(add to Miscellaneous)

New Wine in New Wineskins

by James McDermott

For years – in fact for decades – Cindy and I attended church regularly. We were both raised within the same Christian denomination and we have close relatives who are or have been pastors there. In fact, I myself had been conditionally accepted to their seminary. It turns out I have a degree in theology from the denominational college where Cindy and I met. However, as I finished my degree I developed theological differences with this denomination over issues which I consider minor but which distinguish this group from other Christian denominations. At this point Cindy and I began attending churches of different denominations. And although our theology is fairly standard for Bible believing churches, we were now outside the box – at least the box we grew up in. We were not tied by tradition or culture to the churches we now began attending.

When we were first married we moved around quite a bit, so we attended a number of different churches. But after attending a church for a while, I usually developed a feeling of loneliness and restlessness. I was always the proverbial outsider looking in.

Along the way, there grew a list of issues that made us oddities in the churches we attended. The first issue came along very unexpectedly the week we were married. A discussion between Cindy and I that was meant to decide what kind of birth control we would use expanded in scope and concluded with the decision that according to the Scriptures children were always a blessing and a reward, and we would not, therefore, try not to have children. We would allow God to bless us with as many children as He wanted. The result was that God decided to bless us early and often.

The next issue was education. As a prodigal son who had been led astray by my friends at the public school, I had determined that our children would never attend public schools. At the time, we would have preferred Christian schools, but we couldn’t afford them. This left us with one option: homeschooling. We quickly fell in love with homeschooling as the best way to ensure our children were being raised to believe in Christ and to live holy lives.

As our children grew older, we grew a bit more conservative about our radio, TV, and film choices, and we became a little more concerned with dressing modestly. Our homeschooling success made us question the methods and expense of schooling in general and sending our children to the university particularly. We longed to succeed at a home based business so Cindy and I could work together and spend more time with our children. We grew to understand how immoral dating had been for the vast majority of our generation and we sought to keep our children pure. We eventually adopted the courtship/betrothal model for finding spouses for our children.

In a little more than 20 years, then, Cindy and I went from mainstream Christian singles to a homeschooling, quiver-full, home business pursuing, courting family of 11 children that is still working through modesty and media issues. Would we be an oddity in your church?

Until recently, however, the issues that made us different from the others in our church concerned family and were personal in nature – they weren’t about the church directly. Of course, I have noticed for a long time that children’s Sunday schools and youth groups suspiciously modeled the public school. I also noticed the influence of feminism as women became increasingly likely to hold positions as church council members or teachers of adult Sunday School classes that included men. I also noticed that experienced, wise and spiritual men without college degrees could never lead a church, while inexperienced, untested men with a master’s degree in divinity could lead. I noticed, too, that churches are increasingly run like modern corporations and marketed according to the principles of Madison Avenue. And I also noticed that many churches value unity more than relevant teaching. After all, shallow teaching is better for building large numbers than the kind of teaching that challenges the worldly presuppositions of the flock. But the issue that really brought the shortcomings of the modern church to the forefront was that meetings resembled so little the model Paul set forth in 1 Corinthians 14.

Paul said, “When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.” (1 Cor. 14:26) Everyone was supposed to be prepared to give. However, the modern church says, “When you come together, everyone be prepared to receive the music the director of music or the pastor has chosen and the instruction the pastor will provide.” Everyone is supposed to receive. Paul said, “If anyone speaks in a tongue, two – or at the most three – should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.” (1 Cor. 14:27-28) However, the modern church says one of two things: “No one is allowed to speak in tongues,” or, “Everyone may speak in tongues at the same time whether there is an interpreter or not.” Paul says, “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.” (1 Cor. 14:29-30) The modern church says, “Only one may speak – an ordained pastor – and he must never be interrupted.” Paul says, “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.” (1 Cor. 14:33-35) The modern church says, “Women may not be pastors, but they may publicly debate issues and hold teaching and leadership positions over men. Since the pastor may, indeed, know more than the woman’s husband, she is encouraged to ask questions during Sunday school class.” Can you see how so many churches are ignoring the Word of God?

