What Kind of Church Was That?
In the first century A.D. there was this “sweet” church. They didn’t know they were a church as 21st century people might know themselves to be a church. All they knew was that they were believers in Jesus of Nazareth’s resurrection and Messiahship, and that mysteriously He wasn’t with them at the present, that He had ascended into heaven, but was coming back to receive them and institute the kingdom that God had promised to them. They were a little confused about what they were supposed to be doing in the meantime. But they were pretty sure they were living in the final days, and that their resurrected King was coming back at any time. They understood that God was giving His people one last chance to repent and believe in Him and His anointed Messiah, Jesus. And so they figured that they would just try to persuade their Jewish brothers that the resurrected Jesus who had ascended to heaven was coming back to be their King and Messiah if they believed and repented. These basic beliefs bound them together; made them a community. Besides preaching that Jesus was the resurrected king, they also lived very unique lives. They were given the Holy Spirit, and so the Apostles, a.k.a. “the commissioned ones” were given Jesus power to heal and cast out demons. They preached the good news that Jesus was the resurrected king coming again to set up the promised kingdom. They initiated those who believed this by baptizing them into their faith community. They listened to and complied with the Apostles teaching, and fostered relationships with them and each other. They ate together. They remembered Jesus and his death by breaking bread. They prayed together. They remembered that when Jesus was with them he taught them that possessions could not give them eternal life, that if they wanted to lose their soul they would keep their things, but if they wanted to win their own souls they would give their possessions away. So they sold all of their possessions and divided them amongst themselves as anyone had need. Every day they went to temple and hung out. They went from house to house remembering Jesus by breaking bread and eating together very casually. Every day they went to the temple and praised God and made friends. And every day God added more people to their faith community.
Without going into deep theology, I want us just for a moment to think about how beautiful this is. Most of what I have said about the first church I got straight from Acts 2:41-47. In a strictly literal sense, this is not the exact formula for the perfect church. Time has made it difficult to be a mirror image of that first church. In general, however, how can one read this and not breathe a sigh of relief to know that there was once a community in the history of the world that got it right? And if they got it right due to their unflinching commitment to Jesus, why can’t we do the same in our context? We can. We may have to make radical changes, scary changes, unpopular changes, but if our Messiah is their Messiah, there is no reason that we cannot have the same kind of community today. May we mull over what a first century church would look like in the 21st century? May we be willing to make the necessary changes no matter how radical, scary, or polarizing they may be to be the kind of church we ought to be today?
In an earlier writing I asked the question; “What Kind of Church is This?” It was a response to the confusion I had heard expressed in the Scranton community and even in the Steamtown Church community about Steamtown Church. I hope that this writing; “What kind of Church Was That?” starts us thinking about what kind of church we are going to be.
Acts 2: 41-47
Those who accepted the message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Philippians
Philippians is a letter in a very real sense. We preacher types, especially those of us with an evangelical influence, tend to want break down everything that the Apostle Paul writes into nice little particulars attached to one major theme. With a bit of cleverness and a little more hard work we might actually be able to squeeze out something of a major theme in this letter, but it might end up being quite contrived. If there is a theme of Philippians it is not literary. Philippians is the writing of a human being who is magnificently and beautifully putting on display his deep love, affection, commitment to and passion for the message of Jesus Christ.
Paul, perhaps more than anyone who ever lived, gave his life to the message of Jesus. Ironically, but so appropriately it brought him a lot of struggle, suffering, pain, and injustice. In fact Paul was in chains when he penned this delightful letter. Yet, he can rejoice. And he does not seem to be forcing himself to do so. Even more fascinating is that Paul is not rejoicing just because he knows that his faith in Jesus will get him to heaven when he dies. Although this is true and is one of the many reasons that Paul has to rejoice, it is still only one reason. With enthusiasm and childish charm the Apostle finds joy in any and every circumstance because he sees every circumstance of his life, whether he suffers or whether he prospers, as having a direct association to his relationship to Jesus Christ.
I have to believe that if Paul, even while sitting in a Roman jail cell, tried to look for a reason to despair he could not find one. He found that the gospel advanced whether or not he was preaching it. It advanced whether or not it was preached with good motives. He found that the worst thing that could happen to him was that they would kill him which he ends up saying would be the best thing that could happen to him because it would mean his being with Christ. But even if they didn’t kill him, his remaining on earth would be good news for those who he would minister to. He found that his life of suffering identified him so closely with Christ, and that the injustice he suffered at the hands of the Roman Empire would be vindicated by his rising again from the dead just like Christ, leading to his ascension into heaven just like Christ.
