What I No Longer Teach (and Why)

On confession, reform, and rooting your ministry in truth and the Spirit

Photo by Mark Thompson on Unsplash

For years the Charismatic church has played monkey see monkey do. The leading voices in our tribe have made wild claims about God they called revelation. And they bragged about their ability to get God to do what they want Him to do and called it wisdom.¹

In reality, most were projecting their carnal desires onto God's nature. Their lives and ministries eventually blew up, not because God failed, but because they were never rooted in the real God.

As the dust begins to settle, God is inviting our slice of the Church into something deeper in this season. Instead of chasing the loudest voice or the latest trend it's a season of growing roots.

We need to model what it means to let God reshape our desires through His truth. That takes intentional pursuit of both knowledge and revelation. Passively going with the charismatic flow won't take us to the promised land. It takes us to being mocked in heresy hunter videos.

If we want to lead well in this season and live faithfully before the world, we must become the kind of leaders who actively pursue both revelation and wisdom and model it for our people.

Model Active Learning

I don't personally know a pastor that does not desire to follow God well. The real problem is that our inner desires taint what we hear as God's desire. That is this human condition. The longer we are in ministry, the easier it is to think what we want for our church is what God wants. But time and experience show us that is not true more often than we think.

Every minister has desired outcomes, influence, or even spiritual experiences that fell outside the revealed nature of Jesus. The only two groups of leaders I have known to not agree with that statement are the deluded and the narcissists. Unfortunately, our tribe often elevates them as apostles and prophets.

These are the folks are quintessential passive learners. They accept whatever was handed down to them and whatever pops into their minds.

We need to model active learning. Active learners ask questions without being fearful of being labeled as lacking faith. We study from people who know more than us. We share our journey of acquiring knowledge from teachers and the correction of our understanding to the truth.

Our people need to see us doing the work of active learning with humility. If we don't, we allow a culture of spiritual pride, self promotion, and deception to flourish. And worst of all, we will fall victims of not measuring up to those our tribe is following.

When Desire Shapes Doctrine

The only pastor who ever admitted this to me was a friend in Brazil I was ministering for. His church was beautiful, vibrant, felt like family, with wonderful services. He told me that the next time I came, they would be expanding into a new area of the building because, "In Brazil, if your church is not constantly expanding and growing, people will leave for a church that is."

That pressure reveals a temptation all pastors face: to shape our preaching around people’s appetites instead of God's truth.

We leaders have to be honest about the pressure we are under to serve our carnal desires. We want our church to grow of course. We want influence. We want revelation. We want to be seen as leaders. But why?

• So the influence of Christ can increase?

• So we can be financially stable?

• So we can feel successful?

• So we can scratch our entrepreneurial itch?

• Or so our people don't view some other minister as more anointed than us?

The Reformation Begins in Us

Leaders, we have to start with ourselves. We can't ask our people to pursue wisdom if we are still chasing momentum. Charisma does not equal character. We know that. Neither is success, platform, or spiritual gifts. The only thing that proves the strength of our foundation is time. We need to teach that without the fear of being labeled as lacking faith.

God is giving us an opportunity to reset. Not by quenching the fire of the Spirit, but by anchoring our fire in truth. That means asking hard questions. That means repenting for teaching what sounded right instead of what was true. That means letting God reshape our methods and our motives.

In my own ministry, the desire for firm foundations has led me to labor over a discipleship manual for new believers. I want it to honor the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives while also teaching them to build with wisdom and knowledge from the beginning of their walk.

It has taken more effort than I ever anticipated, but I am already seeing the fruit. Instead of people sending me messages of what other ministers are doing, I am getting theological questions, biblical study questions, and people in life group discussions are referencing commentaries.

This process has required me to confess to my congregation what I once taught but no longer believe, and to acknowledge that some leaders I once followed are no longer faithful guides in the faith. This takes humility. But this is the kind of honest, Spirit-led work that produces lasting fruit.

I am convinced we don’t need a new trend or a louder voice. We need a tribe rooted in truth, led by people willing to grow in public.
If that’s what you long for too, then begin where you are.

Let your pursuit of wisdom be visible. Let your repentance be instructive.

It starts with us. And I believe God is calling us into it.

(Is this resonating with your spirit? I’d love to hear your story, or how you're pursuing revelation and wisdom as a leader, in the comments.)

1. For more on this, check out my post on magicians and heroes.