What can be done? After having observed the churches we attended for many years and after hearing the tales of those who tried to change the church from within, I say reluctantly that I believe very few churches are open to the kind of radical change that would be required to bring them in line with 1 Corinthians 14. I am reminded of Jesus’ words, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Mat. 9:16-17)

Rather than fighting battles that would ruin existing churches, new churches should be established. New churches could run fellowship meetings that are more participatory according to 1 Corinthians 14. Overseers could be chosen according to 1 Timothy 3 without extra-biblical requirements such as college and seminary degrees. New churches could establish a biblical growth strategy: spread the gospel, help the poor, and raise godly children. New churches could be more flexible about issues that needlessly divide the body of Christ: baptism, the Lord’s Supper, tongues, free will vs. predestination, and the end times. New churches could also be free to challenge the culture on issues that have devastated the family such as contraception, secular public education, secular media, divorce, and dating (serial premarital sexual relationships).

We have recently decided to start a new church in our home. We hope our new church fellowship will be a new wineskin into which God can pour new wine. But I don’t want to ruin existing churches. Although they may seem like old wine to me, God is still praised, the Word of God is still honored, genuine prayers are still offered, and disciples are being made. These churches should be preserved. But many have no idea, I believe, how weighed down they are by worldly principles. The godly seed is being cut off by contraception and abortion, fornication is rampant among the young people, public schools are turning children from the faith, and men are too shallow and too timid to be spiritual leaders in their homes. But the “old wine” churches don’t seem to understand the severity of these problems.

Many homeschoolers are not attached to any church fellowship. They are discouraged – hoping and praying that something better would come along. But God’s word says, “Don’t neglect meeting together as some are in the habit of doing.” (Heb. 12) Instead of sitting at home, the new wine should be gathered together into new wineskins. If you can’t find a church, start a new one.

(add to Miscellaneous)

New Wine in New Wineskins

by James McDermott

For years – in fact for decades – Cindy and I attended church regularly. We were both raised within the same Christian denomination and we have close relatives who are or have been pastors there. In fact, I myself had been conditionally accepted to their seminary. It turns out I have a degree in theology from the denominational college where Cindy and I met. However, as I finished my degree I developed theological differences with this denomination over issues which I consider minor but which distinguish this group from other Christian denominations. At this point Cindy and I began attending churches of different denominations. And although our theology is fairly standard for Bible believing churches, we were now outside the box – at least the box we grew up in. We were not tied by tradition or culture to the churches we now began attending.

When we were first married we moved around quite a bit, so we attended a number of different churches. But after attending a church for a while, I usually developed a feeling of loneliness and restlessness. I was always the proverbial outsider looking in.

Along the way, there grew a list of issues that made us oddities in the churches we attended. The first issue came along very unexpectedly the week we were married. A discussion between Cindy and I that was meant to decide what kind of birth control we would use expanded in scope and concluded with the decision that according to the Scriptures children were always a blessing and a reward, and we would not, therefore, try not to have children. We would allow God to bless us with as many children as He wanted. The result was that God decided to bless us early and often.

The next issue was education. As a prodigal son who had been led astray by my friends at the public school, I had determined that our children would never attend public schools. At the time, we would have preferred Christian schools, but we couldn’t afford them. This left us with one option: homeschooling. We quickly fell in love with homeschooling as the best way to ensure our children were being raised to believe in Christ and to live holy lives.

As our children grew older, we grew a bit more conservative about our radio, TV, and film choices, and we became a little more concerned with dressing modestly. Our homeschooling success made us question the methods and expense of schooling in general and sending our children to the university particularly. We longed to succeed at a home based business so Cindy and I could work together and spend more time with our children. We grew to understand how immoral dating had been for the vast majority of our generation and we sought to keep our children pure. We eventually adopted the courtship/betrothal model for finding spouses for our children.

In a little more than 20 years, then, Cindy and I went from mainstream Christian singles to a homeschooling, quiver-full, home business pursuing, courting family of 11 children that is still working through modesty and media issues. Would we be an oddity in your church?

Until recently, however, the issues that made us different from the others in our church concerned family and were personal in nature – they weren’t about the church directly. Of course, I have noticed for a long time that children’s Sunday schools and youth groups suspiciously modeled the public school. I also noticed the influence of feminism as women became increasingly likely to hold positions as church council members or teachers of adult Sunday School classes that included men. I also noticed that experienced, wise and spiritual men without college degrees could never lead a church, while inexperienced, untested men with a master’s degree in divinity could lead. I noticed, too, that churches are increasingly run like modern corporations and marketed according to the principles of Madison Avenue. And I also noticed that many churches value unity more than relevant teaching. After all, shallow teaching is better for building large numbers than the kind of teaching that challenges the worldly presuppositions of the flock. But the issue that really brought the shortcomings of the modern church to the forefront was that meetings resembled so little the model Paul set forth in 1 Corinthians 14.

Paul said, “When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.” (1 Cor. 14:26) Everyone was supposed to be prepared to give. However, the modern church says, “When you come together, everyone be prepared to receive the music the director of music or the pastor has chosen and the instruction the pastor will provide.” Everyone is supposed to receive. Paul said, “If anyone speaks in a tongue, two – or at the most three – should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God.” (1 Cor. 14:27-28) However, the modern church says one of two things: “No one is allowed to speak in tongues,” or, “Everyone may speak in tongues at the same time whether there is an interpreter or not.” Paul says, “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop.” (1 Cor. 14:29-30) The modern church says, “Only one may speak – an ordained pastor – and he must never be interrupted.” Paul says, “As in all the congregations of the saints, women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home, for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.” (1 Cor. 14:33-35) The modern church says, “Women may not be pastors, but they may publicly debate issues and hold teaching and leadership positions over men. Since the pastor may, indeed, know more than the woman’s husband, she is encouraged to ask questions during Sunday school class.” Can you see how so many churches are ignoring the Word of God?

What can be done? After having observed the churches we attended for many years and after hearing the tales of those who tried to change the church from within, I say reluctantly that I believe very few churches are open to the kind of radical change that would be required to bring them in line with 1 Corinthians 14. I am reminded of Jesus’ words, “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” (Mat. 9:16-17)

Rather than fighting battles that would ruin existing churches, new churches should be established. New churches could run fellowship meetings that are more participatory according to 1 Corinthians 14. Overseers could be chosen according to 1 Timothy 3 without extra-biblical requirements such as college and seminary degrees. New churches could establish a biblical growth strategy: spread the gospel, help the poor, and raise godly children. New churches could be more flexible about issues that needlessly divide the body of Christ: baptism, the Lord’s Supper, tongues, free will vs. predestination, and the end times. New churches could also be free to challenge the culture on issues that have devastated the family such as contraception, secular public education, secular media, divorce, and dating (serial premarital sexual relationships).

We have recently decided to start a new church in our home. We hope our new church fellowship will be a new wineskin into which God can pour new wine. But I don’t want to ruin existing churches. Although they may seem like old wine to me, God is still praised, the Word of God is still honored, genuine prayers are still offered, and disciples are being made. These churches should be preserved. But many have no idea, I believe, how weighed down they are by worldly principles. The godly seed is being cut off by contraception and abortion, fornication is rampant among the young people, public schools are turning children from the faith, and men are too shallow and too timid to be spiritual leaders in their homes. But the “old wine” churches don’t seem to understand the severity of these problems.

Many homeschoolers are not attached to any church fellowship. They are discouraged – hoping and praying that something better would come along. But God’s word says, “Don’t neglect meeting together as some are in the habit of doing.” (Heb. 12) Instead of sitting at home, the new wine should be gathered together into new wineskins. If you can’t find a church, start a new one.