The Simple Pastor
By Phil Whittall, church planter, blogger & book reviewer
RT @lukedvd: Hope his resignation from the England manager job will allow @JoelVirgo to focus on his church duties #nomorehairdye 17 hrs ago
When I first started blogging I called it ‘the simple pastor’ for a few reasons, one that’s all I am – it was a reminder to myself that that’s all I was. Secondly it was because I was stirred by the theme of simplicity and lastly because there are plenty of friends who think I’m a bit simple! But to me John Stott is an inspiration because he embodied simplicity and generosity, he wrote about both long before it became the pressing need it is today and most importantly, he lived it out.
Stott had a deep concern for the poor, writing for the Guardian Matthew Cresswell says,
“The young Stott, for example, had great concern for the poorer “newspaper lads” and young market traders around Langham Place and would coach them at football in Regents Park. He also invited them on “covenanter camps”, which were attended by boys from the wealthier families around Oxford Street. This was never easy as his footballers were lively and outspoken, but Stott insisted that they were part of the community.
Taking it even further, Stott once made himself homeless, in order to empathise with the down-and-outs of the city. Sleeping under Charing Cross Bridge and in a hostel in the East End, he said it made him feel “like an outsider, a castaway”. However, after two days, the game was up, when staff at Toynbee Hall remained unconvinced of his “cockney” accent.”
But it was his work in connection with Lausanne that still strikes home with me. Cresswell, by way of introduction to that, says,
“In 1974, Stott played a key role in shaping the Lausanne Covenant, a major document that encouraged Christians to be more globally conscious, to champion social justice and to bring Christianity to more developing countries.”
To understand what shaped him, you could do worse than to read this article by Mark Meynell who said he was a man who resisted trying to gain the whole world. Here is a phrase that struck me,
“He had decided early on not to seek to gain the whole world. He could so easily have done do, with his gifts, intellect and leadership abilities.”
There is no doubt that John Stott could have been a rich man, his more than 50 books have sold more than 8 million over the decades but ‘early on he decided that the income from his public life would go the Langham Partnership’ or as the Guardian put it,‘Stott’s own considerable royalties from his writing went towards the production and distribution of theological books in developing countries.’
Notice that phrase ‘early on.’ Before he made his money, before he had achieved international recognition, before he had published 50 books, before he had done all this he had decided not to gain the whole world. He knew it would profit him nothing.
And this is why for me, it is not Basic Christianity or even The Cross of Christ that stands out among his writings but his last book, The Radical Disciple. In in he outlines what he considers to be the hallmarks of a disciple from the perspective of his near 90 years of life. Mark Heath writes,
“A fifth area is simplicity. John Stott speaks from a position of integrity on this subject, since his book sales and speaking engagements could have made him a millionaire, yet he practices what he preaches, giving all his book royalties towards the work of providing books for believers and pastors in poorer countries. He feels grieved that the International Consultation on Simple Lifestyle which took place in March 1980 received very little attention, and this chapter is simply given to republish their statement (which he co-wrote with Ron Sider). This is a very challenging chapter, and one that exposes deep-seated idols that we are reluctant to part with. It is sad that Stott seems to be something of a lone voice in the evangelical world on this subject.”
It was reading this that encouraged me that a quest for simplicity and generosity was part of my heritage as an evangelical and one whose path had been trod by John Stott. You can find the Lausanne papers on simplicity here and here.
So for me, Stott is the simple pastor, a hero of the faith not just for his wisdom, biblical clarity but for also for his humility, integrity and commitment to simplicity and generosity. It’s a privilege then to imitate him as he himself imitated Christ. (1 Cor 11:1).
“There is a danger that in pushing radical sacrifice you leave everyone behind, and those that come with you end up exhausted…”
Then today I read an article by Skye Jethani where he says,
‘“How radical do I have to be?” the suburban mom asked. She had recently read a number of Christian books decrying the self-centered nature of much of the American church. The authors had apparently had enough of the consumer orientation of their congregations. As a remedy, each of the books calls readers to live a counter-cultural life of radical sacrifice and mission. The books, while inspiring, left this woman feeling “exhausted.”’
Jethani then goes on to make some excellent observations that we avoid turning consumer Christians into activist Christians.
