Small Groups???

Small groups are one of the biggest church fads of the past ten years. Here are 5 Potential problems with church small groups:

1. They become a gossip group.

2. They become a one-man show.

3. They become a place to complain about the church.

4. They become a place for crazy people to take over.

5. They become an end in themselves.

I stole this list from a recent post at TheResurgence; however, I definitely concur. I think most small groups struggle with one or most of these sins. I have always wondered why the craziest people in a room are the most vocal, why the most sain are quietest, and why I always talk so much.

Personally, I think #5 is the greatest sin when it comes to small groups.

Also, this list got me thinking about problems I have seen in small groups and church community in general. Nonetheless, I think the biggest problem is that while thinking, the phrase church community even entered (or exited) my brain. Church community is redundant; the church is by its establishment and nature a community. Without community, you do not have a local church. And I don’t mean “community” as North American culture defines community; rather, I am referring to the definition of community that is assumed throughout the New Testament.

I think we could all use a little more time reading and rereading the book of Acts. How would Luke have defined community? Or church? Furthermore, are small groups primarily an attempt to recreate one of the defining characteristics of “church” that we have spent decades removing? I’m currently searching for answers to all of these questions

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Highlights from Advance 09

Piper, enough said:

"Don't let your theology get in the way of the Bible . . . . God has ordained that nails get into board by hammers—and that people get saved by prayer and gospel-telling . . . . Jesus LOVED Lazarus, so he let him die—that he might let him see his glory. It is more loving to see Jesus' glory than to live . . . . Prayer is not the work of missions; preaching is. The preached gospel is the frontline spear into unreached hearts."

Chandler's Introduction was worth the entire price of admission. He could have stopped after the first 10-15 minutes, and nobody would have felt shorted. Then, the rest of his session was vintage Chandler, great exegesis and application:

"We've heard this all before. If anything you have heard at this conference is new to you, then you shouldn't be a pastor (He wasn't disrespecting the other speakers, he was making the point that the evangelical elites continue to gather at conferences and discuss theology or church practice, but nothing ever seems to change) . . . . I'm not anti-pragmatics, but where today are the men whose heart is aflame for God with a holy angst? . . . . Repent of your cold, pragmatic heart that loves ministry and barely loves the King of Glory . . . . How to you cultivate repentance In a church? Preach the cross . . . . If you contextualize the gospel so much that everyone likes it, you're not preaching the gospel."

Driscoll's Conclusion to his second session was unapologetically blunt.  I think we all needed to hear it:

"You will become like Jesus as you worship Jesus . . . . You're an idolater--that's the problem (and then he just turned and walked off the stage)"

J.D. Greear had some good things to say, although I would like to hear what he originally had prepared:

"People's hearts have always been hard; it's always taken a miracle; 'There's no such thing as nearly dead.' . . . . Over time religion seeks to choke out the gospel among God's people . . . . The religious emphasize secondary things. 'Error is often truth out of proportion' (DA Carson) . . . . We need bold, courageous leadership; and if they fire you, plant a church."

Driscoll's first session offered some very practical clarifications and advice for pastors:

"(Driscoll reading Acts 2) 'See, Calvinism is very old.' . . . . We preach Jesus. We are a band with one song--Jesus--and we sing it until we see him . . . . "Evangelistic sermons" are a mistake; if a sermon is about Jesus, it's good for everyone . . . . if you don't have unbelievers coming to your church, it may be because 1) you don't talk about Jesus or 2) you have Sunday school . . . . Don't be so creative you become a heretic; I would rather be faithful than cool."

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What is Total Church?

I have begun reading Total Church and will hopefully have a review of this book by the end of the week. This book has been highly recommended by many pastors and leaders, including Mark Driscoll and the other guys at Resurgence and Acts 29. However, since this book has such a vague title that could easily be confused with one of the other  ______ Church  books that have been published over the past few years, I am posting a quote from the Introduction to inform potential readers of the premise and purpose of this book:

This book argues that two key principles should shape the way we "do church": gospel and community. Christians are called to a dual fidelity: fidelity to the core content of the gospel and fidelity to the primary context of a believing community. Whether we are thinking about evangelism, social involvement, pastoral care, apologetics, discipleship, or teaching, the content is consistently the Christian gospel, and the context is consistently the Christian community. What we do is always defined by the gospel, and the context is always our belonging in the church. Our identity as Christians is defined by the gospel and community.

