This was too good to pass up! Shortly after I posted the latest blog, a friend from New Zealand sent me this quote from one of John’s books:

Funny. Very funny. I’ve been there, how about you?:

Over the last few days I keep thinking of one more tidbit from our conversation with John and Mary Beaumont in Christchurch, New Zealand. This has really been an encouragement to me as I’m freshly evaluating some of the things I feel like God is doing in my own life right now.

John said that once you’ve said ‘Yes’ to Jesus, it needs to count for the whole of our lives. We need not ever wrestle again with whether or not we’ll do what he wants. Once that is decided the only question that remains in everything we consider is simply this, "Is this what he wants?" And if he does, why would we want anything else?

I clutter my journey in Christ with way too many questions. Does this make sense to me? What would be the ramifcations? What will other people think? Does it make financial sense? What principle should guide me here? Answering all of those questions can be cumbersome indeed and many of them will lead me opposite of the way he would want.

We are loved by a Father whose ways are so much higher than ours and whose thoughts go way beyond anything we could ask or ever imagine. Why would we ever think that we could reason out his ways? All we’re really doing is reasoning out an excuse to do what we think is best.

Now when I find myself caught up in an internal argument, I’m pretty certain that’s because one of Jesus’ thoughts is rolling around in there. How do I know? Because I rarely argue with me. I like my thoughts. It’s his thoughts that are so different from the way I would naturally think.

I am finding great rest in recent days simply asking, "Is this what you’re saying?" Or, "Is this what you want?" If I am certain of that, then the other questions that offer such a wearying wrestling match become moot.

I don’t know about you, but I find one question much easier to deal with than an entire checklist of them!

[As an aside, I’ve just added an article of John’ Beaumont’s that comes from a previous book of his that is now out of print. It is entitled the Jetty and the Raft.]

I attended a local consultation over the last two days regarding community transformation. The promotional material said it was “a roundtable gathering of Christian leaders looking at church outside the walls.” I didn’t really expect them to mean it. But one of the questions we sorted through on the first day was, “What is the problem with church as we know it?”

We were given some interesting statistics to ponder. This from a book By Reggie McNeal titled The Present Future

Or this:

Or this:

Or this:

This kind of information is coming from all over. I received this quote in a letter from an institutional bunch:

So what are we to make of all of this? At least a number of people are seeing the irrelevance of institutional Christianity as it as evolved into this century. Of course most of these studies hope to encourage Christian institutions to reform the box so that those who’ve left will come back in.

In the end, that’s where our discussion ended after two days. People trapped in the box just cannot see outside it long enough to know that there are some incredible ways to live out this Christian experience without wasting so much time, energy and resources on the machinery our culture has come to equate with Christianity?

For the most part, I am convinced the box is a deterrent not only to growing in intimacy with Christ but also in engaging the culture with the reality of who Christ is rather than the baggage of Christianity. But I was also reminded that there are a lot of people who really love Jesus and are seeking to follow him who are still in that box. They are trying to make the most of it, not realizing, that it is getting the best of them.

At the same time, I know some who would quote the statistics above as proof of a world-wide movement of people seeing through the frailties of the box and are abandoning it for a greater relationship with God and with other believers. They point to this information as proof that they are right and others caught up in the system are wrong. That would be a mistake. People coming to be part of a movement will only create another box in time and still miss the relationship Jesus wants most with them.

Wouldn’t it be better if we got our eyes off of systems and hope about movements and fix them squarely on Jesus? Do what he tells you to do. Follow where he tells you to go and encourage others to do the same. Then we’ll simply be the church in our day, with a variety of expressions as God shows us how to share his life together and how to make his love known in the world.

Except for the stupid spam proliferating on the Internet like rats, nothing more fun than opening my email every day. Here are two back-to-back emails that I opened this afternoon. I get many emails like the first one. There is great angst out there about how organized religion thwarts people’s attempts to know the living God. I understand it. It used to make me so angry and I wanted to do something to show it up.

But in the end that is God’s job, not ours. In the second email you’ll notice the freedom that comes from getting our eyes off the failures of others and onto the life of Jesus flowing through us. The man who wrote the second, wrote me one much like the first a few weeks before.:

What do we do when organized religion gets us down? Get our eyes back on Jesus and the life he’s asked us to live. There’s nothing better we can do, even for those captured in religion, than to sort out in our own life what it means to live free. Then they might see in us something worth seeking. They are like kangaroos born in the zoo. They think they’re free, because they just don’t know better. They have no idea what life in Jesus is really all about. You can scream at them until you’re blue in the face, but the security of the status quo will win over the uncertainty of the unknown.

