Christ and Culture Revisted - A Review Within a Review

Carson, D.A. Christ and Culture Revisited. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012

Some Slides Reflective of this Review

I recently had the privilege of reading and interacting with DA Carson’s book Christ and Culture Revisited. Dr. Carson is Emeritus Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School where he has served since 1978.  His primary academic work is with the New Testament, though he has written extensively on issues related to the church and her place in contemporary western culture. This particular book takes up a reflection on the relationship(s) between the church and culture in the early twenty-first century. 

Summary

I found this volume to be an interesting book because the launching point for its reflection is the seminal work, Christ and Culture by H. Richard Niebuhr originally published in 1951. In many ways, this review is a review of another review. One might say it’s a bit of book review version of Christopher Nolan’s dream within a dream film Inception.

Carson’s project is not to simply critique or applaud Niebuhr, but to “revisit” his thought and categories in order to help the church think through the gospel in the cultural setting some six decades later. The work is comprised of six chapters with a growing emphasis which flows out from the conceptual into some very practical concerns.

Chapter 1 begins with a contemporary discussion of what we mean by the word “culture” with Carson defining and defending the usefulness of the concept. He affirms several different definitions of culture while acknowledging what he calls the succinct and clear contribution of Clifford Geertz:

The culture concept…denotes the historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, as a system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes towards life (2)

Considering this reflection and the sheer reality that the church exists in various times and places, there is a necessary presupposition that there is some sort of relationship between Christ and culture. From this acknowledgment, Carson launches into his “revisiting” of H. Richard Niebuhr’s work. The rest of Chapter 1 is spent in a succinct and helpful recounting of Niebuhr’s iconic categories for how the church relates and has related to its cultural settings: Christ against Culture, The Christ of Culture, Christ Above Culture, Christ and Culture in Paradox, and finally, Christ the Transformer of Culture. 

Chapter 2 begins Carson’s evaluation of Niebuhr’s work and he is clearly critical. After expressing some gratitude for the comprehensive nature of his categorization, he launches into a steady critique. First, he whittles down the categories from five to four by setting aside the Christ of Culture. Niebuhr’s examples of this category from history are early Gnostic Christianity and various flavors of theological liberalism in western society. Carson’s contention is that these flavors of ideology seem to have very little to do with Christ or Christian theology. He concludes: “If sober reflection commends the conclusion that neither is a Christian movement in any sense worthy of the adjective ‘Christian,’ then not much is left of this second category.” (36) His critique continues towards Niebuhr’s handling of the Bible and his relationship to canonical revelation. Carson contends that Niebuhr tends to chop the Bible into separate voices and paradigms (e.g. Matthean Christianity, the Johannine community, Pauline churches etc.) rather than a unified revelation with a holistic vision. Carson contends that we should look at the major themes and non-negotiables of Biblical Theology and apply them to our cultural situatedness. He spends much of rest of the chapter outlining these non-negotiables. This biblical-theological vision should serve as the basis for particular communities of Christians to evaluate and respond to their particular cultural setting and time. Carson prefers this dynamic model rather than the comprehensive categorizations given to us by Niebuhr. 

After moving on from Niebuhr, Carson begins his own Christ and Culture and it is a bit of a journey. Chapter 3 has the goal of giving us a more flexible view of culture without giving culture the dominating voice it has many times today. In doing so, Carson takes us through the perplexing halls of Postmodernism, emerging church thinking and some specific jousting with the work of James K.A. Smith. Carson seeks to justify the idea that the church is culturally embedded yet distinct enough to be in conversation with her surrounding cultural worlds. He offers Christianity as a different way of seeing and looking at one’s own culture when one sees things Christianly (86, 87). Carson also takes the time to justify and salvage our use of the term and concept of worldview from its detractors. Carson, in a sense, uses this chapter to argue that talking about “Christ and Culture” is a legitimate endeavor in a day when postmodernity seems to lose so much in the weeds of linguistic and epistemic uncertainty. The following is illustrative of Carson’s legitimization of this shorthand:

I cannot continually say that by “Christ and culture” I really mean “a Christian culture and its relation to its surrounding culture, understanding that every Christian culture is necessarily shaped by its surrounding culture even while it forms part of it, and even while it has strong ties to Christian cultures in other parts of the world by virtue of shared allegiance to the Bible and its storyline, to which all Christian cultures lay claim, which authoritative text has, for Christians, a norming authority that enables them in substantial measure to withstand the pull in the direction of other elements in the broader culture,” and so forth. We will usually take such caveats as the “givens”and speak, more economically, of Christ and culture, but do so in a way that these broader considerations are not ignored.(98) 

I found that to be quite humorous and myself grateful for his intellectual battle to redeem our use of the shorthand “Christ and Culture.” 

In Chapters 4 and 5 we find Carson’s application of his canonical application to thoughts about Christ and Culture as he approaches significant issues in contemporary western culture. In Chapter 4 he addresses secularism, democracy and power before taking up the massive issue of Church and State in Chapter 5. These chapters are illustrative of how one thinks through the issues of his own culture with robust categories from the biblical-theological narrative. 

Finally, Chapter 6 is used to summarize his argument and then look at various options for Christ and Culture interactions over the last century and paths taken by contemporary thinkers. In this analysis, Carson also includes how a church in a setting of persecution, outside of the power and confines of recent western civilization, might see and engage this whole “Christ and Culture” enterprise.

As expected from a scholar of D.A. Carson’s stature, the book was copiously researched and footnoted and a great addition to the other treatments on culturally engagement in my library. We now turn to revisit Carson’s re-visitation for some critical reflection upon the work. 

Critical Evaluation 

Strengths 

It is a difficult task to state only a few of my appreciations of this book as I found the strengths far outnumbering its weaknesses. This was a volume where I found much to delight in and commend to others. In order to be concise, I will limit myself to these three major strengths in the work: the book is Canonically Focused, Contextually Committed, and Constructively Hopeful. I will handle each of these in turn. 

Canonically Focused

Throughout this volume, Carson remains a scholar committed to canonical and confessional orthodoxy. As a Christian scholar, he insists that the major narrative movements of the Bible itself shape our cultural reflection and engagement. When exhorting Christians to evaluate their cultural setting and engage,Carson wants thoughts of creation, fall, redemption in Christ, a new covenant, and a coming kingdom of heaven, or of hell,to be directly in our view(44-58). The text of the Bible must be in the forefront of our thinking lest we veer off into cultural compromise or the abandonment of the mission.Carson maintains this focus even amidst of a deep and rigorous interaction with contemporary cultural ideologies.

Contextually Committed 

Another refreshing aspect of the book is Carson’s wide-eyed awareness of our current cultural setting. He neither bows to a naïve modernism that sees one’s own point of view as culturally privileged, nor to a pessimistic postmodernism that forfeits the birthright of revealed truth to the most recent of knowledge skeptics. Carson is careful to distinguish a robust cultural engagement from the overconfidence of the past as well as the trepidation of our present. Furthermore, he also exhorts God’s people to bring to bear biblical narrative and gospel truth to our own communities present. By drawing on gospel non-negotiables in the face of our current cultural idols, earthly powers, and communal situations, the church may contextualize both its witness and cultural interaction with thoughtful engagement and wisdom. With such a method of thoughtful engagement, we might avoid the reductionist categorization of Niebuhr and others (225,226). Such a strategy would call for the church to pray and to think about how to interact with the spirit of our age, the zeitgeist of this place and time. This forms a wonderful triangle of interaction between Christ,the covenant community and mission of God in the present world.

Constructively Hopeful

The final strength of Christ and Culture Revisited, I found in its overall tone. This is not a pessimistic work, despairing about the overwhelming onslaught of the secular world. It is realistic about the current challenges in western culture while not capitulating our most precious truths as the church. He maintains a voice that reflects faith and hope without a naïve triumphalism. Carson sees a path forward for the church in culture whether it is in power or under persecution. This is a hopeful path of trusting Christ within every culture as we continue to live as a distinct people within His story and mission. This path is one I hope to continue to follow in my own home, church, and city.          

Weaknesses 

Though I did not find many weaknesses in this book, there were a few things from Chapter 3 which detracted from the overall flow and argument of the work. In Dr. Carson‘s treatment of postmodernism, epistemology, and worldview, one starts to feel as if he is a bit of a  spectator in a larger, more involved, and nuanced battle. In order to engage well with Chapter 3, one really requires some prior reading in deconstructionist literary theory, philosophy, and perhaps some of Carson’s previous writings. As someone who has read some of his engagement with the “Emerging Church” movement, I felt at home in the discussion and was aware of his many interlocutors. If this was not the case, I would have been completely lost. One of my daughters was recently reading to me portions of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Silmarillion and I became overwhelmed with this feeling of cross-eyed confusion. My fear is that some readers may have that experience in some of the bowels of chapter 3. In a similar vein, the extensive jousting with James K.A.Smith and the radical orthodoxy crowd took on a similar feel.

Conclusion

In the past, I have been thankful for the articles, lectures and books I have read by Dr. Carson. His intellectual rigor along with a devoted biblical commitment to Christ has continued to be a refreshing guide to my own life and faith. I think his evaluation of such an influential work like Christ and Culture is both needed and helpful for our time.His judgment that the five fold typology now seems a bit parochial, (200) I found helpful and his own path forward to be inspiring. In what seemed like a false ending,before a final post script of the book, Carson quotes CS Lewis at length to offer wisdom to our age. I found that quotation to be quite helpful,and will close my review with it as well:

What is the good of telling the ships how to steer so as to avoid collisions if, in fact, they are such crazy old tubs that they cannot be steered at all? What is the good of drawing up, on paper, rules for social behaviour, if we know that, in fact, our greed, cowardice, ill temper, and self-conceit are going to prevent us from keeping them? I do not mean for a moment that we ought not to think, and think hard, about improvements in our social and economic systems. What I do mean is that all that thinking will be mere moonshine unless we realise that nothing but the courage and unselfishness of individuals is ever going to make any system work properly. It is easy enough to remove the particular kinds of graft or bullying that go on under the present system: but as long as men are twisters or bullies they will find some new way of carrying on the old game under the new system. You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.(Quoted in Carson, 225.Mere Christianity (1952; San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2001), 73.)

In light of these realities,we must take the truth of the gospel to people in culture and engage the systems and powers that be with the appropriate posture led by the Spirit of God. In doing so, we might manifest the glorious kingdom of Christ right in the midst of our time and culture.To such ends we submit our lives to our sovereign King who is to be forever praised among the nations.

