{"id":420,"date":"2013-05-02T08:15:10","date_gmt":"2013-05-02T06:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=420"},"modified":"2014-11-25T12:41:51","modified_gmt":"2014-11-25T10:41:51","slug":"andy-stanley-creating-a-church-of-grace-and-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/parowvallei-oos.co.za\/?p=420","title":{"rendered":"ANDY STANLEY: CREATING A CHURCH OF GRACE AND TRUTH"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Andy Stanley\u00a0\u2022 09\/24\/2012<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How North Point Community Church embraces and manages the tension.<\/span><\/p>\n

RECENT STORIES<\/span><\/p>\n

Excerpted from \u201cDeep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend\u201d (Zondervan)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

I grew up attending churches designed for church people. No one said it, but the assumption was that church was for church people. The unspoken message to the outside world was, \u201cOnce you start believing and behaving like us, you are welcome to join us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The corollary of being a church for churched people was that we had a tendency to be\u00a0against<\/em> everything unchurched people were\u00a0for<\/em>. We were against just about everything at one time or another. We were against certain genres of music, alcohol, the lottery, the equal rights amendment, gay people, and Democrats. Seemed like we were always looking for something or someone to boycott. As strange as all that sounds now, it didn\u2019t seem strange at all back then. Funny how time does that. But our dilemma then is a dilemma the church has struggled with throughout its history.\u00a0Who is the church for? Who gets to be part of the Jesus gathering?<\/em> While it\u2019s easy to shake our heads in disgust at the narrow-mindedness of a previous generation, this is an issue every generation is forced to wrestle with at some level and often around some unexpected issue. This generation is no exception.<\/span><\/p>\n

My first major encounter with both the importance and complexity of this question took place in 1987 while I was working for my dad at our downtown location. For some reason that nobody can remember, our church got crossways with the gay community in Atlanta. This was back when nobody really talked about that kind of thing in church. So I\u2019m not sure what created all the hoopla. But for whatever reason, the organizers of the Gay Pride Day march, which always took place on a Sunday, decided to adjust their schedule so the parade would be passing in front of our church around noon\u2014the approximate time we would be dismissing our congregation from our eleven o\u2019clock worship service.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, when our church leaders got word of this, they went on the defensive. They decided to let church out early and send everybody out the back so that by the time the parade was in front of our church, all us good church people would be on our way back to the \u2019burbs! What happened instead was that they let us out in time to line the streets to watch the parade. After all, the best way to ensure that people look at something is to tell them not to look. So there we were, gawking at the show as it slowly made its way down Peachtree Street.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two circumstances associated with this event made it a defining moment for me. The first thing was what took place directly across the street from our church. St. Mark United Methodist Church had their members standing along the street handing out cups of water to parade participants. While some handed out water, others held up posters that read,\u00a0Everybody Welcomed! Come Worship with Us! God Is Love!<\/em> The contrast could not have been more pronounced. It was embarrassing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The other thing that impacted me about that weekend was our Sunday evening service. I was scheduled to preach the evening service before we knew anything about the parade. When I found out about the controversy, I asked my dad if he was planning to address the subject of homosexuality in his morning sermon. He was not. So I asked him if it would be alright if I did. I still remember the concerned look on his face. \u201cWhat are you going to say?\u201d he asked. I said, \u201cI don\u2019t know, but since it is going to be on everyone\u2019s mind, it seems like somebody should say something!\u201d He agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n

And he agreed it should be me.<\/span><\/p>\n

So there I was, a whopping twenty-eight years old, putting together the first sermon I had ever heard, much less preached, on the most controversial topic of our generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the morning of the parade, my dad announced to the church that I would be preaching the evening service on the topic of homosexuality. In our church you never heard sermons on any kind of sexuality. So you can imagine the response.<\/span><\/p>\n

