When Grace Happens

November 22, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I ‘met’ Monica Barden over a year ago through mutual friends on Facebook. Our common history in patriarchy environments gave us a lot to talk about and our hearts knit as we often discussed oppression of women and legalistic rules that had at one time hurled us into bondage. Many years of being told we couldn’t serve God as leaders due to our gender was just the beginning of a long history of spiritual abuse in different denominations, on opposite sides of the country.  At times it seemed as though we came from the same fold.

When my husband and I were looking at moving, her little town was one of our options. Due to a series of events in his parent’s lives we ended up coming to Southern California, but my heart and prayers remained with this tiny country church called, Radiant Fellowship. Each Sunday I would tune in to their website and watch their service live. Pastor Bob has a Facebook page (That’s Not My God) where I got to know more of the congregation and we wrestled with scripture and the popular church culture interpretations of ancient passages printed on rice paper.

I was recently able to visit her church in Waupaca, Wisconsin. Pastor Bob invited me to come speak with the church about spiritual abuse.  Monica had emailed me to ask if I had a request for a song that she could perform at the close of the service. Since the topic to be discussed was spiritual abuse, I felt “Less than Perfect” by P!nk was a good selection. “Less than Perfect” is the ‘family’ version of ‘F*ing Perfect’.

Pastor Bob and his wife, Tracey, picked me up at the airport and drove me to their home where Monica, Chris Wileman, and Lisa Benitez picked me up and they took me back to Chris’ place. Even though it was about 40 degrees outside, at 1 am in the morning, we sat together in the hot tub and the conversation was like catching up with old friends you’ve had for a life time. I shared more in depth about my personal story about my husband’s years of difficulties, the rumor mill of our previous community, and his year long stay in a recovery mission. The details of our story caused Monica to speak up about something going on in her own little town.

While dining in a restaurant with a friend, someone had overheard part of her conversation and rather than having compassion for her dilemma the person took it and morphed it into something horrible. Within a week or so, Monica began to get hate mail. I read one of the letters that was sent. In the five years I’ve been dealing with spiteful people, I have never seen hate mail like this before. Honestly, I think Westboro Baptist Church would have had more class than the writer of the letter. Whoever the person is, the private conversation had turned into a public witch hunt. It was nothing that had to become public, but some people have an incredible lack of discretion.

We spent the weekend together and enjoyed a long walk at the park. We discussed grace and practical approaches to handling common life turning moments that most women our age experience. On that chilly Sunday morning, Monica and her worship team began the service with empowering music. She knew Bob was going to be talking to the church at the close of the service. This is not something he would normally do, but since the morphed information had become an elephant in the town, he felt it imperative to nip it in the bud. The person who penned the spiteful mail was out to hurt Monica.

Why do Christians stab their own wounded?

Don’t they ever think about how the other family members will feel when family business gets spread through a small rural community?

The best way to deal with it at that point was to deal with it publicly.

Monica didn’t know how the little congregation was going to respond.

I’ll tell you what happened, but you’ve really got to watch it for yourself (or you can listen to the podcast). The audio on the video was a little distorted during the music, but the speaking was better. If you’ve ever wondered how a grace filled church handles issues like this, you’ve got to watch the video.

I’ve never seen anything like it. Pastor Bob has lead the congregation well. His teaching on grace has prepared the congregation to truly BE the Body of Christ. If people can’t be confident that their church is a place of grace, where people with periods of brokenness in their lives can’t be honest without fear of hate and judgment, then how will the Body ever truly heal people?

Bob shared the story as discreetly as he could and as he expressed his love for Monica and her family the congregation burst into applause and cheers of “We love you, Monica”. Even as I type this my eyes are filled with tears and the memory of my emotions come flooding back to me. It was the first time I have ever seen grace cover a congregation like that. Monica and her family have a journey ahead of them, but they know they have the strength of Christ in the Body to walk with them. No matter how dark the valley, He is with all of them.

I was in awe that Monica had the courage to continue with the close of the service as she sang “Less than Perfect”.

On Thanksgiving Day, she sent me another email. She wanted me, and several other women, to read something she wrote. She was expressing gratitude through a few typed out words on a little ol Facebook status. She has given me permission to share it publicly.

When life throws us into a turmoil, temptations or even depression, may we rally together to cover each other with grace. Stoning people to death in a public square is not the way of Christ. As Christ confronted those self righteous religious people, he stooped to the ground and write with his finger. No one knows what he wrote, but I don’t think it’s about what he wrote. I think it’s the fact that he wrote at all. The religious men viewed this woman as dirty, and yet Christ wrote in dirt. It’s a beautiful illustration of his hand written love on our hearts. While they wanted her stoned to death, he wrote his love on her heart.

May these beautiful words from Monica bring healing to all of us, but especially to the women.

WOMEN–Today I am thankful for the women in my life who are ALWAYS there for me. I wrote this today for all of you, you mean so very much…..

