![\"hillsongunited\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/292\/2015\/08\/hillsongunited.jpg\")
<\/a>Hillsong Church of New York City has landed in the news recently. Reed Kelly and Josh Canfield, a gay couple, have apparently been serving in the ministry of Hillsong NYC while remaining in their relationship. Over at\u00a0The Stream<\/em><\/a>, I made the case that if Hillsong failed to call this couple to repentance for their homosexual activity, then it offers them and others a \u201chalf gospel.\u201d<\/p>\nThis was all of interest in part because I have just written a book,\u00a0The Colson Way<\/em>, which is essentially about true conversion<\/a> and its effects. Michael Gerson, former speechwriter to President George W. Bush, said after Colson\u2019s death in 2012 that Colson was \u201cthe most thoroughly converted person\u201d he\u00a0knew. Conversion exploded in Colson\u2019s life. It gave him a new mind, a new sense of purpose, a new worldview. There was nothing tame or half-converting about the gospel Colson met.<\/p>\n But that gospel seems problematic\u00a0to\u00a0some today. This came to light when\u00a0Hillsong NYC pastor Carl Lentz responded to his critics in a Religion News Service interview<\/a> with Jonathan Merritt. In what follows, I want to engage his understanding of church membership.<\/p>\n First, Lentz apparently argues that church membership puts up \u201cbarriers.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>Lentz to Merritt: Our doctrine and theology rings hollow and often even comical when we set up even more barriers for hurting people than our broken world is offering. Apparently, people want others to be transformed by a gospel they are actually not allowed to hear, doubt, explore, have explained or see in action.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n I find this a quixotic comment in light of Jesus\u2019 take-no-prisoners call to repent and believe in his name (see Mark 1, for example). Jesus\u2013and his apostles\u2013seem to think that it is indeed a Very Big Deal to come to faith. Count the cost<\/em>, Christ said at one point (Luke 14:28). This little phrase indicates that following Christ means summiting peaks and climbing over barriers, to be sure. It\u2019s not supposed to be a small thing to convert to Christianity. It means death to self. It means crossing over the line. It means leaving father and mother behind (Luke 14:26). Think of the dread significance of that last statement.\u00a0Leave your family behind to follow me<\/em>, says the audacious Christ. Any church that doesn\u2019t uphold this standard is failing the biblical test.<\/p>\n Second, Lentz seems to think traditional church membership gets in the way of authentic faith.\u00a0<\/strong>Lentz to Merritt: We don\u2019t believe that to partake in aspects of this community, to sit at this table, you have to fully understand, comprehend or be convicted by our doctrine. \u2026\u00a0We believe you can have church discipline, accountability and strong pastoral discipleship without \u201ctraditional membership.\u201d \u2026to pretend membership is the answer to people living holy, disciplined lives is wrong.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n The first part of the quote above is really wishy-washy. No one \u201cfully understands\u201d biblical doctrine when they get saved. That\u2019s a non-starter as an idea. But you better \u201cfully understand\u201d the gospel and the weight of conversion when you join a church. If you don\u2019t get the gospel, you don\u2019t get Christianity. This is a matter of belief and <\/em>practice (see the love tests of 1 John).<\/p>\n The second part of the quote seems on its face to flatly contradict 1 Corinthians 5. Regarding the man who is sexually entangled with\u00a0his father\u2019s wife, Paul does not say to the church, Pump the brakes, fellas. Bring him along slowly\u2013give him time to let go of his iniquity.\u00a0<\/em>Let\u2019s hear what Paul does say: you are\u00a0<\/span><\/em>to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh<\/em>\u00a0so that he can be saved, ideally (1 Cor. 5:4). Did Paul think that membership was the elite enemy of sin? Absolutely. If you chase sin and give in to it in a sustained or egregious way, then you are to be disciplined and cast out of membership.\u00a0Deliver this man to Satan<\/em>. Terrifying words, these.<\/span><\/p>\n This reference to Corinth is hugely important, because if ever there was a place for a\u00a0slacker membership policy, Corinth would be it. The city was rife with sexual libertinism; it might make modern NYC blush a bit. There were temple prostitutes; men could sleep with pretty well whomever they wanted; Aristophanes coined the verb\u00a0Corinthianize<\/em>\u00a0to signal adventuresome\u00a0sexual practices. Seems like Paul should have accommodated such immorality, right? Pump the brakes<\/em>, right, Paul?