“Conversion of a Gang Member” was a part of the Conversion Series for the 11th annual Affirming the Faith Seminar held at the North MacArthur church of Christ (Oklahoma City, OK). The 2018 theme was Unfinished Business.
Lecture Audio
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Lesson Summary
The conversion to Christ by a gang member comes with its own challenges culturally, spiritually, socially, and developmentally. The stark contrast between the evils and perils of the world from the lives of long-time church-goers is often hard to quantify and hard to appreciate. We need a cooperative learning model that gives the church insight to enter and help their communities and provides a “training in righteousness” mentorship for the new covert.
I was able, for the most part, to blend and weave “lessons and suggestions” throughout the lecture.
Let me add a few Lessons
Even when we do not understand “where” our new converts are coming from socially and culturally, we can love them and plug them into the culture of the church. What we do not understand about them should not hinder us from incorporating them.
Shaming converts because they are urban, ethnic, or from a broken home will never do. The world no longer has the old “normal” standards or expectations. We need to be flexible with our expectations of what people know, how they think and relate, and where their pains exist – for not all scars are skin deep, some go to the soul. We do not need to add to their trauma. There are no “normal” people, there are only people.
In our excitement to celebrate people’s conversions to Christ, we need to be careful not to tell their story without permission. Some people are not ready emotionally to talk about where they come from, or what they’ve done in their life. Learn to embrace their new life in Christ, without forcing them to dig out their skeletons and trauma. They will do that when it is right for them to glorify God in Jesus.
Let me add a few Suggestions
We -the church- need to stop taking ourselves so seriously. We are all in need of grace and forgiveness… that includes our elderly members as well. So, we need to take Paul’s words to heart: “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Romans 15:7 ESV).
Develop a “adopt a new Convert” program, or adopt a new convert on your own. Sometimes we wait for churches to create programs that need to happen now. Don’t wait for approval to serve… just serve. If you need permission… I permit you to serve. :) : “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35).
Remember the goal is to make disciples, but everyone starts at a different start line. Jesus’ words are clear, we are to not leave them to figure things out, but to develop them – give them moral and spiritual goals: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Larry Crabb, The Safest Place on Earth: Where People Connect and Are Forever Changed (Nashville, TN: W Publishing, 1999), Hardback, 240 pages.
Dr. Larry Crabb is an established licensed psychologist, a well-known Christian author on marriage and biblical counseling topics, and current Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Colorado Christian University (Morrison, CO).[1]
Dr. Crabb earned his Ph.D in Clinical Psychology from the University of Illinois, and has been a professor of psychology since 1970. Dr. Crabb also provides workshops and weekend seminars across the United States as part of his non-profit New Way Ministries and its web presence which features interviews, video lectures, and other multimedia outlets to share resources from his School of Spiritual Direction.
Dr. Crabb has been involved in counseling and marriage, in self-help ministry, and in developing a context of “spiritual community” for over 40 years, and so has earned a place among the various “Christian voices” seeking to make the church a better place.
In 1999, Dr. Crabb released a significant but brief volume on the church as a safe spiritual community. The volume is entitled, The Safest Place on Earth: Where People Connect and Are Forever Changed (238 pages).[2]Dr. Crabb has registered his own frustration with two elements which bear upon the community of the church and its spiritual health, which he further addresses in Real Church: Does it Exist? Can I Find It? (Nashville, TN: Nelson, 2009).
In The Safest Place on Earth, however, Dr. Crabb establishes a vision for the church as a group of believers on a journey towards God, and it is within the journey that spiritual community must begin and end for spiritual healing and direction. Despite Dr. Crabb’s own training in psychology, he believes when it comes to the soul care that ought to go on within the church, such assistance must yield “to special revelation and biblically dependent thinking.”[3]Dr. Crabb is adamant,
We don’t need more churches, as we usually define the word. We need more spiritual communities where good friends and wise people turn their chairs toward each other and talk well.[4]
Structurally, The Safest Place on Earth is organized in seventeen chapters, divided into three parts, and finishes with a section of questions for each chapter. The layout follows a very clear program of development, and the content is written in a popular style. Dr. Crabb is able to articulate and shape a conceptual paradigm of what is a spiritual community and what is not a spiritual community without complex vocabulary. His illustrations, personal anecdotes, and insights from personal interactions are delivered to support his vision for a spiritual community is very clear and helpful ways.
