Larry Miller

Churches – Large and Small

There has been a debate for some time about whether a small church or large church is the best place to be. I can only talk about my experiences. Over the past several decades we have seen the development of mega churches... particularly in the evangelical community. So…

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I was listening to a pastor explaining why additional Bible study classes were necessary for those looking to go beyond a surface understanding of the scripture. He said there were of many new people and new Christians in the Sunday morning services and they didn't have the preparation for some of d…

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Having been around to remember the assassination of John Kennedy and his brother Bobby, Martin Luther King Jr, Medgar Evers and Malcolm X, and now, Charlie Kirk along with multiple attempts on President Trump's life as well as attacks on innocent school children, it appears that things that just d…

Read more

A few weeks ago I spent a glorious week in Clearwater FL. My room had a great view of the intracoastal waterway and Clearwater Beach. Unfortunately since I was in Morton Plant Hospital for triple bypass surgery, I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy it very often. The people there were first class …

Read more

Churches – Large and Small

There has been a debate for some time about whether a small church or large church is the best place to be. I can only talk about my experiences. Over the past several decades we have seen the development of mega churches... particularly in the evangelical community. Some see this as an impediment to the church actually fulfilling it's function in the world and other see it as the way the church really should be working.

Those who choose to attend a more local community church appreciate knowing pretty much every one in the body. This is the kind of church I grew up in and the music was generally the hymns of the church that brought comfort to the members in times of trouble and joy. People pitched in when there was a need. We lived in rural Pennsylvania at the time and there was a family in a neighboring church whose barn was burned to the ground. The members of their church got together and built them another one.

These organizations were run by a pastor and a fairly small staff with member volunteers handling most of the work. At times these volunteers confused their opinion with biblical mandate and an occasional squabble would arise. Often they were resolved with a few ruffled feathers, but at times, they led to factions going their own separate ways.

On the other hand, some churches turned their focus outward, looking beyond the scope of their current membership to those in the area that had no connection to their Creator. Most of the time there was a genuine concern for the lost neighbors, even though a few ego driven, numbers seeking leaders were more concerned about building their brand and status.

Whether real, imagined, or statistically driven, changes were made to the operation of these churches as they desired to bring in new people. Leaders believed people would be put off by “old fashioned” church music. (I discussed here this a few weeks ago) They have substituted theologically correct but sometimes musically lacking contemporary worship music that often contains much repetition – as in helping newcomers get a few things settled in their minds. The “sermon” became a “Bible study”. “Sunday school” became a variety of names... I think the current term at my church is “life group”

Bible studies did not go as deep as before and are often geared to the new comer, or “seeker”. Those desiring an better knowledge of the Word of God were encouraged to go to their life group or other classes scheduled to help the new believer grow.

All these changes are enough to encourage those looking for a traditional body where they can feel comfortable to find such churches in the area. Some church growth gurus believe this is a good thing. I'm not sure making any members, new or old, feel unwelcome is the best idea. Most others accept the changes, some with enthusiasm and other grudgingly.

So, is this a good thing or not? I can't speak for all mega churches, only the one that I am part of. There are some inconveniences to the old members and many of the new members don't appreciate what has gone on before. With the steady steam of new music coming along they may never have the kind of connection we had to the John Newton and Amazing Grace or even Bill Gaither and He Touched Me.

With all the seeming negatives with a large church bringing people in from the community, are the benefits that keep people coming back, even when everything is not completely to their liking?

For me, the benefits can be summed up in one number. Six hundred and fifty people were baptized last year, some in the auditorium (not sanctuary any more) of my church and some on the beach of the Gulf of America. That is six hundred and fifty people who decided to accept the salvation offered by the blood of Jesus. For those who think that is no big deal – and there are churches who have seen much larger results – it comes down to the purpose of the church – making and descipling new believers.

Considering the eternal implications of the decision, THIS IS the mission of the church.

Despite the disruption of the traditional worship, our life group, or whatever we call it this year, is a place where we get to know each other, pray with each other and help each other when there is a need. As with the smaller churches, most of the work is done by member volunteers. Of course the paid staff is much larger, but so is the need and the things that have to be done, so there is plenty of opportunity to volunteer in the area that most closely fits you interest and skills.

When I look at the multi-million dollar budget, I can see that my little contribution doesn't mean that much – but if everyone thought that way, nothing would get done. So every contribution means something. When we all do our part, good things happen. I can deal with the first half hour of the Sunday service and listen to music that speaks to me at home.

