On being a Global Christian

As most folks probably know by now, the world renown author, pastor, scholar, John Stott went on to be with the Lord last week. He was 90. In a New York Times article the following quote was given:

We must be global Christians, with a global mission, because our God is a global God.

Without a doubt this is a loaded statement packed with passion and depth of understanding with regard to the missio dei, that is, the mission and greater purposes of God in this world. I think it is absolutely essential that every Christian grasp this understanding and allow the Holy Spirit to shape and form this notion into his or her heart and mind and spirit. Perhaps we may all play out our part in the missio dei in differing ways and means, and locales, but nevertheless, it is true, our God is a global God and he expects all those who follow him to take on the mindset of global Christian.

So the question becomes then, are you a global Christian and if so, how are you playing out your part in the missio dei?

John Stott was a great man. He was one of my favorites and his book, The Cross of Christ, was one of the first I read that was on a more scholarly level. To me he epitomizes the notion of “pastor-scholar.” It is something I would like to see even myself emulate in one way or another in my own life. His example is a good one to follow.

Was the Apostle Paul a Pastor?

Timothy Gombis, Pauline Scholar extrodinare, writes the following in a Christianity today article:

If we encountered Paul today, he would not be the strong and decisive leader we often imagine. In fact, many of our contemporary churches would hardly consider him a viable pastoral candidate.

What would cause Gombis to make such an absurd comment? Well, because it was true. Gombis goes on to assert:

Evangelicals place a high priority on leadership, perhaps because historically our movement has been carried along by strong leaders. The great figures in our heritage have been powerful speakers and compelling visionaries, many of whom have built colleges, seminaries, and, in some cases, entire denominations. These are also the traits we want to see in our pastors.

Isn’t this the truth?! Because one or two “strong leaders” have shown up, we have now made that an expectation for all pastors and church leaders, that they be “strong and charismatic, dynamic.  Gombis continues:

Thus we intuitively assume that Paul was someone just like this. We think he must have been a compelling figure, a charismatic and decisive leader, and a powerful speaker. From the moment of conversion, he immediately put his great abilities to work for Christ, taking over the leadership of the church and becoming its powerful spokesperson. When we look at the evidence from the New Testament, however, we find a very different picture…

Indeed we do, but are we willing to recognize that? One of Gombis’ final assertions is “If we encountered Paul today, we might be disappointed to find someone quite unlike the strong and decisive leader we often imagine.”

I really appreciate this because I know there are many out there with the spiritual gift of pastor and they do anything but fit contemporary modles of what is con trued as “pastor.” and I think this is to the shame of the American church at large and especially to the charismatic movements, who all too often conflate the concepts of charismatic, as in spiritually gifted, with notions of charisma as dynamo and lots of charm and energy, a type A personality. It is not that a pastor can’t have these characteristics but it should not be expected that all folks with the spiritual gift of pastor to have such characteristics.

On “effective ministry”

Henri Nouwen’s writes the following with regard to “effective ministry”:

My movement from Harvard to L’Arche made me aware in a new way how much my own thinking about Christian leadership had been affected by the desire to be relevant, the desire for popularity, and the desire for power. Too often, I looked at being relevant, popular, and powerfulful as ingredients for effective ministry.

The truth, however, is that these are not vocations but temptations. Jesus asks, “Do you love me?”. Jesus sends us out as shepherds, and Jesus promises a life in which we increasingly have to stretch out our hands and be led to places where we would rather not go. He asks us to move from a concern for relevance to a life of prayer, from worries about popularity to community and mutual ministry, and from a leadership built on power to a leadership in which we critically discern where God is leading us and our people (91-92).

From In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership, Crossroad Publishing, 1989.

On seminary training

This article should make every seminarian be very careful to be sure they are on a good path to some level of self support. Consider the example of the fellow who went to Bible school, did well, then went to seminary and did well there too, then got a chance to speak and saw all that work go down the tubes…. And now he either works low level jobs or is chronically unemployed. While this may not be the case for all or most seminary grads, it happens to more that many might be willing to consider, and this is why I am not a big supporter of anyone getting a Bible college degree.

This article also does another one of two things, it either supports the reason for taking more than one preaching class in seminary if not making expository preaching the focus of the MDiv degree or…. It confronts the need to re-think the nature and purpose of church life altogether.

Either way, BIG BIG problems lie ahead for seminarians and those “called” to “the ministry,” at least, here in the US.  I don’t think it necessarily negates the need for seminaries or for theological training just that I think seminarians are going to need to put on their creative thinking caps and put their heads together about how they are going to utilize their theological training to pursue God’s Kingdom to the ends of the earth.

Being out of work and out of ministry, and time talking with friends about how to move forward has given me time to think about things and has forced me to confront different issues.  One of the questions is, do I want to get back into a more traditional pastoral ministry position or is there another way, a different way that I need to think about?  Would that be a good way to go or not?

