For more, see Andy Naselli's post, A Popular Primer on the Church, and http://www.9marks.org/.
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The Gospel Made Visible: New Book from Mark Dever on The Church
Friday, June 18, 2010
Are There Many (or Any) Poor in Your Church?
I just stumbled upon this quote, and it hit a sensitive spot. This is something I've been praying about, thinking about, and discussing with my SS class. It is also a theme in the Epistle of James, which we just began studying on Monday evenings.
Selected Quote from "The Deaconship," by the Rev. James B. Ramsay (p. 15):
"But, it may be asked, of what use are deacons to take care of the poor in churches where there are no poor, or but two or three ? That, indeed, is a sadly defective state of the church where there are no poor; there must be something very deficient in its zeal and aggressiveness, if amidst the multitudes of poor around us, and mingling with us, there are none in the church itself. When we remember that Christ in his message, sent to John the Baptist, declares it to be a proof of his Divine mission, worthy to stand at the close of the brief summary of his most striking miracles, as of equal or even greater convincing power; and that the adaptedness of the Gospel to come down to the most despised and degraded of our wretched race—to seize and elevate the vast masses of humanity from their down-trodden condition—is one of its most distinguishing characteristics, and one of the most striking proofs of its Divine origin—Is it not evident that any church that fails to gather in the poor, fails in accomplishing one great design of the Gospel, and in presenting to the world one of the most convincing proofs of the truth and power of Christianity ?" [emphasis added]
(found this at the PCA Historical Center)
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
The Church at Its Worst and Best
The problem is that we are often more like the world than like Christ."I just can't believe it, Dad. Those people loved me for no other reason than that I needed to be loved."
"It's the church," I responded. I told her that when the church is functioning at its best, there is simply no community on earth that can rival it. But when the church is functioning at its worst, there is no community on earth that can do as much damage. History itself proves the point. The church has served untold millions, as is evidenced by the number of churches, hospitals, orphanages, schools and relief agencies that Christians have founded and operated. But the church has brutalized untold millions, too, as the medieval inquisition and the religious wars of the seventeenth century demonstrate. (p. 14)
The church is called to function as a body, as if it were a kind of incarnation of Christ in the world. "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ" (1 Corinthians 12:13).... Christ was the incarnation of God in the wold; the church is the incarnation of Christ. (p. 16)Where do we begin to correct the problem?
The quality of relationships among Christians makes the church an effective witness for the gospel, for it creates the kind of community into which others are naturally drawn. (p. 17)
The New Testament issues a series of commands to show us how to develop these healthy relationships. Called "mutuality commands" because they use the phrase "one another," these commands translate love into action, mitigate the tensions that inevitably surface among Christians, and mollify the differences among believers so that, instead of suspicion, conflict and division the church models trust, harmony and unity. They enable the church to become a community of love. (p. 20)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Unity in Diversity in the Church
Over the past week I've been contemplating the comments being offered via email as well as those posted here on the topic, "Are Millennial Views Essential." As I've considered the comments my thoughts have continued to return to 1 Corinthians 12 and the description of a healthy functioning local church. The immediate context is referring to spiritual giftedness, so I don't want to stretch this passage to far. That said, the principle of unity in diversity can be extended to the universal Church.
Ephesians 4:1-6 calls us to consider unity in diversity on the theological level:
Ephesians 4:1-6 calls us to consider unity in diversity on the theological level:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (ESV)Finally, I am considering statements like the following by David Watson on The Unity of the Church in I Believe in the Church (Eerdmans, 1985):
[T]he doctrinal basis for unity must [be] the unchangeable gospel of Jesus Christ, as given in the Scriptures as a whole. If the basis is 'the church', the immediate question will be 'Which Church?' If we attempt to come together on an aggregate of beliefs or on some lower common denominator, we shall be either more than, or less than, the church that Christ found upon the rock, against which even the gates of hell could not prevail. (p. 355)This all seems so simple and straightforward, but we are intent on "defining" and "distinguishing ourselves" from one another within the body. How do we get back to this?
Monday, February 2, 2009
Book Review: The Living Church by John Stott
Stott, John. The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor. Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2008. Jacketed hardcover, 192 pages.
