CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

Church Leadership

Let’s Not Lose the Basics

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The great football coach, Weeb Eubank, had a tradition at the beginning of every season. He would take all the new and seasoned players, sit them down, and then begin his lecture. He would take a football, stick it in their faces, and say to them, “Gentlemen, this is a football! Get to know it all over again.” He would go on to explain that unless they remembered the basics of the game of football, they could not win.

The same is true of the church. Unless we keep going back to the basics of who we are and what we believe, we will not continue to grow in the truth, for the truth starts with the basics.

When I was teaching in South Africa, I would tell the students the same thing every year. No matter what aspect of Christian work you go into, when you start in your new position always start by going back to the basics. If the people a l ready know them and can explain them, you are not wasting your time because we all need to keep going over them. If the people don’t know the basics, then you can only succeed, because to not teach the basics to your people means that you will have no foundation on which to build.

We are part of a denomination with many great traditions, but it is not our traditions which make up our foundation – it is the Bible! Our people have either grown up in our churches, or they have come from other churches and traditions where the basics may or may not have been emphasized. We are witnessing, even in the PCA, a weakening of our understanding of the Bible’s doctrine of the church. Because of this, some of our churches are accepting the teachings and practices of the Emergent Church Movement without even realizing what they are doing. We must never allow our churches to lose our understanding of the Bible or our traditions. In the day that happens, we will be like all the other churches who have stepped onto that slippery slope, moving further and further away from the truth, unaware of what is happening.

Here is my suggestion for pastors as well as teachers. Presume nothing! Find out exactly where your people are in their belief system. If they can articulate the basics, then you can move on. I emphasize articulate because if you simply ask people if they believe the Bible is the Word of God or that Jesus was born of a virgin, most of them will say yes. But if you ask them to explain and prove from the Bible these truths, you might be shocked by how little they really know. Read the lead article and ask your people if they understand the issue Charles is bringing out. Did you know that 60% of those that are won to the cults are won out of born again, Bible teaching churches? How can this be? This statistic occurs because we have wrongly presumed that our people truly know the basics.

THE BASICS: Teach them again for the very first time!

After the Baby Boomers: How Twenty- and Thirty- Somethings Are Shaping the Future of American Religon

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Editor’s note: In the book Making Kingdom Disciples: a New Framework, I included a chapter in part two on the importance of understanding the different generations. I was recently asked again why that is an important thing to know and do. I want to answer that good question by reviewing a new book which highlights why I believe that to be important.

Here is another book that pastors and other church leaders should read, especially in light of the above question. I know you feel you already have more than enough to read, which no doubt is true. However, because leaders are readers, I do not apologize for encouraging you to read. While pleasure reading is important, it is also crucial that we read strategically as well. This is a strategic read.

Over the years we have reviewed a number of Robert Wuthnow’s books. He is professor of sociology at Princeton University, as well as the director of the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton. I value his books, research, and challenging ideas.

This book will become a sequel to Christian Smith’s book, Soul Searching, on the American teenager that we have used, recommended, and sold from CE&P. After the Baby Boomer’s deals with young adults ages 21-45. While we have been placing much emphasis on rising generations and senior citizens, two very critical segments of our population, we have now realized that unless we understand the place of “buster and older millennial” generations, we may be missing the ones who will indeed shape religion in America. The church will run the risk of missing the young adult generation if it fails to understand it. In some situations, this is already the case.

Understanding the different generations is a part of understanding our world. You cannot read a book like Soul Searching (Christian Smith) or After the Baby Boomers (Wuthnow) and conclude that we can ignore what they are saying. Wuthnow explains what is happening as we experience in America an estimated six million less churchgoers today than in the past. We have also been aware of how the younger generations of adults are often taking a different route in dealing with spirituality and religion than previous generations. Wuthnow explains why and how that is the case, and he challenges us as to what it means for organized religion. His research in this book will make clear the impact of the internet, as well as how young adults can talk about “virtual” church.

After the Baby Boomers contains 11 chapters on various aspects of understanding the 21- 45 year olds. The appendix goes to great lengths to explain to the reader how the research was done, which is an education in itself. Wuthnow says in the preface that for our churches and synagogues, mosques and temples to exist, resources and people are needed. “These places of worship exist only to the extent that they are able to adapt to their environments. They are products of opportunity structures within those environments.” His challenge: “The fact that baby boomers are rapidly moving into the ranks of the elderly means that it is essential to understand how the next wave of Americans are thinking and behaving. The current generation of young adults cannot be understood historically through connections to the civil rights movement or the Vietnam War the way baby boomers are.”

This young adult generation numbers over 100 million and makes up one third of the American population. Wuthnow describes this age category as young adults who are taking longer to reach adulthood and fraught with uncertainties such as job security and national security. Add to those concerns information technology, immigration, and globalization and you easily see how important it is to understand these young adults. This not only refers to areas such as mentioned above, but also to their struggles with how to relate or not relate to things such as spirituality and religion. At one time these were one and the same but not for this generation. How they describe or define those things have direct implications on their thoughts and views of the church. You will be both fascinated and challenged by what you read in this book; and believe me, it must be read and understood.

There is no doubt that the future rests with these young adults. But as Wuthnow points out, you cannot conclude that they are always alike. Things such as marriage, children, and background make a big difference in their outlook, as does independency, no marriage, no children, no roots. Wuthnow says, “The future of American religion is in the hands of the adults now in their twenties and thirties…They are not as easily defined as other generations.”

We definitely need to spend more time studying and thinking about the role of these young adults in our society in general. One of many examples will highlight this. “The popular literature also makes arguments about ’emerging’ congregations that are somehow the wave of the future because they follow a new paradigm or hark back to models from the first century of Christianity.” They are much more oriented to “experience as opposed to creeds or novel liturgical styles.” Wuthnow says in another example, “a growing number of young adults do not marry, marry later, or do not stay married. Those are the realities of life that pose worries during young adulthood, affect one’s self-identity, and cause people to seek emotional support.” They are taking longer to establish themselves and settle into their communities, and they are tending to be dependent on their parents for a longer period of time.

The younger adults are characterized as tinkerers. “A tinkerer puts together a life from whatever skills, ideas, and resources that are readily at hand.” Within the tinkering process, the married young adults are given to church shopping. The unmarrieds are given to church hopping-some of this and some of that.

This study was funded both by the Lilly and Pew Foundations. Basically it concluded that unless those of us in church leadership roles understand these young adults, we are going to wake-up one morning and say, where is our church? Where are our ministries? Where are our missionaries?

Chapter 1 gives an overall synopsis of the book, but you have to read the other ten chapters to see the data which supports these conclusions. This is a must read and source of study for the church. We cannot bury our heads in the sand or fail to grapple with the issues impacting this young adult population. My challenge to you as you read this book is to ask yourself, “How can we not take time to understand them?”

Keeping the Church Front and Center

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In this issue of Equip to Disciple, the focus in this lead article is the church. To develop this theme we will refer to two main writings by two familiar names to us: one is a chapter by J.I. Packer and the other a forthcoming book by John R.W. Stott. As we expound this theme, our intent is not only to make some general observations but also some specific ones which we hope will encourage readers to take the time to read Stott’s latest book, The Living Church: Convictions of a Lifelong Pastor.


The subject of the church has been on our hearts lately for several reasons. It appears that for some, the church is not viewed as the bride of Christ and given the place it deserves within the Christian faith. The famous saying of John Calvin, “He who has God for his father, will have the church for his mother,” is not taken very seriously nor is the strategic place of the church in God’s design. This is especially true today. We are seeing and hearing more and more negatives regarding the church. Things such as the church is an institution vs. a movement, or the church rep resents a paradigm that doesn’t apply to today’s concept of Christianity, or the church lacks authenticity and integrity. George Gallup Jr. and George Barna are serious when they warn that the church may be only one generation from extinction. Of course, they are referring to the organized church as we know it.