The evening service started at 6:30. By 5:45 the sanctuary was full. We had a lot of \u201cguests.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As I prepared my outline, the issue I found myself wrestling with was not, \u201cWhat does the Bible have to say about homosexuality?\u201d That\u2019s easy. The same thing it says about greedy people, people who drink too much, and \u201cwrongdoers.\u201d Wrongdoers? Hmmm. The real issue was the same issue Christians have wrestled with since the beginning. Who is the church for? Who gets to participate? How good do you have to be? Which sins, if any, disqualify a person? Can the church\u00a0welcome<\/em> sinners? What about unrepentant sinners? How much baggage does a person have to leave at the door before being admitted? Can someone participate in church if he or she is still working things out? Should we sneak out the back or serve water and hold up posters?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ironically, the answers to those questions were contained in the pages of my Broadman Hymnal. More specifically, in the lyrics of the song we sang at the close of just about every worship service: \u201cJust As I Am.\u201d We loved the first, second, and fifth verses. I don\u2019t remember singing verses three and four. Or as our music director would say, \u201cThe third and fourth\u00a0stanzas<\/em>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as I am, though tossed about<\/em>
\nwith many a conflict, many a doubt,<\/em>
\nfightings and fears within, without,<\/em>
\nO Lamb of God, I come, I come.<\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;<\/em>
\nsight, riches, healing of the mind,<\/em>
\nyea, all I need in thee to find,<\/em>
\nO Lamb of God, I come, I come.<\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Sounds more like\u00a0come worship with us<\/em> than\u00a0sneak out the back<\/em>, doesn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n

Grace and Truth<\/span><\/h2>\n

As I mentioned earlier, the tension around\u00a0who is the church for<\/em> is not new. The first-century church wrestled with this question as well. There\u2019s a lot to learn from the way they managed that tension. Perhaps the most important lesson is to acknowledge that this is in fact a\u00a0tension to manage<\/em> and not aproblem to solve<\/em> or really even a\u00a0question to answer<\/em>. When you slow down long enough in your reading of Paul\u2019s epistles to consider the kinds of issues the early church wrestled with, you begin to realize just how messy the whole thing really was. When we choose to engage with culture at the level the apostle Paul was forced to engage, it gets messy for us as well. It\u2019s the messy middle ground that makes some of us uncomfortable. Actually, I think it makes all of us uncomfortable to some extent. There is something in us that would like a definitive answer on every nuance of every issue. But based on my experience, I would argue that when we attempt to eliminate all the gray, all the messy middle ground, we end up with a poor caricature of what Christ originally intended when he announced his\u00a0ekklesia<\/em>. Actually, we end up with multiple caricatures. And then we argue with each other over whose caricature is the true church. We stand on opposite sides of the street responding in completely opposite ways to the same group of people.<\/span><\/p>\n

I grew up around people who believed the church was for saved people who acted like saved people. I\u2019m all too familiar with that church brand. The catch was that they were the ones who decided what\u00a0act like a saved person<\/em> meant. They got to determine which sins saved people could commit and which ones were evidence of being unsaved. Oddly enough, the lists changed every few years. Worse, the lists never coincided with any of the sin lists in the New Testament.<\/span><\/p>\n

For a long time, divorce was on the list. But that one began mysteriously disappearing in the 1970s. Interracial marriage was on there for a while as well. Greed was never included. Nor was slander or gossip. So those who were actually \u201ctossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt, fightings and fears within, without\u201d didn\u2019t feel free to talk about their fightings and fears in those churches. Instead, they covered everything up. Which, of course, made everything worse. Covering up may keep a person in the good graces of the church, but it only fuels the power of whatever sin one is covering up. Churches designed for saved people are full of hypocrites. You pretty much have to be a hypocrite to participate. Transparency and honesty are dangerous in a church created for church people. Consequently, the casualty in a church for church people is\u00a0grace<\/em>. It\u2019s hard to extend grace to people who don\u2019t seem to need it. And it\u2019s hard to admit you need it when you aren\u2019t sure you will receive it.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other end of the church spectrum are those who declare that the church is for everyone, regardless of belief or behavior. These are the churches that value openness, tolerance, and acceptance above what more conservative churches would consider orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Growing up, we called these\u00a0liberal<\/em>churches. The problem with this approach is similar to the problem with the more conservative view. You have to pick and choose which parts of the New Testament to embrace. The casualty in liberal churches is\u00a0truth<\/em>.Truth<\/em> has such an absolute tone about it. Our culture has grown increasingly uneasy with the idea of absolute truth. If there is a right way of doing things, then there\u2019s a wrong way as well. Nobody wants to be wrong. So along with\u00a0truth<\/em>,\u00a0sin<\/em> becomes a casualty as well. But the New Testament is clear. We are not\u00a0mistakers<\/em> in need of correction. We are sinners in need of a Savior. We need more than a second chance. We need a second birth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, Jesus modeled the way forward. He left us with a remarkable approach for navigating the aforementioned tension. As an eyewitness of all Jesus said and did, the apostle John summarized Jesus\u2019 approach this way:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father,<\/em> full of grace and truth. (John 1:14, emphasis added)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Three verses later he repeats this same idea.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the law was given through Moses;<\/em> grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17, emphasis added)<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I love that. \u201cFull of grace and truth.\u201d Not the balance between, but the full embodiment of. Jesus did not come to strike a balance between grace and truth. He brought the full measure of both. John had seen this firsthand. He had watched Jesus apply the full measure of grace and truth to each individual they encountered. He was in the crowd when Jesus said to a woman caught in adultery, \u201cI don\u2019t condemn you, now leave your life of sin.\u201d Translated: \u201cYou\u2019re a sinner. What you did is a sin. It was wrong. But I don\u2019t condemn you. I\u2019m not going to give you what you deserve. I\u2019m extending to you exactly what you don\u2019t deserve: grace.\u201d Jesus didn\u2019t try to balance grace and truth. He didn\u2019t water down the law. He didn\u2019t put a condition on grace. He gave her a full dose of both.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Jesus, we get as clear and as close a look as we will ever get of what grace and truth look like in an otherwise graceless world that has turned its back on truth. In Jesus, there was no conflict between grace and truth. It\u2019s that artificial conflict that sends churches toward unhealthy as well as unhelpful extremes. It is our misunderstanding of the grace Jesus modeled and taught that leaves us feeling as if grace allows people to \u201cget by\u201d with things. It is often our misapplication of truth that leaves people feeling condemned and isolated. But in Jesus, we discover that it doesn\u2019t have to be that way. Grace doesn\u2019t dumb down sin to make it more palatable. Grace doesn\u2019t have to. The purpose of truth isn\u2019t to isolate people from God or from his people. As we follow Jesus through the Gospels, we find him acknowledging the full implications of sin and yet not condemning sinners. The only group he consistently condemned were graceless religious people\u2014those who misused truth to control through guilt, fear, and condemnation.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to create an\u00a0all-truth<\/em> church model. It may be even easier to create an\u00a0all-grace<\/em> model. But Jesus didn\u2019t leave either option on the table.<\/span><\/p>\n