Preaching Part 5 - Preaching Should Pursue Repentance, Faith, Hope and Love

In this series we covered some ground on preaching in today's post-Christian context. We so desire preaching to be biblical, contextual, engage the affections and thoughtfully engage people in culture. The final aspect of my vision for a vibrant and faithful pulpit ministry is to preach repentance of sin and faith in Jesus the Christ constantly, tirelessly, and unyieldingly.

In doing so, we want to regularly expose our inability to rescue ourselves from sin, death, hell, and the right wrath of a just and holy God. Furthermore, we want to point to the all sufficient savior who paid fully for the sins of his people and is utterly trustworthy to save us, forgive us, change us, and lead us forward in mission now and into the Kingdom of God for eternity.

In the messages I preach, I want to always point people to God’s utter kindness to sinners in Christ and to repent of our folly and wandering into the love of lesser things. Such a preaching ministry should show Jesus as both Savior and King; the one who forgives and has paid for sin and the one who leads our lives. Jesus saves us and leads us in a new life that is pleasing to God, profitable to us and manifests the beauty of his Kingdom on the earth.

Preaching should provoke faith to follow which leads to love and practical obedience. My aim will never be to simply preach “how-to” sermons that center on us but rather Christ-centered, Christ-exalting sermons that give us strength for the day, hope for tomorrow and love in our hearts for Jesus. If repentance, faith, hope and love arise in us as we see Jesus lifted up in the Scripture, we might joyfully follow him together until Kingdom come. 

Preaching Part 4 - Preaching Should Thoughtfully Engage People in Culture

As preaching is always a contemporary exercise, the needs, questions, concerns and beliefs of the hearer must be engaged thoughtfully by the pastor who communicates the Word. In preaching, our desire is to anticipate objections to the text that our hearers may have so that we may meet them with grace and truth in the sermon. There are issues in every age that may be considered to be particularly at odds with the Scriptures. We may call these fault lines[1] for the gospel in culture.  A fault line is a place where two massive plates in the earth’s crust collide. When this happens the earth literally quakes. In like manner, there are issues in every age and culture that will clash with the Truth and we should be aware of these.

Major fault lines in contemporary, western, Post-Christendom culture

In our age, human sexuality, freedom, the nature of truth and authority, human autonomy and the creation of our selves are all massive collision points that preachers will encounter. As such, we want to be able to wisely speak to these issues with two things in our hearts and minds. First, an utter faithfulness to God and his revealed Word. Second, a sensitivity to communicate clearly and compassionately when encountering something along a cultural fault line in the text. As a pastor engages with people he ought to make note of their questions about God, theology, culture, and the gospel and address these both directly and indirectly in his preaching. We want to do this with skill, wisdom and courage. 

Finally, the church exists for the mission of God. In fact, God has a people for his purposes on the earth. Part the very essence of the church is to make disciples of others by sharing good news and teaching people to follow Jesus. As preachers of the Word, we hope to thoughtfully engage lost people in our pulpit work and ministry. This means addressing lost people and their concerns and questions and spiritual need for a Savior. By this I do not mean simply giving brief alter calls or times of decisions. I mean speaking to the lost people in the room. If there are no lost people present, the preacher can and should speak to congregation as if they were actually there. We do this for two reasons. First, to consider the lost as people and for them to know that we care about their world, their lives and concerns. Second, we want the congregation to care about those far from God and learn from the preacher how to speak to them with grace and truth. In preaching the Word, the hope is to lead the mission of God amongst the people of God. This keeps the focus of our task on the Great Commission clear. This task the church must keep clear in the preaching of the Word. JI Packer describes this well:

Apart from the preaching of the Word, however, the church will never have the resources to do this [witness and give a reason for our hope]; it will constantly tend to forget its identity as the people charged to go and tell, and may actually lose its grip on the contents of its own message, as it has done many times in the past. History tells of no significant church growth and expansion that has taken place without preaching (significant, implying virility and staying power, is the key word there). [2]

[1] I first heard this concept used by Dr. David Mahan, director of the Rivendell Institute for Christian Thought and Learning http://www.rivendellinstitute.org/

[2] JI Packer, “Introduction: Why Preach” in Samuel T. Logan, The Preacher and Preaching : Reviving the Art in the Twentieth Century (Phillipsburg, N.Y.: Presbyterian and Reformed Pub. Co., 1986), 21. Emphasis in original.

Engaging at The Shack

Over the last decade the book and now full length feature film, The Shack, has swept through our culture. Books have sold, millions spent and made and people's lives profoundly impacted in immense ways. There have also been many detractors from the work due to parts of the book and its message. 

The Shack is a work of fiction, an allegory of sorts, about God helping us work through the issues of pain and difficulty. It engages us to think through the facades we have created in and through life many times resulting from painful and difficult circumstances. We erect our own shacks, as it were, and never get down to being real and loving with God and others. In one sense, the book is a heartfelt plea for transparency before God so that we might be loving people. It also is a message of hope and forgiveness amidst the worst sorts of pain and human evil. 

In the post I have no desire to do a book or film review. I also have no desire to offer a theological critique of certain ideas in the story for that has already been done by people I respect like Dr. Timothy Keller. Just do a search here on the web for "Theological problems with The Shack" and you are sure to find many voices. Some are quite thorough. 

What I do want to offer here is something I have not seen as much of surrounding The Shack. How can people interact around the themes of The Shack in a way that is helpful, encouraging and unifying? That's a question of some interest to me as I've watched some Shack eruptions on places like the Facebook. I particularly want to speak to my theological friends who find major problems with the Shack and perhaps help them engage well with those who have been deeply touched by the story and message of the Shack. 

Engaging at the Shack

What I want to offer you is five simple ways to engage with friends who love The Shack, even as you have major concerns about its portrayal of God and salvation. I hope these ways of engagement will help you both love and think well about truth with others.

#1 - Read the Book

I have little patience for those who harshly critique something without actually reading it. I remember years ago having to read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code novel because so many people were asking me questions about its narrative and some of claims in the book. I had to read it. Not a bad book. Full of pseudo-Christian-religious falsehoods, but not a bad page turner. If you have read a critique by someone on The Shack and then have concerns for friends who are effusively rejoicing in it. Please read it before engaging with them. They will not care that you read Challies' blog on the book. They will likely ask if you have read it. If not, read it first. Then engage. Otherwise your critique just might come off as, and may actually be, disingenuous. 

#2 Affirm the True and the Good

Not everything in The Shack is bad. There are many wonderful things about being human, about our feelings and about God that are discussed in the story of Mack at the Shack. When you engage with anyone about something they treasure, do affirm the good, the right and true found therein. Personally, I read the book in audible format and just wept in the early part of the book which tells a very difficult story. I was particularly moved by it because I have daughters.

Furthermore, the Shack tells us that God does care about human suffering. This is a biblical truth and I'm sure glad God cares. It is my view that the God of the Bible is a quite different than the allegorical treatment found in the Shack, but certainly the Trinity is not unconcerned about the human condition. God is not distant and uncaring. The Bible says he is a present help in a time of trouble (Psalm 46) and Jesus wept with friends at a funeral (John 11). Let's agree and affirm with our friends that we love the fact that God is not distant and uncaring and that our suffering must be engaged. Rather than stuff our pain we bring it before our Lord.  

When interacting with anyone with which you have a disagreement, always look for some commonality and shared truth. It's good to start a journey and discussion holding hands in some way. You may part ways but let's not do so right at the beginning. 

3 - Listen and Share Truth about Father, Son and Holy Spirit

We should listen to our friends talk about the Shack and its effect on their lives. As we listen we can also joyfully share. As the god(s) began to talk in the book, I felt myself longing for God of Scripture rather than Papa, Jesus and Sarayu. In one way I was grateful that God is not merely a bystander and helpless when evil comes. I was grateful that the Sovereign God would be with my little girls if they were ever so abused. I was grateful to know that they would be with God forever no matter what befell them on earth. They were safe in the hands of God even if tortured by the hands of men. I was also grateful that God will judge, rightly judge, unrepentant sin and evil done on the earth. The one who did evil to the child in the narrative of the Shack can indeed be forgiven and have his sins paid for. Yet if he persisted in numb, careless, evil doing without any repentance? I am grateful to know that God will fully judge such evil and evil doing. The true gospel became more delightful to me as I read about a God that could not stop anyone's free will and nobody would be judged in the end.  

We can share kindly with our friends why we love the Sovereignty of God, the substitutionary death of Jesus for sinners and the reality and just nature of divine judgement. We can share our views of how the gospel is God's final and full answer to the question of suffering and that God's judgment is right and good.  

# 4 - Ask Questions to Reveal Concerns

Nobody likes to have someone simply rubbish something we have found helpful or beautiful. Such direct, frontal assaults with people are rarely helpful or even welcomed by others. If you have concerns about The Shack and some of your friends being taken in by troubling teaching, try asking them questions instead of blasting blog posts at them. Here are a few to get you started:

• This book made me really think about God and suffering? Have you thought about this much before? 
• In the middle of our suffering what would you want to know from God? 
• What did you think about the part of the book where God seems rather helpless in the face of our "free will?"
• How do we know if God is really like these characters in The Shack? 
• Do you think God is whoever we want God to be? How does it feel to you if someone misrepresents us to others? If God could "self-reveal" his character would you be interested in reading about that? The Scriptures are useful for correcting, rebuking and training in righteousness. Point your friend to the truth of the Bible.

Jesus always asked questions of others. He makes us think by questioning people and telling us stories that deeply challenge assumptions. This indirect mode of confronting us is a loving act of the loving God. We should look at the way of Jesus. No, he is not always "nice" to people he questions in that he tells them only what they want to hear. But he shows us that in bringing truth and clarity, asking people questions can help. If you want to share with Shack friends and be heard you may want try a different strategy than "Attack the Shack" with your friends. 

#5 - Love Well

You don't have to embrace the errors of the Shack to interact with others who have been moved by it. In fact, to be loving, we must rejoice in the truth (See 1 Corinthians 13). Yet we must also be patient and kind with others and not simply seek our own desire to win arguments. Even arguments related to The Shack. I don't want my friends and family to embrace an impotent, sin accepting God or universal atonement. It is a false vision that needs correction. Yet to lead people to the sovereign, sin defeating, sin forgiving savior we must be patient and kind, gentle and respectful as we engage with others. Yes, even those who just love, love, love The Shack. 

