5 LIES PASTORS ARE TEMPTED TO TELL – AND HOW TO RESIST THEM

No one wants bad news. So we're tempted to downplay the negatives, up-sell the positives and call it faith.

In over 35 years of pastoral ministry, I've known and worked alongside hundreds of pastors. I've met thousands.

I can count the dishonest ones – the wolves in sheep's clothing – on one hand. With fingers left over.

But there are some lies that even the 99+ percent of honest pastors have a hard time resisting.

Here are five of them:

1. How Big Their Church Is

We live in a church growth culture. Bigger is better. Even if we don't say it that way, we believe it.

The pressure to perform tempts us to lie about our attendance figures – especially to other pastors. And denominational officials. And visiting preachers ("The attendance is really down today!").

One of the main reasons we do this is found in the title of this point. Too many pastors see the church as "their" church. So they see the growth (or lack of) as their responsibility.

We're always striving for more. And when we don't hit those goals, we pad the books – in our heads and our conversations, if not in the actual reports. Although sometimes we do that, too.

2. How Healthy the Church Is

No one wants bad news. So we're tempted to downplay the negatives, up-sell the positives and call it faith.

It's been said that the first job of leadership is to define reality. I believe that to be profoundly true.

A big part of defining reality is to acknowledge our weaknesses as well as our strengths.

Leaders lead. But we can't get there from here if we don't have an accurate picture of where "here" is.

3. How Spiritually and Emotionally Strong They Are

Most churches are too pastor-centric. Including the church I pastor.

Too many churches rely far too heavily on one person to cast a vision, preach the Word, visit the sick and so on.

When the pastor is seen as a proxy for Jesus, we're taking on a burden no one was ever meant to bear. So we're tempted to lie about it. To ourselves and others. We present ourselves as paragons of spirituality and virtue. And by doing so we set ourselves up for failure.

Even if it doesn't lead to a moral or emotional flame-out, this over-reliance on the pastor sends the wrong message about who the church is supposed to be focused on and led by.

We need to point to Jesus. Lean on him. And equip the saints to follow him even when we're not around.

4. How Strong and Stable Their Marriage and Family Are

If the pastor is supposed to be near perfect, then so is their marriage and family, right?

Too many pastors' spouses and kids are living under an unreasonable pressure to perform, causing them to live a lie – to themselves and to others.

The only perfect relationship is among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When a pastor’s marriage and family are held to a higher standard than they're capable of living up to – than anyone is capable of living up to – they're being set up for disaster.

The world is filled with pastors and ex-pastors with shattered marriages and families that prove the sad truth behind this lie.

5. How Sure They are About the Church's Direction

We act like we have a clue. We don't. Not really.

Oh sure, every pastor should plan and pray about a vision for the church they're called to lead. And we should present that vision filled with faith and hope.

But we don't really know what the future holds. We've seen visions die before. Including our own. Especially if we've been pastoring for a while.

Plus, pastors aren't the only people capable of hearing from God and acting on it. If we really believe in the priesthood of believers, we should act like it. And that includes vision casting.

RESISTING THE LIES

Pastoring is hard work. But we make it harder than it should be by taking on greater burdens than we were ever meant to carry.

The only way to change this pastor-centric model and shift the burden and the glory back to where it belongs – on Jesus, not the pastor – is to insist on total honesty.

Be honest about how big (or small) the church is.

Only then can our egos get out of the way, allowing churches to be lead appropriately for their size.

Be honest about how healthy or unhealthy the church is.

Only with a proper diagnosis can we hope to treat the church's problems, challenges and possibilities correctly.

Be honest about your own spiritual and emotional health.

It's not right to expose every doubt and weakness to everyone, but we should never present a false self. And we all need to be vulnerable with someone we trust.

Be honest about your marriage and family.

We have to stop holding our spouses and kids up as public examples of unrealistic perfection. And don't let anyone else do it to them, either.

Be honest about the church's future.

If we can let go of our unrealistic (and often unbiblical) plans and expectations, we might find that Christ's plans are very different and far greater than anything we can even imagine. In his hands they’re quite attainable, too.

And that's no lie.

Written by: by Karl Vaters

EGYPT’S WAVE OF PERSECUTION CONTINUES AS MOB STABS CHRISTIAN TO DEATH

 Christians make up 10 percent of Egypt's  population. Many say they have experienced persecution (PA)

Sectarian violence against Christians has recently peaked in the south of the country

A Muslim mob in southern Egypt stabbed a Coptic Christian to death over a personal feud on Monday, stoking anger among Christians amid a spike in assaults on their community.

