A Christian's Guide to that Old Time Religion
Updated on 10-5-21: Pastor Harry Brotzman passed away the early evening of October 4, 2021
Introduction
I am part of a long-running Facebook group started by a pastor/teacher that I met while in Bible college. Dr. Bartel posted a few items of note that were ‘old preacher ‘ that he sort of presented as a lamentation of how the modern pastor has abdicated the following:
1. The rich legacy of sacred music (hymns and gospel songs) integrated into the worship experience of the church
2. Systematic Bible study for all ages through Sunday school (or its equivalent ministry)
3. Pastoral ministry that includes “visitation” and pastoral care, not simply preaching and administrative oversight
Thing is, two out of the three items were direct fruits of the Protestant movement where independent study of scripture, and the ‘decrease that He may increase’ of priests to actually serve the people in the way of Christ.
Sacred Music
Let’s address Dr. Bartel’s points in light of the aforementioned. The rich legacy of sacred music and hymns integrated into the worship experience of the church. I understand what is being said, with the word ‘sacred’ being the key word here. Modern worship is very much part of the mainstream, with the idea that Christian music/worship can reach across into the secular and occupy its own space. This type of reach does have a cost though, and this is where Dr. Bartel’s use of the word ‘sacred’ comes to mind. The Church as inclusive as it must be for the cause of the Gospel, must also have a sense of exclusivity, a respect/reverence if you will, that the Catholics maintain but many Protestants do not. Hymns and liturgical expressions are purposed very specifically as a religious practice, more on a level with intentional practice of one’s belief vs. the implied practice that modern worship suggests.
Systematic Bible Study
If you grew up in church, services were typically appeals for salvation/repentance that were wrapped in a sermon that may have used a scripture or two as their premise. This does not really count as a study of the Bible, it’s a sermon. The Protestant Reformation was huge in making the Bible available in one’s own language, or at first, available to non-clergy to encourage independent study. Bible study was mainly reserved for Sunday School, hence ‘school’, and depending on your age, would be crafted to fit that accordingly. I remember as a kid that Sunday School was completely Bible-related material, illustrated or presented in a way that my young mind could comprehend it. At one point, having grown up in the AG, did both Junior Bible Quiz (JBQ), and then for high school, Senior Bible Quiz (SBQ). Both programs are memorization-based with Junior more trivial, and Senior being more extrapolative as it was based strictly on the particular text of scripture.
An example of the difference:
“How many people did Jesus feed with five loaves and two fish?” in JBQ, the answer is ‘five-thousand’. The student knows the question and answer already, the skill at this level was recognizing that before everyone else.
In SBQ, the trivial aspect is built on to where the student must inform both the question and the answer based on the text, so a sample question from that parable could be, “In the section titled ‘Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand’, how many baskets of food were left?”, the answer being ‘twelve’. The student at this level was expected to assume the question and answer correctly. An alternative question/answer that the student would have to consider would have been “In the section titled ‘Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand’, how many loaves of bread were there?” — again, the question and answer are derived directly from the text itself.
While not exactly Bible study, quizzing in the Junior and Senior levels did accomplish one of the more important aspects of learning which is rote memorization.
The modern church has more or less discontinued Sunday School in favor of small groups instead, which more often than not is a community-centric activity. What this has sort of done is put theology back into the hands of the educated aka the clergy, and away from the parishioner. Clergy now exists as the voice of God, and the parishioner risks their standing to think on their own.
Pastoral Ministry
This one really shocks me a bit before I realize it should not. It is far common these days for associate pastors to serve as executives, at the will and vision of their senior pastor. In a lot of ways, senior pastors offer a version of de-centralized command by appointing various pastors to direct certain roles that they should do but do not have time for e.g. homeless outreach, grief counseling, hospital visitation, — the grunt work, but more often than not the real ministry. Our most visible pastors tend to promote themselves out of the seemingly menial things and delegate such things to a staff as an even further indicator of their success as leaders, not so much as servants.
At some point you begin to wonder what exactly is it that the Senior Pastor does, if not those particular things? I am not intending to criticize anyone here, it is just a question of whether or not we have found a way to rename the spade.
Let us take a journey to Emerado, North Dakota circa 1989-1992.
Harry and Joyce Brotzman are now in retirement in the beautiful state of Pennsylvania. My memory of them is certainly dated. Pastor Brotzman and Joyce were small church pastors of Baseview Assembly of God in Emerado ND, just outside of Grand Forks AFB where we lived at the time.
Small church, maybe seventy people at the most, probably less, mainly military. Emerado is tiny, and Grand Forks itself is off to the east, splitting into Grand Forks proper and East Grand Forks into Minnesota.
Pastor Harry was pretty great, our district covered a large area of North Dakota (probably the whole state for all I know) and he did what he could to make sure that I had the opportunity to get to Summer camp. He would even drive me out to Lakewood Camp for district events, etc. He and Joyce’s kids were already grown, and I was maybe around the same age as their grandkids. Every summer, my family, maybe another family or two, plus the Brotzman’s would attend Family Camp, and then a few weeks later, my parents would send me back for Kids Camp — these are honestly some of the best times of my life. They helped shape my early Christianity, and honestly our fellowship seemed much less complicated.
We also on a fairly regular basis would go help him minister at the local mission (I cannot remember its name) where the homeless and disenfranchised could get a warm meal and shelter. Every so often Pastor Harry would take us with him to the nursing home, where Joyce would play the piano and sing hymns, and he would entertain with his clarinet. On a few occasions, I too would get a chance to sing a hymn for the people there. Pastor Harry took the Gospel very seriously and that is what has stuck with me these many years later.
Fast forward to current day, the prominence of some churches (big ones, mainly), where leadership sort of has a touch of celebrity also creates a bit of disconnect as result. Prominent pastors are looking for ways to escape people, not seek them out. They look for ways to pad their accessibility either through armor-bearers or multiple secretaries. There is almost a sense of idolatry in how these ministers are sought after, as though they are the physical representation of God’s hand. In a previous vocation, I had to prevent someone with an illness from entering a green room at a conference as they made a bold attempt to catch one of our speakers whose ministry was experiencing breakthroughs with healing at their church. They wanted this person to lay hands on them and pray for them as though God could not be compelled to move on their behalf if they were not successful. I remained grieved by this memory, and for several reasons. First, that only God can heal and secondly, that we have resorted to the person as our mediator, rather than Jesus.
Conclusion
My personal takeaway from Dr. Bartel’s ‘lament’ reminded me of that ‘old time religion’ that is ‘good enough’. I think we put a lot of pressure on Believers today to be better versions of themselves rather than simply being like Christ. A modern critique of evangelicalism would in very many ways confirm this by what we have become known for, rather than having made Him known.