But what would happen if a mob of free kangaroos came bounding by in the open fields, chasing up the hill in the glory for which God made kangaroos. Then it just might do what all the words in the world won’t do…

[Stuart and George, I appreciated what you both added to this to clarify my remarks. Thanks!]

Lucy,

Obviously you’ve seen people deeply hurt by the religious sytems of our day. As have most of us who hang out here. I am so sorry for that, and sorry someone wasn’t around to provide the help her or she might have needed. And I agree that is an important part of what God asks us to do.

But I can’t help but thinking you misunderstood what I wrote.

No one said to leave anyone in bondage.

No one said not to help.

No one said to stay sileint.

My goodness, how can you read this blog and think I’d ever encourage people to be silent? The point of the story was to help people learn to live free, not try to push them into it by our own strength. You cannot force someone into freedom, but you can stand alongside them, hold their hand and cheer them on in the struggle. I have also seen people badgered into leaving the religious system and ended up on the outside hurt and bitter. They never seemed able to soar in the life of Jesus, because no one ever let them learn how to trust God for themselves.

That is the part we cannot do for others. We can talk to them about it, help them see the choices clearly and encourage them however we can, but we cannot trust for them. That’s what they will have to find in Jesus if they want to know the joy of his life.

And he has that for everyone!

One of the few lists I subscribe to on the Internet is the Daily Dig, from the Bruderhof communities. It offers a thought-provoking quote every day and most of them are incredible. I got this one a few days ago. I know it is an old illustration, but one worth repeating.

No where does this apply more clearly than it does with people breaking free of religious obligation to live freely in God’s life. You can’t badger people into it. You cannot drag them out on your own or you will damage them and God’s work in them. They’ll never learn to soar in God’s grace if they don’t embrace the struggle themselves and learn to rely on God as he frees them. That’s the only way out.

There is a huge difference between encouraging someone as God leads them on the journey, and taking over the journey for them. If we can’t remember that we’ll find our best intentions to help other will only be destructive to them. Cheer them on, don’t push them ahead.

Sara and I are home from New Zealand after two incredible weeks traveling throughout the country and meeting with brothers and sisters. (Oh yes, Sara got to see penguins too!) If you haven’t read the blogs of our conversations and the incredible story of a group of in Fairlie, you might want to read up below.

We were blessed by the number of believers we found thriving outside the box. Many were former leaders in the congregations they attended—pastors, elders, deacons and the like. Some left at God’s leading to find him outside the religious institutions of the day, others were left out when the groups they were part of embraced priorities they could no longer follow. Some walked out alone, others with brothers and sisters who shared their passion. All experienced rejection from other well-intentioned believers that they couldn’t possibly be following God if they didn’t end up committed to a local congregation.

These are supposed to whither up and die without attending a regular service or being under the ‘covering’ of an institution. Remarkably, however, they not only thrive outside but have come to see that their time fulfilling religious obligations actually robbed them of the relationship with God they desired most.

Our two-week trip crystallized some observations I’ve had about similar folks I’ve met all over the world:

• Most didn’t leave the system because of hurt (though the process is often painful), but because God kept leading them toward something deeper and more spiritually vital. All weren’t failures in the system. Most were incredibly successful in it, but over time found conflict between the spiritual life they wanted and what they had to do to feed the system.
• People inside the system often seem to be less gracious to those outside than those outside are to those inside. Most folks thriving outside traditional congregations don’t look down on those who participate in them as lesser brothers or sisters. They will encourage others to draw life from Jesus wherever he leads them. However, those inside often accuse those who are not committed to such institutions as independent, rebellious and unsubmitted, when that is rarely true.
• An important part of the journey seems to be in laying down our reputations, former friendships and ministry dreams to follow God where he asks us to go. Others may not understand. It has cost many their income and security, but I’ve not met too many who ever regretted it.
• Those who live free of regular institutions seem to have more in depth fellowship with other Christians than those who wear themselves out with religious activities that rarely include the opportunity for real, honest and open fellowship.
• People thriving in Jesus outside of the religious systems are the easiest folks to fellowship with. There is an instant camaraderie, compassion and willingness to live their lives openly with other brothers or sisters.

