CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Church Leadership

Turning Events into Opportunities

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Welcome to the first issue of Equip for Ministry 2001. You have been a faithful reader and we thank you. We are committed to being your resource for ideas, products, services, and people that can enhance the ministry of formal and informal local church leaders. We enjoy putting together each issue with that commitment in mind. I hope you will notice the new cover design. We want this magazine to be friendly and helpful for our readers. We really do think of ourselves as teammates with you, networking to strengthen our local churches. “The church grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work,” and we believe that part of CE/P’s challenge in the PCA is to help facilitate resources.

In the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis, God says a most significant thing. “‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.’…So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.” Although building the tower was a sinful act, we should not gloss over God’s point: there is strength in unity and number. We need to realize that our personal or local agendas are not as effective as our corporate and broader one. That is a strength of our Presbyterian system. When it is properly practiced, it brings us together with an intentional connectedness that demonstrates the axiom “the whole is larger than the sum of its parts.” My desire for all of CE/P’s programs, particularly Equip for Ministry, is that our readers would always be reminded of that principle, which I believe has a solid biblical base. We should not only acknowledge it but practice it as well.

In previous issues, you have read articles and book reviews focusing on cultural awareness and the importance of understanding how to communicate God’s Word (truth) in this pluralistic setting. Of course, when we talk about cultural awareness our real point is effectively communicating and applying God’s truth to this culture. The church is facing a great challenge, and the way we respond will determine (humanly speaking) what kind of future lies ahead. As we have said many times, the Church will survive because it is God’s Church and He says that it will. However, the institutional church as we know it may experience great transformation. Some change is essential. We must not change the wrong things; however, we must be willing to change anything that is not effectively reaching those whom Christ has called us to serve.

We have talked much about the church’s challenge to reach the millennial generation. I wish you could read and study the analyses, and interview the many youth with whom we have talked, who remind us of the urgency of this moment. The church must pull out all stops and do whatever needs to be done to reach the next generation with the truths of God. We have to go beyond the call of duty to communicate to our young people that we love and care for them. The church must demonstrate the kind of caring spirit that Bob Palmer wrote about in his article on covenant baptismal vows in the September/October 2000 issue.

The lead article in this issue, “Covenant Stones of Passage” written by our friend in ministry Brad Winsted, offers some interesting and intriguing ways for local churches to carry out those covenant vows. I hope every local church leader and parent will read, ponder, and discuss them. Joining the church, either as a non-communicant or communicant member, should be one of the most special events in a young person’s life. I think about my days as a pastor and confess that such a “receiving event” was often more of a routine than a celebration. Do not gloss over the ideas suggested in Winsted’s article without careful, serious consideration.

If the statistics about huge numbers of young people leaving the church are right, then we should be willing to do whatever we can, humanly speaking, to demonstrate that our covenant children belong and are accepted in the covenant family. Please take the challenge seriously! Several new books reviewed in this issue should help convince you of the urgency of this matter. Four of them speak to the challenges of this generation that is growing up in a morally and spiritually chaotic world. Church leaders and parents should read, study, and discuss the books by John Seele and Os Guinness. I read and scan many books, and these two are as timely and crucial as any I have read recently. The other books elaborate on the challenge and offer materials that can be used effectively to rise to the occasion.

Though the connection may seem less obvious, the books on effective boards also fit into this scenario. As CE/P has worked with church leaders through the years, we have seen that many are so consumed with activities that ministry time is eaten up by busyness. The books on boards are full of helpful ideas on how leaders can use their time more efficiently and minister more productively. It is our joy and delight to help local leaders consider options that will make them more effective in giving direction and spiritual oversight to the church ministry.

The series of articles on stewardship, as well as the other features such as “Equip Tips” and advertisements, are carefully selected for your benefit. Though the advertisements in Equip for Ministry help us offset a portion of the publishing expenses, they also help us carry out our philosophy of making local church leaders aware of available resources.

Pray for us during this new year that we might listen carefully and obediently to God’s Word and be so unified in spirit and purpose that we can do whatever we set out to do. Of course we realize that while “Paul plants and Apollos waters, only God can give the increase.” To Him be the glory and praise.

Generosity: A Key in Stewardship

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Living in a time that is short on commitment and sacrifice, Christians are often unaware of how much we are subconsciously affected by postmodern culture. This is particularly true when it comes to stewardship. We often lack a biblical world and life view when it comes to being good stewards of our time, spiritual gifts, and financial resources.

God tells Job in 41:11, “Everything under heaven belongs to me.” And in Psalm 24:1 David testifies, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” It seems that Christians believe this truth about God in a general way, yet when it comes to the everyday routines of life, it is hard to think of ourselves as stewards rather than owners. The thought of having to give an account to God for what we have done with the gifts He has given is lost in the actual managing of those gifts.

