Let us return to the Church, our Mother...
But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. - Galatians 4:26
Until believers understand that Scripture teaches the Church is our mother; and that, as Cyprian and Calvin put it, the man who won't have the Church as his mother may not have God as his Father; until then, parachurch religious organizations like InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Navigators, and Campus Crusade for Christ International will continue to hold pride of position in college and university communities, devouring the lion's share of mission giving and prayer flowing to those communities from congregations around the country. And this is tragic...
Campus Crusade for Christ International doesn't brag about being the largest mission in the world for nothing.Yet our Lord gave the Great Commission to officers of His Church--not staff workers who do spiritual things with souls outside the Church. This is why you should work to take InterVarsity and Campus Crusade for Christ International out of your missions budget and replace them with men called to the ministry who preach, baptize, administer the Lord's Supper, teach, and discipline souls who are baptized and added to the number of a local church.
When I say or write this, inevitably some respond, "But I came to know Christ because of the work of Campus Crusade for Christ International!"
Yes, of course; and I grew up attending InterVarsity summer camps where Dad was the speaker and I've spoken a number of times at the Fall Conference and group meetings of our local Indiana University chapters of InterVarsity and Campus Crusade. Which is to say we all have personal history and tenderness toward things that should be reformed. That's why reform is always unpopular.
Then again, there are many who have grown in their knowledge of Jesus Christ by reading gender-neutered Bibles, also. Which is to say, neither the marginalization of the Church on the part of parachurch organizations like Campus Crusade for Christ International nor the deletion of God's words by gender-neutered versions of Scripture are legitimated by the good fruit they have been used to produce. Many, many bad things and people and organizations have been used by the Holy Spirit to produce good fruit without anyone concluding that discernment is outdated and each man should do that which is most effective in his own eyes.
So again, I exhort you to take your money and prayers away from parachurch organizations that refuse to preach and discipline and administer the Sacraments within the bounds of Christ's Bride. Give them instead to works integrally related and under the authority of officers of Christ's Church.
This short exhortation was prompted by this e-mail I received a couple days ago from Campus Crusade for Christ International's chief executive officer, Steve Douglass. "Crusade" and "Christ" are out, "Cru" is in.
* * *
Dear Tim,
I write you today with a deep sense of gratitude for your partnership in the gospel. As a friend of the ministry, I want you to be among the first to hear that Campus Crusade for Christ here in the USA will be changing its name to Cru in early 2012.
This change is being made in order to be even more effective in sharing the gospel and to see many more people come to faith in Christ. This decision has been in process for almost 2 years and has involved our staff, our ministry partners, many volunteers and even people we seek to reach with the gospel. We have come to this decision with a deep sense of dependence on God and much prayer.
You may wonder why we believe God is leading us to change our name to Cru at this time. There are a number of compelling reasons but those require more space than a brief email allows. You will be receiving a letter from me in the next couple of days with more information. Also, I would like to invite you to visit www.ccci.org/cru. There we hope you will find answers to your questions. This site includes a brief video as well as graphics and answers to the most frequently asked questions.
You can be sure that our calling and mission have not changed. Our heart remains the same—to reach people for Christ and see lives transformed by Him.
Thank you again for your partnership in this ministry. Please pray with us that many more people will come to Christ as we take this step of faith together.
Yours in Christ,
Steve Douglass
President, Campus Crusade for Christ
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I think if these men of God would agree to speak at missions for free, then groups would be much more likely to bypass Campus Crusade and other such organizations.
Dear J,
I can think immediately of at least ten pastors who would speak at missions for free (including my brother, David, and me). E-mail us and we can suggest someone appropriate for the need.
Love,
The name "Cru" creates a number of innovative inroads with Cru's target markets:
- The word has no objective content: +2 POMO POINTS
- Taking "Christ" out removes the Stone of Offense from atheists, pagans, and Mohammedans: +2 POMO POINTS, +4 CALIPHATE POINTS
- It's not even a word: +6 POMO POINTS
- It reminds people of: J. Crew (+2 PREPPY POINTS), Motley Crue (+2 MULLET POINTS), rowing crew (+2 BLUEBLOOD POINTS), and inflames the ancient wounds caused by the Crusades (+4 CALIPHATE POINTS).
It's a no-brainer, an all-around winner.
I am confused Tim. I always believed that so called 'para-church' organisation were called such because they did not affiliate with any specific church structure, not because they didn't belong to the wider church. Of all the people that I have met working in para-church organisations, and I've met a lot, I could not point my finger at any one of them and say they did not belong to the church of Christ. I agree that these organisations lack a certain amount of accountability by being separated from a defined church structure, but to withdraw financial support from them I believe is wrong. God is clearly using them, faults and all, as He uses every Christian and every church.
