What’s the problem with the church?

12 May 2009 TBLeave a comment

Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, who brought us “Why We’re Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be), have teamed up for a new book that looks at the local church and its biblical mandate. The book, called “Why We Love the Church: In Praise of Institutions and Organized Religion,” is due out July 1 and is described this way by the publisher:

Why We Love the Church presents the case for loving the local church. It paints a picture of the local church in all its biblical and real life guts, gaffes, and glory in an effort to edify local congregations and entice the disaffected back to the fold. It also provides a solid biblical mandate to love and be part of the body of Christ and counteract the “leave church” books that trumpet rebellion and individual felt needs.

DeYoung, in lead up to the book’s release, looks at reasons people are disillusioned with the church. He breaks those reasons into four groups:

Missiological — it doesn’t work any more and is making no difference whatsoever
The Personal — it’s views are too harsh toward certain groups and unloving and has an “image problem”
The Historical — the church is corrupted from its original pristine state
The Theological — the modern view of the church is foreign to what Jesus came for in the Bible

Over the coming weeks, DeYoung will post excerpts from the book and address these concerns. I look forward to reading them and the book’s release.

Your family makes a poor god

22 April 200922 April 2009 TBLeave a comment

Matt Chandler, pastor at The Village Church in Texas, is preaching through a series called “The Great Cause.” During this past Sunday’s message, “The Reason,” he spoke about how we really aren’t good at all, pointing to God loving us way more than we deserve. One part of the message I thought was particularly apt was when he talked about how our sins keep us from God.

In Isaiah 59:2 it says: “but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.” When we are fallen we try to make secondary things in our lives the primary thing. The excerpt below is stinging in our church culture.

The Great Cause excerpt

Reaching the churched masses with the gospel

18 April 200918 April 2009 TBLeave a comment

The tragedy here in this country, in particular, is that there are many people who sit in churches or have had just enough church experience that they feel they are right with God when their hearts are anything but that. Matt Chandler talks about this in the video below.

Free resources: Hymns for modern ears

12 March 2009 TBLeave a comment

This is a great site you check out. Page CXVI’s expressed purpose is “making hymns accessible and known again. These are some of the richest, most meaningful and moving pieces of music ever written.” To do this they are making some of their recent recording available for free to bless the wider church.

The Pursuit of God in Corporate Worship: questions and answers

22 February 200916 February 2009 TBLeave a comment

As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.” — Psalms 42:1-4

What does worship as the Body of Christ mean to you? What does it mean to God? Is He indifferent? Pastor John Piper, in a seminar from September 2008 at The Bethlehem Institute, explores some of these questions and more.

Memo to worship bands

3 February 2009 TB4 Comments

Hey, worship bands, were not here to see you perform. — Hey, worship bands, we're not here to see you perform.

John Stackhouse, in an article in Christianity Today, gives five reasons why worship bands should turn down the volume. Stackhouse isn’t some cranky old person, but he’s tired of worship bands who may have lost their focus:

No, the contrast with the Reformation is the modern-day insistence that a few people at the front be the center of attention. We do it by making six band members louder than a room full of people. But a church service isn’t a concert at which an audience sings along with the real performers. Musicians—every one of them, including the singers—are accompanists to the congregation’s praise. They should be mixed loudly enough only to do their job of leading and supporting the congregation.

Mark Driscoll talks about Jesus to Nightline reporter

28 January 2009 TBLeave a comment

ABC's Nightline profiled Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll in a recent show.

Mars Hill pastor Mark Driscoll was the subject of a recent segment on ABC’s Nightline. While Driscoll is unapologetic about his love for Jesus and the Bible, the reporter just couldn’t seem to get over the fact that the people at Mars Hill don’t look like typical evangelicals or that Driscoll himself is not what a “typical pastor” is supposed to look or sound like. As if Jesus wasn’t enough to get someone’s attention, the reporter even referred to Driscoll as the “indie rock star of evangelicals.”

And, even stranger (to the reporter), Driscoll is one of those Calvinists (!). Wow. Perhaps that would be a good subject for a future episode. We can only hope.

Spiritual Gifts in the Body of Christ

18 November 200818 November 2008 TBLeave a comment

The Holy Spirit is like a bodybuilder for the Body of Christ.

The Rev. Mark D. Roberts has been blogging a series about spiritual gifts in the Body of Christ. For those of you unfamiliar with who he is, Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifacted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas.

About the series, Roberts writes: Little is more important for the health and growth of the body of Christ than the power of the Holy Spirit manifested in what we call spiritual gifts. Through such bits of grace, the Spirit builds the body of Christ. In fact, it wouldn’t be too far off the mark to say that the Holy Spirit is a bodybuilder. … Like a committed bodybuilder, the Spirit invests years–indeed, millennia–of effort to help the church grow to perfection. Of course ultimate perfection won’t come this side of the eschaton. But, in the meanwhile, the Spirit molds the church, using members of the church–people like you and me–in the process.

HT: Andrew Jackson

In short: Eagerly awaiting a Savior, not a president

7 November 20089 November 2008 TBLeave a comment

While many breathlessly await the ascendancy of Barack Obama, there’s this: the Indelible Grace folks have a collection of songs that focus on Jesus called “Your King Has Come.” While this may look to some like a bunch of songs focused on Christmas, it is actually much more.

. Your King Has Come

Looking forward with great rejoicing to a Savior, not a president

6 November 20087 November 2008 TB1 Comment

The Indelible Grace folks have a collection of songs that focus on Jesus called “Your King Has Come.” While this may look to some like a bunch of songs focused on Christmas, it is actually much more:

Your King Has Come is a collection of songs born out of a community of artists. From the contemplative opening chords of Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken’s “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” to Jeremy Casella’s awestruck “Joyful Fire” to Matthew Perryman Jones’ worshipful “O Holy Night,” the album represents the heartcry of the people of God. A cry of rejoicing because a baby has been born to save His people from their sins…and a cry of longing, wanting Him to return soon.