Total Church, Leadership, and Mission

  *Note: This interview is transcribed from a Skype conversation in 2011 and reposted here.

For anyone who has planted a church or feels called to do so, there are not many better resources than the work of Steve Timmis. Steve is the Director of Acts 29 Western Europe and an elder at The Crowded House. He has also co-authored several books on the church including Total Church and Everyday Church. Steve was kind enough to spend some time with me and offer his wisdom to our readers.

BRANDON SMITH: Total Church has impacted myself and many church planters. What is the story behind your writing this book with Tim Chester?

STEVE TIMMIS: We were getting some requests from publishers to tell the story of Crowded House, but we didn't want to do that because we didn't want to present Crowded House as being a model or any kind of example. We didn't want to set it up like, "Aren't we great?" What we decided to do was to write a pretty robust ecclesiology but to earth it with our own experience at Crowded House.

I've been doing church this way for years, like decades. I had a man come up to me in Sydney, and I recognized him straight away - he had been in a church I'd pastored when I was like 25 (and I'm no longer 25, as you can see). He says, "Timmis, you're just a one-trick pony. This is exactly what you were talking about doing 25 years ago!" At one level I was slightly hurt, because I hadn't come up with anything inventive. But one the other hand, I was encouraged that the core - and it's definitely changed - but that the core theology, rationale, Christology, ecclesiology, missiology... that was forged way back then.

My principle influences have been Francis Schaeffer, the Dutch Reformers like Kuyper shifted my theology in a big way. I read Calvin's Institutes when I was very young, and got a lot of my ecclesiology from the Evangelical Anabaptists of the Reformation period. Jonathan Edwards and John Owen have been big influences, as well.

B: I had heard you say awhile back that many times it takes guests of the Crowded House some time to get comfortable around your church because of how tightly knit you are. What is it about your church that would make guests feel out of place at times?

S: It would be Christians who would feel a certain sense of disconnect. We tend do church differently than most people, because our leading edge is our "gospel communities" - living life-on-life together on mission is what is distinctive. Most churches struggle to live that out. Just today, I was coaching a senior minister at a large, solid evangelical church and some of the stories that he was telling me is that guys from his church would find it very odd at the Crowded House because of the emphasis of living life-on-life together on mission.

So, when people come and visit from elsewhere, they often comment on how I cope with people always popping in and hanging out at my house and people end up staying. For a lot of Christians, it's just weird.

B: My wife went on a mission trip to England recently, and she told me that she'd never been to such a spiritually dark place. How is your church model particularly working in England? Is this church model of life-on-life more effective in that culture?

S: English people are very private, and so in a lot of ways it's quite counter-cultural. My conviction is that if human beings are made in the image of God, and God is in community, then community is something that is part of our identity as human beings. They might be afraid of it and are undoubtedly are putting all sorts of management techniques that aren't right and godly to satisfy that desire, but it's there. So there's something that is inevitably attractive about the model. I think missionally it's very effective.

B: What are some practical ways that church leaders can encourage their people to actually want to go out and be missionaries in their context?

S: Fundamentally and ambiguously I'd say that it's a gospel issue. If they are averse to the very idea (and there's a difference between that and just being afraid of the experience), then they aren't understanding the gospel properly. Church leadership is all about creating a culture at it's very core, so leaders are responsible for creating, nurturing, and developing that culture. If the recognized leaders aren't doing that, then they aren't leaders whatever their title.

I think there are four principle areas to do this if you have a reluctant congregation, which many men have:

1) Preach it faithfully and biblically. You've got to show that this identity isn't just "my thing" or a "new trendy thing" but that it's core to gospel purpose. I find it quite helpful to use aphorisms or sound bites with substance that help people grasp biblical truth memorably. You have to preach it consistently and publicly from "house to house" to quote Paul in Acts 20.

2) Pray and sing for it. Not just the individual leader only, but he's got to shape the whole prayer life of the church around it. Corporate prayer meetings have got to be missional and you've got to rehearse and pray the gospel out. Even in terms of singing, we've got to sing missionally. Prayer and singing are great ways to capture the affections, and so leaders have the responsibility to put a lot of effort in creativity in those two areas to make sure that we're not only informing peoples minds, but that we're genuinely seeing their hearts captured by the gospel and captivated by Christ. To love Christ is to want to speak of Him and desire His fame. If we don't want to do that, then we don't truly love Him.

3) Model it. You've got to show how the gospel has captured your heart and stimulates your affections and that you're talking about Jesus and commending the gospel to people faithfully and engaging in people's lives. One problem is that leaders love talking about theory but they don't practice it in their lives. They talk about the church, but the reason why their church is institutional is because their leader tends to live institutionally. He lives like a professional, a person with an 8-6 job rather than a person who sees his identity wrapped up in the community of God's people.

4) Build structures. You've got to structure the life of the church around it. I think one of the dangers of the so-called "organic church movement" that we've sometimes been associated with is that it just doesn't appreciate the necessity of structures. All life needs structure - just look at the human body. Build structures that demonstrate and celebrate the centrality of gospel living for the life of the church. Where you put your money, effort, energy, resources, where you release people... they've all got to continue to hammer on that theme.

B: What is your opinion on how elders and church leadership should be structured in a church that is really trying to be missional?

S: I don't buy into the "first among equals" idea; I really believe in a collegiality of leadership where in particular areas one person will take the lead. What I try to do with our eldership, and we have eight in our gathering here, is to keep reiterating the vision and articulating it in different ways and engaging with them as best I can in different contexts. I am very content, not with power, but with influence. I do want to persuade people and be influential, but I can live without institutional power. Then, when the leadership has the same thought in mind, you've got to make sure that it filters through to the different leaders who are engaged with the people. You've persuaded the leaders, and they're persuading others. So, when we come to any big decision we don't just say, "We've decided this, do you agree?" because by the time we've presented it, it's filtered through the life of the church.

My principle strategy for that is generally to have absolutely as much as possible in the open forum. I encourage leaders to talk about things at the leadership level. I'm not talking about personal pastoral issues, but in terms of vision and our whole sense of our direction and who God wants us to be because I think that's the way that people become persuaded. So when it comes to making formal decisions, all the issues have been addressed and all the battles have been fought. We want to be as open as possible, and a value for me is what Paul says in 2 Corinthians, that we don't do anything in secret but that everything is out in the open. Our default is to talk about it openly. Sometimes you can't, but that's our default. For us, a lot of this is going on all the time so that people are aware instead of dumping ideas on them and asking them to approve of it.

B: Do you hold to a strictly elder-led model, or more of an elder-congregation idea?

S: We're definitely elder-led, but my conviction about being elder-led is that you've got to have people persuaded. I'm not a congregationalist, but unless the people are behind it and sign off on it in terms of people being committed to it, then you can make all the decisions you want but it won't do you any good. Leaders have got to persuade. So, if someone pushes back, I won't just accept that, I'll go after them in hopes of persuading them. I want all leaders to be persuasive for the sake of mission, for the sake of the fame of Jesus, for the glory of God.

4 Ways to Avoid Health and Wealth Parenting

Right now my daughter Maddy doesn’t see the beauty of the storm. She is afraid of thunder and lightning. She could be dead asleep and, within minutes of the first crash of thunder, she’s awake, alert, and calling for mommy or daddy. Her fear has come into focus this summer because in South Carolina, we’ve had a flood of rain this year. When these quick storms first began, I found myself comforting my daughter by saying something like, “Don’t worry. God created the thunder and you don’t have anything to worry about.”

It’s true that she doesn’t have much to worry about in our home when it’s thundering and lightning outside, but the more I thought about the way I approached this situation, the more I realized that I was comforting my children in this way a lot of the time. I was taking the easy way out, promising comfort in exchange for tears.

Then it hit me. The gospel I was rehearsing to them was a health and wealth gospel, a skewed view of God’s sovereignty in pain and suffering.

“God loves you, so nothing bad will happen.”

“You don’t need to worry about living in a fallen world if you just have enough faith.”

“The reality of suffering will never touch you.”

If we preach this kind of gospel to our children now, how will they respond when sin touches their life? How will they respond when they see death ravage a loved one? How will they respond when they are ridiculed by their peers?

We do serve the God who created all things with the power of his word. He does providentially control all of creation. He does sovereignly work things for our good in Christ. But sometimes that means we will suffer. My children need to know this.

As I talked to friends with children and also recalled interactions, I’ve heard between parents and kids, I don’t think this approach is uncommon. As I said, it’s easy. It doesn’t require us to engage in hard conversations. But I want to offer a gospel-motivated, gospel-driven alternative for us as parents. Here are four ways that we can avoid health and wealth parenting.

1. Teach Our Children to Rest in the Love and Sovereignty of God

First, we must urge our children to trust the God who loves us and is sovereign over everything. We must not downplay these truths. They are not in opposition; rather they fit together like a puzzle. The sovereignty of God is not a hammer. It’s a pillow and blanket. The most fearful thing I can think of is living in a world where God is not in control, where he is taken by surprise, where he loves us but is powerless over our suffering.

The love of God is not squishy like a jellyfish. He doesn’t love us in a way that’s not tangible. He loves us in the form of Jesus Christ. God sent his own Son to die for us while we were yet sinners. If God uses “the hands of lawless men” who would crucify Jesus, for his “definite plan” (Acts 2:23), he will use our suffering in his plan as well. These two truths are bound together eternally. You will not find God’s love expressed outside of his sovereign control. Our kids must see that God’s sovereignty is never expressed outside of his love.

2. Teach our Children to Pursue Jesus

Second, we must urge our children to steadfastly pursue Jesus. Jesus is their only hope. They have no other. If they pursue health, it will fail. If they pursue wealth, it will destroy them. If they pursue relationships, they will be let down. If they pursue fame, it bring them low. These are all things that when sought lead to destruction. But Jesus does not fail. He does not destroy. He does not let down. He does not bring low. He exalts.

If you teach your children to pursue to Jesus, they will lack nothing. He is pleasures forevermore. The loss of everything compared to gaining Jesus will in the end seem light and momentary. That can be hard to fathom now, but it will not be hard when our King returns.

Not only does he provide joy and hope in the midst of suffering, he also suffers alongside of us. He obeyed the law perfectly. He loved well. He lived life to its fullest. And he also suffered. Because of that, he knows what suffering feels like (Heb. 2:18). That’s important. You can also see how Jesus cares for others who suffer when he comforts Mary and Martha when Lazarus dies (John 11:1-45). He is genuinely sorrowful. He mourns with them. He is moved to tears by the suffering of his friends. We can expect Christ to have the same compassion with us. When pursued, Jesus provides joy and hope and he does so experientially.

3. Rehearse the Gospel through Tough Conversations

Third, we must rehearse the gospel through tough conversations. My oldest daughter Claire has often asked me, “Will you get old and die?” It’s odd that a child would think about death, but it is a reality in our world. Everyone dies. It would be easy to brush off her question and respond with something like, “Dad will never leave you. Don’t worry about that.” It’s a lot more beneficial to speak age appropriately and candidly. Something like, “Daddy will die someday. Death isn’t the way it should be. But you know something? We belong to God in life and death. He has promised to be faithful all the way until the end. Just like he’s faithful to me, he’ll be faithful to you. No matter what.”

Tough conversations are an opportunity to rehearse the gospel with our children. These are practice runs. These truths aren’t dusty. Everyone will meet circumstances where only the gospel makes sense of life. Rehearsing the gospel by having tough conversation prepares our children to respond well when those times come.

Athletes practice and practice and practice more to create muscle memory. They want to repeat their route, the play, or the motion so many times that when game time comes their bodies react instinctively. That’s gospel rehearsal. It’s spiritual muscle memory. We repeat the promises of God. We point them to Jesus Christ. We sear Scripture into their hearts. We teach them how to pray. These kinds of conversations may raise more questions. That’s okay. Without being candid with them, when “the sea billows roll,” our children may falter. With tough conversations rooted in gospel rehearsal, they will see the other side.

4. Respond Well When Suffering Comes

Finally, we must respond well when suffering comes. It will arise in some form or another. Some of us may fight cancer. Some of us might grieve over the death of a loved one. Some of us might fight against abuse. Some of us might feel the weight of injustice. Some of us might be killed. We shouldn’t downplay suffering. It’s a result of the Fall. But God will wipe away all tears and make all things new when he returns. We must stomp our feet, mourn, and be righteously angry over the sin and suffering that we experience in this world. But we must do this with Jesus Christ in view. We must suffer well.

We respond well because we are in Christ. He is our Head and we are his body. He is our trailblazer. The cross is beautiful because it absorbs our sin and suffering. When we sin against others, we can boldly repent, because Jesus bears the weight of our sins. We can also forgive others for the same reason. The same goes for suffering. It is not escapism. Or cheap grace. It is weighty grace. It is grace anchored in the bloody wounds of Jesus. We must respond well when we suffer so that our children know we take God at His word and the gospel is deadly serious to us. Our kids will see this, and through it they will see Jesus.

So let’s not promise our kids health and wealth. Let’s promise them Jesus Christ in life and death. Let’s promise them a God who is faithful through anything they may experience in this fallen world.

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Mathew B. Sims is the Editor-in-Chief at Exercise.com and has authored, edited, and contributed to several books including A Household Gospel, We Believe: Creeds, Confessions, & Catechisms for Worship, A Guide for Advent, Make, Mature, Multiply, and A Guide for Holy Week. Mathew, LeAnn (his wife), and his daughters Claire, Maddy, and Adele live in Taylors, SC at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their Airdale Terrier. They attend Downtown Presbyterian Church (PCA). Visit MathewBryanSims.com!

Revising the Popular Phrase "In, but Not of"

  “In, but not of”— if you’ve spent much time Christian circles, you’re probably familiar with this slogan. In the world, but not of the world. It captures a truth about Jesus’s followers. There’s a real sense in which we are “in” this world, but not “of” it.

In, but not of. Yes, yes, of course.

But might this punchy phrase be giving the wrong impression about our (co)mission in this world as Christians? The motto could seem to give the drift, We are in this world, alas, but what we really need to do is make sure that we’re not of it.

In this way of configuring things, the starting place is our unfortunate condition of being “in” this world. Sigh. And our mission, it appears, is to not be “of” it. So the force is moving away from the world. “Rats, we’re frustratingly stuck in this ole world, but let’s marshal our best energies to not be of it.” No doubt, it’s an emphasis that’s sometimes needed, but isn’t something essential being downplayed?

We do well to run stuff like this through biblical texts. And on this one in particular, we do well to turn to John 17, where Jesus uses these precise categories of “in the world” and “not of the world.” Let’s look for Jesus’s perspective on this.

Not of This World

On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus prays to his Father in John 17:14–19,

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

Notice Jesus’s references to his disciples being “not of the world.” Verse 14: “The world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” And there it is again in verse 16: “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”

Let’s all agree it’s clear that Jesus does not want his followers to be “of the world.” Amen. He says that he himself is “not of the world,” and his disciples are “not of the world.” Here’s a good impulse in the slogan “in, but not of.”

It’s Going Somewhere

But notice that for Jesus being “not of the world” isn’t the destination in these verses but the starting place. It’s not where things are moving toward, but what they’re moving from. He is not of the world, and he begins by saying that his followers are not of the world. But it’s going somewhere. Jesus is not huddling up the team for another round of kumbaya, but so that we can run the next play and advance the ball down the field.

Enter verse 18: “As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” And don’t miss the surprising prayer of verse 15: “I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.”

Sent into This World

Jesus is not asking his Father for his disciples to be taken out of the world, but he is praying for them as they are “sent into” the world. He begins with them being “not of the world” and prays for them as they are “sent into” the world.

So maybe it would serve us better — at least in light of John 17 — to revise the popular phrase “in, but not of” in this way: “not of, but sent into.” The beginning place is being “not of the world,” and the movement is toward being “sent into” the world. The accent falls on being sent, with a mission, to the world — not being mainly on a mission to disassociate from this world.

Crucified to the World — And Raised to It

Jesus’s assumption in John 17 is that those who have embraced him, and identified with him, are indeed not of the world. And now his summons is our sending — we are sent into the world on mission for gospel advance through disciplemaking.

Jesus’s true followers have not only been crucified to the world, but also raised to new life and sent back in to free others. We’ve been rescued from the darkness and given the Light not merely to flee the darkness, but to guide our steps as we go back in to rescue others.

So let’s revise the popular phrase “in, but not of." Christians are not of this world, but sent into it. Not of, but sent into.

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David Mathis (@davidcmathis) is executive editor for Desiring God and an elder at Bethlehem Baptist Church in the Twin Cities. He and his wife, Megan, have twin sons and live in Minneapolis. David has edited several books, including Thinking. Loving. Doing., Finish the Mission, and most recently Acting the Miracle: God’s Work and Ours in the Mystery of Sanctification.

[This was originally posted at Desiring God.]

Like Father, Like Sons

  I attended three schools a year for a while. My dad was managing in professional baseball and decided early on that the family being together was worth the sacrifice, struggle, and difficulty of constantly having to travel and change schools, and the security of a “normal” home life.

Of course, I loved it. It was normal for me. Home was the clubhouse and the smell of pine tar, or the luggage rack on the bus where I would sleep as the team went from town to town. Home was watching my dad play cards on a cooler set in the aisle, covered with a towel to keep the cards from sliding off, holding a beer can in his lap. His there-ness far exceeded any inconvenience. How could anything else be an option?

After watching Bob Ross paint a "happy squirrel" and my sister and I trying to paint along—a kind of "paint by Ross" version of paint by numbers—I would take a quick afternoon nap and then head to the park with dad in time for batting practice. The nap was necessary because I would be at the park until about 11 o'clock at night.

I would hang out in his office, shag fly balls during batting practice, be the batboy for the game; occasionally I would see him get thrown out of a game for arguing with the umpire, or light up one of his players for some particular reason (usually disrespect of some kind, "This is a monologue, not a dialogue!").

Child psychologists would probably sniff their noses at my childhood, like dogs smelling meat, ready to pounce: “Children need stability!” Yes, they do, and the father is to be the anchor.

Secure as Sojourners

The Father’s children aren’t at home either (1 Pet. 2:11). Furthermore, our well-being doesn’t necessitate wealth, possessions, the best schools, or people who approve of us. What anchors us, why we are secure, why we are commanded countless times, “Do not fear!” is that the Father is with us.

See, it is easy to excuse your lack of there-ness with your desire to “give your children a better life” or “make sure they can get the best education.” Those are well-meaning desires, and a father should work hard to leave a good legacy to his children. We should plan well, save well, and block for our family like a bull-headed fullback paves the way for the tailback to get up field. That approach only works, however, if you are playing the same game, and if the goal is the end zone of our children knowing the Father—for that to happen, you have to be there.

I have never met someone who hated their father because he didn’t buy them a nice car; I have, however, met plenty of people with jacked up lives and relationships—with a degree from a reputable university hanging on the wall—because their dad was not ever home.

Paul Tripp tells a similar story:

“When I speak in churches, I often single out the men and challenge, ‘Some of you are so busy in your careers that you’re seldom home, and when you are, you are so physically exhausted that you have nothing to offer your children. You don’t even know your own kids. I offer a radical challenge to you. Go to your boss and ask for a demotion. Take less pay. Move out of that dream house and into a smaller one. Sell your brand new car and drive an older one. Be willing to do what God has called you to do in the life of your children.’

In a culture with two-income families, increasingly that challenge must also be made to women who also sacrifice family for career.

I made that appeal at one home-school conference and it angered a man in the crowd, although I didn’t know it at the time. Two years later he came over to me during a conference break. As he got closer, he began to weep. He said, ‘Two years ago I heard you give the challenge you just gave tonight and I got angry. I thought, What right do you have to say that? But I was haunted by your words. I thought, He’s speaking about me. My whole life is away from the home and I don’t know my own kids. I finally went to my boss one morning and said, ‘I want to talk to you about my position.’ My boss said, ‘Look, we’ve advanced you as much and as fast as we can.’ And I said, ‘No, no, just hear me, I want a demotion.’ The boss looked startled. He asked, ‘What are you talking about?’ I said, ‘The most important thing in my life is not this job. The most important thing is that God has given me five children. I‘m His instrument in forming their souls. But right now, I don’t even know my own kids.’

The boss said, ‘I’ve never heard this kind of conversation before and I’ll probably never hear it again. I’m very moved. We’ll find you a position where you can work forty hours a week. You can punch in and punch out and have less responsibility. But I’m not going to be able to pay you enough.’ I said, ‘That’s fine.’

We sold the house of our dreams, got rid of two luxury cars and bought a mini-van. It’s been two years now, and not one of my kids has come to me and said ‘Dad, I wish we lived in a big house,’ or ‘Dad, I wish we had new cars.’ But over and over again they have come and said, ‘Dad, we’ve been having so much fun with you. It’s great to have you around.’ Now, for the first time, I can say I know exactly where my children are. I know their hearts. I know what I need to be doing in their lives. I’m actually being a father.”

The Gospel is not a call to comfort. It is news that the Father wants to be with us and will sacrifice even His Son to do so. However, it is also a call to join the Father in what He is doing—saving sinners for His glory. He is not so concerned with our comfort, or our safety; He is not always concerned we are at the perfect church (His “school” for us); He is not losing sleep over how much He could provide us (for some, He gives great wealth, for others, just what they need to get by). He does, however, promise His presence is with us. Look at the shear tonnage of verses explicitly stating God’s there-ness and the context of the promise:

“Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)

“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you . . . do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:5,9)

“Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:15)

“Then David said to Solomon his son, ‘Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.’” (1 Chronicles 28:20)

“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5)

“And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20)

The call is never to comfort. In fact, quite the opposite. The demands are great: Leading people into the Promised Land, building a great temple that foreshadows Christ, obeying a radical call to contentment with money, and making disciples of all nations. The anchor in these great calls of sacrifice, discomfort, and lack of security is the presence of God. We could have all the money in the world, the best education, the safest (and nicest) cars, and still drift out to sea, the weight of all that “stuff” drowning us—we need the Anchor.

Quantity Time with Your Children

Quality time is a myth; your children need quantity time. You are their anchor. Your there-ness makes them feel safe, loved, and cared for. Furthermore, your calling is to disciple them. This means they are to go with you as you do life. Your children are not some slice of a pie that can be compartmentalized from the other pieces. Your children should help you around the house and go with you to do chores, and you should let them watch you in life—how else will they learn? Certainly there are times of sitting down and reading with them or playing with them, but it cannot just be that. Whenever you can, bring them along. This is how we are instructed to teach them all that God has commanded us:

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-9)

This is the foundational text for discipleship in parenting. The Christian life is not compartmentalized from “everyday” life; it saturates and permeates all of life—and your parenting does as well. How can we be faithful to this if we aren’t there?

The Father sacrificed much for you to be in His presence. As fathers imaging the Father, we must sacrifice time with the guys, hunting trips, late hours at work, and time at the golf course so that our children would be anchored—not adrift at sea, being “tossed to and fro by every wave of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14) or every swell the ideas and philosophies of this world ask them to surf in. It is our time, our there-ness, that they need.

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Jim Essian planted The Paradox Church in 2011 and serves as Lead Pastor. The Paradox is an Acts 29 Network church in Downtown Fort Worth, TX. Jim played eight years of professional baseball in the Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Detroit Tigers organizations prior to planting a church. Jim and his wife, Heather, have two girls, Harper and Hollis.

[This is an excerpt from Jim's book, Like Father, Like Sons: Meditations on God as Our Father.]

Parenting and Grocery Store Tantrums

  As parents of four children, my wife Jill and I don’t have to leave the house to have opportunities to disciple not-yet believers in Christ. Add to the mix that we also need to be reminded of and apply the gospel to our lives, and you have a small community on mission within the confines of our home! We don’t only go to missional community to make disciples; we are a missional community that makes disciples. We are always making disciples, especially when parenting our kids. This means that when a kid holding Legos in one hand and a lightsaber in the other wakes me up at 5:30 a.m. to tell me he’s hungry or has to pee, it’s discipleship time. I don’t get to throw the gospel out the window because it isn’t time to gather with others for worship or our weekly meal yet.

If we are to see the mission of Jesus move forward in our homes and neighborhoods, something more than a scheduled series of events or classes is needed. While these events and classes might be valuable equipping tools to help resource our people, only when we approach everyday life situations as opportunities to bring the gospel to bear on each other’s lives will we consistently learn how to walk in obedience to all that Jesus has commanded.

Discipleship in All of Life

In the mess of everyday life, we must apply the gospel. Applying the gospel is speaking the truth of what Christ's life, death, resurrection, and ascension has done for those who believe. The gospel radically changes who we are, and often in the ordinariness of everyday life, we forget who we are in the gospel. We are sons and daughters, made into new creations through the Christ. So, applying the gospel is reminding a believer of their identity in Christ by speaking the work of Christ into their particular situation, and by showing how Jesus is better than the current idol they are desiring in that moment. But to know how to bring the gospel to bear on their life, you need to not only need to know the gospel, you need to know the person too. You need listen to them, you need to hear or see what they struggling with. Applying the gospel requires proximity, life together. Paul said that it is through speaking the truth in love to one another that we grow up in Christ (Eph. 4:15).

Jill and I are blessed to be raising four children. This gives much opportunity for us to speak the gospel with them (and each other) in ordinary life. Discipling kids, much like anyone else, is no easy task. Apart from the work of the Spirit in our lives, it's actually impossible. Left to ourselves, don’t we just want to manage our kids behavior so we are comfortable?

We as parents are often more caught up in how our kids behavior reflects back on us than whether our children are honoring and displaying God. How often does our embarrassment by their sin lead us into shaming them? But do we stop and ask ourselves, “How is this discipling them to Jesus?” Truth is, it's not. That's just piling our sin on theirs and making a big old mess.

What if, as parents, we were so rooted in our identity in Christ that when our kid’s behavior is deplorable we lovingly corrected rather than hopelessly joined in? What if this kind of discipleship of our children became more common in our own lives? What if this was more common not only with our children but in all of our relationships? How much more might we proclaim the gospel if this kind of discipleship was our normal, everyday routine?

Everyday Discipleship in the Grocery Store

Jill and I will often and intentionally go grocery shopping together with all four of our kids. While this may sound a little like we’re asking for trouble, we do this intentionally so that we can “bump into” people we might know individually and strike up a conversation. Of course, there are times when this may seem to backfire when our four kids get a little out of hand. Crowded grocery stores, plus two adults, plus four kids, equals plenty of opportunities for our idols to surface. There is nothing like a little stress to pull our sin to the surface.

On one such trip, our youngest son was disappointed over not getting to ride in a particular type of cart. He wanted the race car shopping cart, but all of those were being used by other customers and he wouldn’t settle for the regular shopping cart. He threw a tantrum. In the moment of my son’s tantrum in a busy grocery store, I forgot the gospel. I wanted to control his behavior. I wanted him to be quiet so people would stop looking at us. Ultimately, I was in sin, wanting my son to obey me so that others would see me as a good parent.

Jill, rightly bringing the gospel to bear, gently corrected our son. She gospeled his heart while rebuking his behavior. She didn’t need to focus on what others think of her because of our kids’ behavior; she needed to disciple our son. So, she was freed up to bring the gospel to our disobedient child in the midst of everyday life.

Do you see it? I was living out of a false identity. When my son threw a fit in a public place, my identity was in how poorly my kid was behaving and in what others might think of me. Contrast that with Jill, resting securely in her identity in Christ. She loved, adopted, and accepted; she was able to discipline our son correctly. Like Jesus, she pursued the one in need with little concern with what those around her thought of her. She certainly addressed our son’s behavior but ultimately, and just like Jesus, she shared how the source of this outburst was treasuring stuff more than obeying God’s command to honor and obey his parents (Eph. 6:1).

She was able to tell our son that she too often fails to obey God, that she, like him is a mess and needs the grace of God to obey. She offered hope in the gospel by telling him, “Jesus is the one, the only one, who obeyed his Father perfectly. And he obeyed right away, all the way and with a happy heart. He obeyed to death, paying the price for all your disobedience and my disobedience so that if we trust in him, we can be brought near to God. Son, you’re not good and neither am I. We both need Jesus to rescue us from our wanting other things more than what he wants for us.” That’s speaking the truth in love. In that moment, it was precisely what our young son needed to hear. Maybe you would say it a little differently. Certainly the same gospel presentation doesn’t need to be shared in all situations, but we should seek to speak the truth in love in some way regardless of the situation.

As I watched her demonstrate Jesus in her pursuit of a sinner (our child) and heard her declare the gospel, I was convicted of my own sin. My son was restored and got into the regular shopping cart and we went on our way.

Freedom in the Gospel

As we travelled the aisles getting groceries, I was growing more and more disappointed that I wasn’t able to do what my wife had just done. “Some leader of the household you are!” I thought to myself. And before I could move any deeper into condemning myself, my wife preached the gospel to me, as well. She turned to me and reminded me of what the Spirit had just shown me, that I was not helping our son by getting frustrated because of my fear others. Then she reminded me that God is glorious so I don’t have to fear others, and that the gospel is big enough for me to find forgiveness for this and all sin.

The gospel is real and it is very, very big. Bigger than my sin; bigger than my children's sin. Look, we don’t always get this right in my household. If you spend some time with us, you’ll recognize that we are far from perfect in demonstrating and declaring the gospel. We need much grace. But our hope doesn’t rest in our ability to be perfect inasmuch as the ability of the Perfect One to perfect us. While we desire to walk in obedience in making disciples, ultimately my obedience is not as important as Christ’s obedience is to the outcomes.

The gospel frees us to see these challenging situations as opportunities for discipleship. We can either join in the sin of others and make disciples of ourselves or demonstrate and declare the gospel and make disciples of Jesus. As parents we all disciple our children in the ways of someone. As followers of Jesus, we have the power through the Spirit to disciple them, and all people, in the ways of Jesus.

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Gino Curcuruto is a disciple of Jesus, husband to Jill, and father of four. He is a chiropractor by trade and missionary by calling. Gino enjoys making disciples in the everyday: at home, at work, on the block, and within the church. Twitter: @ginoc

Your Church Doesn't Need Followers

  Everyone makes disciples of something or someone. Just think about all the disciples that are made each and every fall as college football and the NFL kicks off with a brand new season full of thrills and excitement. It’s not new. It’s the same game played each and every year. But there’s much to be excited about. Why? Because we love it. We throw on our favorite jersey, eat our favorite nachos, and party while grown men war for a trophy. It’s great.

Disciples love the object that is teaching them something. The very definition of a disciple is "learner," though it is not simply a cognitive thing. It’s a life thing. We invest our emotions, desires, affections, money, time, energy in its mission. We’re all followers; we’re all passionate about something.

It is often the case that local churches build disciples around the organization itself. More often than not, this is accidental. We as church leaders and members typically have good intentions. We want people to know Jesus. We think that our pastors and our music and our worship experience are great gateways to meeting Jesus. That's why we invest in that church community, right?

But being a disciple of Jesus means that we are learning from him, walking in his ways. To be a disciple of Jesus means that we take our cues from him, not an organization. If we're not careful, we can get distracted by the organization or event and forget about the reason it exists - for the glory of God.

What happens when we make disciples of the church instead of disciples of Jesus? What might that look like? Here are five signs that we might be making disciples of our church instead of Jesus.