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What can the Church learn from Dunkin Donuts?

What can we learn from Dunkin Donuts? Michael Kelley thinks we can learn alot, and I agree with him. Here is his intro paragraph and two concluding paragraphs.

Dunkin Donuts is creaming Starbucks right now. Dunkin won the taste test, it’s 3 times cheaper, and the company is actually expanding whereas Starbucks is closing stores every day. Dunkin is about to roll out a $100 million marketing campaign to trumpet the results of the taste test and try and put the dagger into the heart of Seattle. Some people are saying that Starbucks has seen its better days, and that this is just the beginning of the downhill slide.

Seems like there’s a lesson in there for us as Christ-followers somewhere. Now hear me say this - I’m all for contextualizing the gospel. But I’m also for simply proclaiming what we have to “sell” rather than trying too hard at it.

And you know what else? The thing that we have? It actually tastes good. Maybe the problem is that we don’t really believe the gospel tastes good. We don’t believe it tastes good, so we feel the need to pile alot of stuff ontop of it to make it more palpable. Maybe if we really believed it tasted good, we would have the courage to let it speak for itself, like Dunkin did, rather than trying to help out the product so much.

Read the entire post HERE.

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What Mark Dever CAN and CANNOT Live With as a Pastor

Mark Dever has put together a list of “What I CAN and CANNOT Live With as a Pastor," over at the 9marks blog.  You may be surprised by some of his evaluations.  Here is a preview to wet your appetite:

 “Let me throw out a bunch of different examples that are relevant to my particular situation: organs, female elders, universalism, altar calls, humor, multi-site campuses, drums, the KJV, stained glass, racism, infant baptism, no formal membership, sermons limited to 10 minutes, large and high pulpits, TV studio-like acoustics. My goal in what follows is not to give you a sacrosanct playbook, but to illustrate how I go about thinking through practical matters.”

This post is worth the short time it will take to read, because it will force you to think through these issues.  Also, I was very surprised that he put both female elders and no formal membership in his CAN list.  He does make some clarifications regarding those and almost every other issue on either list, so you will have to read the post to get his full opinion.

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Christless Quotes

The absence of the Gospel from most churches is a topic that continues to both intrigue and infuriate me. Michael Horton's newest book continues to be the best source for discussion of this topic. Here are some quotes from Christless Christianity:

Aside from the packaging, there is nothing that cannot be found in most churches today that could not be satisfied by any number of secular programs and self-help groups.

In my view, we are living out our creed, but that creed is closer to the American Dream than it is to the Christian faith.

Just as you don’t really need Jesus Christ in order to have T-shirts and coffee mugs, it is unclear to me why he is necessary for most of the things I hear a lot of pastors and Christians talking about in church these days.

The church as people has many different callings, but the church as place (gathered publicly each week) has one calling: to deliver (and receive) Christ through preaching and sacrament.

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Christless Christianity?

Most church goers will notice if a certain church member or family is absent on Sunday. If that person or family doesn't show up for several weeks in a row, then we begin to get worried, concerned, or possibly judgmental. Yet, most churches in America haven't seemed to notice that Christ is missing from their worship gathering most Sundays. In particular, the gospel of Christ isn't even the focus of most sermons, songs, or curriculum.

This is a problem that Michael Horton has brought into the light of day in his most recent book, Christless Christianity: The Alternative Gospel of the American Church. If you have listened to his podcast (The Whitehorse Inn) over the course of 2008, then you have already heard his plea; however, this book, and many others like it, should serve as a warning which must be heeded by churches. I recommend this book for everyone who calls himself a Christian. Understanding and combating this trend is of first importance, because the American church is doing something far worse than forgetting the gospel all together: we have created our own gospel, with its own truth claims, to replace the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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