Lynn Green

Category: Leadership

  • Certificates and Sacrifices

    Certificates and Sacrifices

    A letter from Tom Hallas.

    Tom Hallas has long been one of our most senior and influential elders in Asia.  He is known for his huge “father’s heart” for everyone he meets.  He is also a deep thinker.  The message that follows, with its horrific opening scene, will provoke any reader to think, reflect, and to wonder at the power of the Truth.

    Dear Ones,

    Enclosed is a short paper that I wrote to give expression to some of my thoughts after I fell into the ditch in Africa. Waiting for a procedure to open my artery I had some thinking time.

    I’m giving you this as I have another paper by another author to send you that more adequately expresses where I have travelled in my thinking to date. This has been a 20 year journey and I am a little more settled now than I was at the beginning  with Certificates and Sacrifices.

    If you’re interested, I would like to hear from you. Nevertheless, I will pass on to you the other paper in a few weeks.

    Love and Blessings

    Tom Hallas.

    tom-article-certificates-and-sacrificesDownload
  • In Defense of Corrupt Officials

    In Defense of Corrupt Officials

    Photo by Hunters Race on Unsplash.

     

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    For a few years, I flew in and out of Norther Nigeria via its largest city, Kano.  There were several aspects of those flights that were nerve-wracking; today they make for good stories.

    My most anxious moments were at the immigration point in the departures area.  The set up was similar to many others except that the officers were not behind glass; they were behind plywood sheets where the glass should have been, so no one could be seen.  The departing passenger would push their passport through a small slot in the plywood and then move about 5 steps farther along, where they would wait for their passport to appear again through another small slot.

    With shrugs of apology, local passengers would explain that my passport was more likely to emerge again if it has a $20 note in it. I, however, was an anti-corruption warrior who refused to be intimidated into bribery!  I would stand at the second small slot, waiting while other passengers came and went; then, eventually, my passport would reappear, and I would feel I struck another small blow against systemic corruption.

    What’s the Real Root?

    Decades have passed, and now each of my four adult children have been or are involved with Africa. Two of them have lived in African countries and the other two have made many more trips than I ever did.  They have had to interface with corrupt officials at much higher levels than I ever did—and the amounts involved are exponentially greater.

    There is no doubt that corruption is the primary cause of poverty in Africa.  The continent has been blessed with the greatest natural resource riches of any part of the world, but the general rule is, “the closer you live to valuable natural resources the more misery you will experience”.  A few officials and their families amass colossal wealth and the many lack clean water, good nutrition, education or any kind of health care. But how often do we consider that the dishonesty of the average person is the root cause of corruption?

    Government officials, including the police, military, immigration—the every-day faces of power—rely upon the government treasury for their pay.  The treasury is dependent upon the citizens to declare their income and pay their taxes. When the treasury cannot pay government workers, they usually use the power of their position to extort money directly from the populace.  Hence, the nerve-wracking passport slots in Kano.

    Anti-Corruption Campaigns Don’t Work

    When a new government replaces an old one in the many nations suffering from corruption, they will inevitably announce an anti-corruption campaign. Of course, that suggests that the new government is not corrupt, but that is impossible.  When almost every citizen conceals their income and pays no taxes; when there is no system in place to track income and reliably collect taxes, only the corrupt can navigate their way to the top.  Maybe, occasionally, an independently wealthy person can commit to serving their nation and can do so without resorting to corruption—but that is exceedingly rare.

    No Quick Fix

    So, good luck to all the anti-corruption drives, whether mounted by the United Nations, or the foreign aid departments of Western governments, or by the big NGOs.  If the Treasury does not have the revenue to pay government workers a fair wage, then corruption cannot be stopped.  The high-profile campaigns continue, despite the inescapable logic I have laid out.  Why?

    I think the answer is simple.  The governments and large organisations know of no way to address the root problem of dishonesty in the citizenry.

    Which Nations Are Least Corrupt?

    But there are many prosperous nations in which the taxation system works and government workers are paid, often very well.  So, we must look at their history and ask how that working system arose.  There are essentially two reasons—totalitarian control is one and voluntarily honest citizens is the other.  Since no one would choose to be under a tyrannical government, we should examine the second reason.

    Have a look at the “Corruption Perceptions Index”: (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption_Perceptions_Index)

    Did you notice anything those nations have in common?

    The Importance of Biblical Christianity

    They were the primary nations impacted by The Reformation (except for Japan, but that’s another story).  They were the nations where the general populace became literate and very familiar with the Bible.  Those were all Northern European nations and they went on to establish similar societies in North America, Australia and New Zealand.  The Counter-Reformation prevented the Southern European countries from accessing the Bible until relatively recent times, but now that two or three Popes in succession have promoted Bible literacy, that might change.

