Presbyterians, Baptist, Catholics and even a few Quakers took seriously this call to fight for freedom. They put aside generations of religious hatred toward one another and donned the common uniform of the American revolutionary.  Men of every religious stripe chose to fight side-by-side for the cause of freedom.

The willingness of Men to lay aside denominational differences and fight, and die, for a shared cause created one of the greatest nations in the history of mankind.  And while the American Revolution unified a nation, it did not unify the disperate factions of the Church.

My concern is not the existence of denominations because their existence is not the barrier to a Christian union. The problem is the unwillingness to unify around something greater than denominations—the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As Christians, we do not need to abandon our historical distinctive, but we do need to set aside any tradition that would keep us from joining together with other Christians for the cause of YHWH’s Kingdom.  Ben Franklin’s cartoon has meaning this Memorial day for the Church in American that is slowly fading in size and influence.

Regardless of tradition, we must join or die.

Given my interest, I was glad to come across this quote during my Doctoral research on Church planting. It is a neat connection between my two worlds of church history and my present life of church planting.

This quote brings up some great question; what is an evangelist?

From the time of Finney “evangelists” have commonly been associated with revivalism, not their NT role of church planting. A true revival cannot, of course, be worked up, but is a “surprising work of God,” to use Jonathan Edwards’s words; they are confined to what Solomon Stoddard called “special seasons. Murray clarifies:

What happens in revivals is not to be seen as something miraculously different from the regular experience of the church. The difference lies in degree, not in kind. In an ‘outpouring of the Spirit’ spiritual influence is more widespread, convictions are deeper, and feelings more intense, but all this is only a heightening of normal Christianity. True revivals are ‘extraordinary,’ yet what is experienced at such times is not different in essence from the spiritual experience that belongs to Christians at other times.

But after the time of Finney and the adoption of his “new measures,” “seasons of revival became ‘revival meetings.’ Instead of being ‘surprising’ they might now be announced in advance.” Evangelists were now seen as the professional ministers who could best promote revivals, those who had the special skills necessary to bring them about. Thus the evangelist was seen as indispensable to the work of the local church. Echoing that sentiment, Van Gelderen says: “An assembly that refuses to use the gift of the evangelist is incomplete in following Christ’s plan for the church. This is disobedience.” It is probably this view of the evangelist, a promoter of revivals, which is most common in fundamentalism and evangelicalism today. The evangelist is often looked upon as someone who is involved in mass evangelism.

Detroit Baptist Seminary, Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal Volume 7, 7:47-48 (Detroit Baptist Seminary, 2002; 2004).

So now let me ask you:

Jonathan Dodson, at Church Planting Novice, gives a good start to the history.

“[St. Patrick] was actually a missionary and he converted 120,000 druids from paganism to Christianity.”

“He started over 300 churches and used the three-leafed clover to teach the [Holy] Trinity,” Federer says, noting that this teaching tool is now the symbol of St. Patrick’s Day and Ireland itself.

Patrick himself, though, was actually born in nearby Wales.

“Different Viking tribes began attacking and carrying away slaves, and Patrick was one of those carried away as a slave to Ireland,” says Federer. “He was there from 16 years old to 22 years old, when he had a dream in which he heard the Lord tell him to escape. So he did.”

“He went to the shore and, sure enough, there was a boat. He hopped aboard and hitchhiked his way across Europe and made his way back to Britain. His life was pretty uneventful until he was 40 years old, when he had another dream. That’s when things started to get interesting.”

That was when Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary.

“His style was evangelism was to walk right into the smoky dens of these chieftans. The druids knew that this new religion was going to displace them, and so they tried killing him at least a dozen times. Once he was held for two weeks, and [the druid ruler] was holding him to kill him.”

But the chieftan instead spared Patrick and even gave him money to build his first church. For the rest of his life, Patrick preached about Jesus Christ, spread Christianity across the British Isles, and spoke out against slavery. Some historians even call him the world’s first abolitionist!

The Roman Catholic Church made him a saint in 664 A.D.

“It wasn’t until 1846, when there was a potato famine in Ireland, and millions of Irish Catholics came to America,” Federer says. “The Irish population went from two percent to 20 percent in just a decade. Half of New York City was now Roman Catholic Irish! The same thing happened in Boston, and there was an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-Irish backlash.”

“When they had their first parade, it was more of a political statement. In Ireland, it didn’t matter how many of them there were, they didn’t have a voice in Parliament. But in America, when they had their first parade and 15,000 of them showed up, politicians in New York City said, ‘wait a minute, they haven’t decided who to vote for yet,’ so they decided to march with them.”

From here, you know the rest of how St. Patrick’s Day became an iconic American holiday.

I would be remiss, however, if I let the history stop here. There is one more important lesson we can all take away from St. Patrick. He writes the following in his “Confessio“

Therefore be amazed, you great and small who fear God, and you men of God, eloquent speakers, listen and contemplate. Who was it summoned me, a fool, from the midst of those who appear wise and learned in the law and powerful in rhetoric and in all things? Me, truly wretched in this world, he inspired before others that I could be– if I would– such a one who, with fear and reverence, and faithfully, without complaint, would come to the people to whom the love of Christ brought me and gave me in my lifetime, if I should be worthy, to serve them truly and with humility.

Today, as you wear your green shirts, eat green food and drink green beer; remember the lesson of St. Patrck–trust in God’s purpose for your life, never let doubts control your thoughts, keep your integrity in all things, and take on the humble service of God!

Ambiguous and man-centered teaching regarding Baptism in the Holy Spirit have over the past hundred years served to feed the problems we face and have lent to the decay of Christ’s Body. This book takes a critical look at the history of denominationalism, separates the fact from the fiction, and paves the way to healing the legacy of division in the church.

I am also really pleased at how my cover art looks on the finished book.

The Church in America is in crisis. Far too many have abandoned God’s design for church in favor of a faith that is just as self-centered as the consumerist systems they left. Before we can deal with trends such as Mega-Churches, Video Venues, Emerging Theology, House Churches, etc.. we need to understand our past. This book examines Charles G. Finney’s methods of evangelism and their detriment to today’s Church and for the spiritual formation of each Christian.

Get a copy and let me know what you think.

History of The Pilgrims

The Pilgrims were English Separatists seeking religious freedom from what they considered the corrupted Church of England. Many had been persecuted and suffered imprisonment or worse. Their only hope was to flee to Holland (1608-1609) where they were able to worship with all freedom.* The Separatists (later Pilgrims) should not be confused with the Puritans who, as opposed to separation,  sought Purification of the State Church. The Puritans did not settle in America until around 1629 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony under the leadership of John Winthorp. 

Four major reasons compelled the Separatists to leave Leyden, Holland for America. First, others in England had hoped to join them in their freedom, but could not bear the burden of their hardship in Holland. Second, they saw their population aging and feared that as their numbers dwindled they would be scattered and their faith corrupted. Third, the children of these people were forced to bear heavy burdens so much so that many rebelled and fled into the corruption of the world. And lastly, they hoped that they might be able to spread “some good foundation, or at least to make some way thereunto, for the propagating and advancing of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world; yea, though they should be but even as stepping-stones unto others for the performing of so great a work.“* Despite their many fears of hardship, sickness and death,  William Bradford and the Pilgrims knew that “all great and honorable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both enterprised and overcome with answerable courage.”* So these brave men and women chartered a ship and with much fasting and prayer “they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place for near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.” They traveled to Southampton where they met others in their company and boarded the Mayflower for their journey. Here they were forced to make agreement with a merchant company in London for the funding of their trip, and as such committed to make restitution within seven years time.

The Mayflower carrying 102 Pilgrims set sail from England on September 16, 1620 (see note on historical dates) for Northern Virginia (or present day Southern New York State*) and spotted land on November 9, 1620 at Cape Cod (first named by Captain Gosnold in 1602). A day before they came into the harbor there was some dissention among the people and in an effort to provide unity they made the following pact which is now referred to as the “Mayflower Compact“

“In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc. Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one of another, covenant, and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names; Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord King James, of England, France and Ireland eighteenth and of Scotland fifty-fourth, Anno Domini 1620.”*

God’s providence caused them to abandon their plans to travel farther south and on November 11, they set anchor in Cape Cod where they ultimately remained. The purpose of their trip was clear, they desired to glorify God by spreading His word to all parts of the unknown world. William Bradford used these words to describe their glorious arrival to America.

“Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.” *

From the outset the Pilgrims respected the native Indians as depicted in this encounter with an unmarked grave,

“we found a little path to certain heaps of sand, one whereof was covered with old mats, and had a wooding thing like a mortar whelmed on the top of it, and an earthen pot laid in a little hole at the end thereof. We, musing what it might be, digged and found a bow, and, as we thought, arrows, but they were rotten. We supposed there were many other things, but because we deemed them graves, we put in the bow again and made it up as it was, and left the rest untouched, because we thought it would be odious unto them to ransack their sepulchers. “.*

Other comments from John Winthorp’s accounts also indicate the Pilgrims value for all peoples and their disdain for the slave trade.* They actually seem to have had a great care for the Indians as creatures of God and considered many of them to be close friends.

They spent the first months in this new land alone and found no help from the natives. What they did not know yet was that the Indians who had formerly inhabited the land, the Patuxet tribe, had already been wiped out in a 1617 by a terrible plague . In the three years between their demise and the Pilgrims arrival, no other neighboring tribes had inhabited the land.

The ground was hard with winter freeze and the Pilgrims, lacking provision, went in search of Indians, but could find none. But again by “God’s good providence“* they found baskets of corn, wheat, and beans buried in the ground next to abandoned dwellings. The corn was greatly in need as they hoped to use it for seed to plant and harvest. In their first days ashore, the Pilgrims found habitations and other signs of Indians, but had no personal encounters. They took many of the provisions so that their people would not die, but planned to make restitution when they finally did encounter the Indians. (Almost a year later, they finally meet the Indians whose provisions they had used and were able to make restitution.)

Still in the first weeks of November, the Pilgrims finally had “The First Encounter” with the Indians. The event was not promising, but they were not discouraged by this surprise attack by the Indians. In the words of Winslow,

“After prayer we prepared ourselves for breakfast and for a journey, and it being now the twilight in the morning, it was thought meet to carry the things down to the shallop… Anon, all upon a sudden, we heard a great and strange cry, which we knew to be the same voices, though they varied their notes. One of our company, being abroad, came running in and cried, “They are men! Indians! Indians!” and withal, their arrows came flying amongst us. Our men ran out with all speed to recover their arms, as by the good providence of God they did… The cry of our enemies was dreadful, especially when our men ran out to recover their arms; their note was after this manner, “Woach woach ha ha hach woach.” Our men were no sooner come to their arms, but the enemy was ready to assault them…

There was a lusty man and no whit less valiant, who was thought to be their captain, stood behind a tree within half a musket shot of us, and there let his arrows fly at us. He was seen to shoot three arrows, which were all avoided, for he at whom the first arrow was aimed, saw it, and stooped down and it flew over him; the rest were avoided also. He stood three shots of a musket. At length one took, as he said, full aim at him, and after which he gave extraordinary cry and away they all went. We followed them about a quarter of a mile, but we left six to keep our shallop, for we were careful about our business. Then we shouted all together two several times, and shot off a couple of muskets and so returned; this we did that they might see we were not afraid of them nor discouraged.

Thus it pleased God to vanquish our enemies and give us deliverance… “*

This would be their last direct encounter with the Indians for many months so it was left to the Pilgrims to prepare for the long harsh winter to come. It was on the 9th of January, that the Pilgrims went about building their town.

“in two rows of houses for more safety. We divided by lot the plot of ground whereon to build our town. After the proportion formerly allotted, we agreed that every man should build his own house, thinking by that course men would make more haste than working in common.” *

They built one Common house for stores, materials and meetings. The weeks which followed brought sickness and much hardship and through the course of their first winter over half of the people died, but by God’s good graces the Pilgrims survived. There were no direct encounters with the Indians, but they did see them on occasion from far off. Their encounters were enough so that on January 17, they made Miles Standish the Captain of defense from the “savages” who seemed so elusive.