To break from Christ's church is wrong yes, and organisations hiring unbelievers should be removed from a missions budget. That is clear. But to break from the traditional church structure when called to do so in furthering the spread of the Gospel, that is not wrong.
Perhaps the solution is not to withdraw financial aid from the work God is doing through these organisations, but ensure that their members are tied to local churches? Do not withdraw from them but reach out to them? Was it not a lack of activity on churches' parts that originally cause many believers to begin these organisations?
>>Was it not a lack of activity on churches' parts that originally cause many believers to begin these organisations?
Dear Isaac,
Yes, that was the reason some gave themselves to the work, but we must recover the Church--not dismiss or bypass Her. Around the world, missionaries have little to no substantive involvement in the local church. And here at home, I've watched parachurch organizations in the university towns of Madison, Boulder, and Bloomington closely for over thirty years, now, and have observed that a lack of commitment to the Biblical church permeates their ministry--often intentionally, their staff members have told me.
So yes, our fathers (yours and mine) gave themselves to parachurch ministries with the best of intentions and accomplished much, but it's time to reverse the tide and recommit ourselves to the Church. If we grant that much of the work of parachurch organizations through the years (not any more for many of them) was good, we're now at the point where the good is the enemy of the best.
There's no question in my mind that drastic action must be taken to recover the Great Commission, and part of that recovery must be to recognize the Commission was given to the officers of Christ's Church and that the Church is the center of the work it commands. It was not given willy-nilly to individual Christians who wouldn't baptize or adminster the Lord's Supper or appoint elders to discipline the flock.
Think on this, brother, and read and study. I'd suggest Roland Allen's "Missionary Methods: St. Paul's or Ours" would be a great place to start.
With affection for you and yours,
Isaac,
The fact that the Church has failed in many ways does not justify organizations like Cru stepping in to take over, which in many ways is exactly what has happened. God has given the Church serious responsibilities, and legitimate authority, and neither of these ceases to be binding despite failure and sin.
When would believers be "called to break from the traditional church structure" in order to spread the Gospel? This idea makes no sense. The Gospel is spread through the Church.
During my time in college I attended Navigators consistently for several years, and InterVarsity occasionally, and in both places, I met students who were perfectly content to attend a weekly campus meeting in place of attending and joining a local church. The fact that this was not sternly rebuked by the leadership speaks volumes. Men and women who come to faith in Jesus are commanded to be baptized and join themselves to Christ's Bride.
We have a modern obsession with efficiency, and specialization. I am especially prone to this error. When we consider the Church, it seems patently obvious that a specialized organization, released from many of the burdens and obligations of the Church, would be vastly more effective in reaching the lost and making disciples. It's a simple question of specialization. A short time later, all of the Church's responsibilities have been divided up or usurped by a host of special ministries, all claiming to be specially equipped to do the important work that the church was especially failing at. In the face of all these experts-- evangelism experts, mercy experts, Bible translation experts, raising funds to dig wells to save orphans in foreign country experts, the Church is cowed into silence.
But the Church has the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The Church has the body and blood of our Lord. The Church has authority to command all men to repent, believe and obey all that Christ commanded. The Church baptizes. Campus ministries have none of this authority. Campus ministries can't do these things, despite the fact that they may try.
Instead of producing a compromised and divided effort, modern American Christians should pour their time, money, sweat, blood and prayers into the Church, not the parachurch, not special ministries, but the Church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against Her.
>>We have a modern obsession with efficiency, and specialization... When we consider the Church, it seems patently obvious that a specialized organization, released from many of the burdens and obligations of the Church, would be vastly more effective in reaching the lost and making disciples.
Well put, Andrew.
>>I am especially prone to this error.
Me too, dear brother.
Love,
Isaac, I spent the first ten years of my life involved in a very large parachurch ministry and I truly believe that Christianity in America would be better off if these organizations never existed.
Yes, these are brothers and sisters in Christ who have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of them... God will use them for great things. However, they take too much off of the table. I believe the Church would be much healthier if most parachurch workers were involved in their local congregations under the authority of godly men who care for their souls. OR, if they rose up to be godly leaders of local congregations themselves.
In an organization like Campus Crusade for Christ, you cannot have it both ways. Believe me, I tried. I tried serving in a local congregation and fulfilling my duties as a parachurch employee, and there were just too many demands put on me to do anything substantial in my church. I was taken away for too many hours of the week, too many weeks of the year, and FAR too many sabbath days. It just doesn't work.
