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Just Show Up: How to Father a Fatherless Generation

By
Bob Ditmer
-
communicating with the unchurched

On Sunday, children everywhere will be remembering their fathers’ love, support and direction.

But for almost half of America’s children (43 percent) the memories will be limited or completely missing.

John Sowers, author of The Fatherless Generation, says no generation has seen as much voluntary father absence as this one with 25 million kids growing up in single-parent homes.

The byproduct of that number is even more sobering: 85 percent of gang members, 75 percent of teen pregnancies, 65 percent of suicides and 75 percent of drug users come from fatherless homes.

Sowers says the children behind those numbers live lives branded by rejection.  

For the church, there is another reality to overcome, Sowers says this generation won’t believe the gospel promise that God can be our father unless we show up in their lives with the same intimacy that God shows up in ours.

This 2012 documentary from Christ in Youth titled, Becoming Sons and Daughters, highlights the lives of Christian men who are committed to providing evidence of the scriptural promise of the Father’s presence.

The video tells the stories of several men who have worked alone or with their church to mentor at-risk youth.

The stories range from a teacher in New York City who meets regularly with fatherless boys mentoring, coaching and instructing to the moving story of Chris Keith who’s own father killed his mother, brother and left him for dead after shooting him in the head before taking his own life.  Chris now mentors at-risk boys and tells his story at juvenile detention centers to boys whose common denominator is: “they don’t have anyone who cares for them.”

All of those featured say they have no special talents, they simply share their lives and passions with boys who lack a male role model to provide them with love, support and direction.

They teach, coach, foster, adopt, play and provide the most needed gift of all— their time and attention.  All the while doing their best to provide a glimpse of our heavenly Father.

Sowers asks, “if a church doesn’t include this kind of ministry in their outreach, can its members really say they’re loving their neighbor?”

What Does the Bible Tell Us About Suicide?

By
Bob Ditmer
-
celebrity suicides
Adobestock #115435886

Two celebrity suicides just days apart have many rethinking wealth and fame as an antidote to despair.

Two well-known church leaders are thinking about that too and passing on their insights from scripture.

Pastor Greg Laurie told a packed AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday evening in today’s culture people think they can be happy only if they get rich and famous. But, he added, the “bottom line” is that “fame and wealth, possessions, all the things this world has to offer…will not make you happy.”

In one week alone, he said, two celebrities—television personality Anthony Bourdain and fashion icon Kate Spade—took their own lives. Last year, 45,000 Americans took their lives, he added.

“I’m not here tonight to talk to you about religion. I’m here to talk to you about a relationship, a friendship, with God,” Pastor Laurie told the crowd.

Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, and founder of the Harvest America stadium events, knows about the emptiness of pursuing what the culture deems satisfying. He told of his difficult childhood, and how he got into drugs and alcohol. “I was going downhill fast…I was too cynical, too hard…but Christ changed my life one day. I didn’t plan on it, but it happened,” he said.

“There is someone who loves you and someone who values you. And He’s called Jesus Christ,” he stated, and quoted one of his favorite verses in the Bible, Jeremiah 29:11, which reads, “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'”

“Do you have hope tonight?” the California pastor asked the audience. He further asked if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is “living inside of you right now”? If He is, Laurie stressed, then you’d know for certain.

Max Lucado, author and pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, is also trying to find an answer to the suicides.

In an op ed piece for Foxnews.com, Lucado writes that in addition to the high profile deaths of Spade and Bourdain, a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention finds nearly 45,000 people committed suicide in the U.S. in 2016 alone. Between 1999 and 2016 the suicide rate in the U.S. rose by nearly 30 percent.

He says “if a disease saw a spike like we’ve seen with suicides, we would deem it an epidemic.”

The verse that he turns to for insight into the “epidemic” is Psalm 30:5.

Lucado writes:

“Suicide victims battled life’s rawest contests. They often faced a mental illness or physical illnesses and felt the peril of mental fatigue. What you and I take for granted, they coveted. Optimism. Hope. Confidence that all would be well—that they would be well.

“Their clouds had no silver linings. Their storms had no rainbows.

“If that describes the way you feel, can I urge you to consider one of the great promises of the Bible? The promise begins with this phrase: “Weeping may last through the night” (Ps. 30:5).

“Of course, you knew that much. You didn’t need to read the verse to know its truth. Weeping can last through the night. Weeping may last through the night, and the next night and the next.

“This is not news to you.

“But this may be: “Joy comes with the morning” (Ps. 30:5). Despair will not rule the day. Sorrow will not last forever. The clouds may eclipse the sun, but they cannot eliminate it. Night might prolong the dawn, but it cannot defeat it. Morning comes. Not as quickly as we want. Not as dramatically as we desire. But morning comes, and, with it, comes joy. Joy comes.

“Joy comes because God comes.”

And he adds this personal note to those struggling in life, asking “And you? You’ll be tempted to give up. Please don’t. Open your Bible. Meditate on Scripture. Sing hymns. Talk to someone about your hurt. Seek help. Place yourself in a position to be found by hope. Weeping comes. But so does joy.”

3rd Filipino Priest Killed Amidst War on Drugs

By
Bob Ditmer
-
Philippine drug war
Photo Credit: Twitter/@@siii_jay16 and Facebook/@rodyduterte

A third priest has been gunned down in the Philippines since December, prompting the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines to condemn the killings and call for an impartial investigation of the case. The church also asks anyone who might have information about the murders to cooperate with police.

