CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

George

Jesus, Tell Us About Christmas

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FullerDo you need a sermon or devotional idea for Christmas? Dr. George Fuller, pastor, former seminary professor and president and presently a member of the CEP Committee, Seniors’ Ministry consultant, offers the following sermon outline for you for your consideration. Our thanks to Dr. Fuller for making this available.



“Jesus, tell us about Christmas.”

Where did you come from?

…from my Father

“Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him; but I know him because I am from him and he sent me” (John 11:28-29).

…my Father sent me

“If God were your Father; you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me” (John 8:42).


Why did you come?Candle

…to represent the Father

“I have come in my Father’s name…” (John 4:43).

“I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father” (John 16:28).


…to bring salvation

“For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it” (John 12:47).


…to invite sinners to become my disciples

“For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Matthew 9:13).


…to distinguish between my disciples and others

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household'” (Matthew 10:34-35).

“I have come to bring fire on the earth…. Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three…” (Luke 12:49-52).


…to seek and to save the lost

“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10).


…to be a light

“I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness” (John 12:46).



…to give life

“…I am the gate for the sheep…. I am come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:7-10).


…to present truth

“You are right in saying I am a king. In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 18:37).


…to serve

“…whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:26-28).


…to give my life as a ransom

(Matthew 20:28)


…to die

“Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour?’ No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name” (John 12:27-28).


What should we do?

First, recognize that I came for you.

(see Jesus’ words mentioned above).


And, obey my law written in your hearts.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them…” (Matthew 5:17ff.).


And, come and follow me.

“Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you”

(John 20:21).


“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

-Philippians 2:5-11

Senior Week Starts September 12, 2010

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Each year, CEP designates the Sunday after Labor Day as “Seniors’ Sunday.” It’s still not too late to plan an announcement recognizing that occasion at your services. The pastor might mention any of the many passages that command respect for seniors (like Lev. 19:32, I Tim. 5:1, 3ff.); also include a challenge to seniors to continue in active ministry and service (for example, Psalm 92:12-15, 104:33/146:2, 103:2,5).

Senior Sunday - 213.jpgIf time permits, you might plan intergenerational experiences (in Sunday School, at a dinner, visiting in a nursing home). Perhaps your pastor could preach on, or at least mention, one of the seniors in the Bible who served faithfully (like Abraham, Moses, Joshua or Caleb, Eli, or, from the New Testament, Paul, John, Anna, Lois or, possibly, Mary). It would be a good day for an infant baptism, emphasizing the importance of sharing the faith through the generations.

Planning might begin now for next year’s “Seniors’ Week,” beginning on September 10, 2011. Special meetings and events might be planned. Seniors have special interest in many topics related to their experiences. Intergenerational activity could be a focus in the week’s activities. Involve Seniors in the planning.

Training Seminars for Seniors Ministry

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Seniors’ Ministry a High Priority

“Seniors’ ministry demands the attention of PCA churches,” affirms George Fuller, who is the director of CEP’s senior program. “The challenge is to involve our churches’ seniors in service and ministry, while also supporting them.” Fuller is a retired PCA pastor and served as president and professor at Westminster Seminary.

Local seminars have been effective in encouraging this effort. Evaluations done after each seminar have been most encouraging. The manual (Serving and Challenging Seniors) contains articles by 100 PCA ministers, nurses, doctors, therapists and others with expertise and experience in seniors’ ministry.
Click to buy notebook from PCA Bookstore.

One person can initiate the seminar. What do you need to do? Pick a date for the 3

They Will Still Bear Fruit in Old Age

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Thirty-eight million seniors (65+) live in the United States, making up thirteen percent of the total population. What percentage of this senior population resides in “group quarters,” including nursing homes? Answer: about five percent. The huge majority of the senior population is capable of useful service.

The present PCA membership, including children, is 342,041 (plus an unknown number in churches that do not report their data). If the total membership of our churches is like that of the nation as a whole, the PCA has among its members 45,000 seniors. This number will most likely more than double in the next forty years, as the total senior population is projected to do in our country. Currently, relatively few in our denomination are in nursing homes, only five percent or 2,250. Some PCA churches, like Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Woodbridge, Virginia, near Quantico Marine Base, have few seniors; and some, like Covenant Presbyterian Church in Sun City West, Arizona, have only seniors. However, we seniors do indeed tend to be everywhere. What a resource for serving Jesus!

