Church Leadership

Years ago when I was starting out in ministry, I was working with young people. I directed a summer youth camp and conference program during my seminary days and couple of years after graduation. What a thrill it was to see some of the young people come to know Jesus Christ. As I travel throughout the country, in and out of many different churches, from time to time I run into some those now grown children that I had the privilege of working with and teaching the Word. I think of a man who is now the pastor of a huge mega church in the north. We had spent much time together during his teen years in the church as well as that camp and conference setting. And there are so many others. What a rewarding experience that was.

I also had a couple of Young Life Clubs during those seminary days. I later pastured a church in the Atlanta area where I had earlier led a Young Life Club and some of the teenagers in the clubs, now adults, were members of that church. The senior pastor with whom I worked during those early days had a placard in his office and I will always remember it: “No man stands so tall as when he stoops to help a child.” What a truism and how consistent with the Scripture!

But on the other hand, I remember a man who was in charge of placement at my seminary saying to me on one occasion, challenging me work in another setting, “Don’t spend so much time with the calves, that you forget the cows that give the milk.” I’ll never forget that statement either. During my years as a pastor, I always made it a point to work with the young people. They matter to me. I said in an address to the 25^th PCA General Assembly meeting in St. Louis, one of the reasons I left the mainline church to help start the PCA was because I wanted to communicate to the younger generation that truth mattered, and that we cared for them and wanted them to have a church home that would teach them the Christian world and life view, and I was never more serious, when I said that.

At Christian Education and Publications I have found a place to continue to express that interest and for the past five years, our strategic faith plan has focused on reaching the rising generations, particularly the millennials. If you have read Equip for Ministry in the past or heard me speak, you already know that. The difference at this point is that we do not have the opportunity to work directly with the young people, except on occasion in our local church home. I can’t begin to tell you how excited I was about two years ago when one of the older teenagers approached me, after I had preached that morning, to ask if I would help him develop a biblical world and life view. We have had a great experience studying and praying together since that time. He is now in college.

Our role in the PCA is to train, equip, and serve as an encourager and resource to those involved in ministry to the younger generations. We develop curriculum, conduct training workshops, and everything else that we can do with the older generation to challenge them to see the opportunity to reach this younger generation. We have a fulltime staff, as well as regional trainers committed to helping you and your churches to plan and implement an effective ministry that communicates to your younger generation that you really care about you.

This past year we added, a fulltime coordinator of Children’s Ministry. Sue Jakes, who has worked with us and our Sunday school publisher, Great Commission Publications. We have asked Sue to write the lead article. In that article you will see something of her heart, as well as ours, regarding this important task. Reaching this next generation has always been a god-given assignment to the church, but as we look around us today, especially since Sept. 11, 01, that assignment has taken on a new urgency. We are living in a dangerous world politically, economically, morally, and spiritually. By the time you read this article, we may have already gone to war to fight terrorism.

I have spoken by request on several occasions recently on the topic of Islam in America. (We will address that in later issues of Equip for Ministry). I need say no more at this point except that this fastest growing religion in the world and in America has targeted young people. They are being quite effective and our youth are extremely vulnerable. One statistic shows that around 80% of Muslim converts have had some kind of church background.

Both postmodernism and the growth of neo-paganism in America remind us that we are not exposing our younger generations to the truth of God in a life transforming way. As I stated to one of the groups mentioned above in response to a question, what do you see for the future with Islam as it relates to America? My response was “humanly speaking, not good. Muslims appear to be better prepared to talk about Islam and the Muslim faith than are Christians about our God and faith. If you read some of the polls and trends, many which we have mentioned in this publication, and we have reviewed many of their books, Gallup, Lindsay, Barna, American Demographics, etc. We are raising a biblically illiterate generation of young people in America. While local and national leaders are discouraging things like Bible reading and prayer in the educational systems, they are allowing other religions, such as Islam, to have their privileges.

We want our readers to know that we at CE/P are concerned and committed to doing all that we can do to help those of you in local churches to have the best discipleship program for your young people that you can have. Of course the programs are secondary, so we first emphasize the most important element of all and that is personal relationships and a sense of community. The younger generation both want and need relationships with older committed Christians.

