Many believers are stepping out in faith and following God’s direction to care for orphans and expand their families through adoption, yet these families often are discouraged by seemingly insurmountable financial obstacles along the way. By establishing adoption funds, local churches can directly minister to their own church families by removing the financial barriers so often faced by adoptive families. At The ABBA Fund, we desire to use our experience and passion for adoption to assist churches in establishing and administering church adoption funds. We provide our services at no charge to the church so that every dollar contributed will be used to assist families in their time of need.

• Why should a church consider establishing an Adoption Fund?
• What is involved?
• What are the benefits of establishing a church adoption fund in partnership with The ABBA Fund?
• How do I start an adoption fund at my church?
• How else can my church partner with The ABBA Fund?

[ht: Between Two Worlds]

Session 1: Dwelling in the Cross - C.J. Mahaney

Session 2: Dwelling in the Kingdom Mission - Ed Stetzer

Session 3: Dwelling Incarnationally - Eric Mason

Session 4: Dwelling in the Text - Mark Driscoll

Session 5: Dwelling with Non-Christians - Darrin Patrick

Session 6: Dwelling in the Gospel - Tim Keller

Session 7: Dwelling through the Text - Mark Driscoll

Session 8: Persuasion - Tim Keller

Dwell Conference Manual

Its really amazing to me the amount of stuff you can’t really talk about amongst Christians, particularly in the context of churches.  Its like a hospital where you can’t tell the doctor what’s actually wrong with you.  You’ve got some ear infection, but all you can say is, “I’m sick” and that’s it.  And don’t get me wrong, I’m not entirely throwing out church discipline, since there is a biblical presidence  for it, but when do we allow sinners to be sinners in need of a savior.

So, Reformergent readers, what is something you feel you can’t say in church?

I heard Francis Chan talk back in the fall and was really moved by his heart for Scripture, to remain as radically biblical as possible. He even pointed out that if Jesus had a church in the same city as his, his own church would probably be bigger, because they call people to an easier commitment than what Christ does. His passion is really moving. He is now doing a series on the church and they are looking at shifting their model completely, lead by those in the church, elders, staff, etc. He basically states that he doesn’t care what size the church is if we aren’t doing it right. Here’s a video they showed during a recent sermon:

In her book Believing God referring to the American church, Beth Moore states that there’s such a gap between our theology and our reality that we set ourselves up for ridicule. When you look at the book of Acts, its definitely radical, but it makes sense. It makes sense that when you watch a man you’ve followed for three years die on a cross, then come back and start talking to you and tells you He is the Son of God, that it changes everything. Doesn’t it make sense that if the Creator of the universe sent his own Son in human form, had him die on a cross to pay for your individual crimes, and you saw him rise from the grave to show that he has power over death, that it would change everything about your life? Doesn’t it makes sense that when we believe in our head and heart that we are going to exist a million years from now, that it would change everything? What doesn’t make any rational sense is if we saw the believers in the early church see Christ rise from the dead and believe the resurrection, but yet their lives didn’t look any different. They just attend church and give a few bucks.

There’s such a disconnect for me from what I read in Acts and the early church and what I see in the American church. Its very easy to sit there and say, “Well, that was the early church and things were just different…” to which I ask “Why?” Why can’t today’s churches be like that? I think the American church has squeezed Christ into their agenda of what they think best instead of turning to scripture and looking at exactly what it tells us.

In 1 John 4 tell us that no one has really seen God, but if we, as a community of believers, love one another, than people will be able to see some kind of picture of Christ. Its not about a great band or incredible speaker or great program, but about a supernatural love amongst the community of believers that is truly radical and different from the rest of the world. People can see God through that.

Francis uses a great analogy talking about how we are basically sitting at a blackjack table at church. We care very little about the wins and losses of those around us, but deal directly with the blackjack dealer themselves. The dealer is the only one who matters at the table. He states that we should break that model, and for radical community to truly exist amongst the people of the church.

What would happen to this country if we take this to heart? If we broke down all the walls that define us as churches and really learned to live and love as a community of believers.

“See, too often we accept things: defeat, mediocrity, rejection, addictions. People tell me, “Joel, that’s just who I am.” But with all do respect, that’s not who you really are. You are a child of the most high God. He has paid the price so that we may be totally free. That means free from bad habits and addictions, free from fear and worry, free from discouragement and depression, free from poverty and lack, free from low self-esteem. God wants us to be totally free. Scripture tells us to take hold of ALL Christ died and rose again for. It all starts right here. You have to know that you not only have a right to be free, but that God has already empowered you with everything you need to overcome. You need to start seeing yourself the right way. You are not a sick person trying to get well, you are a well person fighting off sickness. God made you healthy and whole.