Bishop Makarios of the southern Minya governorate said the mob attacked the families of two priests with knives and batons in the village of Tahna al-Gabal late Sunday.

A family member, Fam Khalaf, 27, was killed and the father of one of the priests was wounded. Police said they arrested four people in connection with the incident.

On Monday, mourners gathered at a local church for prayers for the dead and protests. Marching to the graveyard, they chanted “with blood and soul, we redeem the cross.”

Christians make up 10 per cent of Egypt’s mostly Muslim population. Sectarian violence occasionally erupts, mainly in rural communities in the south. Islamic extremists have also targeted Christians.

On Saturday, a group of Muslims attacked and torched houses of Christians in the village of Abu-Yacoub, also in Minya, following a rumour that a Christian intended to turn a kindergarten into a church. Security forces arrested at least 14 people. Last week, in another Minya village, Kom al-Lufi, a group of hard-liners attacked and torched houses of Christians after a similar rumour.

In May, a Muslim mob stripped an elderly Christian woman of her clothes and paraded her on the streets of another Minya village, following a rumour that her son had an affair with a Muslim woman. The incident sparked public uproar and prompted Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to publicly vow to bring the attackers to justice.

Egypt’s Orthodox Coptic Christians strongly supported el-Sissi’s ouster of his Islamist predecessor Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood group. Following Morsi’s toppling, many Islamists claimed that Christians had conspired with the military against them. Attacks on Christian homes, businesses and churches subsequently surged in the south.

COPTIC CHURCH WELCOMES NEW EGYPTIAN LAW ON BUILDING CHURCHES

A new law will make it easier for Christians to build churches in Egypt, Coptic Catholic spokesman says

The Coptic Catholic Church has welcomed a new Egyptian law to facilitate the building of Christian places of worship.

On August 30 Egypt passed a law codifying the rights of Christians to build and renovate churches in the mostly Muslim country. Under the new 10-article law, approved by the Egyptian parliament, regional governors must rule within four months on Christian church-building and renovation applications and provide a “justified decision,” subject to appeal, if refusing authorization.

Critics have warned some provisions are vaguely worded and say clauses requiring the size of a church to be “commensurate with the number of Christian community members,” taking account of “expected population growth,” could be used by local officials to block permits.

“There’ve been some criticisms, but the government has tried to resolve any problems, and we now have a law which meets modern needs,” said Father Rafic Greiche, spokesman for the Coptic Catholic Church. “No law can be like the Bible – it has to be interpreted and it can be changed. But having had the same law since the Ottoman Empire, we’re satisfied we now have one which seeks to avoid sectarian enmities.”

Father Greiche told Catholic News Service on September 2 that Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches had been represented by legal experts on the commission drafting the law, which had been actively promoted by Egypt’s president, Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and Prime Minister Sherif Ismail.

Priests who ministered in Egypt under the old law said any permit that had to do with a church building had to be signed by the president. One priest said he waited 21 years for a permit to build churches. They also said state or local officials could stop construction for “security issues.” One priest cited the example of a mosque being built next to a Catholic church, and local authorities closed the church because Muslim authorities complained the long Sunday liturgies interfered with their noon call to prayer.

The 200,000-member Catholic Church has 14 dioceses in Egypt, including pastoral services for Latin, Melkite, Armenian, Chaldean, Maronite and Syriac Catholics. The much larger Coptic Orthodox Church makes up at least 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 82.5 million.

Father Greiche said Catholics kept a “low profile” in Egypt compared to the Coptic Orthodox Church, but hoped to carry on building churches, especially in new residential areas around Cairo, Alexandria and other cities.

“Catholics have moved to these modern areas, so the church has to move with them,” the church spokesman said. “We want to serve the whole society, not just the Christian community. We’ve already built schools and hospitals, so our mission extends beyond our own parishes.”

ISLAMIC LEADER WANTS TO LEGALISE POLYGAMY IN ITALY

People gather in front of Milan's Duomo cathedral during a gay rights demonstration prior to a vote to change laws on same-sex unions (AP)

The leader of the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy has said there is “no reason” for polygamy not to be legalised after the Italian government passed a law to recognise the union of same-sex civil unions.

In a Facebook status, Hamza Piccardo wrote: “There’s no reason for Italy not to accept polygamous marriages of consenting persons.

“When it comes to civil rights here, then polygamy is a civil right. Muslims don’t agree with homosexual partnership and still they have to accept a system that allows it,” he added.

The Facebook status proved to be controversial among Italians, who are deeply divided on the issue of civil partnerships. The Italian government voted in favour of allowing civil unions between couples of the same gender, despite opposition from the Catholic Church. This gives the couples the same rights as married people under Italian law except they are not allowed to adopt children.

According to Crux, Piccardo shared a photo of the mayor of Milan celebrating the civil union between two men. Underneath it he wrote: “If it’s only a matter of civil rights, then polygamy is a civil right.”

Crux also reported that the Union of Islamic Communities in Italy has been criticised for having links with the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group in Egypt. Some members, however, showed solidarity with Catholics by attending Mass after the murder of Fr Hamel by ISIS.

RELEASING GOD'S WORD: DO COPYRIGHTS HELP OR HURT BIBLE TRANSLATION?

In the late 1800s, a team of British and American translators updated the King James Version (KJV). The resulting Revised Version was originally copyrighted just in England, and within years, unauthorized translations with slight changes cropped up in the United States.

In 1901, that Bible—the Revised Version, Standard American Edition (now known as the American Standard Version)—was copyrighted and printed by Thomas Nelson & Sons. It was the first Bible translation to be copyrighted in the United States.

Now, it is also the version that Wycliffe Associates (WA) is using to “lock open” a copyright-free version of the Bible for global translation.

“The bulk of the church around the world cannot access the resources they need to legally translate for themselves,” explained Tim Jore, WA’s director of translation services. “Copyright law worldwide reserves the right of translation for the owner of the content. This means the global church is in a dilemma unless each one of them is given a custom contract from the owner of the Bible translation they want to use.”

In order for local churches in minority languages to translate from a major-language Bible, they have to first get permission from and perhaps pay the publisher that copyrighted the version they want to use. This spring, the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association shut down an Australian website that was offering more than 50 free Bible translations.

“Copyright issues are one of the greatest remaining challenges we have,” said Greg Pruett, president of Pioneer Bible Translators (PBT). Many of the minority languages are related to nearby major languages, which leads to questions of whether minority translations are derivatives of someone else’s intellectual property.

“In a number of ways, copyright issues limit our ability to distribute remaining translations,” he said.

WA’s solution is called “open sourcing” or “open licensing.” WA translators have created an updated English version of the American Standard Version, whose copyright expired in 1957. The translators are collaborating with Christians worldwide to translate it into 50 gateway languages. These versions are free for anyone anywhere to use, as long as they attribute the original source, and as long as they release translations they make from it under the same license.

“It sounds like it’s new, but it’s actually the oldest, most established approach to Bible translation distribution through the history of the church,” Jore said. “What’s new is the concept of restricting access to the Bible using copyright. For the first 19 centuries of the Bible’s existence, restrictions were never applied to it.”

Blaine Smith, associate publisher of Bibles at Tyndale House Publishers, disagrees with Jore’s assessment. (Tyndale holds the copyright for the New Living Translation and the Living Bible.) Christians have been protecting the gospel since it was codified, he said. “The official translations of the Roman Catholic Church were protected by the imprimatur. The [KJV] was protected by the King of England himself.”

The headaches of open sourcing range from irritating to heresy, Smith said. The KJV, for example, is copyrighted only in England. In the United States, it has been updated hundreds of times under the same name, so one person’s KJV might not match another’s.

Worse, a small change can lead to a doctrinal divide, Smith said. After all, Luther’s reinterpretation of “do penance” as “repentance” helped to ignite a reformation. And the KJV translation used by Jehovah’s Witnesses mutes Jesus’ divinity.

Copyrighting the Bible isn’t about staking claim to the words God has written, said Carl Moeller, CEO of Biblica. Moeller’s group holds 85 copyrights for Bible translations around the world—including the New International Version. “It’s to ensure that the Word of God is transmitted faithfully over time and over distant lands.”

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Imagine if Coke was sold by dozens of different companies that used different labels and slightly different recipes, Smith said. Open sourcing is like that. “No one’s minding the store.”

WA sees it differently: it says everyone is minding the store.

Any time a technology is created that enables more people to publish, average quality initially drops, Jore said. When Guttenberg invented the printing press, the ease of printing meant large amounts of new content, much of it of poor quality. But eventually, the “cream rises to the top,” he said.

The worst-case scenario has already played out, he said. After Luther changed “do penance” to “repentance,” a Catholic scholar switched it back.

“Luther’s translation is still with us today,” Jore said. “The other translation was discarded centuries ago.”

To cling to copyright as a way to preserve biblical integrity is a red herring, he said. The real issue is identity. As long as readers know where a translation originates, they can judge whether it’s trustworthy.

But choosing a Bible isn’t like choosing between a Honda and a Toyota, Moeller said. “It shouldn’t be seen like, ‘Do I trust this publisher or this text?’ Those kinds of things are very dangerous. People don’t know who to trust. They look to the Word of God to be the authority. . . . I don’t feel comfortable exposing cultures to translations that one day will sort themselves out.”

Next to protection, the biggest reason for copyright is finances.

The Bible says that a worker should be paid his wages (1 Tim. 5:18), and Bible translation projects can take multiple years and cost millions. But those wages don’t have to come from sales or fees, Jore said. WA uses alternatives like donations or business partnerships to finance its translation work.

That model doesn’t work for everyone, Pruett said. Groups that rely on donations can afford to be less restrictive with their content, but those that rely on revenue have to be “more locked-down.”

“It’s not that they’re trying to enrich themselves with Scripture,” he said. “If they gave it away, they’d cease to exist, and there would be no more Scriptures developed and distributed in the languages they’re working in.”

Besides protection and revenue, copyrights give organizations ownership, which PBT uses to give away content. “You can’t give away what you don’t own,” Pruett said.

Tyndale uses copyright profits to support Bible translation work in languages that could never afford a translation from a commercial standpoint. “There is a tremendous amount of good that comes out of Bible revenues from ministry-minded publishing houses,” Smith said. “But we have to have a profit side to help fund our not-for-profit side.”

In the midst of the debate, others are feeling out a third way.

Creative Commons licensing allows a publisher to walk a middle ground, with three “switches you can throw whichever way you want,” Pruett said. Organizations or individuals can allow others to use their work, choosing one of three conditions: that any use is attributed, that it isn’t used for commercial gain, or that it isn’t used for a derivative project.

“Everybody is charting this course the best they know how,” he said. “It’s good that somebody is experimenting with each of these.”

-                   By  Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra

REFUGEE CRISIS: A BURDEN TOO BIG FOR HUMAN HEARTS

Some problems are just too big for human hearts to handle. We’ve been talking about the refugee crisis for years now, and as violence continues, it’s not getting any better.

But despite the exhaustion of country resources and especially emotions for the refugees and those bringing aid, many organizations continue to work faithfully.

Vision Beyond Borders (VBB) has been helping with humanitarian aid in countries hardest hit by an influx of refugee populations. This includes container shipments to Jordan and Northern Iraq. The containers provide basic supplies—clothing, blankets, hygiene supplies, medical supplies.

They are collecting for their next shipment and hope to continue to provide relief. We spoke with Dyann Romeijn of VBB for updates on the situation.

There are often a few snafus along the way when sending supplies to other countries. While Jordan is relatively easy to reach, Northern Iraq presents a few challenges.

First, the shipments must be sent through Turkey. Then, they have a lengthy process of validation.

“Because ISIS is also working in that area, it has to go through a lot of checkpoints and be checked at each of those areas to make sure it’s not going to help terrorists, but that it’s truly humanitarian assistance.”

Romeijn says this is expensive because of the nearby danger. And, because it becomes expensive, relief agencies are not sending as much aid into Northern Iraq as other countries.

The need

It’s obvious that refugees are in need of physical aid as many of them fled home with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing. What’s not often considered is the pain they face from having to leave their home in the first place.

“It is a difficult situation. Many of them may never be able to return home, and they’re beginning to face that now. So there’s a lot of physical need, and just because of the sheer number, it’s been difficult for countries to assimilate the refugees into their countries,” Romeijn says.

However, with these physical and emotional needs, there are spiritual needs as well. Nominal Muslims want to hear about Jesus. In many cases, refugees are coming from countries where it’s not okay to talk about Jesus at all. So in these camps, they’re hearing the Gospel for the first time.

“It is a time when we as Christians need to step up. We need to be out there, we need to be showing the love of Christ and meeting the needs of these people, and it gives us the opportunity then to speak into their lives and to show them the truth of Jesus Christ.”

Vision Beyond Borders assists with Bible printing and distribution in these countries. This project and the containers require funding.

Another way you can help is by donating humanitarian goods. Some churches have organized hygiene pack drives; others have ordered bulk supplies sent directly to Vision Beyond Border.

Perhaps you don’t have the resources to help with either of the first two action points.

But, you can pray

“We need a lot of prayer support for the workers who are on the ground, for our contacts who are actually working there day in and day out with the refugees. They need prayer support. There are a lot of needs, and so it can become overwhelming and discouraging.”

