January 31, 2008
Randy Pope - The Journey (Discipleship) - GCA Conf
Pastor Pope suggests contacting Bill Wood. Wood, a former GE executive, is on their staff and his entire job is to help pastors who ask for help. Pope, Wood and others are now trying to make this material available to others.
LIFE LEARNING REGARDING DISCIPLESHIP
1. The importance of investing in faithful followers of Christ.
2. The need to equip apprentice leaders.
3. The advantage of multiplication.
You sign up to go to the Discipleship Group for one year. If your leader finds you faithful, you are allowed to go for a second year (if you agree to do so). It is meant to last three years. After three years, you are done. (And they've actually struggled to get the people out of these groups.)
They encourage leaders to start their group with four people. These are all men or all women groups. It is four people + a leader. And then, they tell the leader: "Ask the two more mature folk of the group to agree to sign up for a two-year, rather than a three-year, period." So:
FIRST YEAR:
Leader
Two Rookies
Two Veterans (the ones you've selected)
Next year: the veterans can only come back if they agree to lead a group the next year (could be a group for youth or kids). Hence, they become assistant leaders. If they don't agree, they are done. If they agree, they ALSO each need to go out and get two rookies.
SECOND YEAR:
Leader
Two Veterans
Two Assistant Leaders (ALs)
Two Rookies - that the leader recruited
Two Rookies - that one assistant leader recruited
Two Rookies - that another assistant leader recruited
And some part of each meeting is spent divided: Namely, the two Assistant Leaders with their four guys/gals.
So that's how the the group multiplies. Perimeter church has gotten 5,649 people through this cycle in 10 years.
Can a non-Christian join a group? Randy says yes, because it has worked so often.
What if a husband and wife both want to be in a group -- they would have to be in separate groups, but how would they swing it family-wise? Some groups meet at lunch, others in the morning, and others in the evening. And they do tell church attenders, "This might not be the right thing for you at every time in your life."
About 20% of Randy's groups are really good, and about 20% are basically "small groups on steroids" (i.e., not much more than a small group). They do coaching to try to take them up.
4. The importance of having an excellent curriculum.
Pope went off on a retreat and thought about what things people need to be strong. And he put that into a three year program.
5. The importance of a balance between biblical, systematic and practical theology in one's curriculum.
6. The necessity of balance between structured and organic discipleship.
7. The advantage of multiple group synergy.
Try to find a place where lots of groups can meet at the same time. (E.g., in a large cafeteria) Pope does this for the groups that meet at night. All the group leaders have dinner together on Monday night. Pope stresses one truth for about 10-15 minutes. All the leaders interact socially. And then they all go off to run their groups. [The groups that meet in the morning or over lunch do not receive this benefit.]
8. The necessity of good theology in the follow-up of new believers.
TFL -- Theological Foundation for Leaders. This is material that Pope had developed for elders. They decided to offer it by invitation to any prospective leader, not just prospective elders. You cannot get nominated to be an elder or deacon in their church until you have been through this program.
Perimeter Church now has 225 elders. They have about 50 people ready to become elders.
With respect to their curriculum, over the years they have pulled out three topics:
1. How to share your faith
2. How to discover your gifts
3. How to know the Bible is the Word of God
They found that their discipleship leaders were not strong in teaching this material. So they now receive it en masse from Pope or some other church leader.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Besides taking care of your family, what do you need to be diligent in as a church planter?
1. Be a sincere worshiper.
2. Be faithful at sharing your faith with non-Christians.
3. Be an effective disciple trainer.
For Pope, lunches with non-Christians and a small group on Monday night are his #2 and #3.
Randy Pope - Life on Life Missional Discipleship - GCA
Randy Pope is the Founding Pastor, Lead Teacher & Directional Leader of Perimeter Church in Duluth (Atlanta) Georgia, a church of 6000 devoted to reaching the unchurched of North Atlanta and the world. Perimeter has helped plant twenty-four churches in the Atlanta area and has helped start 6 training centers worldwide to facilitate church planting. Perimeter also has partnerships with nationals in 8 countries to help train leaders for the church. Randy is a graduate of the University of Alabama and Reformed Theological Seminary. He moved to Atlanta in 1977 to plant Perimeter Church, a congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). His vision and commitment to make and train disciples is known throughout the Christian community. He has recently established Life On Life Ministries, where he will continue to train church leaders both in the United States and throughout the world. He has been a guest lecturer at numerous seminaries throughout the U.S. and is also a frequent guest speaker for college ministries in the Southeast United States. Randy is the author of three books: The Intentional Church: Moving From Church Success to Community Transformation
The subject of Pastor Pope's message is Birthing Life-on-Life Missional Discipleship Within The Church.
THE PASTOR AS A DISCIPLE TRAINER
1. Our churches must have an effective and intentional plan to make mature and equipped followers of Christ.
What does a mature and equipped Christian look like?
Good stewards of their possessions, responsible, good husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, Bible-saturated, etc.
Are the things that you are doing helping them get there?
Pope went away on a study leave to study the issue of spiritual formation. He was convinced that their church was not as great as people were saying it was. That was about twenty years ago. And today, Pope believes this is the single most important issue: life-on-life missional discipleship
2. The present day church (for the most part) has embraced an ineffective plan for making mature and equipped followers of Christ.
Case study: Let's say you have a friend whom you think is an alcoholic. They have all the symptoms. But they deny it. Can you help them? No. OK, let's say they admit it. But they say, "I have decided, right now, to stop immediately." Do you think they would succeed? Probably not.
OK. So what if he says, "I want to quit, but I don't know where to start." What do you say? Maybe AA, or accountability. Pope would say neither. He would say Rehab. Sign up for a serious program. Let's say he goes, and then gets out. He now says, "I have zero desire for alcohol." Do you think he'll stay faithful? If he doesn't, what would you do? Now we would say AA or something like that.
Every believer has had and/or is presently under great bondage (addiction) to sin. (Eph. 2:1-3)
So can we help someone who says they have zero problem with sin? No. Can you help someone who says, "OK, I quit sinning, effective immediately." Well, we know that won't work either. So what else might we suggest? Rehab. Well, what's that? Not the church, but the cross.
We remind them that we still have a sin nature, the world, the flesh and the devil. We are in a fight. So after rehab, then what? AA. Because (routinely) there will be relapses.
What makes it work: An accountability group with a qualified sponsor.
What many pastors do is they come up with program-based churches.
A church is program-based when its primary method of making mature and equipped followers of Christ centers around the delivery of truth through the vehicles of church programs (i.e., seminars, preaching and classes, etc.).3. Life-On-Life laboring in the lives of a few is God's master plan for making mature and equipped followers of Christ.
Life-On-Life discipleship can be defined as:
1. Having a suitable life product.
2. Being intentional about imparting that life product and
3. Doing the right things to impart that life product.
Note that Jesus was intentional about choosing his disciples.
Pope had people at his church think of all the people they knew at the church that had gotten saved. Then he asked them how many of them were in their small groups. He found that most small groups were not reproducing Christians. But people in Pope's small groups were getting saved. What was Randy doing that was different?
T - truth
Not turning a small group into a Bible study. It does not foster life-changing discipleship. It does give a foundation so that life-change can happen. Randy tells them: Studying the Bible is what the small group should be doing all week long. We get together and do something with it. RATHER than "We do a Bible study, and then we don't do anything with it the rest of the week."
E - Equipping
He'll ask them, "How was your time of personal devotions/worship all week long?" They'll say "Great." Pope will say, "OK, so why don't we just do it right now?" And they'll do it. And then he will ask them how it went. And they will say, "Amazing." (In other words, NOT like it was for them all week. As a result of being guided by Pope, they have now been equipped to have devotional times on their own.)
A - Accountability
Theological content without accountability leads to legalism. Asking hard questions, challenging bad behavior.
M - Mission
S - Supplication
A church is TEAMS-Based when:
1. Its primary method of making mature & equipped followers of Christ centers around the use of truth, equipping, accountability, mission & supplication. AND:
2. Its primary outreach, nurture, education, care, discipline and equipping takes place in discipleship teams where the leader is considered the shepherd and a target group is considered the mission field.
Ken Blanchard, a business guru, gives these instructions:
Direction --> Coaching --> Support --> Delegate
That's the order. Do NOT go from direction --> delegate. Otherwise, you will create disillusioned learners. And that's what churches do, sadly.
Preaching, sermons, classes -- all of it is Directing. And we cannot go immediately from directing to letting them go at it on their own.
4. Without life-on-life discipleship we run the risk of producing immature believers, at best and disillusioned learners at worst.
To church planters, Pope advises: immediately build a second story. (of Christians who can equip others.)
Our version of "Direction --> Coaching --> Support --> Delegate" is:
"Truth - Equipping - Accountability - Mission - Supplication"
If we truly want to develop disciples, this is needed. Truth is still important. The importance of experience does not diminish the importance of truth. People won't be discipled beyond the truth they know.
LIFE LEARNINGS REGARDING DISCIPLESHIP
The importance of investing in faithful followers of Christ.
Discipling is hard work. A group is only as good as your orientation into the group. Men with men. Women with women. The downside of this model is complexity.
He likens the discipleship process to a physical trainer who meets with a group to exercise a few times a week, with a trainer. That trainer, and those others, are a strong motivation to get up in the morning and go. The group Pastor Pope disciples functions very similarly.
