Every now and again I come across a Christian blog with a difference. Jim Wright’s Crossroad Junction is one of them. Jim is clearly an exceptionally bright individual, theologically gifted and an out-of-the-box thinker.
None of this is unique in the Christian blogosphere, by the way. What sets Jim’s blog apart is his ability to see the big picture from a Biblical perspective and to be painfully honest about it in a remarkably gracious manner. I suggest you click the link above and see for yourself.
With Jim’s permission, here is his most recent post. My heart shouted “Amen!” as I read it.
My Smart-Aleck Response by Jim Wright
On Facebook, I posted a comment supporting a recent blog by Neil Cole about why the “organic church movement” is important. One of my smart-aleck Facebook friends responded:
Organic Church Movement? Is that a movement naturally fertilized? Or maybe movement marching only to organ music. Could also be a church movement of Kidneys, Livers and Colons?
So I thought I’d be a smart aleck in responding:
Organic church is the antidote to artificial church – you know, the kind where you go to a directed “service” and are expected to be passive, while the rock-band performance is called “worship”, the monologue podium speech is called “sharing”, the fifteen seconds of being told to stand up and shake hands with some anonymous folks around you is called “fellowship”, and looking at the back of the head in the pew in front of you is called “relationship”.
It is the antidote to sole-proprietor “pastors” who build organizations around their gift and calling, as opposed to community and participatory meetings where we minister one to another as commanded in the New Testament.
It is the antidote to “clergy” who are over “laity”, as opposed to unassuming elders who come from among, and are of, the people.
It is the antidote to “rah rah” youth ministries that isolate our children and perpetuate false spirituality through continually induced emotional highs that leave little substance – or maturity – when they eventually go out into the world.
It is the antidote to passive, spoon-fed Christianity that revolves around the Sunday morning “show”, controlled programs and manipulative “vision”.
Next question?
Thanks, Tobie and Jim. I had missed that post on Crossroad Junction. So glad you re-posted it here. My heart is shouting “Amen” as well!
Hi David. I thought you were going to thank me for introducing you to Jim’s blog! Just goes to show that the truth has a way make its presence known.
Love it! Although, I don’t know how many of my non-organic friends would appreciate (or understand) that response.
Agreed. One person’s orthodoxy is another’s heresy.
Jim is a smart guy, but I wonder why he’s attempting to become involved and identify himself as “organic”. I’ve spent a lot of time recently looking into his organizations and activities and as far as I can see, his is a house church of about 10 people who meet in different locations with the same basic people and they follow a pretty much institutional church setting with strong influence from the 1980′s shepherding and covering movement (no pun intended.)
Thanks for visiting the blog, Bart. I came to appreciate Jim because of the respect I have for Frances Schaeffer. I don’t agree with Schaeffer on a number of things, but the way in which he portrayed the “Escape from Reason” mindset that entered the world of philosophy towards the end of the enlightenment, then wormed itself into the arts and theatre and ultimately made it into theology, oftentimes under the guise of a Spirit-led hermeneutic, deserves a hearing. I think Schaeffer overstressed the point and misunderstood Kierkegaard (the so-called “father of existentialism”) in the process, ultimately misrepresenting him and sadly making a lot of evangelicals highly suspicious of his writings. (John MacArthur is a case in point.)
But I think the danger of elevating private and subjective revelation above the objective revelation of the written Word (note the capital – I think the present debate about this issue is sadly misguided) is equally dangerous. I have many years of painful Charismatic experience and ministry to back this conviction. Not everyone who has latched on to a “deeper life” hermeneutic has done so responsibly, and so we need powerful voices to assist us to preserve the fine balance between the Living Word and the written Word, even if they irritate us somewhat in the process. And so I am saddened by the current events that have unfolded themselves between men who are seen as leading thinkers in the “organic” world by many of us here in South Africa. I think some of Jim’s legitimate concerns regarding certain issues are now overshadowed by the way in which the debate has gone, and that is unfortunate. I also think some of the ugliness of these events is causing a credibility issue with a lot of people, and that is also unfortunate.
I cannot comment on Jim’s organizations as I only know him through his blog and some private correspondence. His greatest gift to me has been his continuing insistence that a believer should always be willing to humbly bring his/her gift to the gathering of the saints without insisting that the gathering of the saints should be all about his/her gift. I believe this, although I cannot help but wonder if the present debate is not perhaps an ironic manifestation of exactly the opposite.