A Place to Belong: Spiritual Renewal for Our Time

Copyright 1972, 2012, 2014 Robert A. Williams.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Foreword by Cecil G. Osborne, D.D.

ISBN: 978-1-4669-0039-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-0040-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4669-0041-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011918313

Scripture quotations indicated (MLB) in this book are taken from The Modeern Language Bible — The New Berkeley Version in Modern English © 1945, 1959, 1969 by Zondervan Publishng House.

Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked TLB are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971.

Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are from The Amplified Bible, Old Testament

copyright © 1965, 1987 by the Zondervan Corporation. The Amplified Bible,

New Testament copyright © 1954, 1958, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Trafford rev. 09/04/2014

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Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Words of Appreciation From Voices of the Past

Preface

Preface To The Second Edition

1. The Power of Friendship

2. Entering the Fellowship

3. The Bridge of Self-exposure

4. A Versatile Form

5. The Centered-power of Community

6. A Preserving Factor

7. The Healing Force

8. Feeling Private

9. The Indispensable Community

10. A Christian Availability

11. Dreaming Innocence

12. A Ministry of Listening

13. The Need for Creative Silence

14. If God Permits!

Endnotes

To my wife, EVELYN,

whose calm confidence and

love

have taught me the meaning of

grace

Foreword

This is a provocative and insightful book. The author deals with guilt, grace, forgiveness, love, and, in a most significant way, with the Church as it is and can be.

Our turbulent world, in social and moral revolution, is desperately in need of some answers. The church is searching its soul to find out where it lost the way, or at least the initiative. Why do more people look to science for answers than to Christianity? Why does the average person seek out a psychiatrist for solutions to personal problems rather than a minister?

The author of this book has, with penetrating insight, provided some answers. He is not so much a theoretician as a way-pointer.

CECIL G. OSBORNE, D.D.

Acknowledgments

In the first publication of this book, I cited a rather lengthy list of persons who contributed in a supportive manner in one way or another to the writing of this book. Many waters, however, have passed beneath the bridge during the thirty-nine years in which it has been in print. Many whom I gratefully referred to at the time are no longer alive. Most of those connected with Zondervan Publishing House at that time are no longer part of the personnel. A great number of friends who read the manuscript or who supported my ministry are still alive today and they will certainly recall their contribution as they read the newly published edition. I have the fondest memories of those days and their impact upon my life. I bid these dear friends Godspeed as they read these pages again, upon which their influence rests.

I would, however, like to acknowledge again the Rev. Charles Logue (in memoriam) and his wife Bea, who is still alive and well, for being instrumental in bringing me to Christ. Without their ministry and personal care, a book of this nature would never have been possible. Lovingly, I also acknowledge again my wife, Eve, to whom the book was first dedicated, who has been my faithful and supportive partner in all my writing efforts.

In conclusion, I would like to commend Trafford Publishing for consulting me about a potential reprint of the book and carrying it through to its current publication.

Words of Appreciation

From Voices of

the Past

"I thank you very much for your book, A Place To Belong. I compliment you for such an important work … We belong to the same spiritual family— Osborne, Trueblood, you and I! My best wishes for God’s blessing on your work."

Dr. Paul Tournier Author of The Meaning of Persons, Guilt & Grace, and others. Psychiatrist, Geneva, Switzerland

"Thank you very much for your book,

A Place To Belong. I have read it now

twice, a chapter at a time, and find it

to be of untold blessing to my inner

journey. I am now reading it for the

third time. It is grand."

Tillman Bubenzer

Agricultural Consultant to Industry

Conner Prairie Farms

"I have read two chapters of your book

already and it is excellent. It is warm,

personal, interesting but based on sound

theology. I predict a wide sale."

Dr. John P. Newport

School of Theology,

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

"One of my favorite pastimes during

Thanksgiving week is to recount the

blessings of God and His children

upon my life. One of the highlights

of the year was to receive your book,

A Place To Belong. The book is

excellent. You have a real talent in

writing. Your grasp of the spiritual

life of the believer is fresh but sound.

It blessed my life."

Dr. James G. Harris

Pastor, University

Baptist Church, Fort Worth,

Texas

Preface

The decision to write this book grew out of my own struggle for a place to belong. For a long time, I have felt that of all modem entities the church should be the living community to offer such a place.

Whatever else may be said of the church, it must be said to be a place where people may feel a sense of belonging. I can remember that as children, when discussions of church attendance arose, we turned to our friends and quite unpretentiously asked the question: Where do you belong? We meant, of course, ‘Where do you ‘go’ to church? or Where are you a member? Since we have become adults the question has not changed. Sadly enough, neither has the meaning. The meaning is still Where do you go?" when it should be incisively "Where do you belong?"

We are not overstating the case when we observe that the emerging emphasis of the church today lies in the direction of what the New Testament calls koinonia (fellowship; community). The burgeoning small group movement is only one evidence. That communal groups of every imaginable nature are arising outside the church today is also obvious.

The trend toward an answer to these unfulfilled longings is discernibly in motion, but it will be awhile before the church can offer the new generation an alluring, commanding fellowship.

Understandably, many of us would like to see more ideal Christian communities taken from the drawing board and put into motion. Invariably, as Karl Barth once put it, someone will ask us to draw the bird flying. To do so would be to attempt the impossible. A more realistic desire would be the adventurous search, not the ordered manifestation.

Koinonia, or the living community of persons, is the most potent, most priceless, and most daring venture there is, and, for these reasons, also the rarest. But the principles that comprise koinonia, in history and on the contemporary scene, must be re-examined if spiritual renewal in this one area is to become a reality within Christianity. Only an honest examination can give way to the product.

