Family Discipleship Minute 10: A Theology of Church

 We're rolling through a series of posts intended to help parents be the primary spiritual trainers of their children. The last three editions have encouraged you to think about your theology of family. We turn now to a theology of church. My premise is that you need to know what you believe about family and about church in order to determine how the two should work together in the disciple-making process, both generally and in relation to children.

We live in a time during which one can find many ideas about what church is and what it should do. Further, sometimes the Bible is very specific in prescribing things for the church and other times it provides only general descriptions. Some leaders believe churches today should align with the descriptions as well as the prescriptions, whereas others think church should follow the prescriptions and exercise freedom regarding the descriptions. Of course, there are churches that really do not adhere to either; rather they allow themselves to be guided by societal norms. Therefore, coming up with a theology of church may be a little more complex than sketching out your theology of family.

I will point you to some important passages and share some conclusions I have drawn. However, since these posts are supposed to be very short reads, I will not include much  detail or spend time supporting my claims. Please spend time prayerfully studying these ideas on your own. Definitely read what experts have written and then draw your own conclusions.

As you begin to think about church, what it is, what it does, and what your role in it should be, please study the following passages. Note, this is just to get you started. You will want to study others as well as your thoughts develop more fully.

• Matthew 16:13-20
• Matthew  18:15-20
• Matthew 28:16-20
• Acts 1:8
• Acts 2:42-47
• 1 Corinthians 5:9-13
• 1 Corinthians 12:12-31
• Ephesians 4:11-16
• Ephesians 5:19-33
• 1 Timothy 3:1-13
• Titus 1:5-9
• Hebrews 10:25
• James 3:1
• 1 Peter 5:1-5
• Revelation 2 and 3

In my opinion, many, if not most, Christians today do not put enough thought into church. Many seem to think it is a place to go once a week. Further, many tend to choose a church like they would choose a country club, social organization, or theme park. Beloved, this ought not be. Develop your beliefs about church based on Scripture and then put those beliefs into practice. Do not go to church solely for what you can get out of it. Be an active participant in your church as part of your service to Christ. As Rick Warren has famously written, "It's not about you."

I know that you will want to work out your theology of church on your own. However, allow me to share a few of my conclusions. I hope they will help you. Even if you disagree with me on some points, at least maybe I can help you think through things and form your own conclusions. Here are some of mine:

• Jesus is the head of the church.
• Jesus loves the church as evidenced by the fact that He died for it.
• The church is important in God's mission to redeem the lost.
• God builds the church as He sees fit.
• The church is made up only of individuals who are born again.
• People who are born again are adopted by God and as such have solidarity with Him and with the rest of those whom He has adopted. This solidarity is with all the redeemed; however, it can only be lived out among a local body of believers. Therefore, church membership and active participation are vital for anyone who is in Christ.
• Churches should be led by a plurality of elders. Elders should be biblically qualified (which includes them being male.) Even though elders are important leaders, they should act as shepherds, not managers. While elders lead, churches should be governed congregationally.
• Churches should focus on five major activities: discipleship, fellowship, ministry, evangelism, and worship.
• Churches should be very careful who they allow to teach within the body.

Hope this helps. See you next time. Thanks for stopping by.

Family Discipleship Minute 7: Laying a Foundation

 

Quick review. The point of this series is to help you become the primary spiritual leader of your children. To date, the posts have tried to exhort you that, one, you can do this even if you feel you do not have time or are not qualified, two, God will personally empower you for this, three, the Bible commands this, and four, you should have some spiritual objectives for your children. The next two or three articles will aim to help you lay a theological foundation for your journey into family discipleship. If you are brand new to this series, you can go here to get the gist of why I’m sharing this message.

Today’s thoughts. All Christians should work to develop their theology. Get help from your pastor, your church, and others, but do not surrender the task completely to others. Further, working out your theology is not a one-time task; you will spend your life doing it and some aspects of it will change as you grow deeper in your relationship with Christ and your understanding of Scripture. Regarding discipleship in the home and at church, two components of your theology will be especially applicable. One is your theology of family and the second is your theology of church. (To give credit where credit is due, I believe that Voddie Baucham Jr. was the first person I noticed to suggest the importance of having a theology of family. However, I do not remember the book I saw this in, and I do not have any copies of his books to look it up. Sorry.)

Let’s briefly examine some things the Bible teaches about family. Briefly is an understatement. Here I will only hit a couple of highlights. You will do well to delve further into this concept on your own using the Scriptures and  the writings of those much wiser than me.

