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We Need New Words – Part 2

Posted in Other, tagged , on August 22, 2012| 2 Comments »

 

Just today, I heard from a friend about a fine young person just returned from teaching in China. This young man was eager to return for a second year, but was very frustrated because he felt like he did not know how to move from being friends with the Chinese to talking about faith in God and Jesus.

 

I also received comments from the “We Need New Words” blog from experienced missionaries and others who also wanted to know how to bridge the expanse between friendly conversations and conversations about God or faith.

 

In other words, we love God and we love our neighbors.  We know how to show compassion to those in need, but we are speechless and frustrated when it comes to initiating conversations with those same people about faith.

 

First, let’s talk about why this might be a problem for us.

 

  • We are afraid of being rejected or looking foolish.  Nothing new here.
  • We have been convinced (by watching TV/movies) that conversations about faith are culturally inappropriate and out of the cultural mainstream.  However, CNN has a religion blog; TV series like “Friday Night Lights” include Christian characters—yes, some representations portray the “Christians” as pretty weird, but the President invokes God and lots of people read Max Lucado. Even American Idol has included professing believers. Christians are not as absent from popular culture as you might think.
  • We have very little experience initiating serious conversations. Most conversations we have are very superficial.  
  • Some Christians no longer believe that trust in God/Jesus is necessary/essential. This comes from either a kind of universalism (universal salvation) or just pure ignorance of the Word.
  • We don’t know how. Nobody has ever taught us how.

 

This last reason is absolutely legitimate. If you have never seen your parents have a serious talk with someone; if you have never had a mentor show you how they initiate a conversation; how can you possibly know how to do this without someone to emulate?

 

OK, here are some examples of ways people get into conversations without being offensive.

 

I have a good friend who intentionally found a reply to a mundane question that often leads to very comfortable conversations about faith.  When someone says, “Bill, how are you?”   he always replies, “Blessed!”   That’s it.  He has done this for years and it is just out of the ordinary enough that people take notice.  Often people seek him out for more information about faith, about his life, about why he said that . . . and there you have created an environment where people ask you about your faith.

 

I think your little phrase could also be an “email signature” that was a good, somewhat neutral Bible verse, like, “Mercy triumphs over judgment” and people will come to you and ask where that came from—which opens the door for a conversation.

 

It might be a lapel pin or a Facebook picture or just about anything that is just slightly out of the ordinary so that people ask about it.  I recently heard about a woman who had JESUS tattooed on the arm that she served tables with in a bar, so that people would ask her about her tattoo.

 

I’ve also found that you can ask people if they go to church somewhere—especially new people—or do they have a church home—in the same sentences as you ask where they work or where the kids go to school.  Just throw it in without blinking and you’ll see that they usually just give you an honest reply that tells you whether to extend the conversation or not.

 

The key is to be intentional. Do something intentionally, and then be ready when someone responds to your initiative.

 

The main thing is to do something! I spoke with a young man from Syria who is a Christian today because an older man from Texarkana, Texas, decided to go on his own and pass out Christian tracts in front of a mosque on Fridays in Damascus!  This young man’s father came out of the mosque, saw this crazy Texas Christian and was actually afraid for him, so he went up to him and invited him to come to his home.  The Texas guy went with him, they became good friends, and eventually the whole family became Christians.

 

I’m not recommending this method of evangelism, but I think it is a great example of God using the foolishness of our feeble efforts to accomplish marvelous things in the lives of the people who are searching for Him.

 

Don’t be afraid.  Don’t believe that no one wants to know about Jesus. Don’t wait for a Ph.D in sharing your faith.  Just think of some small thing to do that might lead to someone asking you if you are a Christian.  That’ enough for today.

 

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We Need New Words!

Posted in Other, tagged , on August 20, 2012| 10 Comments »

I’m in Arkansas today, driving to Searcy to work with a small group of young people who have committed to go to Italy for two years in the Avanti Italia program. One of their main activities will include  . . . . I don’t even know what to call it anymore!  And that’s part of the problem.