This book, therefore, is not primarily a How To documentation on the church. Neither is it a definitive work. It is a book with struggles, invitations, and incitements. It is an attempt to convey a spirit of what the church ought to be.

In recent years, I have been particularly concerned with the question mark effacing the spirit of many church members. They, too, have searched for a place to belong, only to run aground on a sometimes heartless individualism. They have sought a human warmth, a fulfilling adventure, a personal affirmation, an intimate dialogue. And the church, in many cases, sponsors everything except the opening of the soul. To this question mark, this longing, the book is directed, with the hope that the readers will discover a few guidelines for making their own place and for giving the church its genuine identity.

Robert A. Williams

Dallas, Texas

Preface To The Second Edition

Thirty-nine years have passed since the publication of this book, and the face of the church, as the Body of Christ in the world, has changed markedly. When the book first appeared, the emphasis on church renewal was on the wane, but renewal was far from having been accomplished. While church attendance was sufficient enough to warrant morning and evening services in most churches—meeting with satisfaction the interest of its most faithful members—its impact upon, and even its relevancy to, people on the outside seemed enormously lacking. Enclaves to the church were its Christian retreats, which were burgeoning, apparently owing to interest in small group encounters where ministry to one another could take place in a moderately prolonged and casual setting. There seemed to be little place for this in the formalized, programmed church services, the chief form of public Christian meeting. The desire for spiritual growth was a legitimate concern, but what seemed lacking to any measurable degree was an equipping ministry to help implement the conditions for such growth. To a great extent, the ministry of the laity was finding a moderate place of service in the world, but without guidance it was destined to become fragmentary if not an idle dream altogether.

Since that time, the interest in Christian retreats has dwindled to the extent that some of the most reputable centers have had to close their doors. The center of which I was a part, that always seemed to have bookings a year in advance, ultimately had to close. While some sponsorship of retreats continues to good advantage, emphasis is currently low by comparison.

Church attendance is not as strong as it was, many churches now disbanding their evening services. Reasons for lack of interest may be varied but one consideration may be that those attending are not overwhelmed with the burning conviction that their lives are any different for having met the morning session. Why, then, entertain an evening session?

The form of worship has also changed in the intervening years, with the churches breaking up their morning services into what is being termed traditional and contemporary. The traditional experience of worship, for one, is defined not in terms of what took place originally in the New Testament church, but rather what the older generations have experienced throughout their lifetime. This includes singing the old-time, tried and faithful hymns, listening to a sermon by one person, usually the pastor, and feeling that their attendance is primarily their service to God. Though many will not admit it, what occurs in much of this approach is that the members see themselves as aids to the pastor’s ministry, whatever he chooses that to be. The pastor, rather than being an equipper of spiritual life, often becomes a promoter, and sometimes without realizing it urges the members to pay, pray and attend, as one of my professors used to put it, and they seem satisfied in carrying out that role. Sadly, what is neither understood nor accepted as valid is that all Christians are ministers and that apart from their being in the meeting to worship God, they are there not to serve God but for God to serve them. When they leave the meeting place, their service to God begins in a weeklong engagement of carrying out their calling in Christ’s name and for His cause in the midst of secular life. Unless the church recognizes the lay ministry as the growing edge for a vital Christianity, then any lasting impact upon the non-believing world will be doubtful. Unless what happens on Sunday morning in the life of every parishioner affects all other realms of his or her life the other six days of the week, then service to Christ has been consigned to the pulpit, and in that venue the world can never be won. What must be guarded against is a mere Sunday morning religion in which we receive our spiritual shot-in-the-arm for carrying us through until next Sunday when we will return for another booster. If this is the bulk of traditional religion, no matter how full our churches in attendance, the truth seems clear, as Elton Trueblood has pointed out—"our present satisfaction with churchgoing is a sign of weakness rather than of strength."

The nature of the contemporary service, for another, invariably centers around the music and caters primarily to the youth and younger adults. Much of this approach, it appears, is the attendance at a performance not unlike what the attendants experience at school, in their rock bands and other social outlets. This form, if it aids the drawing of youth, may for that reason be a viable approach to worship, but only if it also impacts deeply the spiritual lives of those experiencing it. In many instances it does not. While a well-rounded approach here can generate genuine interest in and dedication to the principles of Christ, there are also some misgivings against it—for one, zeal for the musical exhibition seems to far outstrip zeal for spiritual truth; and secondly, when the church has to resort to, and in many instances, mimic the youthful pastimes to keep the youth interested, there is something lacking in the message being held forth for them. There is something seriously wrong about the ministry that cannot excite people about Jesus Christ.

Another change in the intervening years has been the development of the mega-church. With it has come also a lapse in koinonia—the fellowship of shared lives. By this is meant that the membership is so large that any extensive accountability to one another in deeper personal relationships is almost impossible. One can attend services week after week and never sit by anyone he knows. Some assemblies, recognizing the problem, have tried to solve it by breaking up the colossal membership into smaller units that meet together at times other than worship services. Here, it is hoped that an experience of belonging and loving care for the participants can be generated. Every six months or so, the groups are then urged to perform a sort of fruit basket turnover in which members become part of a newly formed group. While that may be a novel way of getting more people acquainted with one another, it also tends to interrupt what has been experienced in common sharing in the previous group. Many drop out of these groups for this reason. Again, many attend the larger churches for the sake of anonymity; they need not get seriously involved, and no one will be the wiser. Others attend primarily in order to hear a capable speaker, who if he or she does not have the greatest of spiritual insight, is at least entertaining. There will not be much equipping of the saints in this setting as the Apostle Paul defined it in Ephesians.

In trying to evaluate the form the church is now taking, we are not attempting to be critical for the sake of criticism; we must only be aware of the problems of any chosen form. As I have pointed out