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Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Church Leadership

Men’s Ministry: An Indispensable Focus for the Church

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By Dr. Pete Alwinson


“Men: You can’t live with them and you can’t shoot them.” This bumper sticker glared back at me, as I pulled up to a stop light in Orlando one day. “Now that’s one ticked off lady” was my first thought. My second thought was: “I wonder what her story is. What did she experience from men? Neglect? Abuse? Anger? Who hurt her? Dad, brother, neighbor boy, boyfriend, husband, grandfather?” Could have been one or two, or all.

For many women, this bumper sticker expresses their true emotions and constitutes absolute, unalterable, infinite, infallible truth: men are to blame for the problems in their lives. Changing a line from my friend Pat Morley, many women only know enough about men to be disappointed in them. The fact is many women are full of rage toward the men in their lives, and therefore, men in general.

Justifiably so. Flip through a newspaper any day of the year and you’ll find that most of the perpetrators of family and societal crimes and misdemeanors are men. Men statistically commit more crimes of all types than women. Men are the causes of so many problems in American culture that if we help men we help our country. Transform men and you’ll transform the world. I believe that a church will never grow beyond the spirituality of its men. Look around at churches that are effectively carrying out the Great Commission and you’ll see many men deeply involved in that church, men who are growing spiritually and providing leadership.

Advantages of Ministry to Men


It’s time for us as a denomination to move more consciously and deliberately into discipling men. Here are some advantages for pastors and churches, which emphasize developing their men:

We glorify God by developing men: The early Church Father Irenaeus said, “The glory of God is a man fully alive.” That is true of men and women of course, but in our world seems especially potent with men. When a man understands his actions and their motivations, but by God’s grace doesn’t remain stuck in his unproductive ways, that gets his attention. Many men would love to move out of their immaturity and immorality, but they don’t know how. Since their own fathers did not consciously develop them, they don’t know how to live and relate as a mature man, much less know what defines a man. Often they get their idea of manhood from a dysfunctional earthly father, movies, TV characters or friends. A Christian man, however, can care for and befriend another man and point him to a gracious and good Father. When men “get it” in their soul that Christ connects them to the Father and the Father wants to build His sons, these undeveloped men grow like wildfire, bringing glory to God in their homes, communities, churches and world. After speaking at a men’s gathering recently, I talked with who shared his story: a work addiction, an affair, financial success, a near divorce, brokenness, repentance, and now investment in lives. This man illustrates the glory of God! I want my sons to meet him to let the glory seep into them.

We fulfill our mission: Which of course is the Great Commission. When a local church knows how to reach out to and develop men, it will gain huge momentum in reaching men inside and outside our churches. Eventually, their wives and children and extended family follow. Churches that understand the strains and stresses of men in their community can come up with their own ways to reach men. We can pursue the Great Commission without a programmatic approach to men’s ministry. In fact, to reach men, you must have a relational approach. Churches can each develop their own special niche in reaching men and helping churches grow.

Discipling men flows out of and helps us fulfill our Biblical polity. I love being a Presbyterian pastor in a denomination that takes seriously the development of elders. As a church planter, the first thing I did in our church was start a men’s discipleship group and begin to pour energy into men. I have developed all of our elders and deacons over the years, and in the process, become friends and co-laborers with those men with whom I would serve. Instead of experiencing adversarial relationships with elders as many pastors experience, my experience here has been enjoyable (though not perfect, of course). Developing men is what we, as the PCA, ought to be experts in doing. Developing men is central to our heritage and our biblical and theological convictions. We must develop men to follow Jesus’ model and revelation of true manhood, in head and heart.

Developing men encourages, supports and retains pastors. A friend who serves in a national ministry to churches tells me that 2,000 pastors a month leave the ministry, and many never return. Pastors regularly experience relational overload and production demand fatigue (every seven days, a new sermon needs to be at least as good as the week before). Leadership demands more than our training provided. Sin is our business, but so many people today come from broken homes and are dysfunctional. They bring their issues into congregational life and pastors have to deal with those VDP (Very Draining People, as Gordon MacDonald titled them). Pastors are in more pain than they let on and than their congregation knows. We’re public people who are critiqued, criticized and demanded of as much or more as we are loved, encouraged and supported. I’ll tell you what has helped me stay in the church I started for seventeen years: the men I discipled and trained who became my friends, officers, and mighty men who stood by me through the normal (but often challenging) times of being a pastor. Pastors who make developing men central to their ministry will find that they will be able to weather the storms of ministry better.