We used to call it either personal evangelism or personal work. If we did it in a group or in a concentrated way, the same activity was called campaigning.  When I was a boy and my parents were doing it, they called it conducting cottage Bible classes—and I don’t have a clue where the cottage part of that came from, but I suspect it was the same place as in the old song that starts with the line, ”I’m satisfied with just a cottage below . . . .”

Somewhere in the 80s and 90s, any phrase that used the word evangelism took on a negative connotation, so the same activity was described as outreach.  With the new millennium though, we must have needed a new word, so if this activity is talked about at all, it always is described, not named, and it always includes the word sharing.  Faith sharing or sharing my faith seem to have been the most common that I hear.

More recently, the trend seems away from talking about faith and has turned to telling my story, sometimes sharing my story, and if we need to objectify it a bit more, we leave out the my and just tell the story.

Of course, the words we use change with both what we do and how we do it.  Here’s a quick and very subjective description of our methods of doing whatever it is we don’t have good words for!

  1. New people were brought the gospel and converted by the sword!  As the Crusaders went through countries, they converted people or killed them.  The conquistadors/soldier priests did the same thing .  Or your king became a Christian—or a certain kind of Christian–and if you wanted to live in his country, you did too—a la, European Christianity after the Reformation.  This is a quick, though painful way, to make lots of new Christians—or at least church members. I’m not so sure about whether people became Christians.
  2. In the New World,  education was the way people were converted. Schools were started to teach reading, so that people could read the Bible and be Christians. Natives were civilized and Christianized as if those two were one and the same activities.
  3. The 1800s were the time of great revivalism. Great preaching was the means of conversion for most people. Tent meetings and gospel meetings lasted for weeks—months—until all the unsaved were saved.
  4. Over a period of time that spanned the turn into the 1900s, the various denominations in the U.S. began mostly trying to convert each other to the “right” church.  The average Christian was unprepared to deal with someone’s unbelief if that person were a Darwinist or a scientific atheist, but they were prepared to tell others why their church doctrine was right and the others were wrong.
  5.  As rational modernism gave way in popular thinking to the more relativistic post modernism, Christians became less sure that these doctrinal differences should make such a big difference, so we quit talking about them.  But then we weren’t quite sure what to talk about, since almost everyone we knew believed in Jesus . . . and so our words got softer and fuzzier.
  6. Now we are in a time when it is socially inappropriate to try to convince someone of anything.  It’s OK to tell people what you have experienced—share your story—but to try to persuade someone that they should change their story for any reason is considered highly arrogant.

So this is why we don’t have any real words anymore for . . . .

Even this nameless activity is being changed to just living out our story in front of people and hoping that somehow they connect the dots to know that Jesus loves them and died for them. Our time may be the time of the wordless Gospel. 

And if that sounds OK to you, then I wonder if you are OK with your children or your grandchildren never hearing the story of Jesus, never reading the Bible—just watching people do good things—because I’m afraid that we are virtually to that point.

Does faith still come by hearing the word of God? And how can they hear without a preacher? And do we still persuade others because we know the fear of the Lord?  And is the Holy Spirit still a guide to all truth—or just a Comforter?

We need some new words. More and more of our neighbors care less and less about Jesus.  If we are faithful to our calling, we have to go preach and teach as Jesus said in the Great Commission.  We don’t have to call it preaching and teaching if those words are somehow inappropriate . . . but we have to do it!

 

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What Is An “Uncle Wiggily” Gift?

Posted in Other, tagged , on August 9, 2012| 2 Comments »

For Christmas, when I was about ten years old, my brother and sister, who were seven (twins) gave me an Uncle Wiggilyboard game.  They were so excited about giving it to me—and with every right because the game is for 7 year-olds!!  They played Uncle Wiggily all afternoon; they loved the gift they gave me!  For me, it was one of those gifts you have to pretend to be happy to receive.

That was Christmas fifty years ago, but not only do I remember the feelings of the day, but our family then and the next generation of kids in my own family know exactly what is meant when we say, “That’s an Uncle Wiggily gift!”

