A child’s innocent, honest question silences the the prideful arrogance of adults.

May this be our prayer today.

Listen to these words I’ve selected from On the Priesthood (book five) on the special office of preaching:

“How great is the skill required for the teacher in contending earnestly for the truth, that has been sufficiently set forth by us. But I have to mention one more matter beside this, which is a cause of numberless dangers, though for my own part I should rather say that the thing itself is not the cause, but they who know not how to use it rightly, since it is of itself a help to salvation and to much good besides, whenever you find that earnest and good men have the management of it. What then, do I mean by this? The expenditure of great labor upon the preparation of discourses to be delivered in public. For to begin with, the majority of those who are under the preachers’ charge are not minded to behave towards them as towards teachers, but disdaining the part of learners, they assume instead the attitude of those who sit and look on at the public games; and just as the multitude there is separated into parties, and some attach themselves to one, and some to another, so here also men are divided, and become the partisans now of this teacher, now of that, listening to them with a view to favor or spite. And not only is there this hardship, but another quite as great.”

“For the public are accustomed to listen not for profit, but for pleasure, sitting like critics of tragedies, and of musical entertainments, and that facility of speech against which we declaimed just now, in this case becomes desirable, even more than in the case of barristers, where they are obliged to contend one against the other. A preacher then should have loftiness of mind, far exceeding my own littleness of spirit, that he may correct this disorderly and unprofitable pleasure on the part of the multitude, and be able to lead them over to a more useful way of hearing, that his people may follow and yield to him, and that he may not be led away by their own humors, and this it is not possible to arrive at, except by two means: indifference to their praise, and the power of preaching well.”

“And if on the other hand he is successful as a preacher, and is overcome by the thought of applause, harm is equally done in turn, both to himself and the multitude, because in his desire for praise he is careful to speak rather with a view to please than to profit. And as he who neither lets good opinion influence him, nor is skillful in speaking, does not yield to the pleasure of the multitude, and is unable to do them any good worth mentioning, because he has nothing to say, so he who is carried away with desire for praise, though he is able to render the multitude better service, rather provides in place of this such food as will suit their taste, because he purchases thereby the tumult of acclamation.”

When I read this I thought these words of advice could easily apply to present day pastoral teaching! For those who regularly teach/preach in a pastoral setting, Chrysostom addresses many needs for 21st century teaching from his experience in the 4th century.

Present day teachers need to contend “earnestly for the truth, that has been sufficiently set forth by us.” An “expenditure of great labor upon the preparation of discourses to be delivered in public” should be part of every teachers week leading up to the Sunday event.

He makes interesting commentary on those who listen who assume “the attitude of those who sit and look on at the public games. For the public are accustomed to listen not for profit, but for pleasure, sitting like critics of tragedies, and of musical entertainments…” What should a preacher/teacher do in the face of these listeners? Like ancient priests, modern teachers should lead in such a way that they “correct this disorderly and unprofitable pleasure on the part of the multitude” and “lead them over to a more useful way of hearing.” But along the way, these modern teachers must “not be led away by their own humors” by doing two things: being indifferent to their praise and simply preach well (which I take to mean with power and conviction, not caring what the masses think about said teaching.)

These last few lines got to me in my own role of teaching: “You see, my excellent friend, that the man who is powerful in preaching has peculiar need of greater study than others; and besides study, of forbearance also greater than what is needed by all those whom I have already mentioned;” “Therefore it is especially necessary to be trained to be indifferent to all kinds of praise.”

Modern day teachers need to study and prepare well for powerful and convicting teaching that rises above the pleasures, wants, humor, attitudes, and opinions of the multitudes; modern day teachers need to be trained to be indifferent to any kind of praise. Why? In order to contend and fight earnestly for the truth that Tradition and the Spirit has given us through history.

What timely words (at least for me) from this timeless Saint!

