CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Editor

Not a Village, but a Church with a School

by

By Robert Rogland. Can you think of a greater heartbreak for believing parents than to see their children grow up without a living faith in Christ? Too many godly fathers and mothers live with that heartbreak. Some have seen their children grow up more interested in the world than in Christ; others have seen a son or daughter actually reject Him. What can be done to ensure that our covenant children will grow up to trust and love and serve our Savior?

The Bible charges parents to bring up their children in the training and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6:4). But other Christians also have a measure of responsibility: When the Lord commanded his church to teach all nations, surely that included covenant children as well (Matt. 28:18-20). Our Directory of Worship, a part of the Book of Church Order, reminds us that “Believers’ children within the visible Church, and especially those dedicated to God in Baptism, are non-communing members under the care of the church” (DW, Chapter 57-1; emphasis added). When we witness the baptism of an infant, do we not vow to pray for that child? Do we not also vow to help him or her come to true faith, repentance, and obedience and to become a communing member of the church-in other words, to help the child grow up to be a believing, practicing follower of Christ?

Others may debate whether or not it takes a village to raise a child, but well-taught Christians should have no doubt that, under ordinary circumstances, it takes a church to raise a Christian child. The Christian school can be a powerful arm of the church as it works towards that end.

The Role of the Home

Much of the work of raising a child to be a Christian is informal. Parents instruct in conversation and show by example what a Christian believes and does (Deut. 6:7). Children learn to pray and worship first by participating in family devotions and praying with Mommy or Daddy at their bedside. They learn the importance of keeping God’s Law and the consequences of disobedience as they disobey and are disciplined. They learn God’s unconditional love for His children as they see their parents’ unconditional love for them. A boy or girl learns what it is to walk by faith when he or she sees Dad and Mom face crises with trust in God. Children learn what love for strangers is through hospitality extended in the home. Through such experiences, and the interpretation of them furnished by their parents, children learn most of what it is to be a Christian in faith, word, and deed.

The Role of the Church

The church also has a role in the upbringing of a covenant child. It is in the services of the church that children learn corporate worship, worship even more important than family worship as far as the Scriptures are concerned. The Lord’s Supper, with all the grace it conveys, is celebrated in the church, not the home. Pastors and Sunday school teachers provide formal instruction in Bible and doctrine. In the church, children encounter others who share their parents’ faith, an encouraging thing considering that not many of the neighbors are likely to share the family’s faith. What the Bible says about Christ dying for the world is more believable when the child sees that biblical faith is not confined to the family circle. In the church, children see that some Christians have one gift, some another, all to be used for the good of the Body. Indeed, it is only in the church that the concept of the Body of Christ finds meaning. The immediate Christian family is never called the Body of Christ.

The Role of the School

There comes a time in every child’s life when formal instruction becomes necessary. Children need to learn a lot of facts and skills. They need to build a Christian worldview, a framework for seeing everything in its relationship to biblical truth. Here Christian parents face three basic choices: home schooling, public schooling, or Christian schooling. I don’t intend to condemn either public schooling or home schooling in this article; we all know children from believing homes who have succeeded in growing in Christ and in Christian thinking under all three regimens. But I write as a teacher in a Christian school to tell others how the Christian school can be a partner with the home and the church in raising children for the Lord.

What are the particular benefits of sending your child to a Christian school? The greatest is surely this: teachers in the Christian school view the training of covenant children as their calling from God and have prepared themselves to exercise that high calling faithfully and effectively. The teacher is the single most important element in any school experience. More than textbooks and other learning materials, more than the physical facilities where the school is housed, more than schoolmates, the dedicated, competent Christian teacher exercises the most important influence on a child during school hours.

To be sure, no one will love your child and be dedicated to his or her success in school more than you. If love and dedication were the only considerations, I suppose everyone should homeschool. But some parents can’t homeschool, and others realize that they don’t know how to teach effectively in a formal way or (especially in the upper grades) don’t know the material their children need to learn. Plus, in homes with children of different ages, the parent simply may not be able to teach all of them well and do all the other things necessary to keep the home running. The competent Christian teacher has academic knowledge, professional expertise, and an interest in your child that will enable her or him to be your partner-and the church’s partner-in giving your son or daughter the knowledge, skills, and biblical worldview he or she needs.

A second benefit of Christian schooling is that your child will be part of a Christian community. There your child rubs shoulders with Christian peers, much as you rub shoulders with fellow Christians in the life of the church. Covenant children are members of the church, but they do not participate as equals with communing members on Sunday morning or Wednesday evening. But in the Christian school, children have the experience of participating as equals with other Christians-immature Christians like themselves, to be sure, but equals nonetheless. They will be offended and have to learn to forgive; they will offend and have to seek forgiveness for foolish and sinful words and acts. They will have opportunities for leadership. They will pull together in common projects for the sake of Christ and His kingdom. The Christian school is not a church, but it is a training ground for church life as well as for life in the world. And all this takes place under the supervision and guidance of adult Christians who spend six to eight hours a day devoted to your child’s growth and development in Christ.

