Had breakfast with a friend yesterday morning. They (his family) had gone to a certain church on Sunday. Said that they were so turned off by what was going on there.... The worship seemed more like a show. And the pastor talked way too long and too much about their building program. He even divulged the amount some were giving .......
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Last night had coffee with Wayne. We asked the question, "Is there anybody in our lives that we need to forgive?".......
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Tomorrow I will be meeting with someone in the hopes of reconciliation.......
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I was thinking about different ideas that we in "simple church" could implement.
1- instead of paying someone mega bucks to do a conference we could meet at someone's cottage and have discussions about the direction we are heading. (Lt's idea).
2- We need more people who will write inspiring books with no more than 70 pages in them. In the last 5 years I have rarely read a book right through. It's not that I don't enjoy reading but most people say in 312 pages what they could say in 70 or less. Anybody want to start up a small book publishing firm in their basement?
3- Sharing choruses and music that we have written for free.
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Why is it that when someone writes a book on a certain topic, he or she becomes the resident guru and everyone falls all over themselves trying to book that person for a conference? For example there are some writers who write about house church but they always seem to be on the road and talking about house church but never seem to be in one... mmmmmmm.
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Cute one liners. How does a butcher introduce his wife?........... meet patty!!!! Did you hear about the two Saskatchewanians who went hunting? ...... they were following some tracks and got hit by a train....
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THE TITHE?????
I do not believe the tithe exists for the Christian today. It is because of the erroneous teaching of the tithe that church justifies having buildings. If there is any way we can begin to convince people that the building is unnecessary begin with dismantling or deconstructing in the minds of people the teaching of the tithe. The tithe is the central reason for the existence of church buildings. Without the tithe we would have no buildings or system of church that we have today. These are the reasons I believe the tithe is not binding on us today.
1- New Covenant.... The destruction of the temple
2- Transportation of the gospel to the nations.... not Jewish customs
3- Paul's appeal for giving..... not the tithe
A quick overview of scripture regarding the tithe. I will not spend a lot of time here. There are three reasons given for the tithe in the O.T. First, to support the Levitical priests since they had no income. Second, for celebration around the temple system and the regular celebrations in keeping their religious customs. The third reason had to do with the sojourner, the stranger and the needy.
First: The New Covenant.... There are not very many of us who understand how new the New Covenant really is. Here is a question.... Who's idea was it that the Temple system come to an end....? was it a) house church and emerging church types. b) the Roman government in the apostolic age. c) the apostles, or d) George Bush. The answer is none of the above .. It was God's idea. When Jesus was overlooking the Temple in all of it's splendor he predicted that not one stone would be left upon another thereby predicting the Temple's destruction. He was not lamenting this but knew it had to be. He had already taught the woman at the well that people would not be worshipping in this place or that but in spirit and in truth. He wiped out the need for the Holy mountain .... Sinai .... and the Holy City.... Jerusalem. This was the new covenant... the new reality.... that God was not going to live in temples or buildings made of stone.... but amongst living stones.... His people. Now if the temple is destroyed and we no longer have that system what need is there of the tithe......mmm unless, of course, we the church have resurrected the temple system..........
Second. 95 to 99% of the gospel message was transported out of the nation that rejected Jesus as their Messiah and given to all the nations around them and all around the world. What was not being transported was the Jewish temple and the continuance of Jewish customs including the tithe system. They were transporting Jesus and His message. The nations knew nothing about the Jewish customs and celebrations and so on. So when Paul talked about giving, what was his foundation or what did he appeal to....... The tithe or first fruits?????? Hardly.
