by Diane Eaton, RF Board member

Discontent can be a destructive energy that harms us physically, emotionally, and relationally. It may be a symptom of ingratitude or an inability to accept one’s lot in life – never having “learned to be content whatever the circumstances” (Phil. 4:11 NIV). At its root, one is shaking an angry fist at God, accusing Him of failing to satisfy one’s expectations. This kind of discontent is self-centered, cynical, and can become vengeful. It turns its back on God. It pushes others away from God. It’s unholy discontent. There’s also a holy kind of discontent, as author, W. Willimon suggests:

“A holy kind of discontent seems to be fertile ground for God’s prophets.”*

What makes it holy? I say: It keeps facing God. It empathizes with God’s heart for humanity. It sees human fallenness from God’s perspective. It refuses to discount or deny anything that assaults God’s character. It yearns for God’s mercy on fallen humanity. It is expressed in prayerful weeping and pleading with God, even while resting contentedly in His promises.

Unholy discontent lacks mercy. It refuses to cooperate with God’s lavish grace towards sinners. It leaves nothing but cold dead emptiness. Unholy discontent may be the driving force behind pushy and noisy evangelistic zeal. It’s a turn-off. It produces infertile and passionless Christianity.

Conversely, holy discontent ignites spiritual passion. It is propelled by divine love, which energizes people to partner with God in the formation of true and vibrant Christian living.

Do you see why holy discontent is “fertile ground”? It is life-producing! It flows out of Life itself – God’s life. It refuses to give up on God’s enduring promises, even when circumstances look bleak, and sin seems unabated. It allows one to stand firm, with spiritual eyes watchful and fixed on the bigger hope. This holy kind of discontent is seen in the prophetic writings. That’s why the Biblical prophets can still inspire us today, as they did in the early church.

The apostle Peter underscored the value of the prophet writings in scripture, saying:

“We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1: 19 NIV)

We may not be prophets. Yet like them, we will find ourselves distressed over the effects of injustice and evil – whether through civil authorities, social peers, church, family, or other. Discontent is natural. Yet it is also natural to react out of strong emotions. Fear or anger may arouse our fight-or-flight instincts; and we become driven by grievance and a sense of moral superiority. Discontent is not our problem. It’s the inability to see from the perspective of God’s heart. We must learn to wait on the Lord, allowing Him to transform our reactionary tendencies into mature patience and restful trust. Those qualities will guide us towards wise choices.
When affronted by human sinfulness the question is, “Which kind of discontent will rule my life: holy or unholy discontent?”

May the following be our own personal prayer: Lord, purge any root of unholy discontent in my heart and replace it with a holy kind of discontent. Work within me so that, even if You should require me to confront injustice and wrong, I will always be shining the beautiful light of Your Son into the brokenness.

* William H. Willimon, Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002, page 60.

The decision of the 145th General Assembly to adopt option “B” in the Report of the Special Committee of Former Moderators and the subsequent Remits on Human Sexuality and Marriage have caused a range of responses among members of the Renewal Fellowship and throughout our denomination. As a result of a meeting at Vaughan Community Church (near Toronto) last Wednesday, a small group of traditionally orthodox members of our denomination is distributing the following initial response. Along with PSALT and many others in orthodoxy, the Renewal Fellowship is sharing it to assist you in your own discernment reflections as part of our commitment to the renewing of The PCC. The Renewal Fellowship Board will be reflecting together in mid-July and will also share any decisions and/or directions taken.

June 26, 2019

Conservatives / Traditionalists / Evangelicals:

We are a vital part of The Presbyterian Church in Canada, and our voices need to be heard. We invite you to discern and explore with us as we journey into a rather uncertain future.

What do we stand for? We are committed to the God-given mission of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and we remain focused on the Great Commission and the Great Commandments. We stand under the authority of the written Word of God. As such, we believe that the Bible presents marriage as between one man and one woman. We uphold the subordinate standards of the PCC: The Westminster Confession and Living Faith, which clearly state beliefs on marriage and sexuality. We believe in the words of the Preamble to our ordination vows, that Christ is King and Head of the Church, and that ministers and elders are to seek peace and unity in the church. We believe this holds us in faithful partnership with the views of the Apostolic Church of the majority world.

