A New Home

The last couple of weeks have been hard for my our family. (Well, the kids have been spared most of the heartache so far). The story began three years ago when God clearly called us to help plant a reformed Bible-teaching, expository-preaching church in this area. During these past three years, the biggest blessing has been to see how God has grown my husband and refined his gifts in the area of leadership, particularly in the service of teaching and preaching.

One of the greatest joys has been the strengthening and deepening of Christian friendships. True friends have been the ones who have pointed us toward Christ, encouraged us in the hard times, and stood by us when no one else did. I am thankful for these type of relationships which speak Truth to us (not just what we want to hear) and challenge us to be more like Christ.

During the last year there has been some tension among the leadership of our church about the job responsibilities of church planting leadership. Through a long series of unfortunate circumstances, we saw that in order to protect the body from division, it would be best for us to step down and find another place of worship. (If anyone has questions for us, we are more than willing to talk with you in private).

This decision has been hard and is grieving our hearts but at the same time we feel a peace about this new direction for our family. All along, our desire has been to bring glory to God with our lives. Is there regret? Not at all! We have seen God working in many ways the last three years. Our comfort has been that our service is not for any man, not even for the church, but for Him!

So now we begin the journey of looking for a new church home. Read here to find out how our first day went…

The Church

Today, while reading "Women's Ministry in the Local Church", I read this quote by Ligon Duncan:

"The Bible is to have a controlling influence in our lives and in our ministry in the local church ... The people and the house we serve are not ours; they are His. It is vital that we live and minister in accordance with His Book. This is completely counterintuitive in our pragmatic culture. We want to minister our way. We want to set up our own rules and define the game plan. But Paul emphasizes that if we are to grow in grace as a congregation, if we are to be what He has called us to be, we have to live and minister according to the Book."

Unity

The Body, joined together by the blood of Christ, is called to be focused on the unity of the Gospel. But so often, we get sidetracked … and we end up hurting one another. I know that in our family we make decisions daily (big ones and little ones), based on our faith and our desire to honor God with our lives. But those decisions may play out differently for various families. (Now I am not talking about moral relativism here but I am talking about the fact that the Bible tells all parents to instruct and discipline their children but how parents actually carry out that instruction and discipline may differ from one another. Know what I mean?)

It can get a little tricky when I assume that MY way is the ONLY way. For example, let’s just use the hot-button issue of today, homeschooling. We have decided to homeschool our children. But in that decision, are we saying that homeschooling is the ONLY way to educate or that those who don’t homeschool are wrong or ‘in sin’? I hope that isn’t what our family is communicating though what we say and how we act.

I know families who send their children to public school and families who send their children to private school – and I know that these parents love their children and are seeking to honor God with their lives. But I also see that all of the ‘education camps’ often make assumptions about the other ‘camps.’ This issue is one that is causing division among believers in many churches today. It’s so sad because we are all united by the Gospel and we should be focused on that. We ought to be coming together to serve one another, and our communities, while spreading the Gospel for His glory.

Josh Harris posted a video clip on his blog this past Sunday which is so right-on! He says that “it’s not an education issue, it’s a Gospel issue … there’s only one camp that we’re a part of and that’s the ‘saved by grace’ camp.” Take the time to listen to this clip and be challenged to promote unity among the families you know.

Mark Dever and The Church

The Church Matters blog posted these quotes from Mark Dever found in a Baptist Press article. (Make sure you read the entire article).


"I would like to suggest that the most fundamental problem in the church is not that we are not relevant enough in relation to the world, but that the church is not distinct enough from the world. Our churches must reflect the character of God," said Dever.

"Church leaders should channel their energy toward maintaining purity in the church instead of spending great amounts of time and ministry on relating to the culture," Dever said.

"The problem with the seeker-sensitive model, emerging church model and even the traditional model that say, 'Get as many people into a room as possible and share the Gospel with them,' is that they view success in light of visible fruit," he said. "All three of these approaches say, 'Change your techniques and let's get some numbers.'

"Instead of being directed by [visible] success, we should be directed by faithfulness. We should say, 'If the Lord doesn't like our product, we will change the product.' We shouldn't take the idea that if we don't have X number of conversions in our church, then we must be doing something wrong. I am glad Jeremiah didn't think that. And I am glad that Jesus Christ didn't think that. Let us remember that we are following the One who was crucified as a revolutionary."