As mentioned, this is an ongoing crisis that seems to have no end. It’s easy for all of us, those who see it firsthand and those who watch the headlines, to have compassion fatigue. Romeijn says this is why it’s crucial we remember who we are in Christ and be confident in Him.

“The burdens are too big for any person to carry, and it’s too big for anyone to solve. So, if we start looking at it from a human standpoint, it can be overwhelming.

“But yet, to understand who God is and His sovereignty and His power and that even in these most horrible things we can imagine, what we see is when people show the love of Jesus, when they show the compassion, it actually defeats and dispels the darkness.”

- BY JULIE BOURDON

TURKEY: SEARCH FOR HOPE IN STATE OF EMERGENCY AND CRACKDOWNS

Turkey is set to release 38,000 prisoners jailed before a failed July 15 coup attempt to make room for new detainees.

The government declared a three-month state of emergency on July 21 and began a sweeping crackdown, arresting more than 23,000 people.  The purge has also led to more than 81,000 people being dismissed or suspended from their jobs, including police officers, judges, teachers, soldiers and journalists.

During the state of emergency, Turkish lawmakers also granted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sweeping powers as a means of countering the ‘threat to Turkish democracy’.  Under the Turkish Constitution, the emergency measures allow the government to “partially or entirely” suspend “the exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms,” so long as that doesn’t violate international law obligations.

However, as the government has taken steps toward Islamizing the country, imams were whipping the Sunni faithful into a frenzy of nationalism that led to attacks on churches.  Persecution watchdog groups like Open Doors USA and Voice of the Martyrs have noted that Turkey, which once boasted two million Christians, has barely 120,000.

For those remaining, the threat of the crackdown has a ‘chilling effect’– a situation where behavior is suppressed by fear of reprisal, often affecting free speech.

That’s where SAT-7TURK comes in.  Their platform is unique in a time of uncertainty.  SAT-7 USA’s Rex Rogers explains, “We are the only Christian channel broadcasting on Türksat National satellite. And now we’re on something called D-Smart, which is a digital kind of provider. We’re there and we’re able to speak truth to power without attacking current regimes. We don’t get political or partisan, but we do talk about human rights and all referencing who Christ is and what Christianity is about.”

“We’re still licensed. We’re still broadcasting, in the sovereignty of God.  He’s protecting us.  There are no direct threats at this point in Turkey, to our station, our channel,” says Rogers.

They’re speaking truth, talking about human rights and it’s a message that resounds with the audience. “We have the talent; we’re speaking directly to whatever given audience there is at this moment. They’re calling, they’re responding. All of those are positive indicators.”

Broadcasts serve a potentially huge audience of 4.5 million at a critical place and time.  On top of trying to settle Turkey down internally, there is the brutality of ISIS on its doorstep and the subsequent two million who have sought refuge in Turkey.

As each crisis bears down, Turks grow hungrier for the truth.  In fact, the response has been more than they had anticipated, which also means, “People are hungry. It means they’re curious. It means they may be (as we say over here) ‘seekers’.  They’re asking more about Christianity. They want to read a Bible. They get access to a Bible. So, absolutely, there’s openness.”

“There’s considerable concern and anxiety. They’re human beings.  They may be Christians who believe in a sovereign God, but they’re still human beings experiencing those emotions.  Worry for their children, for women, in particular, who are more vulnerable, so the anxieties are high.”

It is hope, in the face of fear, he says.  “We don’t like adversity. I would never pray for adversity for you or my children or me. None of us like it. But we also know God works in and through it. So He is clearly at work in this time of pressure there in the nation of Turkey.”

In response to the current situation in Turkey, a SAT-7 TÜRK spokesperson says in an earlier report, “The beauty and mysteriousness of God gives us hope and joy. There is a reason why SAT-7 TÜRK is here. There are no other channels on Türksat that speak of the hope we have. No one else talks about love and joy. Other channels show tension and violence, which spreads fear. We are the only alternative.”

What can we do, as believers living thousands of miles away?  We should  pray.  Just because they haven’t had any specific threats does not mean they’re invulnerable.  There were several hours when the channel was off air on July 15 because the Türksat broadcast center came under pressure from coup organizers.

Rogers asks “Prayer for the security and safety of, not only for our people, but also of churches, of Christian people, in general.  Particularly, if they’ve been converted from the background of another religion, they’re vulnerable to even their family members.”

Pray for those who are labeled and treated as traitors after embracing the Christian faith.

Pray for God to enable those whose lives are threatened to place all hope and trust in Him.

Pray for converts from a Muslim background (MBBs) to minister graciously to their families.

               - BY RUTH KRAMER