the idea to my wife and she was in complete agreement.
Over the next two days I was amazed at the “coincidences” that appeared before me.
If I’d had any doubt that this was God’s idea, it would have been completely washed away over those days. The company I spoke with happened to have a position open. Amazingly – and unbeknownst to me at the time –
I apparently had a window of opportunity that was open for one single day. It just happened to be the day I followed what I believed the Holy Spirit was telling me to do and talked with them.
In addition to two years of Scripture, prayer, and the uncanny situation surrounding the job, there were
two independent confirmations of this direction to me and my wife over the next two or three days from Christ-followers who knew nothing about what was going on.
My family and I do not move forward lightly or with little consideration, but instead we move forward with full confidence in God and in the leading of the Holy Spirit. For many of the 18 years that we have been at Wall Highway, I served the body of Christ bi-vocationally, and I’m excited that I have the opportunity to return to this, beginning in October.
I do so with a fresh vision of what the Church should look like and with the amazing opportunity to give my gifts for the building up of the body of Christ without expecting any financial compensation in return.
You may be thinking, “
Bi-vocational?? In a church that size [we’re only around 500-600, so it’s not huge],
you’re nuts to do this, Dean!” Not if the body of Christ begins to love, fellowship, and live in a Biblical way. Over the course of hundreds and hundreds of years,
we have unintentionally moved toward atrophy in the body of Christ by anticipating that a small core of people, either paid staff or "super Christians" among us, will do what God has called all of His people to do (Acts 4:31, Romans 12:6-21, 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 1 Corinthians 14:26). Ephesians 4:11-16 summarizes how the Church is to work as a body in which
everyone functions, and church leaders are called to
equip the saints to do God's work - not do it all for them!
It is absolutely critical for me to communicate plainly and directly that
in no way am I moving away from the calling God placed on me to serve Him with my particular gifts, and to do so at Wall Highway Baptist Church. This is not a decision to stop serving God in a full-time capacity. “
All believers are called into full-time ministry” is a valid phrase that is sometimes heard in Church meetings, but is one that is rarely reinforced by action or example. With a desperate desire to serve my Creator in the most Christ-centered way that I can, and with the full support of my family, this very statement is what I am pleased to continue to fulfill.
Finally, understand that
I am not condemning those who earn their living in vocational ministry. (For real. I should probably elaborate more on this, but the post is already miles long...)
I welcome your comments!