(Review copy courtesy of InterVarsity Press.)
Purchase: IVP | WTS | Amazon | CBD
Reviewed by Don Palmer
John Stott celebrated his 86th birthday in 2007, and this, his latest book has the sub-title "Convictions of a lifelong pastor." However, at no point does this book slip into the realms of mere nostalgia.
His preface explains that the book’s purpose is "to bring together a number of characteristics of...an authentic or living church." His style of writing is delightful, and consists of alternating compound sentences and short pithy statements. As one would expect, it consists of a doctrine of the Church or "Ecclesiology" that is dynamic and engaging. It does not consist of relating the latest sociological, demographic or philosophical changes in the West that impact on the Church and its effectiveness or otherwise. Instead, Stott concentrates on a concise and memorable analysis of modernism, and post-modernism and draws us back to Biblical perceptions of what the Church of God is, the task God calls us to, and what should characterize us. At a time when we are beset with the cult of the individual, in which truth is relativized, when absolute truth is replaced by "your truth" and "my truth," it is a call to live under the authority of God’s truth. Believing without belonging is not an option. Stott characteristically speaks of "that grotesque anomaly, an unchurched Christian." Yet there is nothing tired about Stott’s perceptions of the Church, no idealizing of the Early Church, but a measuredness that is both constructive and critical.
As ever, his analysis is practical. In writing about the fellowship of the Church Stott draws out the importance of the small fellowship. "There is always something unnatural and subhuman about large crowds. They tend to be aggregations rather than congregations - aggregations of unrelated persons." This is so fundamental when we look at our Lord’s own ministry. This characterized, for example, early Methodism, yet it has often been neglected. Bonhomie is never confused with fellowship in prayer and Bible study. Indeed the chapter on Koinonia teases out the life of the Christian within the body of Christ: a fellowship which engages and relates around the scriptures, but encompasses prayer, mutual service and support. It is always sad when a church degenerates to the level of a "collective" in which sectional interests, be it the choir, the fund raising group, or the Women’s Fellowship only relate to each other in an entirely superficial way.
Other sections in the book expound worship, evangelism, models of ministry, preaching, principles of giving, and the importance of Christian distinctiveness. At a time when we are celebrating the bi-centenary of the passing of the act to end the British slave trade, Dr. Stott’s little book challenges us to bring Christian perceptions and values into the arena of public life. Example, apologetics, ethical thinking and action are advocated together with focused prayer.
Three historical appendices appear at the end of this useful book, and touch on personal experience and convictions over a period of thirty-five years. They are a fitting ending to an expository work with a lightness of touch and easy-to-follow headings.
John Stott’s work covers a very broad remit in just 160 pages plus appendices. It deserves to be widely read, studied, and prayed over by both individuals and groups of Christians. It is itself a Vision Statement, written by one who has exercised a worldwide ministry and has all the hallmarks of a man of scholarship: a superb wordsmith who has lost none of his vitality.
Don Palmer lives in Toronto, is the Sr Pastor of Forest Brook Community Church, and is completing MDiv studies through Tyndale College & Seminary.
(Review copy courtesy of InterVarsity Press.)
Purchase: IVP | WTS | Amazon | CBDReviewed by Don Palmer
John Stott celebrated his 86th birthday in 2007, and this, his latest book has the sub-title "Convictions of a lifelong pastor." However, at no point does this book slip into the realms of mere nostalgia.
His preface explains that the book’s purpose is "to bring together a number of characteristics of...an authentic or living church." His style of writing is delightful, and consists of alternating compound sentences and short pithy statements. As one would expect, it consists of a doctrine of the Church or "Ecclesiology" that is dynamic and engaging. It does not consist of relating the latest sociological, demographic or philosophical changes in the West that impact on the Church and its effectiveness or otherwise. Instead, Stott concentrates on a concise and memorable analysis of modernism, and post-modernism and draws us back to Biblical perceptions of what the Church of God is, the task God calls us to, and what should characterize us. At a time when we are beset with the cult of the individual, in which truth is relativized, when absolute truth is replaced by "your truth" and "my truth," it is a call to live under the authority of God’s truth. Believing without belonging is not an option. Stott characteristically speaks of "that grotesque anomaly, an unchurched Christian." Yet there is nothing tired about Stott’s perceptions of the Church, no idealizing of the Early Church, but a measuredness that is both constructive and critical.