I recently received a very generous gift, but it was given with both spoken and unspoken conditions. The person (not my wife!) had every intention of being generous—and was—but lacked the gracious spirit that should accompany a gift.

I was still appreciative of the gift, but I thought to myself, there is more to being generous than just giving a gift, so I thought I’d share with you just a few thoughts about how to be a gracious giver, not just a generous giver.

Give happily!

People give gifts for many reasons:  obligation, coercion, habit, or social acceptability. It may sound strange to say, but I suspect that the people who give gifts because it makes them happy are among the best and most gracious. Sounds a bit selfish, doesn’t it. After all, my siblings were quite excited and happy about giving me Uncle Wiggily.  Well, it shouldn’t be the only characteristic for gracious giving, but if giving brings the giver no joy, the gift is diminished.

Give for the joy of the recipient!

If they had just given me a new baseball glove, I would have been ecstatic!  I will admit having to learn this part from my wife Sherrylee. I would have often bought gifts that I thought were great, if she hadn’t stopped me cold with the question: why would they want that?  An honest answer would have been, “because I really like it and they should too,” an answer which would have revealed how little I was thinking about the other person! A great gift should be great to both the giver and the receiver.

Give without conditions

A gift with strings may not even qualify as a gift! What do you think about people who give at church—as long as everything pleases them, but then use their “gifts” as leverage to make things happen the way they want it to happen. These gifts are more like purchases of influence!

What about people who give to create a debt of gratitude?  “Do you remember what I gave you? Now, I need something from you!”

Give with a smile, not a grimace!

I’m still learning a lot about generosity. Often Sherrylee is more generous than I am, so we give a gift that she gives with a big smile—and I give with a little smile. My smile has gotten bigger over the years as I watched her graciousness and the joy she brings to other people with her wonderful gifts.  Learning to be a more gracious giver is one of her gifts to me.

Give your gift wrapped appropriately!

It’s not that the wrapping—whether literal or metaphorical—changes the value of the gift, but it does tend to reflect the care and thought put into giving the gift.  The metaphorical wrappings for some gifts might be a special dinner, or a special moment, or simply accompanied by an expression of personal joy. Wrapping doesn’t have to be expensive to be especially appropriate.

“For God so loved the world that He gave . . . .”

 He didn’t have to! He gave only for the benefit of the recipients! He only required that the gift be received, not earned.  He gave out of pure love (while we were yet sinners), and He wrapped it in flesh and glory, so that we could recognize the glory that is ours.

Being a gracious giver begins with the realization that every good thing we have—even that which we think we have earned and own—every good thing is a gracious gift from a gracious God.

 

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Unity Requires Grace!

Posted in Other, tagged , , on July 17, 2012| 2 Comments »

Whenever someone starts to talk about unity, other people get nervous that somehow people who shouldn’t be in the fold of the saved might be allowed in.  I suppose too many people under grace would somehow water down the value of salvation, or those that were really good would be disappointed to learn that they didn’t really need to be that good to get in.

Even those who further narrow the passage way believe in grace.  In fact, it is the measure and scope of God’s grace that seems to be one of the most difficult problems. Too much grace and we have Romans 6: “Shall we sin that grace may abound??”  Too much grace and we are tempted towards universalism, or salvation for everyone!

But not enough grace and we find ourselves in legalism, sectarianism, and judgmentalism, which all of us believe to be out of step with the spirit of Christ.

What if we quit speculating about grace and just listed the sins toward which we know God has extended grace.  This is just a blog, not a book, so you’ll forgive me for just hitting the high points without a lot of footnotes.