We dearly love our brothers and sisters in the PCC who hold different views on the authority and application of scripture. Nevertheless we are deeply concerned about the direction of the General Assembly Remits of 2019 regarding contrary and parallel definitions of marriage and proposed changes to ordination practices. Stated assurances of liberty of conscience and action are not enough. We are deeply concerned that it has become apparent that the ultimate goal of the prevalent agenda is to replace orthodox conservative, traditional and evangelical confessions and practices within the PCC with different understandings and practices.

If our current standards cannot be freely maintained, then organizational separation may prove to be necessary to allow for peace and unity in the denomination; the cessation of the pain, anger and hurt felt on all sides; and essential to allow Biblical preaching, profession, and practices to continue. This is not something we seek, but may be the best way forward for all.

We want to assure others who hold similar convictions that you are not alone. In the wake of General Assembly there have been numerous conversations among concerned people, who are earnestly praying for discernment and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to ensure that our God-given mission will continue. One such recent gathering included representatives of various ethnic churches and language groupings – including Korean, Chinese, Arabic, Francophone – along with other Anglophone evangelical congregations and organizations. Our commitment to the Gospel enabled us to overcome language barriers. It was a meeting marked by grace, compassion for all, and the desire to move forward in peace and with integrity. We are planning larger gatherings which will be hosted by two Presbyteries in Ontario, and another by two Presbyteries in B.C. Details to come!

We invite you to pray, to seek out similarly-minded sisters and brothers, and to share wisdom and encouragement. This is not a time for fear or anger, but a time for faithful and humble courage and compassion. Please be guided by attitudes and dispositions of the heart and spirit that would enhance the reputation of our Lord found in many places in God’s word, such as 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 – “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.”

In Christ,

Bartholomew Alexander; Joel Coppieters; Andrew Cornell; Grant Gunnink; George Habib; Peter Han; Jonathan Hong; James T. Hurd; Paul Johnston; Jinsook Khang; Martin Kreplin; Hugo Lau; Christine O’Reilly; Cheol Soon Park; Douglas Rollwage; Nagi Said; Freddie Saleh.

By Jason Kenney

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

What does it mean for the church to obey the “greatest commandment” as we read it in Matthew 22:35-40?

At one level — the level of the individual — it seems almost too obvious to be worth the time it will take to read this reflection. For, what else is a Christian than the one who seeks to occupy the crux of this cruciform commandment, where its two fundamental axes meet: the vertical axis that calls us to love the God who is “above” us and the horizontal axis which calls us to love the one(s) near us — our neighbours?

But if we think about this at another level — the collective level — things become a little bit more complicated. While it is true that most congregations are pretty good at collectively loving God (in worship), it is less obvious if these congregations collectively love their neighbours as well.

A Problem for the Church

This has become a problem for the church – a serious problem at that. In some cases the survival of a congregation will depend upon the development of a new competency; or, more precisely, the reactivation of an older virtue: something we might call collective neighbourliness. There was a time, not too long ago, when the people we lived near were the same people we went to church with. But two things have changed: many of our neighbours have stopped going to church, and many of us have stopped living in the neighbourhoods where our churches are. Many congregations now find themselves disconnected from their local communities. The way for churches to reconnect with their neighbourhoods is to reactivate their commitment to the second clause of the great commandment and to consider ways of doing so collectively, as congregations.

Three principles to support this reactivation:

1. If the church is to carry out the great commission (Matthew 28:19-20), it must obey the great(est) commandment.

The first principle is implicit in what I have already been saying. The church will be in no position to “make disciples” (at least not disciples of Jesus Christ), if it is not wholeheartedly loving God and loving its neighbours.