I was so pleased this past Sunday to be in a church both for preaching and training leaders where one of the elders, a retired executive with a major corporation spoke to the youth group on Sunday evening. As I talked with him on that afternoon, I could detect a sense of excitement and challenge about that opportunity. He told me, I am going to tell them that we need to know that things in this world do not last and that we should not be too wrapped up in the world. He had on a coat, a shirt, and tie. He opened his jacket and he had ripped his shirt to shreds to illustrate his point. We smiled about that. Those young people were blessed because that man’s attitude was infectious.

In this issue, we have the lead article by Sue Jakes. I encourage you to read it carefully and respond to the questions for discussion. The “In Case you’re Asked” section talks another opportunity through Christian schooling to minister to this younger generation. You will also see several news articles about some things that we are doing at CE/P and in the PCA to minister to this rising generation. The book reviews are important, especially the one dealing with Islam.You will also find a listing of the various conferences and seminars that CE/P will be conducting. They are listed both for your information and prayers.

I am reading a book on Christian education that I will review in future issue of EFM, entitled Christly Gestures. The author Brett P. Webb-Mitchell talks about the importance of baptism in the education process of making disciples. He writes, “We perform the gesture of many profound vows at our baptism. The crucial ones in the education of Christians are the ones uttered for the child by parents or guardians and the ones uttered by the adult being baptized, and the gestured utterance of the members of the congregation-that they will raise the newly baptized into what John Calvin would call an “understanding of our baptism.” I believe if we took this ministry to the younger generation seriously, there would be more young people who do not abandon the church in their teens and later life and more adults who are excited about their Christian faith because they are sharing with the next generation.

We are here with our training, resources, and consulting to assist you in developing, expanding, or improving your ministry to the next generation. We need to work together in this task. The challenge is more than any one person, church, or denomination can do, but if we work together, praying, being intentional, and knowing the situation, I believe we can be a part of the solution and not a continuation of the problem. By the way, that is the only way that our church, the PCA, and your church locally, or you as an individual will see the long rangeimplications and applications of this challenge.

Read 2 Timothy 3:16

By Bryan Chapell. On the evening of the first Rodney King verdict in South Central LA, a group of young men knocked another to the ground and began brutally beating him. Into the angry mob waded an elderly minister named Bennie Newton. Risking his own life, he repeatedly stepped in the way of the blows, taking some of the punches and kicks on his own back and legs. “You must not do this,” he said. “This man has done nothing wrong. You must stop this.” And eventually the mob did stop. They turned away in disgust from the old man, who had faced them with nothing more than a Bible in his hands. His weapon was the Word. He literally entrusted his life to the Bible, as we have for eternities. Why? Why would anyone who wrestles not against flesh and blood but against powers and principalities, face the forces of evil with mere paper and print in hand? I pray it is what we believe about this book.

I. We believe the Bible is inspired.

See the first words of II Tim 3:16. The language of the KJV is explained for us in the NIV: all Scripture is God-breathed. That translation is a direct rendering of a Greek word that combines the terms for “God” and “breath”. The idea is even as you speak your breath comes out of your mouth, so the Scriptures are what God has breathed out, what he speaks — these are his Words.All that is Scripture is God-breathed, God’s very word to us. This is not merely an academic fact. It is the precious truth that everyday and during the greatest trials of my life, in his Word God speaks to me.

We are so misled in thinking that life would be easier if God would perform a miracle and speak in the lightening or write his will in the clouds. We forget the greater miracle that he has put his Word in our laps, and it does not fade with the thunder or get blown away by the wind. Every day he makes his Word known to us. He is as present and real as his Word. Here God speaks. You can face anything with his voice in your ear, as his breath flows upon your heart with his Word.Even that voice will bring you little courage or comfort, however, if you cannot trust it. We must add another dimension to our understanding of Scripture for it to be what God intends it to be in our lives. To the conviction that the Bible is inspired, we must add …

II. We believe the Bible is inerrant.

The word inerrant means the Scriptures are without error. This is a direct consequence of the fact that the Bible is God’s Word. Since it is of him, it should reflect his character. This is precisely the point of Ps. 19. Listen to how God’s Word is described there:

“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.”

“The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes.”

The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous.”

“They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb.”

“By them is your servant warned;” (Ps. 19:7-11)

If you only to consider the adjectives, what does the Word of God sound like? It sounds like God. He is perfect, trustworthy, wise, right, pure … thus it makes sense that what he says, what he breathes, would be the same. His Word is perfect, trustworthy, wise, right, pure, enduring and sure.

Release from the Slavery of Subjectivism

If “the rule of God’s Word” sounds constraining, recognize the necessary slavery of any other approach. If the Bible is not entirely true, the only authority we have is our own opinion of what is true. Rather than having a higher guidance, all that I would have without an inerrant Scripture is my own judgment. I am forced to go through life with wisdom no greater than my own. My life becomes enslaved to my own opinions (or worse, the opinions of others.) Human judgment determines what is right and wrong, proper or imprudent. Without an entirely true Scripture, we become slaves to the radical subjectivism of our age, where people will only do what is right in their own eyes.

Though usually described in academic terms, inerrancy is fundamentally a conviction that combats a suffocating aloneness, of being shut up with one’s own judgments and opinions as one’s only guiding companion in life. If God does not speak consistently in his Word, when I cry out in the darkness for aid all I hear is my own voice echoing back.

When we say that the Bible is without error, we must quickly add that our interpretations are not without error. Even Paul will remind Timothy that he must study to be a godly workman who is “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15). There can be wrong divisions, but this does not deny the inerrancy of Scripture, it simply calls us to be skilled interpreters. His ways are not our ways and His thoughts are above our thoughts. Along with the easily reached truths are those that make us stretch so that the majesty of our God is as clear as His present voice.

Liar, Lunatic or Lord

Yet, extolling the wonders of Scriptures inspiration and perfection is not enough to give us confidence in its use. When you have broken appliance, a perfect wrench from Sears with Craftsman quality and a guarantee of perpetual service is a wonderful thing, unless what you need is a screwdriver. Inspiration and inerrancy are wonderful things unless they do not supply all we need to deal with the spiritual brokenness of our lives. We need full toolboxes, and for that reason the Bible assures us that Scripture is not only inspired and inerrant…

III. We believe the Bible is complete and sufficient.

1. Its completeness is marked by its finished-ness in terms of its sufficiency andultimacy.

The first feature of the Bible’s completeness is its sufficiency. Paul says that the Scripture that is “useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” equips the man of God for every good work. The man of God (the one that is equipping others) is himself equipped for every good work. The ripple effect is that the Scriptures provide what is needed for all believers’ spiritual development. There are not pages missing that we need. Colloquially, we would say that in the Bible, “you have got what you need.” Peter says, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his won glory and goodness” (II Pet. 1:3). Everything we need for life (what we are to face) and godliness (what we are to be) God has provided by using the Word he has given to equip us sufficiently for every good work.

The sufficiency of Scripture is one reason that we do not feel abandoned by God if we are not connected by some sort of spiritual hotline where God is daily saying, “Heaven calling, George. This is what I want you to do.” New revelations become unnecessary when we already have a Word that is sufficient.

In 2 Tim. 3:16,17, the words “thoroughly equipped” are really the combination of the adjective and verb form of the same root word. We would actually translate this as, “All Scripture is inspired … in order that the man of God may be equipped, equipped for every good work.” That repetition, as awkward as it sounds, is actually crucial for it intensifies the equipping concept. Through the Scriptures we are really equipped, or as the NIV says it, “thoroughly equipped.” Thoroughly equipped for what? For everything. Now if the Bible tells you the Scriptures thoroughly equip you for everything, what is the implication of your looking for something else? It implies you question more than its completeness and sufficiency, but also its authority.

There are many references in Scripture reminding us that we are not to add to or subtract from its content, (Deut. 4:2, 12:32; Prov. 30:6; Rev. 22:18-19) and others warning that we are not to receive any other Gospel, whether it be endorsed by men or by angels (Gal. 1:8). We understand why the Church insists on the ultimate and final authority of Scripture. The Bible is complete because of its claim to sufficiency and its necessary ultimacy. Such understanding directs us from seeking new revelations, new authorities, trusting in personal experience, or other scriptures.

2. The Bible’s completeness is not only marked by these signs of its finished-ness,but by what it is finishing.

There is one other dimension to the completeness of the Bible. We are pointed also to the source of our completion. For if the Bible is given to equip, complete or make us perfect (cf. KJV, “to make the man of God perfect”), our need for completion by a source outside ourselves shows that we are incomplete in ourselves. Our need of Scripture’s sufficiency necessarily indicates our insufficiency. Scripture’s supply of what we need to fulfill God’s purposes in our lives is testimony of its redemptive character.

