July 26, 2009 by iMonk
UPDATE: Pr. Cwirla has a follow-up post on worship at Higher Things.
I recently became aware of a youth ministry movement in the Lutheran Church: Missouri Synod called “Higher Things.” I was intrigued on several counts.
HT takes the best of the Lutheran tradition and makes it the substance of student conferences. Rather than hear what they would never hear at church, HT gives students the best of what they do hear at church, done with excellence.
No “big names” do the conferences. Gifted communicators who are all in local church ministry as pastors, etc.
There’s a distinctive denominational focus. Like that or not, the goal is the make better Lutheran Christians, not students who will abandon ship to find what they heard at the conference.
One of the most exciting concepts for me was the idea of a “spirituality toolbox,” made up of scripture, the Small Catechism (and the Confessions) and the Lutheran Hymnal. What would be involved in a “spirituality toolbox” in your tradition or mine? Is such a thing even possible?
Is HT an example of what could happen if generic evangelicalism had a more confessional identity and a sense of its own tradition? Is this one of the directions in youth ministry that we should consider if we want to actually prepare young leaders for our churches, rather than provide more reasons for students to abandon evangelicalism? [Continue reading]
July 25, 2009 by iMonk
6: 9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. -Paul the Apostle, First Letter to the Corinthians
I’ve always been encouraged that there is so much discussion of the Gospel in the Christian blogosphere, but I’ve been disappointed where most of that discussion has focused. I’m sure there’s a great need to clarify the differences between Piper and Wright on the nature of justification, but I doubt that the church on the corner has many people walking in the doors who particularly care. (Oh, I know that the theologians among us can tell us why they should care, but the theological class has never suffered from a lack of confidence in the significance of their particular areas of interest, yours truly included.) [Continue reading]
July 13, 2009 by iMonk
Welcome back IM First Officer Michael Bell as the guest blogger today.
You may have heard people say that the “average” sized church in the U.S. or Canada is about 75 people. You also may have heard someone say that the “average” sized church in North America is about 185 people. Who is right? It all depends how you define “average”.
Statisticians use three terms when describing populations. “Mean”, “Median”, and a third term that won’t really enter our discussion today called “Mode”.
I have borrowed, and expanded upon, an analogy from the The National Congregations Study that was released last month, to help us understand the differences in these terms and why they are important to our understanding of churches in North America. What you will read here is U.S. data, but the numbers are very similar for the Canadian situation as well.
Imagine you are looking down a very, very long street, and all the churches of U.S. are lined up along the left side of the street from smallest to largest. In behind each church are all their Sunday morning attenders.
If you counted the grand total of everyone standing behind each church and then divided this number by the total number of churches that you see on this very long street, you would come up with a “mean” or “average” size of 184. “Mean” is usually what we mean of when we think of “average”. But this number of 184 is a very misleading number. [Continue reading]
June 30, 2009 by iMonk
Moving on, folks. Moving on.
Reader Chris has written me a couple of notes on my overall views of youth ministry. I owe him an answer, but I’d like to open up a couple of posts on the general idea of where we are going in youth ministry. I’ve been involved primarily with teenagers for 30 of my 34 years of church ministry. For more than a decade, I did lots of church consultation and I had successful youth ministries in two large churches. I made it to a lot of large youth events down through the years and heard most of the best speakers on the youth ministry circuit.
There was a time I was really sure how to “do” youth ministry. Today….a lot of my thinking has changed. Here’s a few thoughts. More coming. [Continue reading]
April 23, 2009 by iMonk
My posts so far have carried an agenda. I would like readers to consider what church discipline looks like when it is the church’s compassionate ministry to those who are suffering, rather than primarily a punitive action toward those who are sinning.
I am aware that, according to a full understanding of church discipline, it is compassionate to deal with someone in a way that their need for repentance and returning to faith in Christ becomes obvious in their life. What concerns me is that the paradigm for church discipline is assumed to be radical surgery rather than the promotion of health in as much of the body as possible.