Al Guerra - Hispanic Ministry - GCA Conf
Al Guerra was born in Cuba in 1955 and came to the United States in 1968. He grew up in New York City and attended Southern Connecticut State University. He attended the Emmaus Bible School, and after marrying Mónica, a native of Argentina, began studying at Talbot Theological Seminary in southern California. In 1986 Al began to pastor a Southern Baptist Church made up of only seven families. During the next ten years, the church grew to 350 people. In 1995, Guerra also began teaching part time at a Southern Baptist Seminary. In 1996, the Association of Southern Baptist Churches asked him to serve as a consultant for 84 Hispanic Churches in the Houston area, which he did as part of a denominational team of leaders. Beginning in June of 1998 he became lead pastor of the Hispanic Congregation of Wheaton Bible Church which has grown from 150 people to over 500 people today under his leadership.
Pastor Guerra proposes structuring a Hispanic church along a one body - two arms model. Meaning: One church, with a ministry to Spanish-speaking folk within the church. The children of Hispanics may naturally get enfolded into the English speaking service (or "arm" of this "one body"). Guerra is the senior pastor of the Hispanic arm of Wheaton Bible Church, and another man is the senior pastor of the Anglo branch.
KNOWING THE HISPANIC PHENOMENON
In 2003, Hispanics surpassed African-Americans as the biggest minority in the U.S. It is estimated that about 30% of these are illegal. In Chicago, the birth rate of Hispanics to Caucasians is about 5:1. By 2010 there will be 56 million Hispanic-Americans in the U.S., most of whom will have been born in the U.S.
(Guerra likens the situation to the Israelites in Egypt, "multiplying, and becoming a concern to the Egyptians.")
Latino Issues: Undocumentation/Illegality, Housing, Education, Law Enforcement, Employment.
So now the looming question: Are we, the Anglo church, going to minister to the illegal immigrants?
Why do Latinos risk the illegal status? They have the same desires as others, which become idols. They are willing to break the law to get their idols (money, freedom). Guerra tells them, "You are here to meet Jesus."
THE HISPANIC CHALLENGE
"The health of the American Church will depend upon its ability to attract minorities to Jesus Christ, and to equip and activate them for ministry."
3 Keys: Attract, Equip, Activate.
How: Paving the way for successful minority ministry.
STRUCTURING THE HISPANIC MINISTRY
1. Know your demographics. Don't plant a Hispanic church unless there is a sizable local Spanish-speaking community. That said, the "one body, two arms" can be extended to "one body, eight arms" (Hispanics, Chinese, Korean, etc..). Can be multiple services inside or outside the church.
2. Lead by Sound Theology Christ has died for sinners from every nation and tribe. Particular redemption is a motivating influence.
3. Assess the Elders' Hearts
4. Choose a Fitting Model
5. Follow a Strategic Process
6. Secure a Bi-cultural Leader
7. Implement a Plan
8. Encourage the Leader's Heart
9. Evaluate and Adjust
10. Celebrate
Next Guerra went into more detail on SOUND THEOLOGY.
SOUND THEOLOGY
1. By whose authority are we seeking a "multi-arm" church? (Matt 28:18-19)
2. What model?
"That they may be one JUST AS the Father and I are one." (John 17:21-23)
Two purpose (HINA) clauses in the Greek in this passage. "That they might be one IN ORDER THAT the world may know that you sent me." and "that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me."
3. What power? (Eph. 2:14-22)
A great passage for Hispanics. Jesus Christ gave Hispanics reconciliation with God. Guerra once told a large group of Hispanics, "Your struggle is the struggle that God had with humanity. We were all illegal and we broke the law. God could have given us justice -- expelled all of us and sent us to the back of the line....all the way to hell itself. Or, God could have given us mercy -- amnesty. You can stay. But what did God do? He did both. He took the weight of our sin and law-breaking upon himself."
4. What vision? (Rev. 7:9)
Guerra believes that we will all worship in different languages in heaven, but that we will all understand each other.
5. Culture Counterfeits
*Homogeneous Principle - a true social principle. McGavern recognized that people come to Christ when there are fewer cultural barriers. What that created in the church growth mentality -- let's just create a market, and go after it.
*Heart Problem
- Prejudice (James 2)
- Earthly wisdom (James 3:13-18)
- Fleshly idols (Gal. 5:19-20)
- National pride (Is. 56:6-7) - when one people doesn't want to reach another people.
6. Assessing the Heart
Psalm 139:23-24:
"Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"1. What does my heart say? "O God, and know my heart"
2. What am I afraid of? "anxious thoughts"
Guerra's church is congregational-led (with elders). It is sometimes hard to get people to come to the annual meeting. Consequently some are concerned that Hispanics could rock the vote at an annual meeting, and pass some measures that the Anglo congregation did not fully support.
3. What do I need to change? "any grievous way in me"
4. Can I trust Him? "lead me"
MINISTRY MODELS
1. Host (rental) [the minority church rents from the Anglo church]
2. Department (Sunday School for the Hispanic ministry)
3. Multi-cultural (distinct worship)
Bill Hybels came to observe the WBC model, but did not like it. It would break up their people. But the Hispanics loved it, because there would be a service in Spanish with good preaching, and they could still go to the other things they like in the larger Anglo church. Hybels eventually went to Guerra's model, because video-projecting his sermon (with Spanish translation) was not working very well at engaging Hispanics. Anglos are going for the video, multi-site deal, but Hispanics find it far less winsome. Hybels called a gifted, energetic speaker from Mexico, and now they have about 300 Hispanics in just two years.
A woman asked: Doesn't this model encourage segregation? However, by having two arms, Spanish-speaking gifted Christians have an ability to lead and serve without the high language barrier. It is not uncommon for former engineers or other professionals to have menial jobs in the US because they never overcame the language barrier. Folks like this can function at a higher level if the language is not a barrier.
4. Multi-ethnic (translation)
5. Multi-church (self-governance)
6. Outreach (church plant)
7. Partnership (existing)
8. Adoption (resource)
9. Assimilation
10. Blended
For Guerra, the Hispanic church supports the Spanish-speaking portion of the church. The facilities are all shared. The Hispanic body has a $360,000 annual budget and is now self-sustaining. (The overall church budget is about $7MM.)
INTRICACIES
Finances
-- First answer Why, then How
*Rent
*Line-Item Budget
*Separate Accounts
How Long do We Proceed?
*Based on Ministry Philosophy (Theology)
*Based on Results -- check back in three years and see how the worker is doing
If at 0-50 people -- reconsider initiative (termination?)
(Not every guy has the planting gifts; the guy may be a pastor but not a planter)
If at 100-200 -- renew ministry
If at 200-300 -- invest in the ministry
There are different levels of giftedness.
CELEBRATE THE ONENESS
Ordinances (baptisms or Lord's supper)
Special Dates (Thanksgiving)
-- from the start of the planning, include both groups
Calls for Repentance
Times of Need
KEY ELEMENTS IN COORDINATION
Planning is done with diversity in mind
Diversity is acknowledged; oneness is affirmed
Parts of service can be done in original language (one song/one prayer, translated)
Randy Nabors - Intro to Mercy Ministry - GCA Conf
INTRODUCTION
Randy Nabors grew up in the inner-city (housing projects) of Newark in a church that had a strong commitment to the city and its people. During his freshman year in college Randy was involved in urban ministry in the Watts community of Los Angeles, CA. Randy has served as the lead pastor at New City Fellowship in Chattanooga, Tennessee since 1976. He also serves as a U.S. Army Reserve Chaplain. Randy is a graduate of Covenant Seminary in St. Louis (M.Div). He has also done graduate work in urban sociology and urban ministry at the College of Urban Life, Georgia State University and Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Randy has taught and trained extensively in the areas of mercy and diaconal ministry.
He opened by explaining that the Lord had a specific calling in his life for urban ministry. His began serving in the church during his college years. That same church called him as a pastor after he finished seminary. In the turbulent 1960s, Nabors was involved in street ministry and was often surrounded by Black Panthers. A book that has strongly influenced Nabors and his wife is by Black and Free
The church started with Nabor and several others renting an apartment in Chattanooga, TN to reach children. And that's how New City Fellowship got started. Now there are over a thousand people that gather every Sunday. It is a very diverse church with regard to race and socioeconomic status. Nabors has served there for over thirty years. The New Songs churches that have sprung up here and there are daughter churches of New City Fellowship.
He explained that because they were in the heart of the city, they had to be concerned with mercy ministry. Mercy ministry is personal to Nabors, whose mother was a single mom with two children out of wedlock. She was converted through a special evangelistic meeting by a man named Ken Smart. This man visited Nabors and his mother after the evangelistic meeting and challenged them to put their faith in Christ. Both did. Deacons would later bless the Nabor home with food and other material goods.
Note: This session is introductory in nature. Mr. Nabors will be following it subsequent sessions with a lengthy multi-part series going into mercy ministry in more detail.
WHAT IS MERCY?
The Greek term for mercy refers to "bowels of compassion." Nabors defined mercy:
"Mercy is compassion toward those who are in need, resulting in action to alleviate that need through acts of charity leading toward self sustainment."We need to learn how to define need. Nabors notes that often we care -- we feel bad -- but we don't do anything about it, because we are not sure what the right course of action is. And we don't want to get burned. The reality is: working with the poor, we are going to get burned. There are a lot of con-artists. There are many dysfunctional people. They are going to make the same mistakes over and over again. So there are plenty of reasons NOT to take action. But mercy is not mercy until it ACTS.
Charity and development are different. We'll get into that. The wealthiest person in the world may need charity. They may have a traffic accident. At that moment, you may be the resource. But they can pay you later. Others cannot.
Leading toward sustainment......we want to help people so that they can help themselves. Nabors' family was often on welfare growing up. He notes that welfare kept them from starving, but generally maintained them in a cycle of poverty, and that was not right. It is not just the outside leverage that needs to change, it is the internal character of those in poverty that needs to change. And that is where the power of the gospel comes in.
People are in a progression toward self-sustainment. There are some who may never get all the way there. But we should still be moving people in that direction.
SALT & LIGHT
Nabors laments that so many churches are irrelevant because their people don't love others and make little impact on society. We have done the kingdom of God much damage with the materialistic captivity of the American church. We excuse it time and time again. It has got to change.
Nabors took us to Matthew 5:13-16:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."Many churches have lost their salt. Nabors is not talking today about individual acts of mercy; rather, this is about making mercy the DNA of a church.
Nabors mentioned the book The Church of Irresistible Influence: Bridge-Building Stories to Help Reach Your Community
The gospel informs us not just about ourselves, but toward a world in need. We often spiritualize Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,.." as if it referred to the spiritually poor. Yes, we should be poor in spirit, but the original context in Isaiah is about the poor, the oppressed.
Those of liberal persuasion often do not understand folks like me, said Nabors. We are ahead of them in racial justice and the poor. We are bringing about transformation in the poor. We want to see the pimps and the drug addicts of today become the next generation of PCA elders and pastors. Those of conservative persuasion like us because we preach the gospel, but they often wish that we only preached the gospel.
MOBILIZING YOUR CHURCH INTO EFFECTIVE MERCY MINISTRIES
You need to weave this into the DNA of the church from Day 1. Your people need to understand that they are in the kingdom of God by sheer mercy. As a church, you are going to have to deal with unplanned pregnancies and many other messy things. You are going to need to train deacons and to encourage them to use that gift. So how do we MOBILIZE our churches into EFFECTIVE mercy ministries?
It requires a lot of wisdom. Beg, borrow and steal ideas from wherever you can. Wisdom in mercy requires the development of principles, methods and skills.
PRINCIPLES
Nabors asked attendees to name Scriptures that illustrated God's perspective on compassion/mercy. Session attendees mentioned passages such as Micah 6:8, the passage in Deuteronomy when we are commanded to be open-handed, Christ's teaching about the separation between the sheep and the goats. So do we help the poor only in the church or also those outside the church? Sometimes that question drags us down and we don't help either. There are passages which teach a priority: "As we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." (Gal. 6:10)
It is a tragedy that we don't train pastors in seminary about how to develop deacons. How to train them? How to teach them? What about limits in helping people?
"If a man shall not work, neither shall he eat." How do we reconcile that with Jesus saying, "If someone asks you for something, give it to them." There is a time when mercy becomes enabling. So then mercy requires that we withhold goods.
A biblical principle teaches us not to be naive about poverty and injustice. There is a myth that if anyone works hard, they can make it. The reality is that there is injustice in the world. So there are some poor folk that are in poverty not because of laziness but because of injustice which they've experienced.
METHODS
Here, you should beg, borrow and steal from others who have had success. There is cultural wisdom to be learned. Not every method will work in every context.
SKILLS
Many white folk don't grasp culture, so they don't have cross-cultural skills. They think different is bad. The sharpest and most painful cultural divide we have in this country is between white and black. And we need to communicate across that barrier.
Poor people are God's gift to us. We cannot give them away to the salvation army. Many churches say, "We don't have the poor in our church." Why not evangelize the poor and then you will have the poor in your church?
Nabors seems to disagree with those who teach "homogeneous church planting" -- you are depriving your church of having to love people that are different from them.
January 30, 2008
Tim Keller - The Reason For God
I'm about half way through the uncopyedited manuscript of Tim Keller's forthcoming The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. I am finding it to be an excellent read: lucid, engaging, and very fair to skeptics of all stripes who question the veracity and coherence of biblical Christianity. In the first half of the book, he takes on seven tough assertions he has frequently encountered as Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York city:
1. There can't be just one true religion.
2. A good God could not allow suffering.
3. Christianity is a straitjacket.
4. The church is responsible for so much injustice.
5. A loving God would not send people to hell.
6. Science has disproved Christianity.
7. You can't take the Bible literally.
Keller articulately and intelligently shows that many of these assertions stem from unwarranted assumptions. But his responses reveal more than a solid, rationale apologetic (as important as that is). Keller displays compassion for the emotional aspect prompting many of the doubters' concerns while remaining mindful of the noetic effects of sin. That balance, combined with logical cogency, is what makes Keller so worth reading, in particular on this subject.
The Reason for God is scheduled to be released on February 14, but is available for pre-order today. For just a few dollars more, it is available in an abridged audio format.
Huckabee - Still Kicking
And his supporters are still producing funny commercials:
CNN Analyst Bill Schneider's take on tonight's debate: "Huckabee, I think, stood out in this debate as the one who made sense, talked as ordinary people do, and rose above politics."
Ligonier Ministries 2008 National Conference
R.C. Sproul introduces the 2008 Ligonier Ministries National Conference (March 13-15) entitled Evangelism According to Jesus:
Nearly half the population of the United States claims to be "born-again." Self-identified "evangelicals" are a voting bloc courted by our major political parties, and a large percentage of citizens attend church services at least once a week. Yet, as we look at the culture around us, an unmistakable erosion of the Judeo-Christian ethic has taken place. God is regularly blasphemed, professing believers often live no differently from non-Christians, and many churches are captive to the trends of this present age.Two factors explain this set of contradictory realities. First, the church has failed to preach the biblical Gospel. Instead of preaching about mankind's depravity and the truth that citizenship in the kingdom of God comes only by the imputation of Christ's righteousness, we hear about a powerless and insipid Creator and the cheap grace He lavishes upon all. Secondly, because the church has failed to preach the biblical Gospel, our evangelism has too often introduced people to the wrong Jesus. We are told that "Jesus can give us our best life now" or that "He wants to be our best friend," and not that He is our Savior from enslavement to sin and the righteous judgment of God. As such, He demands a life of costly discipleship (Luke 14:25-33).
Registration is still open. Speakers are R.C. Sproul, Sinclair Ferguson, Steven J. Lawson, John MacArthur, C.J. Mahaney, R.C. Sproul Jr., and Joni Eareckson Tada.
Joel Miller - African American Ministry - GCA Conf
Pastor Joel Miller is the church planter of Providence Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which is about 4 years old. He was born in Dallas, Texas and has a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from Berea College, Kentucky and a Masters of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida. He has studied in West Africa and Central America and was commissioned in the United States Air Force Chaplain Corps. Prior to planting Providence Church, he served on the pastoral staff of Briarwood Presbyterian Church. Joel has been married for fourteen years and has four children.
Pastor Miller's church currently has about 170-200 adult attendees, about 150 of whom are committed. There is no dominant ethnicity in the church; on some occasions, African Americans have been in the majority, and currently Caucasians are in the majority. They also have some Asians and Latinos.
WHO IS AT THIS WORKSHOP
The attendees at this Advanced workshop are about 70% African American, and the others are Caucasian.
A district superintendent for the United Methodist church is here to learn more about developing multi-ethnic churches. Another gentleman here is currently pursuing a D.Min. at RTS and is interested in church planting among various ethnic groups. A woman is here who together with her husband is getting ready to plant in the NY City area. Some gentlemen from a plant in Knoxville, TN and the man coaching them are here as well.
THE IMPORTANCE OF A TARGET AUDIENCE
Miller noted that planting a multi-ethnic church has various challenges. A lot will depend on where you are geographically, and your particular gift set as a planter. Your target audience is who you are trying to reach. You need to know how to define your core constituency so that you can best reach them.
At the beginning, many planters just want to have anyone. But, it is better to have a target group, Miller argued. That said, you are doing well if about 1/3 of your church is from your target group. The rest of the people will resonate with that target group. If you don't define your new church, and who you are trying to reach, Miller promises that other people who come into your church and will define it for you. They are not necessarily malicious, they just naturally fill a leadership void (and can become an irritant for you).
Miller explains that his church has a target audience of 22-38 year olds. They had a wealthy man whose wife wanted to sing in a certain style every week as a worship leader. But it was a style that was somewhat irritating to Miller's target audience. So they asked if, out of respect for others, she would do that singing toward the back of the sanctuary, rather than as part of the worship team. The couple decided to leave the church instead. Miller, of course, was not asking them to leave the church, but this is the sort of price he had to pay in order to remain focused on reaching his core constituency.
Age, income, place of origin, neighborhood, language are all things to consider when you determine your core constituency. It is good to target younger families because that will help your church to grow. And generally the best place for a multi-ethnic church is in the center of the city. In some places in the south, there is a "white man = bad" mentality on the part of African Americans. Conversely, the Caucasians may be unaccustomed to relating to African Americans as peers.
The style of preaching, how people dress, the length and style of the service, the music....all these will impact the type of person who will attend the church.
Also, the identity of your target audience will impact the style of your brochure, website, and any marketing media (e.g., book marks, fliers). Do not use the phrase "multi-ethnic" in your official literature/website. It simply does not communicate appealingly to people. But, do use pictures that have people of various races (and relatively young, also).
Do not over-emphasize denominational identity on your website or elsewhere. For example, African American folk will not immediately embrace a PCA church. Miller recounted one of his members saying “I cannot believe I am in a Presbyterian church”--even though she had been there for two years.
LOCATION
Miller quoted Tim Keller about the importance of cities. Cities attract minorities, and people who work in the arts, business, publishing, and media. If you want to influence the world, influence the cities. There is vibrancy and open-mindedness toward interaction. Suburbanites can tend to be more isolated.
Miller contrasts some urban churches which are mainly mercy ministries (e.g., helping the homeless) from those that seek to reach urban professionals. The former tends to be primarily unilateral while the latter engenders a multi-ethnic community of peers.
Your facility has to be relatively neat. Americans crave order. Look for a combination of affordability and being at the geographic center of where various ethnicities reside. That probably means being at the heart of the city.
LOGISTICS
Miller suggests hiring musicians, especially at the beginning. Because good musicians attract other musicians. Miller would even suggest hiring vocalists. It took him awhile to come to this position. In established churches, everyone will sing along with Aunt Mable—not because she sings well, but because she had made us apple pies and helped us with the rent when we needed it. But if people don’t know Aunt Mable, they won’t feel those warm fuzzies. Instead, they will just say that she sings badly. And they probably won't want to come to your church.
If you are trying to reach professionals, think of the quality of music that these people are used to hearing. This also applies to the sound quality. Learn to say no to poor musicians. And don’t use people based on their race. Use different styles of hymns and music to reach different kinds of people. But let worship leaders do what feels comfortable/natural to them. Not every Caucasian will be able to lead with gospel-style worship music. Also, be aware that many African American communities are used to having a choir. You may need to make some compromises from time to time.
In your preaching, “Beg, borrow and steal.” Who is ministering to you? Take what is best from multiple preachers who bless you. But don’t steal their sermons verbatim.
Note that it often takes churches or pastors a few years to hit their stride. Often times, pastors are reluctant to talk about a successful church across town because they feel threatened or inferior. But "just because a net is full, doesn’t mean you can’t go over there and get fish." In other words, observe what they are doing and why. You may be able to catch on to something good. And despite the other church's success, there are still plenty of non-Christians to reach in your community. On these themes, Miller recommends Breakout Churches: Discover How To Make The Leap
As a planting pastor, know your gift set. Some people love to study. Others are better evangelists. Others are natural counselors. So a planting pastor needs a core group, and he needs to empower people quickly (especially if he needs to fill some gaps in his gift set). Develop lay leaders (even small group leaders) relatively quickly and give them specific requirements. And some tasks are vitally essential, like a welcoming ministry -- someone with a cheery smile to welcome new visitors, and to help them find the nursery. It can make a big difference in giving someone a good experience.
Whenever you develop people, there may be some betrayal and there will certainly be some who let you down. But bless them when they come and bless them as they go. God will use these experiences to form you as a leader.
Steve Ogne - Mobilizing Leaders - GCA Conf
Steve Ogne is a nationally known church planter trainer, coach and consultant for Church Resource Ministries & coauthor (with Bob Logan) of several church planter training manuals, including the best selling Church Planter’s Toolkit. He is also the co-author of the popular study kit Empowering Leaders through Coaching (ChurchSmart Resources) with Tom Nebel. Steve’s previous ministry experience includes pastorates at Community Church and Crossroads Community Church, both in California. He is a graduate of Azusa Pacific University, Talbot Seminary and is presently a doctoral candidate at Northwest Graduate School of Ministry. Steve and his wife, Jane, live in Somis, California, and have 3 sons.
This is another Advanced-track workshop.
WORKERS & LEADERS -- THEY ARE DIFFERENT
Church planting pastors must mobilize others. To do so, it is important to differentiate between a worker and a leader in the congregation. Simple definition of a leader: Somebody who people follow. In the effort to mobilize everyone, it is easy to forget to develop leaders. By default, we thereby mobilize those who would be leaders into being worker bees. The result is that God-given skill is not properly utilized.
SPOTTING POTENTIAL LEADERS
In a typical congregation, about 10% are capable of leading. Church planters need to spot them. If they are not raised up, people may naturally follow them anyway, potentially leading to division.
How to spot? Look for commitment to the church. Listen for their ministry interests and passions. Look for people who are capable, available, responsible, enthusiastic, and teachable.
ASSESSING POTENTIAL LEADERS
Once you've spotted them, you need to evaluate their placement for ministry. What are their spiritual gifts? How will their personality impact their ministry? Are they a leader or a strong player for the team? How strong is their spiritual and ministry commitment?
Ogne noted that if you have HR people in your church, they may already have the gifts to help you assess.
CHALLENGING POTENTIAL LEADERS
Describe the assignment and its value. Give a clear assignment, including a job description. Ask them to pray about it. Follow up.
One man attending the workshop shared that he struggles to get men in his church involved in leadership capacity because they are so busy with their jobs. Ogne noted that the temptation in that case is to give these men nothing more than a small job. But Ogne noted that if they are indeed leaders, you have to give each something big enough and important enough that he feels compelled to re-prioritize his schedule to make it happen.
NEED TO HAVE A CURRENT LIST OF MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES IN THE CHURCH, AND JOB DESCRIPTIONS TO GO WITH EACH OF THEM
List everything -- even the jobs you are only dreaming about. That way, if God brings that person along, they have a job to do.
Job Description: Include who the person is responsible TO, who he/she is responsible FOR, and three to five specific objectives.
INVOLVEMENT
Clearly define a pathway for involvement. (Example: I need to be here at least three months before I can apply to be a Sunday School teacher. If my application is accepted, I then need to attend a leader's training meeting, get interviewed by a pastor, and then I am good to go.)
Part of involving people is making sure that, as a pastor, you teach about spiritual gifts. Make sure you record it. Then you can include the CD in a baggie that you give to potential small group leaders (for example).
Have a person that they can talk to: "You want to get involved in children ministry? Talk to Mary. You want to get on the welcoming committee? Talk to Joe."
Sometimes we get so busy filling slots, then we don't empower people to do what they are gifted at and what God has laid on their heart. Ogne once had a nursery coordinator (which he desperately needed), but the woman wasn't happy in the job. It turned out what she really wanted to do was start a crisis pregnancy center. Ogne replaced her with someone else, and the former nursery coordinator went on to start a CPC, which is still active today (20 years later).
Again, In terms of vetting people for jobs, if you have HR people in your church, they may already have the gifts to help you assess.
"THE BUCK STOPS HERE"
We need to have REAL leadership positions to give out. REAL positions where "the buck stops here" and if they fail, they fail. Leaders learn most by actually leading.
1. Make them responsible for casting a vision and motivating people.
Ogne calls this "buck stops here" leadership. They -- the leaders -- need to be responsible for casting the vision and recruiting the group. Give THEM the responsibility to cast vision.
2. Make them recruit people and delegate responsibility. (They can't be a figurehead only.)
3. They need to coach and mentor other leaders.
4. If you want them to become pastors/church planters someday, they need to practice raising money and balancing a budget.
Lots of green pastors are financially unprepared.
So if they are responsible for a particular ministry, make them responsible for the budget for that ministry. If they want to do a retreat, make them responsible for raising the money. If they go over budget, make them go find the money somewhere else. Ogne mentioned that if you have a youth pastor who later wants to plant a church, this could include making him get a part-time job to make up the overage if he goes over budget. The man is very likely to learn his lesson if he is not "bailed out," and he will be a better church planter later on.
Don't establish policies that prevent lay leaders from developing the gift of fund-raising (for fear that it will hurt the offering). It limits developing them. Give accountability and guidelines, but avoid the extremes of (a) we'll give you all the money and (b) you cannot fund-raise.
HAVE A VEHICLE FOR STEWARDSHIP TRAINING
Ogne is a big fan of Crown Financial Ministries. He requires it for certain people in leadership positions.
How to learn fund raising? Ogne recommends People Raising: A Practical Guide to Raising Support
OTHER BASIC LEADERSHIP SKILLS
1. Developing a budget.
2. Developing an accountability plan.
3. Public speaking (including handling Scripture).
4. Time management.
POSITIONS TO GIVE PEOPLE WITHIN A CHURCH TO GROOM THEM FOR PASTORAL LEADERSHIP
1. Disciple Making - Relational evangelism combined with basic guidance for Christian life and growth (perhaps in specific areas -- e.g., biblical home order)
2. Apprenticing - On the job training for specific ministry assignments.
3. Coaching - Helping people develop their God-given potential so that they grow personally and make a valuable contribution to the Kingdom of God. (This can continue once they are in the pastorate.)
4. Mentoring - Holistic investment in the life of an individual to prepare him or her for a new season of life and a new level of ministry.
WHOM DO YOU MENTOR?
The church planting pastor should consider both general and spiritual criteria.
General criteria for evaluating professional leaders:
1. An ability to communicate
2. Managerial skills
3. The absence of scandal
Specifically biblical criteria for evaluating professional leaders:
1. Proven and consistent behavior, recognized by many (I Tim. 3:1)
2. Character which demonstrates the Holy Spirit's presence (Gal. 5:22-23)
3. Spiritual wisdom and uncommon sense
4. An amassed and an accurate theological knowledge
5. A natural bond of respect toward the mentor
6. Followers (a group to lead)
HOW DO YOU MENTOR?
1. Spend time with them
2. Help them integrate their life, learning and ministry
3. Give them on the job training
4. Allow them to have exposure to a variety of ministry contexts
Ogne sends them to good and bad churches. He has them visit once or twice and contact one of the pastors and ask a few questions. He wants them to see both good and bad, so that they'll know what both good and bad look like in a church setting.
THE POWER OF APPRENTICING
In many ministries, a leader needs an apprentice. An assistant stays with you forever. An apprentice is expected to move on. First you do it, and they watch. Then you do it together. Then they do it, and you watch. For unpaid positions, let them do it (with you watching) if they can do it 50% as well as you (because if you can move on to do something else, you still have a net gain in overall productivity, and they can learn the rest "on the job"). But for elder/pastor jobs, don't lay hands too quickly. Don't make an apprentice a leader until he is demonstrated faithfulness over a period of time. If he is faithful, his skill level goes up as you give him more responsibility. But if he is not faithful, he is not ready.
