Jeopardy Churches
2009 January 26
Len Sweet talks about the passing of the Jeopardy churches: churches that think their job is to answer every question. (I guess more precisely to match the show, they provide the exact question to fit every answer!)
Most people aren’t dying to be with people who think they know everything. It’s much more exciting to be on a journey — where everyone’s insights and everyone’s experiences are valued and then considered through interaction and discernment.
People don’t need to be given a thousand answers. They need to be invited to follow the One who is himself the Answer/the Way. They need to be invited to a life that is other than self-obsession, self-preoccupation, and self-preservation.
The way of the cross. That is the answer.
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“Most people aren’t dying to be with people who think they know everything.” That is true, but remember when we were younger? There was a time when we sure admired the people whom we thought knew everything, knew every answer to every doctrinal issue and quirk. But thanks be to God we are learning to be people who walk by grace, mercy, and love. And now I admire people who ask questions (not Jeapordy style) and are real about life and their walk with God, people who put relationship over institutional mindset.
Of course, we’ve got to go further than the “excitement standard.” It is not enough. Can we build a credible case that even the hint of certitude (as opposed to modest and circumscribed forms of certainty) is counter-gospelicious? qb thinks it’s possible. And it’s possible that this generation has an innate affinity to an humbler epistemology, whereas previous generations have had to learn it (qb included). qb
“People don’t need to be given a thousand answers. They need to be invited to follow the One who is himself the Answer/the Way.”
Very true! We could learn a lot from John the Baptist (Jn 3) who, in the face of people arguing due to Jesus baptizing people as well, simply pointed to Jesus saying “he must increase, I must decrease.”
Grace and peace,
Rex
The “passing of Jeopardy churches”? I only wish it were true.
Funny. With all the confusion and anger over the question of why Churches of Christ are diminishing (and over the exclusion of some churches that have included “instrumental” worship) I was thinking today about how intimidated I would feel to approach a Church of Christ if I knew little about the Bible.
In fact, it’s not entirely a question of Bible knowledge and getting doctrines “up to snuff.” My first weeks at Harding (coming from the independent Christian Churches) were mostly spent in silence as I attempted to learn the lingo and blend in. The thought of being “discovered” worried me (odd, too, considering that at the time I was so ridiculously conservative in theology) so much that when a classmate asked me if I wanted to go to a “Gospel Meeting” I went. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT WAS before I went. I got there and thought, “Oh, so that’s their term for ‘Revival.’”
Is heaven a destination, or simply a greatly-expanded and more intimate version of the Quest?
“The way of the cross. That is the answer.”
Exactly… and that is what I concentrate on proclaiming week after week after week… not so that we can finally “get it” or “acheive it” but so that we can remember it on Tuesday when we have to live his teachings out on our jobs, at school, in our homes… sigh. That is enough for me.
Jim
Kinda makes me recast one of my favorite quotes, from Eric Hoffer: “In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” Replace ‘learners’ with ‘pilgrims’ and ‘the learned’ with ‘experts’ and it’s still true.
I don’t understand why there are not many more comments on this post. This is a much deeper issue than music and worship style, this is about open theology and the way we interact with people outside of a relationship with Jesus. The implications of not being a Jeopardy church would not just change the way we worship, but the way the Churches of Christ preach, teach, and do out reach. What would it do for our dwindling numbers if we repented of acting like we had all the answers, and asked our communities to come join us in our quest for a more meaningful relationship with Jesus?
Are you now sayng that absolutes make no Difference ? There are some who are even sayning that the teaching about the atonement needs to be dumbed down. Be careful about teaching about blood and sacrifice.
This gets frustrating. Sure and I have said it constantly : teach the gospel , death , burial and resurrection . Be a people of compassion. Reach out with kinndness; be Christ – like. But then do we tell those who are searching that baptism is not important, and it really does not matter how you worship and how a local church is goverened is not worth even mentioning. And what do we teach about moral purity. My point being what then do we choose to eleminate as unimportant to teach.No , not a jeapordy church but can we not fully be local churches of Christ and live the doctine we teach ? I Tim 4 : 16.
I heard it said once that “it’s not about knowing the answers to all the questions, it’s about knowing Him”. That’s become my mantra – or at least one of them. More than anything I want to know God more. I’ve found that everything else – all the missions, all the fruit, all the acts of love and kindness – come out of that one thing, intimacy with the Father. And I can’t seem to get enough.
We visited a c of C this weekend. Bible class was II Timothy but the teacher spent the whole hour knocking other churches. Was this uplifting? Absolutely not. I wished that I wasn’t there. What if someone brought their loved one from one of those named churches to that class? Would that person jump up and want to be a member of that congregation? No way.
This is serious, but after attending Stream in Franklin, TN this past weekend. We are alive and well.
“The way of the cross. That is the answer.”
If we(I) could get this down, we would be the answer.
“Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” Romans 13:10
I dislike “know-it-all-people” so I dislike “know-it-all-churches.” People who act like they know everything seem to be arrogant to me.
http://www.matthewmorine.com
This cracks me up. Jeporday churches. You know I can’t tell how many churches operate this way send us your Bible question and we will answer it. It is basically saying we know everything and if we don’t we will make up and answer for you.
Amen to this post.
And if these churches are indeed passing- R.I.P.
What’s interesting is that in Jeopardy, they have all the answers… but the participants are required to present the right questions.
How much time has been spent (in churches) giving massive answers to questions that no one even thinks to ask? Like Eileen’s experience in the 2 Timothy class… was anyone even asking to hear how the “other churches” were wrong? No. But that’s what everyone got the hour-long answer to.
What if we decided to let people’s self-identified needs and questions determine what “teaching and answers” we pursued? That would be like being “quick to listen” huh…
Individuals or churches that act like they have all the answers certainly contribute to, maybe even lead to the decline we’re experiencing. And I don’t expect that the posters here would deny this, but the body of Christ ought to be a voice of truth for our communities. And while many are looking for a journey, not answers; there are still people in our communities who need an answer to their question that comes across as authority for their lives.
“My husband is having a career affair. I am so lonely. My new friend is so much more attentive. Can I leave my husband to pursue happiness with this new man?”
“We’re just not sure we want to get married. It’s never occured to us that living together is wrong. Is Jesus OK with us having sex before we are married?”
“Do I really have to forgive my siblings for what they did to me?”
“What do I need to do to be saved?”
“Can I be forgiven for having an abortion?”
“What would Jesus say about two men having sex?”
“Some people I talked with told me that Jesus has not always existed. Is that true? How important is it for me to believe that he is equal with God?”
“My daughter told me that she is converting to Islam. How should I respond to her?”
You can invite people on a journey AND answer SOME of the significant questions that people have. We shouldn’t act like we have all the answwers. We don’t even know all the questions yet! But we better have some answers.
Let’s don’t forget that there are lots of different syestems of thinking still in communities. Some folks have more questions than others and we should not leave any of them behind.
The fact I link to brother Cope’s blog raised a red flag for a Ning administrator: http://tinyurl.com/dxjbm3
Is there to be no certainty in our teaching ? Do we , in an attempt to appear to be loving and compassionate denounce any kind of absolutes ? Do we ever state that there is false teaching in the world? Paul was very upset when he wrote Galatians. Do we ever say that there is sin and consequences ? Can we teach about the fruit of the Spirit but also warn about the works of the flesh ? Or do we just let it be whatever you think, we are all on a journey and no one really has an answer so join us on the journey and bring along your opinion and we will dsicuss all the ideas floating around but no one will say what is truth ? We can all join hands and no one is offended because no one will ever be told what is right and what is wrong as found in scripture ? Do we say Jesus is the answer or do we hesitate because we do not want to offend ? So will we say , He is one way but there are many ways ? If we teach that He is the way , the truth and the life , will that not be an absolute ? Will that not be an answer ?
Ray B.:
Yes.
qb
P. S. Lest we be tempted to caricature what Mike’s original post is urging us to do – and caricature it unfairly, in qb’s judgment – what he’s essentially asking us to do is exhibit a bit more modesty in our claims and a bit more humility when we think we’re right about something, especially if that something is relatively far from the core of discipleship to Jesus. Surely we can commend that exhortation as good and right, and absolutely so.
I have yet to watch Jeopardy when SOMEBODY knew everything or when SOMEBODY knew nothing. There is a major difference between saying we have all the answers and saying we have none of the answers. There are legitimate questions to ask and discuss. I realize “Teaching them to do all things I have commanded you” can be improperly used as an umbrella for who knows what but that doesn’t take away the need to properly teach.
qb ,
I agree. I have said many times we must speak the truth in love.
Eddy , Right. We cannot abandon teaching scriptures to the best of our understanding.
This makes me think of my new favorite billboard in Abilene. It’s for the Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, and it says, “Got Questions? So Do We.” That sign in and of itself makes me want to know more. Wouldn’t it be great if we could all be as open and honest about our doubts and questions?
My wife and I have are currently in the process of leaving a Jeopardy church where we have been our entire life and are attending a “grace” church (still a church of christ). I 100% agree the church needs a new focus, a new way of spreading the gospel, but on the other hand does it mean that we simply forget about everything except if a person believes in Jesus? I have studied my way out of legalism, but I still think God built his church, that baptism matters, and that there are details that matter. At our new church, we have been there a month and in no class or small group have we opened a Bible! At least at the Jeopardy church we knew where they were going to get their answers. “Speak where the Bible speaks, be silent where the Bible is silent.” One side seems to speak everywhere, the other speaks nowhere. I read your stuff all the time Mike, and I love it, but sometimes I feel like I am simply where you and others were 20 years ago and ultimately you end up where the differences between us and everybody else just doesn’t matter. But they do matter, don’t they? I pray that God saves us all, but it seems wrong of me to just decide “you do what you do, I do what I do, and we will all be OK” if that is not what I read in his word.
thats funny. i was a jeopardy preacher for a long time.
People go to the doctor to get advice and a prescription. Bedside manner is important, but so is competent care.
Beware, lest we trade arrogance for surrender. They are not the only choices.
I have noticed that when most of us want to toss something, we put hyperbole with it (i.e. “a thousand answers”) and that usually gets the job done. It seems ironic that apostolic teaching as the work of the risen Lord was providing answers to the early Church, but we have some hesitancy around the word “answer?” Is Zondervan’s National Pastors Convention, which is currently taking place, filled with speakers hesitant to give answers? I doubt it; a lot of folks are gathering for just that reason — answers!