The gospel was about preaching and living out the message of Christ, and Paul was living it. This bode well for him ultimately. So even in his suffering he could rejoice because his suffering for the cause of Christ showed the legitimacy of his gospel. Paul was discovering that this world, no matter how hard it tried, could not stop the gospel. It could imprison its preachers, sabotage its message, and kill its followers, but it could not stop the gospel. This inspired Paul to write a beautiful letter, containing not a centralized theme, but a majestic poem, inspiring its readers to not give up courage, to stand strong together, knowing that they were preaching an incorruptible message, and following in the footsteps of an utterly victorious savior.
Philippians is a letter in a very real sense. We preacher types, especially those of us with an evangelical influence, tend to want break down everything that the Apostle Paul writes into nice little particulars attached to one major theme. With a bit of cleverness and a little more hard work we might actually be able to squeeze out something of a major theme in this letter, but it might end up being quite contrived. If there is a theme of Philippians it is not literary. Philippians is the writing of a human being who is magnificently and beautifully putting on display his deep love, affection, commitment to and passion for the message of Jesus Christ.
Paul, perhaps more than anyone who ever lived, gave his life to the message of Jesus. Ironically, but so appropriately it brought him a lot of struggle, suffering, pain, and injustice. In fact Paul was in chains when he penned this delightful letter. Yet, he can rejoice. And he does not seem to be forcing himself to do so. Even more fascinating is that Paul is not rejoicing just because he knows that his faith in Jesus will get him to heaven when he dies. Although this is true and is one of the many reasons that Paul has to rejoice, it is still only one reason. With enthusiasm and childish charm the Apostle finds joy in any and every circumstance because he sees every circumstance of his life, whether he suffers or whether he prospers, as having a direct association to his relationship to Jesus Christ.
I have to believe that if Paul, even while sitting in a Roman jail cell, tried to look for a reason to despair he could not find one. He found that the gospel advanced whether or not he was preaching it. It advanced whether or not it was preached with good motives. He found that the worst thing that could happen to him was that they would kill him which he ends up saying would be the best thing that could happen to him because it would mean his being with Christ. But even if they didn’t kill him, his remaining on earth would be good news for those who he would minister to. He found that his life of suffering identified him so closely with Christ, and that the injustice he suffered at the hands of the Roman Empire would be vindicated by his rising again from the dead just like Christ, leading to his ascension into heaven just like Christ.
The gospel was about preaching and living out the message of Christ, and Paul was living it. This bode well for him ultimately. So even in his suffering he could rejoice because his suffering for the cause of Christ showed the legitimacy of his gospel. Paul was discovering that this world, no matter how hard it tried, could not stop the gospel. It could imprison its preachers, sabotage its message, and kill its followers, but it could not stop the gospel. This inspired Paul to write a beautiful letter, containing not a centralized theme, but a majestic poem, inspiring its readers to not give up courage, to stand strong together, knowing that they were preaching an incorruptible message, and following in the footsteps of an utterly victorious savior.
Something I Wrote For My Church
What Kind of Church is This?
By Pastor Matt Miller
It is a loaded question. What kind of Church is this? It is unfair really. But it’s one that many are asking. I ask the same question every Wednesday during our wonderful weekly staff meetings. This question in particular is impossible to answer. The least of the reasons is that it is really difficult to actually box any entity in. It’s an inherently subjective query. What kind of store is Wal-Mart? What kind of coffee shop is Starbucks? What kind of house is Dennis’ house? Different people would see different legitimate ways to classify these different things. I think you could easily do the same thing with Steamtown Church. You might try to bring all the different perspectives together to form a coherent holistic definition. It’s possible and it’s a waste of time. The important question when it comes to Steamtown Church is not, “What kind of Church is this?” but, “Is Steamtown Church a church?” Here are just a few of the ways I have heard Steamtown characterized.
“Steamtown is the best thing that ever happened to Scranton”
“Steamtown is a college church”
“Steamtown is friendly”
“Steamtown is Dennis”
“Steamtown is a cult”
“Steamtown is a bible-believing fundamental church”
“Steamtown is an emergent Church”
“Steamtown is protestant”
“Steamtown is non-denominational”
“Steamtown is Baptist”
“Steamtown is baptist, but with a little “b”.
