Funny yes…reality in many churches? Sadly, yes.
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The Lord’s Supper, How Often?
My friend Jim Hamilton posted an article yesterday that discusses the frequency of the Lord’s Supper in the church. It is a good read and can be found by clicking here.
The Pastor & Personal Criticism
A little bit ago I posted a link and excerpt to an article from C.J. Mahaney on “The Pastor and Personal Criticism.” The kind folks at Sovereign Grace Ministries have made all 11 of these posts into a downloadable eBook. I would encourage you to download this and read it carefully.
Identifying Future Elders in the Congregation
Today IX Marks has a guest post from Brian Croft, a pastor in Louisville, KY. He tried to briefly answer the question, “How do I identify future elders in the congregation?” This actually cuts to the heart of where I am going with the series I started on Saturday, “Reflections on Education and the Church.”
In essence Croft starts by looking at the three things listed below. Be sure to click over to the full post to get the full explanation.
- Find men who function as a pastor without the title or recognition.
- Find men who assume the pastoral burden, although it has not yet been placed on them.
- Find men who shepherd their family the way a pastor should shepherd God’s people.
Again, be sure you see the full article over at the IX Marks blog.
Reflections on Education and the Church | Part 1
This last week at The Gospel Coalition Conference I sat in on a panel discussion about education. It was moderated by D. A. Carson and included Al Mohler (SBTS), Mark Driscoll (Pastor of Mars Hill Church Seattle), David Helm (Pastor of Holy Trinity Church Chicago), and Ligon Duncan (Pastor of First Presbyterian Church Jackson, MS). They talked about various topics as it relates to education and training the next generation of pastors. Of all the sessions I sat in on this one was in its entirety worth the cost of the conference. These men captured my affections for education and the church so well I felt this physical emotion that I cannot even describe. Needless to say, it was so encouraging to hear the things these men were saying. I will attempt to explain some of the highlights while drawing some conclusions from them.
The first question posed by the moderator was along the lines of, “What trends are we seeing today in education?”
The first and obvious answer relates to technology. I couldn’t agree more with the idea that technology is driving education today. As an instructional designer for a university I deal with this daily. The Internet is changing the way people do education and receive an education. Certainly there are good and bad things that come from this. There are certain things that people shouldn’t be learning online. I believe it was Driscoll who pointed out that he wouldn’t want to go to a surgeon who’s credentials came from an online school. Surgery is one of those disciplines that we would expect the Dr. to have gotten from the classroom and from labs and from observations. An online education does not suffice for someone like this. So what about the theological student? What about the person studying to be a pastor? Those questions went largely unanswered, however, were alluded to at times throughout the rest of the discussion.
The second trend that was mentioned, and where the majority of the time was devoted, was that education is seeing a return to the church rather than to the seminaries. Churches, by and large, have done a deplorable job of educating and preparing men for ministry. Most churches have no mechanism in place to educate or confirm calling and giftedness. This is a travesty and is where I will pick up in my next post, discussing this trend and why this is so critical for the health of the church.
Rob Bell and “Love Wins”
Today in my Sunday School class I worked through some material having to do with Rob Bell and his latest book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Whoever Lived. 
Much of the material was originally purposed for teaching a contemporary theology class at Northland, but I thought it fitting for my Sunday School class as well since Bell is so influential, and the church can be so undiscerning.
Right now Bell’s book is the #2 best selling book on Amazon’s website under Christianity, right behind another book ironically about heaven (it is apparently an awful book as well, check out Challies‘ review). When books climb sales charts it obviously means they are selling and I want to make sure that people are being as discerning as possible if they are picking up this book. So I told my class that I won’t tell them not to buy the book and I told them that I wouldn’t say don’t read the book. I told them that if they are interested in it they need to read it discerningly.
Currently in our small community of Iron Mountain/Kingsford, MI there are two churches that are using Bell’s book for a curriculum in a positive way. This is even more the reason to be aware of the heterodoxy that lies within its pages.
I thought I would do a review of the book but I could never improve upon some of the things that have already been written. So let me direct you to the best reviews that I have read so far:
- Kevin DeYoung | Kevin wrote a 20 page review that is pastoral in nature and the best I’ve read on Bell. If you want to get an understanding for Bell and his book, the 20 page review is well worth your time.
- Tim Challies | Tim was the first one to publish his view to the public. It is a helpful review.
- The Resurgence | This is not so much a review as it is a chronology of events that detail the entire hullabaloo.