1. We Get Upset When People Are Gone

A prominent temptation of a local church is to root success in attendance on Sunday mornings. This is only part of what it means to be the church. Yes we gather, but we also scatter. If we put too much emphasis on the Sunday gathering and see this alone as “church,” then we’ll get frustrated when people aren’t there. Many pastors and members build their identity around numbers. This is dangerous and is most certainly a sign that you aren’t focused on making disciples of Jesus, but instead, disciples of the church. Disappointment is understandable; we want to see the lost come to know Jesus. But that must be grounded in gospel-motivation toward seeing more and more people become disciples of Jesus.

Disciples of Jesus build their identity around the gospel. Disciples of the church build their identity around attendance.

2. We Criticize Other Churches

We all tend to think that we’re the pure, true, and most correct church. This may in fact be true, but when we demonize others and divide on secondary matters, we are trying to defend Jesus when he needs no defense. When we criticize others, we are making disciples of our church because we want to keep people near to us and away from "them." We're more concerned about them huddling up with us instead of sending them out on mission. Suddenly your criticism serves as a ploy to justify “your church” and all of its perfection. We must remember that, unless heretical teachings exist elsewhere, all churches built on the gospel of Jesus are on the same team. We are fighting the same fight under the same Master. If a person in the church wants to join mission with another church, they should be sent away with joy and prayer. We should love other Jesus-glorifying churches as we all make disciples of him.

Disciples of Jesus are known for their love (John 13:35). Disciples of the church are known for what they’re against.

3. We Invite People to Come but Don't Tell Them to Go

This is a classic - and often overlooked - example. When success is defined by an individual’s attendance and giving instead of obedience to the gospel, we make disciples of the church instead of Jesus. When we over-emphasize “church” activities (Bible studies, Sunday night services, Wednesday night services, age-appropriate services, missional communities, service projects, etc.), it is no wonder a person views church as merely a thing they attend. They tend to embrace the goods and services, pay their money, and leave. We are so busy seeing church as a come-and-see event that people aren’t sent out on mission into their families, groups of friends, neighborhoods, workplaces, and to the ends of the earth. We must equip people in the power of the gospel to take that gospel out into their everyday lives. A lamp under a basket does not offer light to a dark world (Matt. 5:15-16).

Disciples of Jesus are sent on mission and challenged to do so. Disciples of the church just come and sit.

4, We Make Gatherings a Gimmick

When we ignore the mission of making disciples of Jesus, we tend to fill the time with goods and services. Suddenly, the bulk of our teaching becomes a gimmick to “get people to church" instead of a passionate plea for mission through the power and purpose of the gospel. We set up our Sunday mornings to make it as comfortable as possible. This is related to point #3, because instead of freeing up the church calendar for mission, we fill it with entertainment that ultimately distracts people from the real task at hand. Instead of training people for war, we entertain them with pithy paraphernalia. I get it. It’s often easier, because living our lives on full display for a doubting and watching world is hard. But Jesus told us to take up our cross and follow him. This means that church gatherings are a training ground for gospel battle, not a hip place to drink coffee and feel better about ourselves.

Disciples of Jesus long for the gospel, long to see not-yet believers come to Christ, and situate their lives to accomplish this. Disciples of the church long for the newest and best gimmick at church.

5. We Make the Gospel Dependent Upon Men

It's tempting to default toward trying to get people in the doors so that the gospel invitation can be given by the "professionals." We do this with good intentions, hoping that the lost person will come to faith. However, this sometimes turns into us spending more time getting people to acclimate to our church culture rather than familiarizing them with the good news and the grand mission. The gospel then becomes something only “those” people need to "get saved," and not something that is a daily necessity for all people. We tie their faith to a one-time experience based on the teaching of someone other than Jesus. This stunts their lifelong growth in the gospel. The gospel is the very power of God, not simply a fact to be acknowledged one Sunday morning. We must, with laser-like focus, continually point people to Jesus and the gospel as the only perfect goal. People will let them down; Jesus never will. He must be their prize, their hope, and their motivation toward daily striving.

Disciples of Jesus long for the gospel in every moment. Disciples of the church see the gospel as irrelevant in day-to-day life.

Are we making disciples of Jesus and centering our churches around him and his mission? Or are we too busy making our own survival as an organization the most important thing?

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Jason M. Garwood (M.Div., Th.D.) serves as Lead Pastor of Colwood Church in Caro, MI. Jason and his wife Mary have three children, Elijah, Avery and Nathan. He blogs at www.jasongarwood.com. Connect with him on Twitter: @jasongarwood.

The Important Work of Witness

  I want to tell you a story about a girl from ancient times.

She was a young woman possessing a quiet spirit. You might have found her type in any age—sweet, kind, and modest. If she were around today, she might be a fixture at youth group, a fan of Hillsong Music, and a devotee of a local coffee shop. Whatever her musical interests, you would know you could count on her, because behind her quiet and selfless demeanor was a strong faith.

Her name was Blandina. She in fact never sang a Christian rock anthem or visited a cafe, because she lived in the second century in present-day France. Hers was a humble life. In reality, it was a hard life. She was a slave girl.

With many others in Lyon, Blandina had become a Christian around AD 177. An elderly pastor named Pothinus had labored for years to spread the gospel in the area, and he had seen much success. People from all levels of society came to faith, including slaves like Blandina, from a place called Lyon in France.

Lyon was the main city of Gaul, which was part of the Roman Empire, still the world superpower at the time and officially pagan in nature. Seeking unity, the emperor Domitian had made Christianity illegal during his reign from AD 81 to 96. This did little to stop the spread of the faith, however, and actually seemed to intensify it. Blandina was one tiny part of this unquenchable trend, anonymous and unnoticed.

Until, that is, the persecution in Gaul reached fever pitch.

The anti-Christian spirit in Lyon grew so great that household servants suspected of being Christian made up outrageous accusations against believers to save their own skins. Charges such as incest and murder were thrown around. In the ensuing fracas, Blandina and many other Christians were taken into official custody. The odds of their survival were not good.

In short order, Blandina’s life was upended. With others, she was tortured under interrogation. Such official action was not fact-finding in nature; it was designed to break the will of the Christians in order to justify their impending deaths. Blandina was not a strong girl. She was not hearty. Her torturers were trained soldiers of tough fiber. On the list of tasks for a Roman warrior, subduing young girls was easy. Ratchet up the pain, break some bones, and get the job done.

That should have been what happened to Blandina. However, she did not die on the rack. Though she was tortured “from morning till evening” until her body was mangled, no amount of pain led her to confess error in being a Christian. She seemed to gain strength, in fact, when in the midst of her torture she cried out, “I am a Christian, and there is nothing vile done by us.”1

This was a woman, a believer, of whom this world was not worthy.

Can We Find This Kind of Strength Today?

Whew. I feel like I need a walk around the block after an account like that. That is the kind of real-life story that will, if you’re not careful, grab ahold of you and never let go.

This, I would propose, is exactly what many of us need today. We’ve established thus far that many of us could use some encouragement. Because of cultural pressure and other factors, many of us are tempted to live in a way that avoids sacrifice rather than embraces it when it is necessary to honor Christ.

We see cultural pressure and the costly nature of Christian faith in a secularizing culture, and we recoil. Is this really what God requires of us—to be unpopular and unsuccessful and even hated? That’s not what I got into this for. I was promised prosperity and favor and blessing. I was told that in coming to Jesus, the whole world would lie down at my feet. Raises would happen, friends would be made, difficulties would cease, sickness would end, and on the list goes. Now I’m making my way through life, and none of that is happening, and I’m seriously considering getting out.

This is an entirely natural way to think today. The challenges we discussed are real, painfully real. But here’s the thing: God has something better for us. He offers a gospel to believe and a kingdom to serve. He doesn’t want us to hunker down; he wants us to put it all on the line, risk everything, and experience the joy that comes from losing yourself in the only cause that counts. That’s the faith that comes from Christ; that’s the message we learn from the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14–30).

That’s what the life of Blandina, and countless martyrs alongside her, teaches us.

How to Get There

So maybe you’re with me so far. You’re fired up by Blandina’s stunning example. You see that you’re tempted to play down your faith, to hide your light under a basket, as Jesus memorably put it (Matt. 5:15). You might even see that you love Christ but don’t really want to be bold. You’re not some super-apostle; you understand that if an odd opportunity presents itself to “be persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (5:10) that’s cool, but you’re just a normal Christian who wants to keep on keeping on.

Let me encourage you to approach your Christian witness with a few things in mind.

Remember that all of life is witness. As I mentioned earlier, we too often think of gospel “witness” or “mission” as something we do at a certain time in the week. At other times in our regular lives, we’re not doing it. We need to rethink this. All of our lives should be witness. In reality, this is not a new idea, but an ancient one.

The ancient Israelites were to be a continual light to their children, for example. They were charged by Yahweh to teach their offspring that “the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). This was supposed to be communicated at all times, as we saw earlier in Deuteronomy 6:6–9. This is true for us too. We should teach the truth about God and communicate the gospel of Christ to our children in specific times. But the witness of the Israelites went beyond this, and so should ours.

We’ll teach our families minute by minute, and we can proclaim and show that Christ has saved us at work, talking to parents at the park, on the bus, at intermission at a concert, at the local Starbucks, and everywhere in between. We can both preach the gospel in a way that makes sense to the context and live according to the gospel. We can, for example, show the fruit of the Spirit at all times. That will be an obvious witness to those around us.

So, talk to the mailman as a witness; go to your spinning class as a witness; use Facebook as a witness; sell socks on Etsy as a witness; answer the door as a witness; pin things on Pinterest as a witness; raise your children as a witness; drive in busy traffic as a witness; do laundry as a witness; create playlists on Spotify as a witness. Be bold and unapologetic. You do not need to be sent by an agency to be a fearless agent of the gospel. Your local church is training you for this role, week after week. The Holy Spirit is inside you. This is the commissioning you need. Gospel work isn’t for a half-hour slot every other week.

Your whole life is witness.

Living in this way is not confining. It’s liberating. It will fill moments that previously felt wasted with purpose. Ministry isn’t for the super-Christians. Every believer is a member of the “kingdom of priests” (Ex. 19:6; Rev. 1:6). All of us offer service to God. We can all risk everything for him. We can live every day for him.

Remember the incredible importance of witness. You will be a bolder Christian in your corner of things if you regularly call to mind just how important such work is.

Sometimes we act as if God is going to do it all. But in reality, God has called us to carry out the mission with him. This is part of the remarkable story of the New Testament. Jesus began the work of the kingdom when he came to earth. The majestic rule of God became visible and tangible as Jesus, the Messiah, performed miracles and taught as only God can teach. Though his disciples struggled to understand him, Christ’s true identity emerged as time passed by. Jesus undertook a new kind of kingship, however. He ascended not a throne but a cross. On the cross he canceled the debt of a wicked people and overcame the powers of darkness.

We may assume that things stopped there, and we’re all left to marvel at what Jesus accomplished. From there on out, God would lead people to see this wondrous truth, and salvation would be like a zap from the sky.

But that’s the thing: while God does all the saving of sinners, he calls his church to take up the work of the gospel. This is what the book of Acts shows: the first Christians began to spread the news of eternal life in Jesus’ name to everyone they could. Their story is intended to give way to our story. We are called to join them in promoting the gospel in all the world.

Is everybody supposed to be a Paul? An Apollos? A Stephen? Trotting the globe, leading the mission? No. Many of us are called to labor right where we are. But this must not obscure the fact that as believers, every last one of us is called to be a witness. The instruction Christ gave to his apostles is for us as well: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit did come upon the disciples of Christ, empowering them for faithful gospel proclamation (Acts 2:1–4). He does the same for every Christian today. The “sealing of the Spirit” is an empowerment for witness. A lot of times we focus on the Spirit’s work in other areas, but we must fix this in our minds: God has given us the precious Holy Spirit to light a fire in our hearts, and to enable us to carry that fire into the world so that fellow sinners may be rescued from eternal condemnation.

So we’re not supposed to gaze up at heaven, waiting on spiritual rain. It is essential that you and I recognize that God has given us a very important role: we are to be witnesses of Christ. We don’t have a choice in this matter. Every Christian shares this call, though we will naturally play different roles in the movement. Not all of us have the gift of evangelism, but all of us have the charge to evangelize.

This will likely feel daunting to many of us. But we can trust in the empowerment of God to lead us. We don’t lack anything that we need for this mission. We know the gospel, and we possess the Holy Spirit. Start here; go anywhere. There’s not some evangelistic secret you must unlock before you can witness effectively to people. It’s important to listen and learn what you can about others. But the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation” (Rom. 1:16).

Pray for boldness, and act in boldness. If you fail, try again. I’ve seen God give me the words I needed in many situations in which I felt awkward and afraid. I still do, and I would guess that I always will, at least some of the time. My cheeks get hot, my mouth gets dry, and I don’t know what exactly to say.

But then God gives me the courage to speak. He’s so faithful, and so kind.

He will do the same for you.

Remember the incredible power of a simple witness. Let me give you a few examples that play this out.

One of my friends was surfing channels one cold Maine night and happened upon the 700 Club. He didn’t know the truth about his sin and his need for a savior. He wasn’t expecting to make a life-changing decision while he was passing the time. He was doing what millions of us do: turn on the TV, zone out, and wait for sleep to take over. Something clicked, though, as the gospel was shared. He’s since become a strong believer, a godly member of his local church, and is raising his kids to know the Lord.

Another friend of mine was walking on the campus of the University of Maryland. He had seen “street preachers” before but paid them little mind. He was in business school and had little time for demagogues denouncing passersby. But something changed one day. He realized that in his quest to get everything, all he could in business, he was chasing the wind and would end up with nothing. The preacher’s words about Jesus’ death and resurrection pierced him. He was saved on the spot. Since then, he’s gone on to be a ministry leader with a thriving family.

I think also of a former atheist named John Joseph, whom I heard speak at the Together for the Gospel conference before 8,000 attendees. Just a few years ago, he was trapped in lust. Beyond that, he was a cocaine dealer. This guy was the type you see and think, Wow. That one’s beyond my powers. Not sure anyone’s going to reach him. But God is in the business of blowing us away. This young dude, looking like a Hollywood movie star, went to his local Blockbuster one night. He picked up Bill Maher’s Religulous, an open attack on and mockery of religious belief. This guy usually liked Maher’s stuff, but in this film he pushed too far and—even in the eyes of a fellow atheist—didn’t seem fair to Christians.

So, John got online, googled “Christianity Atheism debate,” and ended up watching videos of a spellbinding apologist named Ravi Zacharias. It was like Saul on the Damascus Road. John was struck dumb. He next came across Desiring God Ministries, which features the teaching of Pastor John Piper, and listened to sermon after sermon. In the course of this he was converted to Christ and transformed. He’s now a member of a strong church in Washington, D.C.

We could go on and on, my friends. What do we see in these and other testimonies? That God is great and merciful to sinners! That awesome truth aside, we see also that our witness is important. The work we do matters. Our preaching of the gospel is not dumb. We will feel that way; Satan will discourage in the moments when we do break free of fear and awkwardness. He’ll ambush us emotionally and cause us to doubt that we’ve said the right words. He’ll paralyze us by making us think that no good could ever come from our witness. If only God had sent someone else, someone who actually knows what he’s talking about.

These are lies from the pit of hell. But they will come. This is a natural part of a bold witness. Expect, as Jesus said, persecution. Plan for opposition. Ready your heart for it.

Keep pushing. Keep trying. Keep praying.

Your witness is important. You don’t need to be a super-Christian. You don’t need to be a missionary (though that is sensationally important work). You need to recognize the task God has given you, and invest where you are. It may not always be the case that you can share the whole gospel, either. Perhaps you take time in a certain situation to build trust and establish a friendship. Don’t condemn yourself in that case. When it is right to speak up, you’ll know. Sometimes we need to be direct, and sometimes we need to allow people to observe how we live and see how God works to redeem sinners.

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Owen Strachan is executive director of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood and assistant professor of Christian Theology and Church History at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky. He also teaches for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is married to Bethany and is the father of two children. Follow him on Twitter.