“We pastors have a tendency to over-correct the error of consumer faith and instead make evangelism or justice the center of our life rather than Christ. We essentially exchanging one error for another, albeit a more admirable one. As Tim Keller says, idols are “good things turned into ultimate things.” When presented this way missional activism can lead to the kind of exhaustion expressed by the suburban mom, and it robs us and our people of the joy Christ intends for his children.”
His conclusion
“Consumer Christianity is a pandemic in the American church, on that I agree. But a prescription of radical activism is not the remedy. It robs people of their joy, burdens them with guilt, and fails to draw people into a passionate communion with Christ.”
Hear, hear.
“Regardless of your perspective on big fat gypsy weddings, to get married is to invite rampant capitalism into your life. I’m surprised the government hasn’t done more to promote marriage as a means of kick-starting the economy because there is clearly so much money to be made from it. Even breathing the word ‘wedding’ in some shops makes them double all their prices. We’ve done fairly well (we think) in avoiding many of the cash-splash traps by spending a lot of our budget on food and entertainment for our guests, and ignoring enticements that begin ‘Don’t forget to treat yourself…’. But the gift list is about things for us, so how could we escape materialism here?”
And
“Except that the Bible is very concerned with wealth and what we do with what we’ve been given. The quote I started with is from one of the many discussions about money – Jesus has more to say on this issue than He does about sex, not that you’d know it from the amount of attention those two topics are given by many of His followers. What we do with money is an indicator of what we’re really like, that’s why it’s important. If lavishing money on myself is normal and giving to others is abnormal, then there must be a fault somewhere inside. The desperate tactics used by companies to persuade me to give them money must either have fooled me or more likely pandered to a tendency that was already there.”
Read the whole thing
The Gospel is not a product
The challenge for the church, as always, remains to demonstrate through its life how the kingdom of heaven gives something far greater than anything the world can offer. Martin Robinson in his book, Planting Mission-shaped Churches Today says, “Christianity packaged as a consumer message can’t compete. There will always be a more seductive package awaiting the consumer than a faith that makes some demands on the consumer’s time, concentration and allegiance.”
Instead the church (especially in the West) needs to rediscover the antidote to consumerism – generous giving, joyful sharing and simple living as an essential part of our discipleship. Every time we give away to care for the poor or to plant churches we win a victory. We win when we choose to share what we have with others and when we sacrifice our comfort for the joy of bringing love to the broken, safety to the vulnerable and delight to the downcast.
By choosing to live more simply we can also live more generously, releasing time, energy and financial resources into the kingdom of God. By cultivating generosity instead of consuming church we cultivate Christ-likeness (2 Corinthians 8:7-9).
A church that becomes a consumer product, full of consumers will inevitably slow down in its nation-reaching, church-planting, leadership-raising, money-giving and poor-embracing mission because we will only give what time, money and energy we can spare after our comfort has been maintained.
The church of Christ needs disciples whose identity is in Christ and not in the logos they wear, whose treasures are in heaven and whose home is wherever God calls them. The church of Christ needs people who value eternal security more than financial security and spiritual gifts more than Christmas gifts who have discovered that it is truly more blessed to give than it is to receive (Acts 20:35) and so take hold of the life that is truly life (1 Tim 6:16).
The promise of life
What does it mean to be truly alive? If you spend any time watching TV you may well conclude that being truly alive involves being on holiday. This is slightly unfortunate because that means most people in the UK only have four or five weeks a year when they can be truly alive.
We seem to live for the annual vacation but within a day or so of returning from vacation we rapidly discover that what we really need is another one. There must surely be a problem if we merely exist for 48 weeks of the year and only spring into life when we go on holiday! I have to wonder if when Jesus said, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10) this is really what He had in mind?
It’s not just in travel that we see this mix of longing and discontent because every industry uses the same techniques from TVs to cars, mobile phones to beauty products the pattern is repeated; create dissatisfaction, add in some longing and present the solution – our new product! These companies aren’t simply trying to sell you their products but a certain kind of life, a cool, happy, fulfilled life. Fulfilled at least until the next thing comes along.
The end result however is not fulfilment but discontentment (otherwise we wouldn’t want anything new right?) and that is the opposite to the life of a follower of Christ. In Philippians 4:12, Paul talks of having discovered the secret of both plenty and abundance as well as hunger and need, the secret to living life to the full, the key to contentment. What is this secret? In Luke 18 Jesus reverses the wisdom of the world and says the key to a full life is finding something greater. If you find something worth giving up homes and families for, something worth selling possessions for then you have found something worth living for, that by giving up you gain, by losing your life you will find it. Life in this age and in the age to come eternal, resurrected life. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is that greater thing, the rule and reign of God changing this world. This is the pearl of great price that is worth giving up everything for.