On Monday, June 11, Nueva Ecija priest Father Richmond Nilo, 43, was shot inside a community chapel as he was preparing to say Sunday Mass.

Reports said a gunman shot Fr Nilo at least seven times through the chapel’s window before the assailant and a companion sped away in a car.

On April 29, Father Mark Anthony Yuaga Ventura, a parish priest in Gattaran town in Cagayan, was shot to death as he was blessing children and talking to choir members after Mass.

The death of Fr Marcelino Paez, 72, started the spate of priest killings. He was shot and killed in Nueva Ecija as he was driving along a roadway by two gunmen on a motorcycle.

The murders come amidst Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs” that has resulted in more than 16,000 unsolved homicide cases in a year-and-a-half and half of these people going to rehab near me.

Human Rights Watch and members of drug rehab los angeles contends that many of the murders have been carried out by the Philippine National Police (PNP) or vigilante groups incited by the campaign. Many of the dead are urban poor.

Large-scale extrajudicial violence as a crime solution was a marker of Duterte’s 22-year tenure as mayor of Davao City and the cornerstone of his presidential campaign. On the eve of his 2016 election victory, Duterte told a crowd of more than 300,000: “If I make it to the presidential palace I will do just what I did as mayor. You drug pushers, holdup men and do-nothings, you better get out because I’ll kill you.”

Duterte has vowed to continue the campaign as police dispute the number killed as well as allegations of widespread extrajudicial or vigilante killings.

According to inpatient drug rehab, Philippines Police Deputy Director General Ramon Apolinario cited “encounters” between drug-related groups as a reason for the deaths, adding that “even our own forces have been victimized.” The drug rehab fort myers can help people overcome the addiction problem.

The public also remains largely in favor of Duterte’s campaign. A poll in December found that while 78 percent of Filipinos feared they or someone they know will be a victim of extrajudicial killings, 85 percent of respondents were nevertheless satisfied with the ongoing operations in the drug war, according to CNN Philippines.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has been a vocal critic of the war on drugs. In February, the group denounced the effort as a “reign of terror” in poor communities.

Following the most recent priest killing, Cabanatuan Bishop Sofronio Bancud said, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms and deeply mourn the brutal murder of Fr Richmond V. Nilo, and the escalating violence and culture of impunity in the country, even against helpless clergymen,” Bancud said.

“Indeed it is a tragic day and an irreparable loss for the local Church of Cabanatuan and for all people of goodwill. May his death lead us all to love and live the Catholic faith which Fr Richmond, in his nearly 17 years in the priesthood, undoubtedly loved.”

At a press conference on Monday, PNP chief Director General Oscar Albayalde said he has ordered all local police chiefs nationwide to “coordinate” with all priests. He said he has instructed chiefs of police to reach out to priests in their communities and ask them if they face threats to their lives.

Is “Ministry Calling” a Legitimate Concept?

By
Chuck Lawless
-
communicating with the unchurched

I’ve written previously about why my sense of calling matters. In that post, I described what I believe was God’s somehow capturing my attention and re-directing my life in some supernatural way. I’ve also written about how I understand the breadth of that calling today.

Is “Ministry Calling” a Legitimate Concept

I’m also aware, though, that some folks are wrestling with/questioning the concept of “ministry calling” today, and I want to be fair to them. Here, at least from my studies, are some of their questions and concerns:

1. All believers are called to love God, love others and make disciples of all nations. These general calls of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment are for all believers, and any other sense of “call” is more a choice of a role to fulfill those callings than some unique mandate.

2. The callings in the Bible are for unique situations. To be sure, the Bible includes dramatic call narratives (e.g., Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul), but these leaders were uniquely situated in God’s plan. Many other people have led God’s people without such potent experiences. The latter would seem to be more the norm.

3. “Gifting” more than calling seems to be a primary way in the Bible to identify one’s role in God’s work. Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 certainly focus on gifts that the Holy Spirit chooses to give to believers as He wishes. When we faithfully use our gifts, we effectively fulfill our “calling.”

4. The qualifications for pastors and deacons in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 are almost exclusively character-based, not “calling” based. It would seem that “inner compulsion” would have been more pronounced had calling been an expectation for these positions.

5. The book of Acts illustrates the church’s role in setting apart leaders much more than leaders experiencing some sense of divine “calling.” The Jerusalem church chose the men to serve widows (Acts 6). The believers at Antioch set apart Paul and Barnabas and sent them out (Acts 13). Scholars debate who appointed the elders in Acts 14, but there’s no sense that they determined their own calling.

6. The concept of calling has produced an elitist professional ministry. This problem, some argue, at least suggests that any sense of calling to ministry is somehow overstated. At a minimum, calling has been misapplied so that it has become more individualistic than church-centered.

This article originally appeared here.

What I Must Change

By
Thom Rainer
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communicating with the unchurched

Certainly, this post was at least partly prompted by the incredible number of sad, tragic, and horrific events in my denomination.

For sure, the brutal reality of the calendar and my impending 63rd birthday caused me to pause and write this public missive.

But more, far more, has been the conviction of God’s Spirit in my life. While I have been prone to judge the fallen and the offenders in the melodrama of my denomination, God has reminded me again how fallen I am