[24] And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, [25] correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, [26] and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. 2 Timothy 2:24-26

There are problems with fictional works if they teach people false things about God, Jesus, the gospel and salvation. It is a serious thing. And because it is, we want to engage well with others. I guess my plea is for you not to be another bit of proof to those rejecting theology and sound doctrine that those who are concerned about such things are mostly unloving jerks. All the best as you thoughtfully engage others with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Even if this comes by engaging around The Shack. 

Preaching Should be Contextual

In part one of this series, A Vision for Preaching in Post Christian Contexts, we began with a simply, but essential claim, preaching should be biblical. In any time and place we most keep our preaching vision connected to the Scriptures. If we do not begin with the Bible then everything else will go off the rails as we seek to communicate truth to our context. The prophets, apostles and Jesus Christ must be the content of our preaching as we seek to connect and communicate the gospel to people in culture. With this said, we have further work to do in order to be faithful preachers in our day. 

Preaching Should be Contextual

If the key task of the preacher is to keep the content of his preaching biblical, his secondary concern is to preach and teach this content to people who exist in space, time, geography and culture. No church or people exist in the middle of nowhere; we all exist somewhere. All people, and certainly churches, exist in some spatio-temporal-cultural-eschatological reality. 1  In other words, we are preaching to people in a particular life context. We are to preach the Bible to people who gather together in a certain place, who live in a certain time, who have a history, who have current loves, worship and temptations. Furthermore, we preach the transcendent gospel to see an in-breaking Kingdom to THESE people right THERE. As such, we must speak in a language and idiom that is intelligible to the people of the day and location in order to connect and communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. If there is no connection, there will be no communication. Many people have used various metaphors for connecting text and context. Building bridges, landing planes, standing between two worlds and translation2 have all be useful. In my ministry, it is my goal to be faithful to the Scriptures while living and preaching these words among a particular people. This means a preacher must also be a missionary seeking to connect to the world in which he lives. He should seek to instruct the Christian while connecting with and inviting in the non-Christian hearer to Christ and Kingdom.3  

In practical terms this means I will seek to speak about the Word and their World drawing from the literature, films, art forms of contemporary culture. I will not start with the Bible and then jump out of the text into the world for a nice pep talk. Nor will I simply teach the content of Scripture without seeking to connect with people where they live, work and play. I like to think of a sinusoidal wave that sows together text and context. Going into their world from the Bible and then back into the Bible from appropriate connection points in their world.  
 

Figure 1: Connecting Text and Context

In having multiple entry points and exit points it is my hope to connect with various people who are hearing the preaching of the Word. The goal is always working to take people on a journey with and to Jesus to raise their affections for, worship of and obedience to Him. This will be our third aspect of preaching. It should engage the affections for Jesus. 

Notes

1. See my discussion in Gregg R. Allison, Sojourners and Strangers : The Doctrine of the Church, Foundations of Evangelical Theology Series (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2012), 149.
2. Kuruvilla cites Karth Barth who noted this as the translation of theology into the language of the newspaper. Kuruvilla, A Vision for Preaching : Understanding the Heart of Pastoral Ministry, 118.
3. It should be noted that there was an expectation in the early church that non-believers would be present in church gatherings. Many times, this passage is overlooked because of debates on prophecy and tongues etc. but 1 Corinthians 14:23-25 makes it clear that unbelievers entering a worship gathering should not be an unexpected reality.

A Vision for Preaching in Post Christian Contexts

One of the most important task of any leader in the movement of Jesus is to communicate the good news and the truth of biblical revelation to the people under his influence. A vision for the who, the what, the why and how of preaching is a must in every generation until Jesus returns. It is of particular importance in the post-Christian west as we seek to be faithful both to the gospel and to reaching people in culture.

How great the confusion will be left to those who follow if pulpit ministries goes astray! We have observed throughout history that false teachers can have an incredible sway on others. When they occupy the sacred desk of the pastor, how much more the damage may be done.

What will follow here is simply a brief elaboration on my philosophy of the preaching ministry for our day and time. I will unpack this by highlighting some aspects of the preaching task which I feel is essential to this sort of work. In doing so, I hope to give a vision into a passion for mission and how I see responsible pulpit ministry as essential to ministry. 

For simplicity, I’ve chosen headers for each section which read “Preaching should…” as these things are my recommendations to any of you who would engage in the preaching task. The first focus follows here and others will flow out on the blog in the week ahead.

Preaching Should be Biblical

In his correspondence with his young apprentice Timothy, the apostle Paul echoes this strong word:

[1] I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: [2] preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [3] For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [4] and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. [5] As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

These words are contained in Paul’s final letter and contains some strong clarity for young ministers starting out. First, he gives a charge that should clear the head and perk up the ears. He basically says, I challenge you in front of God, Jesus and Kingdom come. Serious stuff here.

His challenge to Timothy was to preach! But not simply preach his opinions, his clever ideas, things he read in blogs, et. al. He tells him to preach the Word. This ministry will involve preaching the Word of another, that of God himself. It is also interesting that the pastor in his preaching of the Word should be ready to reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. This list is very similar to and parallels that which Paul says about the “Scriptures” in 2 Timothy 3:16 in the immediate textual neighborhood just a few sentences prior. He is to bring God’s Scriptures to the church in light of the tendency of people to wander away into false teaching, drawn away into myths, to teaching they simply want to hear and a myriad of other worldly ideas.

This preaching and teaching of the Scriptures was also exemplified in the personal ministry of the apostle as well. We read in Acts 20:27 that he did not shrink back from declaring to the Ephesians the whole counsel of God. He discipled them and prepared them for leadership by preaching the Word of God to them. Abraham Kuruvilla, in his work A Vision for Preaching, describes the aim of preaching being biblical in the following helpful manner:

What does it mean to affirm that preaching is biblical? We have seen that Scripture, divine discourse, is to be the source material for sermons in the church, for the Bible is abiding, weighty, and binding upon the people of God for their faith and practice. [1]

There are also exhortations and examples we must look to for the congregation as well. As hearing and heeding the Word of God is not a passive engagement from the church. The ancient church in Thessalonica was said they received the word of God not as the words of men but as the Word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Furthermore, James exhorted early Jewish believers to be quick to hear and to receive the implanted word with all meekness. This word, James tells us, is able to save souls. The Word needs to be heard but also heeded and obeyed. (See full context by reading James 1:19-25).

Preaching should be biblical in that it should explain the meaning of and application of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Christians should sit under such teaching and eager to hear the Words of God to follow Jesus in life and mission. Far too often the traditions of men get substituted in for the words of God. (Mark 7:1-13) This temptation should be resisted by keeping our Bibles open and our hearts tuned to the words of the Lord.  

Up next...Preaching Should be Contextual

Notes

[1]Abraham Kuruvilla, A Vision for Preaching : Understanding the Heart of Pastoral Ministry (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2015), 26.

Awash in our own cultural backwash

The West has eroded its intellectual, spiritual and moral foundations over the last two centuries. This ongoing project has consumed our culture from within. All that seems to be left is self-righteous offense taking, condemnation of others, protests without civility, crass tweets and the will to power.

Frederick Nietzsche was correct in his assessment in the late 19th century that the killing off of God in the minds of people would leave a world of chaos and madness. He went mad in his own lifetime; a few lifetimes later we continue to reap what we have sown.

For years we have been teaching that the truth is based only on perspective; yours, mine, our tribe or theirs. Morality has no ontological footings or objective reality beyond human opinions. We teach that everyone is basically good apart from any evidence to the contrary. We now hold these, uh, truths? to be self-evident?

Now we simply fight it out on Facebook while claiming to not really know either up or down. Who are we to judge? Unless we are all judging our ideological enemies. But we are right and they are wrong...and somebody will pay. Welcome to 2017.

What comes next in our culture and what is going on now is indicative of the rotten corpse that is now at the foundation of our civilization. God is dead and we have killed him, yet we are not and will never be worthy of his job.

We have lost our ability to disagree without being disagreeable. We have lost love for enemies. We don't even fake it anymore. We have lost hope beyond our political potentates who posture as perennial saviors. We stick it to the man until our tribe becomes the man. Then somebody else will stick it to her, or him, us or zhem.

We are bleeding under our own intellectual knives. All is relative, there is no ultimate meaning, and we are only the blind production of matter + chance + time. There is nothing more to this existence. So let the tweeting continue until we make progress in our coming from nothing and returning just as fast. All of this nonsense has now come home to roost in our culture. 

We inhabit a world of fake news and alternative facts and those complaining about it were likely trained in institutions that rob us of the truth and offer sophisticated dissent from the fact that there are facts. We are now awash in our own intellectual backwash and are now left to drown in a world of noise. Everyone is clamoring for their moment, their focus and a world of their own imagination and it may well be that we have been turned over to judgment and the whirlwinds have cometh. God help us. And thank God that Jesus still saves. 

The late British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge describes decline well in a prophetic voice offered up decades ago:  

So the final conclusion would surely be that whereas other civilizations have been brought down by attacks of barbarians from without, ours had the unique distinction of training its own destroyers at its own educational institutions, and then providing them with facilities for propagating their destructive ideology far and wide, all at the public expense. Thus did Western Man decide to abolish himself, creating his own boredom out of his own affluence, his own vulnerability out of his own strength, his own impotence out of his own erotomania, himself blowing the trumpet that brought the walls of his own city tumbling down, and having convinced himself that he was too numerous, labored with pill and scalpel and syringe to make himself fewer. Until at last, having educated himself into imbecility, and polluted and drugged himself into stupefaction, he keeled over--a weary, battered old brontosaurus--and became extinct. 

Malcolm Muggeridge, Vintage Muggeridge: Religion and Society

All of our efforts as a society have brought us a Clinton(s) and a Trump. And the beat goes on. Thankfully there exists another king and an actual Savior. One who has been and will be followed among many civilizations in the history of the world. His people have thrived under tribal chieftains, communist kommissars, Jim Crow sheriffs, liberal democracies, socialist utopianists and under the boot of fascists and empires. xHis true sheep will thrive under whatever we are currently producing. 

Jesus taught us that his Kingdom is not of this world system. The church is never at her worst more than we she is trying to rule this one as a cruel taskmaster. Jesus's way of leadership was not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. May we follow him in these days and in the days to come. For even though we walk in the valley of the shadow of such mess, there will be a day when faith shall be sight and we shall be free at last.

