A Blog by Jason Salamun

Blogger Dave Ingland asked me and others to answer three questions on the church for an upcoming blog series.

Here are his three questions and my replies.

What do you think? How would you answer?

1) How would you define the (local) church?

In a nutshell, the local church is a community of sinners saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ who join God in his mission in the world.

Symbolically of course, the Church is referred to as the Body of Christ, Bride of Christ,and Family of God. Scripture gives us purposes, distinctions, and directions on how we are to function and organize but to answer your question, I’ll stick with my simple answer.

2) Is the church relevant? Why?

Five to ten years ago I would have said, “no.” The music is outdated, the dress code is too stuffy, the church buildings are on the cutting edge of 1890, etc. I’d refer to myself as a “Christ Follower” instead of a “Christian” because I didn’t want to be connected to THOSE people.

I was immature.

Many of us were.

Many of us still are.

A church is relevant because the gospel is (I’m assuming a genuine church is a gospel-centered church). The message is unchanging and relevant but communicating the message will depend on your culture. Speak the language but don’t change the message.

I’m all for contextualizing the gospel to our culture but it’s so much more than cool lights, killer environments, and pop worship. Frankly, a traditional church service full of liturgy can be just as (or more) “relevant” as a rock show worship experience. As I look out at the church planting landscape, I’m seeing a bunch of cookie-cutter “relevant” churches who somehow believe their graphic t-shirts and a coffee bars are the good news.  Sad. So sad.

Throwing a pair of hipster jeans on the gospel doesn’t make it relevant.

The gospel is about a King and a Kingdom.

Every community is different but I do know this: love is relevant in any language. Jesus doesn’t need make-up to be attractive to our culture, he is to be lifted up and he said he would draw people to himself (John 12:32).

I’m not against creating environments, talking plainly, having modern music etc., (our church does that), but I think “relevance” as we know it is superficial at best. It’s so much more than style and preferences. I think our generation needs to understand the gospel better and learn how to diagnose idolatry in their culture and people’s hearts and treat it with the gospel. Show people how they fit into God’s epic story. That’s relevant to any people in any time, and any place.

P.S. Nothing is sadder than a middle-aged pastor wearing his college kids clothes and trying to talk Snoop in a sermon. That’s not relevant, that’s goofy.

3) Do you see the church looking different in the future? Please explain.

I believe in the church because I believe in Jesus.

This defeatist attitude we have about the church in the west is pathetic. We already know how this will all end! We are the Body of Christ! He said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The question is, do we believe it?

In the future, just as in the past, churches will gather in various expressions and models and forms, but we all have the same mission: Make disciples who love God and people. From house churches to mega-churches, from traditional churches to contemporary churches and everything in between, we need them all. The point isn’t to build the Church, the Lord will do that. The point is to point people to him.

I don’t know about tomorrow but I know about today. The future is a product of the present. We were born for such a time as this and the need for the gospel has never been greater. The time is now!

Imagine if churches followed Jesus and lived out passages like Luke 4:18-19,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

That’s a future I want to help create!

“A dog barks when his master is attacked. I would be a coward if I saw that God’s truth is attacked and yet would remain silent.” John Calvin

As Paul writes to the churches of Galatia he is livid.

He had invested time with them in preaching the gospel and as a result, new churches were birthed. He left to continue that mission elsewhere when news got back to him that the Galatians were being seduced to believe a false gospel.  Paul is not one to quarrel over secondary matters but this is no secondary matter; this is a matter of first importance; a cause worth fighting for: The centrality of gospel. And it must be defended!

In our day, there are false teachings that have crept into our churches, Christian bookstores, and imaginations and once again, the centrality of the gospel must be defended!

Spotting false teaching is easy. Just follow the glory. False gospels always diminish Christ and elevate someone or something else. It’s Christianity without Christ which is nothing but crap.

What are these false teachings that are seducing us today?

There are three major ones and we will illustrate them as three characters: The Taskmaster, The Game Show Host, and The Mad Chef.