Third. The way teachers teach about tithe, it is very odd that neither Paul, nor John, nor Peter have anything to say about it. Paul often talked about giving. He even half heartedly confronts the Corinthian church to give. He uses the example of the Macedonian church on how to give. Now if the tithe were still in place it would have been Paul's right to go into some lengthy teaching about the tithe and how it was their responsibility to give based on the tithe. Of course he didn't because we no longer give based on any law. We give based on our being followers and being alive to Christ. Paul did not appeal to the tithe like so many preachers do today. Instead this was the reasoning he used. "the grace of God that is in you." "Give what you have purposed in your heart." Give sacrifically like the Macedonians" and give when there is need like in the Acts church. In an article in (www.house2house.tv), magazine entitled "Sacrificial Giving" Maurice Smith says.... "I am convinced that the New Testament standard and model for giving is not tithing, but radical sacrificial giving out of a transformed life. Now, I don't really want to engage in a "debate" over tithing, but I would challenge anyone to produce a single New Testament passage where tithing is demonstrated in practice in the life of the New Testament church. I can't find one. But I can find many examples of radical, sacrificial giving out of a transformed life which went far beyond tithing."
I would love to see a Pastor stand up and say to his congregation. From this day onward we teach that the tithe is not binding on you as a congregation. If you want to keep this going then it will have be totally on your giving. But before you give to this organization called church, have you checked around for struggling single moms or dad's? How about widows? Have you responded to our brothers and sisters who are hungry and homeless in Africa and India? How about our persecuted family in other countries. "But, but, but, pastor if we do that then there will be no money to pay for our building". To this the pastor answers "so be it" "But, but, but pastor if we do that we won't be able to afford to hire you". "Mmmmm never thought of that". Next Sunday his sermon is "The absolute necessity of Tithing." It would be better for him to have said "so be it."

zuzu@mts.net

Well I am back blogging. Last week I did some construction work for a friend.....aaaahhhhggg every bone in my body shut down. I was walking around like a zombie for a couple of days. here are a few updates. Last weekend Leighton Tebay (surprisingly pronounced Teebee) dropped by. He was in Winnipeg for a conference. We chatted for almost 6 hours straight. Seemed like we were just renewing old friendships instead of meeting for the first time. I'm not sure he got what he came for but we sat and talked about a lot of things. Thanks for dropping by Leighton. By the way Leighton calls his blog "the Heresy". you wanna talk heresy.... he likes coke and the Calgary Flames. It makes a guy wonder.
This weekend our former church invited me to do worship. I haven't done that in over 5 years. They are having family camp and they always end off the camp with a church service on Sunday morning.... that is when they want me to lead. It's funny... friends from that church were over for supper a couple of months ago and asked about our philosophy of church. So I answered.... relational, organic and the fact that we have done away with the church service. Of course that was the short answer. Well I was waiting for some kind of rebuttal and none came. Instead he talked about burn out and not really liking church and so on. I told him that I did not like church or the church service. A couple of weeks later I stopped and chatted with him at a building site. and he said "I have a hard question and an easy one. The hard one is "will you work for me on Monday?" I said yes. Then he said the easy one is "Will you lead worship at our family camp." It shocked me out of my pants." (I guess you can imagine the embarrassment i felt standing there with no pants on). Talk about mis judging the questions. I told him that I had to pray about this one. It took me three weeks to decide. The Lord kept telling me "They are not the enemy... they are not the enemy." so I'll have to shake the dust off of my overheads and get ready.
Just heard about another group in Steinbach who may be pulling out of their church to meet organically and an relationally. Interesting....... I am trying to get people 40 and over to start blogging but..... it's like trying to make changes in a church. whew....... My kids came home from a church family camp...... Amy my 13 year old had only 3 hours of sleep the first night and none the second night. Lynn and I were not around when they got home so Amy went to bed at 3:30 yesterday afternoon and go up at 7:30 this morning...... Jeff our 16 yr old (soon to be 17) had enough sense to get an average of 4 to 5 hours a night...... July 1rst is Lynn and my 25th anniversary. Wow i remember when my parents celebrated theirs. I thought they were old. Pressure's on to do something. I thought either Miami or Holland. Since Manitoba has towns with those names it might not be so expensive after all........... What to do for a job???????? Anyone want to visit the "Church of the Saviour" with me in the next couple of years? Today i will be working on a little article. (Half or three quarters of a page) entitled. The Central Reason the Church building exists is the erroneous teaching of the tithe. So that's it for now zuzu@mts.net