Forgiveness – A word in season from Gardner C. Taylor

In our current climate of bitterness, guile and national infighting, I read some fresh words tonight from an old saint. At the recommendation of some dear and gracious brothers, I picked up a volume entitled Faith in the Fire by the late, eminent African-American pastor, preacher and community leader Gardner C. Taylor. These are words that so many of us would do well to take to heart:

Forgiveness is a part of the nature of God. Individuals and our nation can receive this forgiveness. In these trying and difficult days, all should bow to ask God for grace and humility, that forgiveness may be extended. God will not regard us with favor if we are forever flexing our muscles and proclaiming our richness and greatness. We need to admit our failures and confess our faults and ask for understanding as we strive to make up our delinquencies. A glad God will forgive. Therefore, let us also forgive one another. Remember, an ugly look, a harsh word may pour salt into an already aching heart. On the other hand, a kind word may be salve and balm to that poor, broken spirit. God will forgive as we forgive each other. Gardner C. Taylor, Faith in the Fire (SmileyBooks: New York), 3.

Our Lord and the apostles teach us the importance and centrality of forgiveness to the gospel:

7 "And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. - Matthew 6:7-15

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. - Ephesians 1:7-10

29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. - Ephesians 4:29-32

If we have experienced the forgiveness of God in Christ, let us indeed bring a kind word tomorrow. A word of good news, a gospel word, full of forgiveness and faith. Thanks Dr. Taylor for showing a good path that is particularly relevant once again in our present day.

Innovation? Yes or No?

Owen Strachen recently engaged some current research regarding growing and declining churches in his Gospel Coalition blog entitled, "The Hot 'New' Church Growth Method". In the blog, he comments on statistical confirmation that growing churches tend to have both clergy and congregations committed to biblical truth and evangelism. I commented on this same research in my January 4th post "We believe in?" Owen's article is excellent and makes a strong plea for biblically faithful ministry centered in sound doctrine. Yet Owen makes the following statement that has the potential to be misconstrued. 

2. This frees pastors and congregations from the pressure of innovation.
"The pastor need not be a showman, a genius, or an activist. The pastor can preach the Word and lead the flock in evangelizing the lost, and God will do the work. Of course, we don’t need studies and articles to tell us this; Scripture gives us all the confidence and foundation we need for ministry (2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12). But it’s always nice to see truth cut through stereotypes." (Owen Strachan, The Hot 'New' Church Growth Method, emphasis added)

Now I agree we need neither showmen nor geniuses to be pastors. Though some humble flare and intellect may be helpful this not in the job description (See 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1) Whether or not he ought to be an activist we can also save for another day. My concern is that Owen seemingly desires to release any thought of innovation as being a part of growing churches. Just preach the Word, evangelize and God will do the work. Amen, I heartily agree. But are the growing churches that the research cited truly without "innovation"? 

I think Owen simply means to cast aside innovation in "doctrine" but a careless or tendentious reader may get the impression that growing churches cast aside any and all innovation. This is not the case. This casting aside of innovation in toto would not only be unnecessary, it may also be unhelpful to certain flavors of conservative church leaders. As I read through the research today I found something else cited along with conservative doctrine, clergy and congregations. The churches experiencing growth also had the following features:

• They had a significant focus on young people
• 44% never use an organ
• 67% always have drums 
• 78% in electric guitar
• 100% using visual projection 
• 88% either sometimes, often or always use video

So it seems a more accurate summary of the research tells us that the churches that are growing are marked by the following:

• Conservative doctrine, clergy and congregations
• An emphasis on reaching young people
• They employ contemporary musical expressions and technology

So what of innovation? Let us not innovate in the faith once for all entrusted to the saints. (Jude 1:3) May we never veer away from that which we received from the prophets, Jesus and the apostles. Yet we can and should innovate in our communication and contextualization of the gospel. As we like to say in Acts 29: we plant theologically driven, culturally engaged and missionally innovative churches in order to reach lost people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

For more on theologically conservative and missionally innovative thinking see my Thoughts on Missional Innovation here on the blog. Or you can read that in three parts over at Acts 29:

1. The Genesis of Innovation
2. The Context of Innovation
3. The Flourishing of Innovatio

We believe in?

I still remember sitting in a restaurant years ago speaking with a man who began to share with Kasey and me about the changes in a Christian denomination. He was talking about how they were going back to teaching that the Bible was true and that Jesus rose from the dead visibly and bodily. I remember saying quite nonchalantly, "Man, that's awesome." What followed was a look of shock across his visage. You see, his views were more in line with contemporary "mainline Protestantism" which I learned that day to mean "we no longer believe much of that Bible stuff."

It has always been a profound puzzle to me why people would choose a form of religion yet then deny the central tenets of that faith, the teaching of its founder as well as it's holy book. What's the point in this? I am personally someone who converted to be a follower of Jesus because I believe he rose from the dead, died for our sins, is the sovereign son of God and the hinge point of human history. If I did not believe these things and experience them I certainly would not be  a Christian let alone go to some dead church on Sundays. 

Today the Washington Post summarized some research over the past year that simply makes sense to me. The churches that are growing actually believe in Jesus, his teaching, his death, burial and resurrection. The pastors and congregations with the most vitality seem to believe in the teachings of Jesus and the apostles as found in the Bible. Shocker right!?  Do take a few moments to read the article here.

Long ago, an early leader of the Jesus movement spoke of a social reality with people having "the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. " (2 Timothy 3:5) I also find it interesting that the end of the verse contains the following command "Avoid such people." 

My conviction is that if we are going to be a Christian we ought to believe in Jesus, trust his work for us and follow him in the manner laid out for us in the Bible. After all, if you want your church to die out, don't believe any of this nonsense below. If you want your church to thrive and your soul to be alive to God, you just might want to join me in reciting it:

Ancient fragment of the Nicene Creed

​We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

The Epidemic

A Poem by Kayla Monaghan

He laughs at a short ten seconds

They at the bug eyed bats from a far away land

I stare around at the distracted faces

All of them forgetting...

Forgetting how it feels to hear

How to speak with beauty

How to stand up and lead with civility

Language looks at us sadly and says:

“Humanity loves screens more than me.

Why should I remain, only mocked to be?”

Stay! I want to cry

But my tongue has gone mute

And there is only a small sigh

Because why would Eloquence and Grace

Want to come and play

When nobody can say more than “hey”

How sad we have become

Cute cats and big stars suck our time

Through a smoothie straw

Giving us the brain freeze

Letters, watches, and eyes

Have been tantalized

Lured in, a moth to a flame

A buzz, a ring, a distant call

Have become far too near

Patience has been kicked to the curb

“We don’t need you anymore”

A tear falls from my eye

As the world becomes individualized

The idea of family stamped in the mud, left years behind

I will dig, fingers scraping

Hands frozen as my heart grows warm

I must find that beautiful feeling

Of unity and gentleness

That is only found when we open our mouths

Our eyes must connect

Not just through a text

For a person’s voice can be as tight as a hug

Sweetness seeping in between each syllable

See what beauty comes from a flower like love?

The fever is growing worse

Youngsters’ hands are glued to touchscreens

Eyes locked tight and if they can’t have,they scream

Teens have their hearts shattered

In less time than it takes to breathe

Not all evil intents has Technology

Yet still we grow sicker and sicker

Imagination leaking out faster than

The water in a faucet of an old sink

Ears loose the ability to hear hidden messages

Found in those around them

What can we do?

It races by at the speed of light

Is wifi crucial to survive?

Identify the temptation

So we can find a vaccination

A dose of smiles and human contact might do the trick

Look around and notice the blue sky

A sight we take for granted because it resides in our minds

But its arms can help those in a fix

And we must be careful not to feed this epidemic

How to Pray...Before, During and After Competition

Have you ever see an athlete on TV saying the victory was guaranteed...because God? Ever wonder as an athlete how to pray related to your practices and competitions? I have a two part essay on sports and prayer going up over at Athletes in Action's web site this week. I hope these posts would be of benefit to the Christian athlete and sports fan out there. Let's stop all the goofy stuff and truly yield life and sport to the sovereign care of Jesus.

• Part 1 - How NOT to pray before, during and after competition
• Part 2 - How to pray before, during and after competition 

Loneliness, Boredom and Netflix for all

This past week I came across an article highlighting a recent interview with Reed Hastings, the founder and CEO of the chill company known as Netflix. For those who have been taking a cultural nap with Rip Van Winkle, Netflix was founded with the goal to bring entertainment on demand to users with a subscription model. What began as shipping a specified number of DVDs to your home each month in iconic red envelopes is now becoming a streaming media giant. On phones, smart TVs, set top boxes, tablets, laptops and even old-school desktop PCs, Netflix is currently streaming a deep catalog of random television shows and movies to people in 190 countries. Its own in-house developed premium content has won numerous Emmy awards and the creative flow and talent that Netflix hires seems to be dropping one hit after another. Seriously, Stranger Things.

What struck me about the interview with Hastings was the closing quote which highlighted the focused mission of the company.

"Fundamentally we’re about eliminating loneliness and boredom" Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix. Source: Tech Radar

Here we have the stated, fundamental focus of a technologically forward, creative company that somewhat lays bare the soul of our civilization. What hills are the leaders and legions of Netflix employees charging up? Loneliness and boredom. To be quite honest we could not pick two better words to describe the state of our civilization. We are a people where love has grown cold and we have nothing to do. We are lonely and we are indeed bored and one of the major solutions to our existential crisis is to simply fire up Netflix and chill.

Our loneliness and boredom have been tackled by scholars over the years. Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death and Putnam's Bowling Alone come to mind. These scholars acutely recognized our cultural dilemmas decades ago. Their prescience related to our fragmentation as a people and our lack of passion and purpose as a society continue to be relevant as various aspects of modern life continue to ebb away at our humanity. Perhaps watching more TV, perhaps better TV, will reconnect our communities and give us freedom from the onslaught of the mundane and the boring. Somehow that sentence itself leaves me feeling a bit empty.

As I begin, let me be up front for moment. I deeply enjoy some of the excellent story telling that is happening today. In his book Difficult Men, journalist Brett Martin has rightly highlighted our day as a new golden age for television. Netflix is a part of this recent TV revolution with their original programming drawing its fare share of critical acclaim. Even in this age of excellent, long-form story telling, we still need far more for our lives than great fiction and excellent TV productions. In other words, television, even better television, isn't enough to tackle these twin towers of our cultural condition. We need much more to address our loneliness and our boredom.