Go to the nearest mirror, preferably full length, and hug yourself, look at yourself. Take it all in, and say this:

YOU are my body and I love you. I refuse to be ashamed of you, I refuse to be guilty over the things you’ve been through. I love your shape, and you can walk with your head held high, proud of yourself and how wonderfully you were created.

I love the seen and unseen scars that make you exactly who you are, from surgery or abuse or hurt…. even if you put them there yourself to cope with an inescapable situation. I love your curves and bumps. I love you, breasts or not…large or small…tall or short…pale or dark…stretch marks, wrinkles, gray hair, razor wounds from a rough day, cigarette burns, empty wombs, broken hearts, beaten bodies.

I LOVE you EXACTLY that way, and I love the person you have become from the crashing waves of time and circumstance. I love the parts that this society deems unacceptable, because I know you’re okay, and you are MINE. I will not allow you to be treated as inferior or second-best, and I will not give you away….I will protect you, and comfort you, take care of you, and be PROUD of you.

YOU are MY body, and I love you.

-Monica Barden

This….this grace Church that heals…gives me hope for Christianity.

SisterLisa

Related Articles:

Love’s Evangelism Method

Law or Grace for Jack Schaap?

How to Become a Christian vs. Being a Disciple


Failure of the Mega Church

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Avoiding Church Structure Pitfalls

August 19, 2012 by 1 Comment

In all the years we have been in ministry we have seen a fair share of chaos and utter destruction going on in churches. I believe the best way to figure out how not to make the same mistakes is to study their failure. When I correct my children’s math papers and find one with the wrong answer, I carefully look over their hand written work to find the error. The error in the ‘answer’ column is not the real dilemma. In research like this we can observe what works and what doesn’t work, but ultimately the goal is to find out what the patterned mistakes are and then correct the problem from the foundation up.

church by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

There are some popular ways of structuring a ministry organization. Some work and some don’t. Sometimes various churches will follow a model of church structure that appears to be solid, but theirs falls apart and they’re left standing in confusion at why it’s falling apart.

When a ministry begins to falter, the knee jerk reaction of many leaders is to

  • exert more control over their project
  • and over the people

They go through great lengths to drive home how much their volunteering and financial giving is needed for them to stay afloat. This might seem right, but in the end they’re putting people in bondage.

One of the first things a ministry’s leader needs to stay focused on is the people. As exciting as having their own building sounds, it should never outweigh the importance of the people. It is never wise to put your faith and hope in any vision that puts the people in bondage, even if you think the end result is for their own good. Remember how that worked out for Joseph in Egypt and God’s people remained under intense slavery for 400 years waiting for deliverance.

Beginning any organization must be done decently and in order, providing a concrete foundation and immovable infrastructure. I’m not a business guru by any means, but I can tell you from the various examples I see in church world that we’re making huge mistakes, repeatedly, and causing further damage to God’s people.

Author Bob Adams, pastor of Radiant Fellowship in Waupaca, Wisconsin and founder of That’s Not My God, says this,

“We will continually search for new and culturally relevant ways to present Christ’s message while remaining true to Scripture. We will discontinue activities and ministries that have lost relevance and effectiveness.”

The people who gather together are far more important than a building program that hinders the people from living a life of happiness and joy in the Lord. Jesus already established his Church and expressed his love through death and resurrection. He doesn’t ask us to build another temple and die financially to do it. We, the people, are the temple of God and he indwells every one of us.

There are other, more effective, ways in which to teach globally that cost much less.

A group of people can network YouTube videos and podcasts through various social networking sites for free. When they want to gather together, then can gather at a park or restaurant. They can even rent a large banquet hall from time to time to gather in more people from all over the region for worship and fellowship.

Another aspect of ministry business that tends to get sticky is when the spiritual leader is also the CEO. An organization might have to start out that way, but I advise against it staying that way. You can seek out an individual who agrees with the vision of the group who is an organizer for marketing (evangelizing) the materials created by the group to help others. I believe we need to allow the spiritual leader to focus on the spiritual growth of the people and let someone else focus on the financial growth. The Body of people is not to remain in a quadriplegic state letting the pastor do all the work. We should be fostering team work where every member functions in their strongest gifts.

  • The pastor is not the Head of the Church, Jesus is.
  • The Church was already established, by Jesus.
  • The Temple was rebuilt by Christ, it’s us The People.

I want to refrain from writing out an infrastructure model, because I think each group has something unique for their communities and they should be encouraged to follow the Spirit’s leading for their ministries.

My heart in this is to encourage all leaders to consider these thoughts and keep the people’s safety and spiritual well being a primary focus in ministry.