Two of the brothers we met with in New Zealand have done a fair amount of writing and we are blessed to help make those available to you. Jack Gray (right) has allowed us to post three of his booklets that encourage people to live outside the bondage of religious obligation and embrace the fullness of his life. I think you’ll find his insights to be of great encouragement and help to you no matter where God is leading you to fellowship with others.

John Beaumont (left) has just released a new book entitled, A God-Filled Nobody, which Lifestream will help distribute in the states. Click on the link above to find a description, excerpts and order information. He felt called to tell his life’s story as an encouragement to other brothers and sisters who also desire to know God as he is.

There is nothing more important than all of us following God as best we sense him leading us and find exactly how he is placing us in the body and not simply going through the motions with a status quo that doesn’t serve all of God’s kids.

We are finally back in the states, catching up on book orders and email and trying to get over a severe case of jet lag.
On our last day in New Zealand, we headed back into Christchurch to spend some brief moments with John and Mary Beaumont. They filled in a few wonderful details of the Fairlie story. They said after the disposed of the building (see previous blog), they found some amazing doors open in the community. One man from the village was talking to one of the former leaders. He said, “I feel like I can really talk to you now.”

By removing the baggage from the gospel that had alienated so many people they found a new openness to share the Gospel with others. Is it no wonder that Jesus didn’t build anything to join, require any religious activities, or load people down with burdens. Instead he took heavy burdens off people and simply invited them into a relationship with his incredible Father.

One last quip from John Beaumont. He was quoting something he’d read years ago in one of Charles Spurgeon’s writings from the 1800s. He said for some people to talk in public is so intimidating that it is a huge cross for them. There are others for whom being silent is a huge cross for them to bear. Both should take up their cross!

Early next week I’ll have details on ordering John’s book and I’ll also include some writings from Jack Gray. It’s great to be home. Blessings on you all!

Let me tell you an incredible story!

Fairlie is a small farming village in the center of New Zealand’s South Island. For the last two years I had heard about some believers whom God led to give up the religious structure they had become part of to live as the body of Christ together in this region of the world. It was 1986 and some of its leaders felt like God was asking them to give up the structures that constrained their life together, which included not only the institution but also the building where they met. After weeks of praying together and considering this leading, the people unanimously agreed that this is what God was saying to them.

They agreed to lay it all down and let God lead them. The building they used was quite old and after donating all the furnishings that were worth anything to the denomination’s district they were leaving, the offered the building to the fire brigade to burn as a training exercise. (I told you this was an incredible story!)

The neighbors objected, however, to torching the large structure so close to their homes, so in the end they had to dismantle it. They took some of the remaining furnishings, like the offering bags, out to the country and burnt them. Then one day some of the brothers descended on the building with chain saws. As they walked in that day to the main meeting room they asked where they should begin. They all looked at each other and in the same moment said,, “The pulpit!” With relish the sawed it in half, kept going across the stage and eventually dismantled the entire building and hauled it away to the trash heap.

Sara and I laughed and shook our heads in awe as we heard that story on Tuesday night while meeting with about two dozen or more of these people. They had not done these things frivolously or in rage at ‘the system.’ They had simply felt those things were an offense to God and he wanted them to destroy them. They never said anyone else should do the same, they simply went on and learned how to be the body of Christ without all the trappings of institutionalism.

In the nearly twenty years since they have thrived in God’s life together as his people in this community. It has not been easy, nor has it been without challenge, but many of them talked of how their relationship with God really began to grow when they removed the crutch the institution had become. Not having everything planned out for them anymore, they had to listen to God and do the things he put on their heart. Now they are people who live at peace with God, in fellowship with each other and available to unbelievers in ways they never had when they were so busy maintaining their structure. Even the children from those days have continued on with the simplicity of living in God and loving each other in the process. What joyful simplicity and what an incredible life they’ve gone on to share together!

They are also affectionately known in these parts as ‘that lot.’ The whole community knows about the congregation that dismantled its building and stopped meeting every week on a regular basis. They also know they have lived on as passionate believers. Without all the machinery to maintain, they have been more available to help care for the families and neighbors.

“I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” John 12:24-25

As long as we hold tightly to the things we think we must preserve, we’ll miss the incredible doors God would put before us every day as we simply live in him and follow his ways. True life is found in giving up, not in holding on, as we follow wherever God leads us.

One last bit from my conversation in Christchurch with Sara, John and Mary Beaumont, and David and Nina Rice: