Planting for the gospel

Finished reading this book this morning, as you can probably tell its not a big book (120 pages). I have to confess to being a little disappointed overall with the book, despite the many helpful things in it. I can't quite put my finger on why I am disappointed maybe the problem was with my expectations and hopes having read quite a bit of Graham's stuff before and heard him preach a number of times.

It is undoubtedly a helpful book for those thinking about church planting it explores the reasons for planting a church, models and how you decide which one to go with, different methods of planting and some of the early issues of planting. Before in the second part giving lots of examples of plants from a wide variety of settings and types.

I guess what I was hoping for was a little more insight on how the problems in planting churches can be overcome or avoided altogether. Whilst Graham does make clear what the problems are I didn't feel he particularly helped us see a way to avoid them beyond the basic communicate well.

It would have also been great to have had a chapter on helping people work out if they are church planters or not. I know Tim Keller's Church Planting Manual has quite a bit on this, but it would have been great to have had some pointers. For example; is there a difference between a church planter and a church founder? How do planters, who I think tend to be entrepreneurial and alpha types, ensure they are accountable (this is mentioned though not explored in any depth)?

However having expressed my reservations it is a useful and stimulating book which hopefully will get churches thinking about sharing the gospel and as a result planting gospel centred churches.

Masculine Mandate

I've slowed down in my reading what with the Yorkshire Evangelical Ministry assembly and some other bits and pieces. However, I've read chapter 9 and will finish 10 tomorrow.

Chapter 9 turns to the business of Fatherhood and particularly the need for Father's to be disciplining their children, keeping them from the influences of sin and seeking to win their hearts and lead them to Christ. A really helpful distinction is drawn between seeking good behaviour and seeking our children's hearts. (Prov 4:23) Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." How often do I, do we, aim for our child's hearts?

How do we aim for the hearts of our children? It is by giving them our hearts in dedication, love, patience, grace and mercy. Phillips then gives four ways to reach a child's heart; 1. Read - leading the family in devotions. 2. Pray - we need to pray for them , let them hear us pray and ask them to pray for us. 3. Work - work with them on schoolwork and chores. 4. Play - take an interest and involve myself in what they love, as well as sharing with them what we love to do.

All this plays out in time committed to our children. It is a good chapter and the focus on winning your child's heart is particularly helpful. One thing I would have loved to have had drawn out a little more is the difference in the way we do that as children grow and change. How is it different with a toddler than a 5-10 year old, and what about with a teenager?

Masculine Mandate Chapter 2

Phillips premise for this chapetr is that man in made to work and protect; we are to devote ourselves to working and building on the one hand and keeping/protecting on the other as we fulfil our mandate. Helpfully his emphasis is on our life dedicated to accomplishing things, but it is on wanting to yield more than just money or possessions or comfort for ourselves or our families.

Phillips further develops this by looking at the call for us to be cultivators as not just being cultivators of the soil but also of relationships, men are called to cultivate and tend to the hearts of those given into our charge. This fits with his emphasis on men's protective mandate as a call to mirror God and take care of, or keep, those under our care. God has given men the primary calling of emotional and spiritual nurture, and yet many of us fail to do it well - is one of his cutting observations.

The most challenging part of the chapter is that looking at what it means to be a truly great man. His contention is that truly great men are servants who give themselves to a worthy cause and leaders who stand for what is right. That deeply challenges our own shallow views of greatness adopted and moulded by the media.

The thing that particularly stands out so far in the book is the emphasis on man's relational responsibilities - cave time hasn't yet had a mention, it also deeply challenges the premise of Wild at Heart. Yet it is exactly this emphasis that many of us have abdicated in our homes, churches and society, we are so busy doing that we have little time to cultivate, or tenderly care for those whose well being we are charged with.

The Masculine Mandate

In Chapter 1 Phillips focuses on man in the garden, he points out that in the New Testament teaching about relationships, gender, masculinity and femininity are all based on Genesis 1-2, it is there he goes to ground his teaching on the Masculine Mandate. In the chapter he seeks to answer a number of questions who, where, and what man is, and how is man to fulfil his mandate. His conclusion and summary is that man is made by God for his glory and mandated to work and keep.

What particular strikes me in this chapter is that he takes on the notions of John Eldridge's Wild at Heart, a book which I know many men have read but which short circuits the Genesis 1-2 mandate. Man is not outside the garden in the wilderness at Eldridge contends but God put man into the garden, so he was created for covenantal relationships and duties and to fulfil his mandate in that context.

Phillips includes testimonies of men converted and seeking to live out their mandate and challenges much modern Christian thinking on what it means to be a Christian man. I'm looking forward to ch2 where he examines in more detail man's calling to work and keep.