Sisterlisa

Related Articles:

Some Thoughts on What Church Is and Isn’t

A Few Words About Apostles

Avoiding Church Structure Pitfalls

Any Doctrine is Possible


Biblical argument for Gays

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The Church Built on Sand

August 14, 2012 by 1 Comment

When we left legalism and relearned Christ, funny thing happened. Christians didn’t understand us anymore. If we didn’t speak Christianize they automatically thought we were ‘new age’. Anytime we clarified something in the bible referred to Jesus, they would first get angry, then frustrated. They thought we were confused, but I think it’s them who had been on confusion all along. An example would be how Christians will say the Bible is the Word of God, but John 1:1 says Jesus is the Word of God. Long story short we had a difficult time finding authentic spiritual community where we could grow and not get verbally chopped to pieces if we spoke the language of this new birth.

I read a book titled, ‘Pagan Christianity’ in which author Frank Viola reveals some historical facts about buildings, rituals, and traditions which at first understanding might make some Christians run out of their buildings as fast as they can. Then after we had some time to readjust to an absolute faith walk away from tradition, my daughter and I got to experience a pagan spiritual ceremony. If you haven’t read that article, please do so! It was through that day that I had come to find value in Christian traditions once again. I realized that it’s fine to have traditions and in my spirit I knew that traditions did not reconcile me to God. I knew that reconciliation had already taken place and some traditions are symbolic ways of celebrating the finished work. Many of us already knew that Christmas Trees had pagan origin, but most Christians use it in December to celebrate what they represent to them, Christ.

sacred writings by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

Different religions all over the world have similar or exactly the same spiritual symbols. The tree is life, the egg is fertility, the virgin is purity, and the rising sun is resurrection.  Symbols on their own are not bad, they can be quite beautiful and serve as reminders of the connection we all have with God. Even the pagan symbol of the star is a beautiful representation of the seasons God created. They celebrate Samhain and we celebrate Harvest. They celebrate Yule and we celebrate Christmas. They celebrate Ostara and we celebrate Easter..oh wait it’s the same thing…. ok so we celebrate the Resurrection. It’s what these holidays, traditions, and rituals represent that matters. It’s about spiritual growth and about walking in this life with joy. Harvest is a season of change and death to old ways. Christmas is a celebration of rest and family fellowship. Easter is the time we celebrate new birth and joyful life. Christ has already fulfilled all of these things, yet we still find great satisfaction in celebrating rituals (traditions) in honor of what he did.

I have wondered if it’s possible that God had unique ways of teaching his message to people in other countries. Why else would each spiritual community have such amazing similarities in their beliefs? I know it’s a popular belief that God was in dire need of a printing press so the bible could be printed and translated for every language in order for people to understand the version of Christianity we came to learn of (even thought it wasn’t English to begin with). Do you ever wonder why it wasn’t important to have it printed in Hebrew and Greek for every country before it was translated to English? God is much more magnificent than that! He doesn’t need an English bible in order to speak to people. Abraham didn’t have a bible, neither did Jesus. Oh yes, Jesus had the Torah, but Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob didn’t. They heard God through the spirit! Even Caleb followed God by faith when he saw the land of plenty and disregarded the giants. No big deal, it was the land of milk and honey!

Christians can be such silly people sometimes as they cower in fear if they see a pentacle, a PG-13 movie, or the next popular vampire novel on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. The Kingdom is here and by faith we get to live abundantly in it!! Why do they fear so much when the scriptures contain MANY passages about ‘fear not’ and the New Testament is filled with victory! By the power of God, we get to walk through this life as Kingdom minded citizens in full power of grace to go out and love people without fear. Caleb knew he didn’t need to fear the giants. He reached out and took hold on the promise God gave them. Will you walk in the promised Kingdom or be afraid of ‘the world’ and it’s ‘giants’?

We have heard for so long that everyone who isn’t a Christian is dirty, evil, infectious with sin and as a result they have excluded people and isolated themselves in their little bubbles. They are like the others who refused to go into the promised land because they were afraid. Peter told a story of the vision God gave him about the people and said do NOT call them unclean. God had cleansed them!

According to the bible, God created all of mankind. Through Christ we finally see that we are all children of God. Equally loved no matter what the differences. When you begin relationships with love you have the foundation of Christ. There’s no way to build on a foundation of fear. In fact the word ‘fear’ is an oxymoron to the words ‘build and foundation’. Trying to do so will only fall down in a storm.

My husband and I served in rescue ministry for many years among addicts, tattoo laden, facial piercings, court appearances, prison visits, and more. While many would pat us on the back for doing so, they cowered in fear and refused to come join us in loving those people. They missed out on a HUGE blessing. Those folks taught me so much about love, grace, and mercy. It was a missionary experience I’ll never forget. Imagine going to a foreign field, would you hide in your little huts in fear of them killing you? Would you throw stones at them out your window and condemn them to hell when they walked by? I guess if you treat people like CRAP, then it would be understandable why you fear them so much.

