Hugh Halter of Tangible Kingdom fame spoke at PlantR last week. We had a record 68 turn out. Here are some reflections from that meeting.
You know the kind of book that is so good you don’t want it to end? I typically experience this with fiction, but this year there have been a few non-fiction books I have read slowly and not finished–because they are so good! Over the next few weeks, I’ll share from some of my reading in the books that I don’t want to end.
Death By Love – This is easily Mark Driscoll’s best book yet. Death By Love is a series of actual letters Mark wrote to people struggling with serious sin and suffering. Here are a few of the chapter titles:
- “Lust Is My God”
Jesus Is Thomas’s Redemption“My Wife Slept with My Friend”
Jesus Is Luke’s New Covenant Sacrifice“I Am a ‘Good’ Christian”
Jesus Is David’s Gift Righteousness“I Molested a Child”
Jesus Is John’s Justification“My Dad Used to Beat Me”
Jesus Is Bill’s Propitiation“He Raped Me”
Jesus Is Mary’s Expiation
Chapter after chapter is charged with honesty, empathy, and wisdom. Rich in practical counsel and biblical theology, this book should be required reading for all courses in Pastoral Ministry. Driscoll takes categories from systematic theology and applies them using biblical theology in a very practical way. Brilliant and grace giving. A basic outline for counseling I use was coined by David Powlision: 1) Listen to their Story 2) Empathize with their Story 3) Redemptively retell their Story. I’ll use this to frame Driscoll’s counsel for a victim of abuse:
- Empathize with Story: “I think I understand what you are trying to say. For a man to devastate his family like your father did means that his simply saying ’sorry’ is not enough to erase the list of sins he has accrued or the damage h has done. I hope to untangle some of the conflict you are living in…”
- Listened to Story: “you spoke of building forts in the backyard and pretending you lived there instead of in the house with your father because you longed for the day you could move out and never return.”
- Redemptively Retell Story: “Bill, you must realize that not only could God’s active wrath be poured out on your father, but it just as easily could have been poured out on you…not only is your father a sinner who needs his sins propitiated, but you too are a sinner who likewise needs his sins propitiated…not only did Jesus suffer like you; in a very real sense he suffered at the hands of both you and the father at the cross…therefore, therefore you need not merely let your father of the hook because he became a Christian. Further, you need not punish him…I know that you fear forgiving your father…However, because God is sovereign and good, through that evil you have been given one of the deepest appreciations and insights of the doctrine of propitiation of anyone I have ever met.”
Okay, so maybe American missions work is driven by the same kind of pragmatism that characterizes so many American churches. Is that really such a big deal? Well, stop and consider the differences between planting pragmatically-driven churches in America versus planting them in most Majority World contexts. Such churches in America have the luxury of building themselves upon the foundations of a culture imbued with several hundred years of Christian influence and ethical norms. Fill a room with nominal Christians, as pragmatically-driven churches do, and you still have a dame that looks half way decent. She’ll dress up alright.
There’s some good thinking in this issue of 9 Marks, though I don’t agree with all of it.
Many of us have a gnostic view of money. Church planting good; fundraising bad. Preaching great; money evil. Pastoral ministry is truly spiritual, business, finance, and administration are sub-spiritual. This is not a biblical view of the world. We were baptised into one faith and one Lord who is both Creator and Redeemer. He is lord of the physical and lord of the spiritual. To quote Rob Bell, “Everything is spiritual for God.” Gnosticism is a dualistic philosophy that exalts the spiritual over the physical, the eternal over the ephemeral. The recent issue of Cutting Edge contains a series of article that address Church Planting and Money. The opening editorial reads:
ONE OF THE OLDEST ERRORS IN THE CHURCH IS FALSE DUALISM, PITTING “SPIRITUAL” REALITIES AGAINST MERE “EARTHLY” REALITY. IN THIS VIEW, PRAYER, BIBLE STUDY, AND CHURCH SERVICES ARE TRULY SPIRITUAL AND WORTHWHILE PURSUITS, WHILE DEALING WITH MONEY, ADMINISTRATION, OR LEGAL MATTERS ARE SEEN AS UNFORTUNATE REQUIREMENTS—DUTIES AT BEST, AND CORRUPTION AT WORST. WHILE YOU RARELY HEAR A PASTOR SAY “I HATE DEALING WITH PEOPLE’S PRAYER LIVES” OR “I HATE TEACHING THE BIBLE,” IT ISN’T UNCOMMON TO HEAR SOMEONE SAY “I HATE DEALING WITH MONEY” OR “I HATE ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS. (p.3)
Some of us need to repent of our dualism, of seeing God as sovereign and concerned only with our piety and not with our pocketbook. Some of us need to redeem our view of money with an understanding that the Gospel redeems consumers to spend, not just “spiritually” but practically. Our money should be governed by the gospel and move towards mission. But that is uncomfortable. We would rather live with the comforts of unspiritual spending, than invest our whole lives into the mission of God. Our idols of comfort, clothing, and standard of living hide beneath our functional gnosticism. God is calling us to repent and believe that Jesus is Lord over our entire lives, finances included, to bring us into a life of joyful giving and worship.
As I write this, Austin City Life is approximately 55% self-supporting, and our outside support is in decline. We have had public church gatherings for just over a year, though we existed in decentralized form for a year prior. We are experiencing gospel renewal, radical community, and growing mission. But is Jesus Lord of our finances, our budget, our discretionary income, our savings? We need to consult our hearts and our spending patterns to find out who really is lord of this part of our lives. We also need more financial support, to be a community that loves with our giving and not just with our being.
Pray. Repent. Give. Love. And enter into the joy of obedience to Jesus as Lord, and of full participation in his mission. For Jesus, everything is spiritual and nothing is gnostic.
Robie provides a stirring reminder of the humanity of church planting, especially for planter’s wives.
Boundless is running a new article (Failed Disciple), a version of a post I wrote a few weeks back on Creation Project called Confessions of a Failed Disciple. This article was adapted from the introduction to my forthcoming book Fight Club: Gospel-centered Discipleship, which is getting very close to being finished! An excerpt from the article:
“Along the way, I’ve come to understand that following Jesus alone is not really what it means to be a disciple. Both the church and the parachurch taught me that being a disciple means making disciples. I was told that this meant two primary things. First, I should be active in “sharing my faith.” Second, I should find Christians who are younger in the faith to tell and show what it means to be older in the faith.
It took me quite a while to realize that this practice of making disciples was incomplete. Making disciples requires not only “sharing my faith,” but also sharing my life — failures and successes, disobedience and obedience.
Making disciples is not code for evangelism, nor is it a spiritual system whereby professional Christians pass on best practices to novice Christians.”
We need the prayers (and the wisdom) of elderly saints. My wife has befriended an elderly saint. We will call her Emma. Robie visits Emma with our two kids. It’s good for them because the average age in our church is about 30. Emma seems to really enjoy their visits too. Recently, Emma sent Robie this email containing a prayer for our church:
Dear Robie and all,
In my quiet time today, I was reminded that God sent Ananias to a street called Straight. Also I was reminded of Luke 3: 4&5, ” The crooked shall become straight.” Then I praised God that you are going to the crooked to help them become straight! I’m believing God that He is changing East 6th St into a street called Straight,because of your ministry. Miss you. Blessings on you all!
Love, Emma
We need the missional prayers and insights of older saints. What an awesome prayer–that God would make straight the crooked street our church gathers on every Sunday, the infamous 6th St. We would appreciate your prayers as we move into more bars on 6th, prayers for the wisdom and power of the Spirit to engage the lostness in our city.
The Crazy Life of a Pastor’s Wife. That’s the name of my wife’s new blog. It’s candid and insightful. She also happens to be a church planter’s wife, which makes her double crazy. If you are a planter, and your wife doesn’t have a steady flow of fellowship with another planter’s wife, perhaps Robie’s thoughts will help fill some of the gap. Those kind of relationships are so important. If you’re a planter, her thoughts just might help you love your wife better, even to pastor better. Robie offers refreshing, challenging honesty wrapped around the gospel. Enjoy.
Due to the popularity of my 8 Ways to Easily Be Missional (and because I want to try out Scribd technology), I have included a downloadable version of the article below. Feel free to make as many copies as you like, provided the content is not substantially altered and proper credits are given.
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