How people change

For some time I've been reading Timothy Land and Paul Tripps book 'How people change'. Some years ago I heard Paul Tripp lecture at Northern Cornhill for the day and he was exceptional, when I then needed to think pastorally about certain situations and hurts I ordered this book.

I have been taking it slowly partly due to time constraints but also because I want to allow the lessons to distill and take time to think through how I put them into action. The book is based on the premise that we all live with a gospel gap. If we do not live with a gospel shaped, Christ confident and change committed Christianity, that hole will get filled with other things.

They also point out that we are prone to underestimating our sin but also our identity in Christ it is these two things that they are seeking to challenge us on in the book. They also constantly remind us that we are not defined by our struggle with sin but by our identity in Christ.

The stand out chapter so far has been chapter 5 'Change is a community project' It takes on our individualistic interpretation of the bible and what God is doing in us, constantly refocusing on the fact we are reconciled not just to God but to one another, that we are called to intimately connect with our brothers and sisters and that our help is found in Christ but also in Christ's people.

I've been struck particularly in this chapter by the challenge to allow others to minister to me more often rather than just having one way ministry friendships. I am not saved or defined by my ministry or ministering but by being in Christ, and Christ and his people have been given to encourage my growth in grace.

I'm looking forward to reading some more of their rigorous and perceptive dissection of my heart.

The Trellis and the Vine summary

Here’s a summary the authors provide of the central idea of the book:
“...the goal of Christian ministry is quite simple, and in a sense measurable: are we making and nurturing genuine disciples of Christ? The church always tends towards institutionalism and secularization. The focus shifts to preserving traditional programs and structures, and the goal of discipleship is lost. The mandate of disciple-making provides the touchstone for whether our church is engaging in Christ’s mission…our goal is to grow the vine, not the trellis” (14).

They helpfully provide lists at some points in the book which are summarised below:

The first is Ministry mind-shifts for churches to make
1. From running programs to building people
2. From running events to training people
3. From using people to growing people
4. From filling gaps to training new workers
5. From solving problems to helping people make progress
6. From clinging to ordained ministry to developing team leadership
7. From focusing on church polity to forging ministry partnerships
8. From relying on training institutions to establishing local training
9. From focusing on immediate pressures to aiming for long-term expansion
10. From engaging in management to engaging in ministry
11. From seeking church growth to desiring gospel growth

Chapter 8 highlights 3 approaches or emphases which churches tend to have:
The authors outline three different models of pastoral ministry. Here are the basic descriptions they give and some of the positives and negatives. They acknowledge these are broad patterns.


1) The pastor as service-providing clergyman functions to:
• provide the flock through his Sunday sermons and administration of the sacraments
• organize and run Sunday gathering, seen as a time of worship for the congregation
• to put on various occasional services for different purposes, such as baptisms, weddings and possibly guest services
• personally counsel congregation members, especially in times of crisis


Advantages:
• It rightly puts regular preaching of the word at the centre of the ministry.
• It gathers the congregation as a family on Sunday for prayer, praise and preaching.
• The occasional services provide opportunities for outreach.
• The pastor cares for his people in times of crisis.


Disadvantages:
• The ministry that takes place in the congregation is limited by the gifts and capacity of the pastor: how effectively he preaches, and how many people he can personally know and counsel.
• It feeds upon and encourages the culture of ‘consumerism’ that is already rife in our culture. It perfectly fits the spirit of our age whereby we pay trained professionals to do everything for us rather than do it ourselves.


2) The pastor as CEO functions to:
• continue the professional clergy responsibilities, but to focus on leading the congregation as an organization with particular goals; he is still the preacher and pastoral service provider, but he is also a managerial leader responsible for making all these things happen on a larger scale
• focus Sunday toward an ‘attractional’ model, with the kind of music, decor and preaching that would be attractive to visitors and newcomers
• revolutionize occasional services by starting regular settings for church members and outsiders to take courses and seminars that target niche issues (how to raise children, how to deal with depression, etc.)


Advantages:
• This approach dramatically increases involvement.
• Easily includes new people by giving them activities and responsibilities to do.
• Acknowledges the importance of having an effective structural organization to the church.

Disadvantages:
• For all the growth in numbers and involvement, this approach has adopted and perpetuated the consumerist assumptions of our society.
• Success is measured in numbers of people and venues rather than spiritual growth
• Few people are actually growing spiritually and engaging in mission.