Make a list of which jobs require Christians to do them, and which jobs don't. Give some of the latter jobs to pre-Christians. (Ogne knows of cases when worship band members, not leaders, were non-Christians. They got saved by spending time at church and playing the drums or some other instrument.)
EVALUATING YOUR LEADERSHIP FARM SYSTEM
1. Are you evangelizing and making disciples of Christ?
2. Are you mobilizing people to get involved in ministry in some way?
3. Are you engaging rising leaders in ministry?
4. Are you integrating Bible and theological content into your leadership development?
Steve Ogne recommended these books by Paul Ford:
Unleash your church!: A comprehensive strategy to help people discover and use their spiritual gifts
Your Leadership Grip: Assessment Process
January 29, 2008
Daniel Montgomerty - Emerging - GCA Conf
This afternoon, I was again asked to attend an Advanced workshop. Montgomery noted "We want to have theologically driven churches." Our theology must be connected to our methodology and our methodology should be informed by our theology.
Biblical theology is concerned with the big picture. Given that God created something good, what is the hope for renewal? We have a God who is personally involved. Dualism (false dichotomies between sacred and secular, or material and immaterial) is thereby excluded. God created culture, so culture matters.
Creation:
Describes how life was meant to be lived. It provides us with a glimpse into what holy living (that is, wholeness and holiness) looks like from God's perspective, according to His intentions.Fall:
Explains how life became the distorted mess that it is today. It demonstrates why things are not the way they are supposed to be.Redemption:
Shows us how we can live life as we find it in the good of the gospel. It explains the way back to holiness and wholeness.Consummation:
Show us how life will be when Jesus returns.Three Perspectives on the Gospel (adapted from Tim Keller)
Cross
-Focus: Jesus' substitutionary work
-Call/Articulation: Jesus lived the life you should have lived and died the death you should have died. Rest.
-By Itself: Leads to a ministry almost strictly of apologetics, evangelism, and discipleship.
The cross is the basis for our ministry of reconciliation and missions.
Kingdom
-Focus: Kingdom now but not yet
-Call/Articulation: Receive the Kingdom. Reverse the world's values. Salvation came to the world through power; now receive it by surrendering your will and identifying with the poor and powerless. Repent, change Lords.
-By Itself: Leads to a ministry mainly of community-building and social justice.
Grace
-Focus: Grace vs. Works (performance)
-Call/Articulation: Accept your acceptance. You are more sinful that you dared to believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than you dared hope. Rely on grace.
-By Itself: Leads to a ministry emphasizing prayer, personal revival, and lots of personal counseling.
A balanced ministry emphasizes all three perspectives on the gospel: the cross, the kingdom, and grace.
Tom Nebel - Resisting Evangelism Entropy - GCA
Mr. Nebel began by coining the phrase "evangelism entropy." The laws of science teach us that entropy (disorder) tends to increase. While a church planter might start out with an organized approach to outreach/evangelism, entropy can quickly take over if he is not vigilant.
Individually: The Church Planter as Evangelist
Nebel noted that a church planter is a joiner. Whereas a pastor who accepts a call at an established church enters into a pre-established relational network (e.g., lay elders, perhaps other staff pastors, perhaps a diaconate, etc.), a church planter is (first of all) a missionary to his community. He needs to develop a relational network. Consequently, he should be joining organizations: school boards, rotary clubs, tennis leagues. All these sorts of vehicles represent opportunities for him to develop his connections, enhance his credibility, and put himself in a position to be used of God to reach sinners for Christ.
Nebel then introduced his main principle:
Main Principle: Have people of influence think and say good things about you and your church
This legitimizes your ministry. (Note that a good reputation with outsiders is an explicit requirement of elders. But Nebel is talking about something more intentional - going after the leaders in the community.)
Mayor, police chief, journalists, real estate agents, even local tavern owners. These folk will get you in the path of more folk--the more people in your network, the more likelihood that someone you know will have some life issue arise that prompts them to attend a new church, or to call you.
Mr. Nebel mentioned a particular man in the Associate Reformed denomination who is a very eager "joiner" (a Kimmons - sp?). One habit of this man is to keep his weekly Thursday lunch open in order to have a member of his congregation introduce him to some new person in the community.
Nebel confessed with regret that when he was planting a church in a small town in Wisconsin, he never met the most powerful landlord who owned almost all the rental properties. He exhorted the men:
You must keep on working on evangelism/outreach, otherwise you will stop.
Four "Drop In" Principles
1. Be a learner and ask for advice.
(Particularly from the very influential people in the town. "Hey, I'm new in town, I'm planting a church, I know you are an influential member of the community, I'd love to get some advice." Normally these sort of individuals will allow you to do a "drop-by.")
2. When doing a drop by, don't go away empty handed: ask who else you should meet.
3. Never close doors: ask permission to drop in again.
4. Give them your card and say, "If you ever need me, call me."
The reality is, you never know when your new friend might experience some personal tragedy. With regard to your business card, you want it to be graphically attractive and to have all your contact info, including your website. If you are in a bi-lingual community, you should have it in both languages.
(Editorial note: One church planter I knew presented the gospel in four brief points on the back of his business card. I found it quite distinctive.)
Four Questions
1. How many drop-ins can you do each week?
If you did two a week, that would be 100 influencers a year. Or it could be one new appointment a week, and one time circling back to refresh a previous connection. Two drop-ins per week really should be a minimum.
2. Who will encourage you and hold you accountable?
Learning this lesson is of no value to you if you do not put it into practice.
3. How will you track this?
Some sort of organizer (e.g., Palm Pilot, etc.).
4. When will you begin?
Nebel says the rule is this: If your church is stagnant, you need to spend 50% of your time doing outreach. (I guess the same would apply if your church is new. Actually, Nebel says the planter should always be doing outreach, no matter the size of the church.)
He had the attendees brainstorm as many types of people in life transitions as you can think of. What kind of ministries can we develop to capitalize on these transitions? Those undergoing a divorce, those recently divorced, those about to get married, newly married, those who have recently undergone the death of a loved one, those who recently had a new baby, or who have recently become empty nesters, immigrants arriving, job change/promotion/lay-off, newcomers to the community, addiction recovery, immediately getting out of jail, soldiers returning.
Nebel exhorted: You've got to meet the funeral directors in your city! They are often looking for pastors to pinch-hit, and that's a great way to meet people going through a crisis (and be able to communicate the gospel to them).
One gentleman planting a church shared how he was the voluntary chaplain for the police department.
Corporately: A Culture of Evangelism in the New Church
1. Fuel prayer throughout the congregation
2. Think about natural life transitions, and capitalizing on them in various ways (pre-marital classes, addiction recovery, etc.)
3. Do special Sundays (e.g., Easter, Christmas, Mother's Day)
Seasonal Considerations
Nebel noted that at certain times of the year, the planter needs to be thinking particularly in terms of outreach.
1. Church attendance tends to follow a three-hump camel. April, September and December tend to be peak times. Good times for outreach. The other times of the year are good for consolidation.
2. Grade your Sundays as "A,B,C, or D," depending on how many will be there. (The Sunday after Thanksgiving is probably a D Sunday.)
3. Consider a "draw" element (a personality, celebrity, etc.) The smaller the community the bigger the "star" looks.
4. Use giveaways to capitalize on follow-up.
5. Initiate a new series on an A Sunday. (That keeps newer people motivated to keep coming to hear more.)
6. If you need topic ideas for the "peak" (A) Sundays, think about God's love, power, and forgiveness. Those are always biggies on people's minds (Christians and non-Christians alike).
Martin Ban - Gospel & Cultural Engagement - GCA
Ban ministers in Santa Fe, NM, a beautiful and difficult place to live. The city is 40% Caucasian. There is a large lower (working poor) and upper class (movie stars) presence, but not much of a middle class.
Ban began by noting that as we try to do neighborhood evangelism and church planting, wanting to feed the nations with the pure milk of the Word, we are rejected by the community who thinks we're trying to push "pig's milk." Ban showed a picture here of a pink bus with pig's ears, the "mama pig" pushing her milk! So we either burn out from talking with too many people who don't want to hear what we have to say, or we feel guilty for not talking to people enough.
Is there another way to go about this?
Cornelius Van Til used to emphasize the equal importance of two truths:
1. God is one God.
2. God is three persons.
In other words, God is a community, and yet He is One. Our identity, if we are made in His image, is both as an individual and a community too.
Like Adam, we only know ourselves truly, while hearing God and gazing at others. Our identity is analogous to God's individual and communitarian nature.
This helps us overcome our fear of getting to know certain types of people who naturally intimidate us -- people that are different from us. Try to get to know them since they, too, are made in God's image. And we can learn something more about ourselves through them.
Ban embraces John Frame's Tri-perspectivalism.
Gospel -- Community -- Gospel Engager
God sends -- Son accomplishes -- Spirit applies
I. Normative Perspective
The Gospel is an unchanging and acoustic message of redemption that composes a holy community of different others. (I Cor. 15:1, 3-4)
If you have only 30-seconds to share the message of the gospel, use original language (i.e. the actual biblical text, like 1 Cor 15:1, 3-4) -- objective facts. Christ lived, died, and was resurrected.
We tend to think of gospel engagement as a linear engagement process. Goes from God to us, then from us to the community. But the truth is bigger.
The gospel is both unchanging and acoustic. To be "acoustic" means that the truth reverberates, as a sound wave would, in all three directions (God, self, community).
Pre-Creation: There was holy communion in the Godhead.
Post-Creation: He foreknows us in Christ, and we join the inter-Trinitarian fellowship. So the gospel goes OUT from God but it also penetrates Him deeply. (Mark 14:3-9 the forgiven woman had gained access to Jesus by virtue of the gospel having penetrated her life.)