If his gathering was to reflect his approach to ministry, it would be characterized by a full dose of truth along with a full dose of grace. This is challenging for us. There is tension with law and grace, justice and grace, truth and grace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where they meet, it gets messy. Real messy. But to let go of either, to attempt to build a church model around either, is to abandon what Jesus had in mind when he announced the formation of his gathering. Policies and white papers don\u2019t work well in a church that commits to embrace the mess created by grace and truth. It\u2019s virtually impossible to be consistent or fair when grace and truth become driving forces in a local congregation.<\/span><\/p>\n

In my experience,\u00a0consistency<\/em> and\u00a0fairness<\/em> virtually vanish from the discussion once a church determines to embrace grace and truth. Read the Gospels and you will have a difficult time finding even one example of Jesus being fair. He chose twelve apostles from among hundreds of disciples. He gave preferential treatment to three of the twelve. He didn\u2019t heal everyone. He didn\u2019t feed every hungry crowd. He stopped in the middle of a virtual parade and invited himself over to Zacchaeus\u2019 house. Why him? He ensured that strangers would live and allowed Lazarus to die. And what about the incident at the pool of Bethesda? John tells us that Jesus singled out one man among \u201ca great number of disabled people \u2026 the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.\u201d I don\u2019t mean to be crass, but you can\u2019t help but imagine him tiptoeing through the crowd saying, \u201cPardon me, excuse me, pardon me, excuse me.\u201d Then he finally reaches the one lucky guy. I say lucky. He had been there for thirty-eight years. Jesus leans down and whispers, \u201cDo you want to get well?\u201d Whenever I read this, my mind goes back to my all-time favorite book in high school,\u00a0Mad<\/em> magazine\u2019s\u00a0Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions<\/em>. Does he want to get well? Seriously? This must have actually happened. No one would fabricate that question and put it in Jesus\u2019 mouth. The man assures Jesus that he does. Jesus heals him. And only him. Then tiptoes back through the crowds of sick people, followed by the healed man carrying his mat. Can you imagine? Talk about unfair. How about this one: He tells the fellow known as the rich young ruler that in order to gain eternal life, he has to sell everything and join his entourage. Then, a few months later he whispers to the criminal crucified next to him that on that very day they will meet in paradise! Seriously? One guy has to dedicate the rest of his life to Jesus; the other guy gets in with a minute left on the clock? I could go on and on. Jesus\u2019 seeming inconsistency drove religious leaders crazy. When you read the New Testament, it may drive you crazy as well. At times, it must have driven the apostle John crazy. It\u2019s John who describes Jesus\u2019 healing of a blind stranger and then two chapters later tells us that he intentionally allowed Lazarus to die. With the advantage of hindsight and a few years of maturity under his belt, he chalked it all up to Jesus\u2019 uncompromising commitment to grace and truth. I get the feeling that somewhere in the midst of Jesus\u2019 seeming lack of fairness and consistency is a clue for how the local church was meant to operate.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked in churches that tried to be fair. Eventually, fairness became an excuse for nonengagement. The quest for consistency became an excuse not to help. Before long, church leaders were hiding behind, \u201cIf we do it for one, we will have to do it for everyone.\u201d To which I can hear Jesus shouting, \u201cNo you don\u2019t! I didn\u2019t!\u201d If we\u2019re not careful, we will end up doing for\u00a0none<\/em> because we can\u2019t do for\u00a0everyone<\/em>. The better approach is to do for one what you wish you could do for everyone, knowing that\u00a0everyone<\/em> is not going to be treated the same way. I\u2019ve seen churches attempt to be consistent. But I\u2019ve seen a commitment to consistency get in the way of ministry. I\u2019ve seen people with financial needs turned away, not because there wasn\u2019t enough money to help, but because a line item had been depleted. That\u2019s a tough one, isn\u2019t it?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Glorious Mess<\/span><\/h2>\n