So instead, you have these rogue agents who are under no authority and who are led wherever the wind will take them. They unintentionally blur the lines of biblical practice because they can get away with certain things under the label "parachurch"... at least that is what they think.
Sorry, this comment is very much incomplete but I must stop typing because I'm going on a date with my wife.
What I was trying to say, perhaps poorly, is that these so called para-church organisations are in fact a part of the wider church. Does not 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 precisely address this issue. Say for analogies sake that these para-church organisations, being made up of Bible believing Christians, are the hands of the body. Perhaps they have abandoned the rest of the body, perhaps they wish to go a separate direction from the head, but it is not for the church to abandon them. "The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you!" It is for the church to reattach them, not leave them as they are.
I am reminded also of Paul's words to the Philippians, in chapter 1 verse 18. "But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I rejoice."
I agree with you that the divide that seems to exist between the churches and para-church organisations is terrible and I wish that it could in some way be remedied. I for one do not attend the Christian Union at my University for the same reasons Andrew Henry gave about those who attend the Navigators' meetings, but that does not mean that I refuse them my aide when they call on me for help. Especially when they are planning an outreach to the University, to my friends.
I write this afraid Tim. Afraid that by your words some churches will pull financial aide from where it is being used to further the Gospel and not replace it with anything. Already far too little money is being given to missions. The church in the West sits on fat budgets, improving their sound systems because comfortable members complain, putting on conferences for people who want a boost to their theological ego. I for one will put my money where the Gospel is preached, and if that is with para-church organisations, then that is where it goes. Perhaps in future the church will begin to work as one body and not as separate elements, but for now I do the best with what I am given.
I just read your latest post, and if what you were intending to attack in this post is para-church organisations such as what is going to be called Cru, than I support you in that. But I give money through a para-church organisation called Compassion UK (http://www.compassionuk.org/) to a child in Ghana, and I know for a fact that they do incredible work with the children they reach out to. And they do it through local churches in the countries in which they work.
Yes, I can think of several godly men who would jump at the chance to preach the Gospel without monetary gain. They know that they are storing up for themselves treasures in heaven. Yet, what a shame it is that we expect them to do this. We are willing to spend our resources on flatscreen TVs and iProducts and Starbucks while we muzzle our oxen.
That in response to J's comment, "I think if these men of God would agree to speak at missions for free, then groups would be much more likely to bypass Campus Crusade and other such organizations."
Many economists would say the most important concept in economics is "opportunity cost": the cost of doing action X (e.g., buying a shirt) is that you can't do Y (e.g., buying breakfast). I was pleased to see the idea come up in the comments here. The cost of Campus Crusade is that the Church is not able to use the money-- which basically means the staff-- to do other things such as overseas missions or having more college pastors at churches. The more highly you think of the Crusade staff, the greater this cost is--- for each wonderful Crusade staffer, we've lost someone who could be a wonderful church elder, deacon, mentor, or whatever. Thus, the question is not just whether Crusade is good or bad in itself, but whether it is sucking away talent that could be better used.
We should ask this question about foreign missions as well-- I've wondered about the extent to which sending dedicated pastors abroad as missionaries has hurt Christianity in England and Scotland, especially (but the US too--- think of all those wonderful New England missionaries and how happy the unitarians were to see them go off to Hawaii and China).
It's only in the U.S., but Cru is coming in early 2012.
You might be thinking, “Are you nuts?” You may be saying, “It's about time!”
The CCC web page linked to in the post says:
"There's only one reason we'd change. We want to do a better job of connecting people to God's love and forgiveness. It's all about helping people experience the good news that Jesus offers.
We've got a variety of resources to answer any questions you may have. Look around.
Got a question? Have an idea? Want to tell us what you need?
Contact brandmanager@ccci.org"
If you're a brand manager, telling customers to "Look around" isn't all that great an idea for a marketing campaign. Nor is calling yourself a brand manager, even if you are one, when buyers might be fearful that you think like a businessman instead of like a pastor. What I was really looking for was a reason why Campus Crusade would ditch its longtime brand name for something one letter short of "crud". Any bets on how soon they'll change it again?
It's worth noting that many churches near any major college campus do in fact give their services for less than free by hiring a college pastor. I don't know if the Tim's church does this, but I know that I personally came to Christ through such a ministry by South Baptist Church of Lansing, MI.
One thing worth noting as well is that a study back in the 1980s or early 1990s found something very telling; about 90% of people who were in Crusade/other parachurch groups, but did not join a local church, were out of the faith by the time they were 30. Church based fellowships did not suffer the same problems.
>>I don't know if Tim's church does this...