A third benefit of the Christian school is that it is a prism refracting the phenomena of nature, the events of history, and all the other facts of life and the world through the medium of the Bible. The diverse interpretations of men and things given by the media and the public school are naturalistic and worldly. (While a Christian school environment provides an ideal setting for this, let us thank God for the many godly public school teachers who do not dish up the world this way to their pupils.) Christian parents must continually challenge and correct non-biblical ideas their children encounter. Some parents do this consistently and well. The church also, through its teaching ministry, must expose and correct worldly ideas that bombard its members, children as well as adults. The Christian school partners with the parents and the church in this task.

“All right, you make a good case for Christian schooling on paper,” the skeptical reader may reply, “but I know Christian schools that are virtually indistinguishable from public schools. The instruction is mediocre, the facilities are inadequate, and the kids are just as worldly as public school kids. Why should I send my child to a school like that?”

The answer to that question is, of course, you shouldn’t send your child to such a school. Parents need to be discerning as they look for a Christian school for their children. All Christian schools are not equal. To be sure, all or nearly all Christian schools will have a dress code, a weekly chapel service, and required Bible classes. Virtually all will feature instruction extolling a creationist approach to science. But there is much more to a Christian school than that! Christian parents should settle for nothing less than the following:

1. The school you choose must not be staffed with pious teachers who lack academic and professional competence, nor should it employ those who are merely competent, apart from godliness. The teachers must be models of what educated, godly disciples of Christ ought to be, and they must make both learning and godliness attractive to their pupils by word and by example.

2. The school must teach all subjects from a biblical perspective, consciously helping its pupils develop a mature Christian world and life view. That view must be comprehensive, embracing all of human life and experience. The great Dutch Reformed thinker Abraham Kuyper said it well: There is not a square inch of life or thought where Christ has not said, “This is mine!” I believe that “reformed thinkers” have worked out what a biblical world and life view entails more completely and consistently than Christians of other traditions, and I conclude that the ideal Christian school is reformed as well as evangelical. Yet it is not smug, obnoxious, or sectarian in upholding reformed convictions. If a Christian school can make the reformed view of God, men, and life attractive to non-reformed Christians, as well as to Presbyterians, it has struck the right balance.

3. The school must challenge its pupils to practice consistent biblical thinking and living both in and out of the classroom. Compartmentalization-thinking and behaving as a Christian in school and church, thinking and living like the world the rest of the time-is a great temptation for all of us, children included. A good Christian school challenges its students to think and live as Christians all the time, and tries to show them how.

If you already have this kind of Christian school in your community, well and good. If you do not, why not ask your Session to consider starting a church-based school? My experience and observations have reinforced the conviction that the Christian school functions best when it operates as a cooperative ministry of the church rather than under the auspices of an independent board. Few independent Christian schools are consistently reformed. Establishing and operating a school under the authority of the church should make it easier to maintain a reformed philosophy. If God leads you to pursue the seemingly daunting task of starting a Christian school, CE&P can put you in contact with PCA churches and schools that would be happy to share their experiences, observations, and ideas with you.

No Christian school is ideal. Christian teachers are sinners saved by grace, just like other Christians. They do not always carry out their commission with complete faithfulness. Maybe some of the teachers are not as well trained as they could be. Here is an opportunity for parents with particular expertise to volunteer to help. Maybe a particular teacher does not relate well to your child, or to other children. Here is an opportunity to talk with that teacher. Be an active parent! Meet with and get to know the teacher. Let him or her know your concerns. The Christian school is a partner with the home and the church. Partnership requires communication.

When you are tempted to be critical of your Christian school, remember that parents and churches are not perfect either. But our gracious God does for us above what we ask or think. God is faithful even if we are faithless (Rom. 2:2-3). How much more will he bless if we faithfully seek godly education for our covenant children!

Does the Sunday School Have a Bright Future?

by

By Elmer Towns. Sunday school is facing some of the most serious challenges of its life. Attendance is down, it’s hard to recruit teachers and those who volunteer don’t want to spend time in training and planning. Facilities are inadequate and out of date. Most churches have few teaching resources and little money to buy up-to-date aids. And it hasn’t even thought about the computer, Internet, PowerPoint presentations or moving into the 21st Century electronically.

Attendance seems to be down in most Sunday schools and up in a few. Dry lectures seem to be out, while enjoyable learning activities are in. However, can we build a biblical Sunday school by just making it fun? According to one observer, “The more enjoyable we make Sunday school, the fewer children seem to attend.”

Some pastors are concerned because they can’t get new visitors or new Christians into Sunday school classes, and faithful attenders of the past seem to drop out as they get older. Sunday school busing, which was a dominant outreach thirty years ago, no longer seems effective; nor can we get people to attend Sunday school with contests or campaigns. Not as many care about having the largest banana split in the city or being called the fastest growing Sunday school in their county. There are no new gimmicks on the horizon to re-vitalize Sunday school. However, as Sunday school is changing, let’s examine the change to see how we can turn some of these negatives into positives. Let’s see if we can find some diamonds in the coal mine and turn obstacles into wheels for prayer.

1.Sunday school is changing from being the steeple of the church to its foundation. The steeple is the most visible part of the church, and so, in the past, the Sunday school was visible in its campaigns, buses, and systematic visitations carried on by teachers. But Sunday schools no longer attract a larger attendance than the morning worship service.