The promise of a new you
What do you do if you’ve made a mistake and need a fresh start? Where would you turn and who would you go to? How about Gok Wan? If you don’t know who he is, Gok Wan has made a TV career in Britain out of hosting a makeover show. During every episode the same story is played out with different women. At the beginning in come the tired, the ugly and unhappy and by the end they leave renewed, beautiful and fulfilled. It’s the incredible power of the fashion makeover. It is a moving journey with all the classic elements of a good testimony, what my sad life was like before, the discovery of something new and what my life has now become. There are inevitably tears, pain, struggle and sacrifice along the way but in the end these women are reborn.
You can move to a new place and start over or you can get a new look and rediscover your dignity, self-worth and value. In order to distinguish between the mostly indistinguishable, companies try and associate their products with values that they hope their customers will see as desirable. Those values are often expressed in spiritual language, so for example, if you use the right hygiene products you don’t just wash but instead enjoy ‘deep cleansing’ and emerge ‘pure’ and ‘spotless’ and ‘clean.’
The problem with this offer is that it is a message of law. If I choose this path then a whole new set of rules emerge because I must buy the right products, wear the right colours, have acceptable clothes to the people I want to be accepted by and I must spend more time at the gym. I must because my identity depends on it. I must make new sacrifices every year and the older I get the greater the sacrifices! In the end in my search for happiness and acceptance, I have become a slave to self worth through consumption.
The Gospel however is not one of self improvement but of God’s gift of grace. His offer of a fresh start through Jesus Christ rests on His work of re-creation. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” (2Cor 5:17-18). When God makes us clean we are clean, when God acts we are made new, beautiful, spotless, clean and freed to enjoy Him, it is the glorious liberation of grace.
“In 2008 Charles Tate was being interviewed by a national newspaper and he was clearly very excited. He was a witness to an event he thought was historic, in describing the occasion he said, “Now I’ll be able to tell my grandchildren that I was here on the first day…” So what was this historic event that deserved passing on to future generations? It was the opening of the Westfield Shopping Centre in London. As I read it I double-checked for irony but couldn’t find any.
Now Westfield is an impressive shopping centre with 4000 parking spaces, 285 shops, 49 cafes and restaurants plus a 14 screen cinema spread over 43 acres in London; but at the end of the day it is still just a shopping centre.
What we hope to pass on to our children says much about our values and our worldview; the values expressed by Mr Tate were the values of the consumer. No heroic war stories, no stories of exploration or great achievement instead he will pass on his thrill at the opening of some shops. If this was an isolated incident then you might be justified in shrugging it off as exaggeration but the truth is that consumer values (or consumerism) shape much of how western society functions.
Consumerism goes further than simple materialistic delight in gadgets and expensive toys; it shapes our thinking, our dreams and our sense of identity. It’s easy to think this is just the sort of dead end that non-Christians fall into but be careful because the values of consumerism surround us everyday, it is the cultural air that we breathe and it poses a huge challenge to the church. Author Skye Jethani writes, “Many Christians believe the greatest threat to the church today is post-modernity. Others zero in on relativism. Some believe the enemy is secular humanism. Others think it’s Islam. I disagree with all of these. In my view, the greatest challenge facing the contemporary church is consumerism.”
The challenge comes because consumerism is more than credit card debt and social inequality, it’s a false religion. It seeks to give people what they have always wanted – beauty, life, happiness, purity, contentment and belonging but always at a price. Thankfully the gospel makes a counter-offer, meeting the same needs much more abundantly and by gift of grace alone. Here are just two of the many ways consumerism shapes lives and how the Gospel makes a better offer.
But even if it is legitimate to not apply Jesus’ instruction in Mt 19:21 it’s quite a bit harder to avoid Luke 12:33 where Jesus repeats the instruction (not suggestion or advice) but this time to his disciples, the ones who will inherit the kingdom (Lk 12:32).
And yet, at least for me, it remains an incredibly difficult thing to do. Yet because this is genuinely difficult I think that reveals something to me about my heart so perhaps I need to do it. In the next 6 months or so we’ll move countries and it’s a perfect opportunity to put this into practice. But it’s hard. Right now it’s a position of compromise. There’s plenty of stuff we’ll simply give away to anyone who’ll take it. So it might not go to the poor or needy. Some stuff we’ll give to charity who will sell it and give the money to the poor (close enough). Today they received around 100 books (barely made a dent in the shelves) from us as a start.