Therein is found the truth of the matter. A god and his followers who condemns, hates, throws stones, and mistreats people would certainly be afraid of the people they attack. Isn’t that how it always is with a bully? They’re really just fearful people who try to defend themselves by attacking others. This is a faulty way to live your life. In fact it’s not living, it’s dying. They go through this time and space …dying.

Now that I have laid down the foundation for this topic I will get to the nitty gritty.

This is America. The land of the free! We have the blessing of freedom of religion. The state (Constitution) is not allowed to sanction or reject a religion as a government body. The people get to decide what they will believe or not believe. This is an amazing gift since so many other countries don’t offer us this choice. There was a time when the Catholic Church would persecute anyone who left, questioned, or rebuked the church and it’s teachings. Then came a time when the Protestants (who protested that tyranny) began doing the same thing. Some Protestant leaders actually burned women and falsely accused them as witches. If there were real witches in their towns they never would have been able to burn them, because they would not have submitted themselves to arrogant tyrannical men.

Christians who are familiar with the persecution of their spiritual ancestors under the authority of Nero will tell you how great they suffered. But today’s Christians in American don’t really understand persecution. Oh yes, they get upset when people boycott Chick-fil-A, or when public schools deny religious activity in the school day, but this isn’t real persecution. Those Christians do no live in fear of saying they are Christians. They don’t have to fear for their lives.

In today’s nation of America, gays and pagans live in fear of their lives. Among those who participate in their pride days, there are many more who don’t out of fear. They have this fear because of how many ‘Christians’ have attacked them, bullied them, cussed at them, spat on them, harassed them, and even killed them. There are more documented cases of bullying to death of gays, than there are of pagans in today’s world, but nonetheless it’s wrong!

Christians are supposed to be the example of God’s LOVE to the world. Since Jesus forgave the whole world while they were yet sinners, why can’t we? I’ll tell you why, because so many Christians think they are teacher’s pets and everyone else is out. This is contrary to scripture and contrary to love.

This article about pagans discussing getting their own church caused me to cry. I sat at my desk today and felt the pain and grief in my chest as I read about their fears.

“Several months ago, my coven talked about trying to establish a community center for Pagans in our area. Many public sites suitable for celebrations close at dusk, our homes and backyards are often too small for activities, and all-too-frequently public facilities are just not available. We were still bouncing ideas around when we provoked very hostile reactions from some of our Pagan friends. For them, the issue was visibility. They opposed the community center project because its creation would reveal our presence to the larger community. All of these folks were still hiding in broom closets afraid the world will discover they are Pagans and kill them. The mere “possibility” of our opening a Pagan community center threatened them. Undoubtedly, visibility is a factor in some Pagans’ problem with publicly-known and dedicated gathering sites.”

Friends, love never threatens people (See 1 Corinthians 13). If a community of pagans live in fear of the reaction of their Christian neighbors for building a religious center then something is very wrong with your Christianity. No one should EVER have to live in fear in a Christian neighborhood! If you had an authentic love inspired Christian community people would be FLOCKING to come live near you. I know many will say that the scriptures say that followers of Christ will be hated, but you have to understand why…it was the religious leaders who hated them. They were hated for their love for others. Religion despised equality and some fundamentalist churches prove that by how they mistreat women and children. Religion favors power and control, this is why victims of sexual abuse are silenced in their churches and the criminals go unreported. Women and children are not valued.

Woe to those who claim the name of Christ and do the work of the adversary. Churchianity is a way of existing in this world and it’s members have their Christianeze lingo and brainwashed philosophies. It’s a worldy institution, all boxed in and bound up in legalistic rules and man made dogma with a counterfeit god-label loosely glued to the church sign.

There’s nothing wrong with a community having a building or family activities, nothing wrong with rock and soul music or weekly pot lucks. What’s wrong is when those places become idols that favor power over truth. It’s wrong when the leaders favor each other’s image rather than the image of Christ which is love with his Bride.

It boggles my mind how so many church leaders will turn a blind eye when the Bride of Christ is being attacked, raped, abused, bullied and forced into communistic kingdoms of their own. Do they have no reverence for the resurrected Lord and his beautiful Bride? She doesn’t belong in a casket!

When you see kingdoms like that where women are less than, questions are rejected, and child abuse goes unreported, then run as fast as your feet can carry you. It’s not a Christian community.

Jesus dined with gluttons, lounged with tax collectors, welcomed pagans and offered living water. A Christian is one who practices loving hospitality and respects their guests! No pagan should be afraid of the ‘christian’ response if they build a community center for themselves! They are free to be themselves and enjoy the love of God and enjoy loving others without fear of rejection, bullying, or spiritual tyranny!

So while not many other Christians will speak so boldly and openly to defend the freedom of pagans, I AM! So if you don’t like having pagan neighbors then YOU move to another community and leave MY friends alone. You see, my Jesus LOVES them as they are and opens his arms wide for them!

Indeed! Woe to those who claim to follow Christ and deny HIS power therein. Their faulty kingdom is built on sand.

