Leadership in the church is certainly not an easy task. It requires great diligence, faithfulness, time, energy, competence, and spirituality. The weekly demands of a pastor, for example, is much more than just preparing a sermon (even though the prep time certainly takes up a good portion of the week!). There are staff meetings, visitations, administrative duties, and many other responsibilities. Add to this, the personal responsibility of family and home life and you get a pretty full week! So how can a leader in ministry keep up all of these things, maintain a Spirit-filled life, fruitful ministry, and do so without going insane?
Recently, in the morning worship at our church, we used a lamentation written by former Biola/Talbot student, John Rinehart, to help us think about what it means to turn to the Lord in repentance. I include this today with the hope that God will continue to soften our hearts to the awesomeness of his holiness and the wonder of his love and grace. May the Lord turn our hearts to him more and more each day as we await the soon return of Jesus.
鈻禞esus' interactions with people in the Gospel of John...and today I would like to begin a series that looks at stories in the Gospel of John in which we find Jesus interacting with various people who need help鈥攑hysical help and spiritual help. As we look closely at these individuals, we will often see that they are dealing with shame, though this theme is usually hidden in the historical background of the first century. Thus, over the course of this series, I will explore how Jesus interacts with them not only to take away their shame, but also to raise them up and give them honor!
In a recently posted blog (Marriage: The Power of Communication), I quoted Ephesians 4:29 to affirm the healing power of spirit-controlled communication between a husband and wife : 鈥淟et no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.鈥 Even with good intentions, however, all marriages encounter conflict. When the 鈥渟torm clouds鈥 gather, how important it is to understand the role of disagreement in marriage. Where does it come from? Is it all destructive, or are there constructive attitudes that will strengthen a relationship?
The following post outlines some of the nuts-and-bolts of leading a church as a plurality of pastors. It is an excerpt from a manuscript tentatively titled, When Pastors Were Servants: Recapturing Paul鈥檚 Cruciform Vision for Authentic Christian Leadership.
I recently asked one of the elders of our church this question, 鈥淚f you were choosing one factor that is most crucial in strengthening a marriage, what would it be?鈥 He and his wife regularly do 鈥渃risis鈥 marriage counseling with couples seeking help and on the verge of divorce. The response: 鈥淏ear one another鈥檚 burdens鈥攍earn to be a good listener, pray for your spouse, and communicate that you really care.鈥 Sounds simple, doesn鈥檛 it? But even with the best of intentions, practicing this requires good communication skills. Ephesians 4:29 (NASB) says . . .
Just think about the meaning of the words in our wedding vows鈥斺渇or better or for worse . . . in plenty and in want . . . in joy and in sorrow . . .in sickness and in health . . . as long as we both shall live.鈥 What a commitment we make in that moment of time, with 鈥淕od and these witnesses鈥 listening! Are these just empty words of tradition, or do they represent a genuine promise of commitment? The longevity and quality of your marriage depends upon it!
A friend of mine has a coffee cup with the following words printed on the outside, 鈥淧resbyterian Coffee: Predestined to be brewed decently and in order.鈥 I chuckled when I saw it for the first time several years ago. The humorous one-liner nicely captures a couple of representative ideas that are associated with a particular church denomination. An amusing tongue-in-cheek way to integrate the love of coffee, a distinctive theological perspective, and a related view of church polity, one might say! Funny sayings aside, the hallmark of church polity of things being done 鈥渄ecently and in order鈥 actually derives from Paul鈥檚 remark in 1 Cor. 14:40, where he instructs believers to be orderly in their worship and to avoid discord and confusion. I suggest that this regulative principle of church polity can be of great service outside its walls, especially in conversational contexts that can be potentially explosive.
This summer my wife and I will celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary . . . I am discovering when we say that publicly, there are noticeable gasps from the audience, and even a little applause now and then! Different from my parents鈥 generation, marriages that last have become the exception rather than the rule. What is it that makes marriage work well and last long? I have reflected on that a bit lately, and I鈥檓 convinced that the ancient wisdom of God鈥檚 Word, practically lived out in our complicated world, will bring longevity and quality to any marriage. Here are a few thoughts from the 鈥渂lueprint鈥 of marriage in Genesis 2:20-24.
Consider the following observations from two Christian thinkers representing two different theological traditions (Anglican and Eastern Orthodox): Fleming Rutledge comments on the earthquake catastrophe in Haiti: A frequent response heard from Christians is, 鈥淕od has some purpose in this.鈥 鈥淪omething good will come out of this.鈥 鈥淗aiti will become stronger as a result of this.鈥 In one sense, all these things are true; however, these are deeply wrong responses, both theologically and pastorally鈥.Glib, monochromatic responses to catastrophe should have no place in our faith.
鈥淚t really doesn鈥檛 matter whether I go to church. I have Christian friends, Bible classes, and chapels at Biola; why do I need a church?鈥 I鈥檝e heard some version of this statement at least three times during the past week. Although many Biola students truly understand the importance of the local church and are actively involved in their churches, some of our students still don鈥檛 get it. They think that they already have plenty of access to good Bible teaching, fellowship, worship services, and opportunities to go on short-term missions trips. So what鈥檚 the big deal about the local church?
In addition to my faculty responsibilities at 黑料历史, I am a member of a pastoral team at a local church (www.graceevfree.org). We do not have a senior pastor. Our understanding of this is captured in two ministry values, namely 鈥淓lder Leadership鈥 and 鈥淪pirit-led Decision Making.鈥 It is my hope that the following summary of these ministry values might challenge you in your understanding of how the body of Christ is to function.
If we鈥檝e learned anything about Romans in recent years from the New Perspective folks, it is that Romans is not just about me and God. It鈥檚 also about me and you. Paul, in fact, leverages many of the familiar soteriological truths that we typically associate with the book of Romans in the service of what I take (at least in part) to be an ecclesiological agenda. The church at Rome was apparently divided along ethnic lines. Paul鈥檚 letter to the Romans represents (among other things) the apostle鈥檚 concerted effort to address the issue, in order to restore some inter-racial harmony in the congregation.
I have found it rather easy over the years to convince our Talbot students of the value of expository preaching. The challenge comes when our students leave the classroom and find themselves ministering to church folks who live in a sound-bite culture, and who have a strong affinity for topical sermons that 鈥渟cratch 鈥榚m where they itch.鈥