But then there are things like the car, the motorbike which we’ll sell and then keep the cash. We will after all by going to Sweden become poor or at least poorer (ie with no source of income and dependant on others generosity) so that feels like good stewardship. Or is it living by sight? I can easily give away those things of little value but something that to me amounts to some serious cash is much much harder. But why should that be the case? Perhaps because I am of little faith, perhaps because I am afraid.
Perhaps the point, though, is not necessarily what answer I come up with (after I genuinely do believe in God’s grace and freedom in this) but that I actually wrestle with the question. Am I being obedient to Jesus’ in this instruction, am I trusting and living by faith here? After all a disciple is one who obeys all he commanded (Mt 28: 20).
Of course if this becomes a law which we must follow to become righteous then we’re in trouble. My only chance is to sell and keep on selling, I find my righteousness in my lack of things but 1 Cor 13:3 warns me against such folly. Instead Jesus (and Paul) say something very different. If we have love and I’d argue that means we have received God’s love (1 Jn 4:10) then we need not fear, for God has already given. We give because He has already given. We don’t give to get, we give because we have. Although what we have requires faith, because we have a promise. A promise that giving away now means eternal reward. Giving becomes an opportunity to put my treasure and my heart in a beautiful place – in the kingdom of Jesus.
Far from exhaustive but pretty encouraging all the same!
In the 4th century AD Julian became Roman emperor and in 361 threw his weight behind the old pagan religions in an attempt to reduce or wipe out Christianity. Here is how Chadwick describes the task Julian faced:
“Julian set about the reorganization of paganism. He saw that it could only meet the Christian attack by modelling itself on its hated opponents…There was to be a system of stipends for [pagan] priests who would preach sermons and organize works of charity for the poor: ‘No Jew is ever seen begging, and the impious Galileans support not merely their own poor but ours as well.’ The standing and moral character of the pagan priests also had to be sharply raised. Like the Christian clergy, they were required to keep away from obscene shows, taverns, and all disreputable employment.” [emphasis added]
Wouldn’t it be great if it was obvious to everyone that Christians were of such moral standing and character that for atheists and whoever else decries the church that they had to get their own act together to our standards before they’d be listened to?
Clement of Alexandria wrote a ‘special discourse on to help Christians puzzled about the right use of their money and troubled by the absolute command of the Lord to the rich young ruler, ‘if you would be perfect, sell all you have…’. Here’s what Chadwick says about this,
“On a rapid reading it might seem as if Clement were merely a compromiser trying to wriggle out of the plain meaning of a commandment. But a fairer reading of his tract shows that he did not see the gospel ethic as imposing legalistic obligations but rather as a statement of God’s highest purpose for those who follow him to the utmost. What really matters is the use rather than the accident of possession. Accordingly Clement laid down a guide for the wealthy converts of the Alexandrian church, which imposed a most strenuous standard of frugality and self-discipline. Clement passionately opposed any luxury or ostentation, and much that protested to be lawful he regarded as highly inexpedient.” (p98)
Emphasis mine. What would our teaching and instruction be to the wealthy in the church?
OK, it may be just me but do they look alike? Poor kids, the midwife said they looked liked me. My church decided that grumpy, wrinkly and purple is not a good look, for them or me!
Anyway, the point is that they (at least I think so) carry the family likeness. The father should be able to look at them and know ‘they’re my kids.’ Simple observation really, but the punch hit home. Am I carrying the father’s likeness? Do I act, think, speak, love like the Father?
“I was particularly struck by this simple point which came up more than once in the series: every time we give, we take one more step in the process of releasing the grip of materialism”
Have a listen
John Stott is 89, and few men have had such a profound influence on evangelicalism in Britain. If you were fortunate enough to be sitting down with him and were to ask this man who has followed and preached Christ for more than 60 years for his distilled wisdom and advice in how to do that great task better, I’m confident you would be all ears. It would be foolishness not to listen very carefully to everything he had to say, they should have a profound impact on your life.
That’s the approach I took to reading this, his final, book. Pay close attention, this man knows more than you do about following Jesus, a lot more. So in this short book John Stott advocates for eight undernourished themes of discipleship with the hope that we as a result we would start paying more attention to them because the radical disciple is one who is deeply rooted in Christ.
First that we would be non-conformist to the patterns of this world and respond bravely to the challenges of pluralism, materialism, ethical relativism, narcissism so that instead we might be conformed into Christ’s image.
Second, that we are to prioritise Christlikeness in his incarnation, his service, his love, his endurance and his mission.
Third, that we would grow to maturity through a deep and profound vision of who Christ is.
Fourth, that we would rediscover a right relationship with creation and care for it.
Fifth, that we would see that the call to follow Christ is a call to a life of simplicity.
Sixth, that we would live in balance – balance between individual discipleship and corporate fellowship, balance between worship and work, and balance between pilgrimage and citizenship.
Seventh, that dependence is God’s created intention for us. Dependence first on Him but also on others.
Lastly that we face death in the light of salvation with greater courage, hope, willingness and joy.
On a personal note, I was heartened simply by the fact that he had chosen to include a chapter on simplicity and that he described the Christian life as one marked by ‘simplicity, generosity and contentment’ (p22), three words which are the watchwords of this site.
This is a wonderful book written with grace, humility, sharp insights and gentle but telling wisdom. Not all the chapters hit with equal force or power but taken as whole this is not a book to be ignored. I would give all leaders in all churches this book and challenge them to live just one of these areas more fully and I’m convinced we’d be better for it. Highly recommended.
“…in a society which worships material prosperity, Jesus commands us to worship God and to invest in heaven’s treasures. This means having a mindset at odds with the materialistic consumerism of our age. It means believing that ‘a person’s life does not consist in the abundance of their possessions’ (Luke 12:16), in defiance of the claims of the advertising agencies. In a society where 6year olds are teased for not wearing the right brand of trainers, this is profoundly counter-cultural and will not be easy.”
- Simon Coupland, Success
Before you even read the book you have to say it’s pretty encouraging that it even exists. Not long ago a book on consumerism from a mainstream American publisher was a rare thing indeed, there still aren’t many in existence and this one deserves to be near the top of the pile.
In nine chapters Jethani unpacks how consumerism has leaked into the church. American is at the forefront of a consumer society, its leading edges are all in America and American Christianity is at the forefront of consumer shaped religion. There are lessons to be learnt simply from the descriptions of the church that the author provides.
American Christianity continues to fascinate me, it is part car crash and part inspiration. Some of my best teachers are Christians birthed, taught, shaped and formed in the cradle of American Christendom. At the same time there is a side to the church there that I simply cannot grasp or comprehend, I have no idea how this monstrosity came to be and how it relates to the Christ I follow. Fortunately that’s not my problem to solve and our God is a gracious God.
In response to this monstrous creation birthed by the illegitimate union of the church and the shopping mall, Jethani uses the life and work of Vincent Van Gogh to help us rediscover the spiritual disciplines of silence, prayer, love, friendship, fasting and hospitality that have both stood the test of time and served the church well as gifts from God.
The use of Van Gogh is interesting and certainly served as a useful reminder of both the genius and the spiritual zeal of the Dutch artist, although I’m not sure how successful it always was as a bridge between the poison and the antidote.
Jethani understands the power of consumerism well and sees how pervasive its influence is on the American church, his insights hit the mark time and time again and his journalist background shows through. After such a clear diagnosis I wanted a sharper response, I wanted the battle lines drawn more clearly, the solution more boldly proclaimed but, perhaps he’s right, that to do so would have fallen into the trap of offering another option, another choice to be consumed if you feel like it or not if you don’t.
There are plenty of ways in which the church context differs from the UK to the US but there are more than enough similarities as well for this to be a useful and helpful book for the discerning reader. If you want to see the logical outcome of consumer Christianity read this, if you want to know the traps that await us if we follow that path read this, if you want encouragement that consumerism in the church and in us can be defeated read this. If you want to know that an alternative vision exists read this. Highly recommended.
EatJesus.com from EatJesus on Vimeo.
You’ll see the list from the Josh Harris link made it on to my powerpoint presentation. It’s interesting how helpful people have found it to have something to visualise, helps them stay with the theme.
Spiritual growth is so incredibly important to the Christian walk, especially in a culture which wants to preserve youthfulness, follow your pleasures, do what you want, when you want, with whom you want, a culture that is becoming immature not celebrating maturity as the Bible does.