As ever, his analysis is practical. In writing about the fellowship of the Church Stott draws out the importance of the small fellowship. "There is always something unnatural and subhuman about large crowds. They tend to be aggregations rather than congregations - aggregations of unrelated persons." This is so fundamental when we look at our Lord’s own ministry. This characterized, for example, early Methodism, yet it has often been neglected. Bonhomie is never confused with fellowship in prayer and Bible study. Indeed the chapter on Koinonia teases out the life of the Christian within the body of Christ: a fellowship which engages and relates around the scriptures, but encompasses prayer, mutual service and support. It is always sad when a church degenerates to the level of a "collective" in which sectional interests, be it the choir, the fund raising group, or the Women’s Fellowship only relate to each other in an entirely superficial way.
Other sections in the book expound worship, evangelism, models of ministry, preaching, principles of giving, and the importance of Christian distinctiveness. At a time when we are celebrating the bi-centenary of the passing of the act to end the British slave trade, Dr. Stott’s little book challenges us to bring Christian perceptions and values into the arena of public life. Example, apologetics, ethical thinking and action are advocated together with focused prayer.
Three historical appendices appear at the end of this useful book, and touch on personal experience and convictions over a period of thirty-five years. They are a fitting ending to an expository work with a lightness of touch and easy-to-follow headings.
John Stott’s work covers a very broad remit in just 160 pages plus appendices. It deserves to be widely read, studied, and prayed over by both individuals and groups of Christians. It is itself a Vision Statement, written by one who has exercised a worldwide ministry and has all the hallmarks of a man of scholarship: a superb wordsmith who has lost none of his vitality.
Don Palmer lives in Toronto, is the Sr Pastor of Forest Brook Community Church, and is completing MDiv studies through Tyndale College & Seminary.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Book Review: Life After the Church by Brian Sanders
Reviewed by Matt Christensen.
Sanders, Brian. Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2007. Paperback. 191 p. $15.00
(Review copy courtesy of InterVarsity Press.)
Purchase: IVP | CBD | Amazon
ISBNs: 0830836063 / 978-0830836062
Excerpts:
Are you sick of your church? Are you thinking of leaving but don't know if God wants you to leave? Wondering where you would go if you left the church? These are just some of the questions Brian Sanders attempts to answer in his book Life After Church. This title caught my eye while picking out a book to review as I have a gaining interest in the emergent church. It worries me to watch this movement creep into countless Baptist churches and gain a solid foothold.
Two books recently released, Unchristian by David Kinnaman and They Like Jesus but Not the Church by Dan Kimball, have some similarities to Sanders book. However, one big difference is that Sanders addresses the dissatisfaction of those inside the church, whereas the other two books address those who are dissatisfied outside the church.
Sanders begins by giving his own testimony of leaving the church and points out 3 things that disappointed him about church earlier in his life.
After leaving his church he mentions waiting for someone to call and check up on him. To the pastor's credit, he did call Brian weeks later, but only to ask how he and his ministry were doing. There was no mention of Brian's absence which left him with a feeling of disappointment.
Sanders states that 55,000 people leave Western churches on a weekly basis and points out the top reasons people give for leaving their church.
So what is one to do once they leave the church? Sanders addresses this towards the end of this book saying that previous generations have had great innovators such as John Wimber of the charismatic Vineyard church and Bill Hybels of the seeker sensitive Willow Creek movement. So what is the next innovation for the church? He points to house churches. This should come as no surprise since Brian is executive director of the Underground Network which is a coalition of micro churches that usually meet in home or public locations such as comedy clubs. One main focus of these churches is "a call to biblical justice and love for the poor." Throughout the book Sanders addresses the poor and certainly makes it sound like most current churches don't do their part in this area.
