The Radical Resurgence

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.

~ Upton Sinclair

The Anabaptists were persecuted by both the Catholic and Protestant streams of Christianity.

They didn’t believe in the institutionalization of the church, including a clergy/laity divide.

This got them into hot water with organized Christianity.

Many contemporary pastors are leaving the pastorate for similar reasons. They are experiencing a crisis of conscience.

If you are an ex-clergyman, and you wish to find work outside of your religious profession, send an email to expastorsguide @ gmail.com and receive a free copy of the Ex-Pastors Survival Guide.

Jon Zens has just released a new book entitled, 58-0: How Christ Leads Through the One-Anothers

There is a serious need for Christians today to understand their true identity as members of the priesthood who minister to one another as the N.T. affirms. This book couldn’t be more necessary or timely for the Church today. A definite “must read” for every follower of Jesus.

—Keith Giles, California, author of The Power of Weakness and “This Is My Body”: Ekklesia as God Intended

 Bold, fresh, insightful and provocative. A treasure chest of light on the church. This is perhaps Jon’s best work yet.

—Frank Viola, author of God’s Favorite Place on Earth, frankviola.org

Finally, a book for all believers about the beauty, worth, and high place of the church in the life of a saint. No denominational favoritism here. Instead, Jon and Graham move beyond centuries of division and factions to help God’s people understand the lovely simplicity of what it means to be the church. From the very start, the authors’ premises and passions are evident. Jon’s inimitable style combines a likeably direct, no-nonsense approach to church life that offers much practical guidance to the subject. 58 to 0 is a definitive must for every Christian who is serious about sharing life in the Body of Christ.

—Dr. Stephanie Bennett, Florida, professor of Communication at Palm Beach Atlantic University, and author of Communicating Love, and two works of fiction, Within the Walls, and Breaking the Silence

In 58 to 0, I see the heart and soul of Jon’s writings since I first met him in 1979. I firmly believe that believers will see in this book the heart and soul of Christ. As a historian, I agree with Jon that a radical shift took place in the Churches view of leadership and authority early in the second century. What was once the work of the Holy Spirit became the duty of a special class of leaders, separated in kind from the laity. I grew up in Africa and had the privilege on several occasions of seeing first-century body life in the first believers in a community. I also witnessed the intrusion of the “organized” church, which replaced the “one-another” relationships that were occurring organically, with a structured authority. Jon, in 58 to 0, has articulated the best description of what I saw in my childhood in Africa, and what I yearn to see in all of Christ’s people. I urge folks to put down what else they may be reading, and read this book. I have little doubt that an honest wrestling with the themes in the book will result in new paradigms, and a new appreciation for the person and work of Christ. I think this is the most important book that Jon has written.

—Skeeter Wilson, Washington author of Worthless People and the forthcoming Crossing Rivers

A new Facebook Page – Jesus First

Jon Zens is an Anabaptist scholar. Zens has a B.A. in Biblical studies from Covenant College, a M.Div. from Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, and a D.Min. from the California Graduate School of Theology.

Jon Zens

He is the editor of Searching Together magazine.

Zens’s books include the following:

What’s With Paul & Women: Unlocking the Cultural Background to 1 Timothy 2

The Pastor Has No Clothes: Moving from Clergy-Centered Church to Christ-Centered Ekklesia

No Will of My Own: How Patriarchy Smothers Female Dignity & Personhood

A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick?

Christ Minimized? A Response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins

Related Articles:

Searching Together

Jon Zens Website

Jon Zens and Frank Viola interview

Jon Zens on LinkedIn

Jon Zens: Pagan Christianity

Jon Zens on Beyond Evangelical

Jon Zens on Good Reads

Jon Zens Interview

Meet Jon Zens

Perhaps we live in an age in which the question we must deal with first is, “Is it possible to practice Christ and not be poor?”  Our age of self-sufficiency works well for those for whom it works well–the great tautology.  For those whom it does not work that is their problem; not mine, not yours, just their problem.

Our world is the product of the self-portrait, a world where “I” am the subject of “my own” universe in which all is objectified (one need only login to MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter to understand this–the new technologies have turned everyone into an artist, and he can think of nothing better to paint than his own technological image).

In this world “human laziness makes people pigeonhole one another at first sight so they find nothing in common,” said Dostoyevsky’s Idiot.

This refusal is a renarration of self-identity as self-preservation–the preservation of a false self.  We know as we are known, and if I know “you” within a specified category, then “my” identity remains securely fixed within “my” own mental construction.  Until the real work of getting to know “the other,” “I” remain enclosed in the virtual realm of “my” own making.

In this most interesting book, Judged by the Gospel: A Review of Adventism, Robert Brinsmead calls Adventism to consider the gospel. This book reflects the author’s personal spiritual pilgrimage, and was “written to bring my own faith under further judgment of the gospel” (p.8).

I gather, therefore, that Judged by the Gospel is designed to lovingly challenge those in “traditional Adventism.” However, its appeal, I believe, extends beyond Adventism to all evangelicals: “the gospel is a clear and certain light which must call all that we teach and do into serious and radical question” (p.7).

In my remarks on this work, I will pursue matters in the order that they appear in the book, sometimes letting Mr. Brinsmead’s words speak for themselves.