Sisterlisa

Minister of Organic Faith

 


Biblical argument for Gays

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Filed Under: Church Culture, Persecution Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Some thoughts about what church is and isn’t

August 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I oftentimes have people ask me about going to church and if I have a pastor and I think they become bewildered at my not giving them a boxed in answer that they are accustomed to. A typical answer is to give the name of a church and pastor, along with the denomination. When they don’t get the traditional response it’s as if they don’t know what to say or how to respond. So here is a recap of some of my articles about how we gather with the Body of Christ.

Our freedom to choose a church

The freedom in how a home church functions

Walking by Faith

What is a real shepherd (and what is not)

Problems with Ministry Accountability

Confirmation and Recommendations for Ministry

Finding Organic Church

The freedom we have to make our own traditions

Being an Organic Minister

cool tone living room by sisterlisa, on Pix-O-Sphere

Most historical churches began in homes and even the apostle Paul wrote about the many households that gathered and hosted people in their homes on a regular basis. A local gathering is no less a church than a mega church with a million dollar building is.  So enjoy my posts and how we came to establish what church is for our family and have fun with your own gathering.

Sisterlisa

Filed Under: Organic Church Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Church is not a One Stop Shop

November 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment

With the hope of an upcoming move and a new community we have considered finding a church. My husband and I have discussed it, and while we both agree that we will never “join” a church again..we are open to the idea of attending.

The previous years of pain still haunt us, but we don’t want to be in a new city alone, in isolation, yet we are cautious of our hearts because the pain is still fresh.

And so it is with all this in mind that I considered that maybe church is not meant to be a One Stop Shop. Why is it that we assume that ‘such and such’ church has all our needs? Why is it that we assume that one specific church will have everything we’re looking for in a community? When we do this, we will always find ourselves disappointed.

Since we both firmly believe that we, the people, are the church, then perhaps the idea of church is not properly measured and boxed up in one specific location.

Maybe church is what we create around us. Prayerfully selecting friends to be our community of support. Gathering with them at various times over coffee, a dinner, or maybe a picnic lunch at the park.

They may not all have the same beliefs, creeds, or perspectives that we have and I think this is a good thing. It’s how we grow…by being around people who are different.

With this perspective we get to choose who we want in our ‘church’ without anyone feeling elitist..no one will know they were ‘chosen’. There is no membership required, no need to ask for money, no creed to abide by. We will have various friends and acquaintances, but some will be held closer to our hearts than others…and only we will know. They will be held close because they have earned our trust, not because they came with the One Stop Shop.

This is not a promise that these folks won’t be faulty people…but there’s a difference between faulty people who genuinely work at a relationship and faulty people who could care less.

I think when we pour ourselves into ministering to others, we become drained. I love to minister, but I need ministering too. I think it’s very important to get myself around people who can minister to me so I have the strength and energy to minister to others. We each have energy, but when we are around others who require energy from us, we find ourselves depleted and needing to be recharged. We need a healthy balance and only we know who charges us and who needs charging.

I also have a deep desire to find ways to minister that I know will be appreciated. Sometimes it’s good to minister in ways that we can be sure of a positive result of appreciation. How can we be so sure that our ministering will be appreciated? By ministering through nature. I have become a firm believer in giving back to the earth that God has given to us. When I till the ground to give roots more room to grow, I can see the appreciation when the plants grow larger. When we volunteer our time to pick up litter in the park, we see the appreciation on the children’s faces as they gleefully run through the grass and gaze happily up into the trees.

I think having a balance of ministering to nature as well as ministering to other humans will yield different forms of appreciation that nourishes us.

We also have a firm belief in sowing and reaping. The amount that you reap will be in proportion to the amount that you sow. However, I do not believe that giving $10 to the soup kitchen will yield an exact $10 back to you in a lottery ticket. I don’t think that’s how ‘sowing and reaping’ works. I believe that the sowing and reaping has to do with the heart and energy you put into something. This also means that the amount of negative you sow will be reaped as well. For this cause, I believe it is very important that we take our actions and thoughts more seriously and approach life with reverence and caution. Allow each day to be purposeful and reach out with a bountiful measure of positive energy.

Living each day in hope, rather than fear. Offer love and not rejection. Be wise and not flippantly disrespectful. Make the most of each day and the day will make the most of you.

This is how we will find community in our future.

This might be found in a family at one church and in the family that volunteers at the local park. It might be in feeling the warmth of the sun as we read books at the beach or in feeding seed to the birds at the wild life reserve.

Filed Under: Healing Tagged With: , , , , ,

How About that Building

November 2, 2011 by 2 Comments

This topic has come up in hundreds of conversations…the church building. Besides the fact that Jesus specifically told Peter NOT to build him a temple, thousands of pastors continue to do so…they think they are required by God to do so.

We know that God does not dwell in man made structures, he dwells within mankind. The only temple left is the temple of his Holy Spirit, which is us.

