A Good Quote…

“If we can’t talk about Jesus – our faith – among the community of faith, how can we expect to talk about Jesus with strangers.”

- Dr. Darwin Glassford

Filed under: Ministry

I Need Answers

I’m going to take the next few months to try and figure out whether I should or not go into church planting. I’ve been interested in it for a while – but I’ve felt a definite yes or no. The time is coming in which I need to make this decision if I’m going to do this when I graduate. Right now, I have my eye on downtown Portland…

Filed under: Christian Living, Church, Church Planting, Evangelism, Ministry

The goal of the educational ministry of the church is…

Another paper…y’all are gunna get a lot of these from me the next few years. This one deals with some of my thoughts @ the teaching ministry of the church. Enjoy…

There are a virtually unlimited number of ideas regarding the goal, shape, and context of educational ministry. Within our churches today, one can find formats ranging from the informal “coffee-shop” type discussion group to highly formalized, rigid lectures. Although we all have our own preferences of which format “works” for us, format should always be the result of clearly defined goals and vision. Pazmiño suggests that “the basic goal of Christian education is to enable persons to become obedient disciples of Jesus Christ.” Although I would generally agree with Pazmiño’s definition, I find him too general. I might offer this alternative: The goal of the educational ministry of the church is to build up Christ followers in the faith and equip them to minister to those around them.

The “Christian Day School Education Report” lists evangelism as a goal of educational ministry. Frankly, I feel that this is a faulty application of the term “evangelism.” While I do not deny a certain evangelical aspect of Christian and church education, it is, by its very nature, inward focused – that is, its primary focus is on the one being taught, with a secondary focus on those who will benefit from the equipping taking place within the various educational contexts.

De Jong notes several times in his article Calvin’s own words and intentions regarding Christian education. De Jong points out that in the first edition of the Institutes, Calvin declared that he wrote “especially for our French countrymen, very many of whom I knew to be hungering and thirsting for Christ.” And later, “The third article concerns the instruction of children, who, without doubt ought to make a confession of their faith to the church.” These statements provide only a brief summary of Calvin’s thoughts regarding Christian education: for Calvin, Christian education was to have a decidedly internal focus, guiding the catechumen to a deeper faith and knowledge of Christ. As a parallel, Frederick III even affirms this internal focus in his dedicatory preface to the first edition of the Heidelberg Catechism.
Let me return to my thesis and explain my feelings regarding the educational ministry of the church further. Notice that evangelism is not completely absent. On the basis of Matt. 28:18-20, Mk. 16:15, and others, every believer has a responsibility to preach the gospel and share the good news of Christ’s resurrection with all peoples. But I want to be careful not to over emphasize the importance of evangelism. Evangelism – which I count as a sort of spiritual discipline for most – is only part of the Christian life. The phrase “minister to those around them” is inclusive of both those who profess Christ and those who do not. When God’s people engage in ministry to those outside of the Body of Christ, that act of ministry nearly always bears a missional element. However, ministry within the church does not contain those same evangelistic attributes. In this sense, Pazmiño is spot-on with his ultimate goal. The ultimate goal of Christian education should be “to prepare God’s people for works of service.”

Yet while equipping “for works of service” may be the final goal of educational ministry, there is the reality that this equipping will not be effective unless those being equipped are mature followers of Christ. For that reason, those who are in the church must be built up in the faith before they can do the “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” All of Scripture is witness to this fact. In Deuteronomy 6:7-9 God instructs His people to “Impress [my commands] on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”

Christian education is in many respects, a two-part process. In our covenant-based reformed theology, our children have been called to be servants of the Most High – regardless of what profession they choose to enter. For that reason, all of God’s people must be equipped with the tools to minister to their unbelieving neighbors and each other. This ministry entails everything from communicating the gospel to prayer to feeding the hungry to comfort during life’s struggles. However, God’s people will not be ready to take upon themselves such a “cross” without first gaining an appreciation for the work the Holy Spirit has performed upon their own heart first.

Filed under: Church, Ministry

Something New!

I have just added the option for readers to sign-up and receive regular updates of my posts in your email Inbox. If you’re interested in keeping up on what’s running through my head, just type in your email address and follow the instructions. You’ll begin receiving updates soon after.

The sign-up box is on the right hand side of the screen, just below links to “Previous Posts.”

Enjoy!

Filed under: Random

Something Fun…

“14 Things it Took Me Over 50 Years To Learn”

by Dave Barry

1. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night.
2. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”
3. There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.”
4. People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.
5. You should not confuse your career with your life.
6. Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.
7. Never lick a steak knife.
8. The most destructive force in the universe is gossip.
9. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight savings time.
10. You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests that you think she’s pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.
11. There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is age eleven.
12. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.
13. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter, is not a nice person. (This is very important. Pay attention. It never fails.)
14. Your friends love you anyway.

Filed under: Humor