What Lies Behind the “Central Article” of Protestantism?

Brinsmead (hereafter, RDB) states, “Luther declared that justification by faith is ‘the article on which the church stands or faIls’” (p.7). However, the significance of justification by faith can only be properly comprehended on the presupposition of a biblical anthropology. This is borne out in the order Paul follows in Romans. Before opening up justification by faith (3:2lff.), he first discloses the awful plight of mankind in sin (1:18-3:20). Thus, Luther’s remark above must be connected with the sentiments he expressed to Erasmus at the conclusion of his ‘The Bondage of the Will’:

‘Moreover, I give you hearty praise and commendation on this further account — that you alone, in contrast with all others, have attacked the real thing, that is, the essential issue. You have not wearied me with those extraneous issues about the Papacy, purgatory, indulgences and such like — trifles, rather than issues — in respect of which almost all to date have sought my blood (though without success); you, and you alone, have seen the hinge on which all turns, and aimed at the vital spot’  (trans. by Packer and Johnston [Fleming Revell, 1957], p.319).

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2. When gathering with other believers, are the saints to be preached at or taught? Should Gospel preaching have a dominant place in our churches? Some have seen justification for “preaching” Gospel sermons in the church because of Paul’s statement to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:2, “teach and preach these principles.” However, the Greek word “preach” in this text means to exhort, entreat, or urge (cf. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977] p.482). Most translations have, therefore, rendered it this way (e.g., KJV, RSV, NIV, Amplified, Jewish NT).

It would also be difficult to see in 1 Timothy 5:17 any warrant for our practice of monologue Gospel “preaching” within the assembly. New Testament commentator, Homer A. Kent, Jr., writes: “The anarthrous form logoi (“preaching”) has reference to the general function of speech in connection with the elder’s ministry. The term didaskaliai (“teaching”) is more limited and denotes the particular aspect of teaching or instructing, as distinguished from exhorting, admonishing, comforting, and other forms of preaching” (The Pastoral Epistles [Chicago: Moody Press, 1982/Revised] p.175).

The words of Paul in 2 Timothy 4:2 (“preach the Word”), likewise, fail to support this notion of Gospel sermons in the church. Paul commands Timothy to herald or “preach” the Word and to be ready at all times to do so – whether it is convenient or not. The “Word” in this passage appears to be the proclamation of the Gospel which may or may not occur within the assembly. However, the fact that Paul later urges Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist” (v.5) suggests that his heralding was done primarily outside of the Christian gathering when coming into close contact with unbelievers.

13. By centering our gatherings on one man and his “sermon” (which is what many evangelical churches do, even though they would never admit to it), we are, in practice, reversing the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:14 and suggesting that the body is not many members, but one (namely, the same man who preaches to us week after week). Moreover, by centering our church meetings one man’s ability to speak, we subtly begin to form a personality-cult around one man’s talents. Eventually, he becomes the final authority on spiritual and theological matters and we end up producing our own brand of “Protestant Pope’s.”

14. The focal-point of one man’s sermon tends to cause believers to feel incapable of handling the Word of God because the impression is given (however subtle it might be) that only the eloquent and seminary trained “professionals” can undertake such things as preaching and teaching. The entire aura of preaching a “sermon” is very intimidating and many career preachers are more concerned with how they communicate than with what is communicated. A bad morning for such pulpiteers is not a failure to teach the full-counsel of God, but a slip-up of the tongue or in mispronouncing a word!

15. Directly connected to the traditional sermon concept, is the practice of limiting corporate instruction to one gifted pastor (usually the “senior pastor”). But in contrast to our inherited traditions, the New Testament never limits public teaching to one pastor (regardless of how eloquent he may be) nor is it limited to those who serve as church overseers, but may include gifted teachers who may have no desire to serve in the eldership (Acts 13:1; Romans 12:7; 1 Corinthians 12:29; 14:26).

7. In order to better facilitate learning within our churches, pastors should begin to implement a Q&A period after the sermon on what was just taught. What would be wrong in allowing a stimulating time for questions, comments, or even disagreements?

What better way could there be in helping people to learn and remember what the pastor had so earnestly labored to teach? If we really want to see the saints equipped for ministry (Ephesians 4:12) and to present every person complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28), why would we ignore or even reject such an effective and biblical means of communication? Do we truly believe that the Sunday morning sermon is to be a learning experience?

The important point is that the Bible example indicates the need for two-way communication in those instances when we expect comprehension, acceptance, and commitment to take place. We also know that there is a steady increase of accuracy as feedback is increased. Therefore, for one to establish comprehensive and complete communication, for one to discover and transmit the truths of Scripture and the content of the Christian Gospel, monologue is not enough. A two-way flow of communication is essential (William Barlow, “Communicating the Gospel,” Searching Together [Vol. 21:1-4, 1993] p.57).

Unfortunately, many pastors will not allow it because they are threatened or intimidated by any form of return dialogue within a public setting. At least five reasons can account for this: (1) Return dialogue is offensive to the man who sees himself and his opinions as above the right of anyone to question, particularly when coming from mere “laymen”; (2) Return dialogue may expose the speaker to the possibility of embarrassing questions that he may not be able to answer. It may reveal that his studies and preparation were shallow.