Bruce Hindmarsh states in the opening chapter of Evangelical Ecclesiology: Reality or Illusion? (John G. Stackhouse editor), “When one thinks about the evangelicals and what they hold dear, one would be forgiven for not thinking immediately of the church. Indeed one might even suggest, given the history of schism among evangelicals, the ‘evangelical ecclesiology’ is an oxymoron.” Therefore, he suggests that maybe the church is a non-ecclesial form of religion and evangelicalism is merely a sociological movement. I have been particularly aware of evangelicalism’s attempt to be transdenominational and international- to be inclusive but at the same time not seeing the role and place of the church in that area.

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J. I. Packer in the book Ancient & Postmodern Christianity wrote a chapter entitled “A Stunted Ecclesiology.” He writes, “I am making a case for genuine churchliness of today’s evangelical church, a churchliness that is directly in line with that of the churches that separated from Rome at the time of the Reformation. It is a case, I believe, that urgently needs to be made, both because this recovered churchliness is a significant fact that is often overlooked and because much of evangelicalism is in a state of cognitive dissonance about it, affirming churchliness yet retaining an ethos and mindset that seems to observers to deny it.” After stating five reasons why evangelicals have a stunted ecclesiology, he concluded, “My hope is that in this new century the churchliness of evangelicalism will become evident. As my analysis shows, the difficulty here is more practical than theoretical. Evangelical ecclesiology is not stunted, but evangelical churchliness as a mindset and an ethos is, and without rethinking and adjustment this will continue, so that the credibility of the evangelical claim to mainstream status as church will remain suspect and perhaps be forfeited….We wait and see.”

For space reasons, I will mention three of the five reasons for his conclusion regarding the church’s stuntedness.
1. The church is too centered on salvation. While Packer states the extreme importance of fully grasping the gospel, the focus of the church has been so much directed in that area that it has led to a human centered theologizing which sets human needs center stage and makes the Trinity’s role simply one of saving individuals. He says “church life is thought out and set forth in terms of furthering people’s salvation rather than of worshiping and glorifying God.”

2. The parachurch-centeredness is virtually an evangelical trademark. While maintaining that parachurch ministries are needed for the kingdom, they tend to take away from or divert resources and people from the church to the parachurch direction. He writes, “Sadly, by the same narrowing process that was described above, these agencies of God’s kingdom draw interest, prayer, enthusiasm, and money away from the wider-ranging, slower-moving, less glamorous realities of congregational life, so that the parachurch body comes to have pride of place in supporters’ affections and in effect to be their church.”

3. The independent church syndrome. Packer says this matches the above but goes further than the parachurch centeredness. While we thank God for the churches, Packer says, “A problem lurks here. Independent congregations are such through declining connectional bonds with other congregations- such bonds, I mean, as synods, councils, superintendent ministers, bishops, and court systems provide.” (Packer is an Anglican by church affiliation).

Our experience would concur with the above characteristics listed by Packer, and we are not encouraged because such characteristics are proliferating. As we highlight some of John Stott’s thoughts and comments on the church in his latest book, we are reminded of his statements in other articles that the churches of the West are tired and in need of a rest. Of course, the implication is that the church cannot afford to be tired and in need of a rest. I believe there is a clear correlation between a low view of the church and a lack of understanding of the Kingdom of God and how the church fits into and relates to the broader kingdom, although there are so many ways we could go with this if space allowed. Much of evangelical Christianity has not appreciated nor gotten that relationship straight in the past, and much of today’s broad emerging church paradigm doesn’t have a clear biblical theological model for the church and its place within the kingdom. Hence, the church is not taken with the seriousness that I believe one should take with the bride of Christ or His body.

