The church owes a Yes/No answer to David Rentz
My friend is being abused. When I met Dave he was a student at Master’s college. As I recall he was studying in the Biblical counseling department. When we met for the second time He was working to start a para-church ministry, in fact it maybe was already going. Now as time has passed it has been clear enough that all was not well with Dave. However he continues to do some of the most difficult and specialized evangelism I can imagine. Dave combines the skills of a biblical scholar with the necessary tactics of a law enforcement officer. And that is only when he is working with the young people. When Dave deals with churches, organizations, and the civil authorities he has to have the poise and skills of a seasoned diplomat and understand his audiences mentality often better than they understand themselves. All of this to his credit Dave continues to receive neglect and abuse. It is apparent that nobody has examined his definition, goals, shall we say philosophy of ministry? People call them selves’ leaders but they don’t know who this guy is or what he is doing. In fact as spiritually fruitful as he is ultimately going to be, nobody wants his techniques or knowledge to be preserved. In fact the hippy-dippy [cuss word] local evangelicals will happily see him destroyed long before they will lift a finger to reach the crowd that he is deeply entrenched in evangelizing.
In my own life I’m reminded of Proverbs 30:33 "…the churning of milk produces butter, and the wringing of the nose produces blood, so the forcing of wrath produces strife…" we claim we love God but we really hate Him.
This is not to say that I have no concerns about the problems. To his credit David makes sure to honor the local assembly, and is a member there. As it turns out my doubts overlap a particularly bad area of negligence in the local church. Talking with Him by phone on more than one occasion I’ve come to wonder if my friend has some flaws in his ecclesiastical perspective. He is willing to submit to the local church. I think that from the very beginning he has tried to have his ministry properly attached to a church. But in the end the church fails to give an honest answer. Over time this has not produced love and respect for the gathered saints… not to say it has yielded disrespect rather the situation is more like malnutrition.
Dave constantly has to run his legs off seeking support, opportunities etc. No to be sure to live is Christ and to die is gain, but this guy is clearly receiving the ‘off scouring’ treatment. I’m unable to support financially and so I try to give him technical assists from time to time, but many of his technology problems are again money related, and the ones that aren’t are trivial. That nobody wants to see him or his ministry in decent housing is a gross sham, bordering on a crime and it disgusts me. The people who actually help him with car problems are not the churches but the civil servants (though some civil servants are Christians). Now the church I’m thinking of does support him financially, but it is not a righteous God honoring arrangement. The way his is supported is the standard bucket brigade system where he has to contact and repeatedly ask for support, and then go in person to pickup whatever there is of it. And apparently this is believed by the local church to be an acceptably biblical arrangement when done in perpetuity. It seems to me that any missionaries who had to do that would quickly find a different source of support. But Dave doesn’t have much of a choice in this regard and so he lives with it, never mind the destructive consequences.
My simple supposition regarding the circumstances is something Jesus said in his earthly ministry. "let your yes be yes and your no be no." The idea is like this if you disagree with another Christian, maybe you think he’s sinning, or you think she teaches error of doctrine… maybe the difficulty is something more ordinary like you find the persons manner of dress or patterns of speech insulting. Whatever the case if you object in some way, but you give approval to the person anyhow you are telling a lie. (Not withstanding the principle of choosing ones battles, for a season) Your brother or sister goes on in sin and/or failure and you fail to love your neighbor as yourself.
But the problem is worse than that. If this were two Christian neighbors or people from different backgrounds (a Jew and a gentile might pass as an example) this would be a yes and no type of problem. But rather this is a shepherding failure, or worse a proselytizing nightmare.
Understand that Gods love seeks the best for and of its object. And Here is my friend in actual submission to his church, in warped modernist terms he is "a member." I imagine the true biblical definition may turn out to be a great deal more holistic. So sad to say the leadership at this church sits on the fence. Maybe we will support you maybe we won’t… What honor and respect this conveys to my friend I don’t know. What it tells of how the Church feels about his ministry demographic is easily obvious to the uninitiated observer.
But this "perhaps-maybe" posture does something else to the person who lives under it. What that conditional footing does to those under it is far more destructive. In the end it divides the individuals interests and assaults-destroys personal integrity. In a white-lab-coat sterile world, we could be clinical about this and say, well here’s a pill to help with the problem. But what we have here is not like that, it is religion at its core. (There are two kinds, true and false, good and bad religion, just so you can know I read the Bible)
The scriptures do not leave the church or the leadership in the church the option of not teaching and non-confrontation. In the end by forcing a child of God to curry favor you become guilty turning him or her into a false teacher, and a practitioner of works religion. The teaching is a bare minimum in fact. What we see in the in the New Testament is a much richer fellowship. Ideas like "having all things in common" come to mind.
But no my friend has to beg for the next house, meal, automobile. And for the church’s part, they withhold their true answer. No body tells him what kind of circumcision he would have to undergo. In the end this treatment will produce a false teacher. And whom will be to blame?
For my part I am happy God sees all things.