So how about that building? Many pastors claim the church is the ‘house of God’, but we know that’s not true. These same pastors declare that “God” requires 10% of their Gross Income or else you will suffer from curses and if you give faithfully, “God” will reward you. This is also not true. Jesus became a curse for us and God rains on the just and the unjust.

In addition to all of this, many pastors insist you become an official member of a church and give to their ‘work’ and they do all they can to convince you that their work is the most worthy to ‘invest’ in.

None of this is required by God.

If only pastors could be more honest with what is really going on. They’re building their own kingdoms, while they are the CEOs. Why don’t they just call it what it is? What so many of us already know it is… a club. It’s really not much different than the Elk’s Lodge, Lion’s Club or the Masons. The building needs to be paid for, but just ask each member for a fee like a gymnasium does. Give them a discount if they have several children or even ask for volunteer hours from those who want to join, but can’t afford it. Various other clubs in a community are formed with passions to contribute to their local community. They raise money for the parks, donate books to the library and schools, or even provide food for the soup kitchen once a month. But a lot of churches clubs don’t participate in their communities like that, instead they just want to raise money for their own kingdoms and hoard their resources for themselves.

There are some exceptions to this. There are some churches who are as practical as this, they are honest about the donations, accountable for their books, and give to the needy. These churches are rare, but they are out there.

I just think that with this mass exodus of Christians leaving churches, that these pastors would just be honest about about their club’s intentions and maybe people would be more likely to stay involved. We’re all very tired of being lied to and manipulated into funding their personal agendas.

Sadly, many Christians don’t realize just how free they are. They are free to disagree and even leave. Mankind is not required to go to church or become a member of a church. They take one verse out of Hebrews and created an entire church doctrine out of it…where none exists.

The encouragement to spend time with people on the same spiritual path as you is just that…an encouragement. The gathering of people you become close to might change over time, or even change quite often during your lifetime. The point is to get together to encourage each other in the faith and build friendships, support, and community. It does not, however, mean to isolate yourselves with your groups and reject the rest of your community. Jesus was not out to build a religion of elitists, his love is equal for all.

So get together with your loved ones, build friendships, and have really great barbecue nights. Help each other when a ‘storm’ comes, assist when someone is moving, bring them a crock pot of stew when they are sick. Be a community. This is church. No fees, no dues, no commands for women to wear skirts and nylons or for men to wear suits. Just love one another. You create your own ‘church’ by building a community of support around your life and your family.

Be Blessed and Blessed Be.

Filed Under: Inquisition Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Christianity Outside of Christianity

October 25, 2011 by 3 Comments

Why does being a Christian have to be accompanied by such long lists of qualifications? Who says you can’t be a Christian unless you believe the whole bible is inerrant? Why do so many churches hide their deeper doctrines until you have proved yourself enough to be let in on their little secrets? Maybe you’ve believed in Jesus, but you just can’t stomach the hypocrisy of many of today’s churches, you’re not alone.

I’m about to tell you something that most clergy will despise and I’ll most likely be accused of heresy for telling you this…but you don’t “need” a church, a pastor, or even the bible to believe in Jesus.

Pausing…looking up…no lightning. I haven’t been struck down with leprosy like Miriam, I haven’t been “killed by the Holy Ghost” like Ananias and his wife, Saphira.

Why is it that people say to walk by faith, but we’re afraid that God will strike us down if we do?

There’s a Christ that frees us so we can walk by faith and a false christ that imprisons you in the bondage of fear.

There is a simpler way to live this life in Christ…a way to walk in faith, to be bold in grace, to approach the throne with gladness.

This fellowship of believers that walks in freedom is the Royal Priesthood of believers where the only middle man is Jesus. No pope, pastor, bishop or deacon to rule over you.

There’s no agenda, no hidden doctrines, all the cards are laid out on the table. You’re a Living Epistle.

It’s where we’re all equal and all are loved and accepted.

Are there boundaries? Of course there is. No abundant life is worth really living unless each person has their own personal boundaries. You have a right to have your own boundaries. It’s wise to have boundaries, your own personal space. If anyone violates your space, you have a right to speak up about it.

This kind of fellowship is an open door, just respect it for what it is. Respect each person’s soul liberty.

You can study your bible, any version you want.

This journey to understanding this life in Christ is never ending. You’ll never “arrive” but you’ll never be less than. It’s an adventure and any one of us could ‘be onto something’ or ‘be missing a few marbles’, but we’re to treat each other with dignity.

Here’s where we get to the nitty gritty…no bullying!

Any ‘teaching’ that breeds fear, arrogance, elitism, control, shaming, shunning, violating of another person, is strictly forbidden. Any ‘teaching’ that puts a person under threat, frightens them for their future, eternity, or a loved one’s future or eternity, is off limits!

Women are equal and will not be silenced, abused, or oppressed.