<\/p>\n No. Paul goes exactly the opposite way. He\u00a0does not tolerate this man\u2019s gross sin. He does not allow the church to think for a solitary second that they are marked by such sin any longer.\u00a0Such were some of you<\/em>, he says to them. In perhaps the most stunning pastoral words in all of\u00a0Scripture, he reminds them,\u00a0But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God<\/em>\u00a0(1 Cor. 6:11).\u00a0<\/em>Paul refused to\u00a0allow the Corinthians to think that their past sins, including the sin of homosexuality, marred them any longer. They had made a clean break with these transgressions and the identities they created.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t need a new doctrine of church membership. We need to call people to come to the grace-giving God, and to leave all their sin behind. Then, when they have risen from the baptismal waters and are united with the church, we must call them to live according to the high calling of their profession, and discipline them if they fail. This is the only loving, missional practice there is. Anything else is a counterfeit, a half-measure, that will create half-Christians.<\/p>\n Third, Lentz claims that weaker membership breeds \u201cgenuine transparency.\u201d <\/strong>Lentz to Merritt:\u00a0There are plenty of examples of traditional membership working extremely effectively. \u2026\u00a0It\u2019s equally valid to have a system that can produce genuine transparency than perpetuate a system that at times causes people to hide their tensions, questions and strongholds for fear of exclusion<\/em>.<\/p>\n The argument here seems to be that the biblical standard of membership easily \u201cperpetuates a system\u201d of \u201cfear of exclusion.\u201d It doesn\u2019t yield \u201cgenuine transparency\u201d as his halfway system does. Here\u2019s the deal: in Lentz\u2019s framework, you can kinda sorta become a Christian. You can claim Jesus, I guess, but then not really go all in. In being \u201cgenuine,\u201d you might commit huge, Bible-denying sins. But\u00a0that\u2019s cool.\u00a0Pump the brakes, bro.<\/em><\/p>\n I want to believe that Lentz wants people to be saved. I want to believe that Hillsong is a truly Christian church. But statements like these chill my blood. It is precisely the \u201cfear of exclusion\u201d that helps keep us from sin. The possibility of being \u201chanded over to Satan\u201d should echo in our minds regularly. This is what you could call the negative means to holiness, with the glories of grace being the positive means.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s get down to brass tacks: Lentz\u2019s model is cleverly crafted. It draws a crowd, particularly among those who like the trappings of faith but not the whole enchilada. But this model is\u00a0not biblical. The church is not a marketing firm. It is not scared of people counting the cost. It wants<\/em> people to weigh the risk of following Jesus. Because of this, it strives for a body of members who love and obey its Lord and Savior. None of them do this perfectly; but all are called to this way of life as a consistent reality.<\/p>\n Sadly, Lentz and Hillsong seem to be well on their way to abandoning the very means God has instituted to sober us and call us to Christ. Our God does not only woo; he also warns. Our God does not only save; he also judges. Many professedly evangelical churches only want to preach half of these formulations. I pray they do not persist in these unbiblical ways. If they do, they preach a God without moral authority who loves a church without holiness\u2013a people who are in danger of dying without faith.<\/p>\n ***********<\/p>\n Image: Hillsong United<\/a> by\u00a0Abrahamvf<\/a>\u00a0on 9\/29\/07, accessed on Wikimedia Commons and licensed under Creative Commons<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hillsong Church of New York City has landed in the news recently. Reed Kelly and Josh Canfield, a gay couple, have apparently been serving in the ministry of Hillsong NYC while remaining in their relationship. Over at\u00a0The Stream, I made the case that if Hillsong failed to call this couple to repentance for their homosexual […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,173],"tags":[3869,865,13093,13153,3867,3868,13167,13176,3872,3871,3870],"class_list":["post-6529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-membership","category-homosexuality","tag-carl-lentz","tag-chuck-colson","tag-church-membership","tag-gospel","tag-hillsong-church","tag-hillsong-new-york","tag-homosexuality","tag-jesus-christ","tag-josh-canfield","tag-reed-kelly","tag-the-stream"],"yoast_head":"\n