3) The pastor as trainer functions to:
• prayerfully preach expositionally to train people to do the ministry rather than providing spiritual services for the congregation, eliminating the clergy/laymen distinction
• live life with the congregation as an example to them and with them
• give away care opportunities to those who have been trained by learning from the example and teaching of the pastor

Advantages:
• Members are equipped to contribute to and do ministry rather than consume ministry.
• Church structures and venues are not ends in themselves since people become the focus rather than doing an event.
• Care for those in crisis is handled by many people working together rather than one person who must handle every crisis as the professional expert.


They don’t give any disadvantages


Here is a summary of propositions which the authors make
1. Our goal is to make disciples
2. Churches tend towards institutionalism as sparks fly upwards
3. The heart of disciple-making is prayerful teaching
4. The goal of all ministry – not just one-to-one work – is to nurture disciples
5. To be a disciple is to be a disciple-maker
6. Disciple-makers need to be trained and equipped in conviction, character and competence
7. There is only one class of disciples, regardless of different roles or responsibilities
8. The Great Commission, and its disciple-making imperative, needs to drive fresh thinking about our Sunday meetings and the place of training in congregational life
9. Training almost always starts small and grows by multiplying workers
10. We need to challenge and recruit the next generation of pastors, teachers and evangelists


People Worth Watching
They also provide an excellent list of questions to ask when looking for potential leaders, what they call ‘people worth watching’:
• Is he (or she) genuinely converted and able to articulate his faith in Christ?
• Is he reading and asking questions about the Bible and theology?
• Is he faithful in applying the Bible to his thinking and life?
• Is he humble and teachable?
• Is he faithful and trustworthy?
• Is there any past or present sin that could bring Christ’s name into dishonour?
• Does he serve others without being asked?
• Does he work at evangelism?
• Is he a natural communicator?
• Does he show leadership in his school, work or sporting life?
• Are others following him because of his ministry?
• Do people respond to his ministry positively?
• Is his family life healthy?
• Does he relate well to others?
• Is his spouse committed to ministry as well?
• Is he emotionally stable and tough? Will he be able to face criticism, disappointment and failure?

I think the book poses some questions that it is worth thinking through:
1. Are we running programs or discipling people?
2. How are we training people to be disciples? And how do we engage more in this?
3. Which of the 3 models of ministry are we most like? What dangers does this pose? How do we move away from it?
4. How can we as set the tone in encouraging people to be disciple-making disciples?
5. What areas do we need to be trained in so people can engage in ministry?

TatV Chapter 12 and final thoughts

Chapter twelve pulls together the various strands of the book reminding us that the churches goal is not growth numerically but to makes disciples who make other disciples to the glory of God and that the way to do this is through prayerfully teaching the Bible in every context. It reminds us too that discipleship is relational.

There follows an appendix which answers some of the questions that arise as you read. How do small groups fit in? etc...

Having finished the book I am grateful to God for Marshall and Payne's labour and wisdom. I think particularly helpful is that reminder that discipleship is the work of the church and the call to be prayerfully training others in relationship. There is also a realism that does not leave the reader feeling guilty for the times when such training gets put on the back burner because of emergencies but a gentle urging for us to re-engage with training when possible.

My main concern would be that despite saying this will make church messy with a interwoven series of disciples discipling other disciples there suggestions seem quite tied to the trellis framework from which they write. Some more development of what a messy gospel community would look like functionally outside of church structures would have been helpful and provocative. Picking up the theme of sharing lives and developing that a bit more would have been the icing on the very good cake.

TatV Chapter 10&11

Next they move on to the question of how you train and recognise gospel workers. Asking how does God call and raise up teh next generation of pastors and evangelists?

There answer is that it is through pastors and elders identifying people worth watching - those who as we train them inevitably display their godliness and giftedness for ministry. Who have the convictions, character and competency to be set apart for full time service.

Helpfully they remind us through reference to various passages that almost universally in the New Testament gospel workers are set apart by elders and leaders, rather than be experiencing a mythical 'call' themselves. They go further and state that the current generation of church leaders bear the responsibility for the next and must therefore be on the look out for gifted people with the integrity to preach, pastor, and train others. Before providing a helpful set of questions to help identify those leaders.

It is another very helpful chapter and something that has been neglected in churches. Too often we look outside the church because we have failed to raise up, train and disciple those within it and that is a tragedy.

Chapter 11 turns to the idea of a 2 year ministry apprenticeship and has some helpful practical ideas about recruiting, training and sending. But overall I found this chapter a bit of a disapppointment and a rather formulaic way to answer the challenges of the previous chapters. What about those churches who can't afford to run such a scheme or the benefits of developing a network of those in the congregation who as volunteers receive the same inputs - what would that look like and how can churches facilitate that?