I had the opportunity to share some of my spiritual journey in large settings and in personal one-on-one conversations. I was able to teach from the Holy Scriptures in a youth group setting, which was a joy. I shared my political/cultural perspective on a thorny social ill with a group of women seeking to bring the Kingdom into this part of Lutsk. And I was able to talk about ministry with church leaders from a few churches in Lutsk. I’d say I had a pretty good two weeks of sharing and giving!

The best part, though, was what I learned from all of the contexts and people. I was reminded how the rest of the world lives outside West Michigan, USA, and recommitted myself to living simply and cutting out wasteful spending and living.

I learned that the world does not need America, politically, economically, and especially ecclesiastically. While we USAmerican christians and pastors can come along side Liberian, Peruvian, and Ukrainian Christians and pastors in their ministries to encourage them in their work, they do not need us. They do not need our models and methods and books and programs and music. They need THEIR models and methods and books and programs and music for THEIR culture for THEIR people. I think it’s time we stop exporting our American Church and start encouraging these Christians and churches to be THEIR OWN Church.

Because of this learning experience, my hope in the church was restored! Because I am in seminary and because I live in West Michigan (not to mention America) I can get pretty cynical about the Church. Seeing how these brothers and sisters are owning their Ukrainian Church for their culture and their generation, though, has restored my confidence in moving of the Holy Spirit to renew Christ’s body and organic potential of the Church to be the continuing presence of Christ in 2009, worldwide. The care and innovation and thought and risk being poured into their communities and church communities has been breathtaking.  They even reminded me that the gospel is useless unless it is hyper-contextualized, unless it is incarnated in such a way that it speaks and confronts particular peoples in particular cultures in particular times.

Last but not least, I was reminded that church growth should always happen through conversion and incarnational ministry. All of these churches grow through other people coming to Christ. These people come to Christ mostly through incarnational ministry, such as prison and recovery ministries. In America, most church growth comes through church transplant, people moving from one church to the next. In Ukraine the idea that church is a buffet, that people have the freedom to shop for what ever suits their gorwling little tummy is unheard of! In fact, Sasha isn’t all that thrilled when others come to his church from other churches. While he certainly welcomes all people to fellowship with their community and encounter God with them in worship and teaching, he wants to understand why they are coming to their community from another. In America, another visiting family through the door is another giving unit and potential helper for the parking lot ministry. In Ukraine, churches grow when people’s lives change through Christ. That’s what I want for my ministry, now and in the future.

I could go on but I have a marshutka (van-bus) to catch to Kiev. Needless to say my time in Ukraine has been amazing. I went to Lutsk to do and learn cross-cultural ministry for my seminary program. Instead I simply learned what it means to be the church, the continuing presence of Christ in the world. Instead of DOING, I was LEARNING…the whole time. Thanks Sasha for an amazing trip. Thanks for all you showed me and taught me, even when you didn’t realize I was taking notes Hopefully I will have the opportunity to return to your beautiful city soon. Hopefully that return trip will be 80 degrees warmer!

-jeremy

PS-See you all soon…I head back to America on Thursday for a wonderful 19 hour trip!

Wednesday we celebrated Christmas with Golgofa Serque (Calvary Church). It was a 2 hour service in the morning with a children’s drama program, singing, and teaching. That evening we celebrated Christmas with Sasha’s extended family at his parents home. It was a great time of dinner, games, and conversation. We even played TWISTER! Don’t worry, I won twice for us Amerikanski’s

I also had a great conversation with one of Sacha’s younger brothers, Vova. He epitomizes what is happening among young people both in Ukraine and America: a discontent with the status quo of the 21st century Church. Like America, the Ukrainian culture has changed and people’s willingness to embrace none Orthodox, American versions of Christianity has wanned tremendously since communism fell in 1991 and evangelists flooded the country. Ukrainians no longer show up to evangelical events or churches anymore simply because they are built or invited. From Vova’s perspective, those churches are out of touch with 2009 Ukraine, are too traditional, and unwilling to change to reach his world. I get the sense that he doesn’t know where to turn or what to do with contemporary Ukrainian Christianity. This gives me hope for this new generation, though, because it is out of this discontendedness that I believe God is raising a new generation of church leaders to take the Ukrainian Church and Ukrainian culture in new directions that better center simply on Jesus and point toward His Kingdom Reign.