Old Testament

  1. Lying              –                                              Abraham lied twice about his wife
  2. Cheating      –                                              Jacob cheated Esau out of the blessing
  3. Idolatry        –                                              Aaron made a golden calf for Israel to worship
  4. Rebellion     –                                              Aaron and Miriam rebelled against Moses’ leadership
  5. Lust                –                                              David lusted after Bathsheba
  6. Adultery      –                                              David took Bathsheba to bed and got her pregnant
  7. Murder        –                                              David had Bathsheba’s husband Uriah killed
  8. Challenging God’s righteousness      Job

New Testament

  1. Adultery      –                              Jesus and the adulterous woman
  2. Stealing        –                              Thief on the cross
  3. Denying Jesus           –              Peter
  4. Power struggle         –              “Who will be the greatest in the kingdom”
  5. Hatred/Vengence   –              “Do you want us to call down fire on them?”
  6. Persecuting Christians –         Saul of Tarsus
  7. Murder                        –              Saul and Stephen
  8. Racial prejudice/hypocrisy – Peter with the Greek Christians

And then there is the lists of  “and so were some of you” that Paul mentions: “You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” Colossians 3:7.

So how does this list of sins stack up against those sins for which you are willing to deny fellowship with others who call on the name of the Lord?

 

Let’s acknowledge two very important truths about sin/grace here:

  1. All sin has consequences.  Grace did not mean Paul was not hated and persecuted by the Jews. Grace did not mean that David’s infant son by Bathsheba did not die.  All sin has consequences.
  2. We are called to repent of all sin!  But as I think back over the above list, I don’t remember Abraham or Jacob or the Sons of Thunder repenting—at least not in a way that was worth recording.

So I can acknowledge that God’s grace is extended to all (“God so loved the world”—not “God so loved the Good People”)and still acknowledge that there are people who will not accept the grace of God.

Two verses of Scripture have changed my need to speculate about the portion of grace you have received.

John 1:14 – The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

If Jesus could be full of truth and full of grace at the same time, then I should strive for the same.  All truth and no grace is just as wrong as all grace and no truth!  Full, to me, means going for the most truth possible and the most grace possible.

James 2:13 – “Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

What this says to me is that if you are in doubt about whether to exercise mercy or judgment, you should always choose mercy.

Ephesians 2 says that God is rich in mercy.  If you need help in deciding whether to show grace or to exercise judgment—think about being “full of grace” like Jesus and “rich in mercy” like God.  I have a hard time seeing how you can go wrong following these paths.

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Try Tingling Instead of Bristling!

Posted in Other, tagged , , , on July 12, 2012| 5 Comments »

I told the preacher from a small town in Tennessee that we have historically been with the a cappella part of the Restoration Movement, and he said, “That just makes me tingle!”

Sherrylee and I are at the North American Christian Convention, which is the primary annual meeting of the Independent Christian Churches.  We have been treated to wonderful classes, outstanding preaching, and great fellowship, but more importantly for me, we have caused goose bumps!

I stopped at a booth yesterday and was talking to three women who are involved in a benevolent ministry, listening to them tell about their wonderful work. One of the women read the logo on my shirt and asked, “So what is Let’s Start Talking?”

Of course, I started telling her and her response was, “Why haven’t I heard about this before?”  I explained that LST began in the a cappella Church of Christ, to which she replied, “Now what’s going on here? “

She had grown up in the non-instrumental Church of Christ and knew from her childhood that the two cousins were not in fellowship with each other. YET, the keynote speaker that morning was from Abilene Christian University, and here we were standing right in front of her.

I explained to her that there were still differences—like any two brothers or sisters are different—but that maybe we were all learning that loving one another was more Christ-like than castigating one another.

At least 5000 Christians are in Orlando at the conference. I hardly know anyone here—which is so different from when we go to Pepperdine or Harding or any of our lectureships or conferences.  And I didn’t really know how we would be received.  Every group has its hardliners who only have room in their hearts for people who do not disagree with them on things.  What if I sat at the table with someone who was angry that this “other” person was at their meeting!!

When the preacher from Tennessee said, “That just makes me tingle, ” the thought crossed my mind that he was reacting negatively, but then he said, “I just love it that we have begun to find each other again.”

It’s a beautiful thing when brothers walk together in unity. And it’s a sign of a maturing body of Christ, and a sign of the reconciliation of the world, and a sign of the work of God’s Spirit—and an answer to the last prayers of Jesus.