Shepherding a Church's Culture

Church matters is discussing an interesting topic today. Jonathan Leeman writes:

I have a question I'd like to pose based not on an email, but on a phone call received from a pastor several days ago. I'm going to generalize his situation because I think the principles apply in a number of similar situations:

In conservative, theologically minded churches like ours, members or newcomers will sometimes take strong stands on issues that are not directly touched on by the statement of faith. Several examples that I have heard about lately include homeschooling, keeping your children in the service (anti-children's church), biblical counseling vs. psychology, the perennial issue of alcohol, and I'm sure we could all add more to the list. This pastor who called in was troubled by a family who was considering joining his church, but who took a strong, even militant, stand on one such issue; and he was concerned, based on past experience, that they would seek to promote their values in a way that could create a "serious Christian" and "less serious Christian" dichotomy in the church's culture. In spite of Paul's instruction in Colossians 2, it seems we Christians are always trying to create categories for "better" and "worse" Christians based on the basic principles of this world. (I, of course, never do this, and I despise everyone who does!)

Actually, just the opposite is the case. Recently my wife and I heard about a couple who planned to keep their young children with them during the times of corporate gatherings, and we had to talk about the sinful temptation in our hearts to want to do the same in order to prove that "we take family worship seriously too! We're hard core too!" Now, let me say, this couple was NOT trying to prove or promote anything. The problem in this situation was with our own lack of faith in the justifying work of the gospel.

But the question this pastor wanted answered is, how do you respond practically to these various cultural movements that take hold among conservative evangelicals? How do you prevent factions (I know of people leaving and churches dividing over such issues)? How can we shepherd people individually, and how can we shepherd them from the pulpit?



As I was thinking about this issue today, I decided to ask my husband to respond to the questions above. He has a great deal of wisdom and insight in 'church matters'. (Ba-da-ching). Seriously, read his thoughts and feel free to share your own on this subject.


Brian says:
I think individually we can shepherd folks by modeling for them what it means to hold to a set of biblically informed convictions. Can't we have convictions in certain areas of our lives that are played out differently within the body of Christ and still have true fellowship and unity? We can if we handle those convictions with humility and love. Based on my study of 1 Corinthians 8-14, love has to rule any biblically informed conviction we have and how we express it in the life of the congregation. Maybe chapter 13 of 1 Cor. could've been written to also say, "If I homeschool my children and have not love...If my children behave well in the worship service at the age of 2 but I have not love...If I can defend all 5 points of Calvinism but I have not love..."

Also, it may, at some points, be necessary to provide correction for folks when we have tangible evidence that their convictions are expressed in unloving ways, causing hurt feelings and tension within the body. Some examples of tangible evidence might be their visible treatment of another person or words they have spoken in our presence regarding the matter or our observations about how they have handled certain situations.

Every situation is different and so it is harder to shepherd from the pulpit so as to provide leadership in every situation. I believe that we can model this in the pulpit: what matters are of primary importance and what matters are of secondary importance. Where do I concentrate my teaching on a text - on the vital doctrines of the faith found in the text or on other tangent issues that the text may lead to. I think it is acceptable and sometimes necessary to go to the tangent issues, but am I taking a tangent issue and making it into an area for possible application or a matter of gospel truth authoritative to every individual universally? Am I pushing my own leanings and my personal convictions on to the congregation or am I presenting the truth of the text of scripture without apology? I also think that from the pulpit people should be given a perspective or impression of a true spiritual reality that is God-centered and not man-centered. When this happens, these secondary issues are given their proper perspective and importance in the life of the congregation. When the congregation is given a perspective and impression of reality that is God-centered then I believe healthy conversations and discussions over issues of secondary importance will occur and the diversity of viewpoints and applications of biblical principals within the congregation will edify the body and not lead to tension.

I think another key to shepherding both individually and from the pulpit is to model this in your own life. Are you militant about secondary issues? Do you force your own views and the application of biblical truth regarding certain matters upon the people in your congregation? Do your biblical convictions come across in such a way that brings about clarity and conviction in others or does it just bring about tension with those who disagree? If my life is modeling the rule of love in regard to these secondary matters then that is a form of shepherding on an individual basis and from the pulpit.

The Disturbed Church

Update below!

A couple of weeks ago, my husband heard a promo for a new church in our area. He went to their website to check it out and what he found can only be described as disturbing! Here are some quotes from their website:


"We believe that church can and should not only be relevant to your life, but it should also be a fun place to come. We also believe that kids don't have to be bored at church. One of the things that we hear from people that come to Foundations is, "We don't have to drag our kids to church any more. They get us out of bed on Sunday mornings! Our family loves coming to church."

Every week we do what is called "Fusion." This is what happens when Nickelodeon collides with the local church. What results is a zany, high energy environment that the whole family will enjoy.

So fire up the double shot of espresso load up the minivan, and experience a relevant, exciting, and fun church right here in your community!"