Says Jesus, “The Scriptures testify of me” (John 5:39). These words caution us against using the Bible merely as a compendium of rules or boxes to check off on the assumption that if we check off enough that we are OK with God. In his Word God is providing himself. Says Peter, “You have been born again … by the living and enduring Word of God” (I Pet. 1:23.) John adds, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…. In him was life and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1f). The apostles’ conflation of the ministry of the Savior, the Word of God, with the inscripturated Word of God is intentional. The Word of God is the very heart of God on display and presently working.

Think of what the combination of these beliefs about Scripture mean that God is providing us. In his Word he provides us his voice, for the Word is God-breathed. In his Word gives us his hand to lead us inerrantly down the path of his own will and purpose. And in his word he shows us his heart, for here he provides for our insufficiency with his own sufficiency. Grace echoes in every line, because God displays himself in every Word. That is why our own hearts yearn for the Word at a soul level. The world (and some believers) will long for an experience of God in personal sensation or exceptional events. We who understand the nature of the Word recognize that God regularly gathers our souls next to his heart through his Word.

You know the Word of the Psalmist, “As the deer pants for water so, my soul thirsts for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God (Psalm 42:1,2).” We may forget how the Psalmist says that thirst is satisfied: “My soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times …. I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.” (Psalm 119:20 & 131)

In his word we find the fountain of God’s truth and care, his own refreshing presence and grace. I have never heard this stated more starkly than when hearing the testimony of a friend who in his adult years came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He was an ordained minister in a church that considered the Bible a work of men that should be critically dissected for its occasional truths amidst its primitive religious expressions.

By mistake, my friend got hooked into a tour of Israel that had him and his girlfriend traveling with a bunch of evangelical ministers and their wives. One day the tour took them to the Garden Tomb, one of the places in Israel reputed to be where Jesus was buried and rose from the dead. The ministers decided to celebrate communion there. Since my friend had stayed in the background for most of the tour, the others decided now was the time for him to do his share of ministering. He was asked to give the elements. He did so. As this unbelieving minister distributed the elements and the Words of Christ’s saving work in the shadow of this tomb, he was struck not only with the hypocrisy of what he was doing, but with the reality of what Christ had done.

When the service was over, the other ministers continued touring the site. My friend did not. He went back to the tour bus, and waited with an anxiety he can hardly express even now for the others’ return. He says, “For the first time in my life I was thirsty for Scripture, and I felt I would die if we did not get back to the hotel as quickly as possible so that I could read my Bible.” There are streams of living water in the Word that satisfy the thirsty heart with God. Here may you know them. Studying the Word of God as it is in truth the ministry of Christ Jesus to your own soul.

Point one: Have you ever been watching television and heard a word that shocked you? Of course you have! I have heard words through the media that have not only shocked but also embarrassed me a bit. A few nights ago we were with our grandson watching the western channel on cable the 1950s version of the “Lone Ranger.” All of a sudden Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s “Indian sidekick” referred to something as being providential. I was shocked! Providential? You would not hear that word in a new TV series. It isn’t one of those politically correct terms that you hear in the media. It was like President Bush saying the 9/11attack was an evil act performed by evil men. Evil? What is that?

Point two: We have recently gone through an agonizing time with the deadly shootings from the “beltway snipers.” Innocent people were killed in Maryland, D.C., Virginia, Alabama, Louisiana, and possibly, many other places. I have been asked where I see God in those tragic deaths and evil acts. A pastor and wife approach me, forlorn and confused over being asked to leave their church, not knowing why. Then, one of the members our church was soon to give birth only to find the umbilical chord had choked the life out of the infant. Several people asked, “Why did God allow that to happen?” Finally, just last week my two-year-old granddaughter jumped up on our sofa and snuggled up to me shivering and shaking because of a thunderstorm. I tried to explain to her that God was in control and she could trust God to take care of her but at two, I am not sure how comforting that was to her.

We face similar situations everyday and either think to ourselves (or muster up the nerve to ask someone) where is God in all of these things? That’s a legitimate question, and we should not be afraid to ask. That is one way we can grow, and if we are successful in “thinking God’s thoughts after him,” we will grow in those circumstances.

How does this relate to Tonto’s reference to providence? To answer that question we have to define our terms and the first place to begin is not with that word, but with God. We have to begin with God if we want to come to the right conclusion because He is the author of the grand narrative that brings together all the pieces of the puzzles of life. In Him, said the Apostle Paul, all things cohere or hang together (Col. 1:17). If we believe the Bible to be God’s word of truth then we have a framework whereby we can struggle with some of life’s deep, perplexing, and frustrating happenings.