As I see it, the church in America and the way we go about doing church life in general seems to be not going in a good direction.  Right now the church at large in the US is on the decline.  People are opting out of church – and many of them are Christians.  Can you imagine that?  Christians being among the “unchurched” or “dechurched” in America?

I don’t have any answers or even any suggestions.  I just sense a bit of scrambling and a sense of hurried-ness among many in church leadership as to what to do about the decline in the American church, and that isn’t a good thing.   I guess one thing I do know is that we can’t just go on doing the same thing we’ve always done because, then we’ll just go on being frustrated by the results, which is to get what we have always got.  Keep doing what you have always done and you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got!   Perhaps the Emergent church got a lot of hard knocks for its theology, but I think they saw the situation of a declining church and things that aren’t working anymore and were attempting to provide some solutions.  Did they fail?  I guess so.  Better to have tried and failed than to have never tried right?   Who else is trying?  What other solutions are being put forth and found to be working?  So many questions with few if any answers and lots of suggestions.

So, take this to heart and let me know what you think.

On the upcoming revised NIV Study Bible

Don’t know a lot about it yet except that it’s due out November 2011. You can check out a sample PDF here (OT and NT samples):

So far it looks pretty good. I don’t really use study bibles too much, but this is one I will probably get and recommend for folks to use.

I hope the new update lasts a while, but with the recent SBC resolution to discourage its use or sale in Lifeway bookstores (even though the had stacks of them at the Lifeway store here in Renton, WA) I wonder how things will turn out. I think the fuss over it all is a shame and a blight on the American church. I think is much ado about nothing and is really an unfortunate distraction from the primary mission of the Church, which is the preaching of the gospel to the ends of the earth and the discipling of all nations.

Feel free to let me know what you think of the new update!

CBD sale on Francis Schaeffer’s Complete Works

The sale is now over… Now it is $59.99, which is still a pretty good deal, but not as good as the $40 deal…

It’s a great deal and is one that without hesitation should be taken advantage of. I mean his whole works for just $40?! How and why would one NOT want to take advantage of it?! But of course the point would be to read through it, that is, after you get through Barth’s Dogmatics of course.

The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer, 5 Volumes By Francis Schaeffer / Crossway Books & Bibles Dr. Schaeffer was one of the 20th century’s champions of reasoned faith. Though he died in 1984, his influence continues through his writings. This affordable set contains all 22 of Schaeffer’s books. Five indexed 6″ x 9″ softcovers, from Crossway Books. Titles include: The God Who is There Escape from Reason He is There and He is Not Silent Back to Freedom and Dignity Genesis in Space and Time No Final Conflict Joshua and the Flow of Biblical History Basic Bible Studies Art and the Bible No Little People True Spirituality The New Super-Spirituality Two Contents, Two Realities The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century The Church Before the Watching World The Mark of a Christian Death in the City The Great Evangelical Disaster Pollution and the Death of Man How Should We Then Live? Whatever Happened to the Human Race? A Christian Manifesto

Also, I’d be greatly appreciative if you would be so kind as to go through my link here so it could be of benefit to me.

Blessings!

On Jeremiah 8

I have an email subscription for daily excerpts from Don Carson’s devotional set For the Love of God, in which he goes back and forth from making more academic comments about a text to more devotional/applicational comments on a text and I thought his comments on Jeremiah 8 for today was pretty good:

Joshua 16–17; Psalm 148; Jeremiah 8; Matthew 22

AT EACH STAGE OF JEREMIAH’S description of the rebellion of God’s people, some facets of their sin are reiterated while others are refined and some new ones introduced. Here I focus on two of the latter (Jer. 8).

First, Jeremiah focuses on the sheer unnaturalness of the people’s unwillingness to learn from their mistakes and repent. The presentation of the argument turns in part on a pun: the Hebrew word for “turn” or “repent” is the same as that rendered “return.” The point is that in ordinary experience someone who “turns away,” i.e., who makes a mistake, eventually returns, learning from the experience. But Israel always turns away (Jer. 8:4)—they never learn from their bitter experiences. That is because they cherish their sin, they “cling to deceit; they refuse to return” (Jer. 8:5). “No one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ ” (Jer. 8:6).

First-time readers of the Old Testament sometimes wonder how people can be so thick as not to learn from the repeated cycles of rebellion and punishment. Rats in a maze learn to adapt to external stimuli; to some extent, well-brought-up children learn to conform to cultural expectations and hide their worst instincts. Why doesn’t Judah learn from the history of the northern kingdom? Or even from her own checkered history? Although some behavioral modification can be achieved by training, biblical history demonstrates that the problem is bound up with human nature. We are a fallen breed. Sinners will sin. Creeds and covenants and vows and liturgy may domesticate the beast for a while, but what we are will not forever be suppressed. Israel’s history demonstrates the point, not because Israel is the worst of all races, but because Israel is typically human—and fallen. Even people as privileged, chosen, and graced as these cannot escape downward spirals. How naive for us to think that we can!