Big idea one, the family is an institution ordained by God. In fact, it is the first societal institution God set up. Genesis 1:26-28 and Genesis 2:7-8; 18-25 describe this. We can glean a few important sub-points from these texts. First, as already mentioned, this was God’s doing; family is not merely a societal construct. Second, marriage is the union of one man and one woman. Third, woman is the helper and complement to man (2:20). As we learn in the New Testament, man was created first and has headship within the family. This in no way implies that he should be a dictator or slave master. The husband is a servant leader. The fourth idea here is that husband and wife become one flesh; which is an expression of intimacy beyond merely the sexual. This marital unity leads to the next big idea.

Big idea two, I believe the unity indicated here is important in understanding one of the purposes of marriage. One man plus one woman become one flesh in the sight of God, so there are three agents here resulting in a unity. This mirrors the godhead as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one. God desires marriage to be a temporal reflection of the fellowship He enjoys eternally within the Trinity. A godly marriage is a testimony to the world of who God is.

Big ideas one and two are tied together as well. Marriage is a picture of the unity existent in the Godhead. A part of this picture is the submission of wife to husband because it mirrors Christ’s voluntary submission to the Father. The Son and the Father are equal in being, power, eternality, knowledge, divinity, and wisdom, yet Jesus voluntarily submits to the Father’s headship. Likewise, as a wife voluntarily submits to the husband’s headship, she provides the world with a Christ-like image of God and godliness.

Further, this idea of marriage as a picture for the world is picked back up in the New Testament. Ephesians 5 tells us that the union of man and wife is an image of the union between Christ and His church. Clearly, the idea of a marriage covenant is an important part of communicating to the world what God is like and what the relationship between God and His people is like. (This is one reason that sexual sin is so heinous; it perverts God’s plan for sexuality-sex is to be expressed within marriage only- thereby distorting the reflection we are supposed to see of Him.)

Big idea three, God’s best plan for marriage is that it can only be honorably dissolved by the death of one or both spouses. Matthew 19:1-11 lays this principle out very plainly. The Bible does allow (not require) divorce for a couple of very specific reasons. However, divorce should be rare in the kingdom of God. God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) because it hurts people and because it perverts the portrait of unity found in the Godhead that marriage is supposed to demonstrate.

To summarize so far, marriage is the first societal institution that God ordained, the unity found in marriage pictures the unity found amongst the Trinity and the unity found between Christ and His church, and God’s best plan for marriage is that it is permanent. Those are just a few highlights, but this is already longer than it should be. We’ll pick up here next week. Thanks for your time.

 

Questions to ponder (or discuss in the comments):

1.  Does thinking of your marriage as a picture of the unity God has with Himself challenge you, motivate you, or bother you? How so?

 

2.  Review the three things we’ve said about marriage so far. Would your kids say that they recognize these things in your marriage? Would your church family say that they recognize these things in your marriage?

 

3.  What are some other big ideas you see in Scripture about marriage?

Family Discipleship Minute 5: Can We Just Get On With It?

Welcome and thanks for stopping by. This post is number five in a series of blurbs aimed at helping you be the primary spiritual leader for your children. I've struggled with what to say at this point because I want to help anyone who reads this, but I want to help you see the big picture and not just help you with baby steps. However, baby steps are usually the way to start, so I've been conflicted on whether to write about a baby step or deal with a big picture item.

According to the Blogger statistics, about 7.18 people read this (or at least open it in your browser for a second) and I don't want to lose anyone for lack of practical ideas. The previous posts have attempted to lay some groundwork for this family discipleship stuff and much foundation is left to pour. Why? Because we need to let our theology drive our behavior rather than the other way around. However, some of you may be ready for practical idea, so I will include one pragmatic baby step at the end of this post, but first I want to ask you a favor.

I need to get this message out. If that sounds arrogant to you, please remember that it is not my message. I am simply echoing the voices of people like Voddie Baucham Jr., Mark Holmen, Ron Hunter Jr., Timothy Paul Jones, Rob Rienow, and others. Even Wayne Rice, who was a youth ministry guru during what might have been the most explosive season of growth for student ministry, eventually led a ministry to aid discipleship in the home and now has a ministry equipping grandparents to be involved in discipleship. This is not my message, but the more I read, the more I observe, the more strongly I believe the idea of parents teaching their children to follow Christ must be proclaimed and practiced. The favor I'm asking is, will you help me spread this concept? How? Simply share the link to one of these family discipleship minutes on your social media or in your own blog. If you are really bold, you could email the link to one of these posts to friends who might find it useful.