The next day, Thursday, was long. We began the day with another service at the church. I shared some of my story and spritual journey/testimony, which was a joy. That afternoon we headed out to a youth prison in western Ukraine. The trip was long and cold, but a great experience. We had 2 hours to share with about 120 youth prisioners from age 13-18. They were there for various crimes: theft, assault, and even murder. Apparently a large majority of those youth are from orphanages, places that offer them little and lead to a life of crime, in the case of guys, and prostitution for women. While there another church sang some songs, golgofa church performed a wonderful drama, John preached a bit, and I shared my again from my story and spritual journey.

I shared about my anniversary date of what I would consider my transformation experience, February 7, 1999. I shared about how that date is a before and after moment in my life. I described how I was and the person I was before Feb. 7, and the person God has been crafter after Feb 7. I said that with Christ there is always a before and after. Paul says that if any one is in Christ he is a new creation, the old is gone the new is come. A before and after. I said that we celebrate in American and Ukraine 2 other dates that thrust the world into a before and after: December 25 and January 7, our Christmas dates. Jesus’ arrival was a before and after event. Before Jesus there sin and rebellion reigned. After Jesus rescue and salvation. Before Jesus darkness, decay, and darkness. After Jesus light, new life, and re-creation. I said that I’ve experience a before and after in my life. Then I asked about about them. Do they have a before and after date? I explained what it means to be “in Christ” to experience that before and after, to experience relationship with Jesus: we are called to repent of our sins and turn from our own selfish way of living; called to turn toward Jesus and His way of living by following Him and obeying His teachings; and we are called to believe in Him and His sacrifice by totally entrusting ourselves to Him and His salvation. It was an honor to share and I trust God will use my words in the lives of a few young guys.

On Friday I spent the day with Sasha talking about theology and ministry and Ukrainian Christianity. He showed me two churches that in large ways represent contemporary evangelicalism in Ukraine: a 5 year old church with a brand new building built with money from Atlanta Georgia and an aging Baptist church in the heart of Lutsk. Like everything else America, Georgians exported their brand of Christianity and flooded Lutsk with money to build new church that would rival any megachurch facility in the US. It is a $1 million dollar building that was bought and paid with money from the US.

The other Baptist church reflects much of the problem of America: it seems they exist for themselves. While they are 1000 people–massive for Ukraine–they seem to do little for the community socially and expect Lutsk to come to them. Like the other Atlanta-money church, the building sits empy and unused Monday-Saturday. The building is church. The event on Sunday is church. They are not being the church. This is a common problem in Ukrainian evangelicalism, and innovators like Sasha at Golgofa and Pasha at Fimiam seem to be marginalized and barely tolerated in their Baptist association. Sasha told me that only 5 churches out of 120 or so are innovating and contemporary enough to engage their 2009 Ukraine culture. I am hopeful, though that leaders like Sasha, his brother Andre, Pasha, and even sasha’s brother Vova will offer Christianity anew to the Ukraine culture and lead an entire generation of Ukrainians to faith in Jesus Christ!

We ended our Friday by gathering with 6 women who are dreaming about starting a crisis pregnency center in Lutske. Nothing exists to come along side women who are facing unexpected pregnancies and the decision to have an abortion in their area. These women want to provide counseling, support, discipleship, and ultimately friendship for the young, struggle women of Lutsk. Already they have a room in the local hospital that provides abortions and a Chrisitan doctor from that hospital wants to help them. They do need money to renovate the room and provide materials for the women, but they are well on their way toward making their vision a reality! I shared about my experiences from the political side with abortion in America and urged the women to not make the same mistake the church has in America with this issue: I urged them to focus their efforts not at making abortion illegal through protest and policy, but to make it unthinkable. I shared my favorite metaphor Jesus uses in Matthew and Luke for the Kingdom: yeast. I said this very normal, simple, small element has great power to transform and stimulate change in dough, just like them. It was an encouraging evening for John and me, and I look forward to hearing about their progress in the coming months.