New Book on Inductive Bible Study

We just spent the last three days driving to Renton, Washington, to my parents house to visit for a couple weeks and get me some new hearing aids (yup, I am hearing impaired in case you forgot… without my hearing aids I am good as deaf though not legally so – it is not a congenital issue nor from an accident or sickness or loud music, but one that occurred in the birthing process and wasn’t fully realized or discovered until I was 3 – it is from nerve damaged caused by lack of oxygen and cannot be operated on – All I can say about it is that in the end God’s grace towards me was to become hearing impaired instead of mildly mentally retarded.  Also, so you know, I was mainstreamed into the regular classroom by the 3rd grade and since I “read” really well, I never learned much if any sign language.  My parents have lived in the house since just before I was born, so it’s been 41 years now they have lived here.

So anyways, a friend came to know of my desire to get the new book Inductive Bible Study: A Comprehensive Guide to the Practice of Hermeneutics just put out by Baker Academic (2011) (Forward by Eugene Peterson).  So it was nice to arrive to a new book!  This is meant to be a seminary level text book and is in sequel to the late Robert Traina’s book Methodical Bible Study, Zondervan, 2002, though originally printed in the late 1950′s.  These two books are meant to be used together.

As far as I am concerned, you can have all the theological training in the world and still not really have a strong handle on personal Bible study – and the same can be if you is unedjumacated.   But den I know some unedjumacted folk who can study the Bible better than PhD’s…    I know of nothing more important to give one self to than the reading and personal in-depth study of the Bible, and that precept upon precept, line by line.   Yes, the inductive method takes a lot of time and effort, but it is worth it and it is not too hard (you can learn (to do) nearly anything in 15 minutes a day if you put in the work).   Really, I think it is central to everything else!

To learn more check out Inductive Biblical Study . com!

Blessings,

Regarding the NIV (via Mark Stevens)

I am in complete agreement with Mark…

I know that not every one will agree with me but I have to say the NIV 2011 is, in my opinion, one of the best (if not the best) English translation on the market. It is faithful to the original languages while remaining readable in English. I was never a fan of the NIV 84 but really loved the TNIV. I have posted a response drafted by the Committee for Bible Translation to the SBC regarding the banning of the NIV 2011 at Near Emmaus if folks are … Read More

via The Parson's Patch

on Philippians 1:1-2

Dave Black always has good and challenging thoughts on Paul’s letter to the saints in Philippi.  From his blog posted Wednesday July 6:

 

8:03 PMEvening, blog peeps! Here are a few takeaways I had today from our discussion of Phil. 1:1-2:

1) The opening salutation is a window into Paul’s view of leadership in the church. Leadership is always shared. Paul’s ministry was a “co-worker” ministry! Note: “Paul and Timothy”; “overseers and deacons.” Clearly, Paul taught and practiced a “fellowship of leadership” (Michael Green).

2) Moreover, several elements in these verses make Paul’s salutation unique: his inclusion of Timothy’s name alongside his own; his description of himself and Timothy as “slaves” (rather than as apostles); and finally his reference to the church’s leaders, done in such a way as to emphasize that they are extensions of the church and not over it.

3) Are church “offices” in view here? The answer would seem to be an emphatic No! The anarthrous nouns emphasize qualities or characteristics. Paul is referring to people who oversee and serve. He has a point! Wholehearted care and service is the inescapable responsibility of church leaders.

4) Point in passing: the church at Philippi had no senior or lead pastor. It had a multiplicity of leaders. Both “overseers” and “deacons” are plural nouns. Oh, the church had a “Senior Pastor.” But His name was Jesus Christ. The task faced by the solitary pastor today in so many of our churches is overwhelming; but it is a task to which the Savior called no one.

5) Are you a “saint”? Somehow it sounds blasphemous to claim to be one. Yet it is a thoroughly biblical concept. We can be called “saints” (holy ones) firstly because of our relationship to Christ. Sainthood is not conferred by the church; it is a gift from God. Second, we are “saints” in view of God’s purpose for our lives: to be holy, different, separate from all else and set apart for some sacred purpose.

6) The lesson is clear. No Christian is to go it alone. None of us is allowed to “do our own thing.” The moment we come to Christ for salvation we are in fellowship with every other Christian in the world. We are saints together. And together we are to put our collective hand to the plow and be about the Father’s business.  Amen?  To be a saints is a great privilege, but it is also a great responsibility. Privilege and responsibility go hand in hand.

Amen! Good stuff!