The next post will return to laying some foundational ideas from Scripture. For now, I'll give you a baby step that you can take. Go to church as a family. You may think you already do that, but if you all go different directions when you walk in the door, are you really going as a family? At this point, I am not suggesting the whole family go to the same Sunday school class. However, when you go to the worship service, go together. Your kids need to see you worship. Yes, it is difficult to wrangle young children. Yes, teenagers want to sit with their friends or the youth group. Don't worry about all that. Be in worship together.

If you have really little ones and you just cannot handle them in worship, utilize the nursery. But as soon as possible, get your children in the service with you. Children are likely to stand and sing with you, especially if you encourage them and model it for them. Also, you can do several things to help them stay still during the message. Bring them a snack, have something for them to color or read, let them take turns sitting on mom's lap and then dad's, etc. When they are old enough, which is probably younger than you think, have them take notes on the sermon (and help them.) Talk to them during the week about the importance of worship and the importance of behaving appropriately during the meeting. Reward them for good behavior in church and punish them for inappropriate behavior. Finally, realize that kids absorb more than you think they do even if they are fidgetting or seem to be doing something else.

If your teenagers don't think it is cool to sit with mom and dad, tough stuff cream puff. You are the parent. I'm not saying you have to be a dictator. Talk to them during the week about the importance of worshipping God as a family. Negotiate with them if you need to, but they need to be in church with you.

Okay, there's your baby step. If you are already doing that, kudos to you! Future posts will have other practical steps you can take. Please help me spread this message by posting a link to one of these little articles on your social media, or by emailing the link to friends who might find it beneficial. Thanks again for your time.

Questions for thought and discussion (feel free to leave comments):

1. Does your church's youth group get bigger right before and after summer camp and then dwindle again by August? Do people blame the youth pastor for that? How might that pattern change if parents were leading their children in the home?

2. Does your pastor ever specifically address children and teens during the sermon? Should he?

3. Do you think we will be separated by age groups in heaven? Why or why not?

Family Discipleship Minute 3: What's All This Then?

The last couple of posts aimed to convince you that you really can take responsibility for your children's spiritual development. Hopefully, you have at least become motivated to take a closer look at family discipleship. With that hope in mind, it is time to share some foundational thoughts on this topic.

If you live your life like most folks in middle America these days, you send your kids to school for professional educators to teach them reading, writing, and 'rithmetic, along with physical education, art, music, science, and history. You probably also send them to someone else to teach them to play sports, dance, play the piano, etc. Further, you probably take them to church and expect Sunday school teachers, AWANA leaders, children's ministers, youth ministers, pastors, and so forth to teach your kids about God, impart biblical knowledge to them, and instill biblical values within them. We have really become a culture where parents, in a variety of ways, "farm out" the training of their children to other people.

Families today hand over the education of their children to others for a variety of reasons. Possible explanations for this may include time constraints, a feeling that others can do a better job of teaching a specific subject than we can, a mindset that we are not successful as parents unless our children turn out a certain way, and no telling how many others. However, even if there are good reasons to allow others to educate our children, is that always the best idea? More importantly, is it the biblical idea?

 

As Christians, our desires should not be what is best from a societal perspective, but what is right from a spiritual perspective. For example, society says a person is successful if he makes a lot of money; whereas God says someone is successful if she loves Him and loves her neighbor. Further, just because someone is better at something than we are does not automatically mean we should allow them to do it for us. How can a person ever grow at something if he continuously turns that task over to another? When it comes to children, the Bible puts the responsibility (and privilege) for their spiritual development squarely on the shoulders of parents. This does not mean that parents should not seek and utilize the help of others. However, it does mean that parents must always take the lead role in discipling their children, regardless of whether or not they feel equipped to do so.

This principle, that parents should lead their children spiritually, shows up in direct and indirect ways in the Bible. The story of Adam and Eve serves as an indirect example. Genesis 4:3-4 relate that Cain and Able both brought offerings to the Lord. Why did they do that? The only plausible explanation is that Adam and Eve taught them to worship God.

