Third Great Awakening

Is it on the horizon? I think we’re overdue…I think there’s a lot of potential in my generation to do some pretty great things. Only time will tell…

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It’s Official…

Well, it’s official. I’m moving to “Mecca” (a.k.a. Grand Rapids, MI.)

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What is the Church?

Ecclesiology has a tremendous influence upon me and my ministry – upon the way I view life in the church and so on. Admittedly, ecclesiology may even have a rather unhealthy hold on me, causing everything about my convictions to be thrown a little out of whack. But I give it such a prominent place in my life because it’s in the study of ecclesiology that we come to understand our purpose: individually, corporately, and institutionally. This will probably be the beginning of several posts regarding the topic. For that reason I wantt to make a few distinctions…

Institutional church: This is the organization commonly refered to as the church. Examples include, but not limited to: Parklane CRC, First CRC, First Baptist, Our Lord Presbyterian, New Life, etc.

The Church: It’s important to recognized the capital “C”. This is the worldwide, universal body of believers. All the elect – past, present, and future – are a part of the Church.

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Letters to the Editor

Here are some reader’s comments regarding last month’s The Banner. The Banner is a monthly publication of the CRC. Last month featured a number of rather controversial articles regarding the future of the CRC. I do not necessarily endorse the content of the articles, but I do support the intention behind them: Let’s stop focusing on the superficial issues and deal with the real problems. Here’s some “letters” that stood out to me…

There seems to be so much emphasis in the CRC on the issues on which we are not united, rather than on our passion for living Christlike lives and spreading the gospel.

How many of us interact with and include young people in our services? From early childhood on, are they made to feel they are an important part of the church?

What excites our children? Do they see our passion for our God, for redeeming the earth in his name? Do they see our concern for the poor and for justice? Do they see our love, hospitality, compassion, and forgiveness? Do they see our concern for those “outside” our circles and our efforts to include all people? Do they feel free to ask any question about which they might have doubts, or voice an opinion without fear of ridicule or anger? These are questions we need to constantly ask.

—Irene Streutker
Olney, Md.

I think that if the church were more relevant to the lives of our young people, that would help.

The church needs to challenge our young people, and us old ones too for that matter, with how to be agents of God’s grace in this broken world—in areas of service to the broken, to the abandoned, to the creation, and so on.

Surveys show that people, including young adults, are increasingly spiritual, they just aren’t attending our churches. Maybe our expectations of the church are too low and our churches are failing our young people; not our young people failing the church.

—John Kamphof
Cobble Hill, British Columbia

Thirty years ago my wife and I left the Christian Reformed Church. Why?
I was young and found myself unmotivated to attend church at that time. I found my parent’s traditional church uninspiring to my spiritual growth. Then my wife and I stumbled into the Charismatic/Pentecostal movement at a local church and stayed. I was attracted to

• uplifting worship and praise that connected me to God
• practical sermons that were interesting and relevant
• children’s programs and adult classes that compelled attendance
• evangelism taught and done in a tangible way.

Thirty years later I now realize that the fellowship of the saints in stable CRC congregations looks a lot like the care fellowship groups of the mega churches. I now realize that the consistency and solidity of the CRC delivers a sound theological/philosophical foundation for relationship with God, self, and others. How would I challenge the Christian Reformed Church? Simple: take your very solid Calvinist theology and deliver it in a practical, contemporary, and relevant way.

—Michael Ritsema
Grandville, Mich.

At least I know I’m not alone in this world…

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A Defense of My Position

Here’s an email I received:

Have you ever read Reaching Out Without Dumbing Down by (I think) Marva Dawn? I may have given it to you a few years back, or I may still have it here. I’ll check before we come up. I am so concerned with the “dumbing down” of Christianity I see: the songs, the worship services, the Banner, etc. I was actually and truly weeping for our church a few weeks ago. (What this has to do with today’s rambling’s I’m not sure, but I just wanted to respond.)

Here’s my response. Granted, I get a little off topic, but this gives y’all a good idea of where I’m coming from and why:

I haven’t read it – but I’ve heard about it. You must still have it down there somewhere ’cause I don’t have it around anywhere. But just out of curiosity, with regards to me and my posts, are your statements because you think I’m caving in to “market-driven” ministry (i.e. reaching AND dumbing down)? Or are you just making a lot of statements regarding the same topics?

I’ve said many times before: I never advocate dumbing down the Message. And more often than not, I’ve been accused of being too academic with my teaching. Not to mention “dumbing down” would mean forsaking the second part of the Great Commission (“make disciples”).

I emphasize “reaching out” so much because the CRC doesn’t do it enough. Transfer growth is not reaching out. Using the excuse, “it’s not our role in the Body of Christ” doesn’t cut it either. With the evangelism seminar that I’m leading, I’m not telling everyone that they need to strive to become the next Billy Graham. I’m not even telling everyone that the only people who are important are those with the gift of evangelism. What I’m saying – and this equally applies to the CRC as a whole – is that there are certain things that God expects from ALL His people and ALL denominations. Those things are well summarized in the Great Commission (Win, Build, Equip). ALL who call Christ Lord have a Biblical responsibility to do ALL these things – without sacrificing even one (as a side note, even the Confessions teach that [Belgic Art. 29; Cannons I, 3]).

Admittedly, and I was just talking with Vance about this today, there is significant disagreement concerning the job/purpose of the institutional church. Some say it is to educate the saints. Some say it’s to glorify God. Some say it’s to reach the lost. There’s many more. And to be sure, every understanding is backed by a particular theological slant.

I personally feel that the institutional church exists for the purpose of reaching the lost (Win), educating them in the ways of the Christian life (Build), and training them to do the same with someone else (Equip). In doing these things, the church ultimately brings glory to God as a result of obeying His commands (think Ecc. 12:13, et. al.). Although he demands faith on the part of the believer for salvation (Eph. 2:8-10), the institutional church is an inanimate entity and therefore incapable of possessing faith. James 2 makes it clear that faith (somehow beyond any comprehension on my part) is not enough and deeds (obeying God’s commands) are somehow necessary to the Christian life (the mystery of it all is that to say that deeds “prove one’s faith” seems to simplistic while also saying that “salvation depends on them” is too pharasitical [?]). But that’s not something that I can deal with because I’ll never understand how it all works.

What I do know is that one must believe in order to be saved and that faith must be put into practice by obeying “all that I command.” And doing “all that I command,” for me, means “Win, Build, and Equip.”

Sorry… I’ve been talking about evangelism a lot today and maybe I went a little overboard in answering your question??? But I’m off my soapbox now. No, I don’t have the book. So please, bring it with you when you come up.

-jdv

I know there’s people out there reading this stuff. Every time you view this page, a little red dot pops up on the map to the right. Please, feel free to leave comments. I’ld love to know if I’m on to anything or if I’m completely full of cow dung (to put it mildly).

Enjoy!

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