Our original state is total freedom. If you’re going to be free, you need to know who you are. You’re not just anybody, you’re a child of the most high God. He has breathed his very life into you. You have his royal blood flowing through your veins. Its the blood of a champion. You’re not ordinary, you come from great stock. Your heavenly Father spoke the worlds into existence. Long before you ever got here, He was thinking about you. Let me assure you that He didn’t create you to be average. He didn’t create you to barely get by, to have all kinds of things holding you back. You have to get the right vision. God created you to be totally free, to have peace in your mind, to walk in divine health, to have good relationships, to have plenty to pay your bills. God created us as victors and not victims. Fight the good fight of faith. Know who you are, the seed of Abraham. You have rights and privileges. One of those privileges is total victory. We’re supposed to be unquestionably free. That means free in our mind, free from worry. We’re not all upset, because we know God is in control. He has us in the palm of His hand. Free from poverty and lack. No matter what the bank account looks like, I know I am blessed and cannot be cursed. Whatever I touch is going to prosper and succeed.” - Joel Osteen

Whatever happened to Jesus being born into a poor family, having no where to lay his head, having relationship problems such as friends denying or betraying Him, leaders hating Him, and a whole race of people calling for His crucifixion? What about Paul always having a thorn in his side, likely related to some health problem? How about Job being blameless, yet God allows his life to come crashing down around him and his health to deteriorate? Here’s a video by John Piper based off a message he preached that just offers the exact opposite of the message Osteen and others preach every Sunday to their flocks of lemmings:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTc_FoELt8s

Just because we have difficulty putting expressions of the emerging church into categories, that does not mean we should just throw out testing these expressions against scripture. It seems like McKinley does not agree.

There are some beautiful expressions that are sprouting up all over the place, they are organic works of the Spirit of God living in and through the life of his followers. We should be very cautious to squelch this. It is a young and fragile thing that if we fail to create a safe context for it to grow it will either shrivel up and die, or become high jacked by the more mature plants and therefore will not really be a fresh move of God at all.

I wholeheartedly endorse creative and spirit-filled manifestations of God’s movement in His people here on earth. But, I also understand that there’s a biblical precedent set to seek sound doctrine. We are called to “encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1.9) and Paul a warning that there will be a “time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear” (2 Tim 4.3). I cannot ignore these scriptures and wholeheartedly endorse the full span of the movement, although McKinley states, “This is a new thing that God is doing and we should respect it as such.” I don’t know on what authority anyone can necessarily make a wholehearted endorsement like that.

McKinley quickly tries to recover and say that this is not to ignore 2000 years of orthodoxy. First off, whose orthodoxy? Orthodox Catholics believe something entirely different than orthodox Reformed people. To simply say that some parts of the emerging church will rightfully follow the historic church orthodox beliefs and some will not does not in any way help clarify. At the end of the day, many of those that I hear critiquing the emerging church are not criticizing the movement as a whole, but are criticizing parts where they believe the church is ceasing to be biblically orthodox. They would do the same of any movement, but emerging is the new buzz group.

The goal in critique is not to establish emerging churches into what theological camp they sit in, but to help trim the growing vine of the emerging church so that it is in line with biblical orthodoxy.

McKinley wraps up his article with talking about new ways of looking at the trinity as well as the pioneering church, but I’m not so sure any of what he’s trying to establish is revolutionarily new. Regarding the trinity, he says, “I hope that we can expand our theology of the Trinity from a static doctrine to a dynamic and living theology of community and transformation.” I don’t know about you, but I always thought that was essential in the Trinity, both community and transformation. I am not sure what static doctrine he is referring to. Secondly, regarding the church he states, “Perhaps God is emerging something that is counter cultural to the way we have been doing it.” Movements are always doing this, from the Willow Creek seeker model to the Great Awakening, people have always been rethinking how to actually practice church, which is not necessarily counter-cultural, but in response to how to engage culture. The culture at the time of Edwards connected with how Edwards did church. The culture in the 80s and early 90s connected with how Willow Creek did church. Maybe the movement is more cultural than it is counter-culture. Its response is not to the traditional church, it is to the secular world.