Information, the Church, and the Christian life

 

A little History

When the church was born 2000 years ago, information was in short supply. There is more information in the weekend edition of the New York Times than an apostle would have encountered in an entire life time. People tended to think deeply on relatively small bits of information, rather than process large quantities of information. The church would digest a letter from Paul. They would study the Old Testament. They would think deeply and profoundly through a few things. (If you read the thinking surrounding the church councils one sees that they tend to think more precisely than most Christians do today. This is also true of the early Puritans) 

I find it hard to imagine a world where there are no news papers, or radio interviews, or 6 o’clock news casts. But if the disciples wanted news of a church 100 miles away they would have to wait for a traveller from that town to arrive in their city. In our church, if we want news from the churches or missionaries we support, we Skype them into our church service.

When the church was first started, books were rare. Most people were illiterate. Only the very rich would own a lot of books.

Discipleship

When I think about that world, and when I think of current discipleship, I see a disconnect. Our discipleship is information driven. Sermons are good when they tell the people something new. Everyone owns a bible (or ten). To disciple someone means that we take them through this book study or that program – most of which is information driven. We have access to all kinds of pod casts, Christian books, Christian videos, Christian Radio, Christian C.D.’s Christian Websites, all of which are giving us information.

More Current History

When I became a pastor 27 years ago, before the time of the internet, I had access to information that no one else had. I pastored in a small town, and my personal library was best theological library in that small town. My theological library contained about 3000 books. When I went to school I made my library a priority.

This made me the theological expert in my small town. If people wanted information on theology they came to me. If people wanted resources to study the bible they came to me.

Current Reality

I now have a Samsung Tablet and Kindle account. There are very few weeks that go by where I don’t download a good book for free. Everybody has access to good information. This morning I downloaded Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts  by Jerry Bridges. The challenge now is not access to information, the challenge is the time assimilate the information.

However, even in saying that, you will notice how far our discipleship model has strayed from the first century. Discipleship in the first century was not about assimilating information. It was about something different.

Discipleship in the New Testament

It would seem that discipleship in the New Testament was primarily about the work of the Spirit in a person’s life. The work of the Spirit on the inside would then be translated into how one lived with others on the outside. Christian living was not about living out some philosophical system, it was about Christ in you, and the love of Christ through you. It was not so much about what you knew, but about what Christ had done in you. It was about your testimony.

There was some basic information that one had to master. At one point in early church history, one was required to memorize the book of Mark before one could be baptized. But discipleship had less to do with information, and more to do with the Spirit of God, and one’s own heart, and living out faith in community.

Discipleship was less about reading one’s bible every day. Few people could read and fewer people had access to a Bible. It was however, learning to follow Jesus by his Spirit.

Keeping the Main thing the Main thing.

We live in a world driven by information. Information doubles in our world every 10 years. The church has bought into discipleship by information. The reality is that we are going to have to deal with the information because of the world we live in. But information should never be mistaken for the core of the gospel. The person of Jesus, the power of the Spirit, and life in the community were at the historic core of the gospel. When we substitute secondary things (like information) for the main thing our faith gets warped, our churches malfunction, and our lives are impoverished.