Even in the church, where some are being carried away by the events surrounding Todd Bentley (see my posts here), there is a desperate need for believers to be well fed, to discern truth from falsehood, to make wise decisions, and most importantly desire to follow Christ as Lord.
|Growing for God, is a good book to give to new believers or those who are at the first steps of growing in God for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is short. Increasingly I find that the people I come across are not readers, there are few books in their homes and yet for me, almost my first thought is to lend a book which is helpful. So aside from the fact that I need to better help people who are not book people, I need books which are not intimidating, and at 80 pages this book won’t scare too many people.
Secondly, this book is 80 pages of easily understood teaching. It rarely follows complicated arguments or uses terms that would confuse and it gives helpful definitions of key words. Thirdly, the illustrations, while not being in the league of say a John Ortberg, are down to earth, relevant and effective. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, the content is solid. It isn’t exhaustive or comprehensive but IF a believer applied half of what they read, their lives would change considerably.
So, while not being the most dynamic book around, there is something reliable, earthy, solid to it that is part of learning what it means to grow in God. Useful.
This book (although with a new cover and updated) by Bill Hull caught my eye at a recent conference. Discipleship not conversion is the biggest challenge of our day, how to produce a church of people that don’t merely give assent to Christ as their Saviour but follow Him as Lord.
Across 9 chapters and 300 pages Bill Hull works through the issue of disciple making. The book was first published in 1988 and in this revised and expanded edition we have the original text plus ‘further reflections’ from Bill, 20 years on. It’s interesting to read the insights of the forceful younger Bill and then along comes older Bill to temper (or not) his words with the wisdom and perspective that comes from being in your 60s and not your 40s.
I admired the passionate advocacy of the primary importance of making disciples, I admired insistence that we make disciples not clones of mega-churches, that we realise that TV is discipling our societies and doing a better job of it than the church. To all his passion and commitment to make disciples I say a hearty ‘amen’. This should have been a book I just gobbled up. It wasn’t.
There was quite a lot I struggled with. A book called ‘The Disciple Making Pastor) that has to repeat on p290 of 313 that ‘it is my firm conviction that every believer is called to be a reproducing disciple’ is missing something. I caught the thought, ‘hey Bill, I think we’ve got that point now’. In short this book is longer than it needed to be.
Plus the guy is a process monster. He has a very different approach to the authors of say, Total Church (click here for my review of that book). Jesus, it seems, had a six step programme for making disciples, specifically designed to produce disciples over a couple of years. If we adopt the same six step programme, with the addition of some exams, a covenant, an intense two year programme and some tough coaching then we too will produce self-feeding, self reproducing disciples. The disciple is constantly referred to as ‘the product’ ie what we produce from our church. Do we have a quality product? Discipleship it seems is a competitive business and an aggressive focused response is essential.
I’m unconvinced. It’s one thing to say I see these things in the way Jesus worked and it’s another thing to say this is the way Jesus meant for it to work. Did Jewish rabbi’s 2000 years ago really develop a six-step intentional disciple making process that perfectly fits our business oriented western minds? Or perhaps it was something more organic, more relational than that. The ebb and flow of follow, learn, do, with mistakes being made, successes, failures, understanding and non-understanding, people leaving and people joining being a part of Jesus’ own disciple making process for the entire time He was on earth. I’m not sure it looked neat when everyone was running away at Gethsemane.
And there’s something about making a small group covenant that strikes me as thoroughly legalistic. It’s the ingredients of grace, love, friendship, prayer and compelling vision that keep me involved not a commitment to arrive on time to group meetings, aggressively make contact with the unchurched and giving leaders permission to confront me when I fall short.
So I’m glad I read this book because it helped me realise I don’t think there’s a formula to it all, but there is a need to be intentional and focused. Disciples are made not born, some intentional shaping is necessary and the question remains ‘how’, I’m just not sure this is quite the way for us.
This is quite different from many altar calls I have heard. ‘You have sinned, God can forgive you – be guilt free’ but what Bonhoeffer is saying, which I think is more biblical is that to follow Christ is to die to the old self, not just it’s sinfulness but also it’s attachments. In light of our consumerist disease that may mean the new kitchen, the upgraded car, the luxury holiday, the promotion to pay for it all, the retirement plans and all our wants and desires for newer, better, more may just have to wait. Before that comes seeking first, the kingdom and righteousness.
I’m attached to new stuff, I quite like it. Nothing wrong with it but maybe I’m called to give up the desire for that and if I need it, I’ll trust God to provide for what I need and not what I want.
There’s an initiative that is based in the community of the trinity that takes us beyond ourselves to include others and draw them into the love of God for humanity. For us this draws us into the mess of human lives, the joys, the struggles, the trials, the tests and the triumphs. It brings with it the possibility of incarnating the love of Jesus to a broken world but it means our selfish dreams and ambitions may have to be left to the side for another day.
To pick up the dream of God and be a part of the mission of God in the world may mean we need to lay our dreams down, to consider others better than ourselves and to forsake selfish ambition. As I understand it, to have true generosity in our lives involves us in mission in the world, of making disciples and growing in love of God and love of people. The powerpoint from the talk is below or here at Google Docs
The second major complaint is that “Christians are insincere and concerned only with converting others” (Chapter 4, pages 67-90) and have a reputation similar to that of the Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses. In effect we don’t really care about people. The author then explores a number of myths and misconceptions Christians hold about effective evangelism.
This is then followed up with the staggering statistic that the vast majority of Americans regardless of age, assert they have already made a significant decision to follow Christ (about 70%). However only about 30% are absolutely committed to the Christian faith and in the view of the Barna research group only about 5-6% possess a biblical world-view.
At this point it’s already clear to me that this picture neither fits the UK nor the majority of teaching on evangelism that I’m aware of in evangelical churches. We’re certainly no more successful but we may be a bit more tactful. It’s hard to know what to make of this, on the one hand it doesn’t seem to fit but then what’s our problem, why are we so ineffective and unable to make progress? Ah but there I fall into the trap because that is a response that is focused on quantity when the clear heart of the problem is quality. We are not making effective disciples either. Here are their seven elements to spiritual formation:
What would you add?
What struck me is that I’ve lost a little bit of the joy of giving and need to find a new giving adventure. I need to make it fun again. But we need to go beyond tithing to find generosity because you can’t budget that.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”
If I love God with all that I have, if I love people as I love myself then how could it be possible for me to live in any other way than one of complete generosity? I just can’t see it, but this has some disturbing implications. This applies to more than generosity but it’s my focus, so if I’m not being generous than I’m failing to apply these two greatest commandments. It’s a logical conclusion I think.
I concluded that if Jesus says these are the two greatest things I can do with my life then that’s good enough for me. I’m inspired by people who did great things, attempted great things, trusted God for great things. But Jesus says these are the greatest – love God, love people. What is so beautiful about this, is that anyone can do the greatest things. Education, opportunity, wealth, ability count for nothing when it comes to loving God and loving people. Too often people with all of the former forget this and do indeed do great things but just not the greatest.
So I see this at work, I love God and I love people as I do so, God works on my heart changing and transforming me and what I find hard now becomes what I do naturally, generous living as well as generous giving. It might be easier said than done, but maybe it’s not all that complicated. Just do two things.
Secondly, this feeds into another train of thought that has been swirling around for a while, which is ‘what does it mean to be a disciple?’ The great commission has always struck me, and even though I’m a church planter (I have the perfect personality for that according to the tests Matt Hosier blogs about) it’s the making disciples and teaching them to obey Jesus’ commands that interests me.
I’ve begun to study and re-read the Gospels looking for the commands of Jesus (I know there are lists on the tinternet but that makes me lazy and I miss context and the opportunity to read afresh) and noting them. Then I’ll look for how they help in the development of disciples. I’ll blog it, I’m sure.
Anyway going back to where I started, it seems to me that a fundamental definition of a disciple could be given as ‘one growing in love of Jesus and of people.’
Growing is important because it implies following, movement, progress, learning, development and maturity. Love because, well that one should be self explanatory. Jesus rather than God because today God can be too vague, so much of anything it becomes nothing. Jesus is uniquely Christian, trinitarian, and He is after all who we are following. People because well that what’s Jesus said the other great command was.
Anyway loving people & loving church surely means a growing openness to some form of community, of deeper relationships however that is expressed. At the heart of community there has to be relationship and love otherwise it becomes law or cause – both powerful but in my not very humble opinion not enough to succeed.
I believe Jesus when he said 'life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions'. I believe he offers something better. This blog is mostly about that search.
I'm also a husband, a father, church planter, keen runner, reader, and motorcyclist. These and a few other things make guest appearances from time to time.
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
Google+
LinkedIn
Picasa