There are Christians who need church leadership to step up and take church discipline seriously, but not by attempting to turn an issue into a “bring it before the church,” I Corinthians 5 kind of response. These are persons who need church leaders to show an interest as shepherds, offering oversight, accountability, resources or mentoring, as needed, in situations that might normally be ignored. [Continue reading]
April 5, 2009 by iMonk
IM First Officer Michael Bell takes the helm for another look at the statistical data facing evangelicals. This time the news is hopeful, as he explores a connection between the recession and Protestant church growth. Welcome back Michael. (Visit Michael at The Eclectic Christian.)
Michael Spencer recently republished an article which looked at the problems that wealth creates for discipleship. He writes:
Have you ever thought about this? We are living in the most fabulously wealthy, excessively entertained and unimaginably prosperous nation in the history of the world. We have a standard of living, and a level of comfort, that much of the rest of the world cannot imagine…
The Jesus of the Gospel proclaims the promises of prosperity, real estate and parking places to be empty. If we will listen. Heís just as discomforting now as ever, unless we render him the harmless servant of our desires.
Rather than telling us about your best life now, Jesus talks over and over about persecution, sacrifice, voluntary poverty and laying down the images and symbols of success for the lasting worth and influence of the Kingdom of Jesus.
January 3, 2009 by iMonk
Our wayback machine today takes us to the first year of Internet Monk.com, where you’ll find a lengthy essay called “Those Magnificent Young Men and Their Pastoring Machines.” (Excuse the spelling errors. No proofreading in the old days.) It’s my original rant about what was happening to the practice of the pastorate at the time. I could have hardly imagined where we’d be today. (Warning: this was written almost 8 years ago, when I was a self-identified Calvinist in the ranks of the SBC. I am NOT a Calvinist today, but little has changed in my view of what it means to be a pastor.) [Continue reading]
October 8, 2008 by iMonk
I’m doing an interview in a few days and will be asked some questions about how I view the past and future of my own denomination. Some of these thoughts came to mind as I prepared.
1 I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.
3 When I remember God, I moan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints.
Psa. 77:4 You hold my eyelids open;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I consider the days of old,
the years long ago.
6 I said,* “Let me remember my song in the night;
let me meditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
7 “Will the Lord spurn forever,
and never again be favorable?
8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his promises at an end for all time?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”
Psa. 77:10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”*
Psa. 77:11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
15 You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. [Continue reading]
October 1, 2008 by iMonk
In his talk before the Desiring God conference, Dr. D. A. Carson mentioned Five Trends In The Church Today. Read the summary before reading my response. I don’t know if the talk itself is out there, but from the summary posted at Acts 29, I found a lot to agree with. (Which I usually do with D.A. Carson. He’s the most consistently “New Covenant” theologian and teacher I’ve encountered.)
Trend 1: It is important to observe contradictory trends.
Carson pointed out the increase in Biblical knowledge among churches that are seeing fewer and fewer conversions.
The same point could be made about those parts of the Christian world that are seeing large numbers of conversions. Biblical knowledge is decreasing in those communities. [Continue reading]
September 30, 2008 by iMonk
Rebaptism: How Did We Get here? and Rebaptism: What is it?
This last post in the Rebaptism series deals with what can be done in the present situation. Once again, I want to address these issues related to rebaptism with my own Southern Baptist context primarily in mind. I realize the issue changes a bit in each communion that considers it.
As Southern Baptists, we have reached a low point in regard to our own practice of baptism, and we should admit this as the first step in recovery. SBC leaders routinely baptize children who are 5 or even younger, and state evangelism directors defend- even promote- the practice. Our own international mission board and many churches insist on what can only be called “Baptist” baptism, which amounts to a rejection of believer’s baptism, over secondary issues.
Of more concern, many churches have completely abandoned any serious theological or confessional consideration of the meaning of Baptism, and therefore “anything goes” as the motive and occasion for baptism. Substantial preaching on baptism is shallow or non-existent. (We need some topical preaching, even in verse by verse churches.) The confessional riches of the Baptist tradition are almost irrelevant to many church growth oriented pastors. [Continue reading]
September 27, 2008 by iMonk
Since I have some break time ahead of me, I’m going to do several (3?) posts on Rebaptism. I know there are several angles to this subject, varying according to your own denominational preference. I am going to be writing from my position as an evangelical, a Southern Baptist and a lifelong minister to youth.