If you were thinking about bristling, stop and pray for tingling instead!

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Fourth of July Movies and Trivia

Posted in Other on July 4, 2012| 1 Comment »

The 4th of July still feels like a new holiday to me because for so many years, we were out of the country on the fourth and not with people who celebrated it. Our first eight years of marriage, we were in Germany and the next twenty-five years, we were somewhere in the world on an LST project.

Occasionally during all those summers, we would gather with other Americans for a celebration of the fourth of July.  I remember one summer having a picnic in a beautiful park in Japan with LST teams; another year we met with Dave and Mary Schallert and their boys in Mannheim, Germany, to watch the video-taped baseball All-Star game.  They were near enough to American forces in Germany to get American Forces Network (AFN) TV.

But celebrating the fourth in another country is just not the same.  Take fireworks displays for instance.  We have often made it a point to be in Hanover, Germany, for the great firework contests that were held in Herrnhausen Gardens, part of the former royal estate of the Hanoverian family, which was the family of George III of England who was king during the Revolutionary War—or the War of the Rebellion of the Colonies, as my British friend David referred to it.

Anyway, for many years, three or four countries would compete against each other in Hanover with fireworks displays set to classical music. Handel’s Fireworks Music  from 1749 was often used, of course.  I don’t ever remember hearing Stars and Stripes Forever though—it was beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, but the fourth of July is so much more than that.

Here are some interesting trivia about the fourth of July that you may not know:

  • Three U.S. presidents have died on July 4, including two of the founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and John Adams who died within hours of each other on July 4, 1836. The other was James Monroe.
  • President Calvin Coolidge was born on July 4, and President Zachary Taylor, while celebrating the 4th of July in 1850, got sick and died five days later from eating bad holiday food.
  • Most, if not all of the colonial representatives signed the Declaration of Independence weeks, if not months, after July 4, 1776. John Adams thought July 2, the date the Continental Congress voted to adopt the independence resolution, would become the national holiday.
  • Denmark hosts the largest celebration of the 4th of July outside the United States at Rebild National Park. The Festival was begun here as the result of the park land being donated to the Danish government in honor of Danish Americans.
  • The Liberty Bell was probably not rung on July 4, 1776 because the public announcement of independence did not occur until July 8.  It’s connection to July 4th was created most likely by the publication of a short story in 1847 that fantasized an emotional ringing on the 4th of July by an old bell-ringer.
  • Around 155 million hot dogs will be eaten by Americans on the 4th of July.
  • In 1939, Lou Gehrig, famous NY Yankees first basemen, delivered his “luckiest man on the face of the earth” speech on Lou Gehrig Day at Yankee Stadium. He was the first major leaguer to have his number retired.

And, finally, here is my list of great movies for the family on the 4th of July, not necessarily in order of preference:

  1. Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)
  2. Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
  3. 1776 (1972)
  4. Independence Day (1996)
  5. Rocky (1976)
  6. John Adams (TV mini series, 2008—one of the best I have ever seen!)
  7. Johnny Tremain (1957, great for younger audiences)
  8. Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
  9. Forest Gump (1994)
  10. Miracle (2004)

Well, happy birthday, America! Now quit reading blogs and go have a great day with someone you love!

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Sunday Hymns: The Hymn That Let the Individual In!

Posted in Other, Sunday Hymns, tagged , on July 1, 2012| 1 Comment »

The critics of contemporary Christian music often make the claim that it is too individualistic, that is, individual relationships to God seem to have greater mention than communal, or that more of the songs focus on Me than on Him or They or Us.

You who feel that way will be shocked to learn which hymn—probably one of your favorites—was the first to be caught up in this kind of controversy.

At the turn of the 18th century, most Protestants were still singing the Psalms or the slightly more modern paraphrases of Scripture.  In 1701, Isaac Watts wrote a communion hymn, which he first titled Crucifixion To The World By The Cross of Christ.  We know this hymn today as When I Survey The Wondrous Cross, still used among us as a communion hymn and considered one of the best hymns ever written.  Charles Wesley is reported to have said that he would have sacrificed all of his own hymns freely if he could have written this one.