Dr. Crabb also interacts with and depends upon the works of Dutch Catholic priest Henri Nouwen[5](1932-1996), who focused on spiritual solitude, spiritual community, and spiritual compassion, along with Swiss Catholic philosopher Jean Vanier (b. 1928) and his work connected to L’Arche communities which have overlapping concerns.[6]
A Book Summary
In part one, Dr. Crabb develops and sharpens the idea of spiritual community and how the church needs to develop sensitivity to being the spiritual community it was intended to be. Spiritual community is, according to Crabb, at the core of what the church is.
It is people facing each other in intimate, honest, and safe ways as they journey together on their way to God. Spiritual community, however, will not occur if there is no opportunity for vulnerability and a full sense of validation from these that witness the vulnerable parts of who we are.
One of the difficulties in church community life is to wrestle with the crux,
if they knew who I really was, the church would probably not like me.
To be a spiritual community, then, we must be able to love free from ego and embrace those so broken by those things which burden our souls and even cripple us.
The health metric of a spiritual community is its ability to love the unlovable, the broken, those that can only let you love them in their brokenness.
In part two, Dr. Crabb reframes the New Testament discussion of flesh and spirit elements of our soul in terms of the analogies of the Lower Room (carnal/wretchedness) and the Upper Room (spiritual/greatness).
It is in this phase of the book that Dr. Crabb focuses on the part of the church community that needs to be addressed first — our internal struggles to be spiritual. Enter Dr. Crabb’s “two rooms” analogy which he builds from the words of Jesus:
If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. (John 14:23)
And he amplifies these words with Paul’s regarding “Christ in you” (Colossians 1:27).[7]
In essence, the two rooms represent fully furnished environments that exist within us.
Now there are two rooms inside us, the one we built where our natural self thrives, and the one the Spirit built where our natural self suffocates and our new self flourishes.[8]
Dr. Crabb does not explicitly use all the terms, but these “rooms” parallel the Freudian id, ego, and superego dynamics, the difference being they are spiritualized.[9]The lower room is self-furnished by our wretchedness and “dark forces” with its corruption and stench (id). The upper room is furnished by the Spirit of God only enjoyed once we open the doors of the lower room, acknowledge its stench, and celebrate the confidence to be a new us (an obedient us) empowered by God’s grace and teaching (superego?).
Finally, we consciously (ego?) take these “two rooms” within us and the internal struggles that go with them —because we prefer to be in the lower room— to receive outside help from “another room” which is the spiritual community, the church. This room is furnished by the Spirit with safety, vision, wisdom, and power.
In part three, Dr. Crabb continues his visioning for spiritual community with another analogy of “turning our chairs toward each other” but now by “turning our souls toward each other.”
In this process, the members of the church community must practice three needed things. First, spiritual community can only be done by the Holy Spirit. Second, personal holiness grounded in the Spirit influences the pursuit of personal holiness of others. Third, there must then be a safe place to “own and trace our desires to their source.”[10]
Spiritual community, however, will only occur when spiritual passions are “supernaturally” aroused when we are together in spiritual community experiencing acceptance, mutual faith in God’s presence in our lives, affirm the “upper room” elements in our lives, and allow God to change us without applying human pressures of forced change.
It is certainly a place of risk, but risk will always be a factor when embracing the need for vulnerability. Therefore, the real question is: will we, the church, be the safe place for those being vulnerable?