It was not until March 16, 1621 that the Pilgrims had their first personal encounter with an Indian named Samoset who walked boldly into their plantation. He surprised the Pilgrims with an English military salute and welcomed them in broken English he had learned from English fisherman at Monchiggon. He was from Morattiggon, and one of the Sagamores (or lords). The Pilgrims clothed him, as he was naked except for a leather belt with fringe and furnished him with food and drink. He informed the Pilgrims of the great plague which had killed all the native inhabitants of the land. The Indian insisted on staying the night and despite their reservations, they provided him housing in the home of Stephen Hopkin.

The Massasoits, to the north, were the closest neighbor to the Pilgrims and numbered about sixty. The Nausets, who turned out to be the more aggressive Indians who had attacked them, lived to their south and numbered about one hundred. On March 22, Samoset came again with Tisquantum, the only native of Patuxet. Tisquantum ( or Squanto), who had lived in England for a time, returned to American in 1619 and found the rest of his tribe demolished by the plague.

Tisquantum and Samoset helped the Pilgrims negotiate a peace treaties with the Massasoits and their King and generally had favorable relations. This treaty with the great king allowed them to develop friendly relations with the other tribes in the area and eventually brought about a peace among the Indians themselves.

The First Thanksgiving Celebration.

The first thanksgiving was really a harvest celebration for God’s great provision to the Pilgrims in their time of need. This first celebration took place in late October of 1621 and there are only two original accounts of the event. The first is by William Bradford and it details the gathering of their harvest and the great stores of food which they had on hand.

“They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercising in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.” *

The second account is from the writings of Edward Winslow and gives a bit more detail about the actual feast.

“We set the last spring some twenty acres of Indian corn, and sowed some six acres of barley and peas, and according to the manner of the Indians, we manured our ground with herrings or rather shads, which we have in great abundance, and take with great ease at our doors. Our corn did prove well, and God be praised, we had a good increase of Indian corn, and our barley indifferent good, but our peas not worth the gathering, for we feared they were too late sown, they came up very well, and blossomed, but the sun parched them in the blossom.

Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after have a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the company almost a week, at which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest King Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”*

The harvest thanksgiving was clearly a celebration of God’s great provision. This three day feast included their friends the Indians who provided venison as their contribution, but was this really a feast to thank the Indians? In some respects, yes, for they had taught the Pilgrims to plant Indian corn and had proved to be good friends.

“We have found the Indians very faithful in their covenant of peace with us; very loving and ready to pleasure us; we often go to them, and they come to us; some of us have been fifty miles by land in the country with them, the occasions and relations whereof you shall understand by our general and more full declaration of such things as are worth the noting, yea, it has pleased God so to possess the Indians with a fear of us, and love unto us, that not only the greatest king amongst them, called Massasoit, but also all the princes and peoples round about us, have either made suit unto us, or been glad of any occasion to make peace with us, so that seven of them at once have sent their messengers to us to that end. Yea, an Isle at sea, which we never saw, hath also, together with the former, yielded willingly to be under the protection, and subjects to our sovereign lord King James, so that there is now great peace amongst the Indians themselves, which was not formerly, neither would have been but for us; and we for our parts walk as peaceably and safely in the wood as in the highways in England. We entertain them familiarly in our houses, and they as friendly bestowing their venison on us. They are a people without any religion or knowledge of God, yet very trusty, quick of apprehension, ripe-witted, just. The men and women go naked, only a skin about their middles.”*

But ultimately the Pilgrims recognized that all their blessing came from God alone for it had “pleased God so to possess the Indians with a fear of us, and love unto us,”. God was thanked for his love and grace on this first thanksgiving, for it was His provision alone that brought the Pilgrims through these most trying times. Some of the Pilgrim’s descendants later celebrated a “Forefather’s Day” which usually occurred on December 21 or 22, but there was never really an established Thanksgiving holiday.

A Day of Thanksgiving for Americans

The following Thanksgiving declarations established a single day of celebration and thanks and did not establish any sort of annual holiday.