2. For the church to love its neighbours well, it needs to learn to love its neighbourhood.

The second principle attunes us to the collective nature of neighbourliness in the church. This principle identifies the neighbourhood, or what some traditions call the parish, as the inevitable context of congregational ministry. The desire for a flourishing congregation is inseparable from the pursuit of a flourishing neighbourhood. To paraphrase the prophet Jeremiah: “in the neighbourhood’s welfare the church will find its welfare.”

Urban planners recognize neighbourhoods to be the basic unit of urban life. Their scale is large enough to support a vibrant and whole social existence, but small enough that changes or qualitative enhancements can still be generated from neighbours themselves. It is worth considering whether neighbourhoods might also be seen as the basic unit of parish ministry — and not something peripheral to it. If this is the case, then learning to love our neighbourhoods might require us to expand our inherited ministry tool kits. Neighbourhood well-being would no longer fall under the ministry category of “outreach,” but become a core (and resourced!) practice of the church. Loving our neighbourhoods might require us to learn to become lay urban planners, amateur policy analysts, or part-time affordable housing advocates, depending upon our contexts.

Some of these capacities may already be present in our congregations and it will be a matter of recognizing and empowering those who offer them. But often times we will have to look beyond the church walls — to the neighbourhood. However, if we begin to see the neighbourhood as the basic unit of parish ministry, then we will also begin to see that neighbourhoods are more than just the sum of their needs. We will also see the tremendous assets that exist there. Accessing these assets, however, will require yet another capacity: partnership building.

3. Collective neighbourliness requires partnership.

The third and final principle of collective neighbourliness assumes the second principle. For, neighbourhoods are made up not just of individual neighbours, but of schools, businesses, community groups, service agencies, and other faith communities, many of which are also seeking the welfare of the neighbourhood. In some cases, they are doing so more effectively than that church!

One such framework, adapted from The New Parish, sees neighbourhood partnership building on a continuum of neighbourliness. At one end we have the personal practice of being a good neighbour in our everyday lives. At the other end of the continuum are the significant, strategic, and sustainable institutional partnerships which impact neighbourhood well being over the long term. This might be a food security initiative, an affordable housing project, or any number of contextually relevant joint initiatives. In between the personal practice and the institutional partnerships, however, lie a whole range of connections that the church can cultivate. These include intentional practices of neighbourliness within congregations, joint projects with other churches, interfaith partnerships within a geographical area, and neighbourhood collaborations that serve the common good.

A well-known prayer by the late Archbishop Oscar Romero reminds us of the “sense of liberation” that accompanies the realization that “we cannot do everything.” Letting go of the illusion that we can do it all, furthermore, opens up a space for God’s grace to intervene. To this important piece of wisdom I would only add that such grace can sometimes arrive in the form of a neighbourhood partner and that we should learn to see and appreciate such partnerships as grace. In order to have the eyes to see this grace, I suggest, we will need to cultivate the collective virtue of neighbourliness within our congregations and understand the neighbourhood as the fundamental context of ministry.

This article is reprinted with permission. It appeared Sept. 3, 2018, on the Wycliffe College Institute of Evangelism website.

By Diane Eaton

Expectancy Deficit Disorder is a common malady in the church.

Church disputes are not unusual, and neither is their tendency to polarize people. But what’s truly unusual is the rigorous work of self-reflection. That’s how we discover one malady we share in common. It’s this: wanting too little – too little from God. I call it Expectancy Deficit Disorder (EDD). As a fellow Presbyterian, I say: together we’re at risk of seeking after something less than what God has for us. But, we’ll never have God’s best while we’re going after something less. And we’ll never ask for God’s best if we don’t expect it: “Ye have not because ye ask not.” (James 4:2 KJV)

That was the problem for the woman Jesus met at Jacob’s well. When Jesus probed into her personal life, where he wanted to bring healing and transformation, she deflected the conversation away from herself and onto the ongoing religious conflict. Her people, the Samaritans, were embroiled with the Jewish people in an irreconcilable conflict over which mountain was God’s choice for worship. Jesus did not take sides, but instead announced a radically different system of worship: “God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John. 4:24 NIV)

In other words, a relationship with God would no longer be defined by location or practice: place or form. That was the “old wineskin” worship system. “Place and form” was to be replaced by “spirit and truth” through the “living water” Christ’s Spirit operating in the hearts of anyone who wants it and seeks after it. That’s God’s best!