Our time in Lutsk is almost over with! We leave Monday for Kiev and then Thursday for America. Tonight I have 40 min to teach and share with the youth service at Fimiam. Tomorrow John and I will attend and share at 2 more innovative churches in Lutske. Hopefully Monday or Tuesday I can write one more blog post before I leave.

Thanks for your prayers and interest in my trip! I look forward to sharing more of my thoughts with many of you in person soon…

-jeremy

Today John and I spent the day with Sacha Savich, the Ukrainian pastor with whos family we are staying. We visited a castle, had pizza, and talked theology and ministry. It has been great to learn about Ukrainian culture and dream with him about impacting THIS place for Christ in Ukrainian ways, not simply importing the latest American model produced by Church Inc. What was also very cool was earlier that day he told us that a Ukrainian Chrisian magazine called him and wants him to start writing some articles for the magazine. The really cool part is that we’ve been encouraging him to begin writing for Ukraine, especially for Ukrainian pastors who want to start a church. When he started a church the only book he had was Warren’s “Purpose Driven Church,” and he realized that while there may be some good principles it just wont work in Ukraine. Right on! I’ve encouraged him some with my own experiences writing and have made it my mission to publish Sacha. Ukraine needs to hear what this man is saying about Jesus and the gospel!

Afterwards we visited with Sacha’s brother, Andre. Let me tell you: Andre is another up-and-comer in the Ukrainian Church who I think will have a lasting impact on the Church for the next generation. He is studying Youth Ministry at Kiev Theological Seminary and mentoring 12 young adults as his ministry. Sometimes he is frustrated and disillusioned with the church in Ukraine because the Orthodox church has such a stranglehold on the people and the more conservative protestants/baptists say that he and Sacha are betraying their people and the faith with their innovations. His perspective, though, is greatly needed for this country and for his little son Daniel who will be born in the next few weeks.

One of the great things to bubble up out of our conversation with Andre was a big kick in ass for me! Andre shared how he was layed off from work a few weeks ago and he has not been able to gain a new job. If you think the economic crisis is bad in the States you haven’t seen anything: inflation has almost doubled in Ukraine (1 dollar used to equal 5 grevna, now recently it equalled 10!) and people are losing their jobs. They do not know how they will make their 100 USD a month rent nor pay for the diapers they will need (once the baby comes they will probably spend around 400 USD a month for diapers!). John and I both felt convicted to give to him and his family, so we were able to give them a gift of $250.

This is where the kick in the ass comes in: 2 hours prior I was shoping for $50 shoes! What a typical consumeristic American I am! One of the reasons I was excited to come back to Eastern Europe is to be reminded how the rest of the world lives outside my comfy suburban white world. Now granted, I am thankful to God for that world, but I forget that many struggle and worry about what they will eat the next day and whether they will have a place to live. Sacha gets paid around 300 USD a year. Some pastors in USAmerica make 10 times that a week! Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy!

I have been thankful for the few opportunities to built some great relationships with solid, innovative, passionate Ukrainian brothers and pastors during this trip, while breathing some encouragement into their hearts, too. I am as equally thankful for the reminders to live simply and be content with what I need to live and serve Christ.

-jeremy

PS-Saturday John and I leave for the Carpathian Mountains to enjoy some R&R and meet with the leaders of Femiam. Should be a fantastic time, but dont expect any updates!

Yesterday evening John and I spent some time with a church called God’s Design. They wanted to hear from us regarding changing the church focus from a Sunday gathering focus, to a small group focus. Instead of meeting once a week for a big gathering, they want to meet once a week in smaller groups and then come together for fellowship once a month. That’s a big change from the Orthodox and Protestant patterns that rule the culture. Very risky, but they feel like they need to take the risk for the sake of the church and the gospel. Hearing their passion and vision for the city gave me great hope for the church, even as I am disillusioned with the American variety sometimes It was such an encouraging time!