There is only one direct mention of the emergent church in this book, but a quick search on Google for “emergent” and “Brian Sanders” will show you his close ties with the movement. I certainly believe we need to help the poor (Matthew 25:32-46) but Sanders pushes the issue a good deal and goes borderline to representing the social gospel.
I do find this book to be of some benefit. It helps to get the insight to what thinking goes on in the minds of some of those within or even outside of the church. I also appreciate how Sanders tells people to "not leave angry" (p. 158), but to do so "staying positive and taking the high ground" (p. 159). One of my biggest concerns though is that he tells us how to reform the church by starting or joining house churches where fighting poverty is a large concern. House churches in themselves are not bad. Some of the most God-honoring churches in China are house churches. Churches in the first few centuries of Christianity were large house churches.
So what is the problem? Brian makes no mention of the importance that the leader of the house church needs to meet the biblical qualifications of a pastor (1 Timothy 3:2-7) and that church discipline still needs to be practiced (Matthew 18:15-17). Remember, we are not all called to be teachers and pastors (Ephesians 4:11). Those that are pastors and teachers are held to high standards (James 3:1). It is true that there is a church in the universal sense (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) and church in the local sense (Revelation 1-3). That said, if we are dissatisfied with the local church, let us never think we can just go out and do things our own way. The Bible does address how the local church should work and we should hold to these truths tightly.
__________________
Matthew Christensen is a support and I.T. professional for a software company in Bloomington, Minnesota. He is married to Christa, and they have a son named Malachi. Together they run the online ministry Issues That Matter and volunteer at Fourth Baptist Church (Plymouth, MN).
Sanders, Brian. Life After Church: God's Call to Disillusioned Christians. Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2007. Paperback. 191 p. $15.00
(Review copy courtesy of InterVarsity Press.)
Purchase: IVP | CBD | AmazonISBNs: 0830836063 / 978-0830836062
Excerpts:
Introduction
Subjects: Christian Living, Local Church, Emergent
Are you sick of your church? Are you thinking of leaving but don't know if God wants you to leave? Wondering where you would go if you left the church? These are just some of the questions Brian Sanders attempts to answer in his book Life After Church. This title caught my eye while picking out a book to review as I have a gaining interest in the emergent church. It worries me to watch this movement creep into countless Baptist churches and gain a solid foothold.
Two books recently released, Unchristian by David Kinnaman and They Like Jesus but Not the Church by Dan Kimball, have some similarities to Sanders book. However, one big difference is that Sanders addresses the dissatisfaction of those inside the church, whereas the other two books address those who are dissatisfied outside the church.
Sanders begins by giving his own testimony of leaving the church and points out 3 things that disappointed him about church earlier in his life.
- Archaic and confusing worship.
- No one asked questions.
- Activities existed that were not needed and he felt something was missing.
After leaving his church he mentions waiting for someone to call and check up on him. To the pastor's credit, he did call Brian weeks later, but only to ask how he and his ministry were doing. There was no mention of Brian's absence which left him with a feeling of disappointment.
Sanders states that 55,000 people leave Western churches on a weekly basis and points out the top reasons people give for leaving their church.
- Growing out of the message. Some churches gear their message towards newcomers and neglect those farther in their spiritual journey.
- People feel the need to ask questions but don't believe their church is open to questions. Some examples he cites are "What happens when we pray?" or "Are miracles really possible?"
- The church is irrelevant. The church is geared too much toward new believers and seekers, but not enough on maturing disciples for Christ.
- There is nothing meaningful for them to do in the church. People need to be given positions in the church. If they are not given opportunities to serve they will become bored and feel like they have no purpose.
- People don't like how the church is using the money. This could mean they want more of the money to go directly to the poor and prison ministry. This can also mean that the church is into "giving to get".
- Contentment - The hope and optimism of a new church they are a part of.
- Disaffection - Becoming emotionally absent and starting to think about leaving the church.
- Threshold - They stop going to church but are still emotionally attached.
- Full Exit - The person finally becomes both physically and emotionally detached from the church.
- New Beginning - Finding and embracing a new vision for the church.