"Following the adult and children’s gatherings, families will come together for a 45 minute family extravaganza. It will be a presentation that is relevant to all ages. What Walt Disney would do, had he gone to seminary. A sort of spiritual Nickelodeon. It will be fun. It will be entertaining. But most importantly, in age-appropriate ways it will reinforce Christian principles and deliver God’s Word."


Where do I even begin with this? I realize that I am really hormonal right now and I want to protect you from an irrational, hormonal rant ... but this may actually be a rational, hormonal rant! (Did you know there was such a thing?)

Church should not be relevant to us and where we are! That's one of the problems with many evangelical churches today. They live out practices which favor a man-centered theology while neglecting God-centered theology. I think "children being bored at church" is often just a reflection of the hearts of their parents. How can we be bored when God's Word is being opened? How can we be bored when we are hearing the voice of God? If we are bored, then we need to check our own hearts.

"When Nickelodeon collides with the local church ... what Walt Disney would do if he went to seminary..." Do I even need to go here? I just can't stomach that! My prayer for my children is that they would never be exposed to this type of collision. My prayer is that they meet God each week as they dive into His Word. That is my prayer for my entire family. Church isn't about me and what I want and making myself feel good. (Read what Kim wrote). Church is about God - worshipping Him, opening His Word! We don't need to alter it - or make it pretty - or present it creatively - we just need to present IT!


Update from a comment: Check out this quote from Pastor Kent Hughes, of College Church, in Wheaton, Illinois; "The unspoken but increasingly common assumption of today's Christendom is that worship is primarily for us--to meet our needs. Such worship services are entertainment focused, and the worshipers are uncommitted spectators who are silently grading the performance. From this perspective preaching becomes a homiletics of consensus--preaching to felt needs--man's conscious agenda instead of God's. Such preaching is always topical and never textual. Biblical information is minimized, and the sermons are short and full of stories. Anything and everything that is suspected of making the marginal attender uncomfortable is removed from the service. Taken to the nth degree, this philosophy instills a tragic selfcenteredness. That is, everything is judged by how it affects man. This terribly corrupts one's theology."

Seeker-Sensitive Church

Lately there have been several great discussions around my circle of the blogosphere about “seeker-sensitive” churches and “healthy” churches. Leslie, Kim and Kim have already touched on parts of this.

I have never been a big Rick Warren or “seeker-sensitive” fan. His ‘programs’ always seemed too perfect and too marketed. In that marketing, the gospel was watered down so much that I questioned if it was still the same Gospel message of the Bible. My suspicions about this “Purpose-Driven” stuff were confirmed when our former church went through the “40 Days of Purpose” campaign. My husband was to lead his Sunday School class through certain materials about this “Purpose-Driven life”. One has to be discerning in reading this book, especially when so many scriptures are taken out of context. A good review of this book by Nathan Busenitz can be found here.

Reading all of these blogs this past week reminded me of a sermon my husband preached last October entitled “Worship in the New Testament: Seeker Sensitive.” God has prescribed worship to be Seeker-sensitive, but not “seeker-sensitive.” Notice that I capitalized Seeker the first time in the previous sentence. Worship is about God. He is the only one who Seeks, He is the One we should be concerned with in worship. In fact, the Psalmist writes in Psalm 14, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.”

In Genesis 4:4, God had no regard for Cain’s offering of worship. In 1 Samuel 15 God told Saul to go to Amalek and destroy everything but Saul thought he knew better and allowed King Agag and his best livestock to be spared. Think of Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, and how their carelessness with the worship of God cost them. Remember the Bible says they offered strange or unauthorized fire and that the fire of the Lord consumed them?

"If there is any lesson to be learned from these accounts it is that our worship must be
seeker sensitive… In our day we have many who are redefining worship in the church. We
have many modern day Cains and sons of Aaron and Sauls and Uzzahs, who want to do
things their own way. Maybe they think their way is more efficient, easier, quicker, and
with apparently better results. Maybe they think that God didn’t really know what he was
talking about in his prescriptions of worship and so they consider their idea’s innovations.
Their innovations water down doctrine so as not to offend. They have sought to be as
entertaining as possible. They can make you laugh one minute and cry the next. They have
re-written worship music to be little more than love songs for Jesus that would fit right in
at any wedding reception or any bar’s karaoke night. It is just like Jeremiah’s day though.
They are acting in their own authority, not under God’s authority, and the people love it.

They must think that because they are pleasing people that this is going to please God
and he is going to be so glad they came along and straightened him out and got the results
he was always looking for but could never get without their help. I’m afraid that just like
the disregarded offerings of Cain and the strange fire of the sons of Aaron and the
disobedience of Saul and the irreverence of Uzzah, God is NOT pleased. And in their
striving to be seeker sensitive, they forgot who the seeker was they were supposed to be
sensitive too." (from Brian's sermon)