How does the American Dream compare with the gospel message of Jesus.?
How can huge mega-churches respond to the model of Jesus?
Only 31 years of age, Platt had seemingly achieved the American Dream as a young successful pastor. He had a wonderful wife and two children, was loved and respected in the community, and was pastor of a huge and growing congregation. But Platt had a problem; the problem of the words and actions of the the Jesus he preached and claimed to follow:
"Like many other large American churches, we had a multimillion-dollar campus and plans to make it even larger to house programs that would cater to our own desires. But then we started looking at the world we live in .It’s a world where 26,000 children die every day of starvation or a preventable disease. A world where billions live in situations of such grinding poverty that an American middle-class neighborhood looks like Beverly Hills by comparison. A world where more than a billion people have never even heard the name Jesus. So we asked ourselves, “What are we spending our time and money on that is less important than meeting these needs?” And that’s when things started to change."
Platt challenged his congregation to undertake A Radical Experiment; to come out of their comfort zone and explore what Jesus actually said and did and what that might mean for the church and the individual members. Platt offered a series of sermons and studies entitled Radical: What the Gospel Demands to guide congregants along the way. The church added a section on The Christian and the Social Order to it's statement of beliefs.The story is garnering much attention and even the conservative Christian Broadcasting Network took notice. According to CBN article, When Platt began preaching on going "radical," some members left the church, others questioned his motivations and feared the church was putting too much emphasis on the social gospel.
The "social gospel scare" was echoed by others outside the church.
But Platt takes a firm stand and the challenge of Jesus and seems undeterred by his critics.Regent University professor Dr. James Flynn said it's refreshing to see this move by the younger generation, but he cautions against imbalance. "We could begin to emphasize the works," Flynn explained. "It could become a social gospel. It could become all about the works rather than about the Gospel itself, but God is just going to have to take these young champions and give them wisdom on how to lead and to guide the movement."
We look back on slave-owning churchgoers of 150 years ago and ask, “How could they have treated their fellow human beings this way?” I wonder if followers of Christ 150 years from now will look back at Christians in America today and ask, “How could they live in such big houses? How could they drive such nice cars and wear such nice clothes? How could they live in such affluence while thousands of children were dying because they didn’t have food and water? How could they go on with their lives as though the billions of poor didn’t exist?
Is materialism a blind spot in American Christianity today? Surely this is something we must uncover, for if our lives do not reflect radical compassion for the poor, there is reason to question just how effective we will be in declaring the glory of Christ to the ends of the earth. More pointedly, if our live do not reflect radical compassion for the poor, there is reason to wonder if Christ is really in us at all.
The church has incorporated a statement on The Christian and the Social Order into it's principles and beliefs. Proponent of the Social Gospel of the late 1800's and early 1900's would find much to agree with in their statement:
- All Christians are under obligation to seek to make the will of Christ supreme in our own lives and in human society.
- Means and methods used for the improvement of society and the establishment of righteousness among men can be truly and permanently helpful only when they are rooted in the regeneration of the individual by the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ.
- In the spirit of Christ, Christians should oppose racism, every form of greed, selfishness, and vice, and all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography.
- We should work to provide for the orphaned, the needy, the abused, the aged, the helpless, and the sick.
- We should speak on behalf of the unborn and contend for the sanctity of all human life from conception to natural death.
- Every Christian should seek to bring industry, government, and society as a whole under the sway of the principles of righteousness, truth, and brotherly love.
- In order to promote these ends Christians should be ready to work with all men of good will in any good cause, always being careful to act in the spirit of love without compromising their loyalty to Christ and His truth.
Pastor Platt has authored a new book, Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream, describing the changes being undertaken to live out the gospel in the most challenging of settings.....middle-class America. Excerpt from Chapter 1 of the book Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream
“The youngest megachurch pastor in history.”
While I would dispute that claim, it was nonetheless the label given to me when I went to pastor a large, thriving church in the Deep South—the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. From the first day I was immersed in strategies for making the church bigger and better. Authors I respect greatly would make statements such as, “Decide how big you want your church to be, and go for it, whether that’s five, ten, or twenty thousand members.” Soon my name was near the top of the list of pastors of the fastest-growing U.S. churches.There I was…living out the American
church dream.
But I found myself becoming uneasy. For one thing, my model in ministry is a guy who spent the majority of his ministry time with twelve men. A guy who, when he left this earth, had only about 120 people who were actually sticking around and doing what he told them to do. More like a minichurch, really. Jesus Christ—the youngest minichurch pastor in history.
So how was I to reconcile the fact that I was now pastoring thousands of people with the fact that my greatest example in ministry was known for turning away thousands of people? Whenever the crowd got big, he’d say something such as, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”1 Not exactly the sharpest church-growth tactic. I can almost picture the looks on the disciples’ faces. “No, not the drink-my-blood speech! We’ll never get on the list of the fastest growing movements if you keep asking them to eat you.”