June 20, 1667 – The First Declaration 

At our founding in the late 1700′s, America reflected the morals of the world and many of our states embraced black-slavery.  Yet latent in the words of our constitution, there was a hope of equality for all men of every color.  After a bloody civil war that threatened to split our country, the hope of freedom was won for black Americans… but social change did not come quickly.  In 1870, almost 100 years after our founding, black men won the right to vote. Yet again, change was slow in coming.  It would take another 100 years, along with the blood and battle of the 1960′s civil rights movement,  before black Americans could embrace the fullness of their constitutional rights.

Now, less than 50 years later, we stand at the edge of a new era when the fullness of our constitutional promise that “All Men are created equal” will  be achieved.  On January 20th, 2009, Barack Obama will be sworn in is as the first non-white President of the United States of America.

To be certain, this does not mean the end of all racial problems.  As noted in the February 2001 article in Time, there are some who say “Obama Is Not Black Enough.”  For others, Obama is not white enough.  In a country of this size, with a great diversity of cultures, there will always be some racial hatred and bigotry.  But look how far we have come!

As a Federalist, I could not vote for Obama’s Statist agenda nor can I vote for a man with such disregard for the life of the unborn, but my political differences and moral values do not cloud the transcendent power of this moment in history.

What will the passage of another 100 years bring?   What will Obama do with his moment of power?  Only time will tell, but my prayer is that the election of Barack Obama will help bring healing to the racial hurts of the past and help us move beyond the bitterness of bigotry that has dominated our nation far too long.

Dear Moses,

We have been working hard to find the right man for our church. We have put in a lot of hours and looked over all that you sent in. While we feel you are a qualified man, we just don’t think you are a good match for our needs. We wanted to share with you some of our thoughts in hopes that it will help you find a better fit.

We listened to your sermon tapes and while the content was very good, we felt that your stuttering problem was a hurdle we just could not overcome. Our people are accustomed to really quality preaching, and we feel that your lack of polish and clarity would distract from their ability to listen to you week in and week out. Our people need more than good content to learn. We really need an entertaining and dynamic speaker who can connect us to God’s Word.

While we trust that God has called you, we also understand that you have resisted God’s leading at key points along the way. We want a guy who is passionate about doing this ministry and who will never question God’s call on his life. We also understand that your wife does not totally support your calling and has acted out against you on at least one occasion. These doubts you have both demonstrated over time give us pause about your potential effectiveness as a leader.

You seem to have some good people skills Moses, and everyone says that you have a certain glow about you that really reflects God’s presence. However, we also found in talking with some of your references that you have struggled with some anger problems. It was reported to us that you once threw down, and broke, some important Church property when you saw your congregation doing some bad things. This is clearly not the way to handle those kinds of situations and we really need a pastor who is always in control of himself in tough situations because our people really do a lot of sinning.

Probably most disturbing of all is your clear lack of leadership ability. While we appreciate the difficulties of leading a mega-church with millions of followers, we were not impressed with the many instances of rebellion under your tenure. We understand that in one case of embezzlement, you forced the congregation to make a public declaration of whose side they were on and then you struck down all those who disagreed with your policies. We agree that keeping high moral standards is important, but your methods seem a bit harsh and unloving. In addition, your lack of vision seems to have kept the people wandering about for the past 40 years. Our people tend to be a bit stubborn so we really need a leader who has demonstrated more skill in guiding his congregation.

Thank you for considering us as a potential match to your call and we hope you find the right congregation that will better match your gifts and experience.

Thanks,
The Search Team

The post-enlightenment philosophies that have dominated the Christian faith of the last hundred years have led us, and our world, to seek out a form of godliness, but not necessarily God Himself. So much of our Christian faith is focused around seeking the “spiritual” experiences that bring a feeling of happiness, but these have left us with a faith devoid of relationship. We must extract our faith from this destructive impersonal doctrine of spirituality and seek instead the Spirit Himself. We must get past the desire for emotional experience centered upon the human heart, and seek the passion of faith centered squarely on the person of God our Father, His Holy Son and the Spirit of Promise.

Where were you when the the planes hit? Do you remember?

I encourage everyone reading to share your thoughts, prayers, and memories here on this blog and with friends…