Loneliness

To address the ache of loneliness we will find great help along three lines: family, faith and friendship.  It is no secret that the very idea of family has been fractured, redefined and discarded in our society. What is family? Whatever you want it to be even if that doesn't mean very much at all. The Scriptures give a different picture. We are formed in families and these are based upon covenanted love and union. Promises made and lived together before God and people in the marriage union forms homes where people may travel in intimate connection. Family is a gift of grace where people can find a place of belonging, a place of love and a place of human interconnection. Secondly, faith connects us deeply with a shared sense of worship, focus and mission. Our faith in the Lord, our common held values, beliefs, practices and identity connects us to a broader community where God is father and Christ is king. Third, loneliness cries out for friendship. To accept one another, to enjoy fellowship, similar interests and to appreciate one another as we tackle this life of difficulty is a gift. This trinity of family, faith and friendship actually have flowering and fulfillment for the follower of Jesus. In Jesus we are brought into a larger covenant family called the church. In Jesus we have this wonderful person who is the recipient of our worship and love. We have faith in him, we trust him and this gives us confidence in the storms of life under the sun. Finally, Jesus, the God-man, desires to call us his friends! Shocking and wonderful.

No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Loneliness is a struggle for us all. Sin separates us from God and one another and leaves us feeling and thinking we are abandoned and alone. Into that loneliness comes someone greater than the Mad Men, the Games of Thrones and even the Stranger Things. Into our loneliness comes Jesus the God-man, exalted on the universal throne, who has promised to graciously give us all things! In relationship with Jesus and his family we are never alone and his promise is to never leave nor forsake his people (Hebrews 13:5). The poet and hymn writer Issac Watts powerfully expresses the truths of God forever with us:

Our God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Loneliness meet Jesus. Friend of sinners and hope of the world.

What of Boredom?

If anyone can quickly summarize and describe what it means to be bored they actually have a very creative mind. I've told all three of my children countless times that boredom is the product of a lack of creativity and a disengaged mind. Yet to define boredom is a bit of a creative task in itself. We all know what boredom is as we experience it. But to talk about it can become a bit more difficult. After thinking about this for a few days I tend to think of boredom as a soul paralyzed without purpose, mission and direction in the midst of many options as to what one could do. It is a passivity of life that leaves one unsatisfied. The dilemma of our culture is not that we have nothing to do, but that we have so many things which we could do. Should we watch this or that? Should we go here or there? Should we be with him, her? Zhe or zhem?

We seem to have more and more questions in our day and less and less answers. We all just know we should be "happy" (whatever that means) but we all know that we just seem bored. Who wants a life of contentment with having food, shelter and clothing? We need more in our culture. We always need more, but we don't know what we need or what we need it for.

If we might describe the western soul's conversation with its parents it might sound something like this:

• Soul: I'm bored!

• Parent: Well go do something.

• Soul: Do what?

• Parent: Whatever will make you happy.

• Soul: I don't know what that is.

• Parent: You have to figure it out but don't offend anyone or do anything wrong. Wrong as defined by "us" and that's always changing so figure it out, but not too much and don't share what you find with others if they find it offensive. Go to it! You are on your own!

• Soul: I'm bored.

Boredom is here to stay and we know it. So how do we face this constant banging of boredom? Netflix! Yes, it will help for a little while but then what? More Netflix! Netflix til we die! The problem here is that we die long before our bodies depart this earth. We die living a thousand stories with none of them being our own.

There is, however, something that knocks out boredom and infuses life with something far greater than just turning up the entertainment dials. There is nothing that addresses boredom like a sense of purpose and mission taking root in our lives. If we think for a moment what we have to live for, you might be surprised at how infused each day can be with a sense of wonder. Even now, I look at the things which are before me.

• A mission to love my wife as Christ loved the church.

• A mission to father my children with grace, love, truth and purpose to bring them up to know God and make him known.

• A mission to follow Jesus in his work; to love and serve and seek and save people through the gospel.

• A mission to see all of life as important and purposeful and the hand of the One who made all things.

• A mission to see our vocations, jobs and duties as part of God's plan to shape my life and transform me to be more like Jesus and a means by which he blesses others. Yes, even the jobs we don't really like!

A belief in God is not just wishful thinking or simply a work of the imagination. Belief in God tells us that everything has a purpose under the sun and that there is a season for everything under heaven. There is even a purpose for boredom as it gives us a push to examine our lives, our loves and our motivations. And beyond mere theism, a Christian understands that Jesus is leading all of life to be lived in light of who God is and what his purposes are for humanity. Even knowing this allows us to participate in things like great narrative storytelling with new eyes and fresh affections. We can see that the friendships, mission, fears, hopes, heroes and demons in TV shows like Stranger Things are but mere pointers and shadows to even greater and more meaningful realities. Netflix can then be watched to the glory of God and not simply as a mind numbing diversion to take us out of our lonely stories and bored lives.

Followers of Jesus and Educational Choices

How should we educate our children? There simply isn't one answer to this question for followers of Jesus. Yet there are principles which can help guide and inform our decisions for our families. The following are just a few principles to lovingly engage around as we educate our children.

First Principle: The holistic education is the responsibility of parents and a duty which centers in imparting our faith to the next generation. Education, from a biblical persepctive, must include the teaching of the gospel to our kids – Deuteronomy 6:4-6, Ephesians 6:1-4. 
    
Second Principle: Education is a shaping of the whole person into the image of Christ and enabling them to see life through the gospel and contribute to the world with skill and wisdom.

• Education is not simply job prep or about making money
• Education is a shaping of the soul in conformity to the Word of God and the image of Christ. This is for the sake of Kingdom service and mission in the world
• Character, Knowledge, Wisdom are all shaped as we educate children

Third Principle: There are many paths to faithfully fulfill that duty.

Though a diversity of paths can help us fulfill our calling as parents, the following will not lead us towards faithfulness:

• Entrust public schools to educate children without parental shaping/modeling in the gospel 
• Entrust private or Christian schools without parental shaping/modeling in the gospel
• Believing that home schooling is not without its own risks and difficulties

We must be involved as parents in the education of our kids. God gave us this responsibility. There are many partners in this endeavor including other parents, church community and our schooling choices.  Our family has engaged with three different schooling models over the last 11 years. We home schooled our oldest one year, we've had our kids in classical Christian schools and now we are in public school with our daughters. The following are a few warnings and encouragements to help you as parents with walking in your schooling choices. 

Some Warnings

• Warnings for public schoolers – the complete disconnecting of knowledge from the knowledge of God is a disjunction you must address. Your work must have “integration” of subject matter into a broader Christian conceptual scheme. So your task is to teach your children how “Math” and “God” relate…and many other such subjects. Additionally, you will need to provide some training in worldview, thoughtful engagement and apologetics to help your kids interact with the godless universe they will be presented. 
• Warnings for private schoolers – there is a temptation when attending elite private schools to completely check out of your children’s educational experience due to the fact that paid professionals, who have a track record of certain kinds of results, are leading your children. Watching for pride, elitism and the idolatry of societal success and position must be addressed in some settings. See also the warning for public schoolers as this is applicable here in many cases as well depending upon the worldview of the private school.
• Warnings for Christian schoolers – there is a temptation to think your kids are “safe” from worldly influences being in a Christian school. We must not forget that the imparting of faith must first come from your home and from the household of God (the church) and not simply the school. Additionally, there can be just as much sin in Christian schools as there is in non Christians and having the label “Christian” does not mean the all the kids have a holy agenda 24/7. You also must resist “bubbling off” your kids from our lost world and mission. 
• Warnings for home schoolers – Home schoolers, have to resist the temptation to see themselves as better, more pure, or prideful pioneers. Grace must be extended to other families who have not chosen “the way” of home school. Additionally, your children must be involved in the mission in your local church and have a regular flow of connecting with a lost world and culture. If not, they may prove ineffective in bringing the gospel to bear to people in culture. Here my warning is about mission, not “socialization” and social awkwardness. I think that’s a silly critique of homeschooling. A well-adjusted home school student may not understand and relate to lost people if not connected with them regularly in church/city. A missional church is a must.

Some Encouragements

• Encouragements for public schoolers – your family has a wonderful opportunity to live out gospel witness with teachers, administrators and other parents who need to see and interact with followers of Jesus
• Encouragements for private schoolers – the educational dedication of some private schools is fantastic and you too can engage with people in culture as a witness for Jesus. 
• Encouragements for Christian schoolers – to have Scripture and a biblical worldview be an integrated part of learning at school is a wonderful thing. To have your family and your school cooperating with the same worldview goals is an excellent help establishing your kids in the gospel and having an integrated view of knowledge.
• Encouragements for home schoolers – the relationships and context of learning is natural and free flowing as you explore God’s world with your kids. This is something to relish and be thankful for. Your ability to move at the “right pace” for your child is a gift that you can direct with wisdom. Additionally, learning is not institutionalized and can become a natural love and life long process of your children. God has placed you in charge of your child’s education as parents. Relish the flexibility, opportunities and choices that abound for you.

One final word of exhortation. In local churches we must seek to be an encouragement and help to one another as we educate our children, bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. We don't need "schooling wars" even as you go about your responsibilities and educational choices with passion and conviction. Be a blessing and a help to those choosing both similar and different educational paths to your family. We have too many other important battles to fight to go to war about school. 

Man Matters

A little over a year ago, I began to process with some friends and mentors the possibility of transitioning out from the church we had planted in New Jersey. Those conversations were littered with questions like, "When is the right time to step away from leadership in a church? "Have I done what I sensed the Lord calling me to do in New Jersey?" "Are things in a position where I can leave things in the capable hands of others?" 

I also asked several brothers what they saw in me in terms of my work and ministry. What are the things they saw as my strengths? What are the things they thought that I must continue to engage in order to be faithful to my calling from God? 

One of these gentleman, my father-in-law, challenged me to continue the work I do with men in and through the local church. He conveyed to me that he felt like I was gifted to communicate to and inspire men towards the Lord and faithfulness in their lives. I simply agreed as I am persuaded that men, particularly young men, need to be engaged with the gospel. Men need to be lovingly encouraged and exhorted to be servant leaders in their homes, in the church and in the city. 

