2019-09-15T09:11:44-05:00

Andrew Bartlett, in his new book Men and Women in Christ (MWiC), asks if Paul affirms or denies hierarchies in Christian marriage?

Good question. He explores these questions with finesse and nuance and even-handedness.

Being willing to take the lowest place for the good of others is at the heart of Christian love and living. Jesus taught this and also lived it, both in his ministry and supremely at the cross (Mark 10:42-45;John 13:1-17; 15:12-17; Phil. 2:5-
-8). Because Paul’s view of the world is Christ-centred, this theme is often picked up in his teaching:

‘loving,… preferring one another in honour’ (Rom. 12:10)…

This has significant implications.

The fellowship of God’s church is therefore built not on hierarchies but on humble love.

However, this does not mean that Paul is opposed to all hierarchy. He endorses the existence and exercise of authority where appropriate. For example, believers should submit to civil government, because it is God’s provision for the active restraint of evil (Rom. 13:1-7). And he endorses the appropriate exercise of authority by parents over children. We know this because one of the qualifications for eldership is that elders should have their children under proper control (i Tim. 3:4-5 – ‘having children in subjection’). Paul is innocent of today’s Western cultural distaste for hierarchies.

Grudem says that Paul’s use of hupotasso implies a hierarchy of husband over wife. He claims that hupotasso is always used of submission to an authority. … Grudem’s reasoning skips over an essential interpretive decision which has to be made when we read the texts concerning wives’ submission. Does Paul mean that wives should submit because their husbands are in authority over them? Or does Paul mean that wives should behave as if their husbands ranked above them, even though in Christ husbands and wives are not in a hierarchy but are on an equal footing as brothers and sisters? On the first view submission is appropriate because the wife should recognize the husband’s authoritative position. On the second view submission is appropriate simply as an expression of Christian humility. On either view the idea of ranking is central to Paul’s meaning. The question is whether it is an objective ranking, reflecting the existence of an actual hierarchy, or whether it is a subjective ranking, reflecting a deliberate choice to behave with humility towards another person. This makes a real difference to Paul’s readers, since the first view affirms a husband’s unilateral authority and the second does not.

Conclusions:

  • Paul is not opposed to hierarchies where they are appropriate.
  • The word ‘submit’ (hupotasso) carries the idea of being ranked below someone else. But Paul’s instruction to wives to submit does not of itself imply the existence of a hierarchy in marriage. We have to decide whether he means that wives should submit because their husbands are in authority over them or whether he means that wives should behave as if their husbands ranked above them.
  • Submission in Christian relationships does not mean giving unquestioning obedience to another person. There is no Christian duty to follow another person into wrongdoing.
  • There was not a uniform view of marriage in first-century culture, but typically the husband had unilateral authority over the wife.
  • Paul’s instructions to wives to submit, and to husbands to love, are partly driven by practical considerations.
  • Paul endorses the authority of parents over children but not of slave owners over slaves. Comparing the three household relationships (wife to husband, child to father, slave to master) does not establish that Paul approves of husbands having unilateral authority over their wives.
2019-09-14T13:25:41-05:00

I’ve had two stints as a professor in a seminary, schools designed to educate those in the church and especially those called into its various ministries. Two decades of my teaching career. My first stint involved a massing learning curve about pastors while the second stint, at Northern Seminary, is (what I think is) my sweet spot. I love teaching students who love the church.

While we have plenty of students who are not going to be senior or teaching or lead pastors, the pastoral calling transcends those adjectives. So, in my classes we talk lots about churches and pastors and the pastoral calling.

This all led to my book Pastor Paul: Nurturing a Culture of Christoformity in the Church. Which made my ears and eyes sensitive to Willow Creek’s summary description of what they are looking for in a pastor.

God’s design for you and for me, for all Christians, for the whole church is expressed with living brilliance in Romans 8:29-30:

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.  And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified (NRSV).

The design of God for all of us is to be “co-morphed” into his Son’s very image. I call this Christoformity, a slightly more accurate expression than “Christlikeness.” Conformity to Christ, co-morphing into Christ is Christoformity.

If this is God’s design for us, then this is absolutely the design of the pastoral calling. Pastors first and foremost are called to pastor people toward Christoformity. This theme shapes all eight chapters in Pastor Paul. I develop these themes: friendship, siblings, generosity, storytellers, witness, world subversion, and wisdom.

All as instances of the theme of pastors as culture makers, as those who nurture a culture of Christoformity.

So, two big ideas: pastors pastor people, and pastors pastor people by nurturing Christoformity.

There is not the slightest hint that Willow Creek’s pastor job description comprehends this as the central shaping vision for the pastor they want. Besides being the one and only pastoral search description I have ever seen that does not state that its pastor is to match up favorably with the elder/bishop list of the 1 Timothy 3:1-7 (or Titus 1:7-9) and besides not having anything along the line of the pastoral ends/goals, the job description focuses on the very culture formed under Bill Hybels. That is, a culture in which the pastor is an entrepreneurial leader who expands the Willow Creek brand.

All of Willow Creek’s elders need to stop right now and read Eugene Peterson’s The Pastor: A Memoir. Over and over in his long career of pastoring and teaching pastors, Peterson warned against what Willow Creek seems not to have heard. The church is not a business and pastors are not CEOs, not business leaders and not entrepreneurs, they are pastors-of-people called to nurture spiritual formation in the “same direction” (or Christoformity).

At the bottom of this post the job description is posted.

Here’s a word cloud of the terms Willow Creek uses in its job description. Word Clouds aren’t everything but they can be telling. This one is. I have a few more thoughts below the Word Cloud and then the actual advertisement of the job description:

Some expressions in the job description are praiseworthy:

  • Values and champions women in leadership roles at all levels of the organization, in both executive and ministry capacities.
  • Has likely worked in a nonhomogeneous environment and embraces a diverse culture.
  • Can balance being accessible, while also exhibiting healthy personal boundaries.
  • Is known to be a humble servant leader. This shows up in learning, asking questions, and relying on the strengths and gifts of others.
  • Displays a high level of emotional and relational intelligence.
  • While very grace-filled, holds to a traditional view on marriage (between one man and one woman).
  • Has likely weathered a season of great pain and loss which has helped humble, refine, and shape him or her into a better leader and pastor.

Now some observations about the job description:

First, no Jesus, no Christ, no Bible, no gospel — that is, in the main words. They are buried into tiny words or they are not there. Amazing. Jesus appears twice. Christ once. God four times. Bible not at all. Gospel not at all. What’s a pastor job description without these terms prominent?

Second, the focus is “Willow” as in “We are Willow Creek.” Also Barrington, Chicago, and South (as in South Barrington). This is an advertisement seeking someone who can carry on the Willow Creek brand.