Children are treasured and are not to be violated, forced into slavery, or abused in any way.

Is there such a place?

Well, yes and no. There are others on this journey, but no official building, entity, 501c3 or otherwise.

This is because we are free. We gather in homes, at the park, online, at the beach or wherever we choose to.

How do you find people like this to gather with? Simply speak up.

I realize this many not be a popular article or concept among Christianity. In fact, many of us have already been accused of heresy, rebellion, or told we’re on a ‘slippery slope’. I’m pretty sure if Jesus were born in the 70′s he’d be accused of the same things today. But now we live in America where we won’t be crucified, put to death, or whipped with a cat of nine tails for speaking up about our freedom.

We have soul liberty, we ARE the church, the people are the Temple, and the Living Word is written on our hearts.

There’s a spiritual life to enjoy and it’s about time we start enjoying it.

Filed Under: Faith, Organic Faith Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Church Slips Into Public School

October 15, 2011 by 4 Comments

I’m not one to be adamant about Halloween, not anymore anyway.. I did have those years when I thought I was a better Christian if I avoided the holiday, but that’s another story. This year I came across a rather interesting scenario when a friend poses a question on her Facebook page. She was wondering what our thoughts were on her public schooled daughter getting an invite to a Haunted event…it was slipped into her locker at school.

Her daughter said, “Everyone got one.”

Upon further investigation, my friend discovered that this Haunted event is being hosted at a local church’s property.

How is it that a church gets their event slipped into “everyone’s” locker at a public school?

The invite to this Haunted event doesn’t say anything about the church, but my friend recognized the address.

Sure enough it’s AT the church.

But the church’s website doesn’t have anything listed about it…oh wait, yes they do.

“Fright Night“

Oh come on now, it can’t be that bad though, right? I mean, it’s a church for crying out loud…well some might cry out loud, even their waiver says “The event is meant to scare and terrify” and their website says people come out of their Haunted Trail…crying. You might want to skeedaddle on over there and watch their trailer videos… use caution.

They allow any age, but recommend they be at least 12 years old…but the movie theaters require age 18 to see a film of this nature. Go watch the videos and make up your own minds.

It may not bother anyone who is hosting this event, but the fact that the invites were slipped into lockers at a public school seemed a  bit odd.

Soliciting? It’s $15 a ticket.

So a church has someone get to the public school, slip in invitations to a Haunted event that is hosted at the church. Ok, so maybe one of the students goes to that church and didn’t realize that this could be a violation of the school’s policies on soliciting students through their lockers. Well, might not be so bad..they’re not using this as a manipulative way to get kids indoctrinated are they?

Lets head on over and ask at the Fright Night Facebook page…(keep in mind that their FB page says NOTHING about being a part of the Community Church.

Well, I don’t know about you, but a church who slips in an event flyer into lockers at a public school, doesn’t have the church information on this flyer, nor on their Facebook page…and they do plan to use this event to benefit their church… well I guess you can make up your own minds.

Is this manipulation?

Did they violate the public school?

Have they solicited unlawfully?

Should it bother us that a church wants to scare and frighten people for monetary gain, does it bother you?

Can a Non-Profit organization, like a church, charge admission for this kind of thing?

I sure would like to be there and see if they target these youngsters with their version of the ‘gospel’ and ‘hell’ during this event. Just what are they trying to do here?

Filed Under: Church Culture, Inquisition Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

No Gate Keepers

October 13, 2011 by 1 Comment

I can’t even begin to tell you how annoying it is to hear Christians say, “If you don’t believe the bible is 100% accurate, then throw the whole thing out!”

Seriously? You want people to quit on Jesus that easily? You really want them to throw the whole bible out if they say they don’t believe it’s 100% accurate? The bible doesn’t have to be 100% accurate to have a positive effect on someone.

It’s perfectly acceptable if someone accepts Jesus, but sets some bible passages on a shelf to ponder at a later date. After all, the bible isn’t part of the Trinity.

But sadly, some people are under the assumption that Jesus and the Bible are one in the same. Let me be very clear here… the Bible is NOT God ‘incarnate’ on paper.

Jesus is the Word of God. {John 1:1}

The phrase, “The bible is the Word of God” is totally false. You will NOT find this phrase in the bible at all. But that’s not the main purpose for this article. What I do want to focus on is that far too many Christians are quick to shove people out of Christianity and away from Jesus when they don’t embrace all the same exact doctrines that they do. Why do they think they are the gate keepers?

These misguided people are behaving unkindly under the influence of a stupor that permeates their brain every week. And to be sure that spell doesn’t wear off, they’re asked to come in for more programming at the midweek service. Furthermore, they are told to listen to more spells on CD’s, read them in books, and watch the hypnotic videos on YouTube. And they preach against witchcraft?

umm okay.