My favorite moment so far though has to be Martin Bashir’s interview of Bell on his show on MSNBC. Bashir didn’t hold anything back and made Bell look like a little schoolboy.
C.J. Mahaney on “The Pastor and Personal Criticism”
Serving your church by serving your pastor with criticism can be a touchy subject. However, pastors are not outside the boundaries of being criticized and need to be when it is appropriate. C. J. Mahaney, from Sovereign Grace Ministries, serves the church well in a continuing series of articles he is writing called “The Pastor and Personal Criticism” If you are a church goer I would commend this series to you. So far there are eleven posts in it.
From his latest article, “How to Criticize Your Pastor (and Honor God),” Mahaney is wise to point this out about the person doing the criticizing;
Perhaps the most important step is this one: examining our hearts prior to any conversation in which we bring corrective comments to someone. And here’s why: motive makes all the difference. It is wise for me to examine my heart for any self-righteousness and to ask: Is my desire to share this critical observation with my pastor motivated by a desire to serve him? We must not assume our motive is humble and redemptive. Our purpose must be to serve our pastor, not to scold him.
Al Mohler on the Emerging Church
I think Al Mohler’s comments about the emerging church are dead on. I came across this today as I am working to prepare some lectures for next week on the emerging church. This is a topic I have been studying on and off now for about 7 or 8 years. You can see some videos that relate to the emerging church over at my Vimeo site.
When it comes to issues such as the exclusivity of the gospel, the identity of Jesus Christ as both fully human and fully divine, the authoritative character of Scripture as written revelation, and the clear teachings of Scripture concerning issues such as homosexuality, this [Emergent Liberal] movement simply refuses to answer the questions.
The entire article this is from can be found here.
Elders: Shepherding the Flock of God
I was doing some studying yesterday in preparation for a Sunday School lesson and was reading 1 Peter 5:1-5;
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (ESV)
As I read that I was reminded of Robert Reymond’s commentary on the passage in his New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith. He says that these verses very clearly imply a certain set of responsibilities for elders:
- Keep the members of their flock from going astray. This implies instruction and warning. An elder must be able and ready to teach those under his care.6 This means, of course, that he must faithfully labor to acquire a knowledge of God’s Word in order to teach it.
- Go after their members when they go astray. This implies reproof, correction, and in some cases the exercise of church discipline. Of course, elders should attempt by private instruction and admonition to correct an erring member of their flock at the earliest stage of a spiritual or moral defection, before open and censurable sin breaks forth that would require harsher measures of discipline.
- Protect their members from wolves teaching false doctrine and evil practice that would enter in among them. This implies meticulous, careful application of the admission requirements for church membership, and a constant effort to cultivate in the people a discerning apprehension of the distinction between truth and error.
- Lead their flock to the fold and pour oil into their wounds and give them pure water to quench their thirst. This implies pastoral concern and consolation. Elders should be keenly aware of the fact that many of their people will be broken in spirit and wounded for many and varied reasons. They should be ready, whenever the need becomes known, to visit the sick, bind up the broken reed, lift up the fallen hand, strengthen the weakened knee, and fan the smoking flax back into a bright and healthy flame.
Reading through these responsibilities once again gave me a great appreciation for the elders of my church and their commitment to live and govern our church according to the Word.
The Emerging Church
With the kerfuffle sounding Rob Bell in the past couple of weeks, a renewed conversation seems to be firing up again about the emerging church movement/non-movement. In a couple of weeks I will be teaching some lectures on the emerging church in a contemporary theology class here at Northland. This is a topic I have studied for about six or seven years and still continue to be amazed at some of the things the leaders of this movement have to say. If you are unfamiliar with the topic I would encourage you to watch the video below of Mark Driscoll. This is probably one of the most succinct descriptions of what is going on out there in the emerging church. Once you watch that video you can check out an album I made over at Vimeo that has a couple of other videos in it. The PBS documentary in particular is very interesting.
In my lectures I plan to take the first day to give some of the history, background, and theological compromising the emerging church has gone through. Then on the second day my intent is to give a good summary of Rob Bell as a person and a church. This could prove to be a bit difficult because I have never met Bell nor visited his church. However, I have read his books and have read widely much of the material around him. I just started into his newest book, Love Wins, which has caused no small firestorm. Once I am finished with the book I intend to post a short review with links to other places where you could probably find better reviews.
About Me
I am a follower of Christ, a husband to Michelle, and an employee to Northland International University. I married the love of my life in May of 2009 one week after I graduated from seminary with a Master of Divinity degree. I am now pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree and desire to serve the church through education and discipleship.
Book Review Teams