Third, the biggest two words of substance in the job description’s Word Cloud are “pastor” and “leadership.” Leadership is hardly a significant term in the NT for the calling of pastors. Both leading and pastoring are functions performed by various other people found in terms in the NT like elder, bishop, deacon, apostle, prophet, teaching, evangelist. Still, I like the term “pastor” but I get nervous about “leader” as it took the church world by storm in the wake of pastors focusing on the leadership models in the business world. (In the 1980s, I think.) This led rather abruptly to the sudden appearance of an adjective “servant” as in “servant leader” to correct the business model. The term “leader” from the business world, in other words, was not good enough: the pastor is a “servant” leader. That term “servant” appears once in Willow Creek’s job description. Eugene Peterson’s entire complaint about pastors in the last quarter of the 20th Century was that the business leader model had taken over. He has been ignored in this job description’s emphases.

Fourth, Willow Creek wants a leader who is both theologically grounded and (or but) that person does not need a theological degree. That’s a very very rare combination. So rare that this Willow Creek job description is stomping recklessly on thin ice. Two decades in a seminary have shown to me that we seminary professors are not naive about what can and what cannot be accomplished in a seminary. Rare is the seminary professor who thinks we can turn people into flourishing pastors. I’ve not met that “rare” one. Seminaries do not turn people into pastors but we can enhance the gifts of the pastor. Pastors need a theological foundation and the surest way to get it is through theological education.

The absence of theological terms in that Word Cloud, along with the desire for “theologically grounded without needing a theological education,” conform to one another. That is, those who devalue theology don’t think theology is needed. (They’re wrong.) What Willow Creek surely needs, following on the heels of a pastor who was not theologically educated but who did get help from some theological mentors, is someone who has a seminary degree (preferably an MDiv). Such a pastor can give theological shape to the church and re-form Willow Creek into a theologically-sound infrastructure. What is lacking at Willow Creek (theological depth) is why the elders can form a job description without it (theological depth).

What’s a pastor? is the question I constantly have as I read this job description.

I see some things that are cringe-worthy: “motivate and inspire high-capacity men and women to use their gifts to further the vision.” What about the 95% who aren’t high-capacity? This is so Willow-speak, so Hybels-speak. And, I don’t know what to make of this one: “Has life experience in connecting with professionals, entrepreneurs, and people who have outwardly made it in life but are seeking significance.” I’m glad it is followed by a “heart for the under-resourced,” something Willow Creek has done well for years.

The elders could benefit from revisiting this job description.

Advertisement.

Denomination: Nondenominational

Weekly Attendance: 21,000 at eight locations

Neighborhood: South Barrington, Greater Chicagoland, Illinois

The role: Leading from the South Barrington campus, the Senior Pastor will wear the dual hats of pastor (able to discern God’s direction for the congregation) as well as CEO (with organizational leadership skills to lead a complex organization with more than 350 employees). This leader will bring the right balance of preserving what is, but also will fan the flames of Willow’s DNA of boldness, innovation, and creativity.

Meet Willow Creek Community Church: 

Willow Creek Community Church is a local church with a global impact. One church in eight locations; more than 21,000 people gather every weekend across the Chicago area. Each Willow Creek church offers the same high-caliber teaching, experienced live at South Barrington and via high-definition video stream at regional locations. In addition to live worship, each site offers a unique assortment of classes and workshops, robust programs for children and students, and plenty of volunteer opportunities where members and guests can meet people and make a difference in their own neighborhood.

Thousands of local churches across the globe can trace their beginnings to an inspiring vision they received while attending a leadership conference, event, or service at Willow Creek. Although the past year has seen some turmoil for the church, the leadership has not lost its heart for reaching those far from God through relevant, biblical teaching and weekend services, developing impactful teams, and leading compassion and justice initiatives that change the community both in Chicago and around the world.

Casa de Luz, Willow’s Spanish-language congregation, meets at the South Barrington campus and serves their Spanish-speaking community. Each regional church— irrespective of its location or language—is both an extension of Willow Creek and a fully functioning local church with its own staff and ministries to meet the needs of its local community. Although most weekends are live-streamed, each regional Lead Pastor has the opportunity to teach live eight to ten times per year.

The central campus of Willow Creek in South Barrington and its regional campuses, governed by a unified body of elders (installed in January 2019), are united by more than just the “Willow Creek” in their names. Each shares a single-minded focus: to reach people who are far from God and to help them become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.

After our recent visit to Willow, we are convinced she has bright days ahead. This is a fantastic opportunity for a God-centered leader to join the team to continue the rebuilding which has already begun.

About the Senior Pastor: 

The Senior Pastor will lead and serve the Willow Creek Community Church at all its locations to become a thriving, healthy family of local churches. This man or woman will provide overall leadership and vision for the entire network of regional campuses. They will ensure Willow Creek’s vision and strategy is clear and understood across all locations, that the right leaders are leading and serving the campuses, and that Willow Creek is positioned for strength well into the future.

The Senior Pastor will have the ability to dream and cast vision for the next season of congregational life and community impact. The ideal candidate will demonstrate spiritual leadership, an authentic walk with Jesus, and a proven commitment to balancing the rhythms of work and life. He or she will be a proven “leader of leaders” who can motivate and inspire high-capacity men and women to use their gifts to further the vision.

The Senior Pastor will accomplish the following goals: 

In Spiritual Leadership:

  • Although not expected to deliver the message every weekend, when teaching, communicate biblical truth in an inspiring fashion that helps reach irreligious people and help people at all levels of their spiritual journey to become fully devoted followers of Jesus.
  • Exemplify a life of walking closely with Jesus, including strong spiritual leadership in the home.
  • Can balance leadership and vision along with accountability and submission while working with a board of lay elders. The Senior Pastor will meet with the elders regularly and will have full voice into all matters, but will not be a voting member of the elders.
  • Help bring healing to a staff and congregation that has experienced significant loss.

In Visionary/Organizational Leadership: 

  • Bring strength to Willow’s network of churches through a unified vision, while continuing to provide a great deal of autonomy that has allowed the regional sites to attract top talent and thrive as self-supported congregations.
  • Focus initially on strengthening Willow as a local church. Once strength is restored and Willow is healthy and thriving once again, continue Willow’s legacy of high-impact ministry outside the walls in the Chicago area and around the world.
  • Lead the executive team to bring unity and clarity to all programs and ministries, so that all of Willow is pulling for the same mission and vision.
  • Work with the elders to clarify the relationship with Global Leadership Network (formerly WCA). Note: GLN (WCA) is no longer under the authority of the elders but still occupying space in the building.
  • Focus on building an executive team. Initial hires are likely to be a Teaching Pastor, as well as a South Barrington Lead Pastor to focus on the broadcast campus and largest staff.
  • Put emphasis on leadership development, individually modeling this at the highest levels. Equally, place a focus on building processes and systems so that managers and team leaders across Willow are being developed.
  • Provide leadership to help Willow discover her target audience. In the past, it was “unchurched Harry and Mary.” This needs to be redefined for 2020 and beyond.

What you bring:

Education

Willow Creek values candidates who are life-long learners. Proven leadership experience is important, and this individual should be theologically grounded, but a formal theological classroom education is not a requirement for selection.