We are to love "different others" to be like Jesus. Jesus loved us, and we are very different than Him. We should imitate this. The church is a new community of redeemed "different others."
Recommended Book on this theme:
Christine D. Pohl, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality As a Christian Tradition
Ban says that the young adults with lots of tattoos are the ones who most want an adopted dad/mom or grandpa/ma.
Reflection Point
What are some relatively easy ways for you to make room for different others now?
One idea: Have a birthday party for your kid, and invite all the kids his age in the neighborhood.
Ban intentionally chose a musical style for his church that was culturally appropriate to reach his community in Santa Fe -- appealing to people of all ages and stripes in that community.
(Ban is continuing this message in the next hour. He'll be looking at the situational perspective and the existential perspective.)
Global Church Advancement (GCA) Conference - Day 2
This morning I've been assigned to live-blog two Advanced-Track workshops. I should explain that there are three tracks of sessions represented here at the Global Church Advancement Church Planting Workshop.
Foundations Track - Establishing & strengthening vision, calling, mission, philosophy, values, styles, models, strategies and plans. This 15-session, 4.5 day training is "required" for those who have not yet gone to the field, and is highly recommended for anyone in need of revitalizing their church by revisiting all the "Foundations."
Essentials Track - Developing & growing ministries of prayer, worship, preaching, discipleship, groups, outreach, mercy, leadership and more. This 15-session, 4.5 day training equips the church planter to grow and strengthen the church from its embryonic or infancy stage to a mature, multiplying stage.
Advanced Workshops - 28 specialized workshops covering a host of vital topics, ranging from a half-day to a full-day
At 9 AM I'll be going to a session by Martin Ban called Gospel & Cultural Engagement. Then at 10:45 AM I'll be at a session by Tom Nebel called "Evangelism Entropy." I will not have attended part 1, so I'll do my best.
Martin Ban - has 18 years of church planting and senior pastor experience. Martin is a graduate of Austin College and Westminster Theological Seminary. He has planted churches in the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is currently the Senior Pastor of Christ Church Santa Fe PCA. Martin and his wife Mari Anne have 5 children (ages 20 through 7) and have been married for 23 years. They also have a dumb bloodhound named Ocho.
Tom Nebel - Director of Worldwide Church Multiplication for the Baptist Conference (BGC) and Associate Director of TeAmerica, the church planting movement of the BGC. He has participated in the planting of dozens of churches in Wisconsin and hundreds of churches across the United States. Tom is co-author (with Steve Ogne) of Empowering Leaders through Coaching, The Coach’s Logbook, Big Dreams in Small Places: Church Planting in Smaller Communities. His most recent book (with co-author Gary Rohrmayer) is Church Planting Landmines: Mistakes to Avoid in Years 2-10. Tom is a graduate of Denver Seminary and Fuller Theological Seminary. Tom and Lori make their home in Madison, Wisconsin, along with their two sons, Andrew and Matthew.
Stay tuned.
Young White Evangelicals Are Now Less Republican
I found this study from the Pew Forum interesting: The drop in Bush's popularity among younger evangelicals is more precipitous than among older evangelicals. 
Similarly, younger evangelicals are less likely to describe themselves as Republican than they were just a couple years ago.
I wonder if this helps explain, to some degree, the Huckabee effect among young voters in evangelical-dominated Iowa and South Carolina. In Iowa, Huckabee outperformed Romney, Thompson, McCain, Giuliani and Hunter combined among voters under 30. In South Carolina, Huckabee was the top vote-getter among voters under 45. Huckabee is widely viewed as a different kind of Republican because of his emphasis on racial justice, reigning in corporate corruption, and taking care of the environment. Also, note that the Pew Forum found that younger white evangelicals are even more conservative than their older counterparts on abortion, and Huckabee is clearly the most pro-life of all the candidates.
(HT: Jonathan Dodson)
January 28, 2008
Drew Goodmanson - Workshop - GCA Conference
I was asked to live-blog a seminar called The Internet & The Sovereignty of God by Drew Goodmanson. I found the seminar fascinating. Goodmanson is a pastor of Kaleo Church but he is also very involved in the Internet industry.
He opened by noting that this is an issue of contextualization. An increasing percentage of our culture is going on-line. Today's teenager has never known a world without ready Internet access. Most teenagers have iPODs. About 2/3 of them have cell phones. Social networking occurs not on e-mail but on tools like Myspace.
Avatar-based persistent social worlds. Older kids: Habbo Hotel, Gaia Online & Second Life. Younger kids: Webkinz, Whyville, Club Penguin. (Millions of dollars are exchanged annually in "second lives.")
Three Audiences for churches to consider with regard to the Internet.
1. Connecting with members
Increasingly, members will check their church's website several times a week, or more. They'll look for schedule info. They might want to post comments about the sermon.
2. Gather other Christians (like ones who move into the area)
The vast majority of those who visit churches do so because they viewed the website first. The reality is, for many, a crummy website will discourage them from attending.
3. Reaching non-Christians
70% of Americans go online. 93% of American teens aged 12-17 use the Internet. Americans aged 13-24 spend more time on-line than in front of the TV. 64% of wired Americans have pursued spiritual activity on-line. 45% of Internet users say they have made huge decisions via the Internet.
Web 2.0 -- what is it?
Mass collaboration
The blogosphere is doubling in size every 5.5 months. About 120,000 blogs are created every day.
YouTube -- traffic has doubled in the last year.
Facebook -- 65 billion page views per month (wow! That's more than my blog!)
Twitter -- massive spike in activity in the last 18 months
45% of teens post content on the Internet. There are many dangers. Things like "World of Warcraft" can be extremely addictive. Churches have lost people to such virtual worlds.
Church Website Trends
* Brochure websites. Links to PDF newsletters. (Stage 1)
* Dynamic websites. Content management system. Allowed frequent updates. (Stage 2)
* Interactive websites. Multiple administrators. Blogs incorporated. Syndication and API integration into other sites (e.g., iTunes, Sermon Cloud). (Introduces issue of management.) (Stage 3 -- NOW)
Many churches have a communication director, and they may delegate some comment moderation to certain individuals.
Things to watch for when designing a church website
1. Please do not use a splash or entry page for your website. (Will not perform well in search engines.)
2. Ensure your site works cross-browser (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.)
3. Don't create graphic directions without direction link.
4. Don't have a site with complex URLs. (will be hard to lead people to it)
5. Don't create a flash only or frames site.
6. Don't have your site built by a hobbyist in the congregation or use a generic cms template.
7. Don't use Christianese language. Will not be understood and received well.
8. Don't have outdated content, coming soon or missing content. (E.g., no service times)
9. Don't use annoying flashing icons and the like.
10. Don't seek to make money from your church's website.
Let your website be an artistic reflection of who you are. Kaleo Church displays testimonies, and is uploading video. Kaleo rebuilds their website every two years. A site like theirs probably costs about $10,000. And about $100/month for upkeep.
Another way to think about the shift is that in pre-Internet days, churches would toss out marketing/advertising literature and hope that it would arrest people's attention. But today, individuals are going online and saying things like, "I'm lonely." "I'm interested in God." And churches can be prepared to give targeted responses. For example, people frequently search on-line for pre-marital counseling. So if a church is advertising their pre-marital classes on-line, they will likely get some non-Christian visitors.
When you design a church website, it is important that it has a high Google rank. 93% of people do not go beyond the first three hits on Google. 53% of people do not go beyond the first page. 51% of people click on the top result. 16% click on the second link. (Another way to get clicks is to pay for a Google ad. Depending on how popular your geographic market is, you might pay anywhere from $0.05 to $0.25 per click.)
So how do you get a high Google rank?
1. Get relevant links. Links from relevant sites (not just any links).
2. Great content. This will encourage people to link to your site.
3. Keyword focus
4. Themed site, site structure
SEO Book by Aaron Wall -- they used to provide service to non-profits for free. It helps build web visibility.
Reach people when they need the church the most. Most families have some major issue every three years. A marriage, divorce, financial turmoil. Examples: Marriage, Death, Illness, Moves, Transition. Kaleo offers pre-marital counseling. They get many non-Christians who come and later come to Christ. Another church does hikes, and gets over 50% non-church attenders. The Rock (a church near Iowa State University) uses Facebook to connect with people.
In terms of connecting members, one church allows people reading through the Bible to leave comments about the passage being read. Other sites allow login to password-protected areas where conversations can be extended. (This works really well for gathering people of a certain flavor -- e.g., artists.)
Need to remember that the goal is not to stay online. The goal is to get into life-changing relationships.
Scotty Smith - Restoring Broken Things - GCA
I was asked to attend a workshop led by Pastor Scotty Smith, the first of a two-part series entitled "Restoring Broken Things." Pastor Smith began by showing a four-part picture which represented the over-arching story of Scripture: Creation, Fall, Love (the Cross), Life (the final resurrection).
Smith noted that dignity preceded the Fall. We were made for "unashamed nakedness." And in presenting Christ to other, we can look for these "echoes of Eden."
Before the prohibition in Eden there was provision. The fall resulted in every sphere of life being broken. Blame shifting began with the fall. Even today, Christian leaders endure the effects of the fall, in their own lives and the lives of those to whom they minister.
All the "heroes" in the Bible are deeply flawed. God is the only true hero. We need to see how we are characters in God's story so that we can become carriers of God's story.
But the cross shows us that Eden was just a preview of what was to come. The new heavens and earth will be better than pre-fallen Eden.
