Describing himself as a curious skeptic, Martyn Wendell Jones set out to find out for himself if what was happening in Redding, California at Bethel Church was indeed a move of God and that revival was taking place.

Jones who attends a Presbyterian (PCA) church in Toronto admits that he has never heard anyone speak or pray in tongues. He also declined prayer for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit when asked by some members of Bethel.

In spite of his background Jones provides a balanced assessment on the ministries of Bethel. He writes that he half-expected to find an organization of hucksters or a community of believers devoted to God. Neither fit his expectations.

In this in-depth article Jones describes in detail the ministries of the church and the people who attend Bethel. Because of this, I believe that readers of his article will have a good idea of what to expect should they decide to visit Bethel.

Bethel was at one time an Assembly of God church affiliating in1954. In 2006, the church voted to become independent. Today, Bethel boasts of a weekly attendance averaging over 8,600 and an operating budget of over $9 million dollars.

Four ministries make-up Bethel: the church itself, iBethel, Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM), and Bethel music.

The more than 2,000 students from 57 countries and 45 states at BSSM are trained to become “revivalists”. A description of the courses and interviews with the teachers would have been helpful for the reader of his article to perhaps get a better idea as to what is being taught at BSSM and of the attendees of Bethel.

Jones states that the unifying theme at Bethel is revival.  In fact the walls above the auditorium floor have banners with images of people holding signs that say “I am revival”.

McCurdy says that some Bethel students have been kicked out of some of the local stores for their “erratic behavior”, including a BSSM student who had been trying to prophesy to a customer through their dog.

Phil Johnson, who spoke at a John MacArthur Strange Fire conference, says that Bethel “constitutes a whole different message from biblical Christianity” and that it is “totally devoid of any true and consistent proclamation of the gospel.”

On a positive note, the mayor of Redding estimates that Bethel’s members have saved the city the cost of five full-time jobs annually as a result of their pro bono work. Jones does not elaborate on what those jobs entailed.

Toby Jones is a former Moderator of the Presbytery of Mackinac, who parted ways with the Presbyterian denomination in order to found Living Vision, a community attempting to offer an “authentic path to those seeking an apprenticeship in the Way of Jesus.” Jones encourages the creation of communities based on the seven practices he identifies as vital for such a community: open theology, authentic discipleship, embracing risk, radical inclusiveness, ‘Service. Period!’, no paid leader, and intentional homelessness in terms of a church building. These seven practices form the backbone to the book’s main chapters and each is illustrated by a discussion of a community visited by Jones which demonstrates the principles. The core chapters end with a number of helpful discussion questions, reminding the reader of the issues raised and meaning the book could be used as a resource for group study.

Jones challenges much traditional church thought and practice, and readers may well find themselves both heartily agreeing at one moment, then sharply disagreeing at the next. In particular Jones does not have the most optimistic outlook for the so-called ‘institutional church’ as hinted in the title with its mention of the ensuing ‘Post-Church Age.’ Jones, however, sees church decline as an opportunity for authentic community, as the institutional church has often actually hindered discipleship. The opening chapter seeks to highlight that the Greek verb pisteo should be properly translated and interpreted as an action verb that denotes a dynamic sense of following, including nuances such as clinging to, pouring oneself into, and putting absolute trust in. He seeks to contrast a risk-taking ‘pisteuw faith’ with more traditional, static translations of the Greek, which focus solely on the belief aspect. This focus on action naturally flows into the second chapter on discipleship, where Jones helpfully discusses some inspiring stories, notably that of the well known speaker Shane Claiborne, who in an attempt at radical discipleship ended up founding The Simple Way community through ministry among and support of a homeless community,

The chapters on embracing risk and radical inclusiveness are full of insight on how to avoid settling into complacency, although not everyone will be content with some of Jones’ conclusions on various controversial issues, including the place of homosexuality within the church. Similarly the dichotomy he presents between an inward looking church that emphasises holiness, and an outward focussed yet accepting church, perhaps does not adequately allow for the possibility of both an emphasis on holiness and outreach: Jesus after all called people to repent and follow him. His chapter entitled ‘service.Period,’ where he highlights the transformative power of merely serving the poor and vulnerable, rather than tying this to verbal evangelism, is moving and resonates with reality, however Jones perhaps ought to acknowledge that the gospels portray Jesus as both proclaiming the kingdom and enacting it. The final two chapters highlight the financial and spiritual gains both of avoiding the focus on church buildings, and of ministers fostering tent-making skills. These reflections constitute the most challenging and thought provoking of Jones’ insights given trends in church decline and troubled economic times. He points out that with no church building to maintain or pastor to pay, the church will have vastly greater resources to channel into practical ministry.

Tony Jones, “Inhabiting the Biblical Narrative: How I Learned to Stop Doing Bible Studies and Start Loving the Bible Again” Youthworker (May/Jun 2004, Vol 20, No 5), pages 30-34.

In the midst of serving other people and the details of life, it can be easy to forget that there is one large story of humanity. No other book captures the truth and circumstances of humans better than the Bible. It is the history of the world from family to family to family – the story of the One True God who acted within the timeline of humanity to accomplish His purposes. However, it remains all too easy to concentrate on the minutia of scripture and miss the main story that life is all about.

When you look beyond the rigid study of individual words in the Bible, you come to appreciate how God relates to people. Life is about relationships; living is about people. It really helps to read the Bible with this in mind.

Tony Jones, from tonyj.net

Tony tells us that his adventure into the story of the Bible started when the high school students he discipled did not want to study a Christian pop-culture book. They wanted to really get to know the Bible, even though they feared that, as had happened before, they would fail to grasp the relevance of the Bible for their lives. The students knew that they should be reading and understanding the Bible, and felt guiltily for not making the connection.

Yet, the Bible is the only book that can feed the soul. It is the only book that comforts, that loves, that challenges, that raises questions, and answers the question of why we are here. All of these benefits can be lost when we allow the story that God is telling to stop affecting who we are and what we do.

I’d become a scientist in a lab coat. I’d been taught to take a piece of God’s story and put it in a Petri dish, then to put it under a microscope and get it down to its smallest part, from selection to sentence to phrase to word to syllable. When I read this, I realized the same had been true of me. We forget to think about what culture was like when we read scripture. We forget to think about the smells, the armies, the dress code, the food, and everything else that helps us remember the stories of our ancestors as being real and not a dusty fairy tale wearing a religious mask. Being more serious about the overall narrative will hopefully give us real and vivid images of God’s movement in history to replace the trinkets and bumper stickers that often trivialize the history of God and man.