Faith Without Corporate Church Structure

As those who regularly, physically attend church in a corporate church building have, in recent months, no longer been able to maintain that routine, this quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer scholar Dallas M. Roark might be a good way to pause and consider the actual role we assign to church in our Christian walk. 

In summarizing Bonhoeffer's thoughts, Roark writes:

"A doctrinal system, a church structure, and other substitutes for the Living Christ render discipleship irrelevant." Dallas Roark

Lest we think of discipleship in terms of applying to someone else, I take the above quote to point directly to each and every Christian, including church leaders. 

Discipleship is something that all Christians, as disciples of Christ, participate in on an on-going basis, and the Discipler is Christ. 

The minute a person or group attempts to intervene, co-oopt, downplay or remove that truth, is the minute corporate church reveals itself as being more about anything and everything else than about Jesus.

copyright Barb Harwood

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Being Alone and Yet in the Faith

"Blessed is he who is alone in the strength of the fellowship and blessed is he who keeps the fellowship in the strength of aloneness." 
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

The Yoke That Some Have Made of Baptism

Although the topic of baptism can and does fill volumes of published works, I will simply address one important mis-appropriation of the meaning and purpose of baptism.

When I was baptized as a Christian, after thoroughly first “weighing the cost” (Luke 14:28-30), my understanding of what I was doing was that I was agreeing with God regarding my own personal sin, and desiring and planning to act upon His on-going transformation of my heart, mind, body and soul. 

I did not believe baptism saved me. I believed, for me, baptism was an outworking of having been already saved (freed from lord of self) and wanting to follow through on John the Baptist’s call to baptism, which Jesus fully endorsed. 

I had been a Christian for about 12 years at the time of my baptism, which took place in a small rural church. 

As I mentioned, I did not come lightly to the font: I had given it great thought and prayer, searching the Scriptures to come into a right motivation for it. It was so important to me that this baptism was Biblically informed and desired, and not done to please or obey any person, leader, denomination or church. I did not want to rotely go through the motions of a “rite” or “ceremony.”

So it was with much chagrin and amazement that, as I walked down the aisle after the service, still holding my damp towel from having dried off after my full baptismal submersion, a main leader of the church met me and congratulated me by saying, 

“Now you are accountable to the church.” 

I was speechless and felt manipulated.

Because that, indeed, was not why I had freely chosen to be baptized, and I had never heard that reasoning before. 

Since then, I have on occasion heard others interpret baptism this way.

But is that the point and purpose of baptism? To be “accountable to the corporate church?”

R.T. France writes in his Tyndale New Testament Commentary on Matthew that John the Baptist’s 

“prophetic ministry…called all to repentance instead of recruiting for a closed and ritual-bound community…”

“Repent means more than ‘be sorry’ or even ‘change your mind’; it echoes the Old Testament prophets frequent summons to Israel to ‘return’ to God, to abandon their rebellion and come back into covenant-obedience. This radical conversion is necessary in the light of the coming of the kingdom of heaven which here means the establishment of God’s rightful sovereignty in judgment and in salvation, i.e. the Messianic age.”

France goes on to say that those being baptized were not seeking “ceremonial purification…Their baptism was a token of repentance involving confessing their sins.” 

Wayne Jackson, in the article The Establishment of the Church of Christ published on the Christian Courier website, points out that while some scholars in the 1930’s claimed that the “church of the New Testament was set up and organized by Jesus Christ during his personal ministry on earth,” there actually was not yet a New Testament at that time, so therefore no “New Testament Church” could even exist or be established. 

So if the church did not exist at the time of John the Baptist—and at the time during which baptism was first modeled and prescribed—how could the meaning of baptism be “accountability to the church?”

Some would say that what is meant by that is our taking a public stand in our commitment to Christ, with many witnesses. 

However, D.A. Carson, in his commentary on Matthew in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, writes:

“Any interpretation demanding either privacy or crowds at Jesus’ baptism as Matthew or Luke report it reads too much into the texts and probably misses the evangelists’ chief points. Jesus came from Galilee (Mark specifies Nazareth) to be baptized by John,…and as a result the Father testified to his Son. This much is common to all three accounts, and it matters little whether only John heard this heavenly witness or whether the crowds heard it as well.”