At first the woman merely wanted better circumstances. She wanted Jesus’s “living water” so she wouldn’t have to trudge to the well anymore. But she wasn’t asking for enough — not yet. Jesus helped her overcome her EDD — and then she was able to drink deeply of the “living water.” Soon, through her testimony and Jesus’s presence, fellow Samaritans discovered this amazing “water.” Note: This entire event took place outside their traditional place and form of worship!

This was God’s best, and still is! It’s God’s transforming love — not confined within the boundaries of religious place and form, but through his Spirit and Truth working within. This “wind” can never be managed within the “old wineskin” — including today’s worship communities which are held together by systemized categories of place and form.

Last year I visited Jacob’s Well in the West Bank. An Orthodox Church now sits over the well. While exploring the site, I noticed bullet holes in the gate and walls — signs of historical conflict. I say, we have this same bent. We too will keep fighting over “old wineskin” entities as long as we are afflicted with EDD: wanting too little from God. Oh the anguish that results from such faulty pursuits – just as at the very location where Jesus offered God’s best.

We do care about our own Christian communities, but that doesn’t mean we want God’s best. Like the woman, we too deflect personal conviction by focusing on the current conflict. Oh, we may rightfully value scripture, prayer, and evangelism. But we want to squeeze it all into “old wineskin” entities. It won’t work, just as Jesus warned. We’ll drift into disputes over matters related to “place and form” — like property, events, rituals, clergy roles, music and so forth. Because old wineskins are inflexible, the cracks will just widen as we embark on restorative missions. Polarities fester as opposing sides view themselves to be defending God’s way.

However, controversies can benefit us — if we allow them to expose to us our darker qualities — like self-righteousness, ungraciousness, anger, fear, or controlling tendencies. That’s the stuff that interests God because that’s where he wants to bring transformation. Facing our darker side is messy and disturbing, but this is how we personally acquire a thirst for God’s best.

Speaking personally, church troubles over the years have helped me see how deeply I was dependent on the church for my sense of worth and belonging. I needed the church to function properly for my own sense of security. However, I was expecting fallen sinners to provide what only God could. I was afflicted with EDD, and needed to see it. God’s Spirit continually uses my distresses to draw me to him, and like the Samaritan woman, to acquire an ever-deepening yearning for God’s best.

After her encounter with Jesus, the Samaritan woman probably wasn’t treated much better in her religious community. It didn’t change. The bitter conflict continued — and still continues. Yet she came to enjoy a blessing no one could rob from her, because it welled up from within her: God’s best.

Still today, no worship location, organizational structure, or sacrament can provide God’s best for us. That requires an ongoing miracle of grace through Spirit and truth. But it comes at a cost: it requires us to pry our fingers off of God’s project and stop trying to control it, lest we quench the free movement of the Spirit among the people. Inner transformation doesn’t happen according to our managed programs.

And now I raise a probing personal question for us all: Am I merely striving after a renewal of the “old wineskin” — or do I want God’s best?

If renovation is all we want, then we’ll keep diverting our attention to the ruptures, just like the Samaritan woman did at first. And we’ll keep expending fruitless energy patching the cracks. We’ll end up spiritually bankrupt, with little to give. That’s the sad prognosis of EDD.

Why strive for second best when we can have God’s best? Why strive after something that won’t satisfy, when we can be truly fulfilled and effective through Christ’s “living water”?

Do you want God’s best for you, regardless of personal cost? Then that’s what you’ll go after, and that’s what you’ll receive: “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:22)

Diane Eaton is a member of the Board of Directors of The Renewal Fellowship. A version of this article first appeared as a PresbyCan Daily Devotional.