[This is an excerpt from Dr. Strachan's forthcoming book, Risky Gospel.]

I Hate My Church

  People desire to leave their local church for a variety of reasons. Some are frustrated with their pastor’s preaching or someone in their community group. More often, people simply want to do ministry differently than what their church is currently doing. This frequently leads to frustration and even resentment.

For example, in training leaders around the globe, I often find that many people believe in the idea that gospel communities on mission should be a primary organizing structure for the local church. It excites them. They read the Book of Acts and believe that it describes these types of communities as God's desire for us as his people.

They go through trainings, they listen to resources online, they read articles, and they often come up to me after I teach and say, “I’m ready, but my church just doesn’t seem to get it. I think I am ready to leave and start something new. What do you think I should do?”

First, this is a big deal. This isn’t something that I, a mere human, can truly answer for anyone. But, instead of just staring at someone and making it awkward, I feel like something should be said. Plus, it seems that there is a mass exodus from local church families around the country. Instead of serving a local church, people are leaving to start stuff on their own, living life as a silo without the family of God at all. Some are leaving the faith altogether. (Check out this article on church attendance. I know this doesn’t speak to the issue exactly, but if people are giving up attending a gathering altogether, these numbers do speak into it in a general sense.)

I want to give you some quick insight if you are frustrated with the ministry approach of your local church.

Church Family Is Not an Option

When one wants to give up on the local church altogether and do it on their own, they’ll have to look back to the Scriptures and start asking some questions. At the very least, they must see how God has always formed his people, and for what reason.

We see from the beginning that Adam and Eve were in community with God, and that one of their main purposes was to be fruitful and multiply more image-bearers of God’s glory. Not only that, but God was the one who informed/formed Adam and Eve of their image (stating that they were "very good" before they did anything good or bad). He was their Lord.

When people became what they were not what God intended to be, he sent a flood to destroy mankind. You'll notice what he told Noah and his family afterwards:

And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1)

God then called Abram out of his land, to be a great nation and to create a large family. Then, God made Israel a nation. In both instances, God’s intent was the furthering of the image of what he was like (not because they were great or large in number as Deuteronomy 7 points out).

God then takes this same understanding into the New Testament. Jesus calls us his Church, his flock, his body, his new family to show off who God is and what he is like. Then we actually see this life lived out in the culture and context of the church in Acts.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

I love this passage because it speaks to what God intended for his people to be all along. Not only so, but it comes right after the Spirit comes upon his church at Pentecost. As we continue to read through Acts, and then the various other letters in the New Testament, we see this church life lived out among God’s people, empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit.

This understanding of being in community, empowered by God for the sake of the mission of God is all throughout God's story. And these are just a few examples.

Who is God and what is he like? One of the aspects of God is that he is triune in nature, meaning, he lives in community. One God in three persons. So, when we live in community, we are pointers to who God is and what he is like.

So, if you plan on leaving the church altogether, you have some serious questions to answer based on the Scriptures given to us by God.

My Church Doesn’t Get It

I started living out missional community life back in 2007 as a youth pastor. I didn’t know what it was called then, but the way I formed the group with our leaders and youth, it’s exactly what we were doing. We had the entire families involved, and the group was growing with believers and unbelievers. It was amazing. We did this for about a year and half, but then I was told by the Senior Pastor that the church didn’t support it because it wasn’t the traditional youth group he was used to. So, not only did they ask us to stop, but they asked me to step down. I was totally cool with it, because I told him I didn’t want to get in the way of the church’s overall vision for how God had called them to.

At that point, he asked me to head up our community groups to see how might be able to implement some of the aspects of what I was doing in the youth group for the church as a whole. I started to implement, but it just got out of hand. I started to get angry and I reacted in ways I wish I could take back. I was purposely preaching, teaching, and leading in ways that I knew was against the local elders’ views. Instead of taking them my thoughts and asking for their wisdom, I just acted. Even though I think the ways I was leading were more biblical, it was doing it in a way that was rebellious.

I’ve learned a lot from that experience. I’ve also learned a lot from others that have done a much better job than I have in submitting to their elders, as they desire to live as a gospel community on mission.

Here is what I’ve learned for those who desire to do ministry differently than their local church:

1. Go to your elders/leaders, tell them some of the things that you are learning, and ask them for wisdom. Most likely, the elders/leaders at your church love Jesus and his mission. They have a lot of wisdom for you to learn from. Seek it and take it to the Spirit. Do not go into any meetings with your elders/pastors as a know-it-all, but as a learner.

2. Ask them if you can start living in this way, under their leadership. Ensure them you do not desire to leave, or take people with you. You want to live in this way to see if God might use it to be a beacon of light to the church, rather than against the church. See how you can be a submissive servant to the church, instead of seen as a grumpy dissenter.

What if I Need to Leave?

There are times where you will need to leave the church to either start something new, or to go and join a new one. Even though I highly recommend going to be part of another church where elders are established, I know this isn’t the reality for many. But, if I may, and if you are still reading, allow me to give you some further insight on this process:

1. Do not dump a list of “why you suck” on the elders when telling them it’s time to part ways. I’ve seen many a people who keep everything to themselves for years, then dump the last 10/20/30 years of things that they hate on the elders, and then leave. That’s just not loving. That’s like your child coming to you at the age of 18 and laying out all the ways you’ve disappointed them and then walking out of your house. Be open and honest with your leaders, but give them time to take it in and time to change. Maybe they’ll give you insight on the ins and outs of why certain things are the way that they are.

Have you ever been around a child that walks all over their parents, are totally misbehaved and you can’t believe it? Then you find out that they have a major behavioral disorder? Sometimes context and insight help us understand. So, I’d tell you that if you plan on leaving, don’t make the decision alone, but take it to the leaders ahead of time and tell them your concerns. Be sure to give them time and space to speak into what you are thinking and seeing. What if God used you as a catalyst for change? What if God used the elders/leaders as a catalyst for change for you and your maturity?

2. If you leave, don’t speak against your church. Think of the apostle Paul in this. When he dealt with the Corinthian church that was seriously jacked up, probably far more so than your church, he had a ton to say about how much he saw the grace of God in them. Look at this:

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge— God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:4-9)

Only after all this does he enter into correction. But, know this: People saw Paul as filled with grace for those he walked with. Most that leave their church are just the opposite. They have nothing good to say and sound bitter, spew slander, and are outright hateful against the church.

Think of this, who does this describe more? God or Satan? Who are you pointing to when you take this stance against your former church? You are not helping the cause of Christ by calling them out and being bitter, but you are aiding the work of Satan in showing that we are just a bunch of embittered divisive haters, instead of a family of missionary servants who understand we all have flaws and are in need of a Savior. Speak of your former church as you’d speak of the very bride of Christ. See the best in them. I am not asking you to lie about them, but every church family must seek to give the same grace that has been shown to them in Christ. Point to that, not the reasons why you think that they are the very sons of Satan. Think through, “How can I further the mission of Jesus in the way that I speak about my former church to others?”

God-Honoring Departure

Listen, I know this is far easier to write than live out. But, we are here to make disciples of Jesus, not further aid the work of Satan to destroy the work of the Church. When we decide to make hasty decisions to leave the local church, or to speak against her, we do just that – we are aids for Satan’s work. This doesn’t mean that we don’t leave the church, but the way we leave can show how we can have healthy disagreements, part ways, and still love each other and hold Jesus high in our lives and words.

The decision is not an easy one when speaking of leaving. But, if you could ask yourself this:

How would I want my son or daughter leave my house when they get older? How would I want them to handle themselves? How would I want them to speak of us, their parents to their friends? What would I want the process to look like?

Start answering these questions, and you’ll be well on your way of leaving, if it’s a must, in a healthy, God-honoring way.

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Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife, and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade. Seth is an investment portfolio manager, serving as President of McBee Advisors, Inc. He is also a MC leader/trainer/coach and executive team member of the GCM Collective. Seth currently lives in Phoenix, AZ with his wife Stacy and their three children: Caleb, Coleman, and Madelynn. He is also the artist and co-author of the wildly popular (and free!) eBook, Be The Church: Discipleship & Mission Made Simple. Twitter: @sdmcbee.

5 Ways to Landscape Your Heart

  Over the last few weekends, I've been putting some muscle and sweat into the front yard of our home. The north portion of our front lawn has been a dust bowl and weed-breading ground over the last two summers, and the time came to put down a real lawn that will not be despised by myself and all our neighbors. According to the experts, fall is the perfect time to seed your lawn and get it ready for next spring. It's been a big task.

While seeding my lawn, I was inspired by how it relates to the work on the soil of my heart. In fact, there is an immediate parable or correlation between yard work and heart work. Here are five ways that we can landscape our heart.

1. Kill Off the Old

The work of replanting the lawn begins with the killing off of the old yard. My lawn was fertile place for every sort of dandelion, crabgrass, thorny vine, thistle, and bare patch known to man. Weeds, rocks, old grass, and all sorts of craziness had embedded itself in my front yard. To begin the process of a lawn redo, I had to kill off all the old growth. So I spent an entire day spraying the lawn with some pretty potent Round Up. Everything had to be dead and ready for removal.

In doing heart work, the starting place is the same. Killing off the old, deathly weeds of the heart. Paul spoke of this work as a putting to death what is earthly in you (Colossians 3:5). It is a matter of seeing that which is contrary to the Law of God, being repulsed by it and going to work in confessing, rejecting, and forsaking these sins. The Law of God is a helpful "Round Up" for us because it shows us that we are sinners. God's good and helpful Law exposes the sin in our hearts and make us realize just how far we are from him. Yet killing off isn't just acknowledgement that there is sin in our lives, it is rejecting and forsaking it as well. It must be removed.

Do we desire the roots of bitterness to grow in our hearts? Do we long for lust and sensuality to overcome our hearts so that we cannot perceive others with the dignity and worth that God gives them? Are we eager for the love of money so much so that we cannot rightly give and sacrifice for the advancement of a greater Kingdom and King? Unless we are repulsed by the sin of our hearts, we won't go to work in killing it off. We must hold our hearts up to the Law of God to see our sin, loathe it, and by repentance put it to death.

2. Make the Soil Ready

Killing off sin isn't the only step we must take, although it is a necessary step. Even though my front yard had become a brown and crisp deathbed of weeds and grass, it still wasn't at a place where new growth and life could emerge. I had to put some muscle into the yard and remove all the old growth. As I removed what was dead and decaying, I also had to till and break up the soil. It had to be ready to receive the new and better seed. I don't necessarily symbolize what many would consider a strong man, so spending an entire weekend raking and digging up the dead grass and weeds was a difficult task. Thankfully, I had a few friends come and help me dig up and remove what was unnecessary or harmful in the area we were landscaping.

For many of us, preparation of the soil is best done in community. Not just in landscaping, but in heart work as well. I needed the manpower of my friends (and the truck power) to remove stumps, thorny bushes, and all sorts of vines and weeds to accomplish the task in a reasonable amount of time.

The heart work of dealing with our sin requires a good tilling, as well. Not only are we removing what is dead, but we must prepare the soil of our hearts for what is life-giving. In heart work this is often found in a few ways. First, we must create space for the gospel to be received. It may seem obvious, but if there is no dedicated room for our hearts to receive the good seed of God's word, we won't grow. A helpful practice is to set aside both time and place for heart work. If it has been some time since you've done serious heart work, taking a day out to cultivate the soil of your heart will be helpful. If nothing else, take a specific time daily to cultivate your heart.

Secondly, do this in community. Many prefer to do this sort of heart work alone and "get away" like a medieval monk for introspection and silence. That may be helpful to a degree, but I believe that the job is done even better with friends. Just as I needed my friends to make the soil work more accessible, so I need faithful friends to help do the work of cultivating my heart for the sake of Jesus. Sometimes we don't know where the sinful areas of our heart lie. We aren't aware of the imbedded stumps of pride and bitterness. We can't see (or feel) the thorns of distention and division in our lives. We can't pick out why that certain destructive vine of greed will kill everything. But our gospel-minded friends see it, and they can help expose and remove it. We need their community and fellowship to remove the sin of our hearts and prepare the soil of for the life-giving nourishment of the gospel.

We should set aside time to cultivate our hearts by engaging in gospel communities. Such people will lovingly hold up the Law and call us to repentance, helping ready the soil of our hearts for the planting of new and better seed.

3. Scatter the Seed

Killing and tilling is a good start in dealing with the restoration of a suburban lawn, but we can't stop there. Left to itself, the lawn would return to the pathetic weedy, thorn-and-thistle-producing lawn it had always been. If I want my lawn to produce a nice, lush space of grass, I have to actually put grass seed down. Contrary to my childhood beliefs, grass doesn't grow up from the center of the earth. So obviously I had to get the seed and distribute it on my patch of ground that at this point was merely a barren space of dirt. Even finding the right seed is important. Everyone who has experience doing this told me to get the "99.9% weed-free" fescue, otherwise I'd be back at steps one and two next year.

The process here was fairly simple. Put the seed in the spreader and go for a walk all over my future lawn. Distribute the seed everywhere and abundantly. Honestly this was my favorite part of the whole job.

Heart work requires the same sort of distribution and application. Lest we stick in the morbid work of mortification and exposure under the Law, we will become discouraged and despairing. We need a thorough and frequent application of the gospel to our hearts. Let me be clear here, the seed that we need is the gospel word found in the Scriptures. The "99.9% weed-free" application is the 100% infallible Word of God. We must apply the Word frequently and thoroughly.

Make it your aim to be in the Scriptures often, looking to Jesus and letting the life of the gospel cover your heart. Walk in every space of your heart and look to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for your life! Listen to the laments of the Psalms, the warning of the Prophets, the exhortations of the Epistles, the wisdom of the Proverbs, which will all point to the good news of Jesus over and over and over in your heart. Let his life-giving Word cover every area of your life and heart. Scatter the seed of the gospel-word everywhere. Pray and say, "I believe, help my unbelief!"

4. Supplement with Life-giving Nutrients

The ground has been prepared and the seed laid, and now we can anticipate a great yard coming in the spring. At least, that is the expectation. Most lawn-care experts, however, will tell you to supplement what's already been done. My plot of earth has some exceptional topsoil and I am sure that the grass seed will do fine. But I need to water and fertilize the seed that has been planted. So, I have my sprinkler system dialed in to deliver a fresh covering of water twice a day. After laying the seed I walked around the yard one more time with a starter fertilizer to help nourish the soil, move out any remaining weeds, and give some supplement to the seed that had been laid.

Some might have their religious radar going on red-alert at this point because of my potential heresy. I'm not saying that the Word of God needs any addition or supplement to make it better. Nor am I saying that the life-seed of the gospel is deficient and in need of a boost or it won't flourish. What I am pointing out is that these supplemental practices are helpful for maximum growth. The fescue seed in my yard is sufficient in and of itself to produce a nice, healthy lawn. But its growth is aided by the resourcing of water and fertilizer to strengthen the good that is already laid.

Our hearts will benefit from the supplementation of life-supporting resources to aid in our growth. Engaging in community with others is similar to watering the seed of the gospel. Not only does our community help us expose the sins of our hearts, but they also nourish and engage the gospel-Word in our life to help it grow. Community that only exposes sin and calls for repentance forgets the goodness of the gospel and is a terror to be a part of (consider why so many "accountability groups" are really liars clubs of self-righteousness). We need to engage a community of grace to remind and "fertilize" that grace within us. Gathering with others who will hold up the Law and then the gospel will cause the seed of that good news to flourish in our hearts. Paul shared exactly what this looks like by saying, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God" (Colossians 3:16).

