The confessing church
Tuesday March 4, 2008
Categories: Faith
What if America's ministers and parachurch leaders got together and published an article confessing their failures as spiritual leaders - their misplaced priorities, their idolatry of politics? Well, it has been done before. I found this at Pure Church...
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Humility is healthy in anyone, but it is rare and unusually helpful in the people to whom we ascribe authority. You can see the results of the pride here where we are so often so loyal to men that we fight over which party, preacher or paradigm is right, forgetting the law and the prophets.
Great suggestion. I confess to letting my pride take me like the pharisee in Christ's allegory and to being self-righteous. I confess to being a poor sinner with a keen eye for the sins of others. I confess I am often not as funny as I think.
I confess that though I've made countless vows to myself to never again read a non-denominational Christian's blog (because it's so incredibly frustrating), I keep doing it anyway.
It's like I'm addicted.
Wow. That last sentence was especially compelling.
Thanks for this, David. I was just beginning to crawl out of my Dank Cave of Unworthiness after reading your Uganda posts when you deliver another uppercut to my spiritual chin. I think I'll just duck under my desk for the balance of the day, cover myself with Charles Spurgeon commentaries, John Calvin's Institutes and maybe a few biographies on John Wesley, George Whitefield and John Hagee.
Thanks Dave, you've been a real source of blessing to me of late.
This reminds me of something Donald Miller wrote about setting up a confessional on a college campus and when students would wander in the "priest" would confess to the student. It is this kind of humility and love that will draw people to God. Thanks David.
David, I'm aware of some folks who have had similar thoughts and have followed through on them. I won't try linking directly, but a search on this phrase will get you there:
Statement of Apology from Former Exodus Leaders
Take care...
When they confess to "making an idol of a book," I assume they're talking about the Bible. Does that make this the earliest known Protestant denunciation of fundamentalism? (Abelard beat them to the punch by several centuries on the Catholic side.)
David, I hope you don't take the lack of comments on your Uganda posts as a lack of interests. Many of us simply have nothing to add to your words and pictures.
Peace.
"Not preaching Christ in the simplicity of the gospel, nor ourselves the people's servants, for Christ's sake. Preaching of Christ, not that the people may know Him, but that they may think we know much of Him. Preaching about Christ's leaving of the world without brokenness of heart, or stirring up ourselves to take hold of Him"
- How many times will we hear sermons structured to remind hearers- "I went to a very good seminary" - instead of I'm as broken as you but clinging to the promise of grace and salvation. Wonderful article David - the Church continues to work so hard to be complicated and it needn't - the clean spirit of writing and thought is so impressive here.
Whew - thanks -
I think you'd like reading a good translation of Barclay's Apology (about 1670) quite a bit, David. A description of the state of the Church in the British Isles of the time is in the book, mirroring the clergy statement- and it is likewise painfully close to what the present state is too.
(What Barclay and the Society of Friends held to be the spiritually strong solution to the problem is probably beyond your realm of safety. But if you keep on probing in the spiritual direction you are, it will become more sensible with time.)
". . . as we ought--for the gaining of souls and drawing men out of their sins; but rather because it is to our advantage to say something of these evils."
If we Christians try "drawing men out of their sins," we are called homophobes and are charged with a hate crime. When we sin and repent, we are called hypocrites.
It certainly is not to our advantage to hold to the Gospel and the Apostolic witness when seeing how large a crowd a certain "Christian" that preaches "do as thou wilt," puts liberal theology into his political stump message. Americans are "progressing" down the same road as europe to a theology where authenticity is hated and silenced, and abomination is held out as a civil right.
Actually, Donny, abomination is a civil right. We choose our virtues and vices. Amen.
No amen to that at all. But, I know which political party not only "chooses" vices, but legislates them into law. And it doesn't go by G.O.P..
Yep, abomination falls under the pursuit of happiness. Although, given Donny, the phrase Barack Abomonate" can't be far down the road.
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