By the end of that speech, all the crowds had left, and only twelve men remained.2 Jesus apparently wasn’t interested in marketing himself to the masses. His invitations to potential followers were clearly more costly than the crowds were ready to accept, and he seemed to be okay with that. He focused instead on the few who believed him when he said radical things. And through their radical obedience to him, he turned the course of history in a new direction.
Soon I realized I was on a collision course with an American church culture where success is defined by bigger crowds, bigger budgets, and bigger buildings. I was now confronted with a startling reality: Jesus actually spurned the things that my church culture said were most important. So what was I to do? I found myself faced with two big questions.
The first was simple. Was I going to believe Jesus? Was I going to embrace Jesus even though he said radical things that drove the crowds away?
The second question was more challenging. Was I going to obey Jesus? My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus’ words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to him. In other words, my biggest fear is that I will do exactly what most people did when they encountered Jesus in the first century.
That’s why I’ve written this book. I am on a journey."
While I would dispute that claim, it was nonetheless the label given to me when I went to pastor a large, thriving church in the Deep South—the Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama. From the first day I was immersed in strategies for making the church bigger and better. Authors I respect greatly would make statements such as, “Decide how big you want your church to be, and go for it, whether that’s five, ten, or twenty thousand members.” Soon my name was near the top of the list of pastors of the fastest-growing U.S. churches.There I was…living out the American
church dream.
But I found myself becoming uneasy. For one thing, my model in ministry is a guy who spent the majority of his ministry time with twelve men. A guy who, when he left this earth, had only about 120 people who were actually sticking around and doing what he told them to do. More like a minichurch, really. Jesus Christ—the youngest minichurch pastor in history.
So how was I to reconcile the fact that I was now pastoring thousands of people with the fact that my greatest example in ministry was known for turning away thousands of people? Whenever the crowd got big, he’d say something such as, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.”1 Not exactly the sharpest church-growth tactic. I can almost picture the looks on the disciples’ faces. “No, not the drink-my-blood speech! We’ll never get on the list of the fastest growing movements if you keep asking them to eat you.”
By the end of that speech, all the crowds had left, and only twelve men remained.2 Jesus apparently wasn’t interested in marketing himself to the masses. His invitations to potential followers were clearly more costly than the crowds were ready to accept, and he seemed to be okay with that. He focused instead on the few who believed him when he said radical things. And through their radical obedience to him, he turned the course of history in a new direction.
Soon I realized I was on a collision course with an American church culture where success is defined by bigger crowds, bigger budgets, and bigger buildings. I was now confronted with a startling reality: Jesus actually spurned the things that my church culture said were most important. So what was I to do? I found myself faced with two big questions.
The first was simple. Was I going to believe Jesus? Was I going to embrace Jesus even though he said radical things that drove the crowds away?
The second question was more challenging. Was I going to obey Jesus? My biggest fear, even now, is that I will hear Jesus’ words and walk away, content to settle for less than radical obedience to him. In other words, my biggest fear is that I will do exactly what most people did when they encountered Jesus in the first century.
That’s why I’ve written this book. I am on a journey."
ChristianBookPreviews.com offers the following synopsis of the book.
Platt, pastor of a 4,000 member church in Alabama, attacks the "affluent model of Christianity and church" and describes what radical obedience to Jesus in today’s culture might look like. In a straightforward manner with a sense of humility, he points out blind spots in American Christianity. In a voice of urgency he urges Christians to reframe our thinking and orientation to life. Instead of asking, "What do we need?" we should be asking, "What can we give?"
Platt makes his case by pointing to historical figures and ordinary people who have done what is radical in obedience to biblical mandates, counter to the world's definition of success. He also uses biblical examples and abundant Scripture references to show that "the mark of Christ followers is that their hearts are in heaven and their treasures are spent there."
In his very provocative book, Radical, David Platt challenges the status quo and the way the Church does business. Arguing that American church culture runs counter to the gospel, he compels readers to forsake the American Dream "in radical abandonment to the person and purpose of Jesus Christ." He contends that taking back our faith involves actively and seriously committing ourselves to spread the gospel to all nations, owning responsibility for helping others grow in Christ, and literally caring for the poor.
David Platt talks more about how his church began living radically in a blog post on CNN.
Excerpt from:
"First we gave away our entire surplus fund - $500,000 - through partnerships with churches in India, where 41 percent of the world’s poor live. Then we trimmed another $1.5 million from our budget and used the savings to build wells, improve education, provide medical care and share the gospel in impoverished places around the world. Literally hundreds of church members have gone overseas temporarily or permanently to serve in such places..
I believe God has a dream for people today. It’s just not the same as the American Dream.
I believe God is saying to us that real success is found in radical sacrifice. That ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of him. That the purpose of our lives transcends the country and culture in which we live. That meaning is found in community, not individualism. That joy is found in generosity, not materialism. "
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please share your thoughts on this topic. We look forward to thoughtful, rational discussion of this topic. (This is a moderated discussion, meaning all comments must be approved prior to appearing on the site.)
Please use the comments area for discussions related to the topic. If you have comments or suggestions about the website itself, or suggestions for future topics, people, places, organizations related to the theme of the site, please send them to dontalley@gmail.com.