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Post date: Sep 2, 2014 1:12:13 AM
Recapturing the intellectual life in the church (Outline from J.P. Moreland's Love Your God With All Your Mind)
Why are Christians underrepresented in media, university, government?
1. Paul tells us Christians that the church not the university, media or public schools should be the pillar and support of the truth (1Tim 3:15)
a) Questions:
1) why is our impact as Christians not proportionate to our numbers?
2) why are ministers no longer viewed as the intellectual and cultural leaders in the communities and culture as they were before?
a) pastors have lost much of their authority among Christians and non-Christians
3) How is is possible for a christian to be an active member of an evangelical church for years and not know the basics about Christian history and theology; the methods and tools for serious Bible study, the skills and information to preach and defend the christian worldview in this post- modern culture?
b) evangelicals neither value nor have a strategy for developing as Christian thinkers to some degree every member of their church body
c) 40yrs ago, local church pastor was expected to be a resident authority on theology and biblical teaching
1) now there is a model of the pastor as CEO of the church, the admin and organizational
leader
d) church has become a hospital only and lost being a war college to gather and train an army of
believers to advance the kingdom
1) churches are not training an army with the intellectual and spiritual skills necessary to enter into deep and relevant discussions and issues
2) we must recommit ourselves to developing richer, deeper and more powerful churches for Jesus and the good of others and ourselves
3) we must convinced that change is needed and we must be willing to pay the price to bring that about
4) many of the things we do in the local church are good and should remain part of our philosophy of ministry
a) no business, movement or group can survive and grow if its resistance to relevant and important change is rooted in the idea that we should keep doing something because that's the way we have always done it
b) if we want the local church to flourish and survive we must not resist relevant and important change and reject the idea of doing something just because we have always done it
2. Refurbishing the Local Church (suggestions from J.P. Moreland)
a) Philosophy of ministry- view about the purpose, objectives, structures and methods of ministry that ought to characterize a local church ministry.
1) no senior pastors
a) reasons:
1) NT has plurality of elders Acts 14:23; 20:28; Phil 1:1; Heb 13:17
a) with equal voices
b) church should develop a plan to give elders the training needed to be in “full-time” local church ministry
2) co-dendence and allows church goers to remain passive
a) church starts to become “pastor x's church” and church members see it as “his” church
b) pastor then may become isolated and dry up spiritually
1) no one person has the gifts, perspective and maturity to shape a local church
2) Christ is the head of the church; under-shepherds should collectively lead the congregation
3) tends to centralized ministry around the church building and the pastor himself
a) little need to equip others to develop THEIR gifts, talents and ministries because their job is to support THE minister
2) what pastoral staff and elders should be doing (Eph 4:11-16):
a) NT ministry is decentralized and the function of pastor-teachers is to equip others to do the ministry—providing theological, biblical, philosophical, psychological... training so that the ministers (all members of the church) can be equipped to do ministry
b) pastors are NOT to do the ministry themselves and have others passively support them
c) the test of the gift of X is not how effective you are at X but your training others to do X
d) the elders are to make sure the members of the local church discover their spiritual gifts and natural talents and get the necessary training and equipping to be good at their ministries individually and corporately
3) forms and functions (principles and practices)
a) NT function/principle is an absolute, unchanging, non negotiable biblical command that every church must do (what we are suppose to do)
1) ex. edify believers, worship God, evangelize, teach Bible...
2) see The Theology Program at www.bible.org for more
b) forms/ practices are culturally relative means of accomplishing those biblical principles (how what we are suppose to do is done)
1) these should be regularly evaluated, kept or replaced according to their effectiveness
2) Ex. youth directors, sunday school classes, VBS, order of worship service, kinds of music...
c) we are free in Christ to adjust our forms any way we wish is best under the direction of common sense and Word of God and effectiveness
d) Problems rise when we confuse forms/practices with functions/principles and when we resist change
4) summary:
a) ...the church must see herself as an educational institution and the development of the Christian mind will be the forefront of the Church's ministry strategy of equipping the saints
b) practical suggestions: How does local church develop Christian thinkers equipped to do the work of ministry? Changing...
