What's Wrong With Todays Traditional Chruch

4 June 2017

Dear Phyllis,

Paul was over the other day. Paul is easily the most unusual man I have ever met. He was the most violent man I ever met but was miraculously saved six years ago. At the moment he and his family are experiencing a time of spiritual moving the likes of which I have never seen. Two years ago they went to a small Thai church that had about three old women and a dog. Suddenly there was an explosive moving of the Holy Spirit. A month ago Paul was over in tears. He said it was the greatest day of his life. It probably was. He had been praying for his church and said that Sunday people just started pouring in. Soon the church was filled to the point where no one could get inside. Then he said an almost equal number were standing outside. He said there must have been close to one hundred there. That was astonishing but it wasn't the numbers that was significant. Jesus was there. And Jesus is moving in that church like I have never heard.

Two years ago Paul had a burden for revival in Chiang Mai. He started a noon prayer meeting that wound up in the office of the Chiang Mai Community Church. Paul is not a member there but quite regularly goes in support of the pastor and the spiritual condition of the church. It is pitiful. I went to CMCC regularly for over ten years until my stomach couldn't take it any longer. CMCC was started over 50 years ago as an international missionary fellowship. There are close to 400 missionaries who go there but Jesus is singularly absent. I have known the last four pastors and they are all good conservative Gospel men. But the church is anything but a spiritual functioning body. At best it is a semi-religious entertainment theater. It is composed of two parts. There is a stage with performers and an audience. There is a band on the stage and people who lead singing. There are people who recite (read) prayers. There is a speaker and a few others to fill in the blanks. The audience applauds when the performers do well but there is a shocking irreverence. During the time of prayer many are talking, looking around, or reading something. If Jesus would ever visited that place everyone would be startled. It has been years since Jesus got as close as the parking lot. The last four pastors have been terrific guys. The present one is marvelous. I was a close friend of the pastor who was there for eight years. He had been a missionary in Pakistan for many years before then and I had tremendous respect for him. But in a mixed missionary atmosphere like that you must be very politically correct in what you say. It would be totally unacceptable to say anything controversial and as a result truth is barred from the platform.

Paul sees the stark contrast between the real deal in his Thai church and the plastic one in CMCC. Correspondingly he has a great burden for the Church in America. I agree with 100% of everything he says, but I have no answer. Apart from an astonishing intervention by God I see no cure. And I don't see that happening.

Paul says, “This theater entertainment is not Christianity”. Right. In 90% of the churches I know the difference between the successful ones and those that aren't doing so hot is the ability of the performers - particularly the gift of the speaker. With a good speaker the church may grow. The Presence of the Lord is simply not a factor. What is a true NT church service like? I have had the privilege of participating in one for several years. And, man howdy, it was wonderful. No one wanted to go home.

It has been suggested that the 1^st century church service was probably a Sunday evening meal in a home. One argument for this is that a high percentage of the believers were slaves that had no free time except after work on Sunday. To accommodate them Sunday evening was the only time they could attend a meeting. Several scriptural passages support that the early church was a house church (Act 2:46; 5:42, 1 Cor. 16:19; Col. 4:15; Phm. 1:2). It would seem that communion was at least a weekly event and in dealing with communion in 1 Corinthians Paul rebukes the sin of gluttony which suggest that communion was actually a meal (1 Cor. 11:34). More than that 1 Cor. 14:26 suggest that a real church service is not a one man show but every one participating.

I believe the Plymouth Brethren are the closest to the original pattern of any denomination. In 1975 I went to a deacons meeting of the Seisho Kyokai (Bible Church) in Karuizawa and was introduced as the new pastor. I said “Chotto matte (just a minute). If I take this church I will turn it into a Brethren Assembly.” Steve Tygert was leaving and replied, “That's alright. Do anything you want with it”. The next Sunday I got everyone together and said, “From now on we are not going to sit like pigeons on a fence, but put the chairs in a circle and everybody participates.” It was awful. After three weeks the brethren came to me and said, “Cook san, this is not church. Please quit it.” I replied, “Okay, put the pews back in order and I will preach every Sunday.” But I insisted that they take turns and somebody else speaks once a month. For five years we had church but no church life.

A brother explained to me, “The problem is that everyone is coming to church like Joseph's brothers with empty sacks saying 'fill them up'”. A real service is where everyone is walking with the Lord Monday through Saturday. They are slam full on Saturday night and come Sunday morning to present their offerings to the Lord. That is a real worship service. It is when everyone is so thrilled with Jesus they are about to explode and can't wait to thank Him in a service. Church life is family life. A healthy family is where there is a loving father and everyone has a say. That is the way a true NT church should be.

Paul would like to start a service like this, but there are two problems. Structurally, human nature is welded to patterns. It is virtually impossible to change a system with old believers. You can't put new wine in old sacks. The traditional way of doing things is prohibitive for group participation, so every church has one man speaking and everyone else listening. There is no room or the development of spiritual gifts. But the biggest problem is the spiritual condition of Christians. The vast majority of Christians world wide is that they are used to being spoon fed and very few have much of a personal walk with the Lord. Henceforth they have very little spiritual experience and nothing to say, and you wind up with a situation like I had in Karuizawa where we sat around in a circle in silence with no one having anything to say. And then there is one more vital factor – the overwhelming sense of the Presence of the Lord. Where the Holy Spirit is there in power there will be tears, there will be sorrow for sin, and there will be unspeakable joy. Where Jesus is there will be Life. Take that away and you will have the shell with nothing inside. And there is no way human effort can manufacture that.

Paul is beside himself. He and his family are experiencing life as the Lord intends it. He sees the real thing and the pitiful, plastic, synthetic version. Millions are deceived thinking that this is Christianity but have never drunk from the cup of the real wine.

What is the answer? I don't know.

                                                       bill