I’m just not sure Jesus ever intended that people stand at the gates of the kingdom and require indoctrination to grant them entrance. Is there some magical check list that we’re all supposed to submit to in order to cross the threshold? Last I checked, Jesus and his Bride left the gate wide open and said ANYONE could come in. {Revelation 22:17}

But time and time again, I see people coming in… close to the kingdom gates, thirsty, wearied, and worn…looking for a ray of hope, wrestling with what some ‘pastors’ claim and the be told, “If you don’t believe x,y,z then just throw the whole bible out!” They get told, “If you don’t live according to x,y,z then don’t even bother being a Christian!” They further condemn the hungry with, “God will curse you if you don’t give 10% of your GROSS income to the church.”

They cast away the poor sinners into the streets to leave them to rot in the cold darkness of the world.

And Jesus goes after them! He will not rest until all 100 sheep are gathered into the kingdom.

You see, Jesus doesn’t wait around for you to come, he goes after you.

I’m so sorry that so many misguided people require so much from you to get into the kingdom. What they fail to realize is that Jesus already declared that His kingdom is within you. {Luke 17:21}

No human has any right to keep you out of the kingdom. They have no power to do so. Oh they may think they do, but they’re wrong.

Jesus already granted you citizenship with full freedom to not only enter in, but to live in his kingdom abundantly.

So when people who call themselves Christians get pushy, demanding, legalistic, rude, and indifferent… view that as the yellow caution tape…and stay away from them. They may claim that their way is the light, but it’s really just the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Jesus’ Kingdom has no gate keepers. He left the gate wide open.

Italy by nonpoppop, on Pix-O-Sphere

{photo credit Mike Davis}


Filed Under: Grace Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Choosing a Youth Group

October 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
*Disclaimer: Not all churches have had problems with youth pastors violating teens. All parents must use their own best judgment before entrusting your children to other adults.

Many times I have felt confident to allow my teens to be a part of youth groups. I assumed that a church would have good boundaries for their activities and that it would be safer than just dropping them off downtown on a Friday night. But lets be practical here. The church staff and volunteers at a youth group can be just as dangerous, if not more so, than any joe-shmoe downtown.

Have you googled “youth pastor arrested” lately? Do you know how many more youth pastors are guilty of violating a teen but just hasn’t hit the news yet? Many counties have an online public record where you can search for all cases involving a “Jane Doe” or “church” to see if there are any pending or even closed prior cases.

Many churches are now requiring their workers to be finger print approved by the FBI before they are given ANY amount of ‘authority’ or position in their churches. HOWEVER, this is not always the safest way to determine if your teens will be safe. Sometimes teens are violated, but the families are silenced and the perpetrator goes undetected.

Christians are not immune to making very, very, very, bad decisions. Churches who have FBI finger print approved workers can sometimes cover up a lot of garbage that the FBI will never know about.

What is the BEST way to protect your kids? Talk to them.

Talk to your teens about how to discern danger. Teach them how to be in a constant state of awareness of their surroundings. Let them know that they can talk to you without you going bonkers on them. Encourage them to follow their gut instinct.

No teen should ever be made to feel uncomfortable. Sure, it could be an over active imagination, but better safe than sorry.

Our teens need to know that we have their back! They should be 100% confident that we, as parents, are their advocates!

God forbid that a parent choose to protect the image of a youth pastor or church over the safety of their own child or the children of others.

A parent should take it upon themselves to ask the youth pastor and the youth pastor’s spouse lots of questions before trusting them with your kids. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If they are defensive at your inquiries then it’s probably not a good place for your teenagers.

Some questions to consider asking:

  • Are all your workers fingerprint approved by the FBI?
  • Has your church ever been under an investigation for child endangerment of any kind?
  • How do you handle a case when a teen confides in you that they have been violated or they suspect they are being stalked by another church member?
  • How do you handle bullying?
  • Are you aware of what spiritual abuse is and how does your church protect itself from this type of mental and emotional abuse?
  • Can I please have the names of all adults, including college age volunteers, who supervise the teen activities?
  • What is your church’s protocol if you discover the head pastor or head deacon is suspected of child abuse or sexual assault?

Any church worth going to , even occasionally, shouldn’t mind these kinds of questions.

When you get home, google all the names of the individuals. Also, look up all their names in your county online record system.

Consider attending some of the youth activities the first few times WITH your teens. Observe how the activities are led and how the teens are spoken to.

Arrive early every now and then and slip in the back, if you can, without being noticed.

Observe, observe, observe.

Don’t ever feel bad about being consistent in selecting a youth group for your teens. It is your responsibility as a parent to make the best and most informed decision possible. If you decide that their doctrine isn’t quite what you believe, be sure to talk to your teens about it at home. In my family, we are not as concerned about silly disagreements about some doctrines as we are about making sure they are safe. I will share more about how we handle disagreements about doctrines in another post, until then..you’re the parent, the youth pastor isn’t. Be wise.

Filed Under: Inquisition, Spiritual Abuse Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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