An assured productive use of time. When churches develop men, they will reap good results, and a pastor is assured that his investment will pay off for the church and kingdom goals.

Strategy


How do we build men’s ministry in our local churches? Pastors ought to focus on developing men by delegating some of the normal pastor work to other staff and gifted members. Intentional effort from the top is crucial. In terms of church wide men’s ministry, I know of no better strategic model than that advocated by Man in the Mirror, founded by long time PCA member Patrick Morley (see the next article). Many of the top management of MIM are PCA members and graduates of Reformed seminaries. Developing a strategic alliance with MIM would be a great idea.

I think the greatest days of the PCA are ahead. More than ever our culture needs men who have been consciously developed and developed well. A man will never reach true manhood without a personal relationship with the living God, through Jesus Christ, who models perfect manhood and deity. So, let’s do it! Let’s develop men, reach families, build churches, win the lost, and change the world. Let’s take men’s ministry to heart.

Dr. Pete Alwinson is Senior Pastor at Willow Creek Church, PCA in the Central Florida Presbytery.

Something Different

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Your evaluation of previous years’ efforts may prompt you to make some adjustments in your summer activities.

Sunday Evening

For the past two years the church I serve (Covenant in Fayetteville, GA) has offered prepared meals during June and July. This combined with a special program each week attracted about half of our Sunday morning congregation. Some features included: young musician’s night, which has brought grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc.; missionaries known to the church; an old fashioned hymn sing, as well as musical groups and speakers outside our church family.

The result:

1) It fostered relationships within the church (we have two morning services).

2) It generated ongoing enthusiasm for other activities during what has usually been a down time.

3) Visitors from our morning services were invited as our special guests and many came. It helped some determine that they wanted to make the church their home.

Sunday Morning

Sunday School

Adults

We’ve offered one-month and/or six-week studies over the summer. We are doing two-month blocks the rest of the year. The jury is still out on whether that is a factor in increasing attendance.

Children

All our young children (4 years and older), middle- and high-school kids work on a construction project over the summer, along with any adults who wish to participate. The first year we did the tabernacle, last summer it was Noah’s Ark, and in ’05 we will make a replica of New Jerusalem.

The result:

1) It has brought some children to Sunday school who don’t ordinarily come.

2) It produced a significant bump in attendance.

3) It gave most teachers a two and a half month break.

4) It avoided having just one or two children in a class.

5) It gave us an intergenerational learning activity.

Since our schools begin in mid-August, we start fall activities then. (If you use CE&P curriculum, it’s no problem getting materials for a mid-August start.)

VBS

If you’re struggling, reflect again on your purpose and how you want to achieve it.

Last summer our church’s intern did a Backyard Bible Club in a neighboring county where we are planting a church. There were 204 children who came for one or more of the three days. They heard the gospel. Also several contacts were made for the new congregation.

Your setting might benefit from a one day or evening activity once a week over four to six weeks. Or you might be able to do a day camp running from morning into the afternoon. Years ago I led one in a mission congregation that had no property. We used a public park.

Another option would be a different kind of program, either a substitute for VBS or in addition. For two years we’ve had a Music Arts and Drama Camp. MAD Camp has attracted some who expressed no interest in VBS. The same was true for the Swim Camp we offered last summer. (There’s a pool on our property.)

Don’t do something different just to be different. But don’t be afraid to try something if you believe it will better utilize your resources to achieve your purpose. That means failure is always lurking. And you will fail. We tried a soccer camp two years ago. We had a professional player to lead and we live in a community where the sport is incredibly popular, but it didn’t work.

I’ve often said that much of what I have done hasn’t worked all that well. But the things that have worked make the effort worthwhile.

May God pour out his blessings as you attempt to serve him in the most effective way possible.

The Importance of Worldview

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charles.jpgIn the Nov/Dec 2004 Equip for Ministry, we reviewed a strategic book on biotechnology, Human Dignity in the BioTech Century, edited by Charles W. Colson and Nigel M. de S. Cameron. We believe biotechnology is one of the most crucial, exciting, challenging, yet dangerous areas for us to consider. Without a doubt it is true that the 21st century will prove to be the biotech century. Therefore, Christians need to be prepared to think clearly from a biblical reformed worldview and know how to teach their children to do the same. We are responsible to serve God in all of life, including biotechnology, but with our sinful nature we cannot always be trusted to do so because of our tendency to play God.

When it comes to biotechnology, we must not fall into the trap of dualism. Dualism is one of the most dangerously deceptive ideas today for Christians and non-Christians as well. So much of our Western thinking is based on it. Dualism has even taken deep roots within the evangelical community. Dualism seeks to divide life in to separate units or areas that do not need to connect. The result, as far as biotechnology is concerned, is the conscious effort to separate technology from ethics. This is dangerous because of its implications on the Lordship of Christ.

In reality you cannot separate ethics and technology. There are no dualistic sacred and secular realms in life. All of life is one. God has structured his reality to underscore the “unity of reality.” The danger of dualism is the temptation to believe that it is permissible for man to do whatever he is capable of doing. In other words, the ability to do something means that it is allowable to do. But, is that a proper line of reasoning, especially with the fine line between serving God and playing God?

In the case of artificial or alternative reproduction, scientists have been able to manipulate and control the birth process. Creating embryos in vitro (in the petri dish) is being done over and over. It is now a technological reality that life can be created artificially. Man can do that with a fairly good track record. But, should it be done? After all many childless couples now have children by the in vitro fertilization process. That process, however, raises ethical dilemmas. Scientists and medical personnel may need to create from three to five embryos for one to work, but what happens with the leftovers? What are we now to do with the between 300,000 to one million frozen embryos in storage? The shelf lives of many of those embryos are reaching their expiration dates.

I participated in a think tank a few years ago with a group made up of ethicists, lawyers, psychologists, and doctors dealing with this very dilemma. That was a challenging, as well as enlightening, experience. I will use the term artificial or alternative reproduction as an example to respond to several questions recently asked us, regarding the PCA’s position on stem cell research.

In case you’re asked, I respond in a twofold manner. First, the PCA has not, as of yet, adopted a position on stem cell research. However, the PCA has adopted positions on the sanctity of human life, which become a guide for us in this area. For example: In its position statement on abortion, the PCA has said clearly that human life begins at conception and as such, “is under the protection of the Sixth Commandment… and that because Scripture clearly affirms the sanctity of life and condemns its arbitrary destruction, we affirm that the intentional killing of an unborn child between concept and birth, for any reason, is clearly a violation of the Sixth Commandment, (1980 General Assembly Minutes, Overture 12).

When it comes to stem cell research, we have to operate ethically and morally. Therefore we ask if stem cell research is ethically and morally permissible. Our immediate response is that as long as it does not violate the Sixth Commandment, maybe so. However, we are told that the easiest way “to produce stem cells is to divide an early stage embryo into its component cells, thereby destroyed the embryonic human being.” (The Reproductive Revolution, John F. Kilner, Paige C. Cunningham, and W. David Hagar). While it may or may not be true that stem cells have the capacity to develop body parts, tissues, and organs, this does not justify the violation of the Sixth Commandment regarding “embryonic humans” in order to get those things. We believe that such stem cell research with human embryos crosses the line ethically and biblically, and Christians must know how to speak out in this area. We cannot fall into the dualistic trap at this critical point.

Stem cell research with adults, on the other hand, is not a life-threatening proposition and can possibly do much good in things like “genetic repair.” So it may be permissible in some cases. Where there is no violation of the Sixth Commandment, such research is permissible, as long as scientist realizes that life is sacred and they are self-consciously operating on that biblical commandment.

In conclusion to the question, “what is the PCA’s position on stem cell research?” we will simply say, as long as we adhere to the sanctity of life and do not transgress the Sixth Commandment, and as long as we do not attempt to separate bioethics from biotechnology, we believe man has and can continue to serve God’s purpose in a positive and life honoring way. However, we must start from a solidly biblical and ethical foundation as the research continues. As long we are engaged in making kingdom disciples, we will do what we can to encourage parents, adults, and churches in their discipleship and education training to teach God’s covenant people how to deal with these extremely important issues.

What Would Jesus Do?

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bob.jpgWWJD – What would Jesus do? It’s a question that was recycled from a book written over 100 years ago. It became a fad that quickly faded. But what would it mean to take the question seriously?

The evangelical church in the United States has trouble identifying just what kingdom living entails. It’s another way to ask WWJD. Many would suggest we ought to try to win as many people as possible to the exclusion of any other task. An extreme version of this would see secular employment as only a means to the end of evangelism.

Without detracting from the great command to make disciples, there is another command – to subdue the earth. That is to cultivate it. That command has never been abrogated.

For the most part, however, it would appear that we Christians are not unduly exercised about being kingdom disciples. That’s undoubtedly one reason pollsters contend there is little difference between those who claim allegiance to Christ and everybody else. Christians in the United States seem far more attuned to middle class American culture as expressed in their communities than the desires of Jesus.

That’s a stinging indictment. Yet Christians have a propensity to hear such things, perhaps even feel guilty, but have little motivation to do anything differently. In fairness, anything different would be counter-cultural and could have a ripple effect with profound consequences.

For instance, a relatively small minority of Christians advocates a simpler lifestyle. In theory many Christians agree with some aspects of that desire. But consider some of the difficulties:

1. Consumer spending is the engine that keeps the American economy going. If large numbers of people cut way back on spending we would experience a significant economic downturn. Those who produce “stuff” need us. This is despite indications that the more we have the less happy we become.

2. There are expectations that come from our children. When our daughters were little we had a lunch box issue at the beginning of every school year. They had to take their lunch in a lunch box. A paper bag wouldn’t do. But it couldn’t be just any lunch box. There were just a few deemed acceptable by the other kids. And it seemed that most years we bought the wrong one.

3. There are expectations that come from our community. For the most part these are not expressed in words but attitudes. Cell phones have moved from the province of a select few to the mass market. If you don’t have a cell phone (I’m still holding out), it’s obvious you’re out of step.

4. We’ve got our own desires too. I’ve got a car with over 200,000 miles on it. It’s beat up but it runs fine. Yet I find myself watching the new car ads regularly. With all the price competition it’s stirring a desire in me for some new wheels.

Which lunch box a child carries or which car a person drives are not intrinsically moral issues. Yet these decisions shape us.

A few will sacrifice for the sake of Christ. Consider the lady who is giving everything away so that the work of the kingdom can prosper. And the medical doctor who left a thriving practice to work with children who live on the street. The physician who retired early to treat the homeless. The couple that moved into the inner city. They experience poverty as they minister to the impoverished. But these are dramatic illustrations.

Consideration of the kingdom ought to guide us in every endeavor. That consideration is always in danger of being trumped by the quest for success and status. It’s bad enough that such desires detract from the kingdom. On top of that we live in a society where those who have achieved success are held up as models. This is as true in the Christian community as it is elsewhere. A life of sacrifice may be admired but it is seldom imitated. Couple that with our propensity toward evil and kingdom values can easily be suppressed or distorted.

So how do ordinary people like us attempt to influence society with Christian values? Scripture urges us to look after the fatherless and widows (James 1:27). Single moms have been with us for a long time. Micah asked, “What does the Lord require of you?” His answer, “To act justly (treat people fairly) and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). At times fairness is not enough. To show mercy is to risk being used. This is more than a prescription for an exemplary life. It is what it means to walk with God — what it means to influence society with Christian values.

Suffice it to say that it is in the church that we ought to learn what it means to be messengers of grace wherever we are. It is in this context that we are to make disciples. We have the great privilege of self consciously bringing the influence of God’s kingdom to a society dimly aware of his nature and purposes.

Just so we get it right. More things are caught than taught.

Why Bother Catechizing Our Children

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EquipJan-Feb2005.jpgBy Brad Winstead. In every issue of Equip for Ministry we see a list of children who have successfully recited the Shorter or Children’s Catechisms. We might smile and think, “that’s nice and quaint, but our children really don’t have time for such an anachronistic method of learning about Christianity. After all, as long as they believe Jesus Christ is Savior and Lord, this should be all the doctrine our children need.” Maybe that is why, for a denomination the size of the PCA, we see such a short list of covenant children who have demonstrated this knowledge. If we added up the children in each Equip issue (usually only a few from the same churches) at the end of the year we would have less than one fifth of one percent of our covenant children recognized which is pretty weak. Why is it that when we hear about catechizing our children we recoil? For many of us who never grew up learning the Children’s or Shorter Catechism the whole idea seems archaic and distinctly Roman Catholic. For others it brings up a nightmare of stumbling over recently crammed questions and dryly reciting answers to a stern-faced elder. Or maybe it is the work involved, all of those questions-when would anyone have the time? Sadly, perhaps we have forgotten why such a method of learning is so practical and needed today. Let me tell you a true story about a Presbyterian pastor who asked a priest why so many lapsed Catholics come back to the church when they are older. The Catholic priest’s answer was immediate. “We catechize our little children and it is part of them. Therefore, when they are seeking again the answers to life, their memorized catechism questions come back to them, and they return again to the source of that learning.” I like to use a metaphor that we are wiring the house of the child’s mind and are waiting for the Holy Spirit to flick the switch translating the head knowledge to heart knowledge.

For those familiar with the classical approach to education, the idea of beginning with the basics as a foundation is not novel. The catechism is the “grammar” of the faith. Catechism is the foundation upon our understanding of Christianity. In George Barna’s recent book, Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions, he mentions four cornerstones on which our children’s Christian belief system must be anchored: 1. Cornerstone #1 – The child’s view of the Bible as a credible source of information and wisdom on how to think and live. 2. Cornerstone #2 – The child’s actual knowledge of the Bible. Most people say that the Bible is inspired by God, but know little of its contents. 3. Cornerstone #3 – A framework that is logical and comprehensive that makes sense to the child, and that provides practical counsel. 4. Cornerstone #4 – A burning desire to obey God. Our children should demonstrate a commitment to godly principles and standards.

It is in the third cornerstone that we as reformed Presbyterians have a tool that others do not-the Children’s (or Shorter) Catechism. We can be thankful as biblically committed Presbyterians that such a systematic way to learn the basics of the Christian faith exists and has been used for generations. The Westminster divines (theologians) drew up the Shorter Catechism version of the Confession of Faith in the 1640s. Later, Joseph Engels (a Presbyterian Sunday School teacher in the mid-1800s) simplified the Shorter Catechism for children. Yet many of us still ask, “Why bother? There’s lots of good stuff out there for our children to learn.”

Let’s look at the word “catechism.” It comes from two Greek prefixes: “cat” or down (catacombs comes from this group of letters), and “echeo” or to sound from (echo comes from this prefix). So catechism is to “sound down” expecting an echo. The teacher asks a question and the student answers it. Some would say, “Why, this is just the Socratic method of asking questions in learning.” Yes, but it is a whole lot more, because the answers have to do with eternal life or destruction. Throughout Scripture we see warnings that “when our children ask us what do these things mean” we must be ready to answer (Exodus 12:26, Deut 6:20, Joshua 4:21, Proverbs 1-4, Psalm 78:3-4). Here’s a brief summary of what the children’s catechism teaches on: Creation (Who made you? Why did God make you and all things?), the attributes of God (His knowledge, power and transcendence), the Bible, eternal life, covenants and promises of Scripture, evil and the devil, justification, adoption and sanctification, Christ as our Prophet, Priest and King, the moral law (the Ten Commandments), the Lord’s Prayer, the Lord’s Supper and baptism and the second coming of Jesus Christ. The Shorter Catechism summarizes the questions and answers by saying, “What man is to believe concerning God and what duty God requires of man” (questions #4 and #39 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism). The children’s catechism works systematically, building on one theme after another. It stays with the basics. It is God-centered. And, it does it all in a question-and-answer format. It’s like a road map. If I wanted to travel between Atlanta and Knoxville by car I could take a roundabout journey visiting an expanding square of towns until I eventually reached Knoxville several weeks later. I could also drive with a good map for four hours, directly and expeditiously.

So it is with the catechism. We could read from Genesis to Revelation to find out about God, and we would eventually obtain a long list of who He is. Of course that may take several weeks or even months. Or we could get the succinct, biblical answer in the Shorter Catechism, question #4, “God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal and unchangeable in His wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth.” Maybe a more important question is, “Why should we catechize our children?” In Deut 6:6-10, after God has told how important His commandments are, He states that we are to have them upon our hearts and to “press” them on our children, to talk about them when we sit at home, when we walk along the road, when we lie down and get up, tying them as symbols on our hands and foreheads, and writing them on our doorframes of our homes. The catechism gives us the structure to do this. Yet, we still might say, “Why?” In the next few verses of Deuteronomy 6, God tells us that we are a forgetful people, that we need to fear the Lord and not to follow after other gods. Isn’t it interesting that if we don’t know the true God (and His attributes and commands) our nature is to build our own gods? Plus, we see the questioning nature of children, again in verse 20, “and in the future when your son asks you, ‘What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees, and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?'” Our children are always asking yet too often we don’t have the answers. Maybe by this point you agree that the Children’s or Shorter Catechism are important, but aren’t sure how we can “eat this elephant.” The answer is always the same–one bite (or question) at a time. There are lots of helpful resources available. For example Kids’ Quest, published by Great Commission Publications, can be fully instituted in a kids’ club type atmosphere in your church.

Along with the catechism there are exciting songs and colorful personal illustrations. Children’s Ministry International (CMI) will take you into each question, if you desire, using visuals through the flannel board visual depictions of each question with accompanying Bible verse, Bible lesson, songs and crafts. Or if you want the Westminster Shorter Catechism version, G.I. Williamson has written an excellent summary. There are several other resources that can be used in family worship. Starr Meade’s Shorter Catechism book takes you through a week for each question. CMI’s Daily Family Devotions Guide in three booklets is a comprehensive catechism guide along with hymns, prayers, and Bible stories. You can use it to go through the Shorter Catechism at your own pace with your family. CMI also has a nine-booklet Shorter Catechism instruction aimed at “Tens through Teens” for the classroom. All of these resources are available through the PCA Christian Education and Publication bookstore. These materials have been used in PCA churches for years. Well, what other excuses do you have for not catechizing your children? We have our covenant children for such a short time. Why not lay a permanent foundation of truth that will never leave them? Recently, a lady from a PCA church on the Georgia coast was very interested in starting a catechism program for her church. We set up a seminar and during that event, I found out firsthand why she thought it was so vital. I’ll close with her testimony of God’s grace in her life using the means of the catechism.

“When I was a young girl we went to a Presbyterian church where there was an active catechism program. I managed to memorize the shorter catechism by age eight through the hard work of many teachers there. When I was eight, my mother and father divorced, and I lived with my mother. We began attending one type of church after another as my mother took a journey searching for an elusive truth of who God was. We went through a smorgasbord of beliefs from Mormonism to Jehovah’s Witnesses, to liberal churches to Pentecostal denominations. What sustained me time and again were the answers that I learned as a child in the catechism. I knew there was a God that did not have a body but was a spirit, who existed in three persons same in substance equal in power and glory, that God had spoken the complete truth in His word, the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, and on and on, soundly refuting the error that was trying to be placed upon her at each turn. When I was a teenager, my mother relented and allowed me to go back into a Bible believing Presbyterian Church where I took up where I left off.” What a great testimony. Let’s do a similar work with our covenant children.

The Importance of Worldview: Applying the Christian Faith to All Areas of Life

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Often, in teaching and speaking on a biblical world and life view, I am asked, “Why is it so important to develop a Christian mind that knows how to think God’s thoughts after Him?” In one way or another, even recently in a seminar, I was asked that question again. I remember one person saying, “You sound like I have to be an intellectual to be a Christian.” If what is meant by being an intellectual is that you have to know philosophy and logic and all kinds of facts, then that is not necessarily what I mean. If, however, I mean knowing God’s word and our world, knowing how to live as a Kingdom disciple who loves God with his mind, heart, body, and soul, and knowing how to apply his or her heart unto wisdom, then I guess I do mean intellectual.

The Apostle Paul connects with this when he writes that we are to be transformed in our minds (Rom. 12:1, 2). Why? In order to know God’s good, perfect, and acceptable will. A kingdom disciple is to be characterized as someone who knows how to apply the Christian faith to all areas of life. If the Christian life is about God and not simply about us, then we must realize the centrality of knowing and doing God’s will. He is the King and we are his servants. Jesus said that a kingdom disciple must deny himself, take up the cross, and follow him. Life is about the Sovereign God.

The Westminster Divines had an understanding of the importance of this when they penned the first shorter catechism. “Q. What is man’s chief end? A. Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” They connected glorifying God with enjoying him. So must we!

We cannot enjoy God by leaving him out of any area of life, if it were really possible to do so. Joy comes as we know and do his will. Nancy Pearcey has written an outstanding book, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity, which in my opinion, should be the evangelical book of the year.

As I read this book and studied some of its sections with our CE&P staff, I reacted in a similar fashion as when I first read books like The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin, or The Stone Lectures by Abraham Kuyper, or The God Who is There by Francis Schaeffer, or The Defense of the Faith by Cornelius Van Til, or John Frame’s books on the Knowledge and Doctrine of God. Need I say more to communicate my feelings about this book?