As a matter of fact, the average worship service attendance has more than 25 percent larger attendance than the Sunday school. Visitors do not usually attend Sunday school; usually they attend the morning service. Let’s turn this obstacle into a wheel of progress. After visitors attend the worship service, let’s recruit them into Sunday school classes where they are grounded in Bible teaching and Christian living. Let’s make the Sunday school of the future the foundation of the church that becomes the place where believers are grounded in doctrine and godly living.

The year 1971 seemed to be the transitional year when worship attendance passed Sunday school attendance. Sociologists call this a tip-point. Prior to that year, Sunday school attendance was larger. It seemed that many pastors were constantly encouraging people to remain for the morning service. Now, we must reverse the process. Pastors must motivate people to come early next week for Sunday school.

The old Sunday school adage is still true. Everyone who comes to Sunday school ought to stay for church. Those who come to church ought to come early enough for Sunday school. There is a place for both in both, and if both are not in both, there is something wrong with both.

2.Sunday school is changing from the reaching arm to the nurturing arm of the church. Traditionally, Sunday school is by defined by four points; (a) the reaching arm, (b) the teaching arm, (c) the winning arm, and (d) the nurturing or maturing arm of the church. As such, the Sunday school of the past has had a strong evangelistic outreach, primarily through Sunday school busing and Sunday school campaigns. When I used to ask a church audience how many were won to Christ through Sunday school, many hands went up. Today, less than 10 percent say that the Sunday school was influential in bringing them to Christ. Sunday school is no longer thought of as an evangelistic outreach for the church. Also, teachers do not perceive their primary role as evangelists; and not many have a burden to win their pupils to Christ. They perceive themselves as educators.

The Sunday school should not throw in the towel on evangelism. Recently, I conducted a survey of 649 adults at a Sunday school convention. I asked them to respond with a show of hands how many were converted through the influence of media, i.e., preaching the gospel by TV, radio, magazines, tracts, billboards, etc. Two percent lifted their hands. Then I asked how many were converted through the ministry of a pastor. Six percent raised their hands. Next, I asked how many were saved through the organized evangelistic outreach of the church. This included organized visitation, street meetings, intentional evangelism, etc. Again, six percent lifted their hands. When I asked how many were saved through the influence of a friend or relative, more than 80 percent lifted their hands. Sunday school can be an effective evangelistic outreach when members will network their friends into a Bible study group where they can hear the Word of God and be saved. Then as a result of life-style evangelism and the follow-up of class members, these people are not only won to Jesus Christ, but bonded to a church through the Sunday school. Hence, the Sunday school is becoming the nurturing arm for bonding people to the church and Christ.

3.Sunday school is changing from front door to side door evangelism. Front door evangelism is inviting people into the church where they can hear the gospel and be converted. This is also called inviting evangelism or it implies event evangelism. This means people are converted as a result of a sermon or a Sunday school lesson. Statistics reveal that front door evangelism is not nearly as effective as relationship evangelism. But don’t completely rule out front door evangelism, some will get saved. However, as Americans become more concerned about their relationship to one another, side door evangelism can network friends to the gospel through classes, cell groups, and special ministries for the retarded, the deaf, the divorced, the single parents or other people with special needs in the church. The key is to find hurting people and offer them help. Side door evangelism is reaching people through special ministry to their needs.

The churchwide evangelistic crusades of the fifties and the sixties were a successful means of getting people to Christ. Today, outreach must be personalized and specialized. People can be brought under the influence of the gospel through ladies’ Bible studies, recreational teams sponsored by the church, special seminars aimed at the needs of people and fellowship groups. Sunday school can reflect specialized outreach by including some special purpose classes (in addition to the graded classes).

4.Sunday school is changing from its image of children only to a balanced ministry to children and adults. Before 1971, 39 percent of the Sunday school population were adults. But this has changed. Today more than 51 percent of the Sunday school population are adults. You can no longer think of Sunday school as only a place for flannelgraph stories for children. You must think of it as a place for adult Bible classes and fellowship groups. In the tip-point year of 1971, adult attendance finally passed children in the Sunday school population. Now that there are more adults, we should not minimize our emphasis to children but balance our endeavors to reach and teach both children and adults.

One way to balance the outreach to children and adults is to evaluate our resources. The average Sunday school invests 70 to 80 percent of its budget, staff, and educational space on children, yet adults represent 51 percent of its population. Let’s do more with adults, but not minimize our efforts to children.

At a Sunday school convention in North Carolina, I asked approximately four hundred pastors their opinion as to what age group in their Sunday school was growing. Only six pastors indicated that their Sunday schools were growing because of children. Six pastors indicated that their Sunday schools were growing because of youth. Only four pastors said their Sunday schools were growing because of senior saints’ ministries. However, more than two hundred pastors indicated that their churches were growing in the young adult area. While that is both important and wonderful, approximately two hundred said their Sunday schools were not growing.

Young adults, ages eighteen to thirty, have been considered a hard age to reach with the gospel. However, a recent sociological survey studied the many changes that young adults are going through. While changes sometime hurt church attendance, there is the other side. When people go through changes, they are open to the gospel. These transitions make young adults receptive and responsive to the gospel. These changes include choosing a college, choosing a life partner, choosing a place to live after college, choosing a job, and deciding to have children. Usually the change-process starts over as they assume new jobs and new homes. The research by Flavil Yeakley reveals that during this time a large number of young adults will attend church and be impacted with the gospel.

Growth-oriented Sunday schools that want to reach young adults should create special classes for them. New young adult classes, unlike established classes, produce growth; and remember, it is difficult for new members to penetrate into older fellowship circles.

In a recent study of why people choose a Sunday school class, it was shown that they first looked for fellowship, or they wanted to attend with friends. Second, they go where they can receive specific help for a heartfelt need. In the third place, they choose a Sunday school class because of a topic for discussion. The fourth place was the personality of the teacher, and the fifth was because of specific teaching techniques, such as films or discussion groups.

5.Sunday school is changing from an instructional center to a shepherding ministry. Many are recruited as Sunday school teachers because of their love for teaching. However, if education were the only objective of the Sunday school, then a teacher who communicates Bible content can rightly feel that when his pupils know the lesson, he/she has finished the task. However, Sunday schools have a much broader objective than education. They have a shepherding task that must be carried out. A Sunday school teacher is a shepherd; he/she is the extension of pastoral ministry into the life of the pupils. Everything the pastor is to the larger church flock, the Sunday school teacher is to the Sunday school flock.

When a Sunday school teacher gets a burden to shepherd pupils rather than just instructing them in biblical content, he or she will be transformed in passion and purpose. A shepherd is first of all a leader or an example to the flock. His life modeling influence will do more to communicate the gospel than simply telling Bible stories. Secondly, a shepherd tends or protects the sheep, which involves the ministry of counseling, visiting absentees, and making oneself available to talk about their problems. When a Sunday school pupil backslides, a teacher/shepherd goes to restore them. A teacher/shepherd has a ministry of intercession for his/her pupils. It was Jimmy Breland, a Sunday school teacher at the Eastern Heights Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia, who cared enough to come by and take me to Sunday school in his truck. He was a shepherd for my soul.

6.Sunday school is changing from Bible lectures to Bible study. The key to the healthy Sunday school is Bible study with fellowship. Most think of an adult class teacher as a deacon who lectures to a class of adults in the back of the church auditorium underneath the balcony, speaking in a monotone for thirty-five minutes, then asking, “Are there any questions?” When there are no questions, the deacon dismisses for the morning service. This typical class will not make it in the future, nor will it prepare pupils for the future.

Recently, my wife attended a Sunday school class of forty-three adults in the family room of a home in a subdivision in Modesto, California. The class was studying Melchizedek? The people entered through the kitchen, got coffee, and found a place in the family room. Even before the class officially began, they were sharing what they had found out about Melchizedek. Although a simple topic, it motivated many students to research Melchizedek’s character and duties. The class had a lively discussion by many individuals before the teacher finally stood to begin giving his thoughts. My wife said it was an outstanding class because everyone shared. Everyone was interested.

The modern adult Sunday school class must have three things. First, a coffee pot (cold drinks or juice for younger people) Not that the refreshments attract visitors, but coffee allows people to fellowship before class begins and promotes informality that leads to sharing during the class. Second, modern adult classes need an overhead projector that allows people to see an outline, read a question, or focus their attention on the topic. This electronic teaching aid is a modern tool that reaches young adults who are a product of the electronic generation. Third, there must be questions to stimulate thoughts, discussion and involvement. Even Jesus used questions in his teaching. The difference between mediocrity and success in teaching is involvement by the student in the learning process, and a good question will get involvement.

7.Sunday school is changing from emphasis on enrollment to the open hand of fellowship. There was a time in the past when enrollment figures were some of the most important statistics in a Sunday School. As a matter of record, most teachers told visitors that if they attended for three weeks in a row, their name would be placed on the roll book. Enrollment was an important figure; it was gathered and carefully kept by Sunday school secretaries and reported annually for denominational records. Enrollment meant that the pupil belonged to the Sunday school and was accepted into its ranks. Today, many of the major denominations and independent churches have stopped gathering and reporting enrollment figures (except the Southern Baptists, who use it as a vital technique in their outreach). Most Sunday schools offer an open hand of fellowship to anyone who visits the class and try to make him or her feel as much a part of the class on their first visit as any other member. The open hand approach indicates that anyone who attends is a first-class member, just as much as the person who has been there for ten years.

Perhaps the change in American society is reflected in the change of attitude toward Sunday school enrollment. Most people do not make long-term commitments to bowling teams, service clubs, or hobby groups. Most Americans make short-term commitments, so they don’t ask others for long-term commitments. Like fast foods and instant everything, people become instant members of a class the first time they attend. As a matter of fact, the most important use of enrollment is that it becomes a mailing list for follow-up and for contact with absentees rather than a means of identifying those who belong to a Sunday school.

8.Sunday school can’t use yesterday’s tools in today’s world and be in ministry tomorrow. Some things such as our commitment to God and His Word must never change, while other things constantly change. The mature believer must know what things to cling to, and what things to give up. The Word of God never changes, and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We must never compromise biblical principles. But programs can change because they represent a technique used to reach people through the meeting of their needs. When a person’s perception of his need changes, the church must use a new program to reach a person through the new need in his life.

The biblical principles of preaching, teaching, soul winning, and ministry never change. But programs and techniques change. The original Sunday school was conducted on Sunday afternoon and taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. Now since public schools teach these topics, Sunday school no longer meets basic educational needs of reading, writing, and arithmetic. Public attitudes have changed toward Sunday afternoons, so it is difficult to attract people to Sunday school in the afternoon. Most Sunday schools are held on Sunday mornings. So, Sunday school programs change, but the biblical principles that make Sunday school essential have not changed.

The wise Sunday school leader will test all things by the Word of God. Some programs have served their usefulness; they should no longer receive priority treatment. Other new programs arise and demand attention. Remember the words of Longfellow, “Be not the first by which the new is tried, be not the last by which the old is laid aside.” New programs are not good just because they are new and old programs are useless just because they are old. Paul tells us, “Test all things; hold fast what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). Therefore, hold fast to biblical principles, for they are eternal, then test all programs by biblical principles for effectiveness.

Does the Sunday school have a bright future? Its historic purpose must not change. The Sunday school must reach, teach, win, and mature its pupils in Christ. As long as the Sunday school remains a channel for the Word of God, it will meet needs and have a future. As long as the Sunday school curriculum is based on the Word of God, people must attend its classes and support its programs. As long as the Sunday school is based on the Word of God, it has a bright future.

A Strategy for Evangelizing the Post Modern

by

By William J. Larkin. Postmodernism is the worldview of the dawning age, the environment forming for twenty-first century civilization. It is the mind-set embodied in the young, playful postmodern M.D. content to practice medicine a limited number of hours at a “Doc in a Box” instead of building up his own practice because he wants “time” to pursue his own interests, his “play.” It is the environment we live in, when, moving at the speed of light, we can experience, at a distance, events in “real time” in a place called “cyber-space,” which is actually nowhere.

This forms a worldview which impacts how we understand and receive the gospel. Indeed, how can we communicate a gospel that is truly “good news” to the postmodern person (or any cultural being for that matter)? We must “exegete” the culture from the inside out. We must interpret the Scriptures at a metacultural level. Then, we must bring the two together in effective gospel communication. After describing the shift to postmodernism, which is occurring all around us-exegeting our culture-and understanding the good news at its most fundamental level, we will illustrate how the two may be brought together.

Exegeting the Culture: Postmodernism

What is postmodernism? Originally, this label applied to a movement in western architecture which moved away from the boxy, modernist, glass and steel functionalism of the first half of the twentieth century to an eclectic, decorative, and more humane style. Since the 1980s, however, it has come to describe a broader cultural shift away from modernism, the worldview characterizing western civilization since the eighteenth century Enlightenment. Though some see postmodernism as modernism reaching its logical extreme, a hyper-modernism, most believe “post” points to a worldview distinct from modernism. Not only is it chronologically “post,” it is “post” in the sense of critique, for it claims to supersede and replace modernism.

So fundamental and comprehensive is the shift postmodernism brings, we must keep in mind certain basic worldview categories if we are to understand what is happening.The postmodern thinker has turned away from modernist views of the nature of the universe and reality and how we relate to them, and the nature of humans, language, and text.Postmodernism is not a passing fad but the dawning age of twenty-first century western civilization. A postmodern environment is not a cultural context of an isolated intellectual elite. It is the cultural context forming around us. Postmodern types of individuals are already walking onto the stage of history. We work and play with them. They may even sit across from us at the dinner table.

Postmodern: The Dawning Age

We know that the postmodern age is the dawning age, when we observe that under the weight of history and experience the “Modernist Project” is collapsing. Themes of the modernist “grand narrative”-this worldview’s explanatory myth of origin, power and destiny-have been discredited. Hence, there is an openness to viewing reality differently.

From Closed to Open. In science for example, postmodernism has demonstrated that we do not live in a self-contained, closed universe where all change is simply a rearrangement of eternally existent phenomena. Rather, we inhabit an open universe which began with a “Big Bang” and is continually expanding to an uncertain end. Will our universe know eternally emergent evolution? Or, is the universe headed for an evitable cold, empty, starless night in which proton decay means matter’s last gasp?

From Totalizing to Deconstruction. Modernism’s reductionistic and totalizing approach to explaining reality involved the penchant for declaring one of its features the basic building block which explained everything. For example, Marx’s materialistic economics of class struggle claimed to explain all events of human history. Yet, experience and history in the twentieth century have discredited one totalizing explanation after another, because when each was given full reign in society, it created the exact opposite of its ideal. Marxism was to bring about the progressive emancipation of labor. That ideal died in the streets of Budapest in 1956, if not before, in Stalin’s purges of the thirties. Indeed, the twentieth century totalitarian regimes of the left and the right, and their attendant atrocities, give evidence that the “Modern Project” has failed to find a basis for morality and society.

From Purpose to Play. Modernism believed in the inevitability of progress, the improvement of all humanity through the advances of capitalist techno-science. A trip to Disney World and the Epcot Center lets you experience this quintessential modern ideal-science and technology meeting all your needs and wants, titillating your senses and firing your imagination.

From Metaphysics to Irony. Sobered by the use of science in the creation of weapons of mass destruction and realizing the potential of scientific advances for evil, as well as good, postmoderns reject the modern belief in the inherent goodness of knowledge. They are not convinced that the progressive emancipation of reason and freedom is humankind’s destiny. This was the German ideal, the most erudite people in the modern western world. And where did that erudition and incarnation of the “inherent goodness of knowledge” reach its climax? In the experiments of Auschwitz. No wonder the postmodern turns from a pursuit of knowledge, which confidently constructs a metaphysic, to a quizzical, if not cynical, exercise in irony.

From Christianity to Spirituality. Though the “Modernist Project” with its closed, self-contained universe and its human-centered ideals of progress and improvement actually has no room for biblical Christianity, still the Christian faith was the dominant religion of modern Europe and North America. The postmodern historical critique casts its penetrating light on modern Christianity. Here is the indictment of Jean-Fran

When Mercy Falls Through the Cracks

by

It should not be unusual for Christians to be actively concerned and involved with those around us. Our Savior lived and taught the ministry of mercy throughout His life. But, though many of our people have been “moved with compassion” (Mt. 9:36), not all of our churches have focused their organization and resources on showing mercy. A church-based mercy ministry benefits not only those who receive help but also those who show mercy by blessing them with the heart of Christ for a needy world. At Chapelgate Presbyterian Church we have rebuilt our corporate mercy ministry to work more effectively throughout our whole congregation. We hope other churches will be encouraged to join us in the quest to discover a deeper passion for mercy and develop better methods and tools for managing mercy ministries.

How Growth Fragmented Ministry

Several years ago, there were all kinds of bright spots in the Caring Ministry at Chapelgate Presbyterian Church, but nothing connected these good efforts into an effective safety net. No matter how many persons’ needs were met, too many others were falling through the cracks. Chapelgate had had a long history of faithful servants extending the love of our Lord Jesus Christ to others. But as our membership grew larger, busier, and more spread out geographically, old communication and collaboration channels broke down. Even our deacons were being asked to focus on church maintenance concerns and the problems of accommodating our growing numbers, rather than their biblical calling to service and mercy.

As Chapelgate’s mercy ministry became less effective, a great number of independent para-church ministries sprang up among our members. These good-hearted but isolated ministries did not communicate well with each other. They duplicated each other’s efforts and sometimes stepped on each other’s toes. Often people in need of help did not know that these ministries even existed. Under these conditions, the task of overseeing the pastoral care, mercy, and service needs of our congregation of 1500 members was overwhelming. There seemed to be a huge black hole of never-ending needs into which enormous efforts by disassociated caregivers disappeared. Results were haphazard. After studying our situation, we decided we could coordinate our various caring and mercy ministries by addressing three issues: Communication, Cooperation/Collaboration, and Encouragement.

Communication

Problem. Whether a particular need was made known to a pastor, church member, or receptionist, there was no guarantee that the right people would get the information so that they could address the need in an appropriate, timely, and consistent fashion. Thus, though we were sometimes thorough, other times the people in charge of filling the needs were unaware of them until it was too late. For example, in one instance we might handle a death in the family of one of our members with great care and attention, but another grieving family might only receive acknowledgement in the bulletin.

Process Solution. It was necessary to change our procedures for receiving and processing information about needs. We established a full-time Caring Coordinator position so that one person receives all information about needs in the congregation and the community. No matter where the information originates, the congregation and staff know they must contact the Caring Coordinator immediately as a first step toward meeting the need. As simple as this sounds, having just one person (and one computer system) process all requests dramatically improves the consistency of our care giving.

It took time and constant reminders to re-train the congregation to call or email the Caring Office, but soon everyone began to notice the benefits of having a central clearing house where information can be obtained on any ministry in process. We call the organization of all our pastoral care and mercy ministries our Caring Umbrella. Our caring and mercy ministries form a big circle, like an umbrella with spokes radiating from a center point (the Caring Office) out to the edge of a big protective canopy that shelters the lives of those in our community. The ministries operate interdependently, through the network provided by the Caring Office, which is composed of the Caring Coordinator, a pastor, and the Pastoral Care Management System “ShepherdWorks.” Information about needs flows not only up and down the spokes, but also in a collaborative fashion between the different ministries that make up the fabric of the Caring Umbrella.

ShepherdWorks Solution. While appointing a Caring Coordinator helped untangle the inconsistencies in our care delivery, we still needed a computerized Pastoral Care Management System to facilitate caring coordination. We needed a central repository of information about the resources of all the different mercy ministries (the people who were providing care, their skills, the goods and services they had and the ones they needed, etc.) and the demands that were placed on these resources. After a few false starts with a simple home-grown database, we saw that it would take a more sophisticated system to manage the day-to-day operations of our network of mercy ministries.

After conducting an exhaustive search of available software programs for pastoral care management, we realized that we would have to design and develop our own application to provide our mercy ministries with the requisite functionality. ShepherdWorks, the result of several years of development, is designed for both small and large churches. It can augment the work of a full-time Caring Coordinator, but it can also empower other staff or volunteers to perform caring coordination.

Moreover, ShepherdWorks will support many concurrent ministry users. It will be accessible through the World-Wide Web over the Internet, making it possible for mercy ministry workers, church staff, pastors, deacons and elders to collect, organize and maintain mercy information from anywhere in the world through a standard Web browser on an ordinary computer with an Internet connection. Participating churches and mercy organizations create, modify, store and retrieve their data over the Internet in a completely secure environment without having to purchase any software or maintain an expensive and complicated computer network infrastructure. ShepherdWorks will bring to faith-based organizations tools that promote communication, collaboration and coordination hitherto only available to corporate enterprises, but at a fraction of the cost.

Cooperation/Collaboration (Networking)

Problem. We found that some of our ministries were trying to handle problems that were addressed more appropriately by some other ministry. For example, if a caregiver delivered a meal and discovered a transportation problem, he might try on his own to find someone to repair the car instead of referring the matter to the transportation ministry.Essentially, we were faced with the kinds of needs that represent the challenge of collaboration in many group efforts. How do we:

  • find the right persons to perform a particular job?

  • inform others about problems and potential solutions?

  • monitor the current status of a problem-solving effort?

  • determine who tackled a particular problem and what exactly was done?

  • capture past experience in dealing with problems so we can apply the acquired knowledge to future cases?

Process Solution. The Caring Office has established and maintains a network among our various ministries to eliminate redundancy. The Coordinator has been able to foster cooperation between the various ministries so that each one works on the part of a problem that relates to its ministry, yet in concert with all those involved. Caregivers avoid frustration and the time they invest brings greater tangible results.

ShepherdWorks Solution. ShepherdWorks will offer a plethora of features that provide our ministries with the following collaborative functionality: shared content (ministry documents and discussions maintained in a central location, document revisions/versions tracked); shared sense of time (group calendars and Gantt charts capture task assignments, project milestones and meeting schedules; real-time, on-line awareness and chat facilities allow instant contact among ministry staff; automatic email notification); shared workflow (process management tools monitor status and control the orderly completion of tasks within a ministry project); shared knowledge (ad hoc processes may be captured and re-used in future projects).ShepherdWorks empowers mercy ministry staff to work together, exchange information, ask questions, find answers, and perform complex tasks with accountability as individuals and as members of teams.

Encouragement

Problem. Ministry leaders were often overwhelmed by the number of people under their personal care. Even when they felt equal to the needs they were serving, they felt they were working in a vacuum, unsupported and unacknowledged, without feedback from the church.

Solution. The Caring Team makes sure that our ministry leaders know they are not working alone, and that they are not required to meet all the needs of an individual or family. Our ministries provide great encouragement to one another as they work together to resolve a need. In particular, we support and encourage our shepherding elders and deacons by letting the congregation know that shepherding takes place when all the different ministries work together in concert with the oversight of an elder and deacon. No elder or his deacon counterpart can meet all the needs of those under his care. False expectations of shepherding can occur when the person being cared for assumes that one caregiver possesses all the gifts and resources to meet his need. The Caring Coordinator can explain that he must allow others to provide appropriate care for him in the name of Christ and His under shepherds. Now when a ministry is detailed to help a family, the elder is in continual communication, through the Caring Coordinator, concerning what is taking place in the life of those under his care. As the shepherding elders and deacons are kept abreast of a particular situation, they can come alongside their charge in appropriate and timely ways.

Blessings of a Well-Organized Mercy Ministry

In addition to all the benefits described above, the records of the Caring Coordinator and ShepherdWorks save us from having to reinvent the wheel. Good reporting and feedback provide the information needed to design a workflow path that can be used the next time a similar situation presents itself. Capturing the workflow and expertise of skilled caregivers enables us to maintain the same level of care even when we lose an expert caregiver for some reason.As we have organized our corporate mercy ministry, we have maximized the effectiveness. Enabling our members to more effectively express Christ’s love to our neighbors will be the true measure of a successful mercy ministry.

Serving in the Church: Prison Term or Delight?

by

At the conclusion of a training conference a man said to me, “I’m the Sunday school superintendent at my church. I came today ready to quit. But I’m leaving ready to try again.”

Prison Term?
So many in the church are burned out because they don’t feel appreciated, they don’t quite understand what they are supposed to do, or they feel ill equipped to do the job they have been given.Let’s suppose a church needs a middle school teacher. Those responsible for filling the position review the membership list looking for possible candidates. People who have done the job before are seen as good possibilities. Approached, in turn, they give answers like, “Can’t you find somebody younger?” “I’ve had my turn” or (I’ve actually heard it) “I’ve done my time.” Being a teacher in the church is a little like being in jail – once you get out you don’t want to go back.Add to that the time squeeze so many feel. “If I don’t enjoy it, if it’s not important I don’t want to spend my time on it.”

So, it’s back to the drawing board. Someone stumbles over a name that’s been missed. Maybe she would do it. She’s asked, and assured, “It won’t take much time.” She says she will pray about it.She says “yes,” and after a bit of rejoicing she’s given a book. “This is what the group is studying. You’ll have everything you need right here. Oh, and by the way, they meet down the hall on the right.” She’s just had her training.