Response and Review
I chose this book principally because of the title. In fact, I had seen this title on the cover of the September/October 2001 New Wineskin magazine as part of the issue theme of “Authentic Christian Community.”[11]The concept peaked my interest because I do feel the church has not been the safest place on Earth in managing people’s sin. One example will suffice. I once heard a preacher react to the exposed sins of others with the derogatory question, “where are the normal people?” That’s not a safe place for healing. Nor is the following response to a fellow congregant’s addiction any safer, “there’s a word they need to learn – repent.”
Rebuking sin is the easy work of preaching, but creating a compassionate environment to help brothers and sisters work through repentance is the harder – and in my judgment – more fruitful work of ministry.
Crabb’s book further calls the church to be the community through which Christians experience spiritual healing for spiritual problems often mistreated —according to Dr. Crabb—as psychological disorders or problems. The gospel and the New Testament teaching that the church is the dwelling place of God, and Christians are the temple of the Holy Spirit, seem to support the overall agenda that the culture of the local congregation should be more attuned to openly working through sin, temptations, and openly celebrating grace, and spiritual empowerment by God. Even Paul declares that the church is being recreated (2 Corinthians 5:17) and repurposed for ministry (Ephesians 2:10).
Dr. Crabb’s book both intrigued me and made me uncomfortable in that he elevates the spiritual components of the church where the Holy Spirit dwells. Again, it is not that I’m troubled by the Holy Spirit, it is that in many pockets of the Churches of Christ the Holy Spirit and the use of “community” have been so tinged with so-called “liberal agendas” in the latter, and doctrinal controversial hotbeds regarding the former. His emphasis that the church is specifically designed to be a spiritual community and therefore it must be that spiritual community on a journey to God is what stands out the most to me. If we are not a spiritual community, then there will not be the Spirit.
I do not agree with all of his points on the “wretchedness” of man, but Dr. Crabb has challenged me to speak more about the Spirit and the church as the community in which God does His best work to heal us from the effects of sin.
Concluding Thoughts
What I liked overall about the book is the Dr. Crabb’s challenging call to the church to be a safe place for the sort of healing love that needs to exists between God’s people, so that the Spirit of God may work through the church to heal its members as they bear each other’s burdens with the gifts of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26). The church must be so, because, as Dr. Crabb reminds us, we are traveling together on a journey to God.
I recommend the challenge of this book to every Christian and church leader. The reminder that Scripture centers the body of Christ as the place where the Spirit dwells, and therefore must be the safe place where the members of the body can serve each other empowered by the same Spirit. To overcome sin, the church must be, and in some cases become, the place where no one struggles with sin void of love, compassion, support, and patience as we journey to God breaking free from the bondage of sin.
John W. McGarvey (1829-1911) is a well-known gospel preacher of the American attempt to restore the practice of New Testament Christianity, free from the embellishments and teachings of men.
McGarvey was a tremendous scholar of the apostolic word; his talents were consumed with the teaching and defense of the ancient faith. He was, for example, a deliberate and strong advocate for the New Testament teaching of worship free of any musical instrument (a cappella singing).
His strong conviction on this matter played into his decision to leave the Broadway church in Lexington (his “home” congregation) where he had served both as a preacher for many years, and an elder for thirty-two years.
Brandon Renfroe recounts this decision.[1] In September of 1902, McGarvey resigned from his service as an elder “citing his increasing deafness.” On November 2, the remaining elders announced that they would “put the use of the instrument to a vote” a week later.
In reaction to this vote to include the instruments of music in worship, McGarvey submitted a “letter of withdrawal from the Broadway Church” dated “the very day the elders decided to put the unscriptural practice to a ‘vote.’” He subsequently placed his membership with the Chestnut Street congregation and remained with them until his death.
Why does McGarvey’s withdrawal from one congregation and placement within another matter? At minimum, the decision reflects his desire to be affiliated with a faithful congregation. Church membership, however, is much more.