Experience and Skills

  • Has a proven communication gift with the ability to effectively deliver talks with a large audience in a room that seats 7,500, while simultaneously engaging with people who are viewing from other locations via high-definition video.
  • Has the ability to deliver messages that reach the seeker, as well as provide depth to help believers grow in their faith.
  • We have a strong preference toward leaders with multi-site or complex organizational experience.
  • Has life experience in connecting with professionals, entrepreneurs, and people who have outwardly made it in life but are seeking significance.
  • Has a heart for those who are under-resourced and history of fighting poverty and injustice.
  • Has a track record of developing and equipping leaders.
  • When you look in the rearview mirror of this leaders life, you see growing organizations.

Personal Characteristics

  • Values and champions women in leadership roles at all levels of the organization, in both executive and ministry capacities.
  • Has likely worked in a nonhomogeneous environment and embraces a diverse culture.
  • Can balance being accessible, while also exhibiting healthy personal boundaries.
  • Is known to be a humble servant leader. This shows up in learning, asking questions, and relying on the strengths and gifts of others.
  • Displays a high level of emotional and relational intelligence.
  • While very grace-filled, holds to a traditional view on marriage (between one man and one woman).
  • Has likely weathered a season of great pain and loss which has helped humble, refine, and shape him or her into a better leader and pastor.

What it’s like to live in South Barrington, Greater Chicagoland, area:

Each Willow Creek campus is located in the greater Chicagoland area. Chicago is the third most populous city in the United States, after New York City and Los Angeles, with 2.7 million residents in the city, and 9.5 million in the metropolitan area. In addition to its renowned upscale establishments and restaurant districts, the city’s unique location on Lake Michigan, its rich architectural heritage, its lively theater, arts, and comedy community, and its vibrant nightlife attracts residents and tourists alike. Chicago was recently named the fourth-most “walkable” city of the 50 largest cities in the United States (2011, Walk Score).

Chicago has numerous nicknames, including Chi-town, Windy City, and Second City. The city is a center for business and finance and is considered one of the world’s top global financial centers. Located near a portage between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River watershed, Chicago has remained a major hub for industry, education, telecommunications, and infrastructure since its founding, with O’Hare International Airport being the second busiest airport in the world in terms of traffic movements.

Chicago offers a large array of cultural, historical, sporting, and entertainment focal points that bring thousands of tourists to the area yearly. Grant Park hosts the annual Taste of Chicago festival, while also featuring Millennium Park, home to the iconic Cloud Gate Structure, Buckingham Fountain, and the Art Institute of Chicago. The city is home to numerous major-league sports teams, world-class museums, and the Magnificent Mile shopping district, all along the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline, creating an atmosphere not soon to be forgotten.

Willow’s broadcast campus is located in South Barrington, a suburb of Chicago just about an hour away,  is consistently ranked one of the best places to live in Illinois. Living in South Barrington offers residents a suburban feel and most residents own their homes. In South Barrington, there are a lot of parks and great green spaces to enjoy, as well as proximity to the greater city of Chicago while still feeling like a “small town,” with just over 4,000 residents. The public schools in South Barrington are highly rated.

Think you’re a great fit for this role? Become a candidate here. 

2019-09-03T06:33:36-05:00

So begins a new series on this blog by our friend Ruth Tucker. My favorite book on the Anabaptists is by Harold Bender, The Anabaptist Vision. What are your recommendations?

Now to Ruth:

Here is the first installment of a series on the history of Christianity. My thanks to Scot for jumping at the idea. There is no other field of history that features more crazy characters and captivating controversies. Thus, virtually all of my writing has found its footing in this discipline.

Anabaptists have gotten short shrift by church historians. One reason is that there is no well-known individual who singularly changed the course of the Christian faith—no Paul, no Augustine, no Aquinas, no Luther or Wesley. Yet the Anabaptists played an unparalleled role in the course of the Christian Church. They “gathered up the gains of earlier movements,” writes Rufus Jones, from “the spiritual soil out of which all nonconformist sects have sprung,” heralding “a new type of Christian society . . . an absolutely free and independent religious society . . . shaping both Church and State.”

Reason enough for me to break tradition and begin Part 2 of my church history text, not with the Magisterial Reformers but rather with the Anabaptists, the so-called Radical Reformers. Parade of Faith: A Biographical History of the Christian Church gives this movement its due. Martin Luther and other Reformers did not challenge the Constantinian and Catholic marriage of church and state.

Anabaptists paid dearly for their passionate—and radical—convictions. They are “hunted down like wild boars,” lamented German Reformer Katherine Zell. Indeed, my Reformed forbearers in Zwingli’s Zurich drowned them in the River Limmat. If they insist on being [re]baptized by immersion, we’ll baptize them, so the saying went. It was an act of utter viciousness, often referred to as the cruelest joke of the Reformation. Others were burned at the stake. Their crime: separating themselves from the state-sponsored church into a community of baptized believers.

Their sacrifice has led directly to the freedom of religion that democracies have taken for granted—a clear separation of church and state. But from the earliest days the very beneficiaries of this spiritual autonomy denied such freedom for others. The persecuted Puritans turned right around and persecuted those who did not follow their own strict beliefs and lifestyle demands. A “wofull” example is Anne Hutchinson.

Born in 1591, and a congregant of Puritan John Cotton, she immigrated from England to America with her family shortly after he did. Mother of fifteen, she was an accomplished midwife and an engaging Bible teacher—so popular that her followers became known as Hutchinsonians. The Puritan leaders, however, deemed her a heretic and exiled her from the Bay colony. Not long afterward in 1643, amid starvation and struggle on Long Island, she and several family members were killed by native Americans. This “wofull woman” would serve as a “heavie example” to all others who would challenge the separation of church and state.

Roger Williams, a dozen years younger than Hutchinson, was already making headlines as a heretic. 1635 the General Court issued an ominous warning: “Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the Elders of the church of Salem, hath broached and divulged new and dangerous opinions against the authority of magistrates . . . it is, therefore, ordered that [he] shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks.” Williams went on to pave the way for religious freedom in New England and is heralded today as having had a significant influence on the Bill of Rights.

Williams had his own prejudices, though never denying others religious liberty. He scorned the Quakers, and taunted the movement’s founder with a short volume entitled: George Fox digged out of his Burrowes—available on Amazon, $11.64. (Hurry, only 1 left in stock!) Actually, that’s the shortened title; it goes on: or an offer of Disputation on fourteen Proposals made this last Summer of 1672 unto G. Fox then present on Rode-Island in New England. Williams was always on the ready to spar on doctrinal matters, in this case his strong objection to the Quaker “inner light.”

Although Fox was the founder, the greatest thinker and organizer associated with the early Society of Friends was Margaret Fell, a wealthy widow who would become his wife. A colleague of mine once remarked to his students that she is famous only because she married George Fox. He went on to joke: This is one way you women can make a name for yourselves. Not really. Indeed, I find it bewildering that the highborn Margaret Fell would marry this rag-tag, smelly, eccentric, wandering prophet. Surely not to gain fame.