Churches that are heavy on truth and light on grace face challenges unique to that approach. Truth-lite churches have their own set of problems to contend with.<\/span><\/p>\n

Churches committed to embodying grace and truth will be forced to navigate yet a third sea of complexity. But speaking from personal experience, I\u2019ll choose door number three every time. The grace-and-truth approach is messy. It\u2019s gloriously messy. We have decided to be fine with that. One of our pastors, John Hambrick, has a saying that we\u2019ve adopted organization-wide. He says, \u201cWe walk toward the messes.\u201d In other words, we don\u2019t feel compelled to sort everything or everyone out ahead of time. We are not going to spend countless hours creating policies for every eventuality.<\/span><\/p>\n

Instead we\u2019ve chosen to wade in hip-deep and sort things out one relationship, one conversation, at a time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our decision to cling to both grace and truth impacts the way we do just about everything. And that is important for you to keep in mind as you study our model. Do we get it right every time? No. You can\u2019t get it right every time regardless of your model. And that\u2019s not an excuse. That\u2019s the reality of ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

I bet you knew that.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are inconsistent and at times unfair. Not on purpose. We just find that clinging to grace and truth creates tension. Tension we believe that should not be resolved, but managed. Do we have guidelines for benevolence and things of that nature? Of course. But they are guidelines. Not hard-and-fast rules. We have virtually no policies and lots and lots of conversations. There are several questions we decided ahead of time not to answer via email. But these are questions someone from our staff is always happy to sit down and discuss in person. There are a couple of questions we refuse to answer at all. We learned that from Jesus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Other examples of our attempt to be a grace-and-truth church: We put people into leadership roles too early, on purpose. We operate under the assumption that adults learn on a need-to-know basis. The sooner they discover what they don\u2019t know, the sooner they will be interested in learning what they need to know. We have virtually no formal leadership training. We have new believers attempting to lead beyond their maturity. We think that\u2019s a good thing. At times, it creates problems. We like those kinds of problems. We encourage our teenagers to lead small groups with kids just two or three years younger than they are. We encourage nonbelievers to sign up for short-term mission trips. But we don\u2019t let \u2019em lead. They don\u2019t always understand that. We don\u2019t always explain it to their satisfaction. It would be easier not to let \u2019em go at all. Once again, we opt for messy over easy.<\/span><\/p>\n

We let nonbelievers serve in as many roles as possible. Sometimes too many. But we don\u2019t let \u2019em serve everywhere. They accuse us of being inconsistent. We agree. We allow people to serve in the parking lot that we won\u2019t allow to volunteer in children\u2019s ministries. That\u2019s confusing. We allow musicians to play on stage who we would not allow to lead worship. We allow people who are not ordained to baptize. We let women baptize. I\u2019m not comfortable with that. I let \u2019em do it anyway.<\/span><\/p>\n

We confront sin. We do church discipline. It always takes people by surprise. On occasion, we ask people not to attend a particular campus. On some occasions, we ask people not to attend any of them. They assure us there are individuals with worse sins whom we\u2019ve not asked to leave. We agree and ask \u2019em to leave anyway. For a time.<\/span><\/p>\n