    It wasn’t just the original Reformation.  Following Luther’s “revolution” these nations experienced Christian awakenings or revivals—waves of evangelism, Bible studies and character transformation in ordinary citizens.  Character transformation of citizens formed a solid foundation for honesty throughout society.  (For a very readable account of how religious awakening contributed to the American Constitution, have a look at If You Can Keep It, by Eric Metaxas.)

    There is no doubt that the transformation of any nation is an enormous, complex and long-term process.  Grinding poverty alongside fabulous wealth was the norm for Europe 150 years ago, but revival and Biblical teaching brought gradual change.  Over generations, the fundamental needs of human life were more and more accessible to all.  I propose that this is the only desirable path for the transformations of nations where corruption is the current norm.

    It Has Begun!

    If that sounds like an impossible process, think again.  I have just returned from Brazil where an event called The Send, drew about 150,000 people, average age 24, who were super-energetic for 12 hours of worship and challenge to become missionaries. I was at the largest of the three full stadia at 10 p.m. and the energy levels, commitment and focus were still going strong after 12 hours of standing through sun and rain and dark.

    I referred to The Send in an email to a friend earlier today and she replied with her own wonderful report:

    “I leave tomorrow with For His Glory ministries to do a large festival in Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; we expect to have a festival where 75,000 to 100,000 maybe even more people accept Christ Over 5 nights. We’ve trained over 10,000 people already in that city to disciple new believers.”

    It seems to me that the waves of revival, or awakening, are happening already—and on a very large scale.  May they continue and grow!

    Christlike Living

    Now we need countless Christians who will initiate Bible studies with a focus on developing Christ-like character.  Then, with a foundation of honest citizens, proportionate revenue can be raised, and government employees paid.  THEN we have a hope of stamping out corruption.

    After these many decades of experience in deeply corrupt nations, I have more sympathy with corrupt officials.  Having said that, often their corruption is boundless, so I am far from condoning or defending them, but I do understand that it is not just a result of individual wickedness.

    I am still committed to waging war on corruption, but we must address the foundational issue—the essential importance of an honest population.  That can only be realised by deep conversion experiences with the Holy Spirit and then character formation by powerful Bible teaching and learning.  If that sounds like it’s too big to hope for, note that it only takes about 20% of the population to catalyse change.  That minority percentage is enough to act as “salt and light”, as Jesus referred to.  Surely that brings reformation into our thinking as a very real possibility.

    Let’s join the biggest and most successful campaign ever against corruption.  Preach the Good News about the power of the Holy Spirit to transform individuals, then teach (and live) Christlike character and we will see nations transformed!

    Lynn Green.

  • Local Churches and Missions Agencies: Competitors or Partners?

    Local Churches and Missions Agencies: Competitors or Partners?

    Photo by Arisa Chattasa on Unsplash

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    One of my sons and his wife attend a very good local church, one that has provided a spiritual home for this former YWAMer, a place to grow and exercise their spiritual gifts and to find friendship with like-minded Christians.  I am delighted with the church they have found and recently attended, along with other members of my family, a very good Sunday meeting there.

    But his loyalty was tested a bit by a recent article in the magazine that is produced by the network that his church belongs to.  In it, an author made an argument for all mission agencies and other “para-church organizations” to close down because they are a hindrance to the health of the Church.  That old argument gets re-cycled every few years and I will come back to it later in this article.

    Not long after that I spoke with a friend of mine who told me about a book that was recently co-authored by a YWAM leader in which he apparently says that he sees no reason why he or other YWAM staff and students should attend church.  I haven’t managed to get a copy of the book yet, so I won’t comment on the book itself, but the subject clearly needs to be addressed because that is a violation of one of the foundational values of YWAM.

    I am not surprised that this tension between local churches and mission agencies continues to surface from time to time, because the healthy cooperation of local church and global mission is a major threat to the kingdom of darkness.  So, I think it is important to lay a foundation of Biblical and historical thinking for the existence of these two major branches of the Church and why their partnership is so important and has such potential for power.

    Any discussion on this subject must begin with an attempt to define what church is.  This undertaking is fraught with pitfalls and ambushes because no subject has created more division in the history of Christianity.  Nevertheless, here is my attempt! 

    “The Church is people obeying Jesus together.” 

    My friend, Roger Forster, Bible scholar, teacher and apostolic leader gave me that definition many years ago and I have not heard anyone improve on it. 