“Steamtown Church cares about the community”
“Steamtown Church cares about the poor”
“Steamtown Church is furthering the oil crisis”
“Steamtown is hip”
These are only a few of the comments I have heard over the years. It’s easy to see how some of these descriptions contradict each other. Steamtown cannot be emergent and fundamental. It cannot be non-denominational and Baptist. It is questionable whether or not Steamtown can further the oil crisis (this was said as a response to us giving away free gas downtown) and at the same time care about the community and its poor. There are many inconsistent and sometimes contradictory assessments in only these few comments. But if you talk to the individuals who make these assessments they all have a basis for thinking what they think. I point this out to drive my earlier point home. We will never be able to answer the question, “What kind of church is Steamtown Church?” An even trickier and potentially more frustrating question is, “What is Steamtown Church”. Again, the question that is important is, “Is Steamtown a church?”
The Greek word for church is transliterated as “ekklesia” which means “assembly”. The 1st century followers of Jesus chose not to make up a term for what they were. They decided to confuse the world forever and just call themselves an assembly. If someone were to ask the early followers of Jesus,
“Hey what are you guys?”
“Oh, we’re an assembly”
“Yea, but what kind of assembly?”
“We’re an assembly that has committed ourselves to praying together, spending quality time together, not depending on the possessions of this world to give us security, and spreading the news around this world about Jesus and the hope that He brings through His death and Resurrection.”
Is this what a church is today? No. It seems that a church today is a place you go on Sundays. Steamtown Church is not a place you go on Sunday. The Red Carpet Inn is a place you go on Sunday. Steamtown Church is supposed to be, if it is to really call itself a church, an assembly that is committed to praying together, spending quality time together, not depending on the possessions of this world to give them their security, and spreading the news about Jesus. Maybe to avoid confusion we should just call ourselves “an assembly” or maybe we shouldn’t call ourselves anything, and just call what we do something cheesy like, “The Scranton Movement”. One church in Texas brilliantly decided to just call itself Ekklesia.
There is a difference between what we are and what are mission is. Our mission is to bring God closer to every individual within our sphere of influence no matter where that individual is at. One of the avenues that we use to do this is to invite people to a service that we call Steamtown Church. Why? If we’re trying to communicate to people that Steamtown Church is not a place why do we invite them to a place and call it Steamtown Church? For one, one of the things that breaks down the misconception that a church is a place is that we don’t actually meet in a traditional church building, but we meet in a hotel. Obviously Steamtown Church is not The Red Carpet Inn but it is not the Sunday morning service either. I find myself sometimes, even as lead teacher, telling people that I am “going to church” on Sunday and then telling the people from up front that we are not at church but that we are the church.
Hopefully it has become apparent that “Steamtown Church” has a double meaning. On one hand it is the specific Jesus followers living in the Scranton area who have committed themselves…you know the drill. On the other hand it is the organization that has been all over the news, and on a billboard. It is a really hip service on Sunday Morning with cool songs, and sweet messages. But all the coolness, all the sweetness, all the hype is not who we are, but it is what we do in order to be who we want to be. It is our way of spreading the news about Jesus. It is our way of getting people’s attention. If you want to spend your time pondering over what kind of church Steamtown is, I will not stop you; only suggest that your time could be better spent. As for me I am willing to accept that Steamtown is what it is; a hyped up, fun, friendly, and unpredictable organization that meets together weekly in the Red Carpet Inn.(Though to be theologically correct that is not what the church itself is, that does however perfectly describe the organization that is “Steamtown Church”) At the same time it is an assembly of Jesus followers living in Scranton who have committed themselves to praying together, spending quality time together, considering the possessions of this world of no consequence to their security, and spreading the good news of Jesus around Scranton; a wonderfully interesting city with an impressive heritage, that has needed some good news for some time. This is what kind of church this is.
By Pastor Matt Miller
It is a loaded question. What kind of Church is this? It is unfair really. But it’s one that many are asking. I ask the same question every Wednesday during our wonderful weekly staff meetings. This question in particular is impossible to answer. The least of the reasons is that it is really difficult to actually box any entity in. It’s an inherently subjective query. What kind of store is Wal-Mart? What kind of coffee shop is Starbucks? What kind of house is Dennis’ house? Different people would see different legitimate ways to classify these different things. I think you could easily do the same thing with Steamtown Church. You might try to bring all the different perspectives together to form a coherent holistic definition. It’s possible and it’s a waste of time. The important question when it comes to Steamtown Church is not, “What kind of Church is this?” but, “Is Steamtown Church a church?” Here are just a few of the ways I have heard Steamtown characterized.