While I have made it a point over the years to read everything I can by Stott, this little book on the church is outstanding. Even though I could have wished for the reader’s sake that he would have dealt more with the kingdom in connection with the church, this is an excellent book. I was privileged to read the galley proofs before going to press. I could not put it down. Here is a churchman in his late 80’s, actually 86 years of age, writing about his observations and challenges regarding the church. The opening statement of the pre face regarding the Church of England equally applies to the Reformed and Presbyterian churches, especially to the Presbyterian Church in America. Quoting the Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie, Stott writes, “If the current evangelical renewal in the Church of England is to have a lasting impact, then there must be more explicit attention given to the doctrine of the church.” Stott mentions the increased number of books focusing on the theme that the church is “out of tune with contemporary culture and that unless it comes to terms with change, it faces extinction. “Of course he said the church will prevail. When the paradigm in western culture began to shift from modernism to post modernism, the shift had a definite impact on the church.

Stott is right to suggest that how the shift plays out requires much discernment, especially for those identified with the church. He wisely counsels, “It seems to me that the traditional and emerging churches need to listen to one another, with a view to learning from one another. “The traditional church is a reference to the church as we have generally known it over the years. The emerging church is a general statement referring to those who are attempting to develop new paradigms for the church following much of postmodern philosophy.

He further reminds us to remember that while culture goes through constant change, Scripture is unchangeable. Then he states that the purpose of this book “is to bring together a number of characteristics of what I will call an authentic or living church, whether it calls itself ’emerging’ or not.”

Stewardship: Squaring Lifestyle with Theology

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If you have ever done a woodworking project you know that getting it square is vitally important. You can have all the measurements right (theology), but if you do not make them square and level they will not fit together perfectly and be as functional as they should be (lifestyle). A Christian/biblical worldview is foundational to building a lifestyle that is a glory to God, and stewardship is what you build upon that foundation, whether it is gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. Each one’s work will be manifest by fire in that Day (II Cor.3:10ff.).

It is interesting that some of Jesus’ last teachings before going to the cross concerned His second coming and the judgment to follow. He also taught in this context about what was expected of those who were servants and stewards in the Kingdom of God. “As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the son of Man…Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Mt.24:37,44).

There is one special story Jesus told about a servant whom the Master set over his household and asked the question as to whether the servant was wise or wicked. Here we find some lessons about stewardship that will help our lifestyle fit with our theology. First, it teaches us that stewardship is about identity, namely that we must see ourselves as stewards/servants who belong to the Master. If we get this wrong then our whole lifestyle of stewardship will not be perfectly square. The Creator/owner of all creation is the Sovereign Lord. This is seen in such familiar texts as Psalms 24:1; 50: All mankind is a servant/steward in the Kingdom of God with a creation mandate as image bearers to rule and oversee all that the Lord has put in our care (Psa.8:4-9).

Since we live in a prosperous and materialistic culture, the question Jesus poses is very pertinent for Christians today. “Who is a faithful and wise servant whom his Master made ruler over his household?” The vain philosophies of this world blur the lines of distinction between ownership and stewardship. How often do Christians fall into thinking they are owners of all they possess and manage in their lives? Are they more concerned about being image-bearers or image-makers? The more possessions one is able to gain and control, the more important that person begins to feel, and the greater he sees his self-image as being successful. Thoughts of ownership tend to creep into one’s thinking the more a person accumulates.

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The danger of this misperception of identity leads to a materialistic and hedonistic lifestyle. The Lord teaches about these dangers in other parables such as the rich farmer who had such a bumper crop that he sought to build bigger and better barns, and eat, drink, and be merry. Are you more interested in building the servant-image of Christ in yourself, or making an image of worldly success? The late missionary Jim Elliot said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.”

A second aspect of stewardship is about character and its impact on the servant’s involvement in carrying out his duties. The traits that the Master is looking for in his servants are faithfulness and wisdom.

The Lord sees these as two essential characteristics of a servant. When a person understands and accepts his role as a servant of the Lord then he will understand how important these two traits are. Stewardship is about responsibility and accountability.

What responsibilities does a servant manage? There are several that come to mind. One is time, another is things.