I give people permission to filter out the \u201cJesus\u201d parts of my messages. Consequently, Jewish attendees often bring friends. They refer to me as a good motivational speaker. I\u2019m fine with that. A Muslim attendee tweeted that he hums through the Jesus parts of my messages. I retweeted him. I preach hard against greed and sexual sin. I tell the men in our church to erase songs from their playlists that refer to women as\u00a0bitches<\/em> or\u00a0whores<\/em>. I told \u2019em that on Mother\u2019s Day. Once every few years, I preach on Jesus\u2019 view of divorce and remarriage. It\u2019s extreme. Nobody agrees with my interpretation of the text. Including most of our staff. I remind all the remarried people that they committed adultery when they remarried. People get upset. Then they purchase the CD to give their kids when they are old enough to get married. But we allow remarried couples to lead at every level in the organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

We do virtually no charity work directly through our churches. Instead we find the \u201csuperstars\u201d in our communities and support them with financial resources and volunteers. We encourage our\u00a0\u00a0 people to give directly to those organizations. This builds incredible goodwill in our communities. We support non-Christian charities led by non-Christians. Giving church money to non-church related charities seems strange to some people. But we\u2019re okay with that. At the same time, we are usually in the top two or three churches in the country to support Operation Christmas Child.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our doctrinal statement is conservative. Our approach to ministry is not. You have to allow us to video record a three-minute version of your story to be shown on Sunday morning in order to be baptized. No video, no baptism. We don\u2019t have any verses to support that. It keeps the baptism numbers low. But baptism is central to our worship and arguably our most powerful evangelism tool.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can join our church online without talking to a real person. We don\u2019t have guest parking. We have reserved parking for parents with preschoolers. I don\u2019t have a reserved parking spot. And I don\u2019t have a bathroom attached to my office. Not sure what that has to do with grace and truth. Just thought you should know.<\/span><\/p>\n

We save seats in the front for people who arrive late. It bugs the people who get there early when they can\u2019t get the best seats. Doesn\u2019t seem fair. It\u2019s not. We are okay with that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I try to read all the critical email and letters. I don\u2019t learn much from people who agree with me. I call the most critical people. They are always surprised. Most of the time, I understand their concerns. Heck, a lot of the time I share their concerns! I remind \u2019em we are still learning. I assure them that not only are we inconsistent and unfair, but that we will continue to be, and that we would love for them to join us. They usually do.<\/span><\/p>\n

These are just a few examples of our attempts to extend grace while carpet bombing our community with truth. We believe the church is most appealing when the message of grace is most apparent. We are equally as convinced that God\u2019s grace is only as visible as God\u2019s truth is clear. It is pointless to tell me I\u2019m forgiven if I\u2019m not sure why I need forgiveness in the first place. That\u2019s the beauty of grace and truth. They complement. They are both necessary. They are not part of a continuum. They are not opposite ends of a pole. They are the two essential ingredients. Without massive doses of both, you won\u2019t have a healthy gathering.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, if the idea of embracing the mess is uncomfortable for you, remember this: Either you were a mess, are a mess, or are one dumb decision away from becoming a mess. And when you were your messiest version of you, you weren\u2019t looking for a policy, were you? You needed somebody to take youjust as you were<\/em>. That\u2019s what Jesus did for me. That\u2019s what Jesus did and will do for you. That being the case, it seems to me that\u2019s what we should be about as the local church.<\/span><\/p>\n

At this point, you may have more questions than answers. I understand that. So here\u2019s something that should encourage you. The book of Acts, along with Paul\u2019s epistles, reflects the real-world drama associated with local churches built on a foundation of grace and truth. If you opt for a grace-and-truth approach for your local church, the New Testament is going to open up to you in ways you never imagined. Paul\u2019s epistles in particular reflect the challenges any local church will face when the uncompromising truth of God is presented within a community characterized by grace. Not to be outdone, Luke provides us with a ringside seat at the very first church business meeting. The reason for the meeting was an incident that took place in Antioch. Seems there had been a head-on collision between God\u2019s grace and God\u2019s truth. Nobody knew exactly how to handle this one. So they brought it to the experts.<\/span><\/p>\n

This excerpt is taken from<\/em> Deep & Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend by Andy Stanley. Copyright \u00a9 2012 by Andy Stanley. Used by permission ofZondervan<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Order from Amazon.com:\u00a0Deep and Wide: Creating Churches Unchurched People Love to Attend<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Read more from Andy Stanley in the<\/em> September\/October 2012<\/a><\/em> issue of<\/em> Outreachmagazine and<\/em> online<\/a>.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.outreachmagazine.com\/features\/4897-becoming-a-church-of-grace-and-truth.html?p=5<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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