Most books and articles about senior ministry focus on serving seniors and call us to help in meeting their needs. While this call is important and clear biblical imperatives call us to that ministry, most seniors do not have the pressing issues and disabilities that require mercy ministry. Few of our seniors are in nursing homes or severely disabled; and all of them, except perhaps those with advanced dementia, are capable of serving Jesus. What a great challenge and opportunity! All seniors must be challenged to honor the Lord in their lives and by their ministry. Some, perhaps many, indeed do so.

Meet Chuck Backlin. A graduate of West Point, he served as an officer in Vietnam. Now retired, Chuck turned sixty-nine this spring. On Tuesday mornings, he volunteers at the national headquarters of the Multiple Sclerosis Association doing data entry for the clients to whom he ships helpful devices for their everyday needs. On Wednesday mornings, he paints the interior of his church, Covenant PCA in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, working his way around the fellowship hall, down the hallways, and through the classrooms. On Thursday mornings, he volunteers at the American Cancer Society, developing corporate and organizational support. Chuck’s an usher, a “money counter,” and works at VBS. As a deacon, he serves on the equipment committee and is involved in the ministry of mercy. Chuck summarized, “I’ve never been bored; there’s plenty to do, to know about.”

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You’ve probably already met Caleb. When he was forty years old, he was sent by Moses as a spy into the Promised Land. When his advice was rejected, the door was closed for forty years. At eighty-five years of age, now serving under Joshua, he asked for permission to drive the Anakites from the “hill country.” He had another mountain to conquer.

Consider other biblical servants, who honored their Lord even into old age: Abram (75), Moses (80), Aaron (83), Joshua (“very old”), Ahijah (“old”), Eli (“old”), Simeon, Anna (84), Lois, Paul, and John. Barzillai (80) served the Lord by not being an unnecessary burden to others. Mary was faithful in later years by letting someone else (John) take care of her.

The biblical challenge to seniors to serve is clear. “Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come” (Psalm 71:18 NIV). “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green” (Psalm 92:14 NIV). “…Who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:1-5). “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being” (Psalm 104:33). “One generation shall commend your works to another…” (Psalm 145:4-7). “I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” (Psalm 146:2 NIV).

To neglect challenging seniors to serve the Lord is clearly unbiblical. It is also active ageism, prejudice against anyone based on their age alone. Ageism against seniors is everywhere, in movies, on TV, and even among the boomers who are rapidly becoming seniors. People of advancing years may indeed come to see themselves as “disposable, unimportant,” not unlike disposable diapers or material thrown into a garbage disposal. Ageism is most painful when the seniors themselves share in it. “I am useless. I have nothing to do. Nobody needs me.” These are not Christian statements, perhaps especially not for seniors. Challenge seniors to serve the Lord so that neither you nor they are guilty of ageism.

Motivation is the key to your commitment to challenging seniors and to their accepting any challenge. In Christian calling and service, the heart is the issue. Jesus gives us life, and we live for others. The fixed point at which those things happen is the cross. The basic motivation is not found in the needs of others, however serious or gut-wrenching they may be. The motivation is in the Christian, senior or younger. John wrote, “We love because he first loved us… For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen… Whoever loves God must also love his brother” (I John 4:19-21).

Initiative may have to overcome inertia. If a senior’s history shows no record of serving others, becoming a senior will not change his heart. The Lord needs to do that. Other seniors must understand they do not retire from Christian service. Moving from “serving” through “retirement” to “being served” is along a road on no map in the Bible. A car is easier to steer when it is moving, especially if the motor (heart) is running properly. Starting friction is indeed greater than sliding friction.

Mobilization flows out of motivation, and creativity and dreaming are important. “What could happen, if everything worked out well?”

All dreams do not come to fulfillment. A .300 batting average is very good; but if you never come to bat, 0 for 0, your average is .000. To make a dream become reality you need to gather facts and information, which feed creativity. Explore needs. Discover what younger generations and seniors need and want, survey the total Christian Education program, look for gaps, and consider community opportunities. Now ask, “What do seniors have to offer?” Do a survey not with a form but through visits, writing down reflections after each visit.

Once you have information, use a simple formula: needs + resources = opportunity. Match needs with resources and where they meet is opportunity. You may find that seniors in your church are indeed serving in many quiet ministries among themselves and with others, but creativity may produce multiplied benefits by initiating and enriching their ministry.

Ministry grows out of motivation and mobilization. The goal is to have seniors serving through word and deed, being who they are, representing Jesus, being an example. The possibilities are many, and a few examples accompany this article.

Recognize that you work with volunteers. Karen Morton in CEP’s Serving and Challenging Seniors suggests several steps in cultivating volunteers. First invite volunteers (personal invitations are best), and then interview them and ask about their experience and interests. Inform them by telling them what is expected and what help they will have. Interact with volunteers by seeking feedback and offering reassurance. Invest in them; continuing support is important. Finally, interpret them by seeking information about their experience. Morton concludes, “Ministry by seniors to seniors or to others in the local congregation or community is a win-win. Needs are met and seniors are given opportunities to contribute and to feel useful.”

When seniors accept your challenge to serve the Lord, benefits multiply. Consider the results:

  • You “honor” seniors by using them. You meet seniors’ need to feel useful, to be wanted, to be creative.
  • You dispel the myth that says, “Old people are nonproductive.” They are in fact often energetic, wise, and reliable.
  • You help them to be answers to their own prayers. Every Christian should by nature want to express the love of Jesus.
  • You avoid the unbiblical isolation and compartmentalization of generations. Seniors are given opportunity to interact with other generations in service and ministry.
  • Tangible evidence of faith experienced and shared will be seen. The invisible rule of Jesus in hearts will be manifest in deeds of service.
  • Ministry will happen, in the world and in the church, specifically among seniors but also among all generations. People will be served in Jesus’ name.

Older Adult Ministry: A Guide for the Presbytery Committee is a manual produced by the PCUSA that challenges seniors with the following. “Older persons who withdraw from life before life withdraws from them are depriving themselves and, through them, others as well.” Pray and work so that this statement will not describe seniors in your church. Hear the plea of senior servants. “Give me something to do!”

What About Liberation Theology?

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Sadly, Christians have not been fully and properly sensitive to all of the oppressed and needy people in our society.

Written in the early twentieth century, The Fundamentals were a series of twelve volumes of articles designed to define the Christian faith against attacks, and people who subscribed to the principles were called fundamentalists. (The word is now often used to describe “fundamentalist” Christians who bomb abortion clinics, “fundamentalist” Mormons who live in strange compounds, and “fundamentalist” Muslims who commit suicide bombings.) Of all of the hundred articles in the series, only one touched on the church ‘s responsibility in a society of need – except for those that discuss evangelism. Have we improved on that lack of emphasis? The church has often not even spoken to “cases extraordinary,” when it was appropriate to have done so.

In the latter part of the nineteenth century, harsh attacks sought to deny the authority of the Bible. It was claimed that the Bible was based on mythology, that Jesus was not the Son of God in any real sense, that His role in history was as a teacher of the moral life, and that Christians and churches were called to be an influence for “good,” however that was defined in society. Man was thought to be inherently good. Two world wars dispelled that view, and out of that background arose what was called the social gospel. Its various viewpoints challenged the Bible. Theologians, seminaries, and their churches affirmed, for example, the following kinds of statements:

1. The Bible is a record of some events, with added mythological meaning that accumulated after the events. The Gospel of John, for example, with a much more developed doctrine of Jesus’ Deity, was written perhaps far into the second century long after John died.
2. The Bible does not contain propositional revelation, because there is no such thing.
3. The Bible is the Word of God written, in the sense that God did some things in history, and then men recorded and interpreted the events.
4. The Bible is not the objective Word of God. It is not the Word of God when it is closed; it becomes the Word of God when it speaks to me in my experience.

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J. I. Packer wrote that there are three final authorities in Christendom: Scripture, the church, and reason. He might well have added “experience” since for many people, “what I experience is what is true.” A focus on experience, allows considerable freedom in interpretation and expression.

An Example of Beginning with Experience


In the 1950s and 1960s, there were a number of Marxist movements in Latin America. They sought to gain political and other power for the many peoples in those countries who did not share in whatever wealth there was and had not political or civil power.

The Roman Catholic Church was an active force among many of these poor and deprived peoples. During this time, bishops, priests, and some Protestant scholars developed a Liberation Theology, which affirmed that God and Jesus were on the side of the Marxist revolutionaries and others claiming to seek civil rights for the masses.

