Church Leadership

Small Groups – A Program with Purpose

December 26, 2005 by Bob

At the last PCA General Assembly I was amazed when some 150 people came to a seminar I led on small group ministry. (I had prepared for 25 thinking I might have 10.) Those who came represented a variety of situations. Some wanted to know how to start a small group ministry. Others wanted tips for enhancing already thriving ministries.

Small group ministry is not new-or even relatively new. I remember how many Christians viewed small groups with suspicion in the ’60s and ’70s. Today, if you don’t have such a ministry you’re out of step. It’s become a major component in discipleship efforts.

First century believers met regularly in homes. These were relatively small groups. The Methodists, who got their name because they had a method, met each week in groups. It was part of the method. One question they asked was, “how is it with your soul?” The Sunday school has, for the most part, been a small group ministry.

What churches presently call small groups are in place in part because our living situations have become so transient and relations so scattered that the need for connectedness is often acute. Small groups, in some measure, help plug that gap.

Last May, as the group I led was winding down for the summer, I asked them to talk about their reaction to our previous ten months of meetings. One couple said that this was the primary means by which they had gotten to know some people in the congregation. That’s not unusual.

But small group ministry is a program. Like any program it should be viewed as a means to an end. If you don’t have a clear idea what you want a program to accomplish its value ought to be seriously questioned. To put it another way: don’t have a small group ministry because you think everyone else has one.

My purpose in small group ministry is threefold. I obtained this outline from Lynn Coleman a number of years ago:

Bible study: Actually I would broaden it to say “worship”. Each group needs to base their discussions on the Scripture. Further, I want each group at Covenant Church, where I work, to have a significant time of prayer. That is Covenant Church at prayer.
The opportunity to tell your story: Everybody has a story to tell. Often those most reluctant to begin are ones who talk the longest. Over time those stories are seen in the light of the biblical message.
Task: At Covenant we do much of our mercy ministry through our groups. We’ve often encouraged Lyman Coleman’s empty chair-praying that someone will fill that chair in the group.
If you want to re-examine the purpose of your group ministry the three-legged stool is a good plan to start.

Enlarging Worlds: Hunstville Southwood PCA “Adopts” Strapped Elementary School – and It’s Families

December 26, 2005 by Editor

Editor’s Note: Amy L. Sherman serves as Editorial Director for the FASTEN initiative and has been active in the MNA’s Urban and Mercy Steering Committee. She is a member of Trinity Presbyterian in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the founder and former Executive Director of Charlottesville Abundant Life Ministries. Sherman has authored many books and has been a regular faculty member for the CE&P and MNA’s bi-annual mercy ministry conference. She writes about one PCA congregation that has grabbed an opportunity to make a difference in their community.

The members of Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama, are heavenly minded–and earthly good. The most visible example of this is the giant replica of the solar system they’ve constructed for Lincoln Elementary School, where 94 percent of attending children are poor enough to qualify for the government’s free lunch program. Bright stars and six foot planets bedazzle the eye as they stretch across the 2000-foot black-painted ceiling of the school’s old gym, now remodeled as a giant science laboratory complete with a salt-water aquarium and terrarium. “The whole idea was to study sea, space, and earth,” enthuses Southwood’s Director of Mercy Ministries Mark Stearns. “We wanted the kids dreaming.”

The science lab’s not the only new thing at Lincoln. With help from Southwood and other churches, the school now boasts a refurbished library with a state-of-the-art computer lab and scores of new books. And in a renovated greenhouse attached to the school, Lincoln students are now busy taking horticulture classes.

These kinds of facilities may be standard fare at private, suburban schools, but they are a rarity in the school districts serving Alabama’s low-income kids. As Lincoln Elementary principal Christy Jensen says, “I don’t believe there is any other elementary, middle or high school in the Huntsville City School District that has anything like this connection” with a congregation like Southwood.

The most important service Southwood PCA has offered to Lincoln, though, hasn’t been money or things. It’s people. Over half of Lincoln’s 212 students now enjoy personal, one-on-one mentor-tutors, thanks to volunteers from Southwood and other congregations, like Cove United Methodist, that Southwood leaders have recruited.

The Ministry of Overhead Projectors

Southwood’s collaboration with Lincoln Elementary won the church $5000 in a ten-state competition sponsored by FASTEN (Faith and Service Technical Education Network), a capacity building initiative of the Pew Charitable Trusts. Southwood beat out 33 other Alabama entrants for FASTEN’s “Partners in Transformation” award. The award honors faith-based organizations that operate a successful social program in collaboration with some organization outside the faith sector. The mercy ministries department of MNA promoted the contest and at the most recent Mercy Ministries conference, I had the opportunity of talking about the need for PCA churches to engage in non-traditional partnerships to transform their communities. Southwood is a great example of putting this concept into action.

The partnership began when Mark Stearns became acquainted with the low-income neighborhood surrounding Lincoln Elementary, the community a mere eight minute drive from the church. One day in 2002, he walked into principal Jensen’s office and asked her what needs she had that the church might assist with. Taken aback – and somewhat skeptical – Jensen thought for a while. Then she proposed that some new overhead projectors would be a boon to the teachers. A few days later, five projectors arrived. “I’d wondered,” Jensen admits, “whether this guy was for real. I didn’t know if I’d ever see him again.” With the credibility of five overhead projectors behind him, Stearns shared his heart for the community with Jensen, emphasizing that the church really wanted to help. Now, three years later, Jensen reports she and her teachers have been “overwhelmed” by the support. “I’ve been in the education business for a long time,” Jensen says, “and I’ve never seen anything like this. It is very unique.”

When asked whether she is concerned about church-state issues, Jensen says no, because the church volunteers know “what’s allowed and what’s not allowed between 8:00 and 2:30.” In fact, she wishes that more collaboration between the faith community and needy public schools were occurring. “In the U.S., in schools when people say they’re coming from a church, sometimes people get fearful. [But] there’s not anything to fear-it’s a help.”

Poured Out Like A Drink Offering

The collaboration has been a new experience for church members, too. “Southwood was great at equipping people and taking care of its own folks,” Shari Jones, assistant mercy ministries director, notes. “But as far as really getting out into the community and serving-golly, not much. It was more [about] having comfortable settings to bring people in, instead of really getting out.”

With a largely affluent membership, Mark Stearns knew it would be a stretch getting Southwood’s congregants hands-on engaged in the distressed Lincoln neighborhood. He knew he’d need support from the pulpit. So he took Senior Pastor Mike Honeycutt on a home visit to one of the families from Lincoln. The house “reminded me of something from a third world country,” Stearns recalls, noting that the plumbing was broken and the stench was pungent. A few minutes into the visit, it became clear to Stearns that Honeycutt was bothered by the odor. “I remember praying that he would suffer,” Stearns chuckles. “And he did. It was hard. It was difficult to see [the conditions]; difficult to be there.” After they concluded the visit and walked outside, Honeycutt turned to Stearns and declared, “This is where the Kingdom of God needs to be.”

Honeycutt began challenging Southwood to be “poured out like a drink offering” for the Lincoln Village community. Congregational response has been tremendous. “Out of 1100 members, I bet half have done something over there,” Shari Jones reports. “We have people who are falling in love with the kids, taking them with them on their vacations,” Stearns adds. “It’s definitely a really important part of what our Body does now.”

In addition to the tutoring program, several businesspersons from Southwood have launched the Lincoln Village Preservation Corporation. Their aim is to attack the problem of indecent housing in the Lincoln neighborhood. So far, the Corporation has purchased 25 properties to refurbish. Many church members are also active in the neighborhood food pantry, connecting with Lincoln residents as they meet practical needs for food.

Impact

Studies by the U.S. Department of Education indicate that effective tutoring programs tend to have the positive impact, on average, of increasing reading comprehension by half a grade level. Principal Jensen says that reading and math scores are gradually climbing at Lincoln. In the first years of the collaboration, tutors especially focused on the kids’ writing skills. Aggregate scores in this area were in the “red zone,” well below expected state standards, when Jensen first arrived four years ago. Now, students’ writing assessment test scores have quadrupled.

Kids aren’t the only ones being touched through this ministry. Church volunteers are slowly forging relationships with the students’ parents as well. Jensen is thrilled with one effect of that: PTA attendance has skyrocketed from about a half a dozen participants to over 100 at the most recent meeting. “We pack out the place usually now,” she exults. “And I think that part of that is that [the tutors] have helped the parents see the importance of parent involvement.”

Shari Jones is quick to add that the transformation occurring is mutual: “I feel like I have every bit as much to learn as I do to give,” she stresses. “I look at the culture in Lincoln and think, ‘You know, it’s probably better to sit on our porches more like the folks there do, because they’re not so busy with so many activities. So,” she sums up, “I feel like it’s an exchange, more than a ‘we have so many answers we want to share with you.'”

Enlarging Worlds

Asked to describe what the partnership with Lincoln has meant to Southwood parishioners, Jones talks about tutor Cliff Ibsen. Recently retired from Boeing, Jones says Ibsen is the type to take notice of things. He discovered dyslexia in his first “tutee” and encouraged the school to do some additional testing. Now he’s paired with De Angelo, a third grader at Lincoln. One of ten kids from a single-parent home, DeAngelo is “bright,” “responsive,” and “eager to please.” In addition to the weekly tutoring session, Ibsen has helped DeAngelo and his brother obtain needed dental work and treated them to visits to the beach, the theater, and the Botanical Gardens. It’s about enlarging the kids’ worlds, Jones explains. A long-time member of the board of directors for the Community Ballet Association, she laments that poor kids in under-resourced schools like Lincoln “are almost cut off from the arts community as a whole.” Last year, she facilitated a whole-school field trip to attend The Nutcracker. Three children from Lincoln have also earned scholarships to the ballet school.

These kinds of opportunities expand the kids’ horizons. As Jones puts it, DeAngelo is “more broad in his thinking [now]; more open to possibilities.”

She adds, “When I first went out there and asked the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up, it was professional football player or hairdresser. That was pretty much the range. DeAngelo’s one who will consider other possibilities now.”

Stewardship in a Postmodern World

October 26, 2005 by Richard

Martin Luther is credited with the statement, “You can’t preach the gospel unless you preach it in the light of the issues with which men struggle.” If this is a true statement then stewardship would certainly fall into the struggles category for many people, even born again people. The Barna Group surveys show that people give away enormous amounts of money and churches receive the largest amount. The survey taken in 2004 also shows “The average amount of money donated to churches was $895 per donor in 2004. On the face of it, that sum appears healthy: it is substantially more than the average amounts over each of the past several years. However, when inflation is factored in, the current dollar average is actually less than the amount that houses of worship received in the late 1990s.” In tracking the practice of “tithing,” which is giving at least ten percent of income, the survey showed only 9% of born again adults tithed to churches in 2004.

One issue that makes stewardship a struggle for Christians is the culture of postmodernism. Dr. Albert Mohler wrote, “The postmodernists reject both the Christian and modernist approaches to the question of truth. According to postmodern theory, truth is not universal, is not objective or absolute and cannot be determined by a commonly accepted method. Instead, postmodernists believe truth is socially constructed, plural, and inaccessible to universal reason.” There are ways in which this thinking has impacted the church’s view of stewardship.

Jill M. Hudson has written a book entitled, When Better Isn’t Enough: Evaluation Tools For The 21st Century Church, published by the Alban Institute. She describes the postmodern culture this way, “No longer are the rules and principles that formerly governed society understood to be passed down through families, religious groups, or community norms. Morals, ethics, and values are created and re-created out of personal experience. Relationships become the crucibles in which values are collaboratively constructed.”

Statistics tell the church there is a problem with stewardship. The philosophy of postmodernism which is permeating our culture shows there is a problem with the people’s worldview. Though our reformed churches may think and feel we are not influenced by such a worldview as described above, we may be unaware of just how much we are. Stewardship presents several challenges for the church and its leadership. Is stewardship something that personal experience can decide? Does the Bible set principles for giving or leave it up to the individual? What about tithing? Has postmodernism affected your views on stewardship?

Wesley K. Willmer has written a book God and Your Stuff, and he writes, “The topic of faith and possessions is explosive-like walking in a snake pit or across a minefield. It is a no-no in many churches. We like to think that what is in our pocket, wallet, or purse is our own business-no one else’s” (pp. 8-9). Do you hear the voice of postmodernism in this statement?

Stewardship is a spiritual matter and should be kept as one of main disciplines of the Christian life. Richard Halverson has often been quoted as saying, “Money is an exact index to a man’s true character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a man’s character and how he handles money.” Many people don’t like to hear such statements. Randy Alcorn makes the point, “In the Christian community today, there is more blindness, rationalization, and unclear thinking about money than anything else.” (Money, Possessions, and Eternity, p.27).

Where to begin regarding stewardship? The only place for the Christian is the Bible– which does not teach relative, non-absolute truth. Rather it teaches in Francis Schaeffer’s words “true truth.” When it comes to stewardship the first truth is:

I. God Owns It All

Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” Psalm 50:10-12, “For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.” This is the framework for stewardship. The Almighty God is Lord of all and owner of all. This truth is foundational and not open to question or debate. From the farthest planet in space to the most remote nation of the earth, all belong to the Creator. From these verses stewards learn they can offer nothing that does not already belong to God. As He says in vs. 12, “If I were hungry I would not tell you.”

The risen Lord Jesus Christ said in commissioning His disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Even such a clear statement about the universal authority of the Lord will be questioned by the postmodern culture. The vain philosophies of the world will seek to give their own interpretation. Remember they are under the arch enemy Satan who challenged God’s authority in the beginning and used it with Adam and Eve.

What follows from this foundational framework is:

II. Man Is A Steward In The Kingdom Of God

In a most poetic fashion God speaks about man’s position as a steward over all creation. Psalm 8:4-9, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea. O Lord, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

The glory of man who has been created in the image of God is given by God to exercise dominion over the works of God’s hands. He is a vice-regent here on the earth. But man must realize this does not make him the center of the universe so that all things revolve around him. The psalm closes with the words, “O Lord, our Lord how majestic is your name in all the earth.” It is not man’s name that is majestic. The Lord’s name speaks of his person; He does not share that majesty with any other.

Another area of man’s stewardship is taught by the Lord in Matthew 25:14-30 in the parable of the talents. A master was going on a journey so he called his servants and entrusted to them his property. This was a significant amount (some have said a talent could amount to twenty years in wages.) He divided his property (money) according to the ability of each servant. Then after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. This parable supports the stewardship principle that Christians are servants/stewards, not owners, and are going to be held accountable for how they have discharged their responsibilities to their Lord and Master. This story deals directly with financial matters. The master says to the slothful servant, “You ought to have invested my money with the bankers so that I could have received what was my own with interest.” Stewards are called to be industrious and productive in their stewardship. The Lord wants you to be the best you can be for His glory.

The question for Christians is What are you doing with the Lord’s money? Does your life testify to the foundational principle that the money you have is really not your own, but belongs to the Lord? Do you see yourself as a steward of the earnings you make, or do you see them as yours to do with as you please? One writer has said, “Stewardship is nothing less than a complete lifestyle, a total accountability and responsibility before God.”(Ronald Vallet, Stewardship Journal). This is reinforced in Mt. 24:45-51 where the Lord describes a faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household and cares for the needs of others by giving them food at the proper time and does not squander the master’s possessions.

III. The Culture Of The World Denies The Scriptural Teaching on Stewardship

When the world tries to deconstruct truth, (by rejecting any universal, absolute, objective truth) then people can look upon themselves as totally free agents who can determine and decide for themselves what is right or wrong. There is no standard outside themselves by which to determine morality and values. They cease to see themselves as stewards and now they see themselves as owners. There is no accountability as epitomized in the old bumper sticker, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”

What is it in the culture of the twenty-first century that denies the biblical principles of stewardship, and tempts Christians to buy into its philosophy? Democratic capitalism in its humanistic form which exalts the individual and his own self-interests has led many to turn away from serving the Lord’s work and helping others. We no longer seek the common good by loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Western Christians struggle with a wealth factor that boggles the mind. We are the wealthiest generation of people who have ever lived. The productivity of our western world is far beyond anything ever seen in history. What are some results of such progress and productivity? C.S. Lewis has pointed out one result: “Prosperity knits a man to the world. He feels he is finding his place in it, while really it is finding its place in him.” The productivity of the industrial revolution led to supply side economics. We can produce more than the demand of people’s needs. This in turn led to the advertising industry built upon the premise to sell more by influencing people to buy more, even if it was not needed. Advertising created in the minds of people more needs, and want of things they did not even know they wanted. TV commercials are a good example of this. And so materialism has invaded the hearts and lives of people so that their self-esteem is tied to how much they have in the way of possessions. In their worship they see themselves as owners and not stewards. What does a man have that he has not received of the Lord? How often should a person ask himself that question?

Along with materialism comes the sin of consumerism. Today economists have developed the consumer price index (cpi) which measures how much things cost and thus affects how much people buy. Here is the way one writer describes consumerism, “Normally, however, consumerism is lamented as a significant behavioral blemish in modern industrial society. It suggests an inordinate concern-some might even say an addiction-with the acquisition, possession and consumption of material goods and services. Even more seriously, consumerism suggests a preoccupation with the immediate gratification of desire. It implies foolishness, superficiality and triviality, and the destruction of personal and social relationships by means of selfishness, individualism, possessiveness and covetousness.”

David Myers reports in a survey that few of us would say “yes” to the question, “Does money buy happiness?” But to the question, “Would a little more money make you a little happier?” many would reply with a smile and nod. “What would improve your quality of life?” Most answered, “More money.” J.D. Rockfeller, Sr. said a long time ago in response to how much money it takes to make a man happy, “Just a little bit more.”

IV. The Church Needs Always To Be Reformed And Reforming In Its Understanding and Practice of Stewardship

This means getting back to Luther’s comments about preaching the gospel in light of issues where men struggle.

The answer to accumulation is giving to the Lord what is rightfully His. This begins with tithing. The Scriptures teach this in both the O.T. and N.T. by example and by instruction. (Gen. 14:20; Gen. 28:22; Lev. 27:30,31; Deut.14:22-27; Mal. 3:8-11; Mt. 23:23; Lk. 11:42).

The answer to materialism is preaching that stewardship means you cannot serve two masters, you will love the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon. (Mt. 6:24). In II Cor. 8 and 9 Paul teaches how sacrificial giving to those in need would manifest their love for Christ and others.

The answer to consumerism is preaching what it means to “hunger and thirst after righteousness,” Mt. 5:6; and Phil. 3:7,8, “whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ…all things I count as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ.” Jim Elliot said in 1956, “He is no fool who gives away what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Another answer to consumerism is contentment, Phil. 4:11,12, “…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.” Add to Paul’s example I Tim. 6:7ff, “Now there is great gain in godliness with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world.

Finally, the reformation of the church depends on how well it heeds the charge of Paul to Timothy in I Tim.6:9,10;17-19. It will take courage for elders and deacons to know the postmodern culture in order to instruct believers the desire to be rich can lead one:

to fall into temptation,

to wander from the faith,

to pierce themselves with many pains.

Those who are rich should be charged:

not to be prideful nor set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches.

The only real riches are those stored in heaven where moth and rust cannot destroy. John Wesley said, “I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.”

To set their hope on God.

To be rich in good works.

To be generous and ready to share.

Paul wrote these words for Timothy to preach because even Christians are prone to succumb to the temptation of desiring riches. It takes courage to preach and command such things in a materialistic and consumerist culture. May God give strength and courage to pastors and leaders to call the church to practice biblical stewardship.

Realizing God’s Covenant for Children

September 26, 2005 by Charles

In a training session with children’s ministry leaders, a somewhat inclusive question came to us regarding infant baptism, election, covenant and evangelism. Volumes have been written on each of these, but we can only make a short response here. If you read through the PCA Book of Church Order, especially those parts listed below, you will find infant baptism, election, covenant and evangelism are all connected.

The Presbyterian Church in America Book of Church Order has the following to say about the church:

“The members of this visible Church catholic (universal) are all those persons in every nation, together with their children, who make profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and promise submission to His laws” (1:1-3).
“The Visible Church before the law, under the law, and now under the Gospel, is one and the same and consists of all those who make profession of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, together with their children” (2:2-1).
“A particular church consists of a number of professing Christians, with their children…” (4:4-1).
“The children of believers are, through the covenant and by right of birth, non-communing members of the church. Hence they are entitled to Baptism, and to the pastoral oversight, instruction and government of the church, with a view to their embracing Christ and thus possessing personally all the benefits of the covenant” (6:6-1).
“The church Session is charged with maintaining the spiritual government of the church, for which purpose it has power: a. To inquire into the knowledge, principles and Christian conduct of the church members under its care; to censure those found delinquent; to see that parents do not neglect to present their children for Baptism; to receive members into the communion of the Church; to remove them for just cause; to grant letters of dismissal to other churches, which when given to parents, shall always include the names of their non-communing baptized children” (12-5-a).
“Every Session shall keep an accurate record of baptisms, of communing members, of non-communing members, and of the deaths and dismiss ions of church members” (12:12-8).
“Before baptism, the minister is to use some words of instruction, touching the institution, nature, use, and ends of this sacrament, showing: a. That the promise is made to believers and their children; and that the children of believers have an interest in the covenant, and right to the seal of it, and to the outward privileges of the church, under the Gospel, no less than the children of Abraham in the time of the Old Testament; the Covenant of Grace, for substance, being the same; and the grace of God, and the consolation of believers, more plentiful than before; (56:4-e). b. That the Son of God admitted little children into His presence, embracing and blessing them, saying, “For of such is the kingdom of God. (56:4-f) c. That children by Baptism, are solemnly received into the bosom of the visible Church, distinguished from the world, and them that are without, and united with believers…(56:56-g). d. That they are federally holy before Baptism, and therefore are to be baptized (56:56-h). e. By virtue of being children of believing parents they are, because of God’s covenant ordinance, made members of the church, but this is not sufficient to make them continue members of the Church. Whey they have reached the age of discretion, they become subject to obligations of the covenant: faith, repentance and obedience. They then make public confession of their faith in Christ, or become covenant breakers, and subject to the discipline of the Church.” (56:56-j).
“Do you acknowledge your child’s need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, and the renewing grace of the Holy Spirit?” (56: 5-1).
“Do you claim God’s covenant promises in (his) behalf, and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ for (his) salvation, as you do for your own?” (56:5-2).
“Do you now unreservedly dedicate your child to God, and promise, in humble reliance upon divine grace, that you will endeavor to set before (him) a godly example, that you will pray with and for (him), that you will teach (him) the doctrines of our holy religion, and that you will strive, by all the means of God’s appointment, to bring (him) up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord?” (56:5-3).
“Do you as a congregation undertake the responsibility of assisting the parents in the Christian nurture of this child?” (56:5-5).

In the above statements, it is clear that our theology of children is connected with our ecclesiology and certainly our understanding of the covenant. But in chapter 63, entitled “Christian Life in the Home,” in reference to Christian education, we read in 63-6, “in the supreme task of religious education, parents should cooperate with the church by setting their children an example in….” Several itemized things follow to underscore the cooperative role of the home and church in raising covenant children.

Recently, I was reading from an excellent book by Dr.Peter A. Lillback, a PCA teaching elder and newly elected president of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. The book is entitled The Binding of God, Calvin’s Role in the Development of Covenant Theology. I was tracing the development of the Reformation and particularly its understanding of the above topics. It was quite interesting to review the evolution and formulation of the doctrine of infant baptism. Lillback quoted some involved in the Anabaptists movement saying, “infant baptism is a silly and blasphemous outrage, contrary to Scripture…that only believers should be baptized, no children.” Then he reference December 16, 1524, a day in which Zwingli finally rejected the Anabaptist position in favor of infant baptism (page 89). I mention this because, as Lillback pointed out, Zwingli, at first, did not base his conclusion in favor of infant baptism on the covenant nor appeal to it as the reason for doing so. He simply maintained that since baptism replaced the Old Testament circumcision, infants were circumcised and therefore should be baptized. He also referred to the household baptisms including children. However, soon those Reformers, including Zwingli, began to include the covenant promises in their doctrine of infant baptism. They began to emphasize the continuity between the promises to Abraham in the Old Testament, the Covenant of Grace, with the New Testament continuation of that promise; therefore the accompanying signs of the covenant.

Balthasar Hubmaier was a staunch believer in believer’s baptism, or as he said, “I have not otherwise known or understood all scriptures which speak of water-baptism that that one should first preach, after that believe, and thirdly be baptized…but now Master Ulrich Zwingli has made known to me the covenant of God made with Abraham and his seed, also circumcision as a covenant sign, which I could not disapprove.” (ibid page 96). From their he went on to embrace infant baptism based on his understanding of the Covenant. Lillback goes on to talk about Zwingli’s connecting the doctrine of the covenant with the doctrine of election.

Obviously, we stand in the tradition of the reformers and as recipients of God’s gracious covenant promises. The Bible teaches that God has chosen or elected some from all the nations of the world to be saved, including their children. He has promised to save his elect by his active and passive obedience in Christ, specifically his death on the cross. Election refers to his choice of those for whom Christ died, which was made from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:4-6). He has worked out the mechanics of that election by means of a covenant.

God said to Abraham, “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39). “And, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Gen 17:7). “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

We must presume on the basis of the covenant promises that our children and all children of believing parents, or even one parent, are among the elect. They are children of the covenant. They are sinners in need of saving grace. They will need to repent and believe at some point in their lives but in infant baptism God allows and even instructs parents in the covenant to presume that they are his and treat them accordingly. The Book of Church Order follows that line of reasoning. Our covenant children are to be identified as such and received into the church and connected to a particular church through the covenant sign of baptism. They are to be presumed to be the elect unless, at some point, they demonstrate otherwise.

Our role as parents, church teachers, and other Christian adults is to assist in the process of enabling our children, through “religious education,” to know who they are – children of the covenant. Teaching them the things of the Lord and their need to demonstrate repentance of sins, faith in Christ, and obedience to his Word is our privilege and responsibility. We make that commitment publicly at the time of baptism.

This makes a significant difference in how we see our covenant children. For example, some believe children are lost and cannot be discipled until they are saved, baptized and then taught. On the other hand, we believe our children are covenant children and need to be identified as such, taught what covenant means, and as they are taught, they will learn the necessity of their own faith, repentance, and obedience. Our BOCO states “that by virtue of being children of believing parents they are, because of God’s covenant ordinance, made members of the church, but this is not sufficient to make them continue members of the Church. Whey they have reached the age of discretion, they become subject to obligations of the covenant: faith, repentance and obedience. They then make public confession of their faith in Christ, or become covenant breakers, and subject to the discipline of the Church” (56:56-j).

Only God knows with certainty whom he has chosen. Therefore as with adults, so with children, we presume upon his electing grace and that we are members of his covenant family and this family relationship brings with it certain privileges and responsibilities, which we vow to learn ourselves and teach to our children. This is evangelism, part of the discipleship process and not some prelude to it as though it were a separate part. The ideal is that there will never be a time when our covenant children do not know Christ as their Savior and Lord. It leads me to say that discipleship is teaching covenant children and adults the meaning and significance of their baptism in Christ.

As a young Christian and seminary student I was greatly helped to see how these things fit together reading Charles Hodge’s Systematic Theology and R. B. Kiuper’s God Centered Evangelism. I recommend both to you if you are interested in pursuing these topics. (Both are available from the CEP Bookstore.)

Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church

July 9, 2005 by Charles

This is a sequel to the last issue’s “In Case You’re Asked” which responded to a question regarding the church’s role and relation to culture. It was built around the review of Reclaiming the Center, Confronting Evangelical Accommodation in Postmodern Times. D. A. Carson wrote one of the chapters in that book which was the forerunner of the book reviewed here.

Our desire is to challenge and encourage Christians in leadership to know some of the issues in the church world. For example, one pastor of a sizeable church recently asked me, “What is this emerging church topic that I am beginning to hear about?” The reason for using this section of Equip for Ministry to review both books is because we have to carefully watch for the pendulum swing scenario. There are some good and valid things those within the emerging church movement are saying, and we need to hear and respond. However, as far as a paradigm, like postmodernism, there is so much missing that will make it a hollow movement and the younger generation, to whom it is trying to appeal, will question its value.

The analysis in Carson’s book on how ministry to postmodern generations is being reshaped is very important. Many involved in this movement are raising some legitimate issues that church leaders should address. After all, there is nothing particularly sacred about how ministry was been done in the past, except where God’s regulative principles apply. Although we cannot completely ignore the cultural influence and even legitimacy up to a point, we must have a solidly biblical theological base for how we do ministry today.

As readers of Equip for Ministry are aware, I have regularly challenged you to read that would fall into the “emerging” category, but to read carefully with much discernment. The concern is that, while the authors raise some good questions, they may have crossed the boundary and allowed things to be determined more by people than by the Word of God. That shows up in many areas, worship style being one, how the Gospel is presented could be another, and which parts of Scripture are used and which are not used still another.

We must be very intentional in creating a feeling of belonging among God’s covenant people. However, we must not mistakenly believe that we can “belong” before we can ‘become”. It is out of being a Christian, a covenant person, that real belonging has meaning. One clear example of this in our biblically Reformed circles is how we observe the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. You have to “become” or be a professing Christian before you can “belong” at the Lord’s Table; hence our PCA Book of Church Order, like other Reformed documents, sets forth a “fencing” of the Lord’s Table. That Supper is for believers only.

While I have appreciation for those concerned with reaching today’s generations, I also hope that we reach them in a manner which will result in making kingdom disciples. We continually face the exciting but dangerous swing of the pendulum, but our tendency is to move beyond the balance and throw out the baby with the bath water. We would do well to remember, “The medium is (or can become) the message.”

Carson has done a tremendous service to the church in this book. I appreciated his insights and sensitive spirit. He has unique ability to show appreciation for those identified with the emerging church wave while at the same time looking beyond the present and seeking the long-term results of this approach? Being people of the kingdom, we cannot only live with a focus on the present moment because we know there is a final consummation. What happens today can have significant impact on what happens later. There are more and better things to come, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us.

Carson begins by showing how the emerging church actually began as a protest against three aspects of the church. Of course we are not unfamiliar with protest. We are “protestant” Christians. (I would much prefer to be called affirming Christians than protesting Christians, but we cannot rewrite history.) The three protests identified by Carson are: protest against traditional evangelicalism, protest against modernism and protest against the seeker sensitive church approach. One of the ways that this begins to work itself out in the church is that rather than centering on the Word, attention is given to visuals, symbols, incense, candles, etc. While it is true that the sermon is not the only thing involved in worship, everything must have a basis in the Word, if it is to be acceptable worship.

Carson points out how many traditional words like “gospel” and “Armageddon” must be deconstructed and redefined, which is a clear emphasis of postmodern philosophy. The tendency is making one’s preaching and teaching, as well as the entire worship, anthropocentric vs. theocentric. Leonard Sweet’s name frequently surfaces in connection with this movement. He says while warning against embracing postmodern worldview, the church must focus on four things: experiential, participatory, image-driven and connected (EPIC). Carson develops this critique early on the book.

In attempting to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the emerging emphasis, he maintains that while not everything about it is wrong, he does say, “the emerging church must be evaluated as to its reading of contemporary culture.” Most of it, says Carson, is tightly tied to an understanding growing out of postmodernism. This is an important point because postmodernists tend to have a wrong view of God. If that is off base then we will have a faulty view of culture, as well as who we are. (See Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book One, Chapter One, paragraph one).

A second point that Carson makes is that appeals to Scripture within the emerging church is usually of two kinds: One kind claims that changing times require that we not ask and answer the same questions dealt with during the modernistic period. Often, though not always, the movement tends to mock everything related to modernism with “stinging terms,” as being totally out of date. Yet Carson is quick to point out a second claim that is not guilty of this mockery of modernity.

Carson suggests that as the movement forges ahead, it must be evaluated for its biblical fidelity. It is easy to become so immersed into the culture that the church risks a “hopeless compromise” of its message. That is similar to Os Guinness’s comments that a church can become so focused on being relevant that it becomes irrelevant. This happens when it tries so hard to dwell on the present and move forward from there, while forgetting to start with the basic foundation.

Carson does not challenge the sincerity of the people involved in the emerging church. He goes to great lengths to highlight what he sees as their strengths. But he does not hesitate to demonstrate how their attempt to analysis and understand the present contemporary culture concludes. There is an obvious weakness of being so critical of modernism and what has gone before that understanding of the present is flawed. This leads to challenging absolutes by the replacing them with perspectives. Like postmodernism in general, the movement has the tendency to de-emphasis objective truth and exalt subjectivity, one’s perspectives about issues.

Carson also takes the time to evaluate what he calls two significant books identified with the movement. One is The Lost Message of Jesus, by Steve Chalke and another is Brian McLaren’s Generous Orthodoxy. Reading McLaren’s subtitle will give you an idea of the need to be exceedingly careful and biblical in ministry-“Why I am a missional, evangelical, post/Protestant, liberal/conservative, mystical/poetic, biblical, charismatic/contemplative, fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, green, incarnational, depressed-yet-hopeful, emergent, unfinished Christian.”

One other criticism that Carson makes which should be given particular attention, along with whether or not they really understand today’s culture, is how the emergents tend to use, abuse and misuse church history. One example among many is the protest against traditional evangelism and its failure to emphasize experience. Carson asks about their knowledge of church history with the revival movements and the great awakenings. Though modernism did tend to produce a rationalistic, logical, scientific paradigm, experience was always part of the Christian life. His treatment of 2 Peter 1 is extremely helpful at this point.

I share Carson’s overall conclusion: While not everything connected with modernism is to be discarded, while postmodernism has some valid criticisms of that movement, while there are things we should learn from postmodernists, and while we should read at least some of the emerging church spokesman (such as McLaren, Dan Kimball, Brad Kallenberg, and Nancy Murphy), we should be careful not to buy into a postmodern paradigm for the church. The danger is that it will take us away from God and his truth set forth in Scripture. While stories are valuable and helpful means of communicating with the postmodern generations, those stories must be tied to the grand story of Christ’s redemption and restoration. Even our own personal stories, which loom high in the emerging church style, have no real significance unless they are seen as part of God’s overall redemptive drama.

While we must walk a tight rope, even a razor’s edge, in understanding the Word and the world, and while the church must know how to preach and teach the Gospel of the Kingdom to today’s world, we must not, intentionally or unintentionally, rewrite the message. One way to accomplish that, along with serious study of the Word and reliance upon the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives to understand the Word, is to have honest and fair dialogue with one another. Carson’s book will give us a basis for such a dialogue.

Pastors should read this book. Church leaders should study this book and know what is happening today. Individual Christians also need to understand what is happening in the world and in the church world and have some encourage to be discerning and careful with God’s Word.

The Use of Knowledge

July 1, 2005 by Bob

There’s been a tacit assumption in our wing of the church that correctly understood, affirmed information will produce a corresponding change in a person’s life.

It’s possible to cling to that belief because there is such rampant biblical ignorance at every level in the church-from children to adults, from new believers to those with years in the faith, from occasional attendees to seminary students to church officers.

It is also true that in spite of the trouble we have communicating the Bible’s message, the easiest component to accomplish and the easiest to check is information.

In a variety of contexts we try to teach the Bible. But the problem doesn’t seem to get much better. It might help if we were to do more to determine just what people are learning. But that’s a partial answer at best.

We must challenge the assumptions. There’s a small minority of people who know a lot of what might be called Bible trivia, i.e., the name of Moses’ wife or even an outline of John’s gospel. But they haven’t gotten the Bible’s message. There’s another small group who are attracted to Christianity’s philosophical system. It hasn’t, however, had much impact on the way they live. It’s possible to know a lot about the Bible and still not know God

There’s a much larger group of Christians living with varying degrees of hypocrisy. We either ignore certain aspects of the biblical message, rationalize our disobedience or suffer from deep-seated feelings of guilt. We’ve heard the message but for one reason or another it hasn’t changed us.

Part of this might be the attitudes of the Christian culture. The people we associate with will significantly shape our thinking. On the one hand, those attitudes might reinforce biblical teaching or they could distort it.

Divorce has become commonplace. Getting a divorce is easier in spite of our efforts to strengthen marriages. To minister to those who have divorced means holding in tension the reality before us as well as God’s pronouncement. He hates divorce.

The myriad of individual decisions that lead to dissolving a marriage is at the heart of the breakdown of family life. Moving beyond divorce can sometimes take a lifetime for a couple and their children. While divorce is sometimes permissible according to biblical teaching and on occasion necessary, those ought to be the exceptions.

Christians might agonize over a divorce, wrestling with things like concern for the children as well as feelings of inadequacy and failure. They might raise questions about God’s love and grace. Such a rupture could stir guilt while at the same time virtually compelling self-justification.

Too often the fundamental teachings of Scripture are either ignored or conveniently forgotten as the drama plays out and its ramifications ripple through the months and years. It would seem that far too many people abandon the church (or the church abandons them) in their crisis.

A head full of biblical data and doctrinal formulations mean little if they are not used by God to influence our behavior when confronted with obvious life-altering decisions. However, if the information isn’t there, it can’t be used.

Keep that in mind when children learn the Catechism in Pioneer Clubs (as happens at our church). Keep it in mind when biblical accounts are studied in Sunday school. When Bible passages are memorized, remind yourself that this is the sword of the Spirit. But just as the Spirit uses people to explain the Word, he uses people to apply it.