Another support for there not needing to be a large congregational witness to one’s baptism (and thus implied accountability to the church) is Philip’s baptizing, right then and there—in water at the side of a desert road—of the Ethiopian eunuch. 

“The eunuch answered Philip and said, “Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?’ And Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.' And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch, and he baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went on his way rejoicing.” Acts 8:34-39

Notice how, post-baptism, the eunuch “went on his way rejoicing.”

Which brings me to the whole point. 

Paul sums it up beautifully:

“It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

This isn’t to say one should not attend or join a church. 

It is to say that the purpose of one’s baptism is not for accountability to the church, but to Christ. 

Many churches, sadly, mingle allegiances, or boldly promote a single allegiance to a denomination (it’s bylaws, confessions, statements, etc.), a political party, cause, pastor, Bible translation or no Bible at all. 

So it follows then that if our baptism makes us now “accountable to the church,” that opens up a really large can of worms of confusion as to who, exactly, we are to follow: Christ? Or the “leadership” and fellow members of our local congregation?

Church is for enjoying fellowship and service opportunities, becoming other-focused and growing mature in Spirit, with Christ as the only Cornerstone.

It fails in that regard the minute anyone ties a rope of church expectations to one’s baptism (or to church membership for that matter) usurping and drawing a person away from the pure and discerning Christ and His Gospel. 

Copyright Barb Harwood

God Be With Me and I Also With Him

I'm beginning to realize that, up till now, I prepared for challenging events, situations and social visits by praying,

“I need you for this, God. I’m really going to need you there with me.” 

And sure enough, God goes right there with me. 

But then, during the event, situation or visit, when my ire is pricked due to some comment that was to be expected from the usual suspect (this is why I pleaded that God be with me, right?) or the famously-toxic individual shows up as caustic as ever, although God is there too, I fail to rely on Him for the self-monitoring of my angst, mental self-talk, and react-from-the-hip inner resentment. 

Walking into gatherings or a work group, or spending time with individuals who never fail to push our buttons, is a boxing match where we are tempted to counter a verbal punch with our own (be it verbal or a seething internal mental punch). God is with us, alright, but in that aggravating moment we have instantly lost sight of Him. 

That’s because, for me, anyway, my prayer that God be with me is meant in the sense of His moral support or witness of the circumstances taking place. I want God on my team, and that’s typically where I leave Him—somewhere in the outfield while I’m at the plate singlehandedly swinging the bat; striking out.

Instead, I realize now, when I pray for God to be with me, imploring Him,

“I really need You” 

I must also now mean to pray that I also be and stay with God.

This requires that, in the throes of the difficult moment, I don’t break with God by becoming pulled into family disputes and gossip, or frustrated in the discomfort of strong-willed or dominant personalities, or irritated from having to work together on a team of people who take an entirely different approach and attitude than I do regarding a project.

It’s great for God to be with us, and for us to want Him there. That serves a huge purpose in comfort and needed courage. 

But to follow our commitment to Christ through all the way, and grow in the process, we can pray that we, in turn, be with God—that we are intentional with Him in keeping our sin tendencies in check so as to pass whatever social or familial test that awaits us. 

This is made easier when we remember that that is the whole point:

“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10 (see also Micah 6:8). (It took me many years to understand that “good works” includes keeping my own self in check).

The amazing reality is that God has already set up our way to maturity, integrity, joy and contentment. He has already prepared us. And He has provided us with an additional sense—the Holy Spirit. 

This is what being born again is about: not just God walking with us, but us willingly—even when it’s hard and we don’t want to—walking with Him too.

God assures us that, when we stick with Him in our thoughts, responses and actions, He will give us the thumbs up (Matthew 10:40; Galatians 6:9; Philippians 3:14; Colossians 3:23; Hebrews 10:23, 11:6; James 1:12; Psalm 19 ).  

And we will begin to observe the miracle of the dismantling of personal hornets’ nests that, up till now, have haunted us because “these things” always seem to go the same infuriating way. And even though they do continue on in that dysfunctional manner for everyone else, for once and forever, they can and do go a different way for us because we lived Christ, not ourself. 

People and situations rarely change (even switching jobs or cities often brings the same conflicts, personality clashes, and politics, only involving a different cast of characters). 