My friend is being abused. When I met Dave he was a student at Master’s college. As I recall he was studying in the Biblical counseling department. When we met for the second time He was working to start a para-church ministry, in fact it maybe was already going. Now as time has passed it has been clear enough that all was not well with Dave. However he continues to do some of the most difficult and specialized evangelism I can imagine. Dave combines the skills of a biblical scholar with the necessary tactics of a law enforcement officer. And that is only when he is working with the young people. When Dave deals with churches, organizations, and the civil authorities he has to have the poise and skills of a seasoned diplomat and understand his audiences mentality often better than they understand themselves. All of this to his credit Dave continues to receive neglect and abuse. It is apparent that nobody has examined his definition, goals, shall we say philosophy of ministry? People call them selves’ leaders but they don’t know who this guy is or what he is doing. In fact as spiritually fruitful as he is ultimately going to be, nobody wants his techniques or knowledge to be preserved. In fact the hippy-dippy [cuss word] local evangelicals will happily see him destroyed long before they will lift a finger to reach the crowd that he is deeply entrenched in evangelizing.
In my own life I’m reminded of Proverbs 30:33 "…the churning of milk produces butter, and the wringing of the nose produces blood, so the forcing of wrath produces strife…" we claim we love God but we really hate Him.
This is not to say that I have no concerns about the problems. To his credit David makes sure to honor the local assembly, and is a member there. As it turns out my doubts overlap a particularly bad area of negligence in the local church. Talking with Him by phone on more than one occasion I’ve come to wonder if my friend has some flaws in his ecclesiastical perspective. He is willing to submit to the local church. I think that from the very beginning he has tried to have his ministry properly attached to a church. But in the end the church fails to give an honest answer. Over time this has not produced love and respect for the gathered saints… not to say it has yielded disrespect rather the situation is more like malnutrition.
Dave constantly has to run his legs off seeking support, opportunities etc. No to be sure to live is Christ and to die is gain, but this guy is clearly receiving the ‘off scouring’ treatment. I’m unable to support financially and so I try to give him technical assists from time to time, but many of his technology problems are again money related, and the ones that aren’t are trivial. That nobody wants to see him or his ministry in decent housing is a gross sham, bordering on a crime and it disgusts me. The people who actually help him with car problems are not the churches but the civil servants (though some civil servants are Christians). Now the church I’m thinking of does support him financially, but it is not a righteous God honoring arrangement. The way his is supported is the standard bucket brigade system where he has to contact and repeatedly ask for support, and then go in person to pickup whatever there is of it. And apparently this is believed by the local church to be an acceptably biblical arrangement when done in perpetuity. It seems to me that any missionaries who had to do that would quickly find a different source of support. But Dave doesn’t have much of a choice in this regard and so he lives with it, never mind the destructive consequences.
My simple supposition regarding the circumstances is something Jesus said in his earthly ministry. "let your yes be yes and your no be no." The idea is like this if you disagree with another Christian, maybe you think he’s sinning, or you think she teaches error of doctrine… maybe the difficulty is something more ordinary like you find the persons manner of dress or patterns of speech insulting. Whatever the case if you object in some way, but you give approval to the person anyhow you are telling a lie. (Not withstanding the principle of choosing ones battles, for a season) Your brother or sister goes on in sin and/or failure and you fail to love your neighbor as yourself.
But the problem is worse than that. If this were two Christian neighbors or people from different backgrounds (a Jew and a gentile might pass as an example) this would be a yes and no type of problem. But rather this is a shepherding failure, or worse a proselytizing nightmare.
Understand that Gods love seeks the best for and of its object. And Here is my friend in actual submission to his church, in warped modernist terms he is "a member." I imagine the true biblical definition may turn out to be a great deal more holistic. So sad to say the leadership at this church sits on the fence. Maybe we will support you maybe we won’t… What honor and respect this conveys to my friend I don’t know. What it tells of how the Church feels about his ministry demographic is easily obvious to the uninitiated observer.
But this "perhaps-maybe" posture does something else to the person who lives under it. What that conditional footing does to those under it is far more destructive. In the end it divides the individuals interests and assaults-destroys personal integrity. In a white-lab-coat sterile world, we could be clinical about this and say, well here’s a pill to help with the problem. But what we have here is not like that, it is religion at its core. (There are two kinds, true and false, good and bad religion, just so you can know I read the Bible)
The scriptures do not leave the church or the leadership in the church the option of not teaching and non-confrontation. In the end by forcing a child of God to curry favor you become guilty turning him or her into a false teacher, and a practitioner of works religion. The teaching is a bare minimum in fact. What we see in the in the New Testament is a much richer fellowship. Ideas like "having all things in common" come to mind.
But no my friend has to beg for the next house, meal, automobile. And for the church’s part, they withhold their true answer. No body tells him what kind of circumcision he would have to undergo. In the end this treatment will produce a false teacher. And whom will be to blame?
For my part I am happy God sees all things.
Labels: injustice
posted by Stu2You at 1:38 PM
0 comments