Nevertheless, this hymn stirred up controversy because it is the first known hymn to be written in first person.  To sing from one’s own heart about one’s own feelings and one’s own relationship to the cross and one’s own Savior was much too personal, too individualistic for Christians of that time.

Times and people have not changed much, have they!  But, neither has our amazement when we look on “the wondrous cross.”

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

In our fellowship, this was the moment when the voices quieted, and we paused between each phrase—“His head…His hands….his feet”– to realize the crucifixion moment.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

The following stanza is original, but even Watts suggested it might be omitted, so most of us will find it unfamiliar.

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

With almost sudden volume, this last stanza would burst forth like the resurrection—from our own death and burial to new life, with renewed recognition of what the Cross demands in our—no, in MY life!

It’s very personal, isn’t it!

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The Southern Baptist: “What About Them, Lord?”

Posted in Christian Culture, Other, tagged , , , , , on June 30, 2012| 1 Comment »

Fred Luter, Jr. First African-American President of SBC.

I’ve been fascinated by all that has come out of the Southern Baptist Convention which was held June 19-20 in New Orleans this year.  Southern Baptists are the largest denomination in the United States with over 16 million members in 2010.

Prior to the Civil War, the Southern Baptists separated from the Northern Baptists over the issue of slavery. After the Civil War, most black Baptists churches separated themselves from the Southern Baptists and started the National Baptist Convention.

During the last half of the 20th century, the SBC began moving away from its southern distinctions, becoming both more racially diverse and again more national, with representation in at least forty different U.S. states.

The biggest public news to come out of this year’s convention was the election of Fred Luter, Jr., as the first African-American president of the convention.  Although there are only 3400 black churches in the SBC, Luter, minister for the First Baptist Church in New Orleans, was elected “with overwhelming affirmation, sustained applause and no verbal opposition” (BP News).  Although some critics point out that this is a very small step –and a late step—in developing greater diversity, surely we can agree that Luter’s election is a positive move for a church virtually denominated by racism for so many years.

The biggest controversyat the SBC was the battle to determine how Calvinistic real Baptists are.  Interestingly enough, some are surprised that any Baptists are Calvinist,  while others would argue that all Baptists came out of Calvinism.

John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller

In 2009, Time magazine named “The New Calvinism” one of the ten ideas changing the current world (3/12).  Only 10% of current Southern Baptist pastors say they are Calvinists, but surprisingly, over 30% of recent SBC seminary graduates identify themselves as such. The future seems to be moving towards Calvinism among the Baptists.

Because of that look into the future of their denomination, just before the SBC convention in New Orleans, a well-renowned group of Baptist leaders published a paper entitled,  “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation,” in which they tried to state for the record what Southern Baptist accept and reject about Calvinism.  At the convention, the word heresy was thrown around—just to demonstrate how emotional and divided the Baptists are on this theme.

Churches of Christ and most restoration movement churches simply reject Calvinism out of hand. Many argue that the restoration movement was a reaction to the Calvinism of the churches its leaders were leaving.

What this means is that most average members in our fellowship have never even heard of TULIP, nor would they be tempted by any of its positions even if they had.  That general indifference does not mean, however, that our younger generation of preachers especially are unaffected by the teachings of men like John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Tim Keller, and others.

I’m going to come back to Calvinism soon, but I do want to say now that I do believe that we may have been so afraid of those biblical words predestination and election that we have had a tendency to selectively limit God—and imposing limits on God I find to be extraordinarily presumptuous!

Finally, the biggest speech of the SBC convention may have been delivered by David Platt, author of Radical: Taking Back Your Faith From the American Dream and Radical Together: Unleashing the People of God for the Purpose of God, two books widely read and discussed in evangelical circles.

