LRC, Houston - the weekends-free church in Houston, Texas

Sonship of old vs. our post-modern views is radically different.

I had a double major on my way to a BA degree in college and one leg of that was in history (the other political science). Yet my journey last year into the desert fathers and Christian mystics, opened my eyes to something entirely new that I had not seen before in Christian church history: the importance of spiritual sonship!

I realized twenty years ago that there were lots of ways to build a modern church (post-modernity didn’t officially arrive until 1989 you know). I remember that well because it was on my birthday that the Berlin Wall came down and that’s the date sociologists mark as the dividing line from the modern to the post modern (which means they’ve yet to come up with a descriptive name for the times we are now living) though some say it really began in 1920. Who knows! The most popular way to build a church was to advertize, get on theradio to start, and then TV; and adopt a “seeker-friendly” message and environment. For a mega-church that meant having your own gym, running track, bowlng alley, and fast-food court. And the dues for this country club service was not 10%, but just anything you cared to offer. What a deal!

Just think, you’d never have to go out into the cold world again!

But, there was another way of building a church and it was through a long, tedious, and vulnerable way of developing spiritual sons (and daughters). It was working well for the first decade, and then the old road block showed up- “familiarity breeds contempt”. And besides who wants to follow a spiritual dad into the jaws of hell? What fun is that?

But you know, that’s how Christianty came about. We know about Jesus dying on the cross. Most have heard about Peter being crucified upside down (now there was a son!). Initially, Peter didn’t want to have anything to do with the journey. In fact he turned the offer down three times! But, what’s little known is how many great men gave their lives for the church and had spiritual sons follow behind to pick up the baton- even unto crucifixation themselves.

Justin the Martyr is an obvious one! Who would want that name? Irenaeus passed the baton to Hippolytus. There was Polycarp, and Origen who was a student of the great Clement of Alexandria. There was Pamphilus, Eusebius of Caesarea, and a long list that trails into the Dark Ages. What caused these men to follow their leader- unto death?

I can only make one guess. The spiritual father was so full of Christ, that they could not deny the calling, regardless of the consequences! I’m a long, long ways from being there! I don’t know if I can ever get there; however, I do know I see spiritual fathering greatly different than ever before. And with God’s grace, I’ll be able to pass on some semblance of His Spirit.

Who’s following me or not is secondary to who I am following!”