The worldly message that constantly bombards our minds is “Get it while you can!” Before we know it, we are caught by the twin vices of accumulation and consumption. H. Norman Wright in his book Simplify Your Life describes the consumer oriented person as someone “who drives a bank-financed car on a bond-financed highway on credit-card gas to open a charge account at a department store so he can fill his savings-and-loan financed home with installment-purchased furniture.” To some degree we have all been enticed to spend more than we earn, and thereby create indebtedness rather than wealth. Inappropriate accumulation and consumption of things lead to poor stewardship of time, spiritual gifts, and financial resources. These vices often lead to workaholism; there is no time for family or worship. People are so busy working to get out of debt that they don’t have time to build relationships with those they love. There is no time to use spiritual gifts to edify the body of Christ. And finally, there are no financial resources to be given to kingdom work because of the need to retire debt or accumulate more things. These are just some examples of how the lack of a Christian world and life view will stifle generosity and lead to poor stewardship in every area of life.

Ron Blue in his book Generous Living defines generosity as “the willingness to give or share what you have to benefit others.” That means your time, your abilities, and your financial resources. He also says that generosity is the one ingredient that makes true freedom possible. As a matter of fact, he says if he could boil down to one sentence everything he has learned, it would be this, “Generosity and financial freedom are inextricably linked.”

The Apostle Paul uses an agriculture principle to challenge the church in regard to generosity in showing mercy. “Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will reap generously…. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written; he has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” As we choose what we want to give to the poor, we should keep in mind this principle of sowing and reaping. The choice we make will also testify to our faith in God. Paul says in verse 8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you…”

If we give sparingly, we may be making a statement that God is not able to make His grace abound to us in all things, in all times, and in all we need. When opportunities arise to show mercy to the poor and those in need, do we really believe that God is able to take care of us by providing all we need, so that we can abound in every good work? Obviously the Philippians did because Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Paul has already shown in 2 Corinthians 8:3 that the Macedonians believed God was able because they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. Could it be said that our generosity depends on how big a view of God we have?

Again, Ron Blue says, “We know when we are being financially generous-it is evidenced by the dents in our checkbooks.” Does your checkbook reveal dents in accumulation and consumption, or commitment and sacrifice?

Covenant “Stones of Passage” Making the Events Special

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By Brad Winsted. Points of remembrance or ebenezer stones, which recall God’s mercy and sustaining power (Joshua 4), are important reminders of growing up with the Lord. After all, our God is a communicating God, a God of promises, a covenantal God who has established a sacred, eternal relationship with His called ones, whom He has guaranteed and confirmed by His Son’s death on the cross. Sadly in our society children and young people are often at a loss to see God’s hand in anything. Growing up in a culture with temporal and fleeting qualities they long to refer to and identify with meaningful points on the timeline of life.

Even in reformed churches we are losing our young people in droves when they graduate from high school because they see no relevance in their communicant vows. In many of our churches the youth group has taken the place of the church; our young people’s faith and service is intertwined with the friendships and commitments made there. Their identity as Christians is often seen through the prism of the youth leader and the activities of this separated subgroup of the church. It is easy to understand why. When the young person looks ahead after his youth group experience, he sees little relevance to his “parents’ church.”

Becoming an adult in our postmodern society is now related more to secular memory stones or rites of passage such as obtaining a driver’s license, graduating from high school, reaching legal drinking age (or attaining some other age-related privilege like legally smoking or seeing an “R” rated movie with out borrowing someone else’s ID) and sometimes even having physical relationships with the opposite sex. Biblically speaking these are all false signs of maturity. None of them demonstrates doing away with “childish things” and becoming a mature member of the household of faith. In this article I would like to explore some things that many of our reformed churches are doing, or could do, to give our young people a true sense of being whole in Christ, approved workmen who do not need to be ashamed.

At a Christian education conference I recently attended, a pastor shared a new tradition his church was instituting. When parents present their child for baptism before God and the congregation, the father is asked if he will offer a prayerful blessing in the child’s behalf. What a wonderful memory this would make if someone would write out the father’s prayer and frame it with a picture to hang in the baby’s room. I am often impressed when I enter a home and see family pictures displayed on the walls or in albums. These are especially meaningful if the photos show the family doing things together that inspire memories.

We all know the statistics. The millennial or bridger generation is very likely to be the least Christian ever (around 5 percent), fragmented, unsure of what they believe in, longing for permanent relationships (which they never saw growing up), and scared. Scared of everything getting worse, of another divorce, another suicide-attempt, another stepfather or stepbrother to become acquainted with, losing another job, or being replaced by another person. How can we give this generation within our reformed churches the memory stones and the rites of passages that mark their maturity to Christian adulthood? Here are some ideas compatible with our worldview.