In order to understand providence, we have to relate it to God-specifically God as the creator of all things. If God is not the creator, truth is up for grabs and one explanation is as good as another. That’s why we have heard repeatedly that the first eleven chapters of Genesis are the key to the entire metanarrative of the Gospel. What God teaches us there establishes the framework to know Him and something about how he relates to his creation.

You cannot stop with the first chapter of Genesis, as important as it is. There have been people through the centuries who have done that and ended with a distorted view of God. You’ve heard of the Deists. They believe that God created the world then retreated to let things run their course, like people used to do with clocks and watches. They would wind them up and let them run on their own momentum, until they finally ran down. Deists believe that there is a creator God but He has no ongoing relationship with His creation. Events are not connected with God because they are all up to man and his free will. Of course, there are those who deny the existence of God hence God as creator, but that’s another part of the story for another time.

If you read the opening article by Marvin Padgett, you’ll discover another group of people who believe God is the creator and has an ongoing relationship with His creation. They believe that the way creation plays out really depends on man’s libertarian free will. In other words, God has no predetermined control over what happens, hence the only way to deal with tragic events is not to relate their happening to God but rather to trust him to come to the rescue and pick up the pieces. R. C. Sproul’s book, When Worlds Collide, reviewed in this issue, deals very effectively with the biblical teaching that nothing happens by chance or happenstance. God makes, sustains, and governs all things by the power of His word. This means everything that happens somehow relates to God’s grand story. There is no “blind chance” or “lady luck” or “Mother Nature.” Those terms are not in line with the Bible.

God the creator is also the God of providence. This means that He sovereignly controls all things that come to pass, not that He is simply aware them, but he is the final and ultimate cause of all things that happen. What about evil, wickedness, senseless events such as 9/11, the beltway snipers or the death of that little infant? We must know and not apologize that the Bible teaches that God is in control of and is the cause of all things that happen, except evil. Do we understand that? Can we explain it with any rational satisfaction? Probably not! We cannot understand those things but if we think God’s thoughts after Him, we have to know that both good and evil, light and darkness are part of His will. John Calvin wrote in his Institutes of the Christian Religion that a person is pathetic if he believes that he is at the mercy of unpredictable events.

When we understand that all things that happen do so according to God’s will, we will be positioned to see God’s involvement in His creation. God’s will has different aspects, a secret will and a revealed will. We have to breathe a sigh of relief that the Bible teaches that. That means that some things that God wills we can understand because He reveals them to us by His graciousness. It also means there are some things, like my explanation to my little granddaughter, we cannot understand and may never understand. Whether or not we understand the things that happen listed above doesn’t really matter. What matters is that God understands them fully and tells us that they are not random, chance, irrational events. Paul says that “we see through a glass darkly”, at this present time, but one day “we will understand fully even as we have been understood” (I Corinthians 13).

God is not in the dark regarding the future, and things do not have to happen before he knows them. They happen because He ordained them and one day He may allow us to understand what is presently a mystery to us. Some open theists actually believe that God does not always get what He wants hence; there are no guarantees for us in the things that happen. Thank God that His Word teaches differently. Sproul rightly says that 9/11 happened within the will of God, but can we explain how? Probably not, but that does not negate the truth.

God is not absent in the everyday events of life. His hand is implementing His will in all things that occur. I can be comforted and offer that same comfort to anyone willing to operate his or her life based on God’s framework of understanding and experiencing life. He is not far off or standing in the shadows, watching. I can be comforted as long as I think about God as He reveals Himself by His Word and Spirit. As I do that, I will never be without hope in this life.

In case you are asked, as I have been, is anyone in charge? I can say with full certainty that God is controlling all things that take place: therefore, I can trust Him to do what is right. That truth is not the least bit dependent on any rational explanation. Am I a fideist saying that I merely have simple faith with no rhyme or reason to work with? No, I am a Christian theist who believes the testimony of God’s revelation in the Bible. I believe that all the events of reality fit into God’s grand story. I know along with the Apostle Paul several wonderful truths, “If God be for you, who can be against you?” “God will work all things together for good to them who love Him…” “He that has begun a good work in you will bring it to completion.”

