I must say that even though I have devoted a fair amount of time, energy and cyberspace to the issue of biblical misapplications amongst the Evangelical faithful, I am still surprised by the ways and degree to which the Bible continues to be all bent out of shape by us. By this I mean the Bible is used and applied in ways that I believe it was never intended for; neither by the original writers of the various books, nor by God himself.

The latest case in point came in this week’s Out of Ur discussion over at Christianity Today. This week’s topic discussed how the pursuit of successful ministry gets in the way of true, deep character formation. Of course, as is often the case with us Evangelicals, the question itself belies too strong a confidence in growing numbers as a sign of “success”.

But putting aside for a moment the rather glaring fact that our very definition of success is problematic, dualistic, and dare I say- “unbiblical”, let us touch on the author’s main point. He writes:

“…Many of us opt to ignore the slow, hard work of character formation because we simply don’t want it. It is a matter of intention. We don’t want to be slowed down in our pursuit of ministry impact and tangible achievement.”

True. But again, the problem is not so much with our lack of intention, but rather with our definition of success. Correct your definition of success and your intention will necessarily follow.

To be honest, I am shocked that we’re still having these kind of dualistic discussions in Evangelical leadership circles. My exposure to Eastern Orthodoxy- with its focus on character formation as a central exercise in the life of a leader, long ago bankrupted for me the idea that church growth (in numbers) is the end goal.

But moving beyond the issue of definitions of success, something else caught my attention in this discussion. In the Trackback section that followed, one person posted: “This is a good post, but the "how to" of character development is not mentioned.”

Good point. Too often pastors will get in front of crowds and berate them for not making character formation enough of a priority. They’ll spend up to an hour doing this- and yet offer no insight as to how one actually goes about forming the character of Christ. One can actually hear this same sermon, season after season, year after year, and still feel lost as to how to move forward. Guilt and conviction combined with a lack of options makes for an uncomfortable state of mind- to say the least.

So how does one move forward? How does character formation take place? Well, this particular poster had an opinion. He writes: "Character development happens through obedience to God's Word; and that is no different for a pastor than for the layperson."

This is one of the great myths of the Evangelical era. Character formation does in fact NOT happen by reading and being obedient to a book alone- no matter how inspired it may be.

And besides, what part of the Bible are we referring to when we speak of "obedience to God's Word"? All of it? Some of it? The gospels are certainly useful. But what of Leviticus? Are we obedient to its teachings in the same way?

You get the point. We apply a framework to the text that tells us how to interpret, where to interpret, etc... Many of us in Evangelical circles are so familiar with this interpretive grid that we don't even notice its existence. But don't be mistaken- it's there.

So if "obedience to God's Word" is not the true path to "Christlikening", then what is?

Simply put, for character formation to take place, one must walk in the footsteps of others who have gained practical, Godly wisdom through a life of sacrifice and service.

Following in the footsteps of others- this is key. That was true for the disciples following Jesus. And it is true for us today in the 21st century.

For discipleship you need discipline. And for discipline you need accountability. And for accountability you need community.

Period.

You can read the Bible as much as you want, but without these added ingredients "Christlikening" will not happen.

Now am I saying that reading your Bible will not help at all? No, of course not. But it will help only in the way that a medical student is aided by reading his textbook after having been shown the ropes by an experienced medical professional.

I know some people will be angry with me for what I am about to say, yet I still think it’s important to say:

The Bible is not a magic book.

Now, yes of course, it is inspired, and it is authoritative (though perhaps not quite in the way that a fundamentalist would have us believe). However, what it serves up above all else, is Jesus. And how do we experience Jesus? Well, yes, we meet him in the gospels. But more primarily we meet him in the lives of those who have called him Lord and savior. In those who have experienced that “it is no longer I that live, but Christ in me.”

If we were to be honest with ourselves we would admit that the interpretive grids that we bring to the table when we read our Bibles are not innate. In other words, “some assembly is required”. And this is where Christian tradition comes into play. In a truly historical account the Bible has always been interpreted by the Church. Remember, it was through the Church, beginning in Christ's annointing of Peter, through which the Christian "way" was defined.

Please people, can we return to a more apostolic understanding of the Bible? Can we reach a Biblical understanding that is actually formed by Biblical teaching- and not by 20th century fundamentalist concepts (read: fear)?

Amidst the shifting sands of early 20th century relativism we clung like scared folk to the solid underpinning of our Bibles. But in so doing we lost sight of the fact that it is Jesus himself who is the true authority, not the Bible that introduces us to him.

We went around gleefully proclaiming that our Bible was a perfect incarnation of Godly wisdom to be wholly trusted despite all secular teaching to the contrary. But somewhere in the mix we lost sight of the forest for the trees. We somehow got sidetracked defending the issue of “the Bible as magic book” and ended up choosing the wrong hill to die on. It was understandable. After all, many felt under siege by the assault of secular humanism at the height of the modern era.

But now its time to realign ourselves with a more historical, balanced view of Christian identity.

The onset of the postmodern era helped to put that modernist war to rest. In truth, neither side won. Rather, postmodern perspectives taught us that the war itself was based on false, enlightenment-inspired assumptions.

Like the Cold War, the Enlightenment experiment is largely over. So let’s put our nukes away. And as the dust clears let us look back on the fullness of Christian history to correct and complete our sense of Christian self-understanding; both individual and corporate. Then we can get on with the process of being formed in the likeness of He who changed- and is ever-changing, all the world; one disciple at a time, one generation to the next.