The servant in the parable in Mt.24:45-51 has an assignment for that interval of time when the Master is away. As Christians today that means we are to be managing the time between the Lord’s ascension and his coming again. Time is an un-renewable resource available to us; it is important to manage it well by setting priorities for what we are called to do. The parable specified that the servant over the household of the Master was to give to the other members of the household their food at the proper time. He was to faithfully carry out this duty on a daily basis. As stewards in the Kingdom of God, Paul admonishes us to redeem the time in these evil days. Time and watchfulness are the essence of stewardship effectiveness.

The steward needed to be wise in the manner in which he carried out this task. (You will find that in Acts 6 those who were the prototype of deacons were to be men full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.) You might think a diaconal task seemed to be rather mundane, and not requiring much wisdom, but it is little things that the wise do not leave unattended, and the Lord says that if this servant is found to be faithful in even a small task that he would be rewarded with greater responsibility upon the Master’s return. A wise steward builds on the foundation of his faith, gold, silver, and precious stones.

The servant was using the resources the Master had given him for the good of those in the household, and so should it be in the household of faith. Stewardship is about managing resources, and giving to the needs of other members in the body of Christ. It is also about sharing the treasure of the gospel with those who have not yet heard the good news, as Paul says in I Cor.4:1-2,”This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.”

The problem today with so many Christians is they have cut their theological planks straight, but they have not been faithful and wise in the discharge of their duties as assigned by the Master. Some look like the wicked servant in Mt. 24:48. What are some of the common excuses Christians give? They are too busy with their own households to be able to give time to ministry in the church. Others are prone to laziness, not interested in going to the fields to reap the harvest. Procrastination grips the minds of others because there is not a sense of urgency to carry out the mission given by the Lord. It is the syndrome of the wicked servant who thinks that the Master has delayed his coming, and therefore he will quench his own desires first. Leaders particularly need to watch themselves against making such excuses, and thus failing in their stewardship.

When you look at a faithful and wise servant you will see he manages well because he knows there will come a time when he will be held accountable. He is looking and watching for that day. “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Mt. 24:46). Remember the words of Jesus, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect,” followed by “the master of the servant (wicked) will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know.” Christians today need to take heed to the warnings by the Lord to evaluate their stewardship responsibilities. The character of a steward is to be diligent, watchful, trustworthy, and responsible.

Stewardship is also about investing.This is not about the “name it, claim it” prosperity gospel that is being preached in some circles. The kind of investing that Jesus is teaching is investing in heaven, which involves giving here on earth to provide for Kingdom work and meeting the needs of others. A good example is seen in the early church in Acts 2 and 4.The generosity of the believers was a testimony of the power of the gospel. Their theology and lifestyle were in square. They preached and they gave, and the Lord added to the church those who were being saved.

James the brother of Jesus writes a warning to those whose interests are purely selfish, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions… Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” (James 4:3, 4).

Then he follows in chapter 5:1-3:”Come now, you rich weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.”

James goes on to tell about their failure (in stewardship) to care for the needs of those who were their responsibility. What a lesson this ought to be for Christians today. Jesus’ words about laying up treasure in heaven rather than upon this earth need to be proclaimed with great urgency.

Pay attention to the following missionary’s story about a businessman traveling in Korea. The businessman saw a young man pulling a plow with an elderly man following. “May I take a picture of them?” he asks the missionary.

“Yes,” was the quiet reply, “those two men happen to be Christians. When their church was being built they wanted to give something, they had no money so they sold their one ox. This spring they are pulling the plow themselves.”

The businessman said, “That must have been a real sacrifice.”

“They did not call it that, they thought of themselves fortunate they had an ox to sell,” said the missionary.

When the businessman returned home he showed the picture to his pastor. Then he said, “I want to double my giving to the church and do some plow work.”

According to most surveys of Christians today, if they were to double their giving it still would not amount to ten percent. As a steward, are you building a lifestyle that squares with your theology?

Time: The Gift that Can’t be Re-gifted!