By Marvin Padgett. This article addresses an issue that will hopefully sound familiar to the readers of Equip for Ministry. Equip has presented other articles and book reviews on the topic of “open theism.” There is definitely confusion caused by this issue, which though it has old roots, has surfaced in new ways. I was originally asked to speak last summer on this topic at a weekend L’Abri conference in Rochester, MN. The article refers to a teaching about God that strikes at the heart of who God is and what He does or does not do. It is a teaching that causes much confusion in many of our “evangelical” churches in America. While the average church member may not be familiar with the technical designation of open theism, they have no doubt been exposed to its teaching.

The Openness of God, written by Clark Pinnock, et al, is one of the clearest presentations of open theism. Pinnock and others have caused significant controversy and brought attention to the doctrine of God and the accompanying doctrine of providence. (See the book review section, particularly When Worlds Collide.) Christians need to be careful to understand these writings and the errors involved.

Pinnock asserts that much (if not all) of the future is open, i.e., it is not set, definite, or pre-determined. It is open because the future is not objectively determined. The future, according to the open theists, is shaped greatly by the as yet unmade choices of free moral agents- human beings created in the image of God.

These writers are concerned with the meaning of “choice.” Do human beings make real choices unfettered by God or man; or are those choices predetermined by the ancient decrees of God? This idea, often called “libertarian freedom,” is the bedrock issue at stake here. It appears to drive all the other issues. How can human beings be held accountable for their choices if another being, in this case, God, predetermines all those choices? It follows, then, that if the future is real and human beings make unfettered, real choices, as free moral agents, the future has not yet been determined. So, while this gets much press, it is all tied back to the issue of libertarian freedom.

Open theism also appears to be driven by an attempt to get at the age-old nemesis of theology, the problem of evil. Both John Sanders and Greg Boyd, advocates of open theism, bring this up early in their basic works, The God Who Risks and The God of the Possible. John Sanders tragically lost a brother, which seems to have contributed to his thinking. Greg Boyd tells the tragic story of betrayal and divorce in the life of a young woman he calls Suzanne. Obviously, our circumstance colors our thinking far more than we realize.

The real lightning rod issue is divine foreknowledge. This gets all of the press, heat, anger, and disputation. To paraphrase Senator Howard Baker in the Watergate Hearings of the 1970s, how much does God know and when does He learn it? Open theists assert that while God is omniscient(all-knowing), His knowledge is necessarily limited by the degree or extent of knowledge that is intrinsically “knowable”-hence the title of Greg Boyd’s book, The God of the Possible. God does have exhaustive knowledge of the past, the present and the future, but only to the extent that knowledge of the future is obtainable. Whether God cannot know the future or whether He has chosen to limit himself is an “open question.” Some of these ideas come from the normal limitations seen upon other attributes of God. To be omnipotent does not mean that God can do absolutely everything. God cannot make a round square, etc.

Open theism is sometimes referred to as presentism, relational theism, the risk model, and the fellowship model. You may either hear those terms or come across them in your reading on the subject. Presentism emphasizes God’s exhaustive knowledge of the present. Relational and fellowship models emphasize His desire to have genuine, give-and-take relations with human beings. The latter goals are raised to a high level in open theism.

This give-and-take issue is quite important. Open theists share this concern with another group called “process theists.” While they have some things in common, the differences between them are real. Both camps emphasize the vital importance of real give-and-take relations between God and humanity. Process theologians generally see God only working in and through the workings of the universe. For them, God exercises no coercive control over the universe, but works through it exclusively by means of persuasion. Open theists, on the other hand, assert belief that God created the heavens and the earth and will, in some way, shape outcomes, especially the eschaton or the end of times, though its day and hour remain indefinite, even to God. Process theists believe, by and large, that open theists are really like the “classical theists.” An open theist thinks that God can, and does, enter decisively into the affairs of the world. Both camps, process and open, reject almost all forms of classical theology or theism. But what is classical theology, you may ask?

Classical theism is rooted, according to the open theists, both in the Greeks and the church of the Middle Ages. They stressed several things about God: God is omnipotent (all powerful), omniscient (all knowing), immutable (unchanging), omnipresent (all present) and God is simple (unity). These may be taken as the primary theistic set, or the primary theistic attributes of God according to classical theism.