In our day we see plenty of concern for the good work of equality, elevating women and opportunity for all. Yet what is happening among this generation of young men is sobering. I won't go into full detail in this particular blog post, but young men are falling behind and almost every category and attainment. There are fewer male students in college across all groups, fewer men obtaining graduate degrees and many young men lack ambition, confidence and leadership skills to navigate their world. 

Psychologist Guy Zimbardo has infamously argued that there is a demise of guys today where boys are struggling socially and flaming out in school (If you have not seen his TED talk, hit it up, its less than 5 min). Additionally, Samuel D. James recent article America's Lost Boys, highlights the lack of ambition in many men to even work. Rather than pursuing something with their time and gifts, they are filling their time with virtual pursuits of entertainment and sensuality and they are quite happy about it. Literally living the dream off of parents or girlfriend while happily doing a whole lot of nothing. Furthermore, I meet men all the time who feel isolated, discouraged and disconnected from their own hearts and pursuit of God. Guys in our day need to be engaged, inspired and encouraged to be more than passive consumers of amusement and called to impact their world with their gifts, strengths and unique calling as men.

As we invest our lives with Power of Change we hope to impact and influence coming post-Christian generations. This means young men, fathers and those who lead them will be a central part of our focus. Or as I like to say, we desire to serve the three Ps: pastors, parents and church planters. 

This fall I am doing two men's retreats where my prayer is to call men to servant leadership while encouraging them and exhorting them forward as followers of Christ. Men are in a fight but it is a good fight. God would call us to fight with and for our brothers so that we might stand firm to the end in faithfulness to Jesus and his mission. Man to man we need to be walking together. We need to see older men pointing younger men to the pathways of hard work and faithfulness over time. We need to see younger men inspiring elders with a focus in their passions and zeal. Yet connecting the generations is in no way an easy pursuit. Let me share a quick example.

A few weeks back a friend grabbed me after a Sunday worship gathering to talk about his desire to mentor young guys. He also shared some difficulty he has encountered in the past. The young guys are struggling but usually won't ask for someone to mentor them. The older guys feel like nobody really wants to hear from them but they would love to connect with the younger brothers. It's almost a catch-22 of middle school dance proportions. The younger and the older men seem to be standing on the walls on each side of the room knowing they both need to learn to dance. Men must learn to step across the room and tell another guy that you need his wisdom and input. This is particularly important for men who grew up without or are separated from the wisdom of their Dad.

My own hope is to continue to be an influential friend in the journey for other men. To point them to "the man", Jesus of Nazareth, and the joy of following him in their homes, their church and in their city. It is not an easy path today for guys but with other brothers we might find our way forward by faith. I am convinced that the power of change lies within the power of a God who wants to transform men so that they may reflect his goodness and glory. Furthermore, there are some wonderful byproducts of this pursuit. Namely, women will be served and loved and children might flourish under the care of good men. 

The world certainly sees the outcomes of disconnected or abusive masculinity. We have reaped a whirlwind of unguided and unfocused men. The facts of the fatherless are clear and there remain far too many victims of domestic violence. Yet the apostle Paul teaches us something different, "behold I will show you a more excellent way." (1 Corinthians 12:31) We must put before one another the way of love, the way of Jesus and a way in which men use their strength in humility to the glory of God.

That's our story here in our home team family and with Power of Change. We pray that by his power we might be strengthened, protected and kept faithful in and through our work with men. Men matter to God and we want to see them thrive as servant leaders under the headship of Jesus in our day.  We hope many others will work and pray to these same ends.

Thoughts on Missional Innovation

Every so often in history leaders, people, ideas and circumstances come together and dramatic changes take place. Ways of living, perspectives on reality and even our understanding of ourselves are profoundly impacted. We call these convergences of people and ideas, "movements." Every movement displays an interconnected nature as certain ideas coalesce into shared passion and joint action for change. Many times movements are marked by innovation, new ways of thinking and acting as human beings. At times innovations are seen as bursting forth out of nowhere, or as sudden awakenings, yet many historical events build successively into movements. The cumulative action of many leaders and ideas evolve forward or build like a wave crashing upon a seashore with powerful momentum. It is often said that today’s leaders stand on the shoulders of giants; we know this to be true. What is prevalent today was influenced by what came before as the interconnected nature of people and ideas moves us in one direction or another. 

Recently I've been thinking much about some the technological movements of the last 100 years and I've read four books to that end. My undergraduate education was in the science and technology space and I’ve enjoy histories in that area of human work and inquiry. The first work was entitled The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation by Jon Gertner which focused on the history of Bell Laboratories and its various communication inventions that led into the modern information revolution. The transistor arguably the most important of the technologies that emerged there in the twentieth century. Next up was When Computing Got Personal: A History of the Desktop Computer by Matthew Nicholson, a work on the history of the desktop computer from it's very earliest forms until some of the recent sizes and shapes we see today. After this came Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet  by Katie Hafner. A fascinating read on the invention of this most important of computer networks through the combined efforts of industry, government and academia. I finally, finished up with Moore's Law: The Life of Gordon Moore, Silicon Valley's Quiet Revolutionary by Thackray, Brock and Jones. Moore is an unassuming titan of what became our modern Silicon Valley and one of the chief inventors of silicon semi-conductor technology. He was one of the founders of what became the tech juggernaut known as Intel. Incidentally, an Intel chip is currently humming along inside my laptop as I type these words.

In my reading I observed that time and time again there was an interconnection between ideas that lead to innovation. Technology built upon the gains of the past and the previous generation’s hard work, problem solving and creative thinking. The innovation that took place in our technological revolutions was not in any way magic. It took place under certain cultural and structural circumstances that made the movement possible. I will outline a few of these in the final section of this essay below. As I looked at technological innovation I also saw much to be gleaned for the innovation needed in gospel mission in every generation.

What I want to do in this essay is to first look at the necessary restrictions and freedoms for innovation to flourish. I will do this under the header Context for Innovation. From there I want to draw some parallels between technological innovation and missional innovation for church planting movements before closing with a reminder of the type of innovation needed in the church in our time. 

Context for Innovation

It may be surprising but some of the modern technology and correlated free-flowing creations were actually driven by some imposed parameters and restrictions. Physicists and engineers are constantly encountering problems that cause them to think outside of the box precisely because they are working within one. What do I mean? Our scientific work does not bend or break the laws of physics. Our work will either conform to or be defeated by them. Reality shapes and constricts our efforts. Innovative thinking comes to bear in trying new ideas as we necessarily stay within the bounds of the created space-time reality. Learning how things actually work and how they work best is essential for our creation and innovation in technology. So the technologist is not some magician pulling a white iPhone out of her hat, but she is learning how things work within the system she has been given. This does not mean she is a traditionalist who only accepts the answers of the past. Yet she must see many past failures and go forward with things that work as she moves towards new solutions to problems in the future. It is not some terrible requirement to have to conform to the laws of Physics; there is no other way to cross technological hurdles. When a technology does not work because we did not understand the nature of reality, we have simply hit a restriction that sends us quite literally back to the drawing board. The restrictions are no enemy. They help us head off in fresh new directions that may prove more fruitful in the end. 

This brings us to a second necessary parameter for innovation to flourish. The technologist must have the freedom to try new things to solve problems. Otherwise we will be stuck in the past's failures or remain content with the status quo. The technologist simply cannot accept a current technical hurdle as the final defeat but must seek new ways to overcome it. This constant tension between the laws of physics and problem-solving creativity creates the spark of movement that can become a stunning wave of innovation. Both the restrictions and the freedom are necessary interlocutors that create momentum. Failures and success both drive forward the wave. 

The same can be said for the work of the church in every generation. First, there must be a firm anchor and reality to which we conform our efforts. This must be the gospel of Jesus Christ as revealed to us by God in history and Scripture. Just as creation itself is no hindrance to technology and science, sound doctrine and theology is no hindrance to missional innovation. We must have rails within which we are faithful, otherwise we won't build anything that actually "works." Without the bounds of revealed truth and the historical verities of our faith we can run the mission aground on the rocks of heresy and false teachings. The truth must be the raw materials with which we move forward in mission. Secondly, we must also grasp the freedom necessary to encounter people in every generation with the gospel. We must contextualize the good news of Jesus Christ to a changing world without denying or changing the laws of our theological “physics”. Yet we must have freedom while engaging with our inherited past, to question whether or not certain practices flow from human traditions (Mark 7:13-23) or from the revealed truth of God. This means there is a “faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3), and there are new horizons and new expressions of that faith needed in every generation.

The parallels between technological and missional innovation are not difficult to find. I will close with a look at the process of innovation and its necessary ingredients gleaned from various histories of technology.

Thoughts on Innovation

Innovation comes from passion

Innovation comes from a strong desire to learn and then solve problems. Those who seek new, faithful ways to reach people with the gospel are driven by a similar desire. A desire to engage the problem of a world in need of Jesus and to use all possible, godly means to bring the good news. They are willing to connect with people far from God in various cultural and societal settings because of their love for God and people. It is their passion and love that compels them as they are convinced that Christ died for sinners and communicating this truth is essential. Apologetics and missional thinking help us to overcome the hurdles that prevent thoughtful engagement with people in culture. Missional innovation must be driven by passion: love for God and love for people.

Innovation flows from proper freedom

One of the observations I made in reading about technological innovation is that smart people were given the time, space and funding necessary to do their work. Freedom in research must be funded with exploration and even failure as an aspect of the way forward. In missionary work, space needs to be created in, by and through local churches for similar efforts. Church planting provides the freedom for both faithfulness to gospel truth while engaging in some exploration and experimentation in methodology. Even those who hold to some form of the regulative principle may still maintain space for variation in style within a given culture for gospel life and ministry. Even if you have the conviction that we can only preach, sing psalms, pray and observe the sacraments in a church gathering, how a church goes about such things, language, style, aesthetics, etc. can still be a subject of exploration.  Furthermore, there is a wide open field of ministry through church members, smaller communities, missional groups and parachurch work that can flow with innovation even for highly regulative churches.

Innovation comes from people who dared to try and have some talent

The status quo can trap us. As people, we don't always like change even when change is what we desperately need. There are churches that will demand their own death and extinction rather than change out carpet or switch up musical styles in worship. Church planters are willing to accept the dare of the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus outside of the camp to the lost, beginning new works that might connect the gospel to those far from God and his church. Innovation comes when there are people who take "risks" for the sake of the gospel putting their hearts, souls, mind, strength all in with their God given gifts and talents.  