Direct teaching of this principle shows up in Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6, among other places. Deuteronomy 6 is a chapter of great importance to Jews and should be to Christians as well. The chapter records Moses’s instruction to the Israelites regarding how to dwell in the promised land as God’s covenant people. They needed to love God, to internalize His commands, and to “impress them on your children.” The idea that parents should nurture their children’s relationships with God is a crucial theme in this chapter. Further, the use of masculine pronouns in the Hebrew text indicates that this responsibility falls directly to the fathers. This does not mean that mothers do not do this too or that it is wrong for mothers to shoulder this job when the father neglects it.

This principle is not one simply for the Old Testament. It is for all of God’s covenant people as Ephesians 6 demonstrates. Verse 4 of this chapter is a direct command exhorting fathers to “bring [your children] up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” This does not exclude allowing your children to sit under the authority of biblically qualified elders and teachers. However, it certainly indicates that the parent must do more than merely expose kids to other’s leadership. 

Give Deuteronomy 6 a careful reading. In my opinion, it is really difficult to walk away from this text without realizing how seriously God expects His people to take their relationship with Him and how throroughly devoted parents should be to the spiritual coaching of their offspring. I hope that after reading the chapter you will be excited to begin the process of serving God as a family. But, even if you are not, make it a matter of prayer and remember last week's admonition that you will not be doing this alone.

Some questions to ponder or comment on:

What do you feel comfortable teaching your children rather than sending them to someone else to learn?
What are your immediate goals for your child?
What kind of adult do you want him/her to be?
Are you feeling excitement or fear about family discipleship? 

Family Discipleship Minute (2)

 The theme of this series is that you, Christian parent, are responsible to be the primary spiritual trainer of your children, and you should not relinquish this responsibility to anyone else. The purpose of this specific post is to continue last week's encouragement; you CAN do this. Last week's ideas were very logistical and practical. Today, the focus is more on spiritual reality that will, hopefully, inspire you to embrace this role and begin your family discipleship journey.

Last week's article proposed that lack of time, lack of knowledge, and lack of skill are three common obstacles causing parents to shy away from bringing spiritual formation into the home. The post argued that these obstacles can be overcome with some practical ideas, and today will expand on that to say that you can count on God to empower you to accomplish this.

You may have heard people say that God will not put anything on you that you cannot handle. I think that notion stems from a bad understanding of 1 Corinthians 10:13 which says, "No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." Clearly, this verse says that God will not allow you to face a temptation that you are not capable of resisting. Somehow, people have jumped from that truth to the idea that God will not give you assignments you cannot handle. The Christian life simply does not work that way. God gives us assignments we cannot handle to force us to rely on Him, and so that His power will be on display for us, and others, to see.

Think about the Israelites and their assignment to conquer the promised land. In Numbers 13 and 14 the people had to decide whether to obey God and enter the land or disobey. They chose to disobey because they did not believe they could handle the assignment. Forty years later, the next generation of Israelites faced the same decision. They entered the land and engaged the seemingly impenetrable city of Jericho. Joshua 6 describes the victory which was obviously accomplished through God's power and not that of the Israelites. This illustrates the principle above, God gives you assignments you cannot do so that He can accomplish it through you.

So it is, Mom and Dad. God is asking you to do a job that is daunting and harder than you can do by yourself. The beauty of it is that you do not have to do it by yourself. He, by the power of His Spirit, will equip you to train your children the way He wants you to. What you have to do, like the Israelites, is take that first step of obedience. Get started training your children and count on God to empower you to do what you think you cannot.

Some questions to think about. Feel free to discuss in the comments:

What obstacles do you face to discipling your kids?
What goals do you have for your children?
What accomplishments have you had in your life that were clearly due to the power of God?

Family Discipleship Minute (1)

 Last week I committed to begin posting ideas for Christian parents. My hope is to help you be the primary spiritual trainers of your family. I do not presume to teach you. Rather, I hope to encourage you, assist you, point you towards helpful resources, and provide a place where others in the same boat can ask questions of one another. Today I want to be an encouragement by trying to help you see past some obstacles. 

Perhaps the three biggest things that people see as barriers to leading their families spiritually are lack of knowledge, lack of skill, and lack of time. In other words, parents feel that they do not know enough about the Bible or basic Christian doctrine to teach their children about theological matters, they do not believe they know how to lead their kids spiritually, and they do not believe they have the time in their busy schedules to make this happen in the home. I do not discount these beliefs and feelings. However, I believe you can overcome them, so let me give you a few practical counterpoints.