1) Sermons: stop making them easy to understand and viewing them only based on their entertainer value, practical orientation and pleasurableness
a) cause: many to know little of what Christianity is (Theology) and depend on one person to tell them what to believe each week
b) people want sermons that argue a case and teach something new
1) people don't want sermons that are quickly put together the day before
c) how to change:
1) supplemental material for the sermon: detailed handouts with exercises, recommendations for reflection, bibliography,
a) Recommended commentaries with weekly reading assignments related to the sermon / series
b) why: prepares people to come to the sermon ready to think and forces pastor-teachers to be prepared (listeners are not taking pastor's word for it anymore)
2) Challenging People's minds: not dumbing down the sermon that those who are more intellectual get bored and are tempted to go somewhere else for spiritual and intellectual food.
a) vary the intellectual level of the sermon to make it more balanced for all listeners ; also helps others to catch up intellectually
3) More Preachers / Rotate Speakers
a) no one person should have a disproportionate influence because the church will tend to take on that person's strengths, weaknesses and emphasis
b) rotating helps “weaker” speakers get better
c) “would it inordinately impact your church's attendance and effectiveness if the main preacher wen to another church?”
d) leaders need to be developed in the body and the pulpit should be shared
e) no one who preaches week after week can do so and adequately study for a message or deeply apply and process the sermon topic themselves
1) pastor will tend to depend on his speaking ability and skill in putting together a sermon which will lead to a focus on giving talks instead of preaching with passion and truth from pastor's personal study
2) rotating helps schedule who will preach in advance so no one is preparing last minute
2) Church Library with church librarians who know what and why they believe
a) containing intellectual resources and not just self help books
1) for rent or purchase
2) set up a table in the foyer so that people see what is available
b) include regular book reviews in bulletins, purchased featured book on consignment
3) Sunday School and study centers:
a) for many churches, the purpose for Sunday school is to enfold, not educate people
1) small group focus but this can lead to little or no prep and commitment
2) results in little education and the christian mind is not developed
b) Need for alternative, parallel classes that focus on education so people can choose one or the other or both
1) study classes with syllabus, required texts, assignments and grades; much like a college class
2) Ex of subjects: Greek, counseling, systematic theology, church history, apologetics, history of philosophy, vocation...
3) even join with other local churches to start a study center
3) have a group of Christians study a specific subject (counseling, history, apologetics etc) for a period of time and dedicate them as “experts” in these topics or dedicate those who are in vocation or college so that their vocation becomes relevant to their discipleship and ministry in the church
4) Value learning and experts
a) a group's or leader's values will determine the corporate and individual behavior of the group and it's members
1) local church must find ways to raise value of the intellectual life among its members
a) popular Christian authors, speakers and missionaries are known but how many Christian intellectuals are known? or prayed for?
b) investing in the next generation!
1) incorporating vocational or apologetical testimonies and nook reports on topics into our church services ; to encourage a life of reading, apologetical reasoning, and vocational integration
c) identify intellectual leaders who are associated with the evangelical community or
historic Christian community and have younger people look up to them as role models
1) Is your church utilizing members who are university professors? how are they serving the body? what unique perspectives and knowledge do they have? Is their talents, gifts, knowledge being wasted? Are they being encouraged and supported by the rest of the church?
d) prepare teens for the intellectual challenges in college
1) hold apologetic conferences for seniors
2) invite christian college grad or professors
e) support and encourage those in the church who go to grad school
1) many are socialized out of evangelical commitment and fellowship
2) they need intellectual support
3) stay in contact with them and partner them up with someone who has same vocation in their home church
f) individual and congregation financial support to Christian scholarship
1) evangelical colleges and seminaries should be a focus; we expect them to compete with secular universities but the get our scraps!
2) also, there is less scholarship monies to students who attend christian schools compared to those who attend secular schools – one reason why many christians go to secular schools
g) need Christians to write editorials, influence secular schools, write books, speak on talk shows, etc.
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