I don’t believe she (or most people) takes on work at the church with the idea she will do a lousy job. But as she looks over the materials, she feels a bit uncomfortable. She’d like to know more about the passage. She has never tried the suggested activities. Could she actually get them to do a role-play? Having done her best to prepare, she makes her way to the classroom. Her students just sit there as if they are saying, “I dare you to reach me.” After a few weeks she wonders, “What am I doing here?” If she’s really dedicated she’ll fulfill her commitment before she resolves never to get involved in anything like that again.

Delight?
Volunteering in your church’s educational or women’s ministry doesn’t have to be a prison term. CE/P has three groups of trainers that can help you recapture your vision, supplement your efforts to encourage your co-laborers, and help set up a means for ongoing support.To be challenged with the importance of your ministry is paramount. To become proficient in conducting that ministry is equally important. To learn to believe that God will make changes in all those involved – building up his body – is a great test of faith. To see it happen will be a delight.

Regional Trainers/Consultants
The thirteen men and women in this group offer seminars for teachers covering three basic areas: what you teach, who you teach, and how you teach. There are fifteen workshops to choose from including a presentation of the PCA Sunday School curriculum, published by Great Commission Publications. Some churches have a trainer come in every year.This group will also work with Christian education committees and others charged with the responsibility for establishing, executing, and evaluating the church’s discipling ministries.

Youth Trainers
With over eighty years of combined youth ministry experience, Regional Youth Trainers offer excellent wisdom to people called by God to help students come to know Christ and grow deeply in Him. Through workshops like “On-Purpose Youth Ministry,” “Helping Parents Embrace Youth Ministry,” “Thriving as a Volunteer,” and “Group Dynamics for the Youth Group,” these youth pastors can equip, evaluate and encourage both paid staff and volunteers involved in youth ministry at your church. Prayerfully consider having a Regional Youth Trainer come to your church and enhance the ministry to youth there, to God’s Glory and to the good of the youth and youth team at your church.

Women’s Ministry Trainers
Since the PCA’ s beginning, CE&P has provided training support for local congregations in organizing ministries to edify and equip women. Now a national network of ten trainers – joining with the teacher and youth network – are available to come to your church or PresWIC to work directly with your leadership team. Their assignment will be:

To teach women a biblical perspective of their relationships with Christ, family, and church.

To challenge women to fulfill their helper design.

To help women examine the implications of the covenant in their relationships.

To train women to cultivate community by obeying the Titus mandate to nurture one another for God’s glory.

To train women to be channels of compassion by obeying the Micah mandate.

To equip women for leadership roles in the women’s ministry of the church.

We hope that your church will join hands with us at CE&P in the all important task of discipling God’s covenant family-raising up men, women and children to love and serve God with their whole heart and mind.



A Missing Ingredient: the Importance of Application

by

By Bev Bradbury. Many times Sunday school teachers may do a great job of finding out what a particular passage means and develop a good lesson outline, but fail by omitting the application.In Micah 6:8 we read, “He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” We must get our hearts right before God, set our priorities, and model what this passage means.

What are some things we can do with our students to demonstrate mercy and justice and help them put their faith into practice?Let us suppose you are teaching a preschool class about God’s love and ways your class can show His love to others. For the application section, you can:

1) Make pictures for a shut in.

2) Pray for sick relatives, friends, and missionaries.

3) Make encouragement cards. Ask each child what he likes about, or how he would describe, a particular person. Write the words on a card and let the child decorate it with stickers or drawings.

If your primary class is studying Matthew 25 where Jesus tells us we need to minister of hurting people:

1) Make a card or an audiotape in class for a sick friend, classmate, missionary, or prisoner.

2) Pray for sick classmates and relatives.

3) Put a care package together for a missionary family.

4) Visit a nursing home or a shut-in as a class. Sing to the residents. Bring cookies, crafts, or pictures the children have made.

5) Send birthday cards to missionary children.

If middle school students are studying justice and mercy:

1) Interview an older person from the church, ask about their childhood, schooling, family, and when and how they came to faith in Christ. Record it on audio tape and share it with the class. This is a great way to build bonds with some who may feel forgotten. 2) Adopt a grandma or grandpa at the nursing home. Visit with your class, sing choruses, and bring cards and small gifts.

3) Become a servant for a day. Help someone with yard work, clean windows, shovel snow, etc.

4) Deliver a tape of the morning worship service to someone unable to attend.

5) Help in the church nursery.

6) Sponsor an evening at church honoring the senior citizens in your congregation. Provide refreshments and put on a talent show.

7) Go on a mission trip with MTW-IMPACT.

8) Sponsor an orphan from the third world, write to and pray for him or her.

Adult classes could:

1) Provide clothing and food for the needy.

2) Take food or flowers to a sick neighbor. Help with little tasks around the house.

3) Visit nursing homes on a regular basis. Get to know the residents. Give them a hug!

4) Take special baskets to the hospitalized or to shut-ins.

5) Write notes of encouragement to people who are serving the Lord in some way.

6) Provide car tune-ups for widows and single moms.

7) Volunteer in a pregnancy support center.

8) Participate in a prayer chain, so you can be praying regularly for the needs that come along.

I trust that these suggestions have stimulated you. Sometimes the application is the most difficult part of preparation. But without it you haven’t finished the job. James says, “if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.” (1:23-25)