The Sacred Trust - The "Knee-High" Battle

by Mike Chong Perkinson
January 2007

"This is a sacred trust - never treat it as common." This resounding thought was deeply engraved into my heart by the Spirit of God in 1997. This incredible moment of conviction began to pave the way for who I am today.

I have come to believe over the years that our over emphasis on the “wineskin” (model, technique, program, etc.) at the expense of the “wine” (content of Christ in our lives) or at least diluting it, has been costly for the Church in North America. Mind you, I am not suggesting that models, techniques, programs, etc. are bad. They are not.

I am reminded of Uzzah who attempted to steady the Ark of the Covenant from falling off the cart (2 Samuel 6:4-7) just after the oxen had stumbled. He did what any one of us would have done. I believe Uzzah like many of us are well intentioned when we seek to help God out in this enterprise called Church. Particularly when it would appear the Church is stumbling and needs a creative touch from us to stabilize it. It was Dr. Jack Hayford who said that we have church down so well that the Holy Spirit could depart from our services and we would not know it for three years.

The problem I face in ministry is not that I don't know what to do. My problem like so many leaders is that I do know what to do and like Uzzah can find myself touching the holy thing, helping God out when I don't need to. This article won’t resolve the issue of what we touch and what we do not, but will help facilitate an on going dialogue with each other and hopefully an ongoing dialogue with God.

Jesus told us “God blesses those who realize their need for him, for the Kingdom of Heaven is given to them” (Matthew 5:3, NLT). Wow, what a verse and what a promise. If I live a lifestyle of need, then the Kingdom of Heaven is given to me.

Our progressive inability to reach our culture has thousands of pastors back to a place of recognizing our need for Him - an absolute desperation is beginning to arise motivated by many factors but the need is rising. Because of this need, pastors and leaders are returning to a dialogue with God (prayer) and His Word for what to do next. We are, in effect, not touching the Ark and letting it be, as we trust that God might stabilize it Himself. Now, if I read my Bible right it says that good things tend to happen when people seek God, look to His Word and lean on the Holy Spirit. These are the ingredients of revolution.

I am encouraged by our spiritual landscape in North America. There are pastors by the thousands asking questions about effectiveness, why we are not reaching our culture, and what is the Church (maybe this is the question).

A revolution, like the revolution that sparked Pentecost in the Book of Acts, can only begin when people are broken enough to obey and pray. Maybe this is the beginning of the revolution that we return to being sons and daughters of God before we are pastors and leaders.

May we, like the followers of Christ in the Book of Acts, wait on Jesus as we look to see what the Father is doing in our neighborhoods, cities, states, etc. May we find the revolution so captivating that our lives are lived around the reality of this Kingdom where we love God with all of our heart, love our neighbor as we love ourselves, and make disciples as we live life.

We have been given a sacred trust and no matter how relevant or cool our ministries might be we have one thing the world can never give. We have Jesus. May you live Jesus, and from this life may the revolution grow.

Here are some questions for you to ponder in your dialogue with God.

• In what ways do you struggle with helping God out? Helping stabilize the Ark if you will?
• How has God facilitated a sense of need and desperation in you this past year?
• How has dialogue with others and God increased this past year?
• What do you see the Father doing in your home? Church? City? State? Nation?
• What are you willing to endure to see this revolution come to pass?

Reformation Redux

by Tom Johnston
January 2007

When Martin Luther started a dialog in October of 1517 around his 95 talking points, he didn’t intend to start a revolution. But he did. The Protest-tant Reformation was arguably the most significant event in Christianity’s second millennium. And boy, did it change things – and not all for the good. With the battle cry of sola gratia, sola fida, sola Christos and sola scriptura the forces of revolution swept Western Europe. And everything changed. Looking back from our vantage point, many today think the spiritual revolutionaries of the 1500’s went too far, some think not far enough, while others consider the Reformation one step in a longer journey. To be sure, the impact has had an irreversible, lasting effect on the Church universal. It all started with one man who wanted to talk about the issues.

A thousand years earlier Patricius (St. Patrick), a Roman Briton, took the church beyond the culturally-Roman world, to the Celts who were considered to be barbaric pagans. The standard practice was to Romanize/civilize before you tried to Christianize. By going to the Celts, Patrick went beyond that practice. What Patrick did in going to the uncivilized was truly revolutionary in his day. Many consider Patrick and those who followed after him to be the first true missionaries in the West since biblical times, crossing the boundaries of culture and language with the Gospel of the Kingdom. The Celts were reached for Christ, and incredible spiritual communities were formed, both as an outcome and as a means of mission. It all started with one man who wanted to share the life he had found in Christ with other people.

Spiritual revolutions in the Church are often started without the intent to do so, like Luther. Sometime they are started by the intentional action of someone, like Patrick. Always there is a passion instilled in the revolutionary (whether they come to the revolution by accident or intention) by the Holy Spirit for something beyond the current reality. They have a vision for a better country (Hebrews 11:16), and hope to realize at least some of it in the Church of their generation.

When such spiritual revolutions emerge, they will not be ignored. They have a way of demanding attention, and they are dismissed only at one’s own peril. When confronted by such radical shifts like those brought on by Luther and Patrick, church leaders are required to respond. Try to stop it, you might be crushed by its momentum. Try to ignore it, it might pass you by, leaving you in the dust of history. Try to control it, you might find yourself loosing everything. Try to nurture it and mature it, you might find yourself partnering with God.

There is a revolution coming in the Western Church. In fact, it is here now. You can’t stop it – don’t even try. You can ignore it – and lose out big-time. And don’t fool yourself – you can’t control it. Find out how to partner with God in it, bringing this emerging move of God to maturity. Maybe like Luther you have found yourself in the revolution by accident. Maybe you are like Patrick, and you are called to foster the revolution intentionally. Whatever you do, find a way to surf this wave of the Spirit, giving your heart fully to the work of the Lord, because like Luther and Patrick, you want to play your part. The revolution starts with you – let Jesus refresh the wineskin of your heart.

“But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.”

- Jesus, Luke 5:38