“Steamtown is the best thing that ever happened to Scranton”
“Steamtown is a college church”
“Steamtown is friendly”
“Steamtown is Dennis”
“Steamtown is a cult”
“Steamtown is a bible-believing fundamental church”
“Steamtown is an emergent Church”
“Steamtown is protestant”
“Steamtown is non-denominational”
“Steamtown is Baptist”
“Steamtown is baptist, but with a little “b”.
“Steamtown Church cares about the community”
“Steamtown Church cares about the poor”
“Steamtown Church is furthering the oil crisis”
“Steamtown is hip”
These are only a few of the comments I have heard over the years. It’s easy to see how some of these descriptions contradict each other. Steamtown cannot be emergent and fundamental. It cannot be non-denominational and Baptist. It is questionable whether or not Steamtown can further the oil crisis (this was said as a response to us giving away free gas downtown) and at the same time care about the community and its poor. There are many inconsistent and sometimes contradictory assessments in only these few comments. But if you talk to the individuals who make these assessments they all have a basis for thinking what they think. I point this out to drive my earlier point home. We will never be able to answer the question, “What kind of church is Steamtown Church?” An even trickier and potentially more frustrating question is, “What is Steamtown Church”. Again, the question that is important is, “Is Steamtown a church?”
The Greek word for church is transliterated as “ekklesia” which means “assembly”. The 1st century followers of Jesus chose not to make up a term for what they were. They decided to confuse the world forever and just call themselves an assembly. If someone were to ask the early followers of Jesus,
“Hey what are you guys?”
“Oh, we’re an assembly”
“Yea, but what kind of assembly?”
“We’re an assembly that has committed ourselves to praying together, spending quality time together, not depending on the possessions of this world to give us security, and spreading the news around this world about Jesus and the hope that He brings through His death and Resurrection.”
Is this what a church is today? No. It seems that a church today is a place you go on Sundays. Steamtown Church is not a place you go on Sunday. The Red Carpet Inn is a place you go on Sunday. Steamtown Church is supposed to be, if it is to really call itself a church, an assembly that is committed to praying together, spending quality time together, not depending on the possessions of this world to give them their security, and spreading the news about Jesus. Maybe to avoid confusion we should just call ourselves “an assembly” or maybe we shouldn’t call ourselves anything, and just call what we do something cheesy like, “The Scranton Movement”. One church in Texas brilliantly decided to just call itself Ekklesia.
There is a difference between what we are and what are mission is. Our mission is to bring God closer to every individual within our sphere of influence no matter where that individual is at. One of the avenues that we use to do this is to invite people to a service that we call Steamtown Church. Why? If we’re trying to communicate to people that Steamtown Church is not a place why do we invite them to a place and call it Steamtown Church? For one, one of the things that breaks down the misconception that a church is a place is that we don’t actually meet in a traditional church building, but we meet in a hotel. Obviously Steamtown Church is not The Red Carpet Inn but it is not the Sunday morning service either. I find myself sometimes, even as lead teacher, telling people that I am “going to church” on Sunday and then telling the people from up front that we are not at church but that we are the church.
Hopefully it has become apparent that “Steamtown Church” has a double meaning. On one hand it is the specific Jesus followers living in the Scranton area who have committed themselves…you know the drill. On the other hand it is the organization that has been all over the news, and on a billboard. It is a really hip service on Sunday Morning with cool songs, and sweet messages. But all the coolness, all the sweetness, all the hype is not who we are, but it is what we do in order to be who we want to be. It is our way of spreading the news about Jesus. It is our way of getting people’s attention. If you want to spend your time pondering over what kind of church Steamtown is, I will not stop you; only suggest that your time could be better spent. As for me I am willing to accept that Steamtown is what it is; a hyped up, fun, friendly, and unpredictable organization that meets together weekly in the Red Carpet Inn.(Though to be theologically correct that is not what the church itself is, that does however perfectly describe the organization that is “Steamtown Church”) At the same time it is an assembly of Jesus followers living in Scranton who have committed themselves to praying together, spending quality time together, considering the possessions of this world of no consequence to their security, and spreading the good news of Jesus around Scranton; a wonderfully interesting city with an impressive heritage, that has needed some good news for some time. This is what kind of church this is.
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