Pearcey is an outstanding writer with the ability not only to express deep thoughts in a very readable way, but one who also understands a biblically reformed world and life view. My book, Making Kingdom Disciples, a New Framework, will be published in January 2005, and I found Total Truth to be a good companion book.

Pearcey is a familiar voice in the Presbyterian Church in America. She is a graduate of Covenant Theological Seminary. She has also completed graduate work at the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, and studied with Francis Schaeffer at L’Abri. She exemplifies our philosophy of the importance of understanding the Word and the world and how to communicate apologetically with today’s audience. Each chapter in this volume is a goldmine in itself. James Sire, the author of The Universe Next Door and, most recently Renaming the Elephant, called Total Truth “The best work of cultural analysis from a Christian standpoint available today.” James Skillen commented, “Seldom does one find a book with serious content, historical depth, and Christian integrity that is also easy to read. If you feel lost in the fog of today’s cultural confusions, read this book.”

If resources were available, I would give each teaching elder in the PCA a copy of this book along with Making Kingdom Disciples. These are crucial topics and somehow we are not communicating kingdom living or world and life view clearly, according to most polls, statistics, and testimonies. People who profess to love Jesus are not making the connection of that love with a total worldview. This is not a new phenomenon but it has great impact in this postmodern and post-Christian world.

Whether we are called to redeem culture or make cultural transformation can be debated, but no one can question our calling to be kingdom disciples living out our faith in all of life, doing all to the glory of God. We are to be the “salt of the earth,” and the “light of the world.” We cannot do that by separating our faith from life. Pearcey points to dualistic philosophy (attempting to create a dichotomy between the secular and the sacred) a reality of western evangelicalism, and she is absolutely right. I see no greater threat to the church and its witness, especially at this moment in time, than dualism.

Christian influence has continued to wane in western Christianity because the average Christian has not understood total truth, the Sovereignty of God, or the Lordship of Christ. This book will challenge the believer to understand the reality that Christianity has accommodated itself to the culture around it, if in no other way than by making it a Sunday religion. It will also offer an explanation as to why so many Christians do not enjoy their Christian life experience.

Here is the situation and connection; Christians do not always “enjoy God,” because they do not understand what is necessary in order to do that. To glorify God, we have to do more than ask the blessing at mealtime or go to church on Sunday, even have family devotions, important as those things are. We have to see the inclusiveness of our Christian faith. Once we begin to do that, we begin to experience great freedom and challenge to live fully for God. As we do that, Pearcey’s contention along with the Westminster Divines, is that we begin to discover or rediscover the joy of the Christian life. She writes about many people who were genuinely desirous to be good Christians but at first had no understanding of how that touched every area of their lives.

After coming to realize the all-inclusiveness of the Christian life, one of the people mentioned said,”That’s when I rediscovered joy.” Pearcey writes, “Ordinary Christians working in business, industry, politics, factory work, and so on, are ‘the Church’s front-line troops’ in the spiritual battle. Are we taking seriously our duty to support them in their warfare? The church is nothing less than a training ground for sending out laypeople who are equipped to speak the gospel to the world.”

Our contention is that if self-conscious kingdom people see the totality of the Christian life and will seek to glorify God in every area of life, then the joy of the Lord will become more and more real. Pearcey’s thesis is “the key to recovering joy and purpose turned out to be a new understanding of Christianity as total truth-an insight that broke open the dam and poured the restoring waters of the gospel into the parched areas of life.”

I have often quoted Charles Malik, from his address at the dedication of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton in 1980. He challenged the audience to the twofold task of evangelism, that of saving the souls and that of saving the minds. He said, if we do one without the other, we will fail to save the souls. We understand the importance of developing a Christian mind committed to total truth, and with God’s help, determining to apply that faith to all of life. Never has it been more important for Christians to be intentionally missional in their approach to life. To impact the world, however, we must know how to teach, model, and explain this to future generations what we mean by Christianity being “total truth,” and how the joy of the Lord is connected with that perspective.

If you buy only one book this year, this would be the book at the top of the list.

“The purpose of a worldview is to explain our experience of the world-and any philosophy can be judged by how well it succeeds in doing so. When Christianity is tested, we discover that it alone explains and makes sense of the most basic and universal human experiences,” Pearcey.