Prepare the parents

Most parents did not grow up in homes where a covenantal worldview was clearly expressed, let alone lived out. Jonathan Edwards, the great American Presbyterian of our early history, called homes “little churches” where the essence of our Christianity is worked out. He stressed that “family education and [family] order are the chief means of grace. If these fail, all other means are likely to prove ineffective. [However] if these are duly maintained, all means of grace are likely to prosper and be effective.”

I believe one of the most enlightening and effective ways to grow our children up in the faith and instill in them lasting faith, bold prayers, and confidence in God’s faithful leading, is the family altar. Here is where the rubber meets the road. Here is where the father is a daily, living example of Christ’s love. Here is where the priest of the home builds the living stones of faith. Here is where questions can be asked and answers given. If we leave it to the “professionals” on Sunday then our children will quickly conclude that Christianity is a Sunday thing and relegate it to insignificance. But we as parents are pulled in so many directions! How can we ever have family devotions and prayer? Something must give, and it might have to be a small group, sports activity, television, the internet, or many other “good” things that are not growing our children up to walk in the footsteps of Christ.

The church must provide models for questioning parents. Fathers must be challenged from the pulpit and mentored by the session. If we want mature, motivated Christian young people then we must have mature, motivated parents. Paying youth leaders to do the work is shortsighted at best. Mature, functioning families are a clear beacon in this fragmented age. The church must be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

Challenge our children to grow in grace and knowledge

Christ grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men (and don’t forget that he was in “obedience” to his parents), Luke 2:51-52. Timothy (Paul’s prodigy), continued in what his mother and grandmother taught him and “from infancy” knew the holy Scriptures, which were able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. (2 Timothy 3:14-15)

Some memory stones and rites of passages for our young people can be knowledge of the Scriptures, memorization of the Catechism for Young Children (to help them understand the basics and distinctives of their faith), and finally true covenantal training to prepare them for communicant membership in the church. I will expand on that point in the next section.

Do our children know the origin of their names? God places more significance on names than we do. The names He uses for Himself in scripture could be studied for a lifetime. One of the signs of Adam’s dominion over the animal kingdom was the privilege he was granted in naming the animals. When Zechariah named John the Baptist it was a tremendous event because he chose a name from outside the family. The stories in Scripture abound with the names covenant parents chose for their children. Yet today we do not challenge our children to live up to the biblical, historical, or familial meaning of their names. A child’s thorough understanding of the origin, meaning, and challenge of his name can be an exciting stone of remembrance in his life.

Celebrate communicant membership day

This event is different from church to church, yet I have never seen it used in a fashion that would truly grow the child up in Christ. This true, biblical rite of passage is often a perfunctory meeting with the elders and a few minutes at a worship service in which the young person is just one in a crowd. What a great opportunity to build and strengthen covenant families! Here are some suggestions to make this event a springboard to maturity and involvement.

The father would train the child in the basics of the faith (again, if the child has learned the catechism this will be immeasurably easier). The pastor could provide an outline. Both child and parent would greatly benefit. The father and mother would determine when the child is ready to go before the elders. The child would understand that becoming a communicant member involves saying publicly that he knows he is a sinner, knows he needs a Savior, knows that Savior is Christ, and now can serve the church through the grace afforded him by his salvation (sanctification). As part of the communicant training the church and parents could explore the unique gifts their children have that can be used in ministry.

When the day to receive the young communicant into the congregation arrives, the worship service could be modified (I recommend conducting a separate service if we are really convinced that this should be a special covenant rite of passage) to have the parents participate with a covenant blessing for their child, for members of the congregation to tell how they have been blessed by the child, for special words of encouragement to be given to the young adult about how he should serve the Lord with his gifts. The pastor could have a special blessing. A reception could follow the service. A special item of remembrance could be prepared, such as a record of the parents’ and pastor’s prayers, a picture of the event, and letters of encouragement and exhortation.

Part of the final preparation to receive the young person into the congregation should be a well-thought out plan for how this child will minister in the church with the unique gifts God has given him. I’m convinced that one of the reasons we lose our young people to the world is that they do not see a place to minister in the church. Teaching, music, missions-there are many places where their talents could be readily used.

Present a courtship ring of sexual purity

Our society has gone sex-mad and our covenant children have been caught up in the madness. One example of this is “recreational dating” in which inappropriate emotional and physical relationships prepare the young person for break-up (and later divorce). Wouldn’t it be great if our children’s high school friends were praying partners and true friends so they would not have to experience dissolved relationships because of the shame that they committed towards one another?

