Man of God Syndrome

Last updated on: June 27, 2013 at 5:52 am By Scot McKnight

Thank you Steve Hill.

What are two marks of this man-of-God syndrome?

What does this have to do with the man-of-God syndrome? Everything.

A “syndrome” is a group of symptoms that characterize a particular abnormality. The man-of-God syndrome describes people who “think more highly than they ought” of their positions in the body of Christ.

These arrogant individuals are enamored by their perceived value. Unlike Jesus who made Himself of no reputation, they spend their lives making sure everyone knows their reputation.

This deadly disease affects the body of Christ worldwide. It’s in every congregation, denomination and church movement around the planet. Leaders are stuck on themselves…

When individuals infected with the deadly celebrity syndrome enter a room, they expect others to recognize their presence and pay homage. They desire front-row or platform seats and are visibly disturbed when not given the red-carpet treatment they desire….

The world is waiting for men and women of God who are more concerned about how they appear to Christ than how they appear to the crowd. People are longing to find leaders who are stuck on helping sinners rather than stuck on helping self. They are fed up with our slick self-promotion; glitzy, eye-popping Internet, TV and radio spots; and high-gloss, self-exalting magazine, newspaper and poster ads that elevate man rather than exalt Jesus.

Some leaders have gone so far as to hire Hollywood ad agencies and secular image consultants so they’ll appear one notch above other ministers. Of course there’s nothing wrong with advertising an evangelistic meeting, a ministry or a church. But many have gone too far….

According to Jesus, a person who wants a ministry of mighty things must be willing to do menial things. Menial things are insignificant things that are done in secret when no one is shining a spotlight on you. You’re just busy doing something for the Lord.

Jesus spent His life serving. He washed His disciples’ feet. He cooked them breakfast after the resurrection. Jesus served.

If you want to achieve success and climb to a place of great elevation in the Lord, then look down. Don’t pass up the insignificant tasks, especially those that nobody but God can see.

There’s a new generation coming up, and I’m going after them. I want to raise up men and women who will get their model for life and ministry from the Word of God and the life of Jesus.

Their modus operandi will be to serve rather than be served, and their lives and ministries will be characterized by holiness, humility and a heartfelt love for people. I pray that God uses them in greater ways than He has used any other minister who has graced this planet—and that He preserves them from the deadly man-of-God syndrome.

David G. Moore: “I guess I’m not a Calvinist.”

Last updated on: June 15, 2013 at 11:12 am By Scot McKnight

COMING CLEAN…I GUESS I AM NOT A CALVINIST AFTER ALL!

By David George Moore

Indulge me in a bit of personal background.

During my ministry with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) at Stanford, I became convinced of what is commonly called election. It was not reading books (that came later) which convinced me. Rather, it was evangelism. For example, there were times where a non-Christian said I showed them how inconsistent their beliefs were and yet they were unwilling to embrace Christ. There were other times where I felt I did a poor job of communicating the gospel, yet the person wanted to trust Christ. What was going on? If it was not my eloquence or lack thereof which was ultimately determinative, I concluded salvation must be entirely God’s doing. Yes, God wanted to use me as his mouthpiece, but the change of heart was His doing alone.

During those years at Stanford I read the first half of Calvin’s Institutes. A few years later, my wife and I did a reading tutorial on the second part of the Institutes with Bruce Ware as one of our classes at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. As the old jibe goes, I started wondering how much of a Calvinist Calvin was. Are the five points of Calvinism (encapsulated in the famous TULIP), which were formulated at the Synod of Dort over fifty years after the death of Calvin, the indispensable element of being a Calvinist? My hunch, though I would not have done a good job defending it at the time, was that Reformed theology, like most big movements, was more multifaceted than some seemed to suggest.

Two recent books, Letters to a Young Calvinist: an Invitation to the Reformed Tradition by James K.A. Smith, and Ravished by Beauty: the Surprising Legacy of Reformed Spirituality, by Belden Lane present a broader and more layered understanding of the Reformed tradition. In other words, to define the Reformed tradition based mainly (or solely) about whether one thinks God does the choosing in salvation is to misunderstand and therefore truncate the tradition.

Smith’s book is short, but packed with insight and employs an attractive writing style. Like Lane, Smith sees the Reformed tradition being about much more than one’s view of election. The Reformed tradition embodies a theology of worship, deep reflection on so-called political matters, certain aesthetic sensibilities, a particular legacy of spirituality, an intentional catholicity, confessionalism, and much more. Smith calls Calvinism a “sprawling estate.” There are many rooms. To expand Smith’s metaphor we could add that there are secret rooms which should not be so secret, but remain secret due to a misunderstanding of what it means to align fully with the “Reformed” understanding of the Christian faith.

In other words, saying one is Reformed when one simply holds to election, or perhaps because one likes to quote Spurgeon, raises important questions whether this is the irreducible minimum.

Ravished by Beauty is one of the most spiritually satisfying books I have read in a long time. Some may find Lane too soft on certain doctrines, especially those revolving around the judgment of God and the effects of the Fall. The real strengths of Lane’s book lie elsewhere. Similarly, some will disagree with Smith’s take on the role of women or his appreciation for the “New Perspective” of Paul. Notwithstanding these potential concerns, there are many wise, winsome, and even witty insights in Letters to a Young Calvinist and Ravished by Beauty.

Some who focus on certain doctrines for determining the legitimacy of the “truly Reformed” can also be guilty of an arrogance which ironically the Reformed tradition has good safeguards against. As Smith says, “It seems to me very un-Reformed to prop up Reformed theology as a timeless ideal, a consummated achievement, when one of the Reformers’ mantras was semper reformanda—always reforming. You shouldn’t expect a lifetime of pursuing the truth to result in constant entrenchment into what you thought when you were twenty.”

A penchant for argumentation almost seems encoded in the Reformed tradition. This, of course, can be an admirable quality as there are plenty of heretics and schismatics wandering about. However, it is this very thing which causes Belden Lane to voice his dislike of certain doctrinal commitments of John Calvin. Yet, Calvin also draws Lane in: “What warms me most to the Genevan Reformer, however, allowing me to forgive him so many other sins, is his delight in the natural world, his uninhibited celebration of creation. Calvin was smitten by God’s beauty as he was overwhelmed by God’s power. His writings abound with creative images and metaphors.”

Lest you are tempted to think Lane is a crypto-Pantheist, he simply wants to showcase how the Reformed heritage contains an ardent love for the created order. Perhaps he overdoes it at times, but then again those who believe TULIP contains what is central to Reformed Christianity need to widen their lens a bit. As Lane presents so well, the Puritans, Calvin, and Edwards all spent much time reflecting on the beauty of what God created. Lane continues by underscoring how nature’s beauty served for Calvin and Edwards as a “training ground for desiring God.”

Smith mentions the glad embrace of Calvinism at places like Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He finds it rather odd that Baptists so quickly proclaim their allegiance to Calvinism when there are only a few doctrines which they have in common with Calvin. Since Baptists like Spurgeon and Piper may be the gateway to a Reformed understanding of salvation for many, it makes sense that issues like Covenant theology, infant baptism, certain ecclesial convictions, etc. would recede in importance or not even be part of the conversation.

Many of us (yours truly included) tend to think of the Reformed tradition as containing a considerable amount of intellectual heft which it clearly does. Smith and Lane teach us that the Reformed tradition embodies much more than that. It truly is a “sprawling estate.”

I should add for integrity sake that these books convinced me that it is problematic to say I even lean towards Reformed theology or am a Calvinist when the main thing which has organized that for me is a certain view of God’s work of salvation. No wonder I have always felt more comfortable calling myself a Christian!

Weekly Meanderings, June 8, 2013

Last updated on: June 7, 2013 at 7:07 am By Scot McKnight

Ten fitness myths… good read.

Nature’s strength (to the left).

The NCCA follows its own set of rules, but on this it means the young athlete will drive to another place and wash her car — on scholarship: “A member of a women’s golf team at a West Coast Conference school has been sanctioned by the NCAA for washing her car on campus, according to University of Portland basketball coach Eric Reveno. Reveno tweeted about the violation Wednesday after he learned of it during conference meetings, culminating his message with the hashtag #stopinsanity. “Just heard about two NCAA violations in WCC. 1) athlete using Univ. water to wash car, 2) coach text recruit ‘who is this?'” Reveno wrote. The WCC school in question self-reported the extra benefits violation to the NCAA, Yahoo Sports! reported. Yahoo also reported the NCAA asked the golfer to pay the school $20, which they said was the value of the water and hose.” The solution: make the college athletes professionals, which they are already, and be done with the nonsense.

Joel Miller, on the most highlighted verse in the most highlighted book, the Bible: “Read instead as the ancient Christians read it, Paul’s statement is not merely that we should take our anxieties to God, good as that may be. It’s that the judge of the universe is near so we can have confidence that wrong will be set right. It’s not about trying to suppress our worries and trust God, which is for many a necessary but challenging effort that contains within it many of its own worries. That’s the wrong focus. It’s about the realization that God will soon wipe away every reason for worry. It’s a reminder of our real hope. Our eyes are on the wrong thing if we’re merely praying to have life’s worrisome aspects eliminated so we can carry on stress free. Rather, we have no reason for anxiety because the judge of all the earth is already on his way. To be clear, it’s easier to write these words than live by them. But if we needed to be convinced of anything, it is not that prayer is a means to reduce our anxieties. It’s that Christ is coming.” Maybe this is the most often misused text.

Medgar Evers tribute. “Evers had been laying the groundwork for nearly a decade by then. In his role as field secretary for the NAACP, he traveled the state — registering voters, organizing boycotts of segregated businesses, and encouraging activists not to be intimidated. He also tried to lift what his widow calls the “cotton curtain” that had kept the violence in Mississippi hidden from the rest of the nation. One of his first NAACP assignments was investigating Emmett Till’s murder in 1955.”

Randy Heskett and Joel Butler: “Joel and I were also fascinated by just how important of a commodity wine was in the ancient world. We discovered that by the Roman age, people on average drank 100 gallons of wine a year. The biblical writers mention wine over 235 times and it was one of the largest economic sources in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean culture. Hence, vineyards were one of the first things destroyed in war because the destruction of the wine industry crippled the economy.”

Early christology in Jewish perspective.

Why is our work balance so out of whack? “Among all advanced nations, we rank 28th — barely better than Mexico. Why’s our work-life balance so bad if leisure is growing? Because single moms are growing faster.” That is, “This raises a thorny question: If we’re so rich, why are we working so hard that we don’t even have time to cherish the fruits of our productivity?” One more: “So when you hear that American work-life balance ranks poorly, remember that there really isn’t any such thing as “American work-life balance.” Instead there are intersecting trends — only a handful of which I’ve touched on here — showing that, although the workweek has fallen, the changing composition of families has put tremendous time-stresses on more mothers. Overall, research shows that lower-income men have never had more downtime, while working single mothers have never been more common. The first part is a problem. The second is a crisis.”

David Moore: “I don’t know how many times I have heard someone say, “Lloyd-Jones is the greatest preacher of the twentieth-century.” It is said with conviction. It is said with certainty. It is supposedly a self-evident fact. No doubt the good doctor was impressive in many ways, but it is not possible for any human to say “he is the greatest.” First, what are our criteria? Second, who can know another man’s motives? And third, one would have to be aware of every single other preacher to make such an assessment, and who knows that except God?! I read recently where someone said preachers need to stop introducing their wives as the most beautiful which indeed is good counsel. I would like to extend that to preachers and everyone else for that matter.”

Getting the Pharisees right.

David Lamb, finally getting a baseball at a Phillies game, and the great giveaway. Must-read. By the way, here’s a good timeline for the OT kings and prophets.

A missional guy confesses his sin about Willow Creek: “I believe I have made the mistake that many do. In becoming such a huge advocate of missional communities, I have come across as arrogantly opposed to other forms which the Church takes on to accomplish the mission of God in this world. I resolved early in the start-up phase of Soma to avoid defining ourselves by what we were not. I determined I would say what we were and what we were for. However, in the process I stopped affirming the other parts of the body of Christ that are different. I am sorry. It is arrogance and pride to believe our way is THE way. A few years ago I, along with our elders, repented of this pride at one of our gatherings. This pride showed up in methodolatry. We repented of it. However, it seems that it didn’t go out far enough. There is still a perception that we stand with an arrogant posture regarding our convictions…. There are so many things I learned while there. I learned how to cast vision in a compelling way. I grew in how to say old things in new ways (one of the key lessons about teaching Bill gave me). I understood the importance of team and the trust that must be maintained and protected. I also learned how damaging it is to lose the team’s trust (one of my failures at Willow). I saw the power of valuing those who serve in ministry. Willow is one of the best examples I know of in this area (I’m still working on doing this one better). I discovered that there are unlimited ways to apply creativity to problem-solving if given the time and diversity of perspective. And I saw that thousands of different people can be led in the same direction together if the mission is worthy of giving one’s life to. In all of this, I saw in Bill a father who dearly loves his children and values their uniqueness greatly. I watched a husband who is devoted to his wife. I saw a man who serves his family, his church and his Lord with his whole heart, wildly devoted, passionately engaged and fully given over to the mission of Jesus.”

There are some really cool houses in the world. This is one.

Sad news about suicides, and a plea from Kris and me that if you are struggling with this, please speak with someone today: “It has long held true that elderly people have higher suicide rates than the overall population. But numbers released in May by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show a dramatic spike in suicides among middle-aged people, with the highest increases among men in their 50s, whose rate went up by nearly 50 percent to 30 per 100,000; and women in their early 60s, whose rate rose by nearly 60 percent (though it is still relatively low compared with men, at 7 in 100,000). The highest rates were among white and Native American and Alaskan men. In recent years, deaths by suicide has surpassed deaths by motor vehicle crashes. As youths, boomers had higher suicide rates than earlier generations; the confluence of that with the fact that they are now beginning to grow old, when the risk traditionally goes up, has experts worried. The findings suggest that more suicide research and prevention should “address the needs of middle-aged persons,” a CDC statement said.”

Yes, jaw-dropping weapons of destruction from WWII.

Missional vs. Attractional, Pro-Life Style

Last updated on: June 1, 2013 at 2:43 pm By Scot McKnight

From CP:

WASHINGTON – The newest breakthrough in the pro-life movement isn’t a bill in Congress or a march on Washington: it’s a mobile ultrasound vehicle. Equipped with a team of Christian medical professionals, 22 mobile vehicles already visited 19 cities in the United States.

Michael Homula, executive director of ICU Mobile, shared the story on Wednesday at a Family Research Council event. ICU stands for Image Clear Ultrasound, but also sounds like “I See You,” as in “I see you in the womb.”

“We’re not interested in having a pro-life-mobile,” he said. “We’re very interested in appealing to women who are considering aborting their children.”

Homula laid out the weaknesses of traditional “brick and mortar” Crisis Pregnancy Centers – designed to welcome women in a crisis pregnancy. These institutions tend to be “baby-centric,” with family pictures on the walls. They have an openly Christian appearance, they can only help the women who go to them, and their few local brands cannot compete with the huge umbrella of Planned Parenthood.

ICU Mobile, on the other hand, aims to “go to women, rather than waiting for them,” and preaches “no judgment, coercion, or politics – just love, grace, and truth.” The neutral title ICU allows them to slip under the messy political radar and perform their ministry.

The Question for Churches

Last updated on: June 5, 2013 at 12:20 pm By Scot McKnight

From Laura Ortberg Turner:

Women make up only 10 percent of senior pastors and are paid less than their male counterparts, according to a 2009 Barna study. The figures are even lower among evangelical churches. At a time when women are making great strides in other areas—advancing in higher education, heading up a record number of Fortune 500 companies, and gaining influence in government—why is the church lagging so far behind? And what are the obstacles that restrict women from understanding and using their gifts on behalf of the Body of Christ?

Anecdotally, we can probably all list the reasons. Women find themselves reluctant to stand up in lead in an environment where we’re not encouraged (or even discouraged) to do so. We are taught that church leadership roles are reserved for men; we grow up hearing that it isn’t polite for us to express our opinions; we are still told, at least implicitly, that our place is in the home, with the kids, the cooking, and the Pinterest crafts.

But is there a place for women at the table? If a woman possesses the spiritual gifts of teaching or leadership, would it be best for her to ignore them so that men can take their place? Paul’s writings in Romans 16 and 1 Corinthians 12 have a great deal to say—which might be surprising, considering the bad rap Paul gets when it comes to women’s roles in the church.

I’m glad to see CT routinely take this up at the Her.meneutics blog, and I’m especially glad to see young leaders like Laura put her able pen to the task. I wrote on this in two settings — Blue Parakeet and Junia is Not Alone. And I’m teaching a course, starting June 17 at Northern on women in ministry … why? Because some refuse to listen to the reality of God’s gifting of women. We must turn the argument over. For years we’ve put up with the traditionalists accusing us of not believing the Bible. We need a change: it is the person who denies women leadership, to teach and to preach, that goes against the grain of what the Bible teaches. It is that view that is unbiblical.

There is but one question to ask: Do women in your church do what women in the Bible did? Or, ask it another way: What did women do? WDWD? Hey, make that a bracelet.

Grudem’s Logical Errors

Last updated on: May 8, 2013 at 1:31 pm By Scot McKnight

David Cramer, in “Assessing Hierarchist Logic: Is Egalitarianism Really on a Slippery Slope,” in Priscilla Papers 27.2 (2013) 5-9, takes the author of Evangelical Feminism: A New Path to Liberalism? to task at the logical level. Cramer chose in uncanny fashion not to mention Grudem’s name in the text in order to keep attention on the arguments and not the person. Priscilla Papers is a fine publication of the Christians for Biblical Equality. Link to article now available.

Before I begin we observe that Cramer describes the position as “hiearachist” instead of its preferred “complementarian.” This deserves some consideration. In general I prefer that a person be described the way that person wants, and since most of this view call themselves “complementarian” it is wise to give them that label. Having said that, however, I want to support what Cramer does here: time has convinced me that the focus of the complementarian is not how “roles” are complementary but that instead the focus is male leadership. Therefore, the complementarian view is essentially — by consensus of their approaches and emphases — a species of hierachicalism. I therefore find Cramer’s term appropriate and accurate. Those who want to focus on male-female complementarity in roles should be called complementarian; but if the focus is male leadership and female submission then the term hiearchicalism is the better term.

He finds three crucial and book-diminishing logical mistakes in the book. There are others, such as guilt by association, but Cramer’s focus is on these three:

First, there is the fallacy of hasty generalization or selective evidence. This happens when supporting evidence is emphasized and counter evidence is ignored or minimized. [I found the same logical fallacy in Grudem’s approach to the warning passages in Hebrews.] Or when a universal claim is made on partial evidence. The problem here is that Grudem connects egalitarianism to liberalism; the former leads to the latter. Only there are so many contra indicators, esp the number of Wesleyan and Holiness women in ministry that vastly outweigh the number of “liberal” women in ministry (3 or 4 to 1), that the author is guilty of a hasty generalization. The correlation, then, is only possible. Cramer concludes that Grudem’s argument is ultimately a tautology.

Second, the fallacy of equating correlation with causation. This one is simple: that some liberals are egalitarians, or even if all were, there is no necessary causation between being egalitarian and becoming liberal. It is far more likely, something Grudem does not explore adequately, that other factors are at work, and not all of them the same between the two groups. Cramer suggests Grudem should have abandoned this logic and argued that egalitarianism or evangelical feminism could be called the new forms of liberalism. Grudem gives no logical reason “to worry that evangelical egalitarianism is a cause of liberalism” (7).

Third, there is the fallacy of the slippery slope argument, which the author criticizes in the case of the “trajectory hermeneutic” and which the author could have applied equally to his own arguments. This argument only works if there is a logical necessity between egalitarianism/Christian feminism and liberalism; there is none. Cramer: “there is simply no logically necessary relationship between these positions” (8). Cramer sees too many psychological issues at work here.

For those with a mind to listen, this will be a landmark article demolishing the logic of one man’s attempt to right the ship.

Can you grow out of a local church?

Last updated on: May 6, 2013 at 6:52 am By Scot McKnight

Michelle van Loon’s survey of 40+ leavers of churches includes the claim that some have outgrown what their local church offered.

Is it possible to spiritually “outgrow” a local congregation?

It is not only possible, it happens more often than you’d think. One trend I saw in my poll of those over 40 was that a notable percentage of those who’d changed churches or decreased their level of “official” involvement at their present congregation did so because they’d grown past what the church offered….

Those over 40 grew up in what was dubbed as the Me Generation. The questions of selfishness are legit and need to be answered. But as I’ve already pointed out here, many who leave churches have valid and important reasons for doing so. What I’m hearing from those who’ve responded to my survey is that growth has often taken them out of churches where they’ve grown weary of passivity (all meaningful ministry is reserved for paid staff, or limited by gender/racial beliefs held by the leadership team) or the constant requests for time and money to support the ego-driven “vision” of a leader. I believe both of those reasons are markers of growth in a leaver, not a sign of selfishness.

Others who’ve changed congregations or stopped attending entirely noted that they’d found other non-Sunday-morning-in-a-church-building-centric forms of community, worship and service. And if you think a church leader might struggle to release Ken and Julie to move from independent Baptist to mainline Lutheran, imagine how difficult (and at first – and maybe second blush, irresponsible and uncaring) it would seem for a leader to release someone to…a small group, a parachurch ministry or community service with a side of podcast or online sermon watching.

With or without a pastor’s “permission”, people do move on because they’ve outgrown a congregation. And I find myself wondering today if it is harder to outgrow a church that understands itself to be a resource and a launch pad than it is to leave a church that functions as a spiritual destination. Few churches use this language of themselves, but that doesn’t change the reality that some congregations are precisely that – organizational terminal points for learning, worship and service.

From the Shepherd’s Nook: John Frye

Last updated on: May 1, 2013 at 12:18 pm By Scot McKnight

This post, by John Frye, is on the soterian gospel dilemma.

Having our sins forgiven and being accounted righteous, all through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, are tremendous transformative realities. What is troubling is the cavalier manner which these weighty truths are culled out and presented in the soterian scheme. Has God used the soterian gospel to save some? Undeniably God has, yet this does not mean the soterian gospel should escape serious assessment. Years ago I read about numerous irreversible acts of God that take place at the point justification. Behind the soterian gospel are these unseen actions of God that make it possible for the evangelizer to tell the evangelizee that he or she is “assured of heaven forever.” In the previous posts we have considered some pastoral implications of the soterian gospel. We will now consider the great dilemma in the soterian gospel.

In the soterian way, people listen to the gospel pitch, pray the generic prayer, invite Jesus into and onto the throne of their hearts, and then…and then, demonstrate no to little Christian transformation whatsoever. What’s more, they do not seem to really care that much about discipleship and life change. They are content being assured of heaven when they die and knowing “nothing can snatch them out of their Father’s hand.” Life is good, church attendance may be routine, personal Bible reading scarce, and the mention of an habitual prayer life invokes guilt. They have become what many call “cultural Christians.”

After living for a while in soterian gospel country, I began to ask, Did salvation “take”? Were all those invisible actions of God validly in operation and irreversible? “He that hath the Son hath life.” Does the evangelizee in fact have eternal life? Maybe the person prayed the prayer, not to ask Jesus into their heart, but to get the evangelizer out of their life. What now? Where’s all that assurance of salvation? We are introduced to the postlude of the soterian gospel song and dance. “Well, maybe they didn’t mean it when they prayed?” Or, this is a good one, “…they went out from us because they were not of us.” The potential converts were phonies. I do not recall being phony as an option in the soterian gospel presentation. Also, any legitimate questions the evangelizee might have had about the gospel spiel were tabled until later, after the “plan of salvation” was completed: a tremendous sales technique. The supremely urgent ‘gospel’ presentation cannot be mucked up with an authentic conversation. The soterian point is to get through the plan…to the prayer…and on to the assurance of salvation. In the shadowy theology behind the presentation, being able to announce “assurance of salvation” seems to be the end goal (telios) of the Cross. It appears, sadly, that people who are not in fact regenerate, because over time “by their fruit you shall know them,” have been assured of heaven when they die.

I imagine someone asking, “John, aren’t you being too hard on the proponents of the soterian gospel? They’re not mind readers, you know.” No, they are not. So why in the world are they so confidently telling people who exhibit no life change whatsoever that they are authentically saved? I truly lament this error for the authentic gospel’s sake and the church’s sake. Why?

Bring these cultural Christians into the church and what do you get? The USAmerican attractional model of church! “Give us happy worship. Give us compelling sermons. Give us safe children’s ministry. Give us loads-of-fun teen ministry. Give us sensitive women’s ministry. Give us ‘real man’ men’s ministry. Give us adventuresome short-term missions trips. Give us free counseling. Give us. Give us.” Since from the very get-go the soterian gospel is all about them having their sins forgiven and their going to heaven when they die, then certainly the local church must be all about them, as well. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. For too many evangelicals missional is a nonsense word.

Say to these folks, “When Jesus calls you, he bids you come and die” and they will get blank, confused looks on their faces and wonder if you believe in “salvation by works.” Tell them that not one doctrinal question will be asked at the judgment seat of Christ, but only questions about how they lived their lives for God or not, they go catatonic. Just read them 1 John 2:6, where John the Apostle wrote, “…anyone who claims to live in him, must live as Jesus lived.” Tell them that Christ-like living (non-self-centered living) is the authentic confirmation of Christian profession and they respond, “Get real. Jesus was God. I’m just human.” Yet in the midst of all this, my pastoral hope index skyrockets. When New Testament scholars and diligent pastors declare blazing truth that “Jesus is Lord” in the context of the robust “good news” of the kingdom of God, the flimsy soterian gospel fades. Can I get a witness?

A Survey: 40+ and the Church

Last updated on: April 29, 2013 at 5:46 am By Scot McKnight

Michelle van Loon did a 10-question survey; she’s not a social scientist. Here’s her survey. Here are two summaries: one and two. These are her conclusions, and I ask:

What do you think?

I’ve already noted that I’m not a social scientist or a statistician. But the number of the responses, and the fact that so many people took the time to add thoughtful comments (127 so far) has led me to a few conclusions:
The volume of response I’m receiving to this little survey tells me that people want to talk about these issues. Church leaders, are you listening?
A downshift in church attendance and program involvement by those who’ve moved second adulthood does not equal an abandonment of faith.Unfortunately, many churches only have two categories for attenders: “the committed” and “the not-so-committed”, and the sorting mechanism is based on affirming those who show up consistently and participate in church programming. That’s certainly understandable, but it doesn’t affirm the lifestyle realities that those in the second half face, such as caring for aging parents, grandchildren or a spouse; and increased travel or work responsibilities. Those at midlife and beyond long for community, and it will take creativity and energy to find new models to facilitate this.
Many who no longer attend church have been scarred by toxic church politics. In order to save their faith and sanity, they’ve left the institutional church. There is a need for gracious, healing ministry to these beloved brothers and sisters. It may not happen in the four walls of the church, but reaching out to some of the leavers with a goal of honor their battle scars (instead of shaming them for leaving!) is kingdom work 101.
Because about two-thirds of my respondents were female, I received a number of comments noting that some women did not feel welcomed or valued in their churches. While other women found a place of meaningful ministry in mentoring younger women, planning teas or giving younger women a break from nursery duty, these comments demonstrate that there are precious few other growth and serving options for gifted older women in many churches.
I was quite surprised by the number of respondents who told me that they do not believe their local church is their primary place of spiritual nurture. They’ve found other venues and groups where they can “get fed” and serve others. On one hand, this is a positive thing, as the church wasn’t meant to be a destination, but a launch pad. On the other hand, it is worth noting that the local church may not be doing such a hot job at cultivating community.

Singleness: Lise Speaks

Last updated on: April 19, 2013 at 2:43 pm By Scot McKnight

Many of you recognize the intelligence of so many of our commenters, an illustration of which is the exceptional comment from Lise last week on the post about singles. So good was it that it deserves a post by itself:

DeGroat wrote about the importance of safety. I think that is all any of us want from a ministry – that and authenticity. The problem with singles’ ministries is that they do tend to feel like a pick up joint or a place where people who don’t really have a life congregate. I personally don’t feel safe when I know I’m being sized up, and I very much have a life. The latter isn’t my problem.

Then if there is no singles’ ministry, basically one’s options are the women’s ministries or men’s ministries (depending on gender). While there can be great benefit to same sex groups, I find women’s activities in churches can be quite tedious – i.e. teas and quilting groups. I’d rather go to the men’s watch the ball game event. Or to something where both men and women come together for I don’t have a lot of male energy in my life and I miss that.

At one church I belonged to I was in the prayer ministry that happened to have a bunch of older couples on the team. I loved this because I was treated as a sister and as a person by the married men and women. While I didn’t meet any singles in the ministry, I felt safe and seen. This was the best ministry experience I’ve had. I also greatly benefited from watching loving couples relate to one another for my parents divorced when I was quite little. However, when it came to holidays, etc. people typically spent these with their blood kin. My parents are deceased so I have spent holidays with friends for years (Christian and non-Christian).

I think it would be really neat if instead of married people always mentoring a younger married couple, they instead picked a single person to mentor. But as this doesn’t happen often, some of my closest friends in the church are with women who are widows. Even though there is about a twenty/thirty year age difference between us, I find we relate well.

DeGroat also mentions desire and longing and this is a very important topic. Within desire are seeds of the divine so whenever I find myself in touch with these feelings, I ask the Lord to reveal to me the higher intention behind them. Instead of pushing the feelings away, I invite them to teach me something in the service of my spiritual formation. Likewise, we live in bodies and the sensual aspect of our earthly experience can’t be negated. For instance, why do the elderly yearn so much to be touched and why is my cat sitting on my lap right now as I type? We are embodied creatures and must learn healthy ways to live into this phenomenon.

I wonder if there is much distinction between the single woman’s experience and the single man’s. One thing I’ve noticed is if you’re a single older woman, your sexuality can be viewed as a great threat. It seems a single guy can chum more with a married couple but somehow if a female chums with a couple, there is more fear of seduction. I find this really sad. In fact, I even had someone in a church express concern when I joined FB because somehow by being engaged in social media, something bad was going to happen. I simply want to belong. I’m not looking to upset any apple carts. I’ve lived long enough on my own that I’ve actually become quite content.

Finally, I think people can grow in their sensitivity to those who have never married or had kids. Sometimes there is an outpouring of support for the young single mom – as there should be. But this support gets all tied into the cuteness of the child and Christian idolatry of babies. But what about the woman who attends baby shower after baby shower with a smile on her face of support for the other but who can’t conceive and/or has no partner to conceive with?

In my entire life experience, few have asked me what it is like to have all my friends marry and have children and me not. And although I’ve made peace with this I think, I still tear up at baptisms. I don’t think people intentionally miss the mark on empathy. They simply don’t think. If it’s not part of their life experience, they don’t imagine themselves there.