So what is one to do once they leave the church? Sanders addresses this towards the end of this book saying that previous generations have had great innovators such as John Wimber of the charismatic Vineyard church and Bill Hybels of the seeker sensitive Willow Creek movement. So what is the next innovation for the church? He points to house churches. This should come as no surprise since Brian is executive director of the Underground Network which is a coalition of micro churches that usually meet in home or public locations such as comedy clubs. One main focus of these churches is "a call to biblical justice and love for the poor." Throughout the book Sanders addresses the poor and certainly makes it sound like most current churches don't do their part in this area.
There is only one direct mention of the emergent church in this book, but a quick search on Google for “emergent” and “Brian Sanders” will show you his close ties with the movement. I certainly believe we need to help the poor (Matthew 25:32-46) but Sanders pushes the issue a good deal and goes borderline to representing the social gospel.
I do find this book to be of some benefit. It helps to get the insight to what thinking goes on in the minds of some of those within or even outside of the church. I also appreciate how Sanders tells people to "not leave angry" (p. 158), but to do so "staying positive and taking the high ground" (p. 159). One of my biggest concerns though is that he tells us how to reform the church by starting or joining house churches where fighting poverty is a large concern. House churches in themselves are not bad. Some of the most God-honoring churches in China are house churches. Churches in the first few centuries of Christianity were large house churches.
So what is the problem? Brian makes no mention of the importance that the leader of the house church needs to meet the biblical qualifications of a pastor (1 Timothy 3:2-7) and that church discipline still needs to be practiced (Matthew 18:15-17). Remember, we are not all called to be teachers and pastors (Ephesians 4:11). Those that are pastors and teachers are held to high standards (James 3:1). It is true that there is a church in the universal sense (1 Corinthians 12:12-13) and church in the local sense (Revelation 1-3). That said, if we are dissatisfied with the local church, let us never think we can just go out and do things our own way. The Bible does address how the local church should work and we should hold to these truths tightly.
__________________
Matthew Christensen is a support and I.T. professional for a software company in Bloomington, Minnesota. He is married to Christa, and they have a son named Malachi. Together they run the online ministry Issues That Matter and volunteer at Fourth Baptist Church (Plymouth, MN).
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Book Review--What is a Healthy Church?
Reviewed by Doug Smith.
Mark Dever. What Is a Healthy Church? Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2007. Hardcover, 126pp. $10.99.
(Review copies courtesy of Crossway Books.)
ISBNs: 9781581349375
DCN: 250
LCCN: BV601.D49
Subject: Christian Church
This book is new, but the content isn’t really new. What Is a Healthy Church? first appeared in public as a series of articles in a church newsletter. It then became a booklet (”9 Marks of a Healthy Church”) and then a full-size book (Nine Marks of a Healthy Church). Now it is a small book, and it seems to get better each time. So what is a healthy church? (Read the full review here.)
Mark Dever (Ph.D., Cambridge University; Master of Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Master of Divinity, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary) is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., and founder of 9Marks Ministries. He is the author of Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (Crossway, 2004), The Deliberate Church (Crossway 2005), The Gospel and Personal Evangelism (Crossway, 2007), and the soon-to-be-released 12 Challenges Churches Face (Crossway, 2008).
Friday, November 30, 2007
"That Grotesque Anomaly..."
I just received a review copy of The Living Church by John Stott (IVP, 2007) and have been skimming through it before I send it out to be reviewed. In the first chapter Stott lays out a few of his assumptions about his readers. The very first is worth repeating here.First, I am assuming that we are all committed to the church. We are not only committed to Christ, we are also committed to the body of Christ. At least I hope so. I trust that none of my readers is that grotesque anomaly, an un-churched Christian. The New Testament knows nothing of such a person. For the church lies at the very center of the eternal purpose of God. It is not a divine afterthought. It is not an accident of history. On the contrary, the church is God's new community. For his purpose, conceived in a past eternity, being worked out in history, and to be perfected in a future eternity, is not just to save isolated individuals and so perpetuate our loneliness, but rather to build his church, that is, to call out of the world a people for his own glory. ... True, we may be dissatisfied, even dillusioned, with some aspects of the institutional church. But still we are committed to Christ and his church. (pp. 19-20)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