TatV Chapter 9

Chapter 9 moves on to look at the biblical basis for and the practical 'how to' of training gospel workers so that our churches become places where everyone is a disciple-making disciple. It begins by exploring Paul's co-workers and fellow-workers and extrapolates the principle that team ministry is the Biblical norm not the exception.

It moves on to explore this idea through a team of elders who labour together and through the idea of training others to engage in gospel work (again they seem a little bound by trellis work - church structures). The rightly and helpful point out that church or denominational structures are not a bar to this, nor do they automatically facilitate and encourage it, it must be a determined intentional mindset. But how do we do it?

Helpfully they give an example of it in action and through a series of diagrams explore how training disciple-making disciples will impact the church. They acknowledge that ongoing rolling, growing disciple making is messy, and that people will drop out or not fully realise their potential.

As I read the chapter I found it both an encouragement and a challenge. An encouragement because who wouldn't want the church to be filled with every believer making and growing other disciples speaking the word of God to one another and calling others to come to faith. And a challenge because such a mindset and change would mean not fulfilling others expectations - something I think we all battle with - but instead focusing on a few who will train others, who will train others and so on.

TatV Chapter 8

This is the best chapter of the book so far. Its premise is that churches work in one of three ways: 1. Pastor as service providing clergy, 2. Pastor as CEO, 3. Pastor as trainer.

They recognise the strengths of the first two, the concern to faithfully preach or to reach people for the gospel, however, they helpfully highlight their weaknesses too. But what I found most helpful was thinking through what each of the first two convey to congregations and how it leads to spectators in church.

Obviously given the premise of the book the 3rd option is in their opinion the biblical and most beneficial. What was going to be my one criticism of the chapter was answered in it as they recognise that each of the 3 are straw men, that no one church will fit exactly one model, but will be a curious amalgam of parts of all three. The big challenge from this chapter is to use the tables they give to diagnose your church and then to think about what that means for people coming to faith and growing in maturity.

I think on reading the chapter most people would agree with their conclusions - ironically the very people who need to be provoked and encouraged to grow in their faith and to grow others in their faith - in short to be disciple making disciples - probably won't be reading this book. So how do we engage such people. Inevitably modelling and teaching Biblically about discipleship is vital, as is structuring our church in such a way that passengers feel they are missing out.

Fascinatingly as I've been reading through this book I've been preparing 1 Thessalonians to preach which picks up on many of the same themes as it shows us a young community of disciples growing and going.

TatV Chapter 7

Chapter 7 turns to look at training and gospel growth. The emphasis here is clearly on the personal relational side of gospel growth - gospel growth is the lives of people, not in the structures of church. This means we need to change our thinking so that we think of advancing people in their faith. They suggest a four stage gospel growth process: outreach, follow up, growth and training. There is then a diagnostic tool (those who've read mission minded by Peter Bolt will be familiar with the idea) to enable us to plot where everyone is in these terms and therefore to work out how we move them on.

There is a danger with such a tool that we become to process oriented but they recognise this and warn against it - the emphasis is clearly on growing people. The chapter is a great reminder of how the gospel is relational and it calls us into relationships where we gospel one another. However, the book does seem to focus on the churches leaders doing this - surely the call given the disciple making disciples thesis of the book should be for each of us to think about our friends and how we can encourage them to grow in their understanding of the book. I wonder if subconsciously the tone of the chapter will lead readers to the assumption that this is the pastors/elders job which is the very opposite of what the book is trying to do.

TatV ch5 & 6

Chapter 5 deals with some of the questions that may be raised as a result of the first 4 chapters, are they in danger of creating 2 classes of Christians keenies and the rest? Is it really true that the normal christian is a disciple making disciple?

They do this by working through parts of Paul's letter to the Philippians especially the reminder to them that they were to live as citizens of heaven under Jesus kingship here on earth. They also introduce the idea that partnership is the christian norm. This chapter feels a bit light on ideas compared to the others, but it is necessary to lay the groundwork for what follows in chapter 6.

Ch 6 is about training. Helpfully they begin by defining training and contrasting the Bible's definition with the worlds. Training in the bible is not about competencies and skills it is about Christian thinking and living. They then take us through a range of New Testament passages showing us this training in action. Imitation is also given the same weighting in training as the New Testament gives it which is a real encouragement to find.

They summarize the nature and goal of training as: conviction, character and competency. The stress throughout on the relational nature of training was helpful - you don't just put on a course but model the attributes, such models are only any use if they are seen.

However both chapters left me with a some questions which I am hoping will be answered later. What is the pastors role in all this training? How do you find time or reorganise and re prioritise in order to do this? What about those who will not buy into this way of doing things? How do we engage pew fillers with this? How does this work itself out practically in the way we run evangelistic courses - how do we make them more relational?