    Our tendency, however, is to add conditions and especially organizational or structural prescriptions to that definition—and  that is when we begin to take sides and argue with each another.  When you stop to think about it, many denominations are founded upon some prescription about how the Church is meant to be organized.  Should it have elders or just pastors and deacons? Should it have bishops, archbishops and synods or is each local church sovereign? 

    Should local churches be governed by all-male leadership teams, or can women exercise governmental authority?  Should the entire congregation participate in important decisions or should the elders or pastor make those decisions?  Is the pastor subject to the elders or the elders subject to the pastor?  The list of issues is probably endless and periodically another movement emerges with a “new revelation” about how church should be organized or structured.  They usually think, by implication, that all other expressions of the Church are, at best, second rate.

    There is a reason why we have so many different opinions on this subject.  Jesus specified almost nothing about how the Church should be organized.  Then, when we read the narrative about how the disciples went about “doing Church”, there aren’t many instructions.  We read the stories in the book of Acts and then the letters to the churches, but we don’t get very many commandments about how to organize the Church. 

    I think there is a very important reason for that:  The Church is about people obeying Jesus together, not about how it is organized.  All organization is para-church.  (Para means alongside, so para-church means something that works alongside church.) I believe God meant the Church to be adaptable to all cultures and all stages of social development so He designed great flexibility into how the Church can be structured.  In some settings, vast congregations can be very fruitful with their large buildings and complex staff and management structures.  At other times, small groups meeting in homes, linked together by traveling pastors or teachers have been the most effective structure.

    Any time people try to do anything together, some organizational structure is required.  But the nature of that structure is not the essence of the Church.  People obeying Jesus together is the essence of the Church.  Structure is simply meant to serve the Church’s purposes.  In fact, structure is always at its best when it is pragmatic and flexible.  When we get hung up on structural prescriptions, history suggests that the structures become idolatrous and hinder the growth and maturity of God’s people and more often than not, become a source of division in the Church.

    To state it even more clearly, you are in the Church and I am in the Church, not because I go to a particular kind of organization.  We are being Church when we obey Jesus together.  We cannot be so arrogant as to say that one kind of structure is “better church” than another because of the way it is organized.  It is “good church” when it helps people come to faith in Christ, grow into maturity and express the life of Christ to the world.  Organizational structures that help achieve that end are good.  Organizational structures that hinder that end should be changed. 

    We might picture it like this:  The way we organize a group of believers can be compared to the scaffolding set up around a building in need of repair.  The scaffolding enables us to strengthen and renew the building where ever it is required but the scaffolding is not the building.

    Having said all that, though, the world-wide Body of Christ down through history has been expressed in two broad streams that have quite different organizational structures.  Their structures are different because their purposes are different.  We probably see them most clearly in the scriptures in Acts 13 when the Holy Spirit instructs the prophets and teachers at the church in Antioch to “set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

    From that time on they traveled as a team—sometimes a large team and sometimes a small team—preaching the Good News, establishing churches, strengthening them but working within a team structure rather than the organization of any one local church.  They were often temporarily within a local church as they built it up, but then they moved on in their team.

    Some would say that they remained submitted to the leadership of the church at Antioch, but there is scant evidence for that given the fact that Paul returned to that city and church only twice over the next 20 years and any leadership communication to and from the church in Antioch would have been almost impossible

    From New Testament times, God’s people have been found within two broad streams, local churches and trans-local organizations such as evangelistic associations, mission agencies, aid agencies etc.  In the Roman Catholic and Orthodox expressions of the Church, parishes and orders have existed from the fourth century.  It is important to note that the protestant reformation did not have a significant trans-local (or extensive) expression for the first 200 years.  During that time, it did not grow beyond the geographical confines of Europe.  Then, with the advent of denominational mission agencies and then interdenominational agencies, protestant Christianity has grown dramatically around the world.  Today, many very large local churches, sometimes called mega-churches, are initiating missions efforts from their own congregations.  Like Youth with a Mission four or five decades ago, they are new, have great potential and will learn a lot.  YWAM and other agencies should welcome this development and offer partnership where ever we might be of assistance.

    Toward the end of the 19th century, a dynamic spiritual renewal movement emerged and became know as the Brethren.  Like many other renewal movements, they emphasized certain organizational characteristics (lay leadership, plural eldership and local church sovereignty) and taught that the only valid organizational expression of the Church was local churches of their particular type.  Although their movement is not numerically strong in the 21st century their ideas about the structural nature of the Church have been widely influential.  As a result, many Christians today have been taught that only local churches are Biblically legitimate and that all other organizational expressions of the Church should be disbanded.