Finally, innovation comes from systems demanding attention and constant improvement

One of the striking driving forces for technological innovation in the 20th century was the growing complexity of telephone networks. The problems that emerged in expanding and maintaining such a complex network drove innovation because there were so many problems to solve. Necessity, quite literally, was the mother of many inventions. The place where many inventions were made was within the actual telephone system itself. The same might be said of the technology that was invented within the 20th century context of the cold war. There were secret groups of smart, dedicated, well-funded and focused people (see Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed by Ben Rich) meeting serious military problems with life and death implications. Will some Soviet or US military advantage lead to our mutual destruction? Let’s get to work on solving this or that technological hurdle so that no one gets nuked into oblivion. This has striking parallels to our work in church planting. New ideas for the mission must emerge from the necessity of the mission itself. In the middle of the messiness of ministry we must solve problems which arrive from the streams of providence and the shifting of cultures. A world broken with sin and death while facing coming judgment should bring an urgency of action and missional innovation from God’s people.  

Let me conclude with one final thought about "innovation" in and through the church. It is not innovative to simply copy and ape a worldly culture and society. I once heard Nancy Lee DeMoss say that the world is not aching for a "religious version of itself." What did she mean? I think we must see that the lost world around us does not necessarily need a sermon series called "Soulflix" with a perfectly mimicked Netflix logo all the while preaching messages from this or that movie. As fun as this might be, it is neither innovative nor really creative. What we do need are churches that can passionately preach the great gospel truths of the book of Ephesians to people that watch four hours of Netflix a night. That task will require both creativity and innovation in thought. It will require the bounds of the truth and the freedom to innovate in our styles, modes and communication. It will require us to be faithful and daring. It will require prayer and the dynamic leadership of the Holy Spirit in our day. After all, our goal is not simply to innovate in missionary methods for the sake of doing new stuff to make a church seem “cool”. Our goal is to bring people to Jesus through the preaching of the gospel and that means we must care about the methods we use to connect and communicate in THIS or THAT time and place. 

The Double Pain of a Sports Injury

Over the past week our family has been hurting a bit. Our oldest, Kayla, a.k.a. Kayla Joy, a.k.a Joy, a.k.a. baby duck suffered a devastating injury on the football pitch. After a feet first tackle by the opposing goal keeper she was left with a tibial-fibular fracture and a level of physical trauma that was quite shocking. With the excellent work of a top surgeon along with a fantastic titanium nail from Smith and Nephew, the team has put our girl back together again. Though the road to full recovery is long, we are now taking the first steps in that journey.

First steps and back on our feet  

The injury has me thinking about and meditating on the nature of pain. And a pain in two kinds. First and most obvious is the physical pain of having you leg bones crunched in the storm of a violent collision. We have good meds for that in 2016 but the physical pain is still a shocking and present reality. Furthermore, as bone breaks go, the larger the bone the more painful when it breaks. The femur is supposedly #1 (do follow that link if you need a laugh) and the tibia is a close #2. It's hard to watch someone you love go through such things.

Yet there is a pain of a second kind that rapidly descends upon an athlete in the aftermath of injury. It arrives upon the tracks of loss and uncertainty.

Loss

Many high level athletes have literally played their sport almost their entire lives. Though only 14, our Kayla has literally played the game of football/soccer in an organized fashion for two thirds of her life. If you add in kicking balls around from a very young age, soccer had been a part of her story as long as she has literal memories. When a leg breaks part of your story breaks of suddenly as well. The regular training sessions, the games, the travel, the tournaments and the constant presence of teammates all comes to a sudden and grinding halt. It's almost as if part of you is suddenly gone. The loss is painful and the physical pain that lingers reminds you of the loss. It's no wonder that when a player is seriously injured that teammates rally to that player. The empathy and understanding of what is lost is grasped  by all. And as an aside, thank you to the coaches, teammates and supportive leadership of FC Copa Academy in this time. 

Uncertainty

Along with the quick realization of loss another fear visits the soul. The doubt and uncertainty about the future. Life is suddenly changed. You cannot walk on your own.  Sleeping is difficult and you have to get to the bathroom over and over and over again. With such sudden change you also begin to ask the questions: Can I come back from this? How long will it take? Will I be my old self? Will I come back better? What about my future dreams for the game? Are those in jeopardy? Who am I, really, apart from these things that I do? The spectre of uncertainty does not wait to visit the soul. That deranged spirit just lands upon you without delay. It brings a certain aching to the heart. 

My wife and I, both former athletes, also feel these emotions and psychological difficulties vicariously because we have walked in these shoes. The memory of losing my final year of collegiate wrestling to a labrum tear in my shoulder comes rushing back even now. As parents, watching the physical pain and knowing the turmoil inside my girl just breaks the fatherly heart a bit. 

The Christian athlete faces all of these issues and perhaps some theological questions related to providence and the sovereignty of God. Yet the Christian athlete, like my daughter have many great benefits.

• She has the great benefit of the constant grace and care of a good, good Father.
• She has a present help in the time of trouble and a strength to face fear. (Psalm 46).
• She has the great Helper (John 14:25-27) and High Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16) walking with her in deepest times of need. 
• She has the church family encouraging her along the way (John 13:34,35; 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11),
• She has presence of God ever with her to strengthen her heart (Isaiah 43:1-11; John 16:33; Hebrews 13:20,21) and
• She has the knowledge and contentment that "we can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13. Here it can appropriately applied to sport)

As I wrote earlier, youth sports is a great place of need for mission and the gospel; it is also a great arena for sanctification and life change. Even, no especially, in the seasons of double pain. 

Love you Joy! With you #everystepoftheway  

Youth Sports - Part 2

Good morning friends. Yesterday I posted an article about engagement with youth sports. That essay was edited by my brilliant 14-year-old daughter who is a great writer in her own right. 

Later yesterday afternoon that same sweet girl suffered a crushing injury on the soccer field snapping both her tibia and her fibula in her lower right leg.

This too has taught us much about God, his kindness and some terrible pain and utter sadness. Yesterday as we rode in the ambulance she asked me to read her the Psalms so her heart would be drawn to the Lord and her heart at peace in the midst of the pain and the crazy. I read to her the 63rd Psalm: 

1 O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

- Psalm 63:1-8

My little girl is a beautiful soul. Today we will have some reconstructive surgery where a rod will be placed into her tibia. Please pray for us in the days ahead and all of those who surround us…church, family and our soccer community. We are all praying that the Lord would use everything to express his grace and glory to many. 

Love in Christ, for the Monaghan Home Team

Reid  

Engagement and Mission in the Realm of Sport

One of my favorite authors, GK Chesterton, once said that he was all too ready to write books upon even the feeblest of provocation. (Chesterton, Orthodoxy, Part I. INTRODUCTION IN DEFENCE OF EVERYTHING ELSE, online here) . I must admit Jim Elliff’s recent repost, “When Ball becomes Baal” over at "For the Church" has provoked some thought and passion in me as well. With a wonderful and catchy title, Elliff has pressed some appropriate buttons of sport culture in our society. Yet at the same time, I do think there is a bit more that can be said. So I’ll do my small part to say at least a bit of that. 

Let me first put my cards on the table as to why I take interest in the matters of sport, idolatry, church attendance and worship. First, I am a Christian whose hope and desire is to live all of life to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31) Second, I am currently a pastor and a servant within church planting circles. Third, both my wife and I were Division I college athletes in our respective sports and our family spends much time around the pitch, on the courts and the wrestling mats. Our lives have overlapped the athletic and Gospel communities for many years with even with my own conversion coming through the Ministry of Athletes in Action. Kasey and I spent eight years on staff with that organization in our early married and ministry life.

I want to state at the beginning that I appreciated Pastor Elliff's concerns and his identification of a certain problem in American life and culture. The idolatry surrounding sport, youth athletics and family dynamics should be a deep concern for the people of God. Furthermore, a concern for central church rhythms of worship and rest, along with regular gatherings for Word and Sacrament, should be commended by every Christian, and certainly by pastors.

That much stated, I also had some burning concerns as I read the suggestions offered in the latter parts of the essay. There are central and important concerns for the church related to sports culture and not all of them are on display in Elliff's warning and exhortation. In some ways, if his prescriptions were followed by all in the church, we would essentially cede a massive portion of life and culture to the world leaving it with little gospel witness and mission. In other words, what it takes to become an accomplished, even elite athlete contains a certain lifestyle and rhythm. This cultural world of sports in which some people live and move and have their being, is a place that should be engaged by a robust Christian witness and by Christian people living out the life of a sportsman to the glory of God.

My wife, the true talent in our family, played soccer at the highest of levels in her college career. She was on two national championship teams with one of the most storied women’s soccer programs in the country. She was even a teammate of Mia Hamm. During the same season I beat my own body to dedicate myself in amateur wrestling on a top 10 program with numerous state champions and even a multiple time national champion in our room. Our assistant coach at the time won a gold medal in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Let me just say that this world is one of great need for gospel witness and incarnational life and mission. We both sought to share the gospel in these places and we realized that sport is a subculture and tribe with great gospel needs. It is a place where Christians need to be present, identify with the people and contextualize the unchanging gospel in order to connect and communicate. For me this simply begs an important questions. If Christians cannot participate in sports culture at a committed level and cannot be at the practices and on the high level teams, who will be there in order to work to redeem some of it excesses and idols? If we are not there, are we not ceding major ground to the world and simply abandoning it to the devil? 

Elliff’s suggestions are indeed thought provoking and a wise parent should read these sorts of things and consider them well. However, his suggestions would not work for any athlete with a love, ability and desire to engage with a sport at a high level of competition and commitment. So I offer these suggestions in hope that other ways through the halls of balls (and baals) might be found for the sake of both worship and mission. 