As Charlie Martin has said: You have to keep the main thing the main thing.

I was listening to a pastor explaining why additional Bible study classes were necessary for those looking to go beyond a surface understanding of the scripture. He said there were of many new people and new Christians in the Sunday morning services and they didn't have the preparation for some of deeper studies. This brought to mind Paul's admonition to the church at Corinth that they were still consuming the milk of the gospel and had not yet progressed to the meat of the Word.

Then my mind turned to the “worship music” heard so often in these same services. While some of this is actually good music, that does not seem to be a requirement as it is often one dimensional and relies on repetition rather than skillfully crafted lyrics and melodies. Having said that, repetition, in itself, is not necessarily bad given the target audience of new believers and seekers. It is the same programming principle used by many others for nefarious purposes.

Repetition does have a way working it's way into the minds of the singers and listeners. For a few weeks I even find some phrases stuck in my head from some song that I found wanting in many areas. Then another new song would come along to replace it and the memory is gone. Some songs sing of joy but hardly produce any – at least not in the range of a Sunday evening in a Pentecostal church.

There are many contributing factors to this musical migration. I guess a large part is the tendency of younger generation to assert its own style and values – this applies to both sacred and secular music. We've seen this in early fifties when boogie woogie replaced the big bands of the forties. Then Elvis brought the country into the rock'n roll era. Then the malaise brought on by the Vietnam war turned music from the unbridled joyful enthusiasm of Little Richard to the more somber efforts like Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction. Then on to the “classic rock”... so it goes with tastes shifting every decade or so.

The same could be said within Christian music that went from hymn books in the pews to George Beverly Shea to the Imperials, to Carmen – and so on. Times change and tastes change – but there are forces pushing and accelerating these changes beyond the generational desire for something of their own.

The music business – both secular and sacred – requires a steady stream of new material to sell to the consuming public. If I am happy with my Linda Ronstadt music, which I am, then Taylor Swift comes as a nice try. Similarly, I am happy with the Cathedrals, Jordanaires and Keith Green, and many of the things they are peddling today that give me little inspiration? Yet they push and push – gotta make a buck. So it is also an institutional effort to replace the music that has comforted people for decades... centuries even.

Change is the only constant in our lives. If we are seeking our Creator, He won't let us get too far sidetracked by either the traditional or contemporary music we are led to sing. If today's guitar strumming worship leader leaves you cold, it's good to remember that he has a responsibility to the Creator and he may be doing exactly what he is supposed be doing for the new people in the congregation. If he is not, it is a much higher power he must answer to. This is why it is essential to keep the worship leaders in our prayers just as we do the pastors.

What this means is that, just like additional study being necessary for a more complete understanding of scripture, you may find the inspiration you need at other times from other sources. For instance, I usually prepare my breakfast to the sounds of Pandora's Southern Gospel station that features the greats of the past, to which I added a little Andre Crouch. If I want some of the newer artists, I play the Karen Peck station... or for something a little more radical: Larry Norman.

The thing to remember is that Sunday morning isn't the only time to hear, appreciate and learn from Christian music – or at least it shouldn't be.

PS: If you've never heard of some of these people mentioned, check them out. You may be surprised what is out there.

Having been around to remember the assassination of John Kennedy and his brother Bobby, Martin Luther King Jr, Medgar Evers and Malcolm X, and now, Charlie Kirk along with multiple attempts on President Trump's life as well as attacks on innocent school children, it appears that things that just don't happen in this country really do happen in our country. Despite the tales we are told about the disaffected loners on some of the other killings, this lone shooter seems to be true on the last few, but is it?

On top of this, we are seeing legal action taken against political opponents in order to smear them publicly or, with success, remove them from the political game. We saw the Russian interference hoax attempt to damage Donald Trump. Despite the fact that it was proven to have no relationship to reality, it was endorsed by many people in positions of governmental authority and used as the basis for FISA warrants to spy on American citizens.

The January 6 investigators produced all sorts of specious “evidence” that there was an uprising in Washington. Somehow all this “evidence” disappeared when the new administration took office. Now we are learning that the FBI had more than 200 plain clothes agents / provocateurs, embedded in the crowd.

Many of these things were actionable crimes and as I write this James Comey has just been indicted on two counts... with more indictments to follow we are told. We will face a chorus of political revenge complaints form the left, but what else can we do when there have been attempts to subvert our political system and laws broken? Often times such shenanigans have been overlooked to keep from rocking the boat and many times the guilty parties have been charged with oversight of the criminal actions. We really cannot allow this to continue and it appears that the current administration is working in this direction.