While the Church at Rome affirmed the goals to bring equity for the peoples of Latin America, it also spoke against any alliance with godless Marxism and many of the tactics being employed. It affirmed that priests should not personally be involved in political affairs.

Recently. a small notice in a local newspaper bore this title, “Former Bishop Elected President of Paraguay.” The ruling party candidate conceded defeat, “signaling the end of six decades of one-party rule and handing victory to former Roman Catholic Bishop Fernando Lugo.” The article concludes, “News of the Lugo win sent thousands of his supporters into the streets of Asuncion in a massive celebration. Lugo, dubbed the ‘bishop of the poor,’ has vowed to help Paraguay’s poor and indigenous.”

In the United States, this Liberation movement has been supported by “Black Liberation Theology.” Psalm 103:6 and the constant reminders in our news media suggest that something needs to be said about this issue.

Before entering our brief journey into Black Liberation Theology, a few comments seem to be necessary.

1. I apologize to all of you for referring to color, white or black. It grieves me that this theological system is so racially divisive.

2. In recent newspapers, you have perhaps seen references to James H. Cone, a professor of systematic theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York. He is one of the fathers of Black Liberation Theology. I am using his writing, particularly from the 1960s, to define this thought system.

3. A few comments about currently held views. During the past month I have talked with several people claiming to hold to Black Liberation Theology. They are evangelical friends who do not endorse the excesses of Professor Cone. I purposefully am only commenting about Professor Cone at this point.

The Decline of African American Theology: From Biblical Faith to Cultural Captivity

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This is a good book to read now and to be exposed, at least by way of reminder, to the horrors of slavery. Learn how that experience influenced, and still influences, African American preachers. You will appreciate the richness of preachers in the Old South, understand the fundamentals of Black Liberation Theology, and be exposed to the views of Bishop T. D. Jakes and Creflo A. Dollar, Jr.

Many of us have never taken this tour and know little of the “black” church, its struggles and its vitality. Our guide is the senior pastor at First Baptist Church of Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands. His six chapters describe the decline in doctrine in several areas of major importance: the doctrines of revelation, God, anthropology, Christology, soteriology, and pneumatology.

In each chapter, Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile moves through five periods of history, from the early slavery era to the “Postmodern Era (1980-present).” The abundant quotations may cause rejoicing at the proclamation of the gospel or sorrow as the gospel is misrepresented by professors and preachers. But the author is always clear in terms of the perspective from which he writes. In the forward, Mark Noll affirms, “how Rev. Anyabwile himself interprets the theological history he narrates so well will not please all readers, since he makes that interpretation from his position as a firm theologian of the old Puritan school.”

The extended discussion of the origins and development of Black Liberation Theology in the 1960s is supported by many quotations from James H. Cone. Since the movement and his name have been prominent in newspapers and on television in recent months, this book is all the more relevant, especially among those with little background in the material. Anyabwile writes of Cone’s views in soteriology, “The fundamental problem facing humanity was not sin and broken fellowship with God in the traditional sense, but the tyrannical powers of the ruling class.”

What Anyabwile defines as decline in the African American Church is a “mirror- image” of change in the broader church. J.I. Packer in Fundamentalism and the Word of God identified three ultimate authorities in Christendom: the Bible, the church, or reason. Perhaps “experience” should be added to that list. Revelation is now thought not to be found in an objective word from God, but in our past and present experience. We should all recognize the overwhelming experience that slavery was and the validity of any continuing experience of inequity in our (or another) society. But Anyabwile maintains that “…outside the Bible there is only idolatry.”

The book’s concluding section surveys its contents and comments that ” faulty theology is not a victimless crime.” It offe rs four directions in which the African American church should move:

Re-center the Bible – ” We need to read the Bible, sing the Bible, preach the Bible, pray the Bible, think the Bible and live the Bible.”
Re-exalt God – “If ever we needed a God-sized view of God it is now.”
Recover the Gospel – ” The good news about … Jesus Christ is worth fighting for; without it, we all perish.”
Revitalize the Church – ” The church needs to be revitalized with a sound theology and praxis governed by the Word of God.”

These are appropriate suggestions for many churches. In conclusion, the extensive bibliography demonstrates that this work is only an introductory survey. Also, the development of African American theology may not be as linear as Anyabwile indicates. Today, for example, many African American pastors may be preaching the biblical gospel of grace, while feeling that God is also at work among their people as they seek adjustment of inequities in society