Supplemental reading outside of the Scripture from faithful Christians is also a way to build on and benefit from the implanted Word in your heart. Books, both old and new, that reveal the glory of Christ, the depth of the gospel, and the nature of God will help us grow in the gospel. Sites such as this one are helpful places to consider gospel-centered life and discipleship. Reading through and reflecting from these sources are helpful ways to support and engage the growth of the gospel in our hearts. Be reminded, however, that these are not the life-giving gospel growth that we desire to see. They are merely the water and fertilizer to help the gospel grow. The gospel must be planted first.

5. Be Patient

My son has been an observer and somewhat causal worker with me in this whole process. After I finished fertilizing and watering the lawn yesterday, he asked me where the grass was. The next morning, he was still disappointed to see that no grass had come up in the spots we had planted. Where he longs to see immediate and verifiable results in my work on the lawn, I know it will be a few weeks before anything shows.

So it can be with heart work. We will long to see immediate growth and depth come from our labors of mortification and gospel planting. Certainly, we can expect to see some difference immediately. My lawn today looks nothing like it did a month ago. In some ways it might look worse. However, the growth of the seed will happen. And in the same way the growth of the gospel will occur, too. As we are faithful to work diligently by faith in exposing, killing, implanting, and watering the gospel into our hearts, so the Holy Spirit is faithful to bring the growth we long to see. In some cases it might be immediate, like a heart-change from an addiction or besetting sin. In some cases it might be a long obedience that takes time.

I encourage you to be patient. Continue to do the work of cultivating the heart in the gospel, and ask for the Lord to give evidences of growth and grace. Seek Christ as the source of your life and look for the growth of the gospel patiently. By cultivating the gospel in your heart the person you will be in three years will be different than the person you are today. And like the grass that is (hopefully) growing now in my front yard, the progress will be incremental, almost invisible, but it will be there. Lay hold of the fruit of the Spirit in patience and look for a harvest of gospel-life as you seek Christ.

Landscaping As Heart-scaping

It's no wonder to me that Jesus used agricultural metaphors and parables in teaching about heart work. There is much similarity in the process of death, removal, preparation, planting, and watering. As a pastor I don't often do lawn work, in fact I'd rather do just about anything else. Yet, by looking to best practices for the growth of natural things, we can discern some steps for cultivating the gospel within our hearts for growth. It seems that the "organic" growth of grass within the ground really points to the supernatural growth of Christ within our hearts. By faith, with the empowerment of the Spirit may we move forward into doing the work of heart-scaping so that the gospel may grow and flourish and be an abundant and glorious display of God's grace in our lives.

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Jeremy Writebol(@jwritebol) has been training leaders in the church for over thirteen years. He is the author of everPresent: How the Gospel Relocates Us in the Present (GCD Books, 2014) and writes at jwritebol.net. He lives and works in Plymouth, MI as the Campus Pastor of Woodside Bible Church.

Top 5 Articles of September

1. Why I'm Tired of Church Planting - Seth McBee

Seth asks how we might change our views of church planting and the ways that it often manifests itself.

2. 6 Lessons I Learned as a Rookie Pastor - R.D. McClenagan

R.D. talks about his struggles as a rookie pastor and offers advice on how to avoid the pitfalls.

3. Living Like a Narnian - Joe Rigney

I talk with Joe about C.S. Lewis, Narnia, and discipleship.

4. 4 Anchors of Repentance - Jake Ledet

In this article, Jake outlines four foundational aspects of biblical repentance: biblical repentance is from God, centered on God, produces life-giving joy, and should be sought in community.

5. Why Teach the Bible's Storyline? - Trevin Wax

Trevin argues that the storyline of the Bible is important because it helps us think as Christians formed by the great Story that tells the truth about our world.

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Brandon Smith is Director of GCD, Associate Editor of The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, and Director of Communications at Criswell College. He is the proud husband of Christa and daddy of Harper Grace. Follow him on Twitter: @BrandonSmith85.

What Sparks a Movement?

  On a cold Halloween night long ago, a lone figure walked along the path near the Elbe River in what is now called Germany. As he neared the door of the Castle Church, parchment in hand, he knew his action in the coming moments would cause a stir. But he certainly could not have imagined the impact of the movement he was about to advance. Weary of the institutionalism and failed theological views of the established church of his day, this young monk had seen enough. He had written what became the manifesto of the movement soon to be called the Protestant Reformation.

The young monk’s name? Martin Luther. His document? The 95 theses. And his movement literally changed the world.

It Takes Clarity

Many besides Luther had problems with the Catholic church of his day. But his Theses proved to be the match the set ablaze a movement for the gospel of Jesus Christ, a movement that would go through various phases, to John Calvin in Geneva, the Anabaptists and the Radical Reformation, and Zwingli, to name a few.

It is one thing to sense the need for change. It is another to be able to state what and how change should come. For a movement to captivate others who will join in spreading its message, clarity is essential.

It is one thing to see the need for a movement. It is another to clarify a vision to accomplish the movement. Luther could do both. And today we need both again—a gospel-centered movement led by those who can teach others how to advance that movement today.

For a movement to succeed someone has to articulate an idea in a way that is winsome and easily communicated.

Today that is much easier because of the internet and tools such as Facebook and Twitter.

It Takes a Tribe

But for movements to spread, it takes others. It takes, in the words of Seth Godin, a tribe. “A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea.”

And such tribes need to be led for a movement to matter: “Tribes need leadership. Sometimes one person leads, sometimes more. People want connection and growth and something new. They want change."

You have already made decisions about what you value. These decisions are reflected in how you spend your time and money, and how you raise your children. The importance of the gospel is seen in what you value. The “tribes” you associate with, and the level of passion with which you associate, grow out of your values.

Jim Elliot as a college student uttered these immortal words: “He is no fool who gives that he cannot keep in order to keep that he cannot lose.” Elliot understood the things of this life were not to be compared with the glories of the life beyond. That is why he could stand with his friends years later on the shores of a river in South America and be speared to death by those he came there to reach for Christ. The gospel mattered more than anything to Elliot and his friends.

If someone asked you the meaning of life, how would you answer them? If someone wanted you to tell them what mattered more than anything else, could you articulate for them how the gospel makes sense of everything?

Many movements have come and gone, some of which had clear statements of belief. Marx and Engel penned a Communist Manifesto, and the communist movement influenced much of the world. Today, however, no matter how well articulated communism may be, the only places where it is accepted are where totalitarian leaders rule with an iron fist. If the core values of a movement ultimately are shown to be wrong, the movement will ultimately fail.

But if the movement clearly speaks truth and gives a vision for living in light of that truth, it becomes an unstoppable force. When the gospel has been at the center of the faith of believers, Christianity has been such a force.

Godin grasps well the power of a movement clearly articulated and the possibilities afforded us through the internet today: “A movement is thrilling. It’s the work of many people, all connected, all seeking something better. The newly leveraged tools of the Net make it easier than ever to create a movement, to make things happen, to get things done.”

We stand on the gospel—the unchanging good news of Jesus Christ and the life that He provides. Sometimes our problem lies less with the assault from the outside than institutionalism from within which turns our attention from a risk taking, sacrificial mission to maintaining what we have.

It Takes the Master

We must take care to remember that the focus of our lives should not be on a movement, but on the Master of that movement. In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” He did not say follow a movement. Many have been led astray by zeal to follow a movement whose leader took them down a path of harm, from Islamic terrorism to the White Supremacist movement. We must consistently, clearly articulate what our movement is about and what it is not about.

It is about Christ. It is not about our preferences.

It is about worshiping God. It is not about a style of music.

It is about telling others the gospel. It is not about our political or other views.

Certainly the movement of the gospel will speak to preferences, style, and politics. But we too quickly lose sight of Jesus in our haste to issues of secondary importance. We would do well to heed the words of Paul, a notable advancer of God’s movement: “I press toward the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 3:14)

“Jesus was the first missionary,” Addison reminds us. “What Jesus did was to found a missionary movement that would one day span the globe.” When we become followers of Christ, we become a part of that global movement. When Jesus walked the earth He did not go after the cultural elites of His time. He called the outcasts and the ordinary. Folks like you and I are the kind of people He uses to articulate the movement He calls us to advance.
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Alvin L. Reid is husband to Michelle and father to Josh and Hannah. He is a professor of evangelism and student ministry at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, as well as a popular speaker and author. He has written numerous books on student ministry, evangelism, missional Christianity, and spiritual awakenings.  Follow him on Twitter: @AlvinReid.

[This is an excerpt from Dr. Reid's forthcoming book by GCD Books, Gospel Advance.]

When Being Cool Isn't Enough

  Is it appropriate to communicate the gospel message in a way that's shaped by culture? This question reveals a certain naiveté about culture. The minute we open our mouths we shape the gospel with the cultural, linguistic forms, sounds, and meanings--language. Even the Bible contextualizes. The Bible is written in cultural language, reflects cultural forms of literature (Hittite treaties, Babylonian law codes, and Greek epistles). Everyday Christians swim in cultural forms: wearing pants, speaking in English, singing Amazing Grace (the original version, or Chris Tomlin’s recent offering). As my friend Dr. Alvin Reid likes to say, the very existence of four Gospels, written by four separate voices, to four distinct audiences, nuanced by the audiences who are receiving each message, shouts to us that God values the concept of contextualization. The question isn't whether to contextualize but how to contextualize?

The how of popular contextualization is often code for, "We want to be cool and relevant," a twist from its actual, missiological meaning. Ironically, the loudest proponents of contextualization often get it wrong. I am afraid that too often we seem to think  contextualization is really an effort to make us and our churches into the coolest version we can create. The more I dig into God’s word, the more I am convinced that biblical contextualization is not a planned effort to maximize “cool,” but is a concerted effort to live out the gospel by “dying to ourselves” in order to reach those around us. No text seems to drive this point home more clearly than Paul’s words to the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians 9.

Great Freedom

Paul begins the chapter by pointing out that he is a man of great freedoms. He understands the gospel rightly that his adoption as a child of God is not dependent on his behavior. As a result, he is free to take a wife, enjoy the comforts of food and drink, and even receive financial gain for his labors. These (and many others) are among the freedoms that are now enjoyed by every Christ follower. However, in spite of his freedoms, Paul advocates for the voluntary restriction of those freedoms for the sake of gospel advance. This passage is a strong reminder that there can be areas in our lives, which are not sin, but which can, at some point, be detrimental to gospel advancement. In order to make this voluntary decision, however, we ultimately must value God and his gospel more than we value our personal freedoms. Verses 14 and 15 expand upon this as Paul offers an explanation for why he gives up his income in his pursuit of the gospel.

Paul explains that his justification for this kind of voluntary restriction is because he has been given a stewardship of the gospel. Faithful contextualization is necessary as we grasp the weighty responsibility of the gospel that is entrusted to us.

Slaves to God

Paul points out that those who love God and love the gospel are slaves to God, and so we preach, as slaves, in an effort to see others respond in faith to Jesus. Verse 19, in particular, is helpful to this end. Paul specifically uses slave language to refer to his relationship with those who do not yet know Christ. We are often comfortable using slave language in respect to God (i.e. a slave to God) or even righteousness (i.e. a slave to righteousness), but the idea of using it in respect to those apart from God is a bit foreign to most of our vocabulary.  Yet, this is exactly what Paul does. “I have made myself a servant to all,” Paul says, in a statement that is speaking specifically of the larger group of humanity who still do not know God. Paul’s efforts to contextualize the gospel rests under this presupposition that he is a slave to God and man as he endeavors to advance the gospel.

Paul points out (v. 20-22) that his efforts at contextualization come out of an understanding that he is voluntarily restricting his freedoms. By doing so he is a living example of the gospel on display. Luke 9:23 says, “And he said to all, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'”

Biblical contextualization is an effort to live out the gospel call in the ministry setting that God has placed us.

Beyond Comfort

Finally, Paul notes that this effort to contextualize the gospel is not easy. Notice his language in verses 24-27 concerning his efforts. Paul exercises “self-control,” he “disciplines” himself. He keeps himself “under control.” Often we use this verse in an effort to inform our attempts at discipleship, but by doing so, we miss the point. These are Paul’s attempts to describe the process of dying to self that is implicit in biblical contextualization. The act of contextualizing the gospel is an act of self-sacrifice as we die to our own identity and speak faithfully the gospel in a manner that is most easily understood by our surrounding context.

Biblical contextualization is absolutely necessary, but anyone who understands it as an effort to see how far we can push the boundaries with the gospel  is engaging in a theological exercise of  missing the point. Contextualization should be an exercise in living out the gospel, allowing your comfortable identity to die as you find your identity in Christ. This may not result in a church full of indie rocker wannabes, but rather a multi-cultural church. Instead of a hip, cool leader that stands on cutting edge of fashion and music, a faithful contextual leader may look like a bass fishing, pearl snap wearing, southern gospel listening, country boy. They might even be a guy who wears a lemon yellow sweater vest, drives a Vespa or a Prius, and listens to Genesis or James Taylor.

The point, ultimately, is that who we are, and even who we want to be, should not really matter. What matters is that we are walking with Christ, loving those around us and dying daily, as we live out the gospel. We must speak the truth in a manner which may be uncomfortable to us personally, but which communicates powerfully to those around us.

Know your audience, know the gospel, and die to yourself as you preach the gospel faithfully to those around you.

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Micah Fries is the Vice President of LifeWay Research. He has served as a Senior Pastor in Missouri and a missionary in West Africa, prior to coming to LifeWay. Connect with Micah on Twitter.

The Pastor's Justification

We're excited to have Jared at GCD today to discuss his newest book, The Pastor's Justification, which deals with the struggles that pastors regularly face.

_ BRANDON SMITH: It seems like you've written or contributed to a few books a year over the past few years. What does the writing process look like for you?

JARED WILSON: I am a sadly undisciplined writer but not because I don't write. I find myself not having to schedule writing time week to week, mainly because I can't not write. It just comes out, and always has since I was a kid, actually. My book and article projects are largely deadline driven, so I ramp up my focus time on particular projects the closer I am to something being due. But week to week, most of my project writing is done on Wednesdays and Fridays. Wednesdays is also when I write the bulk of my Sunday sermon.

B: After so many books centered on believers and their relationship to Jesus and the gospel, what led you to writing a book specifically for pastors?

J: The calling and office is so peculiar. Pastors certainly don't need a different gospel or a "bigger" gospel than the laity. The same gospel works for all of us, and is eternal enough for any person. But I think many pastors get so preoccupied in giving advice, counsel, ministry, etc., they neglect to feed themselves. The statistics of pastoral burnout and depression are sobering and revealing. I wanted to take a shepherding approach to shepherds with this book, helping my brothers apply the security and confidence and humility that comes in Christ's finished work to their specific calling and tasks. We lack for lots of resources in that department. Many books for pastors are for the ministerial toolkit. I wanted to write one for the ministerial heart.

B: The description for the book begins with: "Ministry can be brutal. Discouragement, frustration, and exhaustion are common experiences for all church leaders, often resulting in a lack of joy and a loss of focus." What are some major themes that you try to capture in the book?

J: The first part of the book is a general exposition of 1 Peter 5, addressing aspects of the pastor's character and calling. The second part of the book is a general exposition of the 5 Solas of the Reformation tradition, applying these hallmark truths to the pastor's vocation. The biggest themes addressed in every chapter and both sections are the pastor's sense of confidence and security, which is the result of his trust for fulfillment and satisfaction. Those big themes impact all the little matters, from a pastor's daily devotions to how much time he spends with his family or how he spends his money, each of which (and more) is discussed in the book.

B: As a pastor yourself, what part of the book did you need to hear the most?

J: Every iteration of seeking the approval of God, not men. This is tough for pastors of every kind of church, small to big and every point in between, and I've been on both ends of the shrinking and growing church spectrum, but speaking personally, it becomes more difficult to seek God's approval rather than man's as I have led a growing church and as I've begun navigating a public ministry of writing and speaking.

B: What is the greatest encouragement you can give to struggling pastors?

J: God sees, God knows, and God will vindicate you. You are totally loved, totally approved, and totally justified in Christ. _

Jared C. Wilson (@jaredcwilson) is Becky’s husband and Macy and Grace’s daddy, and also the pastor of Middletown Springs Community Church in Middletown Springs, Vermont and the author of the books Gospel Wakefulness, Your Jesus is Too Safe, Abide, Seven Daily Sins, and Gospel Deeps. He blogs almost daily at The Gospel-Driven Church.

[You can order The Pastor's Justification on Amazon.]

How to Offer and Receive Criticism

Richard Sibbes once said that  “men love not to be judged and censured.” Personally, I have yet to meet the person who enjoys criticism. Whether it's criticism about your work, life, faith or criticism from an unknown critic online or a loving family member. All criticism is hard to swallow.

My mom and I have a great relationship. I look back at my formative years and she provided a foundation for the love of God that hasn’t left me. I recall the words of Paul to Timothy, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you” (2 Tim. 1:5).

However, I wish I was wiser when hearing her criticism. Her words of encouragement and admonition were coming from a heart of love. Because of my own struggles with hearing criticism, I would often refuse to heed her concerns, only accepting the truth of her words after I'd made a mess of the situation. Hearing criticism is and has been one of the hardest lessons learned in my life, especially if I’ve received criticism from those whose motives were not in my best interest.

But the gospel should transform the way we give and receive criticism. In today's, age social networks and blogs have only made it easier to criticize without accountability or real community. It’s much easier to make that snarky comment about someone when you don’t have to look them in the face to do so.

So, how do we take a gospel-centered approach toward criticism?

The Gospel and Criticism

The gospel transforms the way we receive criticism in four ways. First, it tells us we are created in the image of God. We have value because we are his handiwork, “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Ps. 139:14). What we do has value because we imitate his creativity in creation. None of us is left without a touch of this creativity.

Second, the gospel tells us we are sinful. Charles Spurgeon once said, “If any man thinks ill of you, do not be angry with him; for you are worse than he thinks you to be.” Often criticism stings because there may be a teaspoon of truth within the cup of criticism (or maybe a cup of truth within the teaspoon). We know we are sinful. But we almost always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt as we speak, act, and write. It’s hard to hear the perspective of someone who may not give us this benefit of the doubt.

Third, the gospel tells us are adopted by God. We have been declared righteous and joined his family and are now being transformed into the image of the Son of God. We are now much more than the sum total of our sins. Criticism can't touch that.

Finally, the gospel tells us that we will be vindicated on the last day. George Whitefield once said, “I am content to wait till the judgement day for the clearing up of my reputation.” We should learn to be content now with the righteousness of Christ waiting for our final vindication. For some of us, that might mean allowing our reputation to be tarnished for now.

Scripture actually has much to say about criticism. The following practical suggestions for receiving and giving criticism will hopefully help you build upon these truths.

Receiving Criticism

1. Hear the criticism.

The writer of Proverbs admonishes us, “Whoever heeds instructions is on the path of life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray” (Prov. 10:17), “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is foolish” (12:1), and “Whoever heeds reproof is prudent” (15:5). These Scriptures only touch the surface. Read through Proverbs for yourself and study what the Solomon teaches about receiving reproof. When criticism is offered, you should hear it, consider it, pray about it, and seek counsel about it. You should also be willing to sift through the criticism for the grain of truth. I have rarely found a criticism where there may not a single grain.

2. Rejoice in the criticism.

Jesus starts one of the greatest sermons ever preached, “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11-12).

In this sermon, Jesus addresses criticism that ends up being slanderous lies. Yet he says we are blessed and we should rejoice. How can this be? We are baptized into the body of Christ. We are participants in his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus was persecuted, lied about, and slandered. And the writer of Hebrews says, “[Jesus] who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1). This passage connects our joy, suffering, and final vindication by God. Jesus sits at the right hand of God vindicated against the criticism that he made himself to be God (Matt. 26:62-68). We too will stand before God vindicated one day.

3. Compare the criticism with Scripture.

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17). The truest criticism we will receive comes from Scripture. It speaks honestly about the condition of fallen humanity. Bring the criticism you receive to Scripture and ask the Spirit to uncover truth that might relate to it. Don’t miss the full story of the gospel.

4. Don’t respond with umbrage.

The worst thing you can do is respond quickly with your own criticism or accusation. But also don’t let a “root of bitterness” (Heb. 12:15) take hold in your heart. Resentment will impact you most and the others you love. This last point is especially true when the person clearly doesn’t have your best interest in mind and the bulk of their criticism is slander. It’s easy to set the record straight about that person, but in my experience that is either almost completely useless because it’s peppered with anger or slander in its own right.

Offering Criticism

1. Be wary of making accusations against brothers in Christ. 

All those who profess Christ are one with Christ. We have been baptized into one body and Spirit (Eph. 4). Christ isn’t divided. We should be very careful when criticizing that we aren’t accusing another Man’s servant (Rom. 14). That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take part in polemics, dialogues, debates, and defending the faith. Helpful criticism takes wisdom rooted in Scripture and a robust understanding of how the gospel changes everything.

2. Be prayerful about your criticism.

Before you ever utter the criticism pray about it. Ask God for wisdom in using the right words and also that it would be received from a heart of love. Express your dependance on God in sharing this concern with the person. Examine your heart in giving the criticism. If you cannot offer the criticism in good faith (Rom. 14:23) then don’t.

3. Seek peace and mutual upbuilding.

Paul says, “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding” (Rom. 14:19). I see two connections to the gospel story when see the word “peace.” First, peace connects with the Old Testament concept of shalom. It’s a state of rest for all of life. In the Old Testament, the shadow was the promised land and in the New Testament the fulfillment is the rest we have in Christ. Also, peace is often connected with the blood of Christ and our justification. All of the conflict, rebellion, and sin found in the story of humanity and Israel is resolved when God makes a covenant of peace with Christ (Eph. 2:13-16, 6:14-15; Rom. 5:1-2, and Col, 1:19-20) declaring all those in him as justified and now “fellow heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16-17, also see Luke 2:8-14). The purpose should be to build the hearer up; it shouldn’t tear him down. There’s correlation with Jesus’s instructions for church discipline, the goal of which is restoration.

4. Watch your own life and doctrine.

Paul admonishes the Galatians, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgressions, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal. 5:1-2). These instructions are meant to encourage patience, gentleness, and humility. A professor in college who taught counseling would frequently say, “Admonish others as you might expect them to admonish you later.” The idea was “today it’s me admonishing you; tomorrow it may be you admonishing me.” Paul also makes an important point about “bear[ing] one another’s burdens.” Step in their shoes and understand their struggles. Don’t be merciless to those who doubt (Jude 1:22). God doesn’t bruise the reed and neither should we. Fan the flame of God’s grace in their life.

5. Stop continually criticizing.

Paul commands Titus, “As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him” (Tit. 3:10). The original context was the local church but there’s good application for our personal relationships and online interactions. Depending on the severity of the issue, you may just need to stop criticizing and “have nothing more to do with him.” I cannot tell you how tiring it is hearing the same criticism over and over again by the same people about the same person. It takes wisdom to understand at what point you are casting your pearls before the swine (Matt. 7:6).

It’s important to search Scripture when understanding how to receive and give criticism. The Internet has made it easy to register our criticisms and provides a platform for those with grudges. These interactions are front and center for the world to see. We must learn to interact in a way which glorifies God. “Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters to pertaining to this life!” (1 Cor. 6:3).

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Mathew B. Sims is the Editor-in-Chief at Exercise.com and has authored, edited, and contributed to several books including A Household Gospel, We Believe: Creeds, Confessions, & Catechisms for Worship, A Guide for Advent, Make, Mature, Multiply, and A Guide for Holy Week. Mathew, LeAnn (his wife), and his daughters Claire, Maddy, and Adele live in Taylors, SC at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains with their Airdale Terrier. They attend Downtown Presbyterian Church (PCA). Visit MathewBryanSims.com!

Facing Our Identity Issues

I sat in my office sulking. My day had been so demanding. My week tiresome. My month an all out marathon, minus the fans. Pastoring eternal souls, preaching week after week, leading leaders, and living an outwardly focused life is demanding enough, but occasionally the demands pile higher. As a pastor, I am a sinner that counsels sinners. This means that, despite our common hope in the gospel, there are times that I fail to apply my own counsel to my own soul. It means that I'm not enough for any disciple much less a whole church.

The past couple of weeks had been one of those "pile up" weeks. More counseling, more speaking, more demands. Add to the stack a particular situation that was, shall we say, extreme? The inbox had hate mail and church slander waiting for me. In tandem, I had to watch self-destructive behavior dismantle a person, whom I had poured a lot of life into.

Exhausted, I thought: "No one understands what it's like to be a pastor." "I deserve better treatment than this, after all I've done. Why can't I have better circumstances." I was emotionally drained.

In hope, I turned to Chuck Palahniuk for help, author of Choke, Snuff, and Fight Club.

Split Identity

Chuck Palahniuk writes sketchy fiction that challenges the prevailing norms for identity in our culture. His book Fight Club exposes misplaced identity through the central characters: The Narrator (played by Edward Norton in the movie version) and Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt). Durden starts underground fighting clubs where men show up after hours to fight bare-chested and barefoot.

In the now famous scene from Fight Club, the movie, Durden gives a speech that clarifies just what kind of war we should be fighting:

We are the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no great war, or great depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised by television to believe that one day we'll all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars — but we won't.

Our great war is a spiritual war. But what kind of spiritual war?

The spiritual war, according to Chuck, is to ground your identity in reality not in the American Dream. This is precisely what Edward Norton struggles to do. It was what I was struggling to do. Norton wants to be sexier and cooler than he actually is. He wants to be Brad Pitt, and he wants it so badly that he creates an alter ego called Tyler Durden, who starts Fight Clubs and lives like a rock god. He believes the lie that ubermasculinity and rock star living will give his life meaning, a greater sense of identity. So he creates Tyler Durden in his mind. You might say he has "identity issues," but he's not the only one.

Identity-of-the-Moment

We all have identity issues. Many of us have created an alter ego. It's more subtle than Norton's, but it's an alter ego nonetheless.

This alternate personality contends for our identity. It pulls at your heart, your longings. It tells you that if you were just a little more like this or that, then you'd be somebody. If you were better looking, if you were more successful, if you were married, if you were more spiritual, if you had more of a following on Twitter or Facebook, then you'd be somebody.

How do you detect your alter ego? Where do your thoughts drift when you have down time? What do you daydream about? Follow your thoughts, your dreams, your calendar and you will find your alter ego. In an interview with Paste Magazine, Chuck Palahniuk shares where part of his vision for Fight Club came from. He notes that the fighting in Fight Club was more about:

... people need(ing) a consensual forum in which to express themselves and to exhaust their pent up anxiety, and also to test themselves and kind of destroy their identity-of-the-moment, so that they can move on to a better, stronger identity ...

His book really is about identity — destroying the unwanted identity-of-the-moment (alter ego) and finding a better, stronger identity. This is what's at stake in our discipleship, every, single, day. A better identity.

Recovering Identity in Christ

What if we became adept at identifying our identity of the moment, the egos and images we slip into for meaning and worth? What if we were quick to confess those to friends and community? Just think what could happen if you consistently saw through your sin to your "identity-of-the-moment," and turned to Christ for true identity. It could be life-changing! Here are a few tips that have helped me recover identity in Christ in my insane moments:

• Reflect on Identity-of-the-Moment. I look for the sinful patterns in my life and trace them to "identity of the moment." For instance, my sin was sulking and my false identity was victim. I try to ask myself the hard questions, but often I need others to do that for me. Our self-image is as accurate as a carnival mirror, says Paul Tripp. We need good questions to straighten out our self-perception. We need to ask questions "What are you longing for most right now?" "Why are your emotions so extreme?" Check out David Powlison's helpful "X-ray Questions."
• My symptom was sulking. Sulkers are sour because they focus on how they've been mistreated. They see themselves as victims, their identity-of-the-moment. Complaining is a sure sign my victim identity is creeping in. "Can you believe they did that?" "There's no way I deserve that." Complaining can quickly turn to ripping on people. If we're not careful, best friends and spouses will end up colluding with us for other's verbal demise. "Venting" is an extreme expression of victim identity. We need a better identity in that moment.
• Reject Alter Identity. Once I detect my sin/identity issue, I try to reject it. Confession to God is the first step. "Lord, I am finding my worth in my wallowing, in being pitied, and not trusting your providence. I don't believe these circumstances are a kindness appointed to lure me deeper into you. I confess and I receive--forgiveness and cleansing" (see: 1 John 1:9). When we confess our sin, we reject our false identity. It's the first step toward gospel sanity, shaking off the delusions of sin, and returning to the grandeur of grace.
• Return to Christ. Returning to Jesus for gospel identity instead of an identity-of-the-moment is the most difficult and important part of being a disciple. Robert Murray McCheyene said: "For every look at sin, look ten times at Christ." How does Christ offer you a better identity than the false identity? My sin was sulking and my identity was victim. In 2 Peter 1:3, I'm reminded that my identity is godly; I'm a partaker of the divine nature. I was sulking in ungodliness because I thought I deserved better circumstances. I felt weak. This time I turned Peter the Apostle, not Chuck Palahniuk.

Peter reminded me that we have "divine power granted to us for life and godliness." This scripture reminded me of my identity — godly — but it does not stop there. It also offers a Savior to trust, a counter-promise of divine power necessary to live a godly life, not a sulking life. What a relief! Our identity is godly, and our promise is divine power for godliness.

Identity-in-Community

Interestingly, some of the material for Palahniuk's book came from his experience in hospice patient therapy. During one Christmas, he picked a paper ornament off of a church Christmas tree, the kind that obligates you to a good deed like buying a gift for an underprivileged child. His ornament called him to give hospice patients a ride to their therapy sessions. As he sat through some of these sessions he reported that:

I started to recognize that, in a way, 12-step groups, recovery groups, support groups were becoming the new kind of church of our time — a place where people will go and confess their very worst aspects of their lives and seek redemption and community with other people in the way that people used to go to church and sort of present their worst selves in confession and then celebrate communion and then go home for another week.

This is what got Chuck going with some of Fight Club — the need for redemption and community. It's time the church took those things back. It's time we became a community that confesses the worst part of our lives to one another, but doesn't stop there. We need more than confession, more than identity-of-the-moment exposure. We need sanity, to return to our true selves in Christ, in community. We need people who will point us to the redemption that is in Jesus. People that won't let us sulk for too long, people who will reminds us that our identity isn't victim. It is son or daughter of the Living God, "partakers of the divine nature," godly ones. I've traced out one way we can do this in Gospel-centered Discipleship, a community-based, gospel-centered approach to following Jesus. However you do it, make a habit of exposing false identities and re-grounding true identity in Christ.

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Jonathan K. Dodson (M.Div, Th.M) is happy husband to Robie, and proud father to Owen, Ellie & Rosamund. He is also the lead pastor of City Life church and a leader in The GCM Collective, PlantR, and Gospel Centered Discipleship.com. Jonathan is also author of Gospel-Centered Discipleship, Raised? Finding Jesus by Doubting the Resurrection (Feb, 2014). He enjoys listening to M. Ward, watching sci-fi, and following Jesus. Blogs at jonathandodson.org

Living Like a Narnian

  At the upcoming C.S. Lewis-themed Desiring God National Conference, Joe Rigney (@joe_rigney), Assistant Professor of Theology and Christian Worldview at Bethlehem College & Seminary, will deliver a message titled, "Live Like a Narnian: Christian Discipleship in the C.S. Lewis Chronicles." Birthed out of this passion and message is a new book, written by Joe, with the same name: Live Like a Narnian. We invited Joe to GCD today to talk about his new book and the motif of discipleship in Lewis's works.

Brandon: What led you to write Live Like a Narnian?

Joe: Three things. The immediate cause was being invited to speak at the Desiring God National Conference on the topic next week. The idea for the book had been banging around in my head since I taught a class on Narnia a few years back. The conference invitation gave me an excuse to get it on paper.

Second, I've been noticing over the last few years how often I use quotations and scenes from Narnia when shepherding and mentoring college students. For whatever reason, they often come to mind whenever I have a student with a particular problem sitting in my office, and so that set me to thinking about whether it's a good thing to use Narnia in this way.

And finally, the result of that last question was my own recognition that the Narnian stories have been a deep means of grace for me in my own spiritual growth. As I say in the book, I have met the living God in my reading of Narnia, and my affections for Jesus have been stoked and increased by my time there. I've received the same sort of grace and encouragement through them that I have received through sermons, small group accountability, devotional books, and theological tomes. Lewis's stories certainly aren't the equivalent of Scripture, but they have been used by God to allow the truths of Scripture to appear to me in their true potency (which is exactly what Lewis intended).

B: What does it mean to live like a Narnian?

J: "Live like a Narnian" is a riff on a phrase used by Puddleglum in The Silver Chair. It's essentially my way of summarizing all of the good, true, and beautiful qualities that are expressed by the kings, queens, fauns, good dwarfs, centaurs, badgers, mice, and moles of Narnia. Whether it be bravery, courage, sacrifice, honesty, repentance, tactfulness, glad-heartedness, or humility, the Narnian stories have given lively and concrete pictures of these qualities, and I've found them becoming a part of me as I've breathed Narnian air.

To put it in more traditional terms, to live like a Narnian is to faithfully follow Jesus Christ. It's to be a disciple of the High King above all kings, and to emulate and embody his ways in the world in which we live.

B: In the book, you talk a lot about character, actions, and obedience. What does Narnia teach us about these things?

J: Let me mention two basic lessons (which I unpack in much more detail in the book). First, Lewis vividly shows that our trajectory really matters. Our direction determines our destination. When it comes to the grand voyage of life, we are embarked, and we are heading somewhere. Sooner or later, we're bound to end up there. Lewis shows us (through characters like Edmund) that we might not like the destination at the end of our road. This ought to move us to examine where we are making small compromises, where we are sowing small seeds of sin that will grow into big trees that will bear bitter fruit. As Paul reminds us, God is not mocked; we will reap what we've sown (Galatians 6:7).

Second, Lewis demonstrates the truthfulness of a statement by one of his heroes, George MacDonald: "Obedience is the opener of eyes." Oftentimes, we want to negotiate with God, withholding our obedience until he gives us a fuller understanding of the circumstances that we find ourselves in. But this is not the biblical way. We come to see more clearly through our obedience. Or, to put it the way Jesus did in John 7:17, "If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God." This sort of truth has massive implications for how we respond to seasons of doubt and depression. It's easy to use our own spiritual dryness as an excuse to commit sin. But sinking deeper in the mire is the surest way to stay there. In The Screwtape Letters, Lewis reminds us that the cause of Devil is never more in danger than when we Christians look around upon a universe from which every trace of God's presence seems to have vanished, and we ask why we've been forsaken, and then we obey anyway.

B: You have an interesting chapter dealing with "the peculiar majesty of women." Could you explain this phrase a little?

J: Lewis loved the fact that men were men and women were women. He gloried in the distinctions between the sexes, the way that our Wise God has made us to be different but complementary. The chapter on Narnian queens is my attempt to celebrate this 'peculiar majesty.' As the son of a mother, the husband of a wife, and the friend of numerous women, I find the bright glory of femininity to be almost ineffable, and it leaves me feeling a bit shy, like Adam must have felt when he woke and saw Eve for the first time. It's a strange sensation, and one that I expect most husbands understand at an intuitive level. Lewis, I think, does a wonderful job of depicting (though only as an outsider) the gracefulness and grandeur of women: their intuition, their feminine courage and loyalty, and the beauty of glad-hearted submission and strength. These are not popular virtues in our day, and Lewis recognized that appealing to our imaginations by showing us what womanhood (and manhood) look like has a particular potency.

B: How can C.S. Lewis teach us about discipleship?

J: I regularly have students come into my office who are struggling through a time of spiritual dryness. Often they've recently had a period of tremendous growth, or the Lord has done a great work and set them to fighting their sin in new and fresh ways. Inevitably, they hit that spiritual wall and the temptation is to think that something is going badly, that the pain and difficulty shows that they're doing something wrong.

Well, Lewis has a great scene in The Horse and His Boy in which Shasta, the main character, has been racing across a barren desert with little sleep and no food in order to warn the king that an army is approaching his castle in order to mount a surprise attack. In the midst of this, he and his friends (a girl and two horses) are chased by lions, and the girl is wounded. They make it to a hermit's house who welcomes them in as the horses collapse. The hermit then turns to Shasta and tells the exhausted boy that he must run, run, run in order to warn the king. Shasta is dismayed, but turns and obeys. The narrator makes this extremely wise and perceptive comment, which encourages me (and usually) my students: "Shasta had not yet learned that if you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one." In other words, when things get hard after a season of growth, this is a sign that we've been promoted, that God is giving us his "Well done, good and faithful servant" speech, that having been faithful in little, God is putting us over a little bit more.

B: What do you hope readers take away from this book?

J: In the end, I hope that people come away from the book with an eagerness to live life to the fullest, to follow Jesus with gratitude and humility in their hearts. I hope that they are awake to the wonder of the world, to the enchantment that hangs over every nook and cranny of God's creation. I hope that biblical truths like humility and sacrifice and grace and forgiveness and light have are more vivid and concrete, and that their souls are enlarged, their minds expanded, and their hearts are filled with love for Christ because they seem him more clearly in and through Narnia and the great Lion at the center of those stories.

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Brandon Smith (@BrandonSmith85) is Director of GCD, Associate Editor of The Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, and Director of Communications at Criswell College. He is proud to be Christa's husband and Harper's daddy.

4 Anchors of Repentance

  Repentance is a big deal. You’ve probably heard that. It’s a motif in Scripture that you absolutely cannot avoid. We often create terminology, systems, or routines that help to motivate and remind us to regularly repent because we see its importance. This surely isn’t bad. However, complicated theological definitions and white-knuckled systems often lead to a dry, mechanical, lifeless interaction with God. This, of course, is bad.

The most common definition of repentance that I have heard is to turn from your sin and to Jesus. This is a helpful definition, but if we let a definition drive our repentance, it isn’t really repentance. So, what drives repentance? What type of repentance is truly biblical? The scope of this question is deep and wide, but there are four foundational aspects of biblical repentance: biblical repentance is from God, centered on God, produces life-giving joy, and should be sought in community.

1. Biblical Repentance Is from God

If we look at Psalm 130, we see the Psalmist waiting, seeking, and needing God. It seems as if, without God, there is no hope. Biblical repentance starts with God. The Psalmist later cries out in the midst of repentance saying, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. 51:11). David knows that there is no hope for repentance outside of the Holy Spirit’s leading. He is petitioning God to grant him forgiveness. We also witness Paul encourage Timothy to correct his opponents with gentleness, so that “God may perhaps grant them repentance” (2 Tim. 2:25).

Biblical repentance is initiated by God. How is this helpful? If God grants repentance, then we have no need to fake it. That doesn’t mean we give ourselves over to sin while we wait for God to grant repentance. Surely if your heart heads in that direction, there is cause for concern. But, the truth that God grants repentance should drive us to seek him earnestly. Instead of settling for going through some routine, we ask the God of the universe to brake our hearts over our sin. Scripture also encourages us to “draw near to the throne of grace with confidence” (Heb. 4:16). God is willing and able not only to respond, but to give generously.

Why does appealing to God often feel difficult? Perhaps it’s because we want God to zap us from a distance rather than seek him in the midst of disobedience. Our mechanical, humdrum repentance is dry because we don’t want to be intimate with God. We have blown it, perhaps for the thousandth time, and facing the most offended Person is unbelievably humbling. But in this, we have forgotten another aspect of biblical repentance. We are told that not only should we approach God with confidence, but that “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Rom 2:4).

We don’t seek God for repentance because we are good, but because he is good. David’s opening cry in Psalm 51 rings with desperation, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgression.” David bases his plea on God’s mercy.

Jesus’s words remind us ever-so-clearly that we need God’s mercy. Consider the parable to those who trusted in themselves that they were righteous while treating others with contempt:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 18:9-14)

We tend resemble the tax collector at times when things go badly. But does the rhythm of our lives consistently communicate the same need for mercy? Do you more often resemble the Pharisee, bartering with God based on your own deeds? You go to church, tithe, read Christian blogs, and even share the gospel at times. Those these things are right and good, they do not necessarily mirror a heart seeking after the God who grants forgiveness.

Entitlement to grace creeps into our life subtly. It's an insidious disease. One way entitlement manifests in our lives is blaming God for our sin. Have you ever said, “God I do all of this stuff for you, why have you not saved me from ______ sin.” Maybe we don’t say it in those words, but we know that God has the power to help overcome any sin, and yet he hasn’t. Entitlement rears its ugly head.

We must remember that our repentance will be maturing until we go on to glory. Holy Spirit led, God-centered, life-giving, joyful repentance is a gift you continue to discover for the rest of your life. And the good news is that God wants to give it to you.

2. Biblical Repentance Is God-Centered

In Psalm 51, David also laments, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (Ps. 51:4).

At times, our repentance can be centered on everything but God. If we were to think of repentance as a play, then God is the main character while sin, ourselves, and others play supporting roles. However, we are often grieved over our sin because we are tired of being the guy that struggles with porn or the mom that blows up at her kids. Sometimes we don’t like when relationships are off or that our workplace or church has issues. Our response is to try and make everything right again, but this will get us nowhere.

In these situations, we should join in with David, recalling that our sin can only be called sin because God himself declares what is holy and what is not. People are affected, no doubt, but God is always the most offended. In repentance, we have the obligation to going before the most offended party and acknowledging our guilt without excuse. If repentance isn’t God-centered, we can give him a token apology while avoiding facing the depth of our sin. Unfortunately, this causes us to miss enjoying the most abundant, heavenly pardon ever offered: our sin for the Son’s perfect righteousness. Jesus righteousness feels most undeserved when we are aware of our sin, and our heart rejoices most deeply when God is at the center of our repentance. Our joy in repentance is intimately intertwined with God’s work to crush sin for the glory of his name. He reminds us in Isaiah:

“For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.” (Is. 48:9-11)

3. Biblical Repentance Leads to Life-Giving Joy

Repentance should lead to joy, as Scripture often reminds us. For example:

“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death” (2 Cor. 7:10).

“Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice” (Ps. 51:8).

“Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit” (Ps. 51:12).

Taking our sin seriously and experiencing the joy of repentance can and should come in many forms. Surely we have had times where our brokenness over sin has led to genuine godly grief and tears have flowed. But there are often times genuine repentance takes place in the midst of ordinary life.

Here is a brief personal vignette:

I have some friends that raise chickens. One night, they were telling us about the death of a chicken and my buddy mentioned that chickens will often pluck the eyes out of their dead counterparts. He even said as a joke that if you lied down out there, they would pluck your eyes out. My young son, Wyatt, loves the chickens.

I was at work remembering the conversation with my friend and realizing my son was over at their house. I had the ridiculous picture of my son lying down near the chickens and getting his eyes plucked out. I realize this sounds quite silly, but it caused real anxiety in me. I called my wife and couldn’t get in touch with her. I was going to have her check on Wyatt’s eyes. Then the Lord brought to mind a struggle of mine.

I have realized more and more that I struggle to trust God with my kids. I often feel the need to over-control situations because, frankly, I don’t trust God. I happen to be dwelling on Psalm 130 that week, and I remembered the Psalmist exhortation at the end: “O Israel, hope in the Lord!” I then began tell myself, “Jake, hope in the Lord!” A sweet joy came over my heart as I ventured from lies to truth, sinful disobedience to Spirit-led obedience.

This is a picture of repentance in the everyday rhythm of life. If we are to be more consistent and genuine in our repentance, we must realize God grants this gift in many different forms, although the substance is the same. Whether at church, at home, at work, or anywhere else, joy can be had if we simply focus on the One who offers it to us.

4. Biblical Repentance Is Sought in Community

It’s important to note that these three aspects of repentance should not be sought alone. There is great joy in seeing a sister who has been asking God to mold her into the image of his Son come to the place of repentance. Joy abounds. It’s beautiful to be a part of a community where people don’t just talk about some abstract theology of repentance, but who actually point each other to the God who grants repentance. As with most things, it is hard to be a pointer if you aren’t a practitioner. But as you swim in the abundant grace available for you in repentance, your spirit will be renewed.

As we walk through the highs and lows of life with others, we shouldn’t feel a heavy burden to “fix” them our make sure they “get it.” We continually walk humbly with them, trusting them to the only One who is able to save. The Psalms are very helpful in this regard. We see men experiencing and interacting with God. We don’t merely want people to see their sin; we want them to see their sin in relationship to a holy, forgiving God.

Repentance is not simply an individual affair. Repentance experienced in community allows us to share in each other’s joy and marvel at God’s good grace. So take heart, and seek him for the gift of repentance. May the Spirit blow a fresh wind into your soul. And may you have the courage to share it with others.

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Jake Ledet is Pastor of Discipleship at CityView Church. He lives in Texas with his wife and two kids. Connect with him on Twitter: @JakeLedet.

Church Planter's Wife: Are You Willing?

  Unpacking in our new home in a new state far from our families, I opened a box marked Fragile in big black letters. Inside, buried under bubble wrap, I found my framed wedding vows. While I searched the master bedroom for the perfect spot where the frame could hang, I read what I had committed to Kyle on our wedding day. Just as it had when I had first written the words, my heart stopped on one line.

I vow to support the ministry that God gives you.

An Overarching Willingness

When I wrote those vows in the weeks leading up to our wedding, I read them several times, each time imagining myself speaking them on our wedding day and, each time, hesitating at the promise to support Kyle’s calling into ministry. Although they were weighty, the other lines about faithfulness and commitment felt right to me; I could confidently make those promises to Kyle. I considered scratching the ministry line because it seemed out of place for wedding vows, but my heart felt unsettled at that prospect, too. I couldn’t pinpoint the difficulty surrounding this one vow. Kyle had a clear call to ministry, of which I was fully supportive. In fact, although I had rarely voiced it, I had felt a similar call on my life from the time I was in high school. I suspected I would marry someone with the same calling. When Kyle told me what he wanted to do with his life, I thought, Well, of course! as if it were silly to consider anything else. We rarely discussed the calling—it was a given, a natural next step for both of us, something we were willing to give our lives for. The hesitation, then, to put my support in writing surprised me. Possibly for the first time, in the middle of writing my wedding vows, I considered what ministry might mean for my life.

As I measured the future with a moment of God-given clarity, I saw what a lifetime of ministry might entail: shouldering heavy responsibilities, giving ourselves away to others, living far away from family, or possibly enduring criticism or defeat for the sake of Christ. Because Kyle had surrendered control of his future to God, my vow of support meant stepping into his shadow and following him where God led. Was I willing? Was my conviction so firm that I would speak those words to Kyle and to God in front of our friends and family?

A Specific Willingness

Eight years after our wedding day, I stood in our new home, holding those vows in my hands. We had just moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, to start a church from scratch. I recalled hearing the term church planter in seminary, but had not known what it meant, certainly not imagining the term would ever describe us. Yet there I stood, dusting off a frame of my wedding vows in a home and a city where we didn’t know anyone. Although much had changed since the day we wrote our promises down on scratch paper—we had three little boys and Kyle’s experience of serving on staff at a church in Texas— the same questions arose in my heart, urging for a silent renewal of the vow I had made to my husband. When I’d first said those words, they had been a general affirmation of the calling on my husband’s life. Now we faced the difficult work of church planting. My support and affirmation of my husband’s ministry would be crucial.