Open theists routinely charge their more traditional opponents with being classical theists, in the sense of the above. In this classical system God knows all, controls all, can neither feel no emotions, nor suffer. He has no parts, and He is one essence. Actually, we learn that this description better fits the god of Islam and of philosophical theology but it does not accurately represent the God of the Bible.

There are many passages in the Bible where God holds human beings accountable for their actions. Open theists ask, “If we are responsible, how can God have determined the future?” How can God even know the future, because if God knows the future, the future must be the way God knows it to be, hence man is not responsible. But, even open theists claim that God holds no false beliefs about the future. What they dispute is whether the future is “knowable,” not that God holds false beliefs.

How is it, then, that God can retain the immense power that open theists admit that he holds? How is it that while God does not know the future, He does have exhaustive knowledge of all the possibilities? While you and I can only make good guesses about multiple outcomes, like a good baseball manager does in preparing his team for the possible eventualities for a single pitch, God, like a super-competent universe manager is always ready with the right play, no matter what happens. To illustrate something of the open theists position, God is a bit like Andy Taylor on the television series The Andy Griffith Show. We are a bit like Barney, his sidekick, always messing things up. God, like Andy, is always lurking around with superior plans, ready to take care of us. He, no more than Andy, controls what is about to happen but is always waiting in the wings or behind the scenes to come the rescue and fix things when Barney acts. It always ends in the right way because Andy sees that it does. So it is with God, according to the open theists.

To further build their case, open theists readily and quickly point to many passages in Scripture where God is grieved, regrets, and “repents” over his people’s actions when things do not seem to go God’s way. Actually, there appears to be confusion caused by some Bible translations which use the term “repent” in the place of “relent,” which some believe is a more accurate translation and interpretation. As a result people are confused over those different Hebrew words. The underlying Hebrew word for repent, according to some outstanding scholars, is never used of God. Human beings are said to repent, but never God.

For example:1 Samuel 15:35

“And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.”

There are other passages where God appears to regret what has come to pass, and where He seems to express surprise as the Jeremiah passage brings forth.

It is extremely difficult to recognize the God of the Bible in any of these models mentioned, open, classical or process. The God we find in the Bible is at once more interesting and mysterious than the open theists appear are willing to admit. Michael Horton, a Reformed Theologian and professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, California, said recently in the Journal of Evangelical Theological Society: “Among the ironic similarities between the methodological approach of open theism and hyper-Calvinists is the fact that both are apparently impatient with the face of mystery.”

Basically, the open theists attempt to present us with a God that we can understand. Oh yes, He’s bigger and far more intelligent, but at heart He is sort of like us, therefore, we can understand him. The reason Calvinists hold to what we would call a “baby talk” view of revelation is because they see revelation as dealing with a being that is beyond us. Though He is a personal God, He is also sovereign and mysterious. While we, being made in God’s image, are personal, He is an infinite person who deals in realms in which we can only grope. We are not infinite; hence we have only limited understanding of Him and His ways.

Is God in total control over His creation? Can He know the future? Does He have a pre-determined plan of all things that come to pass or is He as the open theists suggests, waiting to see what happens and then come to the rescue. The Bible gives a clear response. For example: Isaiah 40-48 asserts that the reason Israel may safely believe in God is because He not only knows the future exhaustively, but controls the future exhaustively. (Also see Ephesians. 1:11 and Proverbs 16: 23.)

Isaiah 41:21-24

“Set forth your case, says the Lord; bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. ²²Let them bring them, and tell us what is to happen. Tell us the former things, what they are, that we may consider them, that we may know their outcome; or declare to us the things to come. ²³Tell us what is to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods; do good, or do harm, that we may be dismayed and terrified. ²⁴Behold, you are nothing, and your work is less than nothing; an abomination is he who chooses you.”

Jesus taught his disciples that the heavenly Father knows what you need before you ask (Matt. 6:8.) If that is true then there seems to be a contradiction between what Jesus says about God and what the open theists teach. According to Jesus, God does both know and control the future. He is not taken by surprise when something happens because Jesus is not referring to a limited uncertain knowledge but a knowing of all things completely and exhaustively, past, present, and future.