Some suggestions and questions for those engaging the intersections of sport, church and mission:

1. Acknowledge that sport idolatry is very real and as a parent you are serving Christ not your child’s so called sports career. To ignore such a strong cultural and personal idol would be foolish. 
2. As we witness to the gospel in words and good works we need to live as followers of Jesus in this arena and not give way to the possible syncretism in sports culture. How would Jesus have you interact with parents, coaches and the other team’s fans? Are you acting crazy about sports and not an actual witness in the arena? 
3. We must compete, train and dedicate ourselves with focus to every task including that of sport. In our lives whatever we are doing we are ultimately serving the Lord Christ. Furthermore, the New Testament actually uses the dedicated athlete to exemplify Christian commitment. The language in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Philippians 3:14, 1 Timothy 4:6-10 and 2 Timothy 2:5 is derived from the sport culture in the ancient world. 
4. Recognize that it will be a strain on your family and it will take faith to balance church life and high-level athletics. I have two daughters who play high level soccer in New Jersey and my wife is also an Olympic Development coach. I've also been the local township wrestling coach. I'm also a pastor who has important weekend duties. It is very difficult to line-up and manage. Count the costs. 
5. Disciple your kids to follow Jesus first and then understand what this specifically means as an athlete. If God has given them the ability, mentality and desire for a sport, we should teach them how to compete differently as a Christian athlete. We have also found that our kids seldom wish to skip worship gatherings on Sunday because they love the church and her King. This has also meant we have come to worship in at times in uniforms (our soccer kits) and we've taken great advantage of our church having two gatherings. We also see youth groups etc. to be optional things for kids as discipleship is centered in the home and not at the same level of importance as Sunday worship gatherings. 
6. To constantly miss Sunday worship to chase a ball is no path that I recommend. I also think there are times where chasing the ball, sharing with parents on the sidelines and being with people through crucial transitions of life is also as sacred a place as the facility used for the ecclesia. 
7. Finally, make use of the good resources and thinking about sport/faith put out by groups like Athletes in Action and the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Shout out to my friends over at FCA Wrestling.

The gathering of God’s people for Word and Sacrament is part of the quintessence of Christ's Church. It should not be discarded as we chase silly glory through our child's athletic pursuits. It is also true that Christ has called and sent his church to live wise lives of witness among the lost people of this world (Colossians 4:2-6, 1 Corinthians 9:19-27, 1 Peter 2:12, 1 Peter 3:15-17, the life of Jesus displayed in the Gospels). 

The early church expanded through the ancient world through the witness of Jesus's people living everyday lives on mission. The gospel spread through the pathways of commerce and community in the major port cities of the ancient Roman empire because the people took seriously Jesus's commission to make disciples in their world. (See Rodney Stark, Cities of God (New York: HarperOne, 2007) Today I suggest that we are to continue to do likewise. This will involve prophetically critiquing but also engaging with people in areas of contemporary culture. This also means that some may be called to live in it and minister to and through sport culture to the glory of God.

Are there risks in such missionary endeavors? Can motives and affections get mixed and misplaced? Of course they can and they do. This is why repentance and faith are necessary to follow Jesus as missionaries in whatever corner of culture in which we find ourselves sent. We also must remind ourselves that if our kids never play a sport or retires from the rec soccer league at age 8 we can simply rejoice that there are other places to live and serve the living Christ. If you happen to be a coach or see your kids want to put in the time, discipline and sacrifice to become an elite athlete, may you follow Jesus in obedience within these endeavors. 

Our need is to remain captured by the Lord’s grace and to share the hope of the gospel with churchless people in places far from the walls of the church. Are there dangers, toils and snares that accompany youth sports? Absolutely. Can it also be a place for the grace and glory of God? I say yes. Yes indeed. We are ever thankful to a God who is faithful to help us and hold us in his hands.

Guardians of the Galaxy and a Mirror to our World

This review and commentary first appeared in the November 2014 issue of Well Thought. The thought journal of Jacob's Well in North Brunswick, NJ. It was a collaborative writing project between myself and the inimitable Simon P. Clark. 

This summer, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy became a box office smash, grossing more than $650 million worldwide as of September 2014 – and all this despite the relatively obscure fictional universe that Guardian of the Galaxy is based on. While DC Comics’ Batman and Superman are household names and Marvel’s string of Avengers movies brings together a string of already beloved heroes, Guardians of the Galaxy is, for all intents and purposes, an enigma. How did a movie with no widely established international fan base, whose heroes include a genetically modified talking raccoon and a tree get so big so quickly? The answer may lie in what it says about our own culture, rather than those of other worlds.

First, let’s make one thing clear – we are both huge fans of this movie (and Reid can boast that he was a fan of the comics long before the leap to screen). It’s a space epic that relies just as much on witty and engaging characters as it does on a complex, high-stakes plot. It’s also a movie that, despite being based on comic books  (or perhaps because of it) deals with some decidedly PG-13 stuff. Guardians of the Galaxy has it all: explosions, danger, snappy dialogue and relatable characters. More than anything, it’s a movie that speaks about one thing: being human.

Guardians of Humanity

Who doesn’t want to be a hero? We all dream, as kids and as adults, of being special, being placed in a situation that demands something extra and stepping up to save the day. This isn’t anything new. What do Star Wars, Star Trek, Spider-Man, Iron Man – in fact most action movies – have in common? Family and friends are in danger, there is fracture and loss, a mission to overcome a threat, and the promise of a newer, safer community as a reward. Guardians gives us all of this while managing never to lose the characters’ individual human touches – something with which many great movies struggle. Groot, a sentient tree, has time to give a single flower to a child as a simple act of kindness in a world that’s falling into chaos. Gamora, adopted daughter of Thanos (which is, let’s not forget, Greek for ‘death’), turns her back on a life of cruelty and subjugation in search of freedom and heroism. They may be aliens, but they’re aliens that audiences can relate to and root for. It’s this relation – between audiences and the characters of Guardians – that’s the true secret to the movie’s phenomenal success. Guardians’ heroes, you see, are far from perfect. Instead, they’re just what people want most in the 21st Century: murderers, assassins, thieves, and bandits ... with good, even noble, hearts.

Guardians of the West

‘Be good ... but not too good’ is, arguably, one of the most prevalent messages in our culture today. The rebel with a cause – the gentleman thief – seems to speak to something in modern Western civilization that’s never quite been here before. When did it become a bad thing to be too good? At Guardian’s heart is its protagonist, Star-Lord – a thief with a conscience, who has no problem breaking rules. That’s why Guardians works: it’s managed to present its main character in the perfect sweet spot between do gooders and baddies. We’re told increasingly by society that the best place to be, morally, legally, and even spiritually, is in the middle: rebels who act nicely, but are happy to break the law. We’re told to be our own persons, as long as we temper our bad sides with a little charity every now and then. Guardians exemplifies and glorifies this world view (and does a fantastic job of it). The movie ends with perhaps the most succinct summation of this philosophy: Star-Lord defending himself in the face of his obvious flaws, explains that while he “may be” difficult, he’s “not 100%” selfish. Well, he uses some language that is a bit more salty than this. Is that a good thing? Is it better to openly be a bit of both, good and bad, than to strive to follow a path that is good, right and true? In the Guardians universe, the answer’s a resounding yes. In our universe, things aren’t so clear.

Conclusion

Towards the end of the film, after clear acts of heroism and virtue, some of Guardians main characters engage in some witty and fun dialogue. Speaking to a police officer-type, Rocket Raccoon asks about a new moral dilemma he faces: "If I see something someone else has, and I want it really bad, can I just take it?" The cop, of course, answers that no, that would be stealing. Rocket, stuck on this line of thought alone, goes further: "But what if I want it really bad and much more than them?"

Similarly, Drax – one of the more muscled fighters of the Guardians – asks: "If someone says something irksome, can I rip out his spine?" The answer? "No, that would be … murder." It's all goes to show us that now that the characters are good, they really don't want to be that good.

Years ago, the French philosopher Simone Weil made an astute observation. In her book Gravity and Grace she wrote the following:

Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvelous, intoxicating.”

                                                                                                         ― Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace, 120.

What she wants us to see is that while evil in the fictional world can be exciting and fun, in the real world it is terrible and inhumane. Too much goodness in our books and movies gets boring, while our world is greatly starved of bold, courageous virtue.

Guardians of the Galaxy is just a movie, of course, so we don’t have to worry about the victims of the thieves and the assassins we’re told to love. There’s nothing wrong with that, either. You can love Indiana Jones without worrying that he doesn’t follow international treaties for the removal of antiquities. You can love this movie without worrying that it glorifies violence and law breaking. It’s worth thinking about, though, how different things in the real world might be if, in place of self-justifying rebellion, sacrificial love were the basis for community. This is what we strive for in the church: clear and compelling love and an embrace of truth and goodness. In fact, this sort of sacrificial love and goodness is what forms our rebellious guardians into an actual family on a mission.

We see Drax thanking his friends for forgiving him his many blunders. We see Groot have his only line in the film, "I am Groot," turn into "we are Groot” precisely at the moment where he is giving up his life for his friends. In Guardians of the Galaxy we see a group of misfits and losers formed into a new family -  one that lives out a bold mission. How does this happen? It is not through selfish, rebellious and evil-doing behavior. It is sacrificial love that forms their community.

One of the rallying scenes towards the end of the film shows the Guardians coming together to undertake an impossible task: deciding why they should give their lives to save the universe. Star-Lord, going beyond his earlier reasoning that they should save the galaxy because they are part of it, says this: “I look around and see losers. Life has given us a chance to give a #^&*...” His friends know that his call to action may very well mean a call to die. Drax’s reply is simple: "You are asking us to die? I would gladly die among my friends.”

Such sacrificial love, and real communities of friends built upon it, aren’t hard to find in this world. Jesus himself said there was no greater love than to lay life down for his friends. In Jesus we see exciting goodness, clear truth and compelling beauty. In his leadership and sacrificial love, we see a new community emerge with a glorious mission and hope.  Jesus’ call to us is to die to ourselves as we live out his mission among friends. In fact, he already died for his friends and showed himself to be the greatest leader this world has known.

We have been called to be guardians of the galaxy, in a sense, because we have indeed received good news. No misfit is too far away or too far gone to receive forgiveness and grace from God. The good news is that Jesus takes a bunch of screw ups, puts them together as a new family, calls them to give their lives for others so that many will be saved and join the team of redemption throughout the world.

In our world today following after God in true righteousness might just be the greatest rebellion there can be. Is it possible that we can be bold and bad by truly joining a revolution for good? The late British journalist and literary critic GK Chesterton says this so well:

In the upper world hell once rebelled against heaven. But in this world heaven is rebelling against hell. For the Orthodox there can always be a revolution; for a revolution is a restoration.

The Guardians of the Galaxy, a rabble band of misfits from various backgrounds, stories, skin colors, sizes and shapes sought to restore peace to a war-troubled universe. We bring a higher call to the table as we seek to see people restored to peace with God and one another. This is the precise reason that Jesus has a people.