She was one of his converts, ten years older and outliving him by eleven years. Their marriage was marked by separations. Refusing to give obeisance to the King, they both endured long dungeon confinements. When not in prison, he traveled and she mentored converts at her Swarthmore estate. She was an early feminist, arguing in Women’s Speaking Justified for equality in marriage and ministry. Restrictions against women originated, she insisted, from “the bottomless pit” of hell. As was true of previous non-conformists, ministry was conducted by laity, including women.

The marriage of Fell and Fox was similar to that of Catherine and William Booth. The men were regarded as founders while their wives served as the brains of the movements. Like the Society of Friends, the Salvation Army (founded some two centuries later in 1865) was the beneficiary of the Anabaptist cry for separation of church and state. Catherine Booth, like Margaret Fell, defended women’s equality in marriage and ministry and wrote a book on the subject, setting the stage for female equality in the Salvation Army. Catherine preached to an upscale congregation while William preached to the poor, though they joined forces in all matters relating to social justice.

A contemporary of the early Quakers and the most famous of the non-conformists was John Bunyan. Like them, he was arrested for unauthorized preaching, leading to a prison sentence that afforded him time to write The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678).

Imprisonment for heresy died out in the West during the eighteenth century due in part to widely accepted Enlightenment ideals. John Wesley formed societies and freely traveled as did George Whitefield and Johnathan Edwards, followed by generations of evangelists and preachers whose independent ministries thrived without government interference. Alongside them was the modern missionary movement led by the Moravians (another early non-conformist movement), followed by tens of thousands of western missionaries and even greater numbers of native evangelists and Bible women—often facing persecution even as did early non-conformists.

Today most Evangelicals in America, inheritors of twentieth-century revivalism and para-church movements, have little in common with early Anabaptists or even present- day Mennonites who are known for a simple lifestyle, social justice, and non-violence. Indeed, their founder Menno Simons, would no doubt roll over in his grave if he knew what his legacy had brought about: Christian kitsch and consumerism, megachurches, politicized religiosity upholding a military-industrial complex—and the blurring of lines between church and state.

 

 

2019-08-30T11:32:21-05:00

By Mike Glenn

Next Monday is Labor Day when we head to the nearest body of water to close out summer before the cool days of autumn usher us into winter. The long weekend is supposed to be a celebration of the men and women who make our nation work. Those nameless individuals who show up every day and do their jobs so we can do ours. The electricians and highway construction teams, the brick masons and carpenters and mechanics – and all the rest who, if they weren’t there, our world would grind to a halt.

For most of us however, the holiday makes the official end of summer.

Yet, somewhere between the hotdogs and watermelon, we’ll ponder with each other about what life would be like if we didn’t have to work at all. What if we lived in a beautiful and peaceful paradise where we didn’t have to work to live? What if we could just sit around and enjoy life all day long.

If there are any Baptists at your Labor Day picnic, one of them will blame Adam and Eve for eating the apple and messing things up for everyone else!

None of that is true, however. Work was always part of the plan. There’s no evidence in the Scriptures human beings were never supposed to work. The Bible story makes the opposite point. In Genesis 2, God places Adam in the garden to tend it and take care it. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like work to me.

That story reminds me of the time my father told me he had a big job for me and put me “in charge” of all of the outside work at our house. While it sounded like a big job, it really meant I was responsible for mowing the grass and pulling weeds out of the flower bed. Like me, Adam may have been in charge of the garden, but it was just work.

What the Fall took away from us was MEANINGFUL WORK. All of us are caught in our own story of Sisyphus. We go to work, work hard all day, go home exhausted and we can’t tell if we made any difference at all in the world. Then, we get up and go to work the next day and do it all over again. And for what? Whenever you see a ticker tape parade, remember all that confetti is shredded reports someone spent a weekend writing.

All of us deal with this. It’s not the work we mind, it all that work demands from us and in the end, nothing we do last. We build sky-scrapers and in few years, someone tears them down. We write books and their recycled to make more books. On and on the list goes. We work. We work hard, but all we create, build and make ends up in the landfill at the end of the day.

It’s enough to make you think life doesn’t mean anything at all.

One way to understand the ministry of Jesus is He returns to us what we lost in the Fall. In the Fall, we lost our connection to God. Jesus restores it. We lost our relationship to each other and Jesus restores it.

And Jesus restores meaning to work. Paul tells the early church that no matter what they did, as children of Jesus, they did everything as if they we’re doing for Jesus Himself. It’s hard for us to fully grasp the radical nature of this teaching. What would you have done if your were a slave in Paul’s church and you heard that? What does it mean when you understand your work isn’t for the master, but for Jesus Himself? Not only was your work done as if you were doing it for Jesus, but your work was an actual act of worship. Our hours of labor were transformed into a sacrifice of service and praise.

I was taught this lesson as a child. I didn’t know it at time, but I had seen this biblical teaching lived out. I grew up going to a little mill village church in Huntsville, Alabama. Mr. Greene was the part time janitor at our church.

Our church was spotless. The linoleum floors were polished to a fine shine. Sometimes, they were so slick they were dangerous to walk on. The rooms were clean and the sanctuary was polished and well, the whole place was magnificent. I have never forgotten how clean my little church was.

Mr. Greene made sure it was always clean and it always stayed that way.

If you talked to Mr. Greene he would tell you Jesus was going to be a church on Sunday and he wanted to the building to be ready for Jesus.

Think about it. Mr. Greene had taken the mundane chores of mopping floors, picking up trash, cleaning bathrooms and dusting pews and made them into acts of worship. He wasn’t cleaning the church for a paycheck. He wasn’t cleaning the church for anyone’s approval.

Mr. Greene was cleaning the church for Jesus. Every Sunday I worshipped in that little church, I was sitting in the middle of Mr. Greene’s offering to Jesus.

So, enjoy your Labor Day holiday. Get together with friends and grill your favorite dogs and burgers.

Then, when you go back to work, remember the work you’re doing isn’t just for a paycheck. It’s for Jesus. Make sure your approach your work – whatever it is – as an offering to Jesus. Jesus has given meaning back to our work. Don’t let the world rob you of the joy of a good day’s work for Jesus.

 

2019-08-18T20:37:28-05:00

Title:                          New Testament Faculty Position

Department:              Academic Dean’s Office

Reports to:                 Dean of Academic Affairs

FLSA Status:              Exempt – Full-time Position

Level: A full member of the faculty. Rank of the professor will be commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Position Summary: A full-time faculty position in biblical studies whose primary responsibilities will be in New Testament with additional teaching of elective coursework in congregational life, particularly in support of ministry studies and ministry preparation in the culturally and ethnically diverse context.

Education: PhD or equivalent

Work Experience and skills:

  • Excellent teaching ability in a variety of delivery systems
  • Experience teaching in a university or graduate setting
  • Ability to teach the New Testament curriculum, developing one’s own interests toward a master’s or DMin cohort
  • Effective in recruitment of potential church leaders to seminary study
  • Engages with students, the academic community and the church proactively, integrating biblical and theological studies with impacting the church and culture in ways that promote Christian formation, and social justice

Principal Responsibilities:

  1. Form leaders biblically and theologically

At Northern, biblical/theological formation is seen as integral to the personal and practical formation of ministerial leaders. The seminary is looking for a person committed to biblical scholarship as a transformative activity in the preparation for ministry.