The Taskmaster
His message is moralism.  The idea is to make sinners better behaved.  In following the taskmaster, we not only earn our salvation, but we earn the keeping of it by following rules (or principles as they’re called today).  Any blessings from God is directly in proportion to our production, nothing more, nothing less. “Try harder” is our mantra.

When we do good, we feel really good.  Over time, we climb the ladder of spiritual superiority and work our way up to middle management with a critical eye on the performance of others.  We feel very proud of our accomplishments.

When we do bad, we feel really bad. Over time, we just give up. What’s the use in trying when all we do is fail? The Taskmaster cracks a whip to motivate us on but when you’ve been beaten your whole life, you form scar tissues, and lose all feeling.  Hopelessness and complacency sets in and you often go from believing a false gospel to believing in nothing. It’s the only way you can live with yourself.

This is not the gospel.

The Game Show Host
His message is prosperity driven.  God is a genie in the bottle and if you do these seven things you will have the good life.  God is a pinata and is here to supply you with what you really want: Happy relationships, wealth, position, possessions, good health, you name it, you claim it, it’s yours. After all, it’s all about you.

The Game Show Host, with his fancy suit and pearly whites sparkling through his smile, points you to believe in a better future and it will be yours. In this game, you are like god and the one, true God is a means to your end: to give you the desires of your heart.  After all, it’s right there in the Bible, so it must be true. Believe in God and you will get your gods.

There’s only one problem. The storms of life still come. When they do, we will cling to something to make it through. That which we cling to is what we actually place our trust in. The winds blow, the rain beats down, and in the prosperity gospel we are left holding onto pillars of sand.

This is not the gospel.

The Mad Chef
His message is a religion made your way. A stew of spirituality created with a little bit of Bible (only with verses we like which are out-of-context), our own life experiences, a slice of philosophy, a pinch of pop culture, a dose of our family tradition, a song lyrics to two. Combine that with our fears, anxieties, and personal preferences, a little bit from other religions, add in some love to make it seem reasonable and VOILA!, a spirituality customized just for us.

The beauty of this one is it can never contradict us and never tell us when we’re wrong because all we have to do is change the ingredients to fit our taste.

Then again, we’ve all been wrong about many things before. In fact, most of us can’t even figure out how to change the oil in our car yet we’ve somehow unlocked the meaning of life? No man has fully understood a woman yet somehow we fully understand the Divine? Something seems amiss.

The Mad Chef lets us create whatever self-help stew of spirituality we want yet all it leaves us with are stomach aches. We keep tweaking with the ingredients but end up with the same result. Our lives still have problems, our soul is still restless, and we’re still left holding a bottle of Pepto blaming God.

This is not the gospel.

So what is the gospel?

That’s where you come in.

I would love to hear what you believe the gospel is.

The Statement of Faith for Project Church.

We believe in God’s Epic Story.

This epic is revealed within the grand narrative of Scripture in a collection of 66 books known as the Bible. Inspired by God yet written by human hands, the infallible words of Scripture are God-breathed,without error, and are the supreme and final authority for life and faith.

In eternity, this story was formed.  It begins with the Author and Creator of all things- the one, true, sovereign God. He exists in community with Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit yet remains one God. He is altogether good, holy, just, wise, powerful, and loving.

In love, the Author created a world of wonder, beauty, and harmony for his masterpiece creation, humanity. Created in His image, human beings walked in relationship with the Creator and enjoyed the paradise of His creation. This is the beginning.  All was as it should be.

Then the story took a dramatic turn. Something had gone terribly wrong.

Sin entered the story through the deception of the evil one and the rebellion of humanity. Creation had fallen, paradise was lost, and separation came between humanity’s relationship with God and each other. Life was broken and nothing was as it should be.

In the darkest moment in human history, sin bled into the story resulting in shame, suffering, pain,distrust, despair, and pride. Although still bearing the image of God, all of humanity would now live in a fallen state of sin unable to rescue ourselves.

In the midst of this horrific event, hope and restoration is promised by God as He reveals the climax of His story. God would become a man with a mission to rescue his beloved creation and crush the evil serpent. God would write clues of His arrival into the story through various messengers, laws, events, and promises. All of which would be fulfilled through the hero of God’s epic: Jesus Christ.

Jesus entered human history miraculously as he was conceived by the Spirit of God and born to a virgin mother. Fully God yet fully human, he did what humanity could not do. Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life teaching us to love God and others as ourselves. But it was his exclusive claim to being the only way to God, as well as his claim of being God, that led to his arrest, torture, and execution on aRoman cross.

He would show his great love for us through his willful yet excruciating sacrifice on the cross.  There is no greater love.

It is on the cross where the hero redeemed and rescued his beloved creation.
It is on the cross where the hero became our sin, enduring the just wrath of God.
It is on the cross where the hero became our substitute and paid the penalty for our sins.
It is on the cross where those who believe in him have right standing before God.
It is on the cross where we are cleansed from the curse of sin- past, present, and future.
It is on the finished work of the cross where Jesus died for us so that we might live for him.

But the story doesn’t end there…He came back!

Three days after being buried in a tomb, he rose from death defeating hell, conquering sin, and crushing the sting of death. He appeared to hundreds of witnesses and then physically ascended into Heaven and is presently seated at the right hand of God the Father.  Salvation is only found by God’s saving grace in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  God’s grace is not earned, it is freely given to all who truly believe. Those who believe will spend a life and eternity in relationship with Him. Those who don’t, get exactly what they want, a life and eternity apart from a relationship with God.

The story continues to be written through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God was promised by Jesus to supernaturally guide our stories, work in the hearts of humanity, and draw us near to Jesus. The Spirit resides within us and works to teach and transform us,  help us when we are in need, convict us of our sin, secure our salvation, and empower us with spiritual gifts to advance the Kingdom of God on earth today.

The mission of Jesus was, and is, crystal clear: to seek and save that which was lost.  And that’s exactly what He did…and what He’s doing.

Through the Church, followers of Jesus are united as one body made up of various expressions of church.  They gather in prayer, worship, teaching, community, and mission with baptism and the Lord’s Supper being visible expressions of the gospel story.

The mission of the Church is to make disciples of Jesus and join God in the renewal of all things by announcing the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven and telling the story of God’s amazing grace, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the ends of the earth- starting in our local communities.

Today, Jesus Christ reigns supreme as King of kings and Lord of lords. This epic will end when the King returns to earth in all his power and glory to gather his people, judge the living and the dead, and usher in a new Creation, a new Paradise, a new Kingdom, where we will worship and enjoy Him forever.

In the end, Jesus wins.

This is God’s epic story.

This is what we believe!

——————————————————————————————————————————

At Project Church, we also value the ancient roots of our faith as found in the orthodox creeds.

Nicene Creed

We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made; who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man, and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried, and the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic [universal] and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.

Amen.

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary.

He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven, and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic [universal] Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.

Amen.

Read a fascinating article from Gary Hamel in the Wall Street Journal about a talk he gave at a recent Willow Creek Leadership Summit regarding the Church.

Here are some noteworthy quotes that made me cheer.  Some of which many of us have been saying for quite some time:

My hypothesis: the problem with organized religion isn’t that it’s too religious, but that it’s too organized.

Absolutely agree. What is to be a movement has often been institutionalized. This doesn’t mean there’s no leadership- but it does mean that there’s a danger in stuffing what should be set free in a box.

…church attendance may be lagging, but nine out of ten Americans still claim to have faith in a spiritual being—a number hasn’t changed much over the past two decades.

This is not a new statistic. It’s curious, and sad, that the church is the last place those who are interested in faith would go to discover more about spiritual matters. I am hopeful for the future as many new and renewed churches are seeking to change that story. I’m happy to say that Project Church is one of them.

Over the centuries, religion has become institutionalized, and in the process encrusted with elaborate hierarchies, top-heavy bureaucracies, highly specialized roles and reflexive routines. (Kinda like your company, but only more so). Religion won’t regain its relevance until church leaders chip off these calcified layers, rediscover their sense of mission, and set themselves free to reinvent “church” for a new age.

Don’t miss the key words here: rediscover and reinvent. I’m reminded of the quote by H. Richard Niebuhr, “The great Christian revolutions come not by the discovery of something that was not known before. They happen when somebody takes radically something that was always there.”

I truly believe that the Church isn’t going to thrive because of anything new, hip, or innovative as much as we will by returning to our roots as found in the scriptures as a community on mission driven by the gospel of Jesus.

Read the article in its entirety

The cushy oblivion known as the Island of Evangelicalism is a dangerous place.

Filled with pretentious trendiness, superficial authenticity, and plastic spirituality.

It’s the worst kind of prison because it’s one you never want to leave.

The artificial trees never need watering.

You’re always well fed.

And every one around you looks and acts like you.

We’ve traded something real for something clean.

We’re becoming cookies cut from the same cutter.

The only problem is the cutter’s not Christ, it’s consumer Christianity.

Perhaps its time for the cookies to reject the cutter.

For Stepford Christians to rage against the machine.

What if we escaped the Island and swam to the shores of biblical Christianity?

What if we became refugees from the comfortable life called evangelicalism…

and followers of the dangerous footprints that Jesus left behind?

Discovering we’re all diverse jewels within the treasure chest of God’s love.

Remembering the grace of God is not just a gift we are given, but one that we share.

Returning to the life less ordinary we find in Jesus.

Let’s become the Church we find in the scriptures.

Not start the ones in our visions of sugar plums.

Let’s make disciples guided by the gospel and rooted in love.

Not create consumers of big shows and celebrity.

Let’s show this broken world that Christ came to save jacked-up people like us.

Not hide our brokenness behind hipster hairstyles and bloated egos.

Let’s leave the isle of evangelicalism behind and simply swim to Jesus.

The Founder and Perfecter of our faith.

Churches should be like bars and keep an endless supply of grace on tap.

To a parched world, this life often feels like you’ve been working atop a roof on a scorching, hot day.

Churches can either offer an ice cold drink of grace…

Some sour, warm milk of religion…

Or nothing at all.

Too many offer the latter options.

We need more who offer the first.

Churches are to be paragons of grace.

What is the church but a people united by the gospel of grace found in Jesus?

On the cross, the keg of God’s grace was tapped and is available to all.

Forever overflowing into the empty steins of our lives and churches for a reason:

To receive it and share with others.

People can find better products and services elsewhere.

Better communicators, musicians, facilities, production, children’s environments, you name it.

But no one and nothing should outgrace us!

To Jerks for Jesus from a recovering Jerk for Jesus.

You know who you are.

You quarrel over opinions.

You poke at others with your nit-picky stick of religion.

You sit in castles of exegesis and rarely mingle among the villagers.

You are a jerk for Jesus.

You dissect every word of the preacher and every fault of the people.

You argue the finer points of theology with a knowing grin on your face.

You proclaim your criticisms in the public square about people you don’t even know.

You are a jerk for Jesus.

You believe you’re to watch for the missteps of others.

You talk of your own sin in the past tense.

You are a soldier of destruction, not an engineer of edification.

You are a jerk for Jesus.

You are a coward who hides behind keyboards, big words, and hearsay.

You attack your neighbor when Jesus says to love them.

You smell like ungrace.

You are a jerk for Jesus.

Despite that, you are loved and forgiven.

God’s grace is bigger than your snobbish self-righteousness.

Exchange your big finger for a big heart.

And ask someone for a hug.

Because I think you could really use one.

It enchains you.

It oppresses you.

It manipulates you.

It breathes fire upon you.

It is the dragon of religion.

That dragon called religion is an enemy of the gospel of grace we find in Jesus.

The dragon controls us with fear.

The gospel compels us with love.

The dragon steals joy.

The gospel brings joy.

The dragon captures.

The gospel frees.

For far too long, we’ve allowed the dragon to dwell among us.

Some even claim the dragon is one of us.

Others say that if we ride the back of the dragon, it will lead us to paradise.

The dragon is sneaky.

Somehow this hideous creature can go unnoticed.

But it leaves a footprint.

It’s shaped like hopelessness or pride.