Is Church Membership Biblical?
This is the first question that needs to be answered: “is church membership biblical?” The practice of “placing membership” is often regarded as a “good tradition” but not a biblical responsibility for every Christian.
Apologist Paul Little is known for saying, “Believing something doesn’t make it true; refusing to believe it doesn’t make it false.”[2] I believe this is a fitting point to ponder here. Let us consider this important question: Is “church membership” biblical, or is it merely a “good tradition”? What does the evidence affirm?
A passage to consider in answering this question is 1 Peter 5.1-5:
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (ESV)
In this passage the apostle Peter teaches, on the one hand, that elders are required to “shepherd to the flock of God that is among you” (1 Pet 5:2).
On the other hand, the apostle instructs that the flock likewise has a responsibility to be submissive to their shepherds (1 Pet 5:5). These responsibilities are both dependent upon a mutual submission to God.
Let us briefly consider these three aspects as we answer this question.
The Responsibility of the Elders
The Apostle Peter exhorts the “elders” with the imagery of shepherd and sheep: “tend to the flock that is among you like a shepherd” (5:2). The exhortation has teeth, for it is in the mood of a command (aorist imperative).
Peter makes “a direct demand upon the will” of these godly elders.[3] He summarizes their standing responsibility to the congregation as shepherds and overseers.[4]
Moreover, their leadership will be seen by their godly example, not through ungodly behavior (5:3). They too must be submissive to their Chief Shepherd (i.e. Jesus/God cf. Psa 23), that they may be blessed (5:4).
The Responsibility of Christians
Peter quickly turns around and reminds the “younger” (i.e. the body of Christ in general) to be submissive to their congregational leadership (“the elders”).
Peter addresses the “younger” with the command as well to accept their standing responsibility of submission and humility toward their congregational leadership (aorist imperative). This is an obligation with a spiritual blessing – God gives “grace to the humble” 5:5).
Membership among Local Churches
The passage demonstrates that congregations are forged on the basis of a submission to God. The elders are responsible for its flock, and the flock is responsible to its leadership. There is another factor to consider.
Peter uses the phrase: “the flock of God among you” or “the flock of God that is in your charge” (RSV). Congregational elders have their own sheep to pasture and do not pasture the sheep from another fold. They do not work with sheep that are not among them; those sheep belong to other shepherds.
The members of congregation A, are not members of congregation B, C, or D. Biblically speaking, there is no such thing as the “roving Christian”, wandering from congregation to congregation. The permanent visitor is equally unscriptural. They must be members in one congregation at a time.
In “church” terms, then, there is such a thing as church membership. Christians are responsible to place themselves under the leadership of their congregation (ideally the elders, cf. Phil. 1.1-2). “Placing membership” is biblical and required to maintain the imagery; but more importantly, to show submission to God’s plan for our lives.
Concluding Thoughts
So many times Christians trivialize church membership. They hop from congregation to congregation, never submitting themselves to the Lord’s plan. Sometimes it is out of ignorance that they violate God’s plan; other times, it is a willful act of defiance.Sometimes even traveling preachers fall prey to this problem as they rarely plant roots in the life of their congregation. Those who believe a Christian may wander about are simply wrong. The remedy is simple however: repent and submit to the Chief Shepherd by submitting your membership to a faithful congregation and its leadership.
Sources
Brandon Renfroe, “J.W. McGarvey and the Instrument,” Christian Courier 41.11 (March 2006): 43.
Marie Little, “Introduction” in Paul Little, Know Why You Believe, 3rd ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1988), 10.
David A. Black, Learn to Read New Testament Greek, Expand. ed (Nashville, TN: B&H, 1994), 171.
J. Gresham Machen, New Testament Greek for Beginners (New York, NY: Macmillan, 1923), 180; Stanley E. Porter, Idioms of the Greek New Testament, 2d ed. (London: Sheffield Academic, 1994), 52-54.
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