  1. Teaching load on average will be the equivalent of six courses per year

Northern Seminary is on the quarter system and the average teaching load will be the equivalent of six courses per year, with this person contributing to academic offerings on the master’s level, with potential to also teach on the doctoral level. The New Testament professor will teach foundational and advanced coursework in the areas of bible, theology and ministry.

  1. Serve as a member of the faculty and on two faculty committees as needed

The faculty of the seminary functions as a team, and this person will become a respected partner as the faculty work to further develop the effectiveness of the seminary in training leaders for Christ’s church. This scholar will come prepared to partner with the faculty, President, and Board of Trustees in shaping the educational program and reputation of the seminary.

  1. Publish and provide a public presence for the seminary

The faculty represent the mission and ministry of the seminary and serve Christ’s church through publications, serving as representatives of the seminary, speaking annually to at least three congregations promoting the work of Northern.

  1. Assist the dean with responsibilities in the D. Min. and DTM programs of the seminary.
  2. Mentor students who are part of the Master of Divinity program.

Indirect Responsibilities:

  1. Serve as a member of two committees as assigned.
  2. Participate in faculty meetings and gatherings of the staff and students.
  3. Network on behalf of Northern and introduce the advancement team or President to individuals who can further Northern’s mission.
  4. Serve as a program coordinator for an academic program; providing primary leadership in the development of philosophy, rationale, and curriculum.
  5. Participate in designated areas of co-curricular life as mutually agreed on with the Dean of Academic Affairs
  6. Participate in recruitment of new and prospective students and work with admissions to increase enrollment.
  7. Perform other duties as assigned by the Dean or President.

Core Competencies:

  • Evangelism. Strong evangelistic identity and reputation within traditional evangelicalism.
  • Passion. Integrates the Bible, theology, personal formation, and ministerial praxis in students
  • Church. Recognized service in the church.
  • Scholarship. Published documents that serve both the church and the academy
  • Eagerness. Champions Northern’s vision to “lead the church and engage the world”
  • Agreement. Complies with the Seminary Faith and Community Standard statements.
  • Interpersonal Relationships. Promotes harmony and cooperation within working relationships; receives and makes assignments well; effectively addresses and resolves conflicts with others.
  • Initiative and Self-Reliance. Takes action without direction; uses sound judgment in decision making; looks for new and better ways to accomplish goals.
  • Trust and Integrity. Is widely trusted; seen as direct and truthful; keeps confidences; admits mistakes; adheres to an appropriate and effective set of core values; practices what he or she preaches.

Equal Opportunity Employer:

Northern Seminary is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from diverse candidates.

Founded in 1913, Northern is an evangelical seminary with historic ties to the American Baptist Churches/USA. Northern has a highly diverse educational context in terms of gender, race, age denomination and culture. From its founding, Northern has been fully supportive of women in ministry. (For further historical information visit: www.seminary.edu/history)

Further information may be obtained by contacting:

Dr. Ingrid Faro

Dean of Academic Affairs

410 Warrenville Road Suite 300

Lisle, Illinois 60532

Office: 630.620.2179

Text: 815.260.8476

[email protected]

Northern Seminary’s website: www.seminary.edu

 

2019-08-03T10:30:03-05:00

Lucy Peppiatt, Rediscovering Scripture’s Vision for Women: Fresh Perspectives on Disputed Texts.

Now available!

I get asked lots of questions about the Bible, but perhaps my favorite went like this: What in the Bible would you tell my church to think about if the leaders are considering more freedom for women in the church’s ministry? I’ll keep it to seven, and I’ll make it seven questions to ponder as you ponder what God is calling women to do in the church.

What did women actually do in the Bible (besides cook and tend to the little ones and farm and carry wood and make clothing, etc)? Anyone asking this question needs to begin with someone like Miriam in Exodus and then spend sometime with that uber-tough Deborah and then take a hard long look at Huldah. How would you describe what they did? They sang, they led, they ran the nation, they led the military machine, and they spoke for God to the people of God. What else? That Proverbs 31 woman, as my friend Alice Mathews said to me recently, has more to say than most bother to hear. Then jump into the New Testament and ask what Mary did, and what Prisca/Priscilla did, and what Junia did, and what about those women leaders in Philippi, Euodia and Syntyche? What did they do? One nurtured the Messiah, one taught the gospel to a male leader, one was nothing less than an “apostle” and the others were co-workers with Paul. Which is about a strong of an affirmation as one can get from Paul. Too often, too many, for too long have gone to the so-called submission passages not realizing they were creating more than a little contradiction in the very man who was working with these women in his mission. Paul knew what these women were doing when he wrote 1 Timothy 2 and he therefore didn’t mean they couldn’t do what’s said about their doings.

Who are the major named women in the Bible? Once I spent some time with college students over coffee talking about two women, Junia and Phoebe. I went on as professors are wont to do, perhaps a bit too long but I was pumped. Near the end a female student was surprisingly irritated, and I thought it was with what I was saying, only to learn that she was nothing less than ticked off with her church. Why? Her words, not mine: “Why have I never heard about these women in my so-called ‘Bible-preaching’ church?” Exactly, I muttered to myself. “Why?” Far more know about the altogether unimportant names Methusaleh or Ehud than know of Phoebe or the daughters of Philip. Each church needs today a series called Women of the Bible.

Who are the women theologians you read today or who on your bookshelves? Of course, if one is a bean counter and one has been collecting books as long as I have – almost fifty years now – one will not have a 50-50 ratio but weekly I am sent books and more and more they are written by women, like my friend and scholar, Lucy Peppiatt. Others include Renita Weems, Haley Goranson Jacob, Morna Hooker, Amy Jill Levine, Lynn Cohick, Marianne Meye Thompson, Carolyn Osiek Ruth Felker Jones, Beverly Gaventa, Ruth Haley Barton, Margaret Macdonald, Nancy Ortberg, Alice Mathews, Amy Peeler, Nancy Beach, Cristena Cleveland… and I’m old enough to say this list has grown exponentially in my life time. There was a time, well, when not many women were in this “line of work” but that day has ended and their books ought to be on any respectable thinker’s shelves.

Who are the women preachers you listen to today? A friend of mine once told me she was preaching at a church where no woman had ever preached. After a few times preaching an old man came up to her and informed her that, while he was formerly against women preaching, after listening to her he became convinced that women not only could preach but ought to be preaching. I often ask my friends who are podcast listeners, “Which women are you listening to?” Fleming Rutledge? Mandy Smith? Barbara Brown Taylor? Tara Beth Leach? I know for me it was reading Morna Hooker as a PhD student that shook me out of lethargy about women as Bible teachers and theologians. I have heard others say it was listening to Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, that made it clear women not only can preach but ought to preach. Speaking of authors and preachers, Lucy Peppiatt, though not as well known in the USA as she is in England, is both a wonderful theologian-author but also a dynamic teacher-preacher. Read her and listen to her.

Who are the influential moms in your church? When the “roll is called up yonder” and those on the list tell their stories about how they came to faith, the #1 adder-to-the-list will be moms. My mother told me about Jesus as a child, and in your church are moms singing to their babies, telling their children the gospel, and guiding the next generation into discipleship behind Jesus. This truth must be told: if we relied totally on males … I’ll not complete that sentence, but I will say this unabashedly: moms are the #1 reason why the church has grown and is growing. Anyone who thinks women can’t teach, preach, or instruct others in the faith needs to take a long look at the moms in church and then apologize for foolishness. Moms are evangelists, catechists, teachers and preachers – from the house to the church.

Which texts in the New Testament need to be explored the most in their historical context? I became aware of the careful theological and biblical work of Lucy Peppiatt when I read a small book of hers about 1 Corinthians 11:2-16. In that book Lucy made it abundantly clear that not only were there a bewildering list of possible interpretations of vexing expressions like headcoverings and what “head” means, but the interpretations many were suggesting were flat-out contradictions of either the Bible itself or of one another. She offered a different question – What if the problem isn’t the women but the men? – and a different solution – some of these lines that don’t fit our theology don’t fit into the Bible because they were the words of Paul’s opponents being quoted. She had me there, and I have followed her work ever since. This book will introduce you not only to her reading of 1 Corinthians 11 (and 14 by the way) but also to her approach to many issues. I am so grateful to Lucy for this wonderful packaging of all her best ideas about women in the Bible and church. She’s probably got more so take this as a sampling.

What about Mary? One time my mother asked me what I was studying and I told her I was studying about Mary. She said out of her Baptist orientation, “Why, she’s so Catholic?!” Welp, I took a big gulp and reminded her that she was the mother of Jesus and that she’s all over the Gospel pages. So often that she’s mentioned only slightly less than Peter. I’m on a crusade to get so-called Bible believers to believe just what the Bible says about Mary. Fact is she’s a powerful young woman, a powerful mother, and a powerful mover and shaker in the Gospels themselves. Who else gets in Jesus’ face to inform him that the wine has run out, that he’s going to get himself in trouble if he keeps offending the religious leaders, who else is present when Jesus, surrounded by an angry mob, is crucified? Who else is talked to from the cross other than Mary? Did you even know Mary’s got to be in the descriptions of the woman in Revelation 12? Protestants are blinded to Mary, so I urge them to open their eyes and watch Mary in the New Testament. When done, they’ll have a better understanding of what God calls women to do.

Those are the seven questions I’d want folks to consider when they ponder anew women in ministry. The simple answer is, and one that hums on every page in this wonderful book, that women can do whatever God calls them to do, whatever the Spirit empowers them to do, and whatever following Jesus leads them to do.

I know this because Lucy’s one of them!

NB: This post is my foreword to Lucy’s wonderful book.

2019-08-06T09:23:43-05:00

By Mike Glenn

Ask any non-profit leader or church staff member what their number one problem is, and both will give you the same answer – volunteers.

They can’t find people to volunteer. They can’t find volunteers who show up on time. They can’t find volunteers who will show up at all. If they do show up, they rarely show up with a good attitude or work ethic… and then, they won’t return your phone calls at all.

If we could just get people to volunteer, everything in our church or organization would be perfect. Of course, that isn’t true either, but complaining about volunteers allows us to look like we are really concerned and working hard.

I’ve been doing what I do for a long time and I’ve made a point to try and understand the reasons churches have such a hard time identifying, training, deploying, and retaining volunteers.

Here’s what I found out.

We’re doing it all wrong.

For one thing, people’s lives have changed in ways we are only now beginning to fully understand. The same internet that allows us to work from anywhere at any time also allows us to be found anywhere at any time. The line between “my” time and “company” time has become hopelessly blurred. Many of our people aren’t really sure exactly what time is their time to begin with. They’d love to volunteer. They really would…but on whose time?

Our 24-hour world means people have less time to do the things they really want to do. By the time they get to their job, help the kids with homework, take the kids to ball practice, dance lessons, tutoring and who knows what else, there’s just not a lot of time left. People would love to help. They would love to be part of some ministry or mission that was doing good work in the world, but they really don’t have time.

So, those of us who ask for volunteers need to be realistic when we ask people to volunteer. If people have one hour a week, what can be done in one hour? What can be done in two hours? Three hours? Most volunteer positions can be broken down into small chunks of time to allow volunteers to “job share” a ministry.

For that matter, most churches need to do a serious evaluation of what we’re asking people to do in the first place. Let’s face it. A lot of what we do in the church we’ve been doing since the fifties. We don’t do anything the same way we did in the fifties. We certainly don’t need to be doing church now the way we did then. So, before you ask someone to hand out bulletins, ask yourself, “Do we need to have bulletins at all?”

If something needs to be done, then someone in the congregation is gifted in doing just that. God will not call a church to a ministry without equipping the church for that ministry. God calls every congregation to a unique ministry and brings talented men and women to that vision. Church leaders need to install a process where members can discover their spiritual gifts and talents, then be deployed to those places in the life of the church where they can make the most impact.

There is nothing more exciting than watching someone understand how God created them and then watch them find ways to use their gifts that make a difference in the church and community. Once a person understands how they are designed to be used in God’s kingdom, worship and discipleship comes more naturally. Those who serve are driven to discipleship because we want to do our ministry better and we want to know more about Christ and how He works in the world. We’re driven to worship because every day we’re seeing God show up in and through our lives.

Now, let me stop here and address the downside of gifts. When our church first started taking seriously the idea that every member is called and gifted for kingdom impact, I noticed a comical trend. Whatever our church needed to have done, no one had the “spiritual gift” for that particular ministry.

Well, maybe not, but if you’re a member of the family, you’re going to have chores. Every person in the family has to do something for the good of the family. Grocery shopping, cooking, lawn care, taking out the garbage – without someone taking care of these basic tasks, the family dissolves into chaos. Let’s face it. No one has the spiritual gift for taking out the trash. It just has to be done.

Likewise, if you’re in the family of God, you’re going to have chores.  Rocking a baby in preschool, helping a child color their picture, chaperoning a student trip – you don’t need to be spiritually gifted for any of these. You only have to be faithful.

Faithfulness is more important than talent. Obedience is more important than ability.

Using the word “volunteer” bothers me. I’ve almost stopped using it in conversation. Volunteer means I can show up when I want to, if I want to. There are no constraints on time or allegiance.

We didn’t volunteer. We were called. We were called to join Christ in this redemptive adventure called “church.”

And, if we love Jesus, we are eager to do whatever we can to join Him in His work.

 

2019-07-22T20:25:45-05:00

This is the fourth post in a short series on the book of Acts, was written by a Christian colleague (JAG) who teaches in the School of Social Work. Both his professional expertise and his personal experience as a second generation immigrant shape his understanding of the book and bring insights that will help all of us read the book better. He presented the material in a well received class at our church and I am pleased to bring it here as well. RJS

One framework from Social Work that helps to differentiate the work of Philip from Paul is examining their respective levels of intervention, from the micro to the macro (Acts 8-28, especially 20).

A Personal Re-introduction: Membership has its Privileges

As the eldest son of Filipino immigrants, I am keenly aware of my educational privilege. I teach Social Work at not just any state university but at one implicated in the US colonization of the Philippines as “Our Little Brown Brother.” My cousin remarked, “You teach at a school that would not even admit me.”

Perhaps the biggest privilege is my opportunity to train tomorrow’s leaders. My proudest moment was visiting a former student on the mission field. I witnessed him implementing some of the strategies for community engagement not in a classroom but in the Southern Philippines, with the Tagakaulo, a remote mountain tribe. He showed me the phrase book his mission recently completed, a glossary of Tagakaulo terms, defining them next to their English, Tagalog, and Visayan translations. One of the older women praised the work – “Thank you for preserving our language and culture.”

Paul’s Farewell as a Social Work Pre-test?

Philip is an evangelist, Paul a church planter. Although their roles overlap, in Social Work they could be considered examples of micro practice (interpersonal counseling) and macro practice (nonprofit management, community organization, policy and evaluation). For many years I supervised graduate interns, including international students who intended to establish nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in their home countries. It occurred to me that I could assign Paul’s Farewell to Ephesian Elders (Acts 20:13-38) as a pre-test: What in the text might be helpful in your planning for an NGO?

Hopefully the intern will identify some of Paul’s starting points. He personally recruited members for his NGO (through evangelism), an activity requiring interpersonal skills (Acts 20:18-21). Once recruited, it appears Paul selected some or leadership positions which included an intensive training program, likely on-the-job, extending over two years (Acts 19:10). In the case of the Ethiopian eunuch, however, the duration of Philip’s micro-intervention was brief (Acts 8:39).

The Elders seem to have specific roles and responsibilities related to the NGO’s continued function and it is clear the expectation is that the function continues after Paul departs (Acts 20:28). In Social Work, duration is a point of emphasis. On the micro level, it is unethical to keep a client in therapy with no specified end date. Is a dependence created which the therapist benefits from financially? In community practice, macro Social Workers also endeavor to work themselves out of a job.

Perhaps the intern will see that this is not a stand-alone NGO but rather one in a series of NGOs Paul has planted in cities throughout the Roman Empire, networked by his visits, correspondence, and transfer of material goods (notably the “Collection for the Saints” in Acts 20:1-5). Paul mentions Jerusalem explicitly in Acts 20:22.

The intern might recognize these observations as aspects of community organizing. Many consider Saul Alinsky the “Father of Community Organizing” and I mention him in most of my classes. In Jesus and Nonviolence: A Third Way, Walter Wink (2003) writes about “Jesus and Alinsky” but limits that analysis to the level of tactics, notably how “turn the other cheek” is a “Third Way” one Jew might resist an individual Roman soldier striking his face, as opposed to a broader discourse on strategy (chapter 3).

The intern’s homework: Research the NGO’s mission statement (Acts 1:8), then apply it to each of your observations. How does each align with the mission? Be specific.

Person-in-the-Environment: What about the Wolves?

Absent from my thought experiment thus far is any discussion of “wolves” (Acts 20:29) – not that this isn’t an important point, it just leads to a cluster of ideas beyond an intern’s pre-test.

First the wolves could be a number of possibilities. They could be literal. I fought the wild beasts at Ephesus might mean, like Samson (Judges 14:6) or David (1 Samuel 17:37), Paul fought a wild beast, perhaps a lion or bear.

They could be figurative. In the previous chapter, a stadium full of presumably Gentiles worshippers of Artemis (or at least those who saw their profits threatened by Paul’s teaching) are behaving like a wild, beastly mob (Acts 19:23-41).

They could be false teachers, the most dangerous of which seem to be former members of The Way, as often mentioned in Paul’s writings (and Acts 20:29-30) and also Revelation’s letters to the churches (Revelation 2-3).

They could also be the sub-grouping of Jews who seek to undermine Paul’s ministry, at times violently. One charge at Philippi is worth exploring further:

They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21 by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” (Acts 16:20-21)

A final Social Work concept I will introduce is PIE: Person In the Environment. In faculty meetings I’ve heard colleagues quip more than once that we stress too much person and not enough environment.

Paul’s environment is the Roman Empire. At the time, it was the world’s only Superpower. Indeed, Acts implies the Empire is a stand-in for the known world.

Paul benefits tremendously from that context. His missionary journeys take place during the roughly 200 year Pax Romana, a largely peaceful time when it was possible for someone to travel the trade routes between major cities in relative safety and security. Especially if that someone was a Roman citizen.

It should be noted that Paul’s right to a trial, and especially to appeal to Caesar (Acts 25:1-9), is singular among Christians mentioned in the New Testament. It is a privilege certainly not enjoyed by Jesus. In Jesus and the Disinherited, Howard Thurman (1949) adds:

He was of a minority but with majority privileges…protection guaranteed by the state respected by the minions of the state…was like a magic formula always available in emergencies. It is to the credit of the amazing power of Jesus Christ over the life of Paul that there is only one recorded instance in which he used this privilege. (pp 21-22)

At some point after invoking his Roman citizenship to extricate himself from a tense scene in Jerusalem (Acts 22:22-29), Paul realizes a way to more directly address the charge that The Way is illegal is to appeal to Caesar, the Empire’s supreme authority. If successful, Christians would have Rome’s protection from “wolves” throughout the Empire, and not just a single city. It should be noted that in Phillipi, the pro-Christian demonstration of imperial support (Acts 16:36-39) came only at Paul’s insistence.

In some respects, Paul’s appeal to Caesar is similar to how test cases are brought before the US Supreme Court. One macro-level strategy for a group affected by an unjust law is to use the law to change the law. Some important test cases include Korematsu v USA (Japanese Internment during World War II), Brown v Board of Education (Separate but Equal Schools), and Loving v Virginia (Interracial Marriage).

Like Moses and the Promised Land or Martin Luther King and racial equality, Paul doesn’t “get there with you.” However, one thing that ennobles test cases is when the plaintiff does not personally benefit from the outcome but raises the issue for the greater good.

History eventually proves Paul right. Christianity becomes the de facto official religion of the Roman Empire with Constantine. Perhaps this is what Peter sees dimly when he writes that some of Paul’s teachings are “hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16). Whatever the case, I find Peter’s perspective on history is comforting (2 Peter 3:8).

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.

Questions for Reflection

Review your reflections on “Are you engaged in service?” Now add to your considerations privilege, any advantages you gain automatically because of your membership in a particular group. In Acts, for example, Paul’s areas of privilege include Roman citizenship, as well as his formal and informal education.

  • What changes, if any, have occurred since reflecting on this question earlier in this series?
  • How would you describe the social issue your service is addressing? What would you say is your current level of intervention? Could the service be improved if your actions were broader, in scope or practice, and perhaps more collective?
  • What resources or partnerships would be needed to affect a policy or common practice related to the issue, on a local, community, regional, state, national or global level? How might you prayerfully implement these change efforts?

If you would like to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net.

If interested you can subscribe to a full text feed of my posts at Musings on Science and Theology.

2019-07-05T00:40:37-05:00

A Portrait of What’s Possible, by Mike Glenn

For several years, I was the teaching pastor of a young adult worship experience we called Kairos. Although I handed off that ministry to a talented, gifted and yes, younger colleague, I still miss being part of that Tuesday night experience. I learned a lot from them, and while I hope I gave them something in return, I will always be grateful for the lessons they taught me about what really matters in life and yes, in the gospel itself.

While I was always surprised at what was going on in their lives, there were a couple of things that caught me off guard. For one thing, they were very serious about my marriage. Jeannie and I recently celebrated our 39th anniversary and she is, without a doubt, the best part of my life. That means a lot of my sermons and teachings have Jeannie stories in them.

Kairos wanted to make sure I was for real.

One night, I came to Kairos without my wedding band. I had worked out before I showed up teach and I left my wedding ring in my gym bag. When I stood up to teach, one my young man yelled out to me, “Where’s your wedding ring?” I explained I had left it in my gym bag. After the service, he apologized to me by explaining, “When my dad left us, the first thing we noticed is he stopped wearing his wedding ring”.

Wow. Had this young man been looking for my wedding ring every time I stood up to teach?

Possibly.

We forget whenever we hear the statistic that 50% of marriages end in divorce that, usually, there are children involved. These children grow up to be adults and like most adults, they will consider marriage. The one image they will have of marriage is that of their parents breaking up. They’ll remember every detail, like when dad stopped wearing his wedding ring, and they’ll begin to doubt whether or not any marriage can stay together.

So, they look around for other possibilities and sometimes the example they find the pastor of the local church. Sometimes, it’s a teacher or a boss, a coach or a mentor, but most young adults are looking for examples of what’s possible for their lives.

You can’t blame them fro being a little jaded. After all, they have been the target of more advertisements than anyone in history. They have watched the major institutions of our culture be rocked by scandals and outright criminal activity. They are slow to believe the rosy pictures of a “happy ever after”. The economy, the environment, the educational system — all around them, young adults see problems the grown ups around them just won’t fix.

You can’t blame them if they are a little skeptical of promises everyone makes to them.

But they would like these promises to be true. They would love to have a happy family, a good job, two happy children, and a safe community to live in. They just don’t think it’s possible.

So, they look around.

Too many times, Christ followers get caught up in the culture wars thinking that it we attend enough protests, elect enough politicians, or pass enough laws, we can change our communities. We forget one the most effective methods of evangelism is to live the kingdom of King Jesus in our everyday lives. Our world is so dark and so messed up, the kingdom difference is easy to spot.

When a husband loves his wife the way Christ loves the church, people notice that.

When a wife loves her husband the way the church her loves Lord, people notice that.

When parents see their children as gifts from God, people notice that.

When someone shows up to work and does their work “as to the Lord,” people notice that.

When someone is a friend, a true friend, people notice that.

No one gets up in the morning and says, “Today, I going to foul up my life beyond all recognition.” People make mistakes. People do wrong things. Most of the time don’t mean to do wrong, they just didn’t know any better. No one ever taught them. No one ever showed them how to live better.

As Christ followers, we can’t blame the culture around us for our lack of obedience that lead to lives that are indistinguishable from the culture around us. We are never given permission to compromise our faith or our allegiance to Christ.

And yes, we have examples of believers who didn’t. There’s Joseph and Daniel, there’s Barnabas and Paul, there’s an entire history of believers, men and women, who lived their lives with such a positive faith people around them noticed.

Remember, the world isn’t angry at us because we’re different. They’re angry at us because we aren’t different enough.

People around us are looking for something that’s better. They’ve been told it’s possible, but they’ve just never seen it.

That’s why our friends are looking around for what’s possible. You and I are those portraits — portraits of what’s possible in Christ.

 

 

2019-06-15T10:42:54-05:00

I wasn’t aware of the gift of Carolyn Custis James to the church until I heard her speak at Grand Rapids Theological Seminary, April 16, 2019, at the Talking Points seminar “Women in the Kingdom.” The session that riveted my attention and set my heart ablaze was Carolyn’s flyover of the Book of Ruth; a talk titled “The Gospel of Ruth.” I learned she had a book with the same title as her talk. Determined, I thought, “I’ve got to get that book!” After the talk a Zondervan representative was at the resources table. Seeing one copy of The Gospel of Ruth, I said, “I want to buy that book.” I was told it was not for sale because it was a display copy. I whined, “But the seminar is over. What are you going to do with it?” To my happy surprise the kind Zondervan rep gave it to me. Book lovers know the power of whining.

That day at GRTS caused me to remember my Doctor of Ministry work at Fuller Theological Seminary in the late 1990s. For three years I took classes with gifted sisters and brothers of varying denominations and distinct theological streams. While I was studying the history and practice of Christian Formation at Fuller, the topic of “the role of women in the church” was hot and high on the evangelical agenda. Most of my theological training was in the patriarchal, hierarchical, complementarian view. By reading a boatload of books, I was heavy into the contentious debate, with hairsplitting, nail-biting, very biased-exegeting views about women’s “roles.” I was near the bottom of the funnel, realizing that in all the dust and fury of the debate, only one text was crux interpretum. To put a fine point on it, the blow torch text was 1 Timothy 2:11-12.

Thank God for my Christian sisters in the Fuller cohort who were ordained Lutheran and Presbyterian pastors. We often shared giving devotional talks before class. On one occasion, the Lutheran pastor spoke about the Eucharist and led us to the Table of the Lord. As she spoke, my heart was deeply stirred. She helped me meet God in a fresh, compelling way at the Table. This changed the game for me. I was face to face with living persons who were not verbs to parse, or culture to figure out, or pronouns to pontificate about. I slammed into this reality: was I going to continue to believe, based on some exegetical gymnastics, that these gifted sisters whom God used to enrich my life should renounce their calling, their education, and their undeniable giftedness as pastor-leaders? Was I willing to stand before Jesus Christ in the Final Assize and tell him that these sisters disobeyed the Word of God by becoming leaders in ministry? By no means!

Now 20 years later, I sit under the biblical teaching and theological leadership of Carolyn Custis James as she presents two new widows, Naomi and Ruth, and a farmer, Boaz, to me in a way I have never heard. Come on, how does that happen? Carolyn James is a scholar, a gifted and engaging communicator (and writer), and a woman whose voice was the exact voice from which I needed to hear the story of Ruth.

Scot McKnight has given me the opportunity to review Carolyn’s book, The Gospel of Ruth: Loving God Enough to Break the Rules. I wanted to first give you the back story about why I count it a genuine privilege to review Carolyn’s fascinating contribution to the church.

 

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