Tonight I will be spending News Years Eve with another innovative evangelical church in the city called Fimiam, which mean “insense.” what a cool name for a church! I am staying with the youth group from 9pm to 5am the next morning. We will eat and play games. I will give a little talk for the new year. They  also will spend time meditating on the past year and writing letters for to themselves for the new year. New Years in Ukraine is a BIG holiday, bigger than Christmas. Everyone has off from work and school for a week. When the Russians came into Ukraine they replaced celebrating Christmas with New Years, so we will celebrate with them wih some big parties. On New Years Day John and I will help serve communion at Femiam after John preaches, which will be quite a cool experience I think.

Friday, John and I are heading to a mountain resort (ministry is tough work!). We’ve been invited by Femiam to join a leaders retreat and share with them for the weekend. We will be staying in the Carpathian Mountains from Friday through Sunday. Afterwards we’re not sure what’s next, but if its anything like we’ve been doing, it should be pretty awsome!

Enjoy New Years Eve. See you in the New Year!

Another reason I am excited to go is to remember how the rest of the world lived outside my comfy USAmerican white suburbia. When I went to Romania over three years ago, I valued getting a glimpse into the lives of the rest of the world. I am anticipating a similar experience during my time in Ukraine and look forward to sharing that experience with you. My goal is to blog as much as I can during this experience so you can follow along on my journey, but we’ll see. If I’m not able to blog through the trip definitely look for a recap of my trip upon my return.

Thanks for your support and prayer during this time. I am coming off of a night of the flu and think I’ve kicked it, but between 16 hours of travel, a foreign country, and different foods I hope Mr. Flu stays away for good! You can also pray that I will spend most of my time just learning from my Ukrainian brothers and sisters, rather than think I need to produce something or go in an teach them all something radically new. While I am excited about the teaching opportunities I’ll have, I’m really looking forward to hearing the perspectives on the gospel and kingdom-life from them.

I look forward to sharing what I learn from this experience with you all. Should be an exciting time!

National Emerging Church leaders and authors Tony Jones, Doug Pagitt and Mark Scandrette are crisscrossing the country in a bio-diesel RV to visit 32 cities with a message that combines old time revival flair with a 21st century gospel on a tour called the “Church Basement Roadshow,” and I was able to snag them and set them up at the church I’m interning at during seminary.

Taking a page out of the Billy Sunday playbook, the authors will spread the emergent message of a generous, hope-filled Christian faith in the style and cadence of the tent revival preachers of a hundred years ago. They plan to have fun with it, wearing frock suits and selling “healing balm,” but the goal is, as in the revivals of yore, to preach the good news. “This will be unlike any book tour people have seen,” says Jones. “We’ll be barnstorming the country, shaking the rafters with our ancient-future message of hope.”

The second to the last stop on their journey is Grand Rapids, MI and Fellowship Covenant Church is hosting that stop on Sunday August 3 at 7pm. If you live in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, or Indian (and EVEN Canada!) and are interested in dreaming of an alternative Christianity and following of Jesus, please come to what should be a rockin’ good time! Also, if (somehow) you read this blog and live in the area I’d love to connect during and after the show, so please try and make that Sunday evening.

ps-show up early, cause we’re expecting a big crowd and our capacity is 200ish!

There is a seedy underworld that most church goers know nothing about. It’s a world filled with buying and selling, profits and preaching, speeches and suckers the likes of which would shock the pants of Sister Betty and Brother John!

