Noel Pearson’s column in the Weekend Australian this week called Conservatism, too, is relevant to our culture. In it he argues that the politically conservative have values that are essential to Australian Aboriginal flourishing.

Reading through it, he echoes much of what I believe the church should look like: diversity within unity, appreciation of tradition, cultural change vs. cultural loss.

Recommended.

Last year I submitted a question to John Piper’s “Ask Pastor John” (basically a question and answer system where people submit questions and John Piper answers them. Really very good). The question was this:

How does “I follow Paul, I follow Apollos” [in 1 Cor 3] differ from “I’m a Baptist, I’m a Presbyterian,” when Paul seems to say that Christians—and, by extension, churches—should identify only with Christ?

Continue Reading »

While many may disagree with me on this, I have never seen plagiarism in the pulpit as a deal breaker. I would never advocate running a pastor out of town for preaching another person’s sermons. I do object to preachers passing off other people’s sermons as their own, either implicitly or explicitly, but for a pastor to regularly and openly use another person’s material has always been, to my mind, “okay”, even if not the best.

And now I’m of the opinion that it might be a good idea. Continue Reading »

Can anyone give biblical reasons why the following steps should not be taken by non-indigenous Australians? Because the whole article these steps are taken from has excellent reasons why they should. Continue Reading »

My first Sunday back from some time away, I sat in the worship service and wept.

So begins an article in the Leadership Journal entitled, “Showtime!” No More.

I wept as I read it. (If you can’t see why, feel free to ask).

Some time ago I worked through to some conclusions about when it is right to leave a church. It seems I’m not the only one. Continue Reading »

(I have no idea what categories this post fits in, so Church and Prayer will have to do).

Paula and I just spent a week in Sydney doing a Living Waters intensive.

And it was really good.

Here, in no particular order, are some of the things I liked: Continue Reading »

I really struggle with small group Bible studies (an essential part of our Church’s weekly Home Groups), which is ironic since I was until recently “Home Group leader to the Home Group leaders” in our church. Continue Reading »

I rarely read Pyromaniacs, but stumbled across this post by Dan Phillips. Worth reading.

HT: Challies.

The New Testament Reformation Fellowship has organised a free seminary course on the Lord’s Supper through the Internet Biblical Seminary.  I have no idea who the seminary is, but I’ve known NTRF for years, now, and I’d recommend the course to you.  Their perspective on the Lord’s Supper is well worth a look.

I may have linked to something like this before, but I can’t read this post by Jeremy Pryor without a hearty, “Amen” welling up in me.

Barnabas Fund has reproduced a column written by `Abd Al-Nasser Al-Najjar for a Palestinian daily paper.  In his column, this Muslim speaks out against the persecution of Christians. Here’s an excerpt: Continue Reading »

Look, I believe in evil spirits.  Continue Reading »

Who?
He’s a guy who has what I consider to be the closest thing to a biblical Church model in mind. And in practice, though he has only been working on it for a comparatively short time.
Check out these posts: Continue Reading »

I found this 1993 article in the archives of the Briefing called, Why, Where and How should Christians Meet? (Reproduced from Evangelicals Now).

Under “Characteristics” the writer of the article states this:

There are no set New Testament patterns for Christian meetings, but there are many hints about the sort of things that should characterise them. For example, Christian meetings are to be Spirit-filled (Eph 5:18); Bible-centred (Col 3:16); congregational (Heb 10:24); varied (1 Cor 14:26); characterised by praise and thanksgiving (Eph 5:18); intelligible (1 Cor 14); done decently and in order (1 Cor 14:40), and they should include the breaking of bread (1 Cor 11) and teaching and intercessions (Acts 2:42).

There are no set New Testament patterns for Christian meetings?  Hello!!!!!!  What about 1 Corinthians 11, 12 & 14 - especially chapter 14?????

I’m glad the writer found the hints that he did - it was a worthwhile exercise - but everything he discovered can be taken straight from those three 1 Corinthian chapters (even the “hints” found that do not come from texts about Christian meetings)!  Let’s have a look at the verses that give us those hints.

Spirit-filled (Eph 5:18)-21 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

I had to add the next three verses to show how it could relate to a meeting.  Nothing specific about meetings there, though it is fair to say that if our daily life is to be described this way, so should our meetings.

Bible-centred (Colossians 3:16) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

Same sort of thing.  Good, valuable, and to characterise every part of our Christian lives.  These are truly hints, because they do not specifically address meetings at all.

Congregational (Hebrews 10:24)-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

I’m pretty sure the writer meant verse 25 because verse 24 doesn’t illustrative “congregational” quite as well.  Still, it actually does refer to meetings, so that’s great!  (Though, the “hint” that a Christian meeting involves Christians meeting really doesn’t add much to the conversation!)

Varied (1 Corinthians 14:26) What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

Aha!  An instruction on how meetings should work.  Is it too much to call it a pattern?  And look, it’s in ye ole 1 Corinthians 14!

