Wednesday's Words of Wisdom...Matt Chandler on Church as a Hobby

"(N)obody can really attend church as though it's a hobby; to do so does not reveal partial belief but hardness. The religious, moralistic, churchgoing evangelical who has no real intention of seeking God and following him has not found some sweet spot between radical devotion and wanton sin; he's found devastation. The moralism that passes for Christian faith today is a devastating hobby if you have no intention of submitting your life fully to God and chasing him in Christ."

Matt Chandler
The Explicit Gospel

The Detroit Project

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of spending a couple hours with my good friend Ryan McVicar. Ryan is the Associate Pastor at Knox Presbyterian Church in Harrison Township, Michigan (just north of Detroit) and is preparing to plant a new church in the Royal Oak area of Detroit. The goal is that this church plant would not be an end in itself, but would become a church that in turn would plant other churches in Detroit and throughout the Detroit metro area.

The success of any such venture is of course entirely in the hands of God, but I can't imagine a much better person than Ryan to be spearheading the project. He loves the Lord and has a passion to share with others the grace that has been made known to him. A godly man and a gifted teacher, we had him as one of our speakers at the Mid-Michigan Conference for Reformed Theology last year. Ryan only had four or five days to prepare his message as he was filling in for another speaker who had to cancel at the last moment.  Even with such late notice of his involvement though, he delivered what many considered to be the finest address of the conference.

A graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary (Orlando), Ryan served at Second Presbyterian Church in Memphis before moving to Michigan to pastor at Knox, where he has served for over five years. During his time here, God has developed in Ryan a great heart for the people of Detroit. So while he is fulfilling his duties at Knox, Ryan is also looking for others who might be interested in partnering with him in The Detroit Project. He has raised much of the necessary funding to get things off the ground, but still is looking to raise additional financial support. In addition to this, he is looking for people who might be interested in partnering with him not just financially, but in the work of ministry. Finally, I am certain that he would covet your prayers. If you have a heart for cities in general (or for Detroit, in particular!) please consider being a part of this exciting work that is getting underway in the Detroit area. Feel free to contact me or Ryan with any questions you might have.

A Cool Church

I'm not very cool.  Never have been. My wife sometimes tells me I am, but she's incredibly nice and terribly biased.

I suppose I never will be one of the "cool kids."   I don't listen to the right music, partake in the right activities or wear the right clothes. I really wanted to like Mad Men, but sadly, I just didn't get it.

Even so, I have a tendency to want our church to be "more cool" than it is. There is something in me that wants everything at our church to be fashionable and state-of-the-art. There is something in me that yearns to have our church be the kind of church that is attractive to the "in" crowd.

We could call that something "sin."

Rachel Held Evans is a talented writer, with whom I sometimes agree and sometimes disagree. I suspect she's far cooler than I am. Regardless, in my opinion she couldn't be more right than in these words from an older blog post which was brought to my attention today:

Jesus taught us that when we throw a banquet or a party, our invitation list should include “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.” So why do our church marketing teams target the young, the hip, the healthy, and the resourced?

She continues...

Some of us wear our brokenness on the inside, others on the outside. 

But we’re all broken. 

We’re all un-cool.

We’re all in need of a Savior.

May this truth guide our ministries so that they are less concerned with who we want to hear the gospel, and more concerned with who needs to hear it. And even more so, may it guide my heart and yours, so that we would truly see how much we are all a part of that latter group.

Now that would be cool.

 (HT: Rachel Blazer)

Why Do People Come to Church on Easter?

Yesterday, it was wonderful to worship the risen Lord Jesus Christ together with church members and visitors alike at Calvary Presbyterian Church. Our sanctuary was full, necessitating the addition of folding chairs to accommodate the attendees. I don't know if it was the joy of the occasion or just the greater-than-normal number of voices, but the singing of hymns seemed especially passionate, and (at least for me) was even more enjoyable than normal.

My son is a bright, inquisitive boy, and on our way home from church, he asked me a question.  "Why," he enquired, "do so many more people come to church on Easter than usual?"

I explained to him that there were probably two reasons.  On the one hand, at any given church, not all of the "regular attendees" are there every week.  Though it might be different people each time, 10-15% of them (just to pick a number) might not be there on any given Sunday.  But on Easter, almost all of them will make sure that they are there on THAT Sunday.

As for the rest of the increase in church attendance, I told him that there are also plenty of people who feel like they should come to church on Easter, but don't seem to feel such a compulsion the other 51 Sundays each year.  As I said before, my son is a very smart boy, and he would not let me off quite that easy.  He pressed, "But why do they want to come on Easter if they don't the rest of the time?"