It will be impossible for me to write these posts without using illustrations, and yes, those illustrations will be related to real events that I’ve experienced. If that gets close to home with people who know me, I assure you I’m not taking aim at you at all.
I’m going to write about rebaptism, an issue that has deeply affected and weakened my own denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention, and an issue that touches every Christian communion I am aware of in some way.
Rebaptism is a very emotional issue. One reason we don’t talk about it is how quickly it becomes an occasion for disagreement and division. I have seen many tears and heard many angry words over this subject. Just thinking about it and remembering what I have experienced has brought strong emotions back to me, even as I wrote. [Continue reading]
August 20, 2008 by iMonk
It’s a genuine honor to have Dr. Nathan Finn, Assistant Professor of Church History at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, as my guest today at InternetMonk.com. Dr. Finn is one of the new academic voices in SBC life speaking strongly for a renewal of serious church membership among Southern Baptists.
Dr. Finn has an A.A. from Waycross College, a B.A. from Brewton-Parker College, and the M.Div. and Ph.D from Southeastern Seminary. He has been teaching at Southeastern since 2006.
His areas of interest include Baptist Studies, American Religious History, Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism and the History of Missions. Dr. Finn’s recent podcast at the Insight blog should be of real interest to IM readers as well.
Dr. Finn has distinguished himself as not only one of the clearest thinkers on the current SBC landscape, but as someone who understands the importance of the blogosphere. He’s a superb writer, and one of the few people in the establishment to be unafraid to have critical engagement with contemporary SBC life.
I want to tell the IM audience that I am more excited about this interview than almost any I’ve conducted. Dr. Finn’s answers on the historical background of the demise of church membership in the SBC and especially his comments on child baptism in our convention are absolutely pure gold. [Continue reading]
August 15, 2008 by iMonk
There’s one more interview out there in this series, but I don’t know when it’s going to arrive, so this will be the “closer” for now. Thanks to everyone for reading, linking and commenting.
Here is the original goal of this series of posts: I wanted to examine the question, “Is the concept of local church membership viable- even essential- today or should it be abandoned?”
Obviously, this is an important question, and also one that many people have already answered in the negative. I have been surprised to learn how many of my friends in “churches” that grew out of the Jesus Movement and the Charismatic renewal have rejected any concept of church membership as legalistic. Certainly, many in the emerging church have made a similar decision, and the church growth movement- ironically- contains many examples of “churches” without members. [Continue reading]
August 13, 2008 by iMonk
UPDATE: Read Kevin in the comments. He is talking about what the SBC needs to hear.
Time for our second interview on “The Church Membership Question.” Our focus today is on the practical side. How are these issues worked out in a real congregation. I’ve got just the person. You will love this interview.
Kevin Hash is the pastor of Burton Memorial Baptist Church in Bowling Green, Kentucky and he is our guest today on “The Church Membership Question” series.
Kevin’s ministry is one of the most successful in our state at bringing college students and young adults into a traditional, multi-generational Southern Baptist Church. Kevin is one of the “young, restless and reformed” who has stayed true to a multi-generational church vision with theological depth, meaningful membership and genuine church discipline.
The last few years have brought Kevin across many crossroads in the growth and life of his congregation, and along with that has come wisdom to be shared with the IM audience.
Kevin, thanks for joining us here at IM as we look at “The Church Membership Question.” [Continue reading]
August 12, 2008 by iMonk
Perhaps the most talked about recent challenge to the traditional, institutional church comes from “organic” church advocate Frank Viola.
In a recent article at The Ooze, Frank chronicled his reasons for leaving the institutional church. Think what you want, and criticize as you wish, Viola states his case Biblically and eloquently. And millions of people agree with his criticisms, even if they don’t buy the house church movement as an alternative.
So pay your ticket money by reading the article, then come back here and make this a good open discussion with your response. Is Viola’s assessment of the institutional church correct, or is he over the fence in left field?
Read, return and talk amongst yourselves.