One way to anchor the child’s heart is to present him or her with a covenant courtship ring (or pendant) that pledges that the parents will be involved in choosing a life partner, and that the young person will guard his or her heart (which can be crushed just as savagely by inappropriate emotional relationships as by physical relationships) and purity of body until marriage.

We must stop the tide of moral relativism and immorality in our culture. Parents must raise chaste children, who see sexual purity as a gift for the wedding bed, and enjoy life-long friendships with true sisters and brothers in Christ, unmarred by sexual fantasies and immoral thought lives. The American way of dating is a minefield of immorality and danger; we must counter it with a Godly commitment to biblical courtship.

Commemorate graduation

A key point in young people’s passage is their graduation from high school. Instead of leaving it to the local school (parochial or government) to decide the most important charge to give our covenant children, why not plan our own Special Day of Remembrance? Here are some ideas.

Arrange for a Christian who has truly impacted the young person’s life (relative, pastor, coach, or mentor) to be the main speaker. Have other adults and peers comment and exhort. Let the young person speak a word of thanksgiving to his or her parents, church leaders, other adults, and friends, truly glorifying God by thanking Him for the grace that has led him or her to this place (a true ebenezer-hither by Thy help I’ve come). Give gifts that have personalized meanings, not another five-dollar bottle of cologne or perfume. Include special music performed by friends of the graduate, or even by the graduate. There are many other ways to make this transition a special moment rather than a cookie-cutter imitation of the secular culture.

These are some suggestions for how we can truly impact our covenant children’s lives. We must be prepared with a plan for them or the world will supply one that could easily take them down the road to destruction. Our society will not set biblical “rites of passage” for our covenant children. We can do this by integrating home and church into a tradition of hope in the darkness around us.

Questions for discussion:

1. If we believe that we are to pass the faith on to the next generation, what kind of things are we doing in our church to obey that biblical mandate?

2. What does our church do to communicate our desire and intention to work with the parents to pass on the truth of God to the younger generation?

3. Discuss the suggestions of the article with this question in mind: What can we do to make covenant baptism and public profession of faith (joining the church) a more meaningful experience?

4. What are we doing in our church to help strengthen the homes of the congregation, particularly in helping the parents with their role? (See Training Hearts, Teaching Minds in the book review section.)

5. What role do the parents in our church play in determining when a covenant child is ready for a pubic profession of faith in Christ?

Do I Know You?

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Most everybody talks about relational ministry. Yet relationships are so easy to miss because our agendas call for more important things.

I’m embarrassed that I don’t know the names of some of the people in our little church. That creates an awkwardness that inhibits any attempt to go further. Think of the people in your congregation, your Sunday school class, people you see regularly, whose names you don’t know. It’s one reason why the church can seem so impersonal.

Consider the visitor-or is she a regular attendee you’ve simply never met? Do you introduce yourself? I never will forget the time I introduced myself to a woman at church. I asked if she was visiting and she informed me that she was a charter member. That sort of response can be a big inhibitor to saying, “Hi, my name is _____.” But if you don’t the visitor might leave saying, “I attended that church and no one spoke to me.”

And knowing a person’s name is just the beginning.

A Session or Deacon’s meeting might start with a conversation about what’s happening in everyone’s life and a time of prayer for each other. It could take a half hour or more, and it could be the most important thing you do. It will help everyone come together for the business at hand. It could surface some significant information, and it will add a little more glue to the bond that solidifies each one’s commitment to the others.

A Sunday school class ought to be about more than increased understanding of a biblical text. To be effective it must rub that passage against our lives. One way to do that is to help people talk to each other about ways they think the Spirit might want them to respond. A class could break into groups of three to five for exercises that help them get to know each other better, know the Bible better, and listen to God apply the Word to their hearts. Variations on this theme work in almost any age group. For instance, take an egg timer to a children’s class and let everyone have one minute. While the sand falls each one in turn can talk about the most fun he ever had, his favorite toy or best friend, or describe his mother or father. As the teacher, don’t forget to take your turn, too.

Many of us live in metropolitan areas where most everybody is from some place else. Often relatives live a considerable distance away, and neighbors seldom know each other. Houses are empty during the day and closed up during the evening. Many times I’ve heard neighbors say, “People will be out when it’s warmer.” But summer comes and, “People will be out when it gets cooler.” The reality is people don’t come out much at all. Relationships in the neighborhood, at the office, or at school are important. But if they don’t extend beyond the confines of that environment they have limited value. And the same is true of relationships at church. Hopefully, the believer will have friendships with some that extend beyond the confines of a church program.

Those relationships are necessary for us to not simply survive, but thrive in this Christian pilgrimage.