First, let's talk about the notion that you, as a parent, do not know enough about Scripture, theology, or God to train your children. For the sake of argument, let us assume a worst-case scenario in which the parents are brand-new Christians and truly know almost nothing about God or the Bible. To those parents, and all others, I would say, "start where you are." Nobody knows everything but everybody knows something. Even if you are a brand-new Christian, you know at least what it takes to share the gospel because someone shared it with you. You know what sin is because you recognized it in your own life. You know that Jesus is Savior and Son of God because you trusted him for salvation. If that is all you know, then that is where you start with your kids.

Teachers have an old saying, "give me a book and a week's head start and I can teach anyone anything." Parents, start where you are, grab The Book, and learn something from it. Next week, you will be able to teach your children what you learned. 

Second, let's talk about the skill factor. You may have trepidation because you do not think you know how to impart spiritual truth to your family. Pause and think just a minute. How much did you know about how to be a parent when your first child was born? Probably not much. Yet, how much have you taught your children since then. Did you teach your kids to bathe themselves, get dressed, bush their teeth, tie their shoes, use proper manners, ride a bike, get along with their siblings, ask for help, throw a ball, bake cookies, or anything else? You may have failed on your first attempts at these things, but you eventually succeeded (or you are still trying). Consider it on the job training. Well, on the job training is perfectly acceptable when figuring out the practical ways to pass faith on to your kids.

You can begin to learn how to lead your family spiritually by actually doing it. Further, you can get help in this department through a multitude of resources. You can find many of these types of resources online. To get you started, may I suggest checking out Visionary Family Ministries, Faith At Home, and D6. Obviously, these are not the only ministries that can help you in this arena. If you do not like these, simply search the web or talk to your pastor and I'm sure you can find one you like.

Third and finally, let's talk about the matter of time. The first counterpoint to the lack of available time is to use what I will call multi-purpose time. Multi-purpose time is time that is already blocked off in your schedule during which you could do more than one thing. For example, do you have a bedtime routine with your kids? If so, talk to them about God while you are getting them ready for bed. Do you  eat at least one meal each week together as a family? Use this mealtime to discuss a Bible verse. Do you wake your kids up in the morning? Sit on the bed and pray with them while you are trying to get them up. Do you drive your kids to school? Instead of listening to the radio or talking on the phone, talk about Sunday's sermon on the way to school on Monday. See what I mean? Use time that is already blocked off to kill two birds with one stone.

Now I have another counterpoint to the time objection, but you may not like it. At the risk of sounding trite, let me suggest to you that we make time for what is important to us. Do you have time to play games on social media? Do you have time to work? Do you have time to see friends? Do you have time to exercise? Do you have time for little league? Do you have time for date night? Do you have time for the evening news? Do you have time to read the paper? Do you have time for PTA meetings, cub scouts, and dance classes? If you have time for things like that, but you do not have time for family discipleship, then you probably need to rethink your priorities.

That last sentence may have sounded harsh. The truth is, I want you to learn from my mistakes. When my kids came along, I had many ideas for teaching them to love Jesus, but life got busy, and I did not manage to practice everything I thought I would. Now, frankly, I regret it. Put boundaries in your life and make family discipleship a priority. I firmly believe that when your kids head off to college you will be very glad you made the time for spiritual things.

In summary, if you think you do not know enough to lead your family spiritually, then start where you are (but keep learning.) If you think you do not know how to lead your family spiritually, then simply start trying and learn as you go. If you think you do not have time for family discipleship, then use the time you do have and consider reprioritizing other times. Leading your family in spiritual matters may seem daunting. However, you can do it; just get started, and you and your kids will grow together.

Thanks for reading this, I hope you found it challenging but encouraging.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Observations from Church Hopping

"And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching."  Hebrews 10:24-25

Introduction

In November of 2020, after 25 years of ministerial service in a local church, I resigned from my post. Almost every Sunday since then, my wife, younger son, and I have visited a different church. Our purpose has not been to find a new church home but just to enjoy worshiping in different settings with different people. We wanted to see how folks do church in a variety of contexts other than what we were so familiar with. Honestly, it has been a breath of fresh air.

Along the way, someone suggested that we catalog our visits in a blog. I considered doing kind of a "play by play" blog recounting what we experienced each week. However, I was afraid it might hurt feelings if I disparaged someone's church or a favored leader. [Note, I know that basically nobody reads this blog so the chances of hurting someone's feelings are pretty minuscule. Still, I thought the respectful thing would be simply to write generically about what we have experienced.] Therefore, I decided to limit the writing to some general observations from our journey. I hope that it will edify and maybe even evoke contemplation of how you do church.