The Trellis and the Vine

I'm always a bit skeptical about the recommendations on the backs of books, after all they are bound to be positive, so when I saw Mark Dever's recommendation for this book I was again ready to be disappointed. You can see his recommendation video here

However, I have to say the first chapter has been excellent so far it has lived up to the hype. I recognise in myself a tendancy to become preoccupied with trellis work (the structures and programs of church) rather than the vine (the people which compose the church) itself. The authors recognise that vine work is not easy, that it requires us to depend on God and take risks in speaking the word of God into peoples lives, but they remind us of the call and need to do just that.

The chapter also asked some good questions (e.g. How many people are hearing God''s word and by the power of the Spirit growing in knowledge and godliness?). But the most helpful thing in this chapter was the reminder that 'go' is not the main verb of the great commission, it is 'make disciples'. That disciple making is to to be the normal agenda and priority of the church and every disciple.

Worldliness

That's the title of a little book which C J Mahaney is the editor of that I picked up a while ago but am now getting round to reading. I've read the foreword (by John Piper) and opening chapter and it is excellent so far. It challenges us about our snippet approach to the Bible - specifically how we seem to have effectively cut out John 2:15 "Do not love the world..."

Later chapters deal with the media, music, stuff, clothes, and finally how to love the world. We need its reminder that when it comes to wordliness we are all at risk and also that we do not drift into holiness, that it is a series of choices we make every moment of every day. The example of Demas as a danger of worldliness and where it leads: "Demas, because he lived this world, has deserted me..." Is a challenge especially when you consider he began well and was so involved with the gospel mission.

I'm looking forward to reading it, though the proof will only be in the practical application of it to my heart, my thinking, my bookshelves, DVD collection, CD collection, iPod, TV viewing habits and so on.

Reader beware

Thabiti Anyabwile has drawn attention to a sticker appearing on books in a Christian book chain in America:

"We want you to know that the authors of books marked Read with Discernment may have espoused thoughts, ideas, or concepts that could be considered inconsistent with historical evangelical theology.However, we are making these titles available to our customers (along with the background and additional insight offered here through Read With Discernment) because we believe the books do present content that is relevant and of value to Christians and/or because pastors, seminary students, and other ministry leaders need access to this type of material, strictly for critical study or research to help them understand and develop responses to the diversity of religious thought in today's postmodern world. Our prayer for you is that in whatever you read, you place the material under the magnifying glass of scripture and read with discernment, asking God to reveal His truth to you so that, as Paul wrote in Philippians 1:9-10, "...your love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that you can determine what really matters and can be pure and blameless in the day of Christ..." (Holman CSB).

It is an interesting development, it should remind us to test with the scripture what we read even when it is bought from a Christian bookstore. But we also need to be careful to test what we listen to, in fact we need to be discerning full stop.

Married for God

In light of what I have been studying this week preparing to preach on Sunday about marriage and divorce from Malachi 2. I have found myself reaching yet again for Christopher Ash's book 'Married for God'. It is a brilliant book to read with young couple preparing for marriage and for those of us who are married and have been some time.

I will be recommending it on Sunday, and recommending that people read it together as a couple and discuss the questions. We may even start a Sunday evening group to discuss each chapter and the study questions if there is a need. The book depository have copies for less than £6 each at the moment.

The Word became Fresh

The Old Testament can be quite hard to read and understand. We all like stories but sometimes we get so caught up in the stories that we miss the point the Old Testaments narrative is making about God, his purposes and his future.

So when a book that is easy to read interesting and establishes sound principles for looking at such texts comes along it deserves reading. Dale Ralph Davis is an excellent expositor of the Old Testament and he has helpfully written 'The Word became Fresh'. Though designed for the preacher it is a great tool for anyone wanting to learn how to look at the Old Testament. The chapters on how to approach Old Testament narrative and reading with God at the centre are worth the price of the book on its own.

It's one book that I will keep returning to when having to preach Old Testament narrative or just reading it in my quiet times.

Preparing disciples for university

I've been struck by the lack of a good book on discipleship for students about to go to university which will help them thing through the issues they will face. Its a real shame because it is a huge shift from living at home to living away, how do you find a church? What do you look for? How do you decide on boundaries about alcohol, going out, relationships? Do you get involved in sports clubs and the likes which some worry are just drinking clubs? How do I share the gospel with my new flat/hall mates?

All these are real issues which students face along with lots of others and there seems to be a gap in the market for a good book that Biblically examines these areas to help young people in this huge challenge.