None of the above touches on another part of God’s knowledge that is a wonderful thing for Christians, that God even knows whose names are written in the book of life from the before the foundation of the world. Our God is a great and wonderful God. There is nothing outside His control. Although we do not understand or need to understand all there is to know about God, we must not add to nor subtract from what God tells us about himself in the Bible.Our Westminster Confession of Faith summarizes what the Bible teaches on this subject like this:

“God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass: yet, so as thereby neither is God the author of sin, nor is violence offered to the will of the creatures; nor is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established. Although God knows whatsoever may or may not come to pass upon all supposed conditions, yet hath he not decreed any thing because he foresaw it as future, or as that which would come to pass upon such condition,” WCF 3:1,2.

One of the disturbing things we are hearing is that Christians do not understand what they believe and why. The Bible tells us (1 Pet 3:15) that we are to be able to give a reason for our hope but several major surveys have concluded that Christians do not know enough about their beliefs to do that. For example: George Gallup Jr. and D. Michael Lindsay conclude in their Surveying the American Landscape that “there is a glaring lack of knowledge about the Bible, basic doctrines, and the traditions of one’s church. That there is great superficiality of faith, with many people not knowing what they believe, or why.” George Barna echoes the same message that “less than 10% of the professing Christians have a biblical world and life view.” “People are desperate for spiritual truth-but they can’t find the answers they need in Christian churches.” He goes on to sayin The Second Coming of the Church, “In short, the spirituality in America is Christian in name only. We desire more experience than knowledge. We prefer choices to absolutes. We embrace preferences rather than truths.”

I am concerned that while we are seeing greater interest in religion and spirituality, especially in the two younger generations, it is not directed toward Christianity. Gallup’s polls indicate that more and more evangelical Christians are embracing some of the doctrines of the New Age Movement, such as communicating with the dead, visitation of extraterrestrials, witches, ghosts, etc.

One way the disciple making process is breaking down is our failure to ground believers, young and old, in solid, sound doctrine. Faith often becomes very shallow and superficial. It does not really alter our lifestyle and it doesn’t give us opportunities to respond to questions asked regarding our faith in Christ. When I think of Peter’s words quoted above, I am reminded of two things: 1. Although we are called to give a reason for what we believe and the hope we have in Christ, trends indicate that most cannot do that. 2. That may not pose the problem that it should because if people do not see that hope operating in our lives, they will not ask us about our faith.

‘In case you’re asked’, can you give a reason or explanation for the hope within you? We need to study our faith. All the other things we study, says the Apostle Paul, are to be in accord with sound doctrine. Another concern is that trends indicate that pastors experience a “halo effect” and believe their people are more equipped and trained to do 1 Pet 3:15 than is actually the case.

A word to parents and to the church community in this regard: we must see the challenge that our children and youth face today. We are not living in a friendly world, where Christianity is concerned. We are not taught or encouraged to teach the Bible in a life-changing way. Truths are uncertain or up for grabs. In response, we give our children and youth a moralistic version of Christianity, which accomplishes nothing strategically and is terribly misleading. Even when we do try through our Sunday schools, Bible studies, youth activities, and the preaching and teaching ministry, they do not see the connection between what they are hearing and their own lives.

Every Christian family and church should have a plan of discipleship aimed at equipping the people of all ages to know what they believe and why, and how to articulate those beliefs. We must also aim for life transformation as a result of those truths. Truths, doctrines, theology, philosophy, and all the basic foundational areas, must be taught, learned, and applied in a way that will transform people’s lives. It must impact what they believe, how they think and live, the choices they make, and relationships they develop. Disciple making is not a fluff and stuff kind of activity with no real substance; neither is it an academic exercise. It is life oriented.

In this issue we reviewed a book by Roger Nicole that deals with the basic doctrines of the Christian faith. Those doctrines are to be a part of the warp and woof of our lives. They ought to be as much a part of us as the air we breathe. While there is nothing wrong with admitting that I do not know something, God told us to be able to explain why we do believe something to be true.

I am often asked how we can know whether our attempts at discipling are working? My response: 1. Is there a life change taking place and an awareness of Christ’s Lordship in all of life? 2. Are people seeing a difference in us because of our faith in Christ? One way we know is by the opportunities we are given to talk about our faith with them. George Gallup, Jr. wrote, “Sensation and subjective experience is so prized that what a person actually believes recedes in importance (The Next American Spirituality).” He further writes, “Many Americans do not know what they believe, or why. Many do not know what it means to belong to the faith or denomination to which they subscribe. They would be hard pressed to defend the faith, if called on,”(ibid). May that not be the case with us. In case you’re asked, be able to tell those who ask with passion and understanding what you believe and why.