I had to admit to him that I did not have a good answer.  Perhaps they're going out to lunch with family afterward.  Regardless, we should be thankful that they are there on that day, because that might be the only time in the year that they really hear about the grace of God through Jesus Christ available to sinners like us.

So, in the same inquisitive, non-judgmental sense that my son asked me, I ask you, "Why do people who don't go to church the rest of the year show up on Easter?"  I'd love to hear your thoughts.

The Gospel of Wealth

David Brooks wrote a thought-provoking op-ed piece in The New York Times yesterday entitled The Gospel of Wealth. In it, he examines the capitalistic and consumeristic influences on the church in America "When Europeans first settled this continent, they saw the natural abundance and came to two conclusions: that God’s plan for humanity could be realized here, and that they could get really rich while helping Him do it."

Brooks focuses specifically on David Platt, a pastor who suggests, “When we gather in our church building to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshipping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead, we may be worshipping ourselves.” Read the whole column here.

(HT: Kevin DeYoung)

Wednesday's Words of Wisdom

"The Church is in an excellent state when it is sustained by God alone."

Blaise Pascal, Pensées #861.

Not Just a Cute Church

I really enjoyed the post I saw today by Jared Wilson. He is the pastor of Middletown Springs Community Church in Middletown Spings, VT and the author of the blog, The Gospel-Driven Church. I enjoy his blog for a couple reasons:

1) His postings are almost always insightful, motivated by grace and filled with gospel wisdom.

2) One of my interests is family history, and his church is only about 10 miles from the family farm in Wallingford, VT where my father spent many of his boyhood summers. I have never been there (or to Vermont at all, for that matter), but I have always wanted to visit, and hope to do so some day. Perhaps I will have the opportunity to worship with Jared at Middletown Springs.

In today's post he cites how people often refer to the building where his church meets (pictured above) as "cute" because it is small, old and traditional. He cautions against such short-sightedness in his post, recounting some of the church's history. You should really read the whole thing here (it's not very long), but he concludes with the following:

Our building is just a building, but it's not just a building. It's a symbol of the enduring evangelical presence, small but hearty, in this least-churched state in the nation, and of the endurance of the great salt-of-the-earth people who are the church that gathers in the building for which they're called.

The gates of hell will prevail against espresso bars and KidzTowns. But not our church.

Our church is not cute. It is epic.

The Kingdom and the Church

Kevin DeYoung posts today on the relationship between the Kingdom and the Church. Though going somewhat against the grain of many of today's church trendsetters, he (as usual) provides wise insight.

But once we understand that the local church is the witness to and manifestation of the kingdom the Bible makes more practical sense. In the kingdom, possessions are shared so that no one has to suffer want. That’s why the needs of the covenant community are met through the deacons. In the kingdom, unrepentant sinners are barred from entering. That’s why we have membership and church discipline. In the kingdom there is relational harmony and everyone is accepted by God and delights in God through his Son Jesus Christ. This is not only the goal of the church, but only in the church could we ever expect to see these realities.

So yes, we desire to bring the heavenly kingdom down to earth. But the kingdom that comes, the one we are looking for and living in, shows up in the church.

Book Review: The Trellis and the Vine

The controlling metaphor of this book is that of the relationship between a trellis and a vine (hence the title). The function of the trellis is secondary. That is to say that it, in and of itself, is not important. Its importance, rather, is found in its ability to support the vine. It is the vine that is ultimately important.

Colin Marshall and Tony Payne suggest that the framework, structures and committees, of the church serve as the trellis to the vine of proclaiming and applying the Gospel to the lives of people. Far too often though, we spend all our time and efforts focussing on "trellis work" while not paying enough attention to the vine.

The answer to this problem, they suggest, comes through training disciples to train disciples. While this might not be quite as easy as they sometimes make it seem, there are any number of good suggestions in this book as to how it is practically done.

I personally feel that Marshall and Payne are on the right track and I highly reccommend this book to pastors, elders, and other ministry leaders. If you'd like to hear about this book from a far more authoritative source than myself though, check out what Mark Dever has to say below.



UPDATE...Click here to download a free discussion/study guide for The Trellis and the Vine.

Musical Diversity in the Church

Kevin DeYoung is the Senior Pastor at University Reformed Church in East Lansing, Michigan, and truly one of the sharpest young pastors in the Church today. Today he wrote this post on musical diversity in the church. I happen to agree with his conclusions, but even if you don't, I'm sure that you will find some things with which you agree and many good thought-provoking comments.