That’s where compassion and objective discernment can enter in if we train them to— by accepting the hard and true fact that without God, parents, siblings, co-workers, professors, bosses and neighbors don’t even realize they must change, or how to do it. 

The only control we have is to be actively reliant upon our Messiah, thinking and responding accordingly, enlisting His changing of us. 

Any unfairness, old wounds or needling of our patience can be dealt with later, alone, with the God who knows every hair upon our head (Luke 12:7 ), and who delights to spend time nurturing His children back to sound emotional health (Luke 18:13; 1 Corinthians 2:9; Philippians 4:6; James 1:12; 2 Chronicles 16:9a; Psalm 17; Psalm 19:12-14, Psalm 51; Lamentations 3:22-23). 

Copyright Barb Harwood

FEAR versus Fear in a Pandemic

And now for something completely different (in the words of legendary Monty Python):

Fear.

Or, I should say, FEAR.

Not only has COVID been shutting down the world, but the media are using it to launch a campaign of FEAR (all caps).

And FEAR (all caps) is what is different.

In my grandma’s day, fear (all lower caps) was the norm.  

Lower cap fear responds (as opposed to reacts) accordingly:

"Yes, we acknowledge there is a problem, crisis, tribulation."

"No we will not drop everything because of it. We will adapt without much ado."

And finally, 

"The Lord will take us to a better place if and when we don’t make it in this one" (and we all know it ends with when).

Sure, there were folks who succumbed to FEAR (all caps) back in grand-dad’s day. But it wasn’t the norm; the accepted and the expected, as it is, I believe, today.

FEAR is hyper, dramatic and worst case-focused. 

Fear, lower caps, is strength and integrity in spite of rational doubts and uneasiness. It is cautious, but not hysterical; considerate, not paranoid. 

FEAR is the becoming undone. 

Fear is holding it together through steady perseverance and non-theatrical adjusting.

And one of the most logical ways to keep it together and not be sucked in by the hype, is to post a “No Trespassing” sign for the media to cease their traipsing across the lawns of our lives with their Chicken Little reporting.

At my alma mater, the University of Wisconsin Madison, where I obtained a Journalism degree, we were taught to report the news objectively (all editorials were limited to one place in the newspaper, the Op-Ed page, and readers clearly knew that what appeared there was someone’s opinion). Objective reporting was the mandate, be it written or broadcast.

Dictionary.com defines objective as:

“not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased”

“belonging to the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject.”

The media has gradually jettisoned its credo of objectivity and we are seeing the dire consequences of that in the sheer panic it is injecting into society and people’s homes today.

I know that people are dying from COVID. They join all the other people who have died tragically in the past and who will continue to pass away in the future. Plagues, wars, disasters, cancer, and suicides by the hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1.35 million people are killed annually on roadways globally, which amounts to 3,700 traffic deaths each day.

Have we seen outrage and obsessive reporting from the Press in regard to people not wearing seatbelts? Have television commentators spit nails nightly over drunk drivers who kill--a public disaster that can be much more easily eradicated than this virus?

And would the viewers fall in right behind, up-in-arms over drunk drivers' lack of "concern for others"? 

The Centers for Disease Control also reports:

"While the impact of flu varies, it places a substantial burden on the health of people in the United States each year. CDC estimates that influenza has resulted in between 9 million – 45 million illnesses, between 140,000 – 810,000 hospitalizations and between 12,000 – 61,000 deaths annually since 2010.

During the 2017-2018 season, the percentage of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) was at or above the epidemic threshold for 16 consecutive weeks. During the past five seasons, the average number of weeks this indicator was above threshold was 11 (range of 7 to 15 weeks). Nationally, mortality attributed to P&I exceeded 10.0% for four consecutive weeks, peaking at 10.8% during the week ending January 20, 2018."

Note that 16 weeks at or above the epidemic threshold is about 4 months.


The World Health Organization states that:

“Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally, and is responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018. Globally, about 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer.

Around one third of deaths from cancer are due to the 5 leading behavioral and dietary risks: high body mass index, low fruit and vegetable intake, lack of physical activity, tobacco use, and alcohol use."

According to Our World in Data, as of today, there have been 19 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, 11.5 million recoveries and 712,000 deaths.