David Platt

Platt had been criticized for statements he had made at a conference in Austin which seemed to suggest that he had serious issues with the “sinner’s prayer.”  Questioning the “sinner’s prayer” for Baptists is like throwing stones at Billy Graham and all the great evangelists. In addition, his perceived criticism of the “sinner’s prayer” seemed to his critics to align him with the “Calvinist stars” of the Southern Baptist,  so Platt felt the need to speak to that criticism during the Pastors Conference of the SBC convention.

His speech was entitled “What I Really Think About the ‘Sinner’s Prayer,’ Conversion, Mission, and Deception.”  Fortunately, he posted the text of his address in his blog on 6/28/2012 and it was re-posted by Christianity Today at its web-only site.  Click here for the full text.

Why am I bothering to report on the Southern Baptist to you, most of whom are not Southern Baptist?  What difference does it make what David Platt thinks?  If you are asking these questions, then you need to get on Twitter and just listen to our younger preachers.

At lectureships just this year—the nearest thing Churches of Christ have to conventions—I have heard and sometimes participated in discussions of lingering racism in our congregations, especially the lack of recognition and platform for younger, minority preachers.  I have heard the serious debate over the existence of Hell and the questioning of the need for evangelism.  These conversations are our version of these same issues the Baptists are discussing.

Why am I interested in the SBC convention?  Because their public issues will be our issues in the near future—if they aren’t ours already!

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Sunday Hymns: I Love To Tell The Story

Posted in Other, Sunday Hymns, tagged , , , on June 24, 2012| 3 Comments »

The word story is a key word to understanding the post modernist generation.  Earlier generations had other words. I think the word for my generation was journey; everybody was on a journey and everything was a journey.

But journeys have given way to stories now.  Now everyone has their own story and life is a narrative. Your witness is your story; your upbringing is your story; your history is your story. Preaching has moved from exegesis or exhortation to story telling.

The King James Bible (1611) uses the word story only in two obscure passages in 2 Chronicles. The American Standard Version (1901) never uses the word story  in this way, but The Message ( 2002) uses the word story  161 times! 

Hymns are a place where the generations meet around the word story, not necessarily in the great anthems, but in some of the more populist hymns of the 19th century.  Here are some that you will probably recognize

Tell Me the Old, Old Story (1866) with lyrics by Katherine Hankey.

Tell me the old, old story of unseen things above,
Of Jesus and His glory, of Jesus and His love.
Tell me the story simply, as to a little child,
For I am weak and weary, and helpless and defiled.

Tell me the story slowly, that I may take it in,
That wonderful redemption, God’s remedy for sin.
Tell me the story often, for I forget so soon;
The early dew of morning has passed away at noon.

Tell me the story softly, with earnest tones and grave;
Remember I’m the sinner whom Jesus came to save.
Tell me the story always, if you would really be,
In any time of trouble, a comforter to me.

Tell me the same old story when you have cause to fear
That this world’s empty glory is costing me too dear.
Yes, and when that world’s glory is dawning on my soul,
Tell me the old, old story: “Christ Jesus makes thee whole.”

Refrain

Tell me the old, old story, tell me the old, old story,
Tell me the old, old story, of Jesus and His love.

Interestingly enough, she also wrote the words to I Love To Tell the Story.  “I love to tell the story of unseen things above . . . .pretty post modern—except for the word above!

Then there is Tell Me The Story of Jesus, written by Fanny Crosby around 1880:

Tell me the story of Jesus,
Write on my heart every word.
Tell me the story most precious,
Sweetest that ever was heard

But one of my favorite hymns from my childhood which still occasionally surfaces is the rousing, almost dramatic  O Listen To Our Wondrous Story, sometimes titled What Did He Do?.  The words were written by James Gray around 1903, but, in this instance, the marriage of the words with the music by William Owen, a worker in the slate quarries of Wales in the mid-1800s, was what really made the hymn work.

I especially loved the antiphonal chorus, where the women sing, “Who saved us from eternal loss?” and before they even finish the question, the men are responding with the certain answer, “Who but the Son upon the Cross!”   As we most often sang it, the first questions were sung softly, with each succeeding question and answer a little louder, until the final triumphant response was full volume.

The final verse makes the question of story very personal: Will you surrender to the Savior, to his scepter humbly bow?   So journey and story meet in the certainty of Jesus and His Cross and the necessary response that it requires from me!

I love this song still:

O listen to our wondrous story,
Counted once among the lost;
Yet One came down from Heaven’s glory,
Saving us at awful cost!

No angel could His place have taken,
Highest of the high though he;
The loved One on the cross forsaken,
Was One of the Godhead three!

And yet this wondrous tale proceedeth,
Stirring heart and tongue aflame!
As our High Priest in Heav’n He pleadeth,
And Christ Jesus is His Name!

Will you surrender to this Savior?
To His scepter humbly bow?
You, too, shall come to know His favor,
He will save you, save you now.

Refrain

Who saved us from eternal loss?
Who but God’s Son upon the cross?
What did He do?
He died for you!
Where is He now?
In heaven interceding!

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Reversing the 80-20 Challenge in Our Churches

Posted in Christian Missions, Other, tagged , , on June 22, 2012| Leave a Comment »

What are the goals you have for your church?  Aside from the very specific goals of painting the auditorium or getting new elders next year, would any of these be your goals?

  • More of our members get into the Word
  • Greater prayerfulness
  • Increased generosity
  • Greater personal engagement

I can’t imagine any healthy, growing church that is not keenly conscious of the need to grow in these areas almost all of the time!

I know several churches that are doing The Story series this year to encourage serious Bible study. Another church is reading the entire Bible in ninety days together, with Sunday sermons tied into the weekly reading.

Has your church done the forty days of prayer exercise?  We did it for our neighborhood a few years ago. Some do it for special contributions or special outreach events.  Or has your church done a twenty-four hour prayer vigil. Many African churches have these on a monthly basis.

Generosity is tougher on our congregations. You might have done a Dave Ramsey series or Crown Ministry if you are at a larger church.  Smaller churches seem to be limited to the occasional sermon which encourages generosity.

Unfortunately, the 80-20 Rule still prevails at most congregations, no matter what area of body life that we talk about.  Eighty percent of the members do 20% of the work and 20% of the members do 80% of the work.  Giving and praying seem to follow the same 80-20 pattern.  So we hire involvement ministers to motivate us to do what should be the most natural functions of every member of the body, that is, to do actively what we were created in the body to do!

What if you could lead your church into one opportunity, one activity, one exercise, or one ministry that would address all of these critical spiritual needs at once, AND what if you could expect a 70% success rate with the members, AND what if it was something in which virtually ALL of your members could participate regardless of age, Christian experiences, family situations, or most other external factors?

Have you read Dr. Craig Altrock’s book called The Shaping of God’s People:  One Story of How God Is Shaping the North American Church Through Short-Term Missions The Shaping of God’s People:  One Story of How God Is Shaping the North American Church Through Short-Term Missions ?  His book is the result of his dissertation research for some of our finest scholars at Harding School of Theology.

What makes this study so important is that his conclusions are not just anecdotal or random, but rather these results are disciplined, quantitatively verifiable, and peer-reviewed conclusions.

A group of approximately 800 short-term mission workers who had participated in a foreign short-term mission with Let’s Start Talking, including people whose experience was up to twenty years prior to the study, were asked to report in a variety of ways on how their short-term mission experience affected them.  The briefest of summaries is as follows:

  • 77.5% reported that they read Scripture more often and more missionally than they did before their short-term mission trip.
  • 86.1% reported that they pray differently–more intentionally and specifically after their short-term mission.
  • 72.6% reported that they are more generous, that they give more to support the missions of their churches after their short-term mission project.
  • 72.6% reported that they are more involved in their church, especially outreach activities, after their short-term mission project.

What this says to me is that the church that wants to dramatically reverse the 80-20 ratio in their church should make good short-term mission experiences not just one of many opportunities, but rather an expectation for all the members of the body, something that everyone will do.

Good short-term missions experiences will transform first your members, then your congregation! 

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