Characterised by praise and thanksgiving (Eph 5:18)-21 And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Wait a minute!  Haven’t we looked at that already?  And verse 18 (which ends at “but be filled with the Spirit”) doesn’t address the point being made either!  You have to read on to verse 19 and 20!  Again, it doesn’t necessarily speak of meetings, but it’s reasonable to use it as a “hinted” characteristic.

Intelligible (1 Cor 14).

Far too long to reproduce here, but this is the very place where a pattern for worship can be found!  Not suprising it’s included, just suprising that it’s only considered a “hint”!

Done decently and in order (1 Cor 14:40) But all things should be done decently and in order.

A good hint, but again, not suprising in the same section of Scripture that is actually telling you how to meet together!

The breaking of bread (1 Cor 11).

Again, far too long to reproduce, but this also is part of the section of Scripture that gives instructions on how to meet together (1 Cor 11-14)!  Support for breaking bread during Church meetings can be found many other places also.

Teaching and intercessions (Acts 2:42) And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Non-Charismatics love to say that Acts is not normative.  Why then take this as a normative “hint”?  This is not describing a weekly meeting but rather a lifestyle.  Still 1 Corinthians 11-14 does include teaching and prayers in the pattern it gives.

Am I being snarky?  Sure.  It really gets me going when I read the totally unfounded statement that there is no New Testament pattern for meeting.  Not only do these hints easily and mostly explicitly fit into 1 Corinthians 11, 12 & 14, it is in those three chapters that a pattern can be found!!!

I’ve lamented about this before, and received some encouraging responses, but I still find it completely astounding that claims are still made that there is no pattern for meeting in the New Testament - back in 1994 right up to today!

Maybe God will use me to do something about it one day.

Jared Wilson disagrees with Mark Driscoll about how a “lead pastor” should relate to his congregation.  The rub, as I understand it, is that Driscoll’s advice about protecting your time leads to Driscoll (judging by his description of his weekly schedule) not being involved in anyone’s life within his Church - including (Jared’s second disagreement) his staff members.  Driscoll sees his job as leading in teaching and theological direction.

This brings a few interesting points up.  I totally agree with Jared about the need for a pastor to be involved with people in his flock - obviously not everyone, because even with a relatively small number that’s impossible, but some.  Jared is concerned that the line between Church and business management has been crossed.  But I wonder, also, whether Driscoll has been forced into that position because the modern Church leadership terminology creates homogenous expectations of everyone bearing the name, “Pastor”.  Perhaps referring to people in leadership by more biblically appropriate names would be useful.  For example, would it not be more appropriate to call Mark Driscoll “Teacher”?  He also believes he has the gift of apostleship, so why not, “Apostle”?  How about “Evangelist”? 

What about, when Churches form a leadership team, they consciously look to include giftings like those described in Ephesians 4 and refer to them by their gifting?  To do so would, in my opinion, open people’s eyes to existing giftings around them and open doors for people to develop their gifts in their various areas of strength instead of being forced into one mold - that of “Pastor” or even “Elder”.  It would also cause people to look elsewhere for the other “titles” within a Church because it is acknowledged that one person does not embody all the responsibilities that a modern day pastor is meant to embody.  It may even - shock! horror! - broaden out the public perception of the leadership of a Church into a group (as in the early chapters of Acts, since that seems to be a popular model these days).

There has been a lot of work done with ecclesiology in some quarters today, but I think there is a way to go.  To a very large degree, I believe our understanding of ”the biblical how to” of Church will only get to where it should be by people forging ahead and putting structures in place (like Mars Hill et al), mistakes and all.  It’s only when Churches face the realities of growth and organisational needs that 1) we are forced to re-examine our understanding of biblical ecclesiology and 2) we actually understand the pressures that drove the development of organisation in the NT church. 

As with all things, you don’t really understand it until you have to live it, but it’s also true that those outside can see mistakes far clearer than those inside.  I believe eventually God will bring about a biblical ecclesiology that pleases him.  In the meantime, what about looking at those titles?

What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret.  But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.  Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.  If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent.  For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets.  For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. (1 Corinthians 14:26-33)

I’m stuck on this. I really am. I just can’t figure out what the problem is that people have with applying these verses to Church meetings today.

Of the arguments I’ve read, the most dogmatic is the necessity of the preaching of the Word. But how does that contradict these verses? Is not preaching meant to be God’s word to his people – a prophetic act? Can it not also be teaching (a lesson)? And evangelistic? (See 1 Corinthians 14:20-25) Is there not room for the all important singing (each one has a hymn)
and provision for weeding out false doctrine and words (let the others weigh what is said)?

I know and I’m incredibly glad that God has used the format of the one-man-preaching-band to bring about his wonderful purposes in so many people’s lives, but regardless of the pragmatic success of that format, here we have a description – no, a prescription! – for a Church meeting (When you come together) that otherwise Bible believing and following people cannot bring themselves to apply.

Why? I’m not a fan of the cynical reasoning that suggests that pastors and leaders are afraid of losing their power. Nor am I a frustrated pew-sitter chafing under thwarted ambitions to speak up the front – I actually preach pretty regularly. I am just lost for an explanation for the complete disregard of these verses.

Eusebius begins this dialogue asking how the meetings should be carried out. Continue Reading »