Yes, we have a church ministry called ClearNote Campus Fellowship led by Pastor Jacob Mentzel. With the help of a number of other men and women of our congregation, Jake and his wife, Amanda, care for a good number of souls--all of whom are brought into ClearNote Church of Bloomington as an integral part of the work.
For years I tried to get the national leadership of my denominaton's campus ministry (Reformed University Fellowship of the Presbyterian Church in America) to come to the campus of Indiana University, but they wouldn't. Why not?
Although I was a PCA man, the senior pastor of a local church, and all our officers subscribe to the Westminster Standards and are covenantal and reformed, the church itself was not branded properly. It wasn't a member church of the PCA organization.
Now, having a vital campus ministry and many undergrads, grads, and a growing pool of godly profs, we're glad we had to do the hard work ourselves.
Still, it would have been nice to have the PCA's deep pockets. A couple years ago, one of that denomination's rich men gave somewhere around $750K to RUF to plant a properly trademarked PCA church and RUF ministry at each of the Big Ten schools. Mind you, that's $750K for *each* of the Big Ten schools!
Who needs the widow's mite when you've got one really really rich man?
Anyhow, if you're interested in supporting our church's campus pastor, would you please send me an e-mail? Here's the web site:
http://jesusatiu.com/
Being a church filled with young couples having lots and lots of children (around fifteen women pregnant at all times, and my wife, Mary Lee, is one of only two Doulas); and having almost no older established families; and having had to build a building ourselves just a couple years ago, yet being out of room because of our huge number of children; we live out at the very edge of God's faithful and kind provision.
Love,
PS: Readers will not be surprised that I left the PCA a little over a year ago. Now my credentials are held (along with those of eight other pastors) by ClearNote Fellowship. Who ever said denominations had to observe national borders? We're content to be small and to work on real love, fellowship, and submission. If you want to join us, again, just send me an e-mail.
>>all our officers subscribe to the Westminster Standards
I must apologize. Somehow I'd got it in my head that you had a Baptist minister or two at your church.
>>all our officers subscribe to the Westminster Standards...
http://www.baylyblog.com/2005/09/in_support_of_j.html
Love,
Thanks, Tim, and wonderful. I was just pointing out that the idea that it would be "so nice" if people would come alongside....really misses the point that a lot of university town churches are digging even deeper than one would think.
Well at least now I don't feel as bad about my memory. So these are ministers who, while believing in credobaptism, believe that we feed on Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper? (as baptism was the only exception)
Thanks!
>>So these are ministers who... believe that we feed on Christ's body and blood in the Lord's Supper?
Yap, yap, yap... Or is it yup, yup, yup...
With love,
Great!
(and it is "yep", at least in northern Minnesota)
"So instead, you have these rogue agents who are under no authority and who are led wherever the wind will take them. They unintentionally blur the lines of biblical practice because they can get away with certain things under the label "parachurch"... at least that is what they think."
Well said, Alexandre.
I've been thinking about this recently b/c it has bothered me greatly for years that when I was in China on a "trip" in '97 I realized that they (CCC) had a policy AGAINST hooking up believers with house churches (or any church, even registered). In other words, converts were never baptized, always isolated from the church, and completely dependent on CCC employees for spiritual nourishment. I was on the trip "with CCC" and (not without feelings of guilt), went against the authority of the leader and approached a girl I knew was a believer for 2 YEARS, even though we were told not to speak with her. The reason I did so was b/c I learned that they were actually planning to allow only a couple of people have contact with her (from our trip), and other than that, she would have no one b/c her CCC contact had recently gone back to America. As far as I knew, they had no plan to put her in contact with any other Xians (I have to abbreviate as I am in China now) for the indefinite future. We snuck around and I taught her things she hadn't been taught. One thing I learned from her: she thought she was one of the only Xians in China! Can you believe that? And she had wanted to be baptized but they wouldn't do that, nor would they connect her to a church with authority to do so. I was furious and confused. That trip solidified something for me--be sure of the missions philosophy of a group before you go out with them. Recently I've learned that unfortunately the Southern Baptists here in China do the same thing. They are so concerned over their brand (wouldn't it be too dangerous to allow someone to NOT BE SOUTHERN BAPTIST???) that new converts who are Chinese are not plugged into fellowships, and b/c of safety they can't meet with the foreigners, including mis'aries who often go to intl fellows-ips where a foreign passport must be shown, so they're left out in the cold. This is horrifying to me. As much as I am thoroughly reformed and would love to recommend that someone go to a good conservative Presb. chu-ch, if it wasn't available, I would still make sure to link a new believer immediately with a baptist or other bible-believing congregation. Please let me know what you think about this situation.
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