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MEMORIZE THIS STATEMENT: God has not given us more things to do in a day than He has given us the time to get it done.

I served as Academic Dean at a Bible college in South Africa. I told the students at the beginning of each year if they felt a teacher was giving them more to do than was expected they could come to me to complain. The only provision was that I would ask them to show me proof for how they spent their time during the week. In nine years I heard much grumbling, but not one student ever came to me with their accusation. This either meant that no teacher was giving too much work (which I don’t believe), or the struggling students were not using their time well. Which do you think was the case?

Time is the most precious commodity God has given to us, and it is not renewable! Once it is gone you can never make up for lost time. No one has more, or less, time than you do. You have 1440 minutes per day and 168 hours each week in which to offer faithful service. Even Jesus had the same amount of hours in His day, but think about the ways He invested that time. Peter said to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18). Growth takes place over time. Your personal growth, or lack of it, is dependent upon the best use of your time. Time will not wait for you; it will simply pass you by.

We will be held accountable for the way we use our time. Paul says, Make the best possible use of your time (Col. 4:5, Phillips’ paraphrase), and, Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil (Eph.5:15). Jesus tells us, We need to be energetically at work for the One who sent me here, working while the sun shines. When night falls, the workday is over (John 9:4, The Message). God promised to supply our every need: Is time not one?

Sermons are often preached on the stewardship of wealth and possessions. Far fewer sermons are heard that hold us accountable for the use of our talents. Fewer still, if any, are ever heard concerning the stewardship of our time.

Where do you begin?


Set Goals -Decide what you want to accomplish. Or better, what God wants you to accomplish.

Prioritize – Take your list of goals and order them according to importance.

Plan – Develop strategies for how you will reach each goal.

Schedule -Set a date by which you will check your progress. Also set a date by which you hope to fulfill each goal.

Set a goal to set your goals – The most effective leaders set aside time at least weekly to lay out what they want to accomplish that week. One thing they have in common is the confirmed belief that the more time they spend planning, the less time they have to spend implementing. They argue that it is 90% inspiration and 10% perspiration. It may sound strange, but once you try it you too will become a believer.

Tithe – We often hear about tithing our money, but have you ever realized that we should also tithe our time? There are 168 hours each week. Do you give God at least 10% of your time?

If we agree that all good things are from God, and that He never asks us to do more than He has given the time to get it done, then time management is really managing His time!

God’s sixth commandment could read, “Thou shalt not kill time.”

PCA Takes a Stand: Federal Vision and New Perspectives on Paul

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Editor’s note: Instead of our usual “In Case You’re Asked” page where we respond to some of your questions, we have decided to use this page to pass on to you an action taken by the 2007 General Assembly regarding a theological issue that the church was asked to study and respond to. The entire report will be in the Minutes of this year’s Assembly, but because of the importance of the issue, we wanted our readers to have a copy of the declaration portion of the report. The following is a list of recommendations passed by the Assembly and the declaration portion of that report.

Recommendations


That the General Assembly commend to Ruling and Teaching Elders and their congregations this report of the Ad Interim Committee on New Perspectives on Paul and Federal Vision for careful consideration and study.

That the General Assembly remind the Church, its officers and congregations of the provisions of BCO 29-1 and 39-3 which assert that the Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms of the Westminster Assembly, while “subordinate to the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, the inerrant Word of God, “have been adopted by the PCA “as standard expositions of the teachings of Scripture in relation to both faith and practice.”

That the General Assembly recommend the declarations in this report as a faithful exposition of the Westminster Standards, and further reminds those ruling and teaching elders whose views are out of accord with our Standards of their obligation to make known to their courts any differences in their views.

That the General Assembly remind the Sessions and Presbyteries of the PCA that it is their duty “to exercise care over those subject to their authority” and “to condemn erroneous opinions which injure the purity or peace of the Church” (BCO 31-2; 13-9f).

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Declarations


In light of the controversy surrounding the NPP and FV, and after many months of careful study, the committee unanimously makes the following declarations: