My Mystic Self: Book Review - Pagan Christianity

My Mystic Self: Book Review - Pagan Christianity

Here's one take on the book that I ran across this evening.

More perspectives to come...

Book: Frank Viola's Pagan Christianity? with George Barna - 1

In a moment of clarity tangentially related to Pastor Farley's sermon on doing everything by the Book, Winchester Spudchecker found himself entertaining sacrilegious thoughts about the Sunday morning ritual pew pantomime at the First Bible New Testament Community Church (of Pensacola, perhaps). "Have we really been doing it by the Book?"

As startling as it may sound, almost everything that is done in our contemporary churches has no basis in the Bible....The truth is that precious little that is observed today in contemporary Christianity maps to anything found in the New Testament church. (4)

This is how the first chapter of Pagan Christianity? opens. Their point: most of our churchy traditions come from the polytheistic Roman Empire of Constantine's era, the Reformation era, and the Revivalist era.

[I]f you are a Christian who takes the New Testament seriously, [Pagan Christianity?] may lead to a crisis of conscience....
...if you happen to be one of those people who gathers with other Christians outside the pale of institutional Christianity, you will discover afresh that not only is Scripture on your side--but history stands with you as well. (7)

In light of this revelation, rebellion against the church you attend or its leadership is not an option. According to the authors, you should just leave quietly (in Pastor's face; the pastor rarely likes to lose a parishioner under any circumstance nowadays) and let the practitioners of paganism continue to live in the Matrix, where they are merely batteries feuling the institution with their checks and pocket change...or be at peace with it, Cypher. "There is a vast gulf between rebellion and taking a stand for what is right," they say on page 5. This is good advice for the trouble maker, who doesn't necessarily care about what is true: the one who likes to cause a riot over the placement of flowers or something like that. But for those of us who do care, ask the difficult questions, and attempt to peacefully seek the kingdom of God in good standing with the church organization and its leadership, a rebel label is our lot, stamped on our pictures in the church directory and database in the church office. This is where the heartbreak occurs, when the peacemaker is pegged as a troublemaker.

Is there solace in being right (if we, the honest askers of difficult questions, are), with Scripture and history on our side (if they are)?
Is anyone in this situation now, where your questions, despite your efforts to frame them with respect and love, are getting you in trouble?
Can anyone offer encouragement to these honest seekers?

By the way, Pagan Christianity? has a little brother, Reimagining Church.

Next time: Chapter 2: The Church Building

Home (Simple, Organic, New Testament, Biblical) Church Beginnings

George Barna of The Barna Group thinks that there is a Revolution happening and that North American Christianity is in for or in the midst of a change...church without church as we know it.

I became familiar with the emergent (emerging, or however it is referred to now) movement and the organic church while serving employed working as Student Ministries Director at a church, spring 2003. One of my compatriots had been reading a lot of emergent literature from many of the well known authors of late. He expressed many of the same frustrations I had through years of growing up in the church, Christian college, and into professional life as a Christian and eventually into professional ministry at a church.

Truly most frustrating are the obstacles to discipleship and increasing faith within the church. That is to say, it is exceptional to find a conventional church set-up that disciples Christians to be more like Christ than they are like the world. Perhaps, then, the rule might be that conventional church set-ups are designed to make nominal disciples. (What do you think?) The obstacles I encountered as a church employee included counter-factual accusations about (perennially) shirking responsibilities listed in the job description and (once) mismanagement of budget accounts, committees, lack of assistance (usually in the form of volunteers), squelching attempts to follow biblical imperatives, seeking a particular type of parishioner ("Those are the kind of people we want at our church; it's your job to follow up with that doctor and his wife."), marginalizing people who are "not like we are", prioritizing events over relationships, lack of love for one another, divisive votes on different superficial yet all important decisions, shrinking participation with increasing ideas for ministry teams, the stress of performing on Sunday morning, and I could go on.

After about a year of prayer, thoughtful reflection, and seeking guidance from others, I decided to leave the position. During my transition from SM Director to whatever it was God was calling me to (I didn't know what was next really), a friend approached me about giving home church a try.

That's one way to begin my story relating to home church...What's yours?

Feel free to comment and add similar stories or links to other sites and blogs here.

Link: "Simple/House Church Revolution:" Introduction

Next time: The first in a series of posts on the ever more popular, revised and updated Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna.