{"id":2731,"date":"2011-05-30T16:28:28","date_gmt":"2011-05-30T16:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/owenstrachan.com\/?p=2731"},"modified":"2011-05-30T16:28:28","modified_gmt":"2011-05-30T16:28:28","slug":"church-membership-is-unimportant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/","title":{"rendered":"Church Membership Is Unimportant"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>That\u2019s one line you\u2019ll never hear from 9Marks<\/a>, the ministry outfit helmed by Mark Dever. A few weeks back, 9Marks released a new eJournal on church membership<\/a>. This is actually the first eJournal they\u2019ve ever done on the topic. It\u2019s quite good, featuring commentary from Matt Chandler, Jonathan Leeman, Matt Schmucker and more.<\/p>\n

In a lengthy essay, I reviewed a book entitled The Next Christians<\/em>\u00a0by Gabe Lyons<\/a> for the journal. \u00a0The text purports to offer a new way forward for evangelicals today, a more positive, social justice-focused way that is based in a restorative gospel. \u00a0Lyons is a gifted strategist and a nice writer, but his book demands engagement and critique on a number of fronts. \u00a0I\u2019ll make no claims about quality, but as I said, the review essay does not lack in quantity: over 5000 words. \u00a0Happy Memorial Day to you, too.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a snatch from the review<\/a> that engages the idea that Christians are just now discovering cultural engagement and philanthropy. \u00a0You sometimes hear this from young Christian leaders today, but church history tells a different story, as I argue:<\/p>\n

[T]here are a good number of historic examples of Christians who desired \u201cto do good\u201d in the their culture and society as an outworking of their faith. Timothy George has said of the followers of John Calvin that \u201cLike the Franciscans and the Dominicans in the Middle Ages, Calvin\u2019s followers forsook the religious ideal of\u00a0stabilitas<\/em>\u00a0for an aggressivemobilitas<\/em>. They poured into the cities, universities, and market squares of Europe as publishers, educators, entrepreneurs, and evangelists.\u201d[21] Evangelicals have long been on the bleeding (not the leading) edge of philanthropy, cultural engagement and entrepeneurship. George Whitefield drew much of his living from the wealthy Countess of Huntingdon. The Sunday School was founded in America by Samuel Slater, owner of textile mills. The Clapham Sect and its protagonist, William Wilberforce, were supported by numerous English philanthropists.[22] The Tappan brothers single-handedly funded a substantial portion of the evangelical abolitionist cause in the 19th<\/sup>\u00a0century. Moody Bible Institute was founded by the largesse of Henry Parsons Crowell, the man who also gave us Quaker Oats. Evangelical history is littered with gospel-minded Christians who used their wealth for noble ends, just as the apostles were supported by rich Christians\u2014a point in favor of managing wealth wisely, not despising it (or spiritualizing poverty, on the other hand).<\/p>\n

Evangelicals have historically showed great generosity to the needy. Douglas Sweeney has spoken to the benevolence of Jonathan Edwards, pointing out that \u201cEdwards never made a show of it, but he loved to help the poor.\u201d In addition to speaking about it from the pulpit, Edwards, in the words of his pupil Samuel Hopkins, \u201cpractis\u2019d it\u201d in private to such an extent that Hopkins judged that \u201chis Alms-deeds\u2026if known, would prove him to be as great an Instance of Charity as any that can be produced in this Age.\u201d[23] The theology of Edwards included a hugely influential and largely unknown idea called \u201cdisinterested benevolence\u201d that helped spawn what historians call the \u201cbenevolent empire\u201d of the nineteenth century in which countless Christians, imbued with a love for God and his gospel, gave their time and money to what were called \u201cbenevolent societies.\u201d This movement, profiled by Martin Marty, was one of the biggest cultural phenomena of the nineteenth century.[24] The National Association of Evangelicals, formed in 1942 and helmed by Harold Ockenga, included a substantial social outreach component.[25] Even the much-maligned fundamentalists of the twentieth century devoted considerable time and attention to mercy ministry, as Joel Carpenter has shown.[26] This trend continues into the present and recent past. Jerry Falwell, whose death signaled for Lyons the \u201cdeath\u201d of \u201cChristian America,\u201d founded a thriving, wide-ranging, and virtually unpublicized ministry to unwed pregnant mothers called the Liberty Godparent Home, among other ventures.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here\u2019s the whole kit-and-caboodle.<\/a><\/p>\n

And once again, a warm and happy Memorial Day to all of you, one filled with remembrance of those who have sacrificed for our safety and flourishing.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That\u2019s one line you\u2019ll never hear from 9Marks, the ministry outfit helmed by Mark Dever. A few weeks back, 9Marks released a new eJournal on church membership. This is actually the first eJournal they\u2019ve ever done on the topic. It\u2019s quite good, featuring commentary from Matt Chandler, Jonathan Leeman, Matt Schmucker and more. In a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1217,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,73],"tags":[13037,13093,1131,1337,1365,1521,1671,1708,13182,1961,1997,2419,2560,2844,2910,3087],"class_list":["post-2731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews","category-church-membership","tag-9marks","tag-church-membership","tag-douglas-sweeney","tag-gabe-lyons","tag-george-whitefield","tag-henry-parsons-crowell","tag-jerry-falwell","tag-john-calvin","tag-jonathan-edwards","tag-martin-marty","tag-memorial-day","tag-quaker-oats","tag-samuel-hopkins","tag-the-next-christians","tag-timothy-george","tag-william-wilberforce"],"yoast_head":"\nChurch Membership Is Unimportant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"That's one line you'll never hear from 9Marks, the ministry outfit helmed by Mark Dever. A few weeks back, 9Marks released a new eJournal on church\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Church Membership Is Unimportant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"That's one line you'll never hear from 9Marks, the ministry outfit helmed by Mark Dever. A few weeks back, 9Marks released a new eJournal on church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Thought Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-05-30T16:28:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/files\/2011\/05\/9marksmembership.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Owen Strachan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/\",\"name\":\"Church Membership Is Unimportant\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-05-30T16:28:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-05-30T16:28:28+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\"},\"description\":\"That's one line you'll never hear from 9Marks, the ministry outfit helmed by Mark Dever. A few weeks back, 9Marks released a new eJournal on church\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Church Membership Is Unimportant\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/\",\"name\":\"Thought Life\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53\",\"name\":\"Owen Strachan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Owen Strachan\"},\"sameAs\":[\"brandygrenier\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/author\/ostrachan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Church Membership Is Unimportant","description":"That's one line you'll never hear from 9Marks, the ministry outfit helmed by Mark Dever. A few weeks back, 9Marks released a new eJournal on church","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Church Membership Is Unimportant","og_description":"That's one line you'll never hear from 9Marks, the ministry outfit helmed by Mark Dever. A few weeks back, 9Marks released a new eJournal on church","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/","og_site_name":"Thought Life","article_published_time":"2011-05-30T16:28:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/files\/2011\/05\/9marksmembership.png"}],"author":"Owen Strachan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Owen Strachan","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/","name":"Church Membership Is Unimportant","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website"},"datePublished":"2011-05-30T16:28:28+00:00","dateModified":"2011-05-30T16:28:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53"},"description":"That's one line you'll never hear from 9Marks, the ministry outfit helmed by Mark Dever. A few weeks back, 9Marks released a new eJournal on church","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/2011\/05\/church-membership-is-unimportant\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Church Membership Is Unimportant"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/","name":"Thought Life","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/75c661f536302cda0daa8b7615fd8e53","name":"Owen Strachan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2dbab262f37be4cfe0660ee979173e8f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Owen Strachan"},"sameAs":["brandygrenier"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/author\/ostrachan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/thoughtlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}