ReformationUnderway

When I was about four years old (I may have been slightly younger than that) my family had made one of our frequent trips to my father’s home town. My grandparents lived in a very small town - the town’s sign on the highway claimed exactly 1,000 residents, but I’ve always been a bit skeptical of that figure - and their home was on a corner diagonally across from their church. We went to church with them, and I did not want to go into the children’s class with kids I didn’t know, so I promised my father that I would be quiet in church if he let me go to the service with the adults instead of going to the children’s program. He consented to this, and from that time forward I attended the regular worship service both there and in our church at home.

It surprises me now, looking back on that, that I have allowed my own children, who are now aged 6 and 8, to attend children’s church up to this point. I was directed last week to an article that brought those events of my childhood to mind, and I have decided that my wife and I should change our Sunday routine to include taking our children into the service with us from now on. They are certainly old enough to sit through the service, though they may find the adjustment difficult for a time.

The article I read was written by John Piper, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church of Minneapolis, MN. While it is not new, the issues involved have certainly not changed much if any in the 13 years since it was originally published.

Here is a key excerpt from the article:

Catch the Spirit

Parents have the responsibility to teach their children by their own example the meaning and value of worship. Therefore, parents should want their children with them in worship so the children can catch the spirit and form of their parents’ worship.

Children should see how Mom and Dad bow their heads in earnest prayer during the prelude and other non-directed times. They should see how Mom and Dad sing praise to God with joy in their faces, and how they listen hungrily to His Word. They should catch the spirit of their parents meeting the living God.

Something seems wrong when parents want to take their children in the formative years and put them with other children and other adults to form their attitude and behavior in worship. Parents should be jealous to model for their children the tremendous value they put on reverence in the presence of Almighty God.

If you would like to read the entire article, you can find it here. I will try to remember to report back in a few weeks as to how our family is adjusting to this change.

(H/T: Denny Burk)

Pastor Erik Raymond has a brief quote from Tim Keller, and it will resonate with anyone contemplating the task and ministry of church planting. Here’s the line that really nailed me:

I realized that it was an illusion to imagine that I would have to start being brave if I took this job; I should have been living bravely all along.

It also brought me back to something that I heard D.A. Carson mention with emphasis last weekend. It’s not something I haven’t read or heard referenced dozens of times in the past, but it should never be far from my mind or yours. It’s from Matt. 16:18: “on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Where the establishment and progress and preservation of the church are concerned, the burden of success does not fall ultimately upon the words, deeds, actions or personality of any man, be he a pastor or elder or other leader. It is Christ who will build His Church and though He has chosen to work through us, no man and no thing will bring down the Church.
May we live faithfully in the confidence that it is Christ our Savior on whom we depend as we serve His Church.

Technorati Tags:
Church, Missions, Leadership

I posted on Saturday concerning a Wall Street Journal article on church discipline. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor and pastor Hershael York writes concerning this article that he was interviewed by the WSJ reporter. However, after spending twenty-plus minutes on the phone with the reporter, and referring her to a man who had been disciplined by York's congregation, his interview didn't make it through the editing process. What York has to say is interesting:

So when the WSJ reporter called me, I explained its biblical basis, its practical application, and its obvious benefits. I reasoned that, if sin is indeed harmful, the cruelest thing we can do is leave someone in it. Confrontation must always be motivated by a sense of compassion and a desire for reconciliation. Then, to prove the point, I gave her the name and number of a man whom our church disciplined. His testimony is that he would not even be alive today had we not dealt with him as we did. Within the past week Ms. Alter called and interviewed this man and he told her the whole fascinating story.

He goes on to say,

All of her examples of discipline are negative. She did not include a single example which she portrays in a positive light. For this reason neither Buck Run (the church York pastors) nor I are mentioned in this article because we had nothing but positive things to say. Even the subject of our discipline says the action was not only deserved, but necessary and restorative. Not one word of that testimony is included.

Read York's account of the interview and the resulting article.

Technorati Tags:
Church, Doctrine, Church Discipline

Nothing demonstrates leadership the way firm, sure decisions do. Right? And the next sure sign of leadership is to mock those in similar positions who make the opposite decision from your own!

Get a load of this guy. So, you pastor a church in Atlanta, Georgia. There's winter weather in the area, and some churches, as of Saturday morning, had already cancelled Sunday services. Not MY church, he exclaims in his blog. "Unless a blizzard comes, we are having church just like normal. If a blizzard comes, we are still having church."

That was at 10:59 am Saturday. Fast forward four hours and twenty-one minutes:

Due to the weather we will NOT be having church services on Sunday, January 20th. The weather channels are all predicting temperatures dropping well below freezing tonight which could lead to the possibilities of black ice on the roads. As much as we would love to have church and worship together, we are not willing to risk the safety of those who call Revolution home.

Some say that a good leader is one who makes a great second decision, so cut Gary Lamb some slack. Besides, he cites several justifications for the change of direction. The first one should tell everyone that THIS is the MAN you want to follow into the battle! Why is canceling services the right move? Yes, this is a direct quote: "Barry Manilow canceled his concert in Atlanta tonight."