Before I get into what I've noticed, allow me to make a couple of disclaimers. One, I am unapologetically a Southern Baptist so my ideas are clearly slanted in favor of Baptist practices. That does not mean I'm looking down on you if you belong to a different denomination; we can agree to disagree about non-essential doctrines and practices. Two, this journey is not over as we have several more churches we want to visit. Therefore, I may update these thoughts as we have more experiences. Three, I am very aware that my opinions are not facts (I'm aware of this because of how often my wife tells me 😉). So when I say things that may seem critical, I'm not trying to cut anyone down, just telling you what I think. I realize that we all have preferences and what works for one may not work for another.

The Good

We have seen a number of good things through this process. Just to give you a little context, we have been to nine different churches (I think), including six different denominations and one non-denominational church so far. These churches have ranged in size from about 20 congregants to several hundred. The musical components have ranged from one leader with recorded tracks to highly produced, highly talented worship bands, and everything in between. Further, and this is interesting to me, all the preachers were very educated and had ministry experience. Finally, and this too fascinates me, partly because of the holiday season we did not get to hear the senior pastor at each church, which was a disappointment. However, we found that the "fill-ins" were very knowledgeable and well spoken.

So, what have been some of the good things we have experienced? One thing is simply the presence of God. It has been uplifting to be able to meet with God in such a variety of settings. Yes, I am Baptist. But it is refreshing to know that God shows up in the gatherings of my non-Baptist brethren, and refreshing to know that I can participate in worship with them.

A second thing has been the unity in the body of Christ. Everywhere we went, I felt very at home knowing that I was surrounded by brothers and sisters. We may worship in different places and in slightly different ways, but there is truly a connection that we have in Christ. I have honestly sensed this connection in the various churches we have visited despite being surrounded by strangers most weeks.

A third thing has been the preeminence of Jesus. Granted we have not wandered in to a church we knew to be progressive. In fact, we have known something of the reputation of each church so far. Yet, it has been exciting to note the exaltation of Christ in music and message each week. Truly we are, His church.

A fourth good thing has been the dependence on the word of God. For the most part, Scripture was taught, respected, and encouraged everywhere we have been. Again, we have intentionally not visited churches that we know have a low view of Scripture. However, it has been encouraging to see how the Bible is viewed over such a diverse spectrum of congregations.

A fifth and final good thing has been prayer. Honestly, it should not be a surprise that prayer played a key role in all these services. However, you (like I) have probably heard stories of pastors and congregations that do not pray enough. You have probably heard various leaders call for more prayer in the church. I do not doubt that we need more prayer in the church. But it surely has been good to witness the place that prayer has among all these congregations as they gather on Sunday mornings.

Well, this has become rather lengthy. I'm thankful for the good things we have had the pleasure of being part of as we have visited local churches. I must confess, though, that I did not appreciate everything. What were some bad things? I'll save those for the next post- -which will hopefully be within a couple of days.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by.

A Review of "Awakening"

I've recently completed Awakening: A New Approach to Faith, Fasting, and Spiritual Freedom by Stovall Weems. Pastor/teacher types are forever exhorting their congregations and classes to spend time alone with God praying and studying his word. However, one rarely hears these folks include a call to fast in their teaching. Awakening changes that. Reverend Weems is the pastor of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida and he regularly includes fasts as part of his relationship with God. In the book he shares why he does so and why he thinks it is important for all Christians (who are medically able) to do so as well. Specifically, he calls for a 21 day fast to "revolutionize your relationship with God".

The teaching part of the book is 124 pages long. Weems uses scripture and personal experience to explain how and why Christians should spend time in personal study and worship, including fasting. The chapters are readable and most conclude before they get boring. Each one ends with a personal testimoney from a member of Celebration church who tells something of how God used the 21 day fast in his/her life. These testimonies of God's activity are really neat. Another thing I enjoyed about the book is that Weems is really passionate in his love for Jesus and that comes through in the writing.

The next 20 pages lay out the plans for several types of 21 day fasts. Weems gives his thoughts on the value of each type of fast as well as providing medical cautions where appropriate. Following these plans are 21 days worth of personal devotional readings to use while on the fast. Reverend Weems also throws in some ideas of what to expect your body to do as it responds to various phases of the fast and encouragement to keep going. The final six pages consists of study questions to use if one is leading a small group through a study of this book. I found this to be the weakest section.