Again, I clearly do not want to minimize or belittle this pandemic, just as I would never diminish the shattered lives from cancer, alcohol abuse, or car accidents.

It’s about putting this pandemic, which could blaze on or smolder for many more months, into perspective so that we don’t succumb to FEAR.

“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.” Hebrews 2:1

The Bible frequently acknowledges the temptation to be cajoled away from our unwavering view of life in Christ to despair and finger-pointing. But Christ experienced suffering and death, overcoming it, so that he “might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Hebrews 2:15).

Are we more afraid of dying from COVID, or even just experiencing it first-hand, than we are of cancer, dying in a car accident, or crossing the street? If the answer is yes, we need to ask ourselves why.

Could the answer be our feeding constantly on social and news media which has become the brew master of this virus, distilling it in our hearts and minds until we are drunk with delirium, in spite of the fact that there are many “worse things” still out there that could do us in but which we don’t allow to terrify us?

If we imbibe FEAR, there’s a good chance we will become FEARFUL (again, all caps).

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21.

Many hearts are allowing social and mass media to beguile with the jewels of catastrophe, causing them to take their mind off of all that Christ has taught and carried us through.

To get, at minimum, back down to a healthy fear:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things” (Philippians 4:8).

We can still harbor a bit of fear, but it is de-stabilized and put into its proper place along with all of the qualities mentioned above.

The perfect love and guidance of God does not cast out death, or sickness, broken-heartedness, frustration, doubt, boredom or various grades of depression. It casts out all fear because there is no fear in His love (1 John 4:18).

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Jesus has overcome all the bad stuff in the world, so that we may have His peace while we are yet in the bad stuff. 

Pandemics aren’t fun.

But under the shepherding of Him who has already overcome it, the pandemic is overcome in us, too.


Copyright Barb Harwood

What Is the Narrow Path?

Twenty years into having opened and entered through the gate offered by the Messiah, I sit back quietly, in the midst of a stilled world, and ponder this “narrow path” I’ve been on. 

At times I was humanly sure of my faith trajectory; at other times, not so much. At times God assured me of direction; other times, not.

If I had had a spiritual GPS the last twenty years, I believe it would have imploded. 

And now? Where have I landed?

If I had to put into words the answer—something nebulous yet clear; cloudy yet transparent; a bit of a conundrum but a puzzle that makes complete sense—I would quote the following words of Christ to define what I now understand to be the narrow path:

“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:2-5

Now, the crux of this entire verse is to not forgo verses 2-5a and jump to the end: “and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

Many take liberties with Scripture due to lack of God’s conviction, myself included. In addition, I often disregard God’s clear conviction in favor of going where my heated, mischievous heart so enjoys to take me. 

In a nutshell, this is obedience: disregarding the tricks of our heart for the clear conscience of God upon us, and it is upon us via His Spirit at all times. But we would rather be over here, clunking other people on the head for their faults in spite of us having just as many, if not more, and often the very same faults we condemn in others.

Does this verse about being careful how we judge preclude any judgement at all? No, even Jesus says, 

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16 (think Martin Luther King Jr., William Wilberforce, Deborah Sampson and Rosa Parks as examples of those of integrity who were "shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves").

The key is not to be a wolf, especially one in sheep’s clothing, nor to be hoodwinked or drawn by wolves into their narcissistic negativism (fault-finding, complaining, and thinking the worst first, thus automatically writing people and “culture” off). 

We are to judge ourselves in God’s discernment as well as the people and world around us. But it only works when we judge all, including ourselves, in this way.

Just as we are to love others as ourself, we are to judge others as ourself. We love and judge all-in-one, under God and in His Way, because that’s the only way our hearts will not deceive (and let’s be honest: we are often quite aware of the heart’s deceit. We just choose to rely on cheap grace to ignore it).

The narrow path, then, is this: subject ourselves to God for His love and affirmation, removing that duty from the people and world around us, thus freeing us from so much narcissism. 

In that way we, as newborn babes, enter through the gate of God and join His impartial grace for everyone equally. 

Father, Son and Holy Spirit: the only hands of which to grasp as the gate closes securely behind us and we go forth with only them down the narrow path, all the way, to its end. 

Copyright Barb Harwood