Then there's the third post (9:38 pm) on this topic, in which Gary continues to question himself publicly for deciding to call off church.

Thank you Gary Lamb for brightening my Saturday evening!

Technorati Tags:
Church Leadership, Snowed Out

Friday's edition of the Wall Street Journal carried an article in its Weekend Journal section on church discipline. The article primarily focuses on a divisive case from a small, independent Baptist congregation in rural Michigan. The article is available from the Journal's web site, at least temporarily. Read it here.

The practice of church discipline, when practiced, is usually based on the application of Matthew 18:15-20.

If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst. (NASB)

The church in which I am a member does practice church discipline according to this passage. The process is always overseen by the elders who govern the church, and the pastor does not have the authority to remove someone from the fellowship apart from the agreement of the elders, and it is doubtful that the elders would take such a step unless they were unanimous in the conviction that breaking fellowship was necessary. In more cases than not, the sinning brother or sister repents of their transgressions and is restored to full fellowship before it ever comes to the point of bringing their sin before the congregation. That, in fact, is the goal of the entire process; not to make a spectacle of a sinner, but to restore them to fellowship with God and with the Body of Christ. There have been only a couple of instances over the last 15 years or so in which someone was removed from our fellowship because of an unwillingness to repent of a besetting sin.

Does your church practice church discipline according to this passage? How is it handled?

Technorati Tags:
Church, Doctrine
Church Discipline

Jonathan Leeman, at Church Matters blog, continues his series on Willow Creek's REVEAL program.

Part 5

Technorati Tags:
Philosophy of Ministry, REVEAL, Willow Creek

I count him as a friend, and he's got big news. Erik Raymond, the Patriots fan behind the blog Irish Calvinist, and an Associate Pastor at Omaha Bible Church, has been given a new charge by the elders of OBC. He will be the lead pastor of their new OBC | South Campus. You can read Erik's thoughts on the new work here.

Technorati Tags:
Missions, Church Planting

A few years ago, noted pollster George Barna published a book, entitled Revolution, in which he argues in favor of Christians freeing themselves from the traditional church, and living their lives as "Revolutionaries." The premises in the book were based on a horrific hermeneutic. (For example, in a portion of the book in which Barna sets out to survey what the Scriptures say about the church, he mentions only a series of passages in the book of Acts. There is no mention of anything in an epistle that has to do with the church. Now, if you have READ the epistles of Paul, or James, or Peter, or John, you know that there are a few mentions of the church and how the church is to function within the New Testament epistles.)

Well, it seems that Barna is back to strike another blow on this nail. He has a new book, which I have not yet seen, titled Pagan Christianity. I have read some reactions from those who had advanced copies of the book. (The book is not shown as available currently on amazon.com, so it has either sold out there, or hasn't made it into their warehouse quite yet.) I've also read some Q&A published by Barna's co-author on the new book, Frank Viola. Before you ask how I can attack the book without having seen it, note that I'm not doing that. I am asking a question about something Frank Viola said in his Q&A.

I was in the institutional church for thirteen years. During that time, I was part of about a dozen different Protestant denominations and five different parachurch organizations.

Tell me, do you think that having been in a dozen denominations and five parachurch organizations all during a thirteen year span qualifies one as an informed critic of their practices?!? Was he with any one church/denomination long enough to evaluate the fruit of the pattern of ministry they practiced? I think not!

Technorati Tags:
Church
Pagan Christianity

Jonathan Leeman, at Church Matters blog, continues his series on Willow Creek's REVEAL program.

Part 4

Technorati Tags:
Philosophy of Ministry, REVEAL, Willow Creek

Some time back, I posted elsewhere my reaction to a high-profile change of direction at Willow Creek Community Church, the Chicago-area church pastored by Bill Hybels. Willow Creek last year unveiled REVEAL, a survey-based toolkit for measuring the effectiveness of the ministry of a local church.

Over at Church Matters, the blog of Mark Dever's 9Marks equipping ministry, Jonathan Leeman has begun a series of posts in which he gives a critical examination of the REVEAL program as, well, revealed in the book of the same name. Leeman is a little less than halfway through the series, but I'll go ahead and post the three installments published to date.

Part 1

Part 2

Excursus

Technorati Tags:
REVEAL, Willow Creek, Philosophy of Ministry

A church spending $1.3 MILLION on their Christmas pageant? I don't see how you can possibly defend this from Scripture.

How many missionaries are ready and willing to go to the field, but waiting for the financial means to be provided? How many pastors could be trained and equipped for the work of preaching and shepherding with that kind of money?

(H/T: Justin Taylor)

Technorati Tags:
Church, Christmas

In what is not a new post, but new to me, Florida pastor Chris Elrod's take on the current state of much of church worship is on target. I can't completely buy his description of the remedy - men leading worship who are of Godly character, leading us in songs that accurately and completely represent the nature of our Holy God are the answer, in my view - but his take is still worth your time to read.