Some of us will hate ourselves when we don’t think we’re good enough. (Hopelessness)

Others of us will worship ourselves and think we’re better than the rest. (Pride)

Pride is what got the serpent known as satan booted from Heaven.

As recipients, bearers, and communicators of the gospel, we are to be on guard for the dragon.

When we come across that nasty dragon…

Slay it.

With grace.

After all, it’s not about what you’ve done.

It’s about what’s been done for you.

By the King of kings.

In the presence of the King…

Pride is replaced with humility.

Hopelessness is replaced with hope.

And the dragon of religion is replaced by the grace of God.

That’s good news.

When was the last time your mind was changed by what you read in scripture?

Growing up, I had beliefs that contradicted the bible.

For example:

As a young lad, I had this notion that everyone will get a chance to accept Jesus when they die and escape hell.

I had nothing to base it on except my own rationale  and hopes.

But then I studied my bible.

It was clear in the teachings of Jesus that some will experience eternal hell.

And even though I didn’t like it, I accepted it, and now find myself pleading for people to love and follow Jesus.

The bible changed my mind.

I had the same experience when I realized how real grace was and how bad religion is.

I once had that mixed up too.

I thought religion was good and grace was a cop out.

How else would people be motivated to do the right thing?

Then the bible changed my mind.

I discovered love was a better motivator than fear.

Not to mention grace is poured all over the bible like gravy on mashed potatoes.

You can’t escape it.

Grace is real, wonderful, and yes, amazing.

Today, I’m studying a few controversial issues through the lens of scripture.

I could list them and open a can of worms, but I’m not.

Maybe another time.

The point of this post is to simply ask:

When was the last time the Bible changed your mind?

Just wondering if there are others like me.

“People criticize what they don’t understand.”

I don’t know who made that statement but I certainly can relate.

Ever since we announced we were starting Project Church last year, we’ve had mud balls throw at us.

Not by non-churchy folks.

But by churchy folks.

I can take the heat.

I expect it.

Thankfully, we have some churches who are all for what we’re doing.

But then there are others.

I wondered why some would talk smack about some small, start-up church.

That is until someone made this comment,

“Project Church doesn’t fit neatly into one particular category.”

That’s so true.

On one hand, some would love to write us off as some heretical faction who doesn’t believe God is sovereign, the bible is true, Jesus is King, and the church has a mission.

But we do.

We’re not looking to invent, or reinvent, a religion.

Just a return to the church as found in scripture.

Theologically, we’re conservative.

Just last Sunday we talked about Jesus, the cross, atonement, propitiation, expiation, God’s wrath, God’s love, sin, and grace.

We believe in grace AND truth.

That frustrates people who want to label us as a liberal church.

On the other hand, we’re unchurchy.

When we say, “come as you are” and “belong before you believe” we mean it.

We aren’t into the whole christian subculture thing.

We don’t beat people over the head with the Bible.

We simply teach it, relate it to people’s real lives, and let Spirit of God do the rest.

We meet in a coffee house.

We’re planning an event in a bar.

One in which many of us have hung out in.

We’re not into religion.  We’re into Jesus.

That’s the kind of stuff that bothers some churchy folks.

The truth about Project Church is this:

We’re all about Jesus.

In him, God became a man, entered our messed-up story, and changed the story.

He died for us so that we might live for him.

As a result of what Jesus did (and is doing), our hope, our project, is to be the church Jesus had in mind.

Not some religious institution of self-righteous, judgmental hypocrites.

But a movement of love of jacked-up, yet growing, people who are exploring and following Jesus.

Who are taking our first steps and next steps in living the lives we are meant to live.

Who are an authentic community of grace, truth, mission, and meaning.

Our style and methods may not be typical, but make no mistake about it, Project Church is all about, all for, and all because of, Jesus.

If you want a label, we use three words to describe us:

Biblical. Missional. Relational.

If you want to read more, click here.

Whether you’re a fan or a critic of Project Church, would you pray for us?

We’re certainly not the perfect church.

Nor do we pretend to be.

We’re just trying to love God and people.

Because that’s what disciples do.

Thank you.

Grace & Truth.