The danger we are facing is that the party that created lawfare – the practice of using courts and contrived evidence to damage or eliminate political opponents – will use this prosecution of criminal activity as an excuse to justify more of the unproven and unprovable charges should the return to power.

Given the willingness of a segment of our population to swallow anything they want to be true as gospel, this puts more of the unbalanced and unthinking into acting as lone gunmen to take out those opposed to their agenda. While some of the earlier killings appear to be organized and promoted by those who are charged with preventing such things we have to keep in mind the CIA MK-ULTRA program that had, among other goals, the development of mind control techniques that would turn innocent subjects into assassins without their knowledge or memory.

We are told that the project was abandoned – but then we are told many things. Sirhan Sirhan claims to have no memory of his attempt to kill Robert Kennedy. After eliminating Lee Oswald, Jack Ruby acted like he didn't know why the police jumped on him and wrestled him to the ground.

I have no evidence that the deep state performed such actions with the present day shooters, but even without that, the steady barrage of negative misinformation from party leaders and the compliant press could easily enough led unstable people to act out their violent fantasies. In the days of MK-ULTRA the handler had to be in contact with the victim, today they can sit in their air conditioned offices or by their pool and scan the internet to find people primed for violence and provide the encouragement to take action. MK-ULTRA 2.0 is not outside the realm of possibility.

So the current administration is faced with the dilemma of prosecution of crimes that cannot be ignored and opening up the opposition to claims of political revenge and motivating them expand their lawfare activities – or – letting the misdeeds be swept under the rug of public opinion, thus letting them know they are not held accountable for their crimes and encouraging them to continue.

It would take the wisdom of Solomon to figure this out. I would come down on the side of doing the right thing with strength and courage rather than running off in fear. Often doing the right thing is not easy, but understanding it is simple.

A few weeks ago I spent a glorious week in Clearwater FL. My room had a great view of the intracoastal waterway and Clearwater Beach. Unfortunately since I was in Morton Plant Hospital for triple bypass surgery, I didn't have the opportunity to enjoy it very often. The people there were first class and I received very good care.

However, as two nurses were figuring out what to do about the sore on my left buttock, it occurred to me: there is no dignity in the hospital. First, they start you out with those ridiculous gowns, then they come wandering into your room at all hours of the night. My favorites were the merry band of x-ray techs that burst in every night around 3 AM. One shoved a board under my back and the other took the picture.

All the patients suffered the same indignities. I tried to moderate it by wearing a robe, but to limited effect. We accepted it because we all needed something and all the wires and tubes attached to us made the gowns part of the deal.

It didn't matter if we arrived in a new Lexus or twenty year old Honda, or even had an original Shelby Cobra at home in the garage. It didn't matter if they wore Armani suits, Walmart jeans or Jimmy Buffet Hawaiian shirts. It didn't matter if they had a high rise condo, a small rented house, or a home on the water. We were all there seeking the same care and receiving it. Hopefully everyone went home with the mission accomplished.

Sometimes it seems to be just the opposite when we gather at our church. We see the some fancy cars in the parking lot and how people dress. We may even know where some of them live. But this is just the veneer that is obvious to all and there are some people who are quick to size up other members and interact with them based on these visible factors.

They are irrelevant! Coming into a house of worship is not the place to show everyone how much we have things together, but to get help becoming more like our Creator. The church is a hospital for the sick... and if we make out like we have no needs we miss out on the value of attending. This involves spiritually putting on the flimsy hospital gown. God already knows everything about us, we aren't hiding anything from him... just like in the hospital where they all know what is under the gown.

It is when we come into the presence of the Lord and drop our pretense of being fine that He can help us and we can grow closer to Him. There is nothing wrong with having nice things, but don't let them keep you from associating people less fortunate. If you come in with your spiritual act, some people will fall for it, but that will be your reward and nothing more... and it may keep you from the eternity you say you are seeking.

I was once in a men's Bible study when one of the men commented on how frustrated he was about some of the things he still was dealing with, not as successfully as he would have liked. I told him to look around the room and he could tell the perfect people who had everything together because they had halos above their heads. He nodded and smiled – he got it.

So set aside all the pretense of needing nothing and put on the gown of one who needs what the Creator has to offer – remember, he already knows all about you – and ask for His forgiveness and direction. No matter how good you think you are – you still can't measure up.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9