Tak Bhana (2)

Yesterday I began a response to Tak Bhana's message called Every Christian is a Full-time Minister. There is a solution to the problem.

Jesus understood the spiritual risks of going into the world, so he always sent people out in pairs, so they could provide spiritual protection for each other. Sending people into intense battle on their own is naïve. Jesus disciples were a bit safer, because they did not need to submit to a non-Christian person when the moved to a village (if they had to submit to the headman, that could cause spiritual problems.

If Tak wants people to go into the world, it is much easier to send a few people to live close together in the place he are targeting. They do not need to submit to anyone who is not a Christian. If they submit to Jesus and to each other, they can establish a demon-free zone, which can be a base for reaching out to others. (This is what Jesus told us to Luke 10). It is why Jesus told his disciples to look for a Person of Peace to stay with. A Person of Peace would be less unlikely to be controlled by demons, so submitting to them (as you would need to do if you lived in their house) would be less spiritually risky. (I explain how this works in Being Church Where We Live).

The Biblical examples Tak gave are a bit irrelevant. God was with Joseph in his work place, but his authority was limited, so he had very limited influence in his work place. He actually impoverished and enslaved the entire Egyptian nation (and they have never been free since), because he was still Pharaoh’s slave. Not a good example.

Daniel is the same. God used his position in his work place to develop his ministry as a prophet, but most his people will not be prophets in their work place. There is no evidence that Daniel had much impact on the people he worked with (except Drach, Shack and Neg). All the other people continued to hate him and tried to bring him down. However, he did not warn his people what would happen to them if they tried to prophetic in their work place. Someone working for and employment agency in a factory would most likely be fired, if they challenged the management.

I am concerned that Tak Bhana is sending his people into the firing line, totally unprepared for what they will encounter. It is much harder than going into a spiritually neutral place like a café and having coffee with a couple of school friends.

Here is my challenge to Tak.

You are dropping another impossible and dangerous burden on his people. If it is so easy, why don’t you go and do it, seeing, as you are the one who is gifted in the Spirit. Jesus went ahead of his disciples and showed them how to do things. He never expected them to do what he had not done himself. Why should his people take you seriously, if you are unwilling to do it yourself?

I can see what you are trying to do, but you want make it happen by yelling from the pulpit, because you are out of touch with what work is really like. If it is really important, you should do what Jesus did, and go out and show how it is done.

I presume that you are still grabbing the best people to work in the church. When the best people like you, stay at the centre in the four walls of the church, you becomes part of the problem, because it gives the message that ministry in the church is more important. Actions speak louder than words.

In his sermon for the following week, Tak talked about giving to the church and overseas mission. The work place reverts to a place to earn money to give to the church.

Response to Tak Bhana (1)

Tak Bhana is the leader of Church Unlimited in Auckland and has a television program called Running with Fire. Last week-end, I listened to a message he gave called Every Christian is a Full-time Minister. At the end he said he would love to hear from me. I know that is probably not true, but here is my response anyway.

Tak spoke the idea that the church should be out in the world, and that all Christians should see themselves as God’s ministers in the world, and especially where they work. He debunked three myths.

1. Clergy are superior to the laity.
2. Going to church is enough
3. Market place ministries are not as spiritual as church-based ministries.

This is really important message.

The challenge was brilliant, but the application was flawed. Tak talked about Christians being ministers in their workplace and how they should perform better, because God is with them. This is true, but many of his comments reflected the naivety of someone who has not worked in the world for a long time. Much of his advice was unhelpful, and some of what he said is just plain wrong.

He told his people they should go into their work place as ministers of the gospel, carrying the gits of the Spirit. That sounds good, but he do not realise how hard it is for a Christian to operate in a modern factory or workplace. It is much harder to pray in a factory, surrounded by demonic powers, than it is to pray in a church lounge surrounded by Christians.

He urged his people to operate in the gifts of the Spirit, but does not seem to realise that it is much harder to operate the gifts in a factory with dozens of demons dancing around, than in his church office, or at the front of the church meeting with dozens of people praying.

More seriously, he told his people that God can change a work place. That does happen, but it is not automatically true. He can change it if the conditions are right, but if most of the managers and staff are hostile to the gospel and resist the working of the Spirit, God cannot change them. They are free people, and God will not force them to change, if they do not want to. Sometimes people will respond to the Spirit and change their behaviour, but there is no guarantee of that happening, so Tak gave his people a false hope of cultural change.

He also told his people they kings in their work place, and got them to chant that out loud. Again, this is not exactly true. We are only kings in places where we have authority, and that depends on the existing authority lines in the work place. Ordinary workers have very little authority. They only have authority over how they do thing, and other people who may have submitted to them. They can make a difference, but the bosses and owners are the overall kings of the work place. Failure to recognise that will lead to frustration and mistakes.

I suspect that many of the pastoral problems he have to deal result from people, being in the workplace without understanding the working of spiritual authority, and getting smacked about spiritually without knowing why. (I explain the working of spiritual authority in my book Kingdom Authority).

Even if a Christian in a position of authority, they are under authority of someone else, who will limit what they can do. A manager or supervisor has more authority over their work place, so they have greater influence, especially in prayer. However, it is not that easy for them, because they are paid to represent the company, not Jesus. It is fine if the interests of Jesus and the company coincide, but if they don’t, the manager or supervisor must represent the company. Unless the action required is so diametrically opposed to Jesus will, that they might need to resign.

If Christians go alone into a work place without understanding the nature of submission an authority, they could be spiritually massacred. When we go into a work place, we have to submit to people with authority there, who are often not Christians (an implicitly to the demons that control them). This leaves us very vulnerable spiritually, if we are on our own.
Some will say that we are protected by the blood of Jesus, but that is naïve. When I submit to someone, I give them permission to control some aspects of my life. So if I am not careful at work, I am opening myself up to the spirits that control them by submitting to people who are not Christians (This is why we are not to be unequally yoked).

Christians are required to go into the world, but we must know what we are dealing with. More tomorrow