I have to admit that I do not understand the subtitle, "A New Approach to Faith, Fasting, and Spiritual Freedom". There is really nothing new here. It is a book about spiritual disciplines that many Christians have been practicing for centuries. Still, it is a book worth reading and it is my hope and prayer that many who read this book will apply these disciplines to their own lives.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

"The Next Christians" a review

I've just read The Next Christians: The Good News About The End Of Christian America by Gabe Lyons and a few thoughts follow. The Next Christians makes the case that Christianity in America is in sad shape; so sad that we are actually in a post Christian era. Lyons however, is persuaded that we should be optimistic about the future of Christianity due to those he dubs "restorers". Lyons proclaims that the work of Jesus was/is all about restoring people and the universe to the state of wholeness and goodness that existed before the fall. Restorers then, are Christians who seek to restore goodness, beauty, truth, justice, etc. to our culture; indeed to all people.

Lyons describes how restorers live out six special characteristics in seven channels of cultural influence. They desire to do this for the sake of Jesus. If I understand what Lyons is saying, the difference between restorers and the Christians of the past 2000 years is that the goal of the restorers is simply to do these good things. If people find salvation through Christ in the process, that is a bonus, but not necessarily the main objective. To his credit though, Lyons does exhort Christians to keep the gospel as the highest priority of life. He claims that when Christians practice the lifestyle of a restorer the result will be that people are saved.

Lyons has certainly done his homework here. He provides statistical results from various studies to support his claims. He also provides numerous real life illustrations based on personal friendships and interviews to demonstrate the demise of Christianity as well as to illustrate the good things that restorers are doing. Some of the stories he cites are interesting whereas others, not so much.

I did enjoy the book. Lyon's writing is clear and easy to follow, although not extremely engaging. However, I did find his narrative of the gospel in chapter four to be fresh and enjoyable. Overall I give the book a C+ for writing, B for holding interest, C+ for consistency and logical conclusions, A for optimism, and B for provoking further thought.

In short, if you put all the trendy phrases and personal illustrations and anecdotal stories aside, Lyons is saying that he expects revival. I hope he is right.

Who might enjoy or benefit from The Next Christians? Any Christians interested in ideas for social justice ministry or outreach to the lost. Anyone intrigued by the message of the emerging church movement (this is not to say that Lyons is definitely a part of that movement). People who think Christians are jerks. Christians who are interested in living more fully for Christ.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Book recommendation for parents

You know that I don't read many books. However, here is one that I have read and which I recommend to any of you who are rearing children or preparing to do so.

Kid CEO is not the premier book on parenting but I think it is an important one to read because the author says a couple of things that a lot of the other Christian parenting books don't.

Ed Young writes in a very conversational style and he avoids a lot of Christian-ese. I assume his intention is to make the book attractive and applicable to non Christians. At any rate it results in a book that is very straight forward and easy to read. He also tries to be very homey and down to earth. Towards that end some of his illustrations are too sappy and some are really too much of a stretch to go with the point they are supposed to illustrate. But the content that he is teaching is good enough to make wading through some of the negatives worthwhile.

Pastor Young very clearly lays out the biblical model for how a home should operate. Then he proceeds to address very practical ways to make that happen. He deals with the pace of modern life, the importance of the marital relationship, discipline, and other issues universal to families in our culture.

Based on my observations it seems that parents today need a lot of help and I feel that this book is certainly a great place to start. Happy reading.

More on the "Twilight" issue

The last post ended with the question, can vampire stories, even when clearly identified as fictitious be harmless entertainment for the Christian? First, it would probably be helpful for Christians to ask themselves a few questions about entertainment in general. When we consider how to spend our discretionary time, energy, and money we need to be sure that our choices will be pleasing to God. So here are a few thoughts that, in my opinion, Christians ought to apply to their recreational choices. Am I wasting God's time right now, is there some Kingdom activityI should be doing, or is this okay for now? Will this activity honor God? Will this activity help me become more Christ-like? Will this activity be a positive witness for Christ to the lost world? Will this activity be a stumbling block to any of my weaker brothers and sisters in Christ? Of course there is also the notion that Wachsman Family brought up in her comment on the last post, i.e., would Jesus participate in this with me?

Assuming you agree that Christians should scrutinize their recreation as outlined above we can now apply those ideas to Twilight (if you already disagree then we're kind of stuck). We have established that the whole vampire thing is demonic in origin so does using them for entertainment honor God?