What is this 5-alarm scandal I speak of? Watch this YouTube video of Pastor James Merritt for yourself:

A few weekends ago I stumbled upon this YouTube video posted by an SBC pastor, Steve McCoy, on his blog, Reformissionary. If you watched the video, you saw Pastor Merritt being all generous like. Because, in his own words, he loves pastors, Dr. Merritt reached into that heart of gold and pulled out a special little gift from one pastor to another: one of his sermons! If you go and signup on for his newsletter in his den of crass Christian commercialism (read: website) you can download and have your very own copy of a Father’s Day sermon manuscript, complete with PowerPoint!

After watching the video I couldn’t let such a golden opportunity slip by, so I went to his site, signed up for the newsletter and downloaded my very own sermon package. After unzipping the file, there it was: my very own Father’s Day manuscript! The thing is 9 pages long, complete with the obligatory sappy introductory story, cheesy jokes, Christian cliches, and mm deep 4-steps to being-better-at-whatever-you’re-failing-at-as-a-Christian (in this case, parenting).

But this post isn’t about ranting about the state of the content of pastoral teaching and preaching. (That will be a post for another time) No, no, instead I want to ask a basic, knuckle-head question: Who decided it was OK to sell sermon manuscripts to pastors to use on Sundays? Who decided it was OK for pastors to copy and speak another pastors Sunday morning speech? Who decided it was OK for a few mega-star, mega-speachers (speaking-preaching as Doug Pagitt says) to decide what rural, urban, international, white, black, mainline, evangelical, mega-church, and house-church churches should be learning and studying in their own contexts?

Does anyone else find this incredibly odd, sad, and downright messed-up?

If you google “pastor sermon resources” you can find sites with audio files of preachers for listening enjoyment, but there are also plenty of pastor-specific sites that exist to provide sermons for pastors to preach. One website boasts “80,000 Free Sermons, Illustrations, & Free Trial for SermonCentral Pro!” and at another “you’ll find sermon series, leadership tools, and much more – all watering tools for your ministry” which is basically a nice way of saying “we offer thousands of sermon transcripts, sermon series, sermon packages, sermon illustrations, and sermon PowerPoints for you to pilfer with holy abandon…for a small fee, of course.”

It’s sad that the state of the church has driving men and women to pay for another dude’s (and dudette’s) speech about what they think God is saying and how they think people should live. It’s sad that a shepherd of the Bride of Jesus has been reduced (or rather maybe has reduced himself?) to a shopkeeper peddling his wares to desperate, needy pastors.

Why is this acceptable? Why do people do this? How does this happen?

I wonder if I will ever get that desperate? I can certainly understand the pressures to perform and deliver, the critiquing glares, and all the ears to tingle week after week could certainly take its tole. I think about my own future in such a position and can honestly say I don’t know that I would never pull such a stunt. In fact, I’m sure I will, and several times at that!

As I approach another year at seminary this fall and ministry in my own local context, watching this video  causes me to pause and reflect about the awesome responsibility of pastoring. I do not mean the responsibility to deliver great, compelling prose or the need to be clever and cool on a stage. No, the responsibility of a pastor is to teach, shepherd, and equip the Body of Christ to be Jesus to the world around them. Part of that responsibility as teachers is to teach hyperlocally, to radically relate the teachings and way of Jesus to a local context, not simply overlay another pastor’s generic vision. Isn’t this type of practice grossly inauthentic? Paul talks about us being an open letter of Christ to be read by others, and as a shepherd who is charged with the task of caring for the letters and stories of others, what better way to do so than to share the story and particular narrative of the pastor’s self? How can a pastor pastor without authentically laying bare the story and letter of his or her life? That certainly does not happen with “Made In Saddleback” stamped sermons.

Again, I can sorta understand the predicament of being a pastor and do feel for those who look around at all the glitz and glamor and long for “successful” ministries. Then the likes of Pastor Merritt offer that success with purpose-driven books, snazzy sermons, and growth-guaranteeing strategies. It is sad. But what makes me even sadder is to think that there is no way in hell that it is going to stop. There is too much money to be made, too much success to be had, and too many inflated egos to prance around.

Ahh, the state of the church…
-jeremy