    Although this view claims a Biblical rationale, any effort to find prescriptions for Church organization in the Bible will quickly cast doubt on the validity of any and all expressions of the Church today.  Although it is fair to say that the Bible does not describe anything like today’s missionary societies, neither does it describe the existence of many different local churches within a given town or city; nor does it describe denominational structures, or networks of churches, or Bible training colleges, or even church buildings…the list goes on.

    I will summarize all this by saying that the Church today, as throughout history, has a very wide range of organizational expressions, but they fall into two very broad categories:  those whose aim is to work out the Christian faith locally and those who aim to spread the Good News to new places around the world.  Given that these two broad streams exist, the important thing is how they serve one another.

    The Church is always at its best when the local churches send their best to take the Good News to what the Apostle Paul referred to as the “regions beyond”, and when the extensive expressions of the Church focus on establishing and strengthening local churches.  This partnership is the one that God has chosen to change the entire world!

    So that is why it is important that YWAMers and any other members of Christian organizations should be active members of local churches.  Even though their travel schedules and other ministry obligations might limit their participation, they should demonstrate a sacrificial commitment to the health of their local church.  Their faith should be expressed in the place where they live through a local body of believers.  And that sacrificial service should, hopefully, make it easier for local church leaders to see the importance of sending those who are called out from their church to world mission.

    YWAMers have no reason to be unsettled by those who question the validity YWAM.  But we also have no excuse to not be committed to a local body of Christians!

    Lynn Green.

  • Great Matters

    Great Matters

    Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtne on Unsplash

    **This is a personal website and reflects my thoughts and convictions. It does not represent any official position held by Youth With A Mission.**

    From time to time, very important issues will arise in relation to beliefs, vision, values, covenants or relationships.  Most of these can be fielded by elders within an Area.  (NOTE that there will usually be more elders within an area than just those who are currently on the ACT.)  We already have a wide range of very good leadership teaching and resources available online and will continue to make them more readily available and easier to find.  These videos, papers and podcasts will help elders cope with matters as they arise.

    If an issue is likely to have wide-spread impact, or if it is not being addressed well within an ACT, then it could become a matter for leadership attention at a more international level.  We might call those “great matters”; similar to what Moses referred to when he distributed authority to leaders of tribes, but told them to bring to him any “difficult issues”.

    Who deals with such matters and who can an ACT call upon, or who intervenes if the ACT is not acting responsibly? In this sort of circumstance, more mature elders can be called upon or can take the initiative to call the ACT to account.  We have not done away with authority or accountability in our restructuring!  Before we go further with the issue of intervention, perhaps we could make a few comments to clarify how authority works beyond the local level or the ACTs.

    What we have done away with is positions and titles that make hierarchy organisational and more likely to be ridged.  That is why we have begun to use the term “elder”.  But that does not mean we have done away with authority beyond the local.  In fact, no one can do away with hierarchy and Jesus certainly did not dispense with the idea.  You will recall that when a couple of his disciples were arguing about who was the greatest, he didn’t say, “none of you will be greater than the other”; he said “if you wish to be greatest you must be servant of all”.

    It is a simple fact that some people have a lot more influence than others.  That is hierarchy.  As long as that influence is exercised from a servant heart, we all welcome it.  In fact, to try to do away with it is to do away with human nature and that can only be done with tyranny. Hierarchy exists because we respect and listen to some people more than others.  Therefore, we have elders who are able to act in leadership roles at every level from teams to global issues.

    When an Area Circle Team or other leadership group feels they have insufficient “social capital” or authority to deal with an issue they can appeal to elders with more social capital, wisdom and authority.  If it is truly a global issue, it might go to someone in the Founders Circle.  (See the paper, Who and What is the Founders Circle.)  At that point, it is not really the Founders Circle who deal with it, but rather one or more members of the FC acting as elders and supported by prayer from the others in the FC.

    So, although the Lord has led us quite clearly to push responsibility and authority out to Area Circle Teams and local leadership, that does not mean there is no authority beyond the local or ACTs.

    In the highly unlikely event that the person or group in error still does not respond, then the name of YWAM can be withdrawn from the offending person or body.  The name and trademarks of YWAM are held by the original California Corporation.  The board of that corporation is comprised of about 7 senior YWAM leaders, some of whom are currently on the FC and some are not.

    Occasionally an issue arises when one of our values is being eroded or violated; or there may be a strong sense the God wants us to add a new value.   When such an issue arises it is likely to have wide repercussions so some current members or two of the Founders Circle should be asked to help.  Again the Founders Circle would pray for them and support them.