Does it make us more Christ-like? One argument I have heard from the pro-Twilight side is that Edward exhibits many Christian virtues and so we can learn from him how to live the Christian life. Well, why would we not just learn it from Jesus? Why would we want to learn it from a counterfeit. You know the Bible says that the devil masquerades as an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:14). Does that mean we should look to him as our example?

Does reading Twilight improve our witness for Christ? Is reading Twilight a stumbling block for weaker saints?

I'm running out of time so I'll leave these questions up to you. Let me just close with I Timothy 4:7 which says, "Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly." and which I'll explain a little more next time.

Should we or shouldn't we?

So, I've sort of gotten myself into this debate--imagine that, moi in a debate--and I'm going to use this forum to discuss it. I need to let you know a few things up front. First, I tried to keep my mouth shut about it (I know, it is hard for me to believe too) because this general idea about what is acceptable entertainment for Christians has been beaten to death in cyberspace and other media, but I've heard enough falsehood that I feel the need to respond. Secondly, I'm addressing these thoughts to Christians. Third, its going to take more than one post to explain my position. Fourth, I realize that in some ways parts of this discussion involve gray areas; those things for which we might exercise Christian liberty. I don't want to break fellowship with those of you who disagree with me on this. I don't want us to look down on each other because of our differences.

So, what the poooh am I talking about? Well several of the females in my life have become big fans of the Twilight books. Someone in that population actually questioned whether it was a good thing for Christians to be reading a book about vampires. Naturally, the rest of them are trying to legitimize the books and their infatuation with them. Rather than argue with all of them about it, I've decided to just write my thoughts here and be done with it.

Right off the bat let's establish that the person who said this is not part of the occult is wrong. According to Merriam Webster Online occult is defined as: " matters regarded as involving the action or influence of supernatural or supernormal powers or some secret knowledge of them —used with the ". Clearly, vampires, werewolves, sorcerers, witches, fortune tellers, horoscopes, etc. all fall within the realm of the occult.

So, how should we think about such issues? We should go to God and his word for guidance. Deuteronomy 18:10-13 says, "10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. 13 You must be blameless before the LORD your God." In this text God is preparing the Israelites to enter the promised land and is giving them a lot of rules and principles to live by. The tribes that would become the Israelites new neighbors were completely pagan and God knew that if his children picked up any of the pagan practices that it would be to their own detriment. He was trying to keep his children pure for their own good and for the good of his larger plan in the world.

Admittedly, vampires are not specifically in that list. However, the vampire legends and occult practices are in the same vein as these things; especially, the idea of consulting the dead. I know people don't consult vampires, but they fall into that idea that if the dead are interacting with the living it must be a demonic deception.

These kinds of things are condemned in the New Testament as well. Revelation 21:8 says, "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Many of the things listed in this passage are still practiced today in occult circles. They are essentially ways of investigating the supernatural world or trying to use the supernatural to manipulate the natural. They are all void of God. The only sources available to us regarding the supernatural are God and his angels and Satan and his angels. Since the practices listed here are an abomination to God we must conclude they come from Satan.

The first argument I heard from the Twilight-ophiles was that vampires are not real so this literature cannot be condemned along with the things these verses are condemning. I will admit that is a pretty good argument. Personally, though I don't feel like it works.

First, there might be a sense in which vampires are real. Historians think that the vampire legends got started when people observed corpses that had not decomposed as much as expected. The superstitious people explained this by coming up with ideas about soul-less bodies who had somehow come back to life to torment the living. That may be how the myths came about. But what if there were other cases of demon possession that caused people to behave in ways that we would associate now with "vampire" behavior. After all, Satan is in the business of counterfeiting God. It would be like him to want humans to think he could cause a body to be alive.

Also, we know that there are occult practitioners who have taken the vampire legends and tried to animate them. There are folks who sort of adopt the vampire lifestyle so to speak as part of their spiritual lives. I guarantee you these people are not worshipping God. And as you can see from the verses above, God is not pleased when we substitute other spiritual entities for him because he knows that it will end in our destruction.

So I think that even though vampires are probably not real, the idea of vampires is real. There are people who place vampires above God. In general vampires are representative of evil, they are antithetical to Jesus in most vampire mythology, they represent a demonic rip off of true life and the true God. They are not something to glorify. But can they simply be harmless entertainment? I'll continue rambling about that another day.