One of the sharp images of Romans 8 is pregnancy. We are currently pregnant with the Lord and there is no way of going backwards: we are destined to be as loving and as lovely as Jesus someday. It is easy for church planters to have greater joy in the logistical details of their church's growth than in the fact that we will someday be like Him. What did Jesus tell the 72 when they came back? "Rejoice that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life." How do we reclaim that rejoicing if we've lost it? [Church planters reproduce the kind of Christians that they are --- if you are bored and boring, so will your disciples be.]
The story starts with dignity (Garden, Pre-Fall). We need to remember that as we go about cultural transformation.
Smith asked us: Why do we mean "gospel of the kingdom" when we say "gospel"?
Many times the word "gospel" can refer to a private, individualized relationship with Christ. But the reality is that we are part of a larger, corporate renewal. We should have our eyes on the "city whose maker and builder is God." (Heb. 11) That will give us a vision for our own cities.
Gospel of the kingdom - personal redemption forms us as characters in the Story. But then we, as characters, become carriers and proclaimers of what God is doing. Since when Jesus comes, all oppression shall cease, we should be groaning with Him now -- groaning for true beauty to be seen now. And working for it, also. Even though our work will not be finished until Jesus comes. We certainly don't want to be found on the side of oppression when He comes.
By the same token, it is important for Christian leaders to periodical develop longing for the day when all God-belittling evil and oppression will be no more. We need to regularly work on our hearts.
Smith noted that sometimes we have a beautiful view of mountains and verdant greens from our window. But other times that same landscape is covered with fog. The beautiful reality is still there. Sometimes ministry gets very dark and tough. Yet the new heavens and new earth is coming.
There is organic and numeric growth. A church can grow by getting smaller. Church planting sometimes involves betrayal and loss. But we can persevere with hope because of the sure promise of God (new heavens, new earth).
Steve Childers - Plenary Session I- GCA
Steve Childers began by describing that he was able to visit a dungeon recently where African slaves were once kept. He reminded us that William Wilberforce struggled deeply with whether he should serve God or parliament. In the movie Amazing Grace, there is a powerful scene where a woman tells Wilberforce that He can do both.
So too, we surely want our lives to account. We too, like Wilberforce, need to align our purposes with God's.
God loves to manifest his presence and pour out his power on those who will dare to align their purposes more with his.
[Note: I was able to put this up quickly because I received an advanced copy of Childers' notes. Those attending the Conference received a large training manual; in what follows below, I frequently grab sentences from this manual.]
Childers then stressed the importance of vision – not just for a particular church plant, but for how church planting fits into God’s mission in the world of bringing glory to Himself by redeeming sinners out of every tribe and language and people and nation (Rev. 5:9). God’s vehicle for accomplishing this is the church. We need to see our personal stories within God’s over-arching story.
Childers' message was broadly divided into four headings:
I. A Vision for the Glory of God
II. A Vision for the Kingdom of God
III. A Vision for the Church of God
IV. A Vision for the Gospel of God
I. A Vision for the Glory of God
Key Question: What is God’s purpose for the world?
Answer: To bring glory to God.
Childers referred to several Scriptures that make clear that Man was made for the glory of God (Matt. 6:9; Ps. 86:9; Rom. 15:8-9). He used this well-known Piper quote:
“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.” John Piper, Let the Nations Be Glad
Against this backdrop, the bad news is that Paradise has been lost due to the Fall, with the result being that the whole world is under the control of the evil one (I John 5:9). The good news is that a new world is coming (Col. 1:19-20) and humanity will be restored (Rev. 7:9). Fallen Creation will be restored (Rom. 8:20-21; Hab. 2:14).
II. A Vision for the Kingdom of God
Key Question: How has God chosen to glorify His name among all nations?
Answer: Through the expansion of His kingdom.
We are now living in a very unique period of time--between the resurrection of Jesus and the restoration of all things through Him.
“Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Today, we are to be making God’s invisible kingdom visible. Jesus, we’re told, “went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.” (Matt. 9:35-36) Yet the gospel is often proclaimed in virtual disregard of spiritual formation (doing the business of making disciples) and social transformation (pursuing righteousness and justice). Childers suggests that the roots of this problem can be traced all the way back to ancient Greece. Much of today’s Christianity has been unduly influenced by Greek Philosophy (Platonic Dualism)—which emphasizes a great division between things like: 1) the soul and the body or 2) the spirit and matter or 3) the spiritual and the social. Since the time of Augustine, this merger of Christian theology with Greek philosophy has been commonplace—resulting in a tendency to regard spirituality as a private matter and to ignore the world.
Childers then challenged us to examine how sin has damaged the particular culture in which God has placed us. (Most attendees are new church planters.) What injustice, church planter, exists in your city? How about poverty? Materialism? Prejudice? Oppression? Shame?
We are to make the invisible kingdom of Christ visible in every sphere of life.
III. A Vision for the Church of God
Key Question: How has God chosen to advance His Kingdom in the world today?
Answer: Through the multiplication of churches.
Paul’s ministry passion was not merely to preach the gospel to as many people as possible but to plant churches in every nation. In the book of Acts we read, “They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples…Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church…” (Acts 14:21-23) God has chosen to advance his Kingdom purposes through the Church. New churches are kingdom outposts and the hope of the world. The church is the only institution designed and ordained by God for the spiritual, social and cultural renewal of all nations.
“The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else—not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, growing mega churches…nor church renewal processes—will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting.”--Tim Keller
What is a “Church”?
• The preaching of the Word: Sound, biblical teaching.
• The proper administration of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
• The presence of church discipline: Qualified (1Timothy 3, Titus 1) and ordained spiritual leaders committed to maintaining purity of church doctrine (orthodoxy) and life.
Paul desired to see a network of gospel-centered churches established.
IV. A Vision for the Gospel of God
Key Question: How can we be empowered to do this?
Answer: The gospel is the power to save the lost and to grow the saved.
1. Good News for the lost: A new record
God promises to save from sin’s penalty those who believe in Christ and to consider them as His beloved, chosen children forever (election). As Judge, God promises to accept the sacrificial work of Christ as satisfying (propitiating) his just wrath against man and consider man’s sin imputed to Christ and Christ’s perfect righteousness imputed to man (justification). As Father, God promises to accept and love those who believe in Christ just as he accepts and loves his one and only Son (adoption). (Ephesians 1:4, II Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 2:16, Colossians 1:22, John 1:12, I John 3:1)
2. Good News for the found: A new heart
God also promises to give those who believe in him a new nature delivering them from sin’s domineering power over their lives by freely giving them a new heart (desires) and a new Spirit (regeneration) to empower them to know God, honor him and enjoy him forever (sanctification). Although we can never be free from sin’s ongoing influence until heaven, God promises through Christ to deliver us (redemption) from sin’s domineering power today. (Acts 2:38-39, Ezekiel 36:26, John 3:1-16,16:5-15, Romans 6:6-7, II Corinthians 3:18b)
3. The Good News for the Community: A New World
God also promises that one day all of our struggles will be over and we will be brought to our eternal home--a place where He will wipe away every tear from our eyes and make all things new. (Ephesians 1:13-14, Romans 8:30, Titus 1:2, I Corinthians 15:20-57, Colossians 1:20, Revelation 21:1-4)
Global Church Advancement - What is it?
Global Church Advancement (GCA) is an organization committed to advancing church planting movements through Kingdom partnerships.
Vision: To see God glorified and his kingdom come among all nations through the global advancement of His church.
Mission: To establish Kingdom Partnerships through which leaders are equipped to start, grow, and multiply Gospel-Centered Churches among all nations. Gospel-centered churches focus on good news for the lost (evangelism), good news for the found (spiritual formation), and good news for the community (societal transformation).
Strategy: To help our Kingdom Partnerships establish Church Planting Networks that facilitate Alliances that birth Movements among all nations.
Establish Church Planting Networks:
"A church planting network is an intentional Kingdom Partnership between 3 or more church planters and leaders (normally from the same denomination, agency, etc.) to share a common vision for advancing God’s Kingdom in their city and/or region through starting, growing and multiplying churches and to resource one another to help fulfill that vision."
Facilitate Church Planting Alliances:
Since no single Church Planting Network has the ability to do Gospel ministry effectively to all the diverse people in one city or region, GCA's kingdom strategy is also to help networks form kingdom alliances with other like-minded networks and ministries in their regions--especially through collaborative kingdom prayer and acts of mercy.
Birth Church Planting Movements:
When networks and alliances begin to pray fervently for their region and serve their region wholeheartedly through gospel ministries of word and deed, this is normally the means God uses to birth a widespread spiritual awakening called a church planting movement.
January 27, 2008
Global Church Advancement Conference - I
I arrived in Orlando, FL a few hours ago to live-blog the Global Church Advancement Conference. Since there are a number of parallel sessions throughout the week, the conference organizers have asked me to post on specific sessions. Tomorrow I'll be posting on the opening session by Steve Childers on the importance of grasping God's vision for His kingdom as a church planter. Later I'll post on a session by Scotty Smith called Learning to Lead with Gospel Astonishment. And in the evening I'll post on a session by Drew Goodsmanson called The Internet & The Sovereignty of God. Here's a bit about each of the speakers.
Steve Childers is the President of Global Church Advancement, a professor of Practical Theology (since 1995) and the director of the doctoral program at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, where he teaches church planting, missions, evangelism and spiritual formation. Steve is a trainer, consultant, network director for the Central Florida Network & author of many training manuals including The Church Planter Training Manual. Steve and his wife Becky live in Orlando, Florida, and have three daughters.
Scotty Smith has planted two thriving churches, including Christ Community Church, where he is currently Pastor for Preaching, Teaching and Worship in Franklin, TN. He serves as an adjunct professor at Covenant Theological Seminary and he also teaches at RTS, Orlando. He co-authored books with Steven Curtis Chapman (Speechless) and with Michael Card (Unveiled Hope), and authored the books Objects of His Affection, Reign of Grace and Restoring Broken Things. He is also a featured pastor on Modern Parables, giving an outstanding explanation of the parable of the prodigal sons. (I previously introduced Modern Parables.)
Drew Goodmanson co-founded Kaleo Church in San Diego, part of the Acts 29 Network. Kaleo is a church planting movement that has planted both multi-site and daughter churches. Drew serves on the Board of Advisors for the Center for Church Communication (CFCC). He is an author of Voices of the Virtual World, a book on the growing influence of technology on the global Christian church. Drew is President of Monk Development, an internet development company that serves over 600 churches and ministries. Drew lives in San Diego, CA with his wife, Heather and two sons, Gideon & Roman.
January 26, 2008
Do Hard Things - The Rebelution
Alex and Brett Harris recently sent me a copy of their manuscript with a request that I consider adding an endorsement. I was honored by the request and glad to add a few good words about this excellent book. My endorsement:
"In a culture of low expectations, non-stop entertainment and short attention spans, teenagers Alex and Brett Harris provide a voice of reason and a stirring exhortation to productive action in the name of Christ. As a university professor, I am not unaware of the Gen Y propensity to demand more recognition for less effort and to associate self-esteem with mere being rather than for actual accomplishment. Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations is a clarion call to teenagers everywhere to put away childishness and the fruit of immaturity and channel the energy of youth, in small ways and big ways, into world-changing activity with eternal significance. I highly recommend it."
This topic is near and dear to my heart. The extended adolescence in our day is unprecedented in modern history and a huge waste of human capital. Alex and Brett Harris provide the antidote. If you are a teenager, read it and join the growing counter-culture. Youth pastors and family pastors will also want to get this book.
Modern Parables - Cinematic Theology
Christians would acknowledge that Jesus was a master story-teller. However, if we're honest, many of us would have to admit that the gut-level impact of Jesus' parables often goes unfelt. We somehow fail to put ourselves in Jesus' day and to hear the stories as his original audience would have received them. The parables can come across as sterilized because of the gap between Jesus' cultural setting and our own. And yet getting at the author's original intention is crucial. In preaching about the prodigal son, Pastor John MacArthur noted, "it is critical that we understand that we must hear it the way the audience of Jesus heard it. There were in their minds ingrained ideas, ingrained cultural attitudes, ingrained patterns, unspoken feelings and sensibilities that existed in the Middle-Eastern peasant village life. And these are the things that illuminate the story."
Enter Modern Parables, the product of Thomas Purifoy's desire to create a new kind of Bible study that would appeal to a variety of people, regardless of their religious background, while simultaneously pointing them all back to the Biblical text. Purifoy's films are situated in a modern context that seeks to mirror the culture of Jesus' day. The stories consciously incorporate the theological message found in the original parables with the goal of evoking a similar emotional response in both Christian and non-Christian viewers.
Modern Parables is in no way intended to replace the study of Jesus' parables themselves. Rather, by arresting viewers through a brief, powerfully conveyed rendition of Jesus' stories, we are driven back to our Bibles to look more intently at what Jesus was trying to accomplish in the lives of His hearers.
Here's the gist of it: Modern Parables is an original Bible study curriculum designed for people who like movies (and that's most of us!). When you purchase the box set, you get:
Six Parable Films
Six Application Videos each taught by a different pastor
Six Director's Commentaries for teaching Cinema and Theology
1 Teacher's Guide with 2 intro chapters, 12 complete lesson plans + 6 bonus lesson plans (108p.)
1 Student Book with 12 in-depth chapters on the parables (200p.)
1 Teacher's Prep CD with 12 audio lesson overviews for teachers
The pastors in the application videos are Dr. Dan Doriani, Ph.D. (Central Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, MO), Dr. George Grant (Parish Presbyterian, Franklin, TN), Dr. Frank Lewis (First Baptist Church, Nashville, TN), Dr. Gene Mims (Judson Baptist Church, Nashville, TN), Jeff Schulte (ChangePoint, Anchorage, AK), and Scotty Smith (Christ Community Church, Franklin, TN). The exegetical and theological insight of these men is outstanding.
My wife and I were blessed by the films themselves. The cinematography was very professional, and the acting was quite good. As an audience, we felt simultaneously entertained and taught by these 15-20 minute modern adaptations of Jesus' parables. And the application videos helped drive home how the film intentionally conveyed the elements of the parable in Jesus' day. We highly recommend these parables for use in family devotions, youth groups, Sunday School classes, and small groups. The box comes with excellent teacher preps. The films are an excellent supplement for bringing the timeless truths of Jesus' message to life in our modern context.
So which parables did the producers choose? Hidden Treasure, The Good Samaritan, The Shrewd Manager, The Widow & Judge, The Sower, and Prodigal Sons. Here are a couple trailers:
January 24, 2008
Satellites v. Church Plants
Ever wonder why so many churches today are going to satellite campuses as they get larger? Michael Mckinley writes a helpful post on the pros/cons of satellite campuses versus church planting:
The benefits of the church plants are obvious: more intimate community, more direct shepherding, more opportunities for men to grow into leadership, more locations mean more gospel presences in more communities.Read the whole thing. Given the decline in the percentage of church-going Americans, and the unique effectiveness of church plants to reach the lost, I would have to agree with Mckinley.The downsides are also obvious... what if those other four churches don't exactly stay on message? What if they don't give to missions or preach the Word or do whatever thing is most important to the sending church? In that case, it might seem safer to keep all 1000 people under strong centralized leadership so that resources are allocated in the way I see best.
Satellite campuses seem like a way to have the best of both worlds, church planting with a chance of strong centralized leadership. That being said, I think true independent church plants are more than worth the "risk".
On that note, Global Church Advancement is hosting their annual North America Church Planting Conference next week in Orlando, Florida. I will be there to live-blog many of the sessions, and all posts which go here (as well as on my blog).
January 22, 2008
Mike Huckabee On Roe v. Wade Anniversary
Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee posted these reflections today:
Today is the 35th anniversary of a great American tragedy, the Roe vs. Wade court decision that has led to the loss of millions of innocent lives. These children were denied the right to life our Constitution grants to everyone in America, only because they had yet to emerge from their mother’s womb. As President Bush noted today, America is better than this.I support and have always supported passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life. As president, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My convictions regarding the sanctity of life have always been clear and consistent, without equivocation or wavering. I believe that Roe v. Wade should be over-turned.
I applaud those who are marching in Washington and elsewhere to call attention yet again to this terrible injustice. I stand with them in calling for the passage of a Constitutional amendment to overturn Roe v. Wade and restore the constitutional rights of the unborn, and I will march with them next year if I am elected president. As president, I pledge that I will continue the fight so that every child can have his or her God-given right to life.
Read more about his accomplishments in Arkansas on the sanctity of life.
35th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
On Jan 22, 1973, activist judges in the U.S. Supreme Court decided that human fetuses were the property of their mothers, to be disposed in any manner she chooses. I am posting some thoughts and reposting a video (below) in the hope that we can together work and pray to remove this scourge from our country.
First, I think it is helpful to compare abortion to slavery. William Wilberforce, in his fight to end the slave trade, made these remarks:
"Never, never will we desist till we ... extinguish every trace of this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonor to this country."Joe Carter offers these thoughts:
"In order to win the moral argument we must begin by co-opting the language of the abortion movement. An unborn child is either part, person, or property: an intrinsic part of a woman's body, a human person, or non-human property over which a woman has the right to dispose of as she chooses. Since the DNA of the fetus differs from the mother, it cannot be considered merely a part of her body. So it is either a person or property. If they deny it is a person, as they must since doing otherwise would concede their moral argument, then they must recognize the fetus as the property of the woman.Here is a graphic video showing the outcome of the abortion procedure:Abortion supporters will not want to accept this semantic shift. If pressed, though, they will have no logical alternative. Once is has been defined that the "right to choose" is a right to choose what can legally be done with one's property, the moral force of the pro-choice movement will dissipate. The real choice will be between choosing a side that venerates the dignity of human life or one that devalues humanity in the same way that slavery did.
Recognizing the link between abortion and property rights is crucial. The inviability of property rights allowed slavery to exist in our country for centuries. Unless we recognize that the pro-choice movement is hiding behind the same "rights", abortion is likely to be around just as long."
Lastly, here's an interview with Robert P. George, co-author along with Christopher Tollefsen of Embryo: A Defense of Human Life
JT: I know that you greatly object to the conclusions of Roe v. Wade from a moral standpoint, but I wonder if you could summarize some of the legal problems with it?
George: The legal problem with Roe v. Wade is simple: The Supreme Court's decision to invalidate state laws prohibiting or restricting abortion lacks any basis in the text, logic, structure, or original understanding of the Constitution of the United States. The late John Hart Ely, a famous legal scholar who himself supported legal abortion as a matter of public policy, said that Roe v. Wade "is not constitutional law and gives almost no sense of an obligation to try to be." The justices who manufactured a right to abortion in Roe violated and dishonored the very Constitution they purported to interpret by substituting their own moral and political judgments for those of the elected representatives of the people. Their ruling was a gross usurpation by the judiciary of the authority vested by the Constitution in the people themselves, acting through the constitutionally prescribed institutions of republican democracy. As dissenting Justice Byron White put it, Roe was nothing more than an exercise of "raw judicial power." It was not merely an incorrect decision, but an anti-constitutional one.
Read the whole interview.
Marvin Olasky interviews Robert George and Chris Tollefsen.
Related: My post from last year on this occasion.