Was I willing?

I said yes on my wedding day, and I said yes to church planting. And—this is very much the key to being a minister’s wife—I have said yes every day since, most of the time with joy, sometimes with reluctance and selfish resentment, but nonetheless a yes.

I vowed a commitment to my husband, but I’ve discovered the commitment, the yes, that sustains is my submission to God. My yes is to Him and will naturally align itself as support of what my husband does as a minister of the gospel.

An Ongoing Willingness

Three years after the day I laid my head down on my pillow in our new home in a new state far from our families, wondering if something could be made out of nothing, God has done it. He has used His people, so broken and weak, to bring light to a spiritually dark place.

Every so often, I stand in front of my wedding vows, hanging framed on the wall. Just as when I wrote the words, my heart stops on one line.

I vow to support the ministry that God gives you.

Clearly, my support and affirmation of my husband’s ministry has been vital. And, clearly, God has moved powerfully around and among us.

But the work is far from complete. The Lord is still calling on me to move forward in faith—loving, serving, discipling, and leading. Church planting—and all of ministry—is a faith marathon, not a sprint. Daily He asks for my heart, that He might cultivate it, so as to produce fruit in and around me.

Am I willing?

_

Christine Hoover is the author of The Church Planting Wife: Help and Hope for Her Heart (Moody, 2013). She is a church planting wife and the mom of three boys. She also encourages ministry-minded women to live and lead from grace on her blog, Grace Covers Me.

[This article is an excerpt from Christine's book, mentioned above. Used with permission from the author.]

Why I'm Tired of Church Planting

  It seems that there are often no churches in our cities worth joining. I say this because I see many people planting new churches rather than coming alongside churches that are already established. It seems to be happening everywhere. I actually come from a smaller town in the Seattle area where it seemed impossible to find a church that I would have called family. So, I do get it. Finding a church that feels like family is hard.

Nonetheless, I'm tired of church planting. Now, notice that I didn’t say, “Why I am tired of church planters.” I love my church planting friends, and I want this to be an encouragement to them. This article isn’t going to be some polemic to rid ourselves of church planting, but I want to ask how we might change our views of church planting and the ways that it often manifests itself. I also want to look at the systems and measurables that we currently use.

I am not a church planter in the ways in which someone would traditionally see a church planter. I look to make disciples in the every day. I am a business owner and a neighborhood missionary. I’ve never been to seminary, I’ve never been to any church planting meetings, trainings, been assessed as a planter, or anything else of the sort. So, actually, I am pretty clueless on what it would take to try and plant a church in that sense. So, I write this a bit from an outsider perspective. I’m not saying it’s unbiblical to plant a service as it were, I just believe that we might be thinking about church planting backwards.

Here is a picture of how effective church planting could happen, and it seems to be in line with Paul’s thinking in 1 Cor. 3:6-9 when he says:

I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. 7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. 9 For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.

For the most part, I enjoy my time with church planters. They are great people who desire to see the cities they are sent to changed for the sake of Christ. This isn’t to call out church planters to say that they are evil, or doing things completely wrong; it is written from an outsider who desires planters to see what I am seeing from the sidelines. I might be totally wrong, but lately, when I see someone is planting a church, I don’t get excited. I finally started to wonder why.

Clarifying the Terms

When I say “church planting,” I want you to know what I mean. What I see around the world as I train and coach is this: a church planter is someone who moves into an area and gathers other Christians in order to start a church service. From there, they seek how they then can impact their community in a myriad of ways, but the main push will come on Sunday morning which will be the “front door” for the church.

Most church planters I see are very courageous. They take some serious risks to try and make this type church planting work. I admire them for their desire go on the frontlines and take this risk. But, what I keep seeing is that many church plants fail and struggle to keep all the balls they juggle in the air. This leads to a ton of stress, burdens, and burnout.

Church planters, consider this: what if we changed how we planted churches and how we measured them?

Please, remember that I will be painting with broad strokes in this article, and I don’t mean to say that all church planters will fit into the troubles that I mention here. But, many do. And I want to serve them.

Here are some things for us all to consider when we think of church planting.

Cart Before the Horse?

I feel as though many church planters are putting the cart before the horse. They quit their jobs, raise funds, gather other Christians, have a preview service, and then shortly start a Sunday gathering. That’s a lot of stress. But does it have to be this way?

What if you did things differently? What if instead of quitting your "day job," you decided to keep it in order to make disciples in your workplace and neighborhood? Instead of gathering Christians to work hard at starting a church service, we gathered Christians for the sake of sending them out to make disciples. This way, as we live life with those in our neighborhood we could ask ourselves, “Do they actually need another church service in this city?” The answer might be yes. But rather than assuming that right from the start and experiencing all the stress of putting together a church service (which requires ample amounts of time and money), you can live a normal life of making disciples where you are.

As the disciple-making happens in an area, maybe the people will decide that they could use you to equip them. They might even offer to compensate you for the training and the time it takes to equip others. All of a sudden, the church is deciding what they need from a needs-based analysis. They can see that they need someone to have more time to devote to disciple-making, rather than immediately assuming that they have to raise a bunch of money to make disciples in their city.

It seems to me that this might be more freeing than the first scenario. This will put you in a place to be a learner, like the disciples in the New Testament. A learner would be part of the city first, for a long time, before he decided what the city needed. A learner would learn the stories of the people and of the city to which he is sent. One would hear where the city and people needed redemption, and then apply the good news in both oral and tangible ways. Maybe one of the tangible ways would actually be a church building and a church service, but how would you know unless you’ve lived among the people first?

Unity

There are cities everywhere that desperately need a gospel-centered church that faithfully proclaims the good news. What I am hoping to see in church planters is that they truly inquire about the other churches in the area they feel called to before they assume that a new one is needed. When we plant another church service, it tells the community, whether we like it or not, that we are not unified. In some ways we aren’t, which is fine. We just want to be careful as followers of Jesus not to make the churches in our city an “us vs. them” mentality. I recently talked to a friend who doesn’t belong to a church and wouldn’t call himself a Christian or follower of Jesus. I asked him why he hates the church, one of his responses was this:

People that represent the church seem to lead with religion, not love. "What church do you go to?" "Are you a Christian?" Instead of just being good.

Another friend of mine responded with this answer:

Christ wasn't about growing an individual group; his concern was for all of humanity. Spread the word, yes, but they don't have to sit in the same building as you at the same hours on the same days of the week for it to count and matter.

We need to be about the Church instead of merely our version of a church. So, in what ways can we show the unity of the Church to our city as we desire to make disciples of Jesus? Moving into a city and starting a church service right away might not be the best flag to raise in some cities. If this is the case, how can we instead come alongside the other churches to see how we can humbly help and lead as servants?

Disciple-Making as Our Measure of Success

There are church planting networks that state that you are not officially a church in their network until you have a certain amount of adults at your Sunday service, or who’d be considered members of the church. Other groups or denominations might look to how many people has a church baptized, how many were at Sunday school, how many families gave money, etc. Many of us know the parameters of success – the three B’s: butts, budgets, and buildings.

If you measure the success of the church based on the fruit that only can be provided by the Spirit you will kill your church planters. What do I mean? I think we should measure what we can actually control, standing amazed at the greatness of our God and the indwelling Spirit when we are blessed with witnessing the fruit that God allows us to see with our own eyes.

What if we measured the success of our churches by asking this question:

How many people’s stories in your neighborhood do you know so intimately that you know exactly where they need the good news?

The reason that this is such a good measurement tool is that this gives everyone a fighting chance. This kind of measurement would require the planter (and all of us) to be doing the work we’ve been called to do: to shepherd people to the only hope we have. It requires the church planter to be involved in his people and neighborhood. It requires him to invest deeply into a few people deeply instead of to many on a surface level. It requires him to train up new people to “go and make” because the planter will not have the time to invest this type of life into thousands. In the end, if we have this as our measurement tool, we can see people being discipled instead of merely “making a decision” or just showing up to a church service.

We might see them actively bringing all areas of their (and others’) lives under the lordship of Jesus by the power of the Spirit through the good news. This is discipleship! This is what we’ve been called to do. Why not make this our measurement tool? It seems as though this was our mission given to us by Jesus. “Go and make disciples…” (Matt. 28:18-20). After this, you baptize. After that, you teach them everything that Jesus has commanded, but not before they have entered into a deep discipleship relationship with you.

The planter could feel freed to do the ministry to which he’s been called if we didn’t measure success through programs, conversions, attendance, and baptisms. These might all come, and we should be thrilled when they do; but statistics are not what they, and we, are primarily called to do. We are called to make disciples.

Discipling Like Jesus

How did Jesus do this? He spent three years with a dozen men, showing them who he was. He intimately knew their stories, and they were aware of his interest. When he called them, he said, “Follow me.” He lived life with them for awhile before ever asking them, “Who do you say that I am?” He didn’t have programs, he didn’t have buildings, he didn’t have any measurement tool besides the very fact that he knew their stories. He knew who he was discipling and for what purpose. Jesus couldn’t be a church planter in most networks today, and he would be a sorry excuse for a planter based on the measurements to which we so often cling.

So, why am I tired of church planting? Because it seems as though we have it all backwards. We are more concerned with seeing the fruit that only God can give (drawing, conversions, etc.), instead of being concerned with the very thing he has empowered us to do: to make disciples.

What if instead of starting a church service, raising funds, having preview services, and sending out flyers in the mail about the next sermon series, we decided to be disciples? I’m not vilifying inviting people to your church gatherings, but this cannot be primary.

We must decide to be learners. We learn from the other churches in the area, we learn from those in our community, we learn by walking in the ways of Jesus in the community. Then, we ask the Spirit what to do next, and actually listen to him. He might tell you to never start a service, but he also might tell you to start a service. Who knows? But, it seems to walk in line more with Jesus’s mission he gave us to focus primarily on making disciples.

Jesus said that he will never leave us alone when we are seeking his will. We’ll see external fruit, but this should not be our sole measurement of success. Our church planters should not be under such pressure to “perform” and to do things that aren’t under their control. I meet too many guys who are burnt out, their families are falling apart, they’re stressed out, and they are quite literally killing themselves because of failure. I don’t care if this is hard to quantify; we need to start dealing with the fact that we can’t always quantify what the Spirit is doing. Again, why don’t we equip our church planters how to disciple instead of how to start a church service?

Jesus created a movement and a new Kingdom where he could tell us:

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Is our “kingdom of church planting” creating this type of living, or the one that rewrites Jesus’s words to say:

Come to me all you who are well rested and I will make you weary and burdened. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am merciless and prideful in heart, and you will find work for your souls. For my yoke is hard and my burden is heavy.

 _

Seth McBee is the adopted son of God, husband of one wife, and father of three. He’s a graduate of Seattle Pacific University with a finance degree. By trade. Seth is an investment portfolio manager, serving as President of McBee Advisors, Inc. He is also a MC leader/trainer/coach and executive team member of the GCM Collective. Seth currently lives in Phoenix, AZ with his wife Stacy and their three children: Caleb, Coleman, and Madelynn. He is also the artist and co-author of the wildly popular (and free!) eBook, Be The Church: Discipleship & Mission Made Simple. Twitter: @sdmcbee.

The Ministry Mistress

  "Working for the Church while your family dies You take what they give you and you keep it inside Every spark of friendship and love will die without a home Hear the solider groan, "We'll go at it alone""

Arcade Fire’s song “Intervention” paints the church as a militant institution, driven by discipline and an over-bearing work ethic. The central character sacrifices his family on the altar of “church” or ministry. This is often true. Churches all too often have more in common with Wall Street than they do Scripture. They enforce a merciless work ethic in the name of “mercy” or “gospel” ministry. All work no play.

There’s a Mistress in the House

My first year of church planting I started a new, full-time job, a new city, a new daughter, and a new church. Guess which one got the least attention? Family. As all these new things filled our lives, they began to crowd conversation with my wife. What was once natural—inquiring about my wife’s hopes, fears, and joys—became unnatural, even absent from our conversation. She patiently continued to ask how I was doing, but I was “working for the church while my family died.”

As my wife began to wither without the invigorating love of her husband, she revealed the affair. I’ll never forget her crushing comment: “I feel like there’s a mistress in the house.” I was alarmed and frustrated. How dare she make such a comparison! After all, I made a point of being home by 5:30 and on weekends. I made sure we had good family rhythms—breakfast and devotions, dinner and downtime. How could she say there was a “mistress” in our home? Then it dawned on me—you can be home without being home. I was present but absent. My thoughts, emotions, and concerns were with another Bride while I was home, not with my bride.

I had felt the gradual distance growing between us, but chalked it up to two kids under two and the important demands of church. I was wrong and Arcade Fire was right. The spark of love cannot live without a home. A house isn’t sufficient. Being present doesn’t cut it. What our relationships need is a home, a place where families can laugh, play, cry, and talk deeply together.

Recovering Your First Love

What was once natural became a discipline. I began to discipline myself to turn conversations away from church, work, and ministry and toward my wife and our children. I began to love her by asking about her hopes, dreams, fears, to encourage her hobbies and friendships. I relearned how to empathize and suffer, rejoice and laugh with her. Slowly the spark of love began to kindle. The warmth of friendship began to return in our resurrected home. My thought was that discipline could give way to desire. But discipline wasn’t enough.

What my wife wants, what every wife wants, is not a disciplined, duty-driven husband, but a loving, desire-driven husband. A husband whom, when thanked for a weekend get-away without the kids, says to his wife: “It’s my pleasure” not “It’s my duty”! Our wives want to be desired, cherished, valued. In fact, all people want to be cherished, but until we clear the shelf of our hearts of subtle idolatries, discipline will not give way to desire. We must put away our “mistresses.”

Repentance is Good News

In order to put away our sinful lovers, we need a power outside of ourselves. We need the power of repentance and faith. In Revelation 2-3, Jesus calls the seven churches to repentance. For example, he writes to the church at Laodicea: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” In love, Jesus calls us to zealously repent.

I repented from loving the worth I received from my work, the significance I gained from serving my church. To repent is to turn. When we turn, we turn away from one direction toward another. The proof of repentance is not in our confession or resolve but in turning from our lovers and turning to our Savior. Where do we get the power of repentance? How do we conquer these lesser loves? By Spirit-empowered faith in the promises of God.

Jesus continues: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. ​If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, ​I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (3:19). The call to repentance is followed by the promise of satisfaction in Christ. Leave your lovers and turn to your one, true Love. Open the door and Christ will come to you, not only that, he will dine with you. Repentance is a call away from the famine of idolatry to the feast of table fellowship with Christ. Repentance is always good news.

All who over-work and under-love need to repent. We need to confess the idolatries of worth-by-work, of significance-by-service, and turn to face the loving, all-accepting, never-ending significance offered to us in the arms of our Savior’s embrace. Through Spirit-empowered trust in the promises of God, we can draw near to Christ and receive his perfect love, acceptance, and grace. It is from this position alone that we can truly love our wives and families. When we are satisfied in Christ, we can satisfy our wives. When we cherished by Christ, we can freely cherish others.

We don’t have to work for the church, the corporation, or the business while our families die. Every spark of friendship and love does not have to die. We can build a home that is filled with love, if Christ takes center place. When we embrace the practice of repentance and faith in Jesus, the idolatries of work can be cleared away with Christ at the center of our affections. Then and only then are we free to truly love others. When we do this, we will adorn the gospel of Christ and restore the reputation of the Church, revealing the glories of the gospel in the gift of marriage.

*A form of this article first appeared at Christianity Today in the Faith & Work section. Be sure to check out The High Calling for other helpful articles on vocation.

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Jonathan K. Dodson (MDiv; ThM) serves as a pastor of City Life Church in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Gospel-Centered Discipleship and Unbelievable Gospel. He has discipled men and women abroad and at home for almost two decades, taking great delight in communicating the gospel and seeing Christ formed in others.