I wrote recently about the “flip principle” as regards church leaders and the congregation: the congregation desires authority which by grace has been given to the leaders alone; the leaders alone perform works of ministry which by grace have been asked of the whole congregation. I trembled as I wrote the words—as I tremble when writing almost anything pertaining to God, his Word, and the life of the congregation—for fear that I had gone too…
I believe strongly that our enemy loves to wreak havoc in the community by “flipping” relationships on their heads. This happens in the Garden of Eden, of course, when Adam stands passively by, abdicating his leadership responsibilities, leaving Eve to make the crucial decision alone. This happens still today. After all, what generation hasn’t complained about children rejecting the authority of their parents? In fact, at this point in history, with our unfortunate commitment to…
It has become common practice these days to rail against overwork in pastoral ministry. Undoubtedly this springs from a well-meaning reaction against bygone days of workaholism, when pastors would serve the church to the neglect of their families—and often their own spiritual, emotional, and physical health. Nevertheless, as is often the case with reactive movements, the pendulum seems to have swung too far. In just the past few weeks even, I have seen three…
A few of us were gathered recently to discuss the state of the church in the United States. One posed the question, “Would you rather be a missionary in a society that had freedom of religion or not?” It was an interesting query and caused a few moments of reflection. A surprising consensus developed gradually, however. We all agreed that we would rather be missionaries in a society that had freedom of religion, but…
The last in a three-part series on measurable growth in the church—and whether it matters.  God does care about numbers. That much is clear from the book of the Acts—and makes sense considering that each number represents a person receiving grace, being regenerated in Christ. At the same time, some of the numbers that bring us elation (and even pride) receive more attention than they merit. Attendance, while necessary as we strive to bring…
The second in a three-part series on measurable growth in the church—and whether it matters. Yesterday we saw that God does care about numbers. He inspires the historian Luke to devote too much time to the unstoppable numerical growth of the primitive church to think otherwise. However, we do not want to be simplistic in our affirmative answer. We would do well to ask not only if God cares about numbers, but also what…
The first in a three-part series on measurable growth in the church—and whether it matters. The simplest answer to the question “Does God care about numbers?” would be to point to the God-breathed book Numbers within his holy Word. Now, this might seem a reductionist, disingenuous attempt to answer a complicated question—especially since God did not entitle the book. Still, the book was given its title for a reason: there are a lot of…
Attributed to Augustine, the old adage says, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” I suspect the wise Christian will heed this advice. Though one wishes to believe that all Christians will agree on every point, our finite and limited perspective will never allow us to have complete understanding of the depth of God’s revealed Word. As such, Christians will disagree at various points along the theological spectrum. The question that then…
Kevin DeYoung recently listed ten distinctions between vibrant, robust churches and their squishy evangelical counterparts. It is worth reading the whole article and carefully reflecting on the ten distinctions he delineates. For pastors and church leaders, it would be valuable to evaluate our ministry in the light of these considerations. I wish to add another distinction to the list: decentralization. I would contend that a vibrant, robust church will move unstoppably outward from the…