by Tim | Jul 7, 2010 | God, My World, The Church World |
In case you haven’t heard yet, we are moving to Colorado! I have accepted the opportunity to become the pastor of two small rural churches 15 miles east of Fort Collins. Whenever you announce something like this, everyone wants to hear the details. After all, you don’t do something crazy like leave your home and move your family over a thousand miles away from everyone unless something lucrative has turned up. Well, I’m sorry to say, there’s nothing lucrative to share. We are downsizing quite considerably, and we won’t be making any more money either. There are times when I think about what I’m about to do and my mind starts running…If this isn’t God, Tim, this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done. And I believe that is a true statement. For several reasons, however, I do strongly believe God is calling us to these two tiny communities in Colorado. Because of all of this, I kinda feel like an expendable pawn in God’s hand. He’s sovereignly choosing where to place us, and it’s not my place to resist. I trust that He knows what He’s doing, and I want to do my all for Him where He places me. If things don’t turn out for my “good,” that shouldn’t factor into the equation. This should be all about what is good for Christ and His kingdom! I am much closer to accepting this than I was six months ago! The position is bi-vocational, and I hope to continue in the legal video business to supplement my income. If that doesn’t work out, I will have to find...
by Tim | Jul 4, 2010 | God, My World, The Gospel |
I have always wrestled with this: I know that as Christians, we should help poor people, because it’s the “right thing to do.” Yet, helping the poor is something that everyone feels obligated to do–Christian or not. I often resist focusing in on it, as it often makes Christianity appear to be a “works-based” religion, when I know that salvation comes by God’s grace, not our works. In addition, it seems that in Christian circles, liberal/mainline Christians fixate on helping the poor or other social issues, and as a result sideline what I see as the core of the faith: salvation through Christ from eternal punishment for us sinners and new spiritual rebirth. So it baffled me every time I read in Galatians when Paul recounts how he was appealing to the leaders of the Church to recognize that the Gentiles could also become Christians without having to follow the Law (become circumcised, etc), and at the end how the leaders decide that indeed Paul is right. But according to Paul in Galatians, they give him this one instruction: All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Why does this keep coming up in Scripture and in Jesus’ words? Why does Jesus tell people to sell all their possessions and give to the poor? Why is this so important? Aren’t we saved by God’s grace, and not by good works, such as this? I would like to throw out something that I’ve been thinking recently: I have been realizing recently that I don’t really trust Jesus to...
by Tim | Jul 1, 2010 | God, The Gospel |
I’ve always said yes. Why? Because not everyone can recall a “crisis” moment of salvation where they can point back and say, “That’s when I became born again.” That’s because humans don’t usually make instantaneous decisions–the vast majority of our decisions come about through various lengthy processes. Unfortunately, I realize more fully today that I have often equated conversion as merely “when a person makes their decision to surrender to Christ,” and that is why I’ve considered the conversion of a soul to sometimes transpire as a process. But that’s because I’ve been one of those Arminians Gone Wild who often finds themselves reducing conversion to the un-supernatural realm of persons merely making a decision. And it’s true, many decisions we make in life are indeed not “crisis” decisions–many happen more as a process. So if we focus on conversion simply as a decision humans make to believe in Jesus, it’s obvious that we will conclude that conversion often happens over time as a process, with no definable crisis moment. Yet, today I’m reminded that conversion isn’t defined by a decision we humans make, so I must qualify my answer. According to the Bible, when we are born again, we become inhabited by the Holy Spirit. This is something God miraculously does–He converts us by giving us His Holy Spirit, we don’t slowly convert ourselves as we make this decision over time. There is no other way to understand God’s part in this process, except that it should occur in a precise moment in time–where at some specific moment, the Holy Spirit inhabits us and we become spiritually reborn....
by Tim | Jun 29, 2010 | Our Culture, The Church World |
Audra thinks I’m being too mean to Andy Stanley. She’s probably right. Actually, I don’t so much have a problem with Andy Stanley, as I do with the general state of the modern church that thinks that we must all strive to be a “success” as we see his church. It bothers me greatly that this is the picture in our mind of “success,” when that looks very different from what I see the Bible emphasizing when it comes to the important things about church. For example, everyone thinks it’s important to have a great worship band, an attractive children’s ministry, a great facility, etc in order to have a thriving church. It’s like we put the weight on the totally wrong things. While it’s great to have a strong organization (no one likes a failing organization), etc…is this really where are deepest issues as a church lie? I’ve been part of churches that try to focus on these things, but have seen how quickly and easily we can neglect the more important things such as: 1. is the music appealing to unchurched people vs. does the average person here really understand what worship is really all about and who we are worshipping right now? 2. is the sermon engaging vs. is the sermon flowing from the pastor’s personal communion with Christ and are we truly communicating His salvation and the call of Christ? 3. is every aspect of our service flowing from one element to the other vs. are we actively seeking the presence of Christ with everything within us? 4. are we attracting visitors vs. are people’s...
by Tim | Jun 28, 2010 | God, Our Culture, The Church World, The Gospel |
That’s kinda the imagery I think of when I consider seeker-driven churches. It’s this mindset that we have to do and spend all we can to convince/attract/appeal to the unchurched to come to church/God. It’s like our theology of free will propels us to do all we can to get people to choose to come to church or to come to God. It’s why in the past, when we didn’t have problems getting people into church, but had plenty difficulty getting them to make a decision for Christ, we Arminians worked hard to make altar calls as dramatic and compelling as possible. And why in the present (since that’s not effective anymore) we are now looking for the next thing that will be effective at getting people to walk in our church doors, because they’re just not coming anymore. I don’t think this mindset is always a bad thing, except that it seems like we Arminians have concluded that the Holy Spirit really isn’t that effective at drawing people to Christ, so we have to use lots of money, talent, professionalism, entertainment to make up the slack. I know what the rebuttal would be: perhaps the Holy Spirit is using these very things to draw people to God? I think in some churches He is, no doubt. But I question this assertion as a given, as I see that church has become simply a business model that has proven to be effective at growing one’s church organization. In other words, GE can grow a successful and profitable business without the Holy Spirit, and churches can do the same thing,...
by Tim | Jun 23, 2010 | God, Our Culture, The Church World |
So now that I laid the groundwork for my disagreements in the last post, I’ll get into the disagreements themselves. In summary, I believe the best way to fulfill the Great Commission isn’t by doing all you can to get the unchurched to show up at church, but rather to get the churched to go out to the unchurched. Andy Stanley says that if your church really is passionate about the Great Commission, everything at your church will be centered around making the unchurched feel at home, rather than making the churched feel at home. While I agree with him that church should not be about keeping churched people happy–and that this is what so many churches do–it is equally wrong to make everything about church for the unchurched. That would be like saying that we are trying to attract as many children into our home as possible who need adoption, but once they get here, we don’t care about them any longer, nor do we care if they feel at home or not. We’re just constantly looking for more children to adopt, so we’re going to make our family as appealing as we can to outside children who have yet to be adopted. This is the problem I see with churches like Andy Stanley’s at North Point or Bill Hybel’s at Willow Creek. In the end, you really can’t be like that. (And I’m guessing their churches in reality aren’t.) You’ve got to acknowledge that we’re not about attracting seekers to Christ, but making disciples of Christ. Part of this process is reaching the lost, obviously. Yet I...
by Tim | Jun 22, 2010 | God, The Church World |
At least, that’s my opinion. We are all entitled to our opinions, and I admit that mine could be wrong. But I don’t think it is… 🙂 Last post, I reflected on how many Methodists approve of Andy Stanley’s methods for church growth, yet reject his message. I, on the other hand, agree with Andy Stanley’s message, but disagree with his methods. Here’s the cool thing–it’s ok if we disagree about methods; we can still work together in ministry as part of God’s family and team. In fact, maybe it takes all kinds of methods to reach all kinds of people. This shouldn’t separate us as brothers and sisters. All of us have different opinions on what methods to use to reach lost people. For example, at my last church, we had disagreements on methods, and that will probably always be the case wherever I find myself, because we all have different opinions. Regardless of these differing opinions on methods, it’s ok as long as we remain united in message. In fact, that’s the mantra of the “contemporary churches” out there: We’re changing the methods, not the message. Even though it can be difficult to work in an environment where there are differing opinions on methods, it’s definitely possible–and even rewarding, from my experience. We learn from each other and begin thinking harder about why we do what we do. We are challenged to test whether our methods are Scriptural, practical, effective, and healthy. Sometimes conflicting methods can both be just as Scriptural, practical, effective, and healthy–it’s just a matter of deciding what methods we want to utilize in...
by Tim | Jun 15, 2010 | Hell, The Church World, The Gospel |
Ok, so that’s really a lie. That is, unless you’re a Methodist and you are convinced that you’re a Baptist if you believe that everyone has an eternal destination in heaven or hell, and that it’s the Church’s responsibility to reach the unchurched so that they don’t go to hell–well, then that makes Andy Stanley a Baptist. Because that’s emphatically what he believes and is the sole reason why his church is 100% devoted to reaching the unchurched instead of worrying about trying to keep those who are already unchurched. That’s what he shared in his sermon yesterday. I’m afraid that this is a devastating blow to all Methodists out there who are trying their hardest not to be Baptist, and as a result don’t want to affirm that people go to hell if they aren’t reached with the Gospel. Now Methodists everywhere must make a decision–do I still want to model myself after a preacher whose church is modeled the way it is because he believes people are going to hell? Now they must abandon Andy Stanley–where else can they turn to for a model of ministry? They had to abandon their founder, John Wesley, long ago because he clearly was Baptist as well, as he also believed that the world is going to hell, unless they come to faith in Christ by believing the Gospel. Dear Methodists, Salvation, the Gospel, eternity in heaven and hell–these are NOT Baptist ideas. They are central to the Christian faith. If you indeed choose to continue modeling your church after North Point, don’t just model after the method–which is least important....
by Tim | Jun 13, 2010 | God, The Church World, The Gospel, The Scriptures |
I had a conversation with Audra’s brother a few days ago, in which he said that he couldn’t understand what the point is for a church to exist if it’s not evangelical. I agreed with him. It quickly turns into merely a social institution (and a rather unimpressive one to the world at that). I suspect by the term “evangelical,” he meant a church that takes the Bible literally. At least, that’s my simple definition, although it’s a little more complex than that. By and large, however, evangelical churches tend to view the Bible more literally than mainline or liberal churches. That’s why they evangelize. Yet with words like “evangelical” or “literal,” pretty soon words like “conservative” or “liberal” start coming up, and it starts to sound political. And general lay-folk start to check out as the discussion starts to sound divisive or unimportant. That’s why I’m thinking that in order to avoid such language (which can be misleading or confusing), I propose that we start talking about how “seriously” a person or a church takes the Bible. After all, some parts of the Bible aren’t supposed to be taken literally–they are written in a genre of figurative language, etc. Yet, even parts of the Bible that aren’t supposed to be taken literally–even these passages must be taken very seriously. For example, when Jesus says that it would be better to gouge your right eye if it causes you to sin, so that you go to heaven with one eye instead of hell with two eyes….there are very few people, evangelical or not, who would take this passage literally...
by Tim | Jun 4, 2010 | My World |
I’d recommend you check hers out, as her posts will surely be more interesting and concise than anything you’ll find here! www.audrafalk.com Oh, and I’ve added a new feature to my blog–a photo gallery. You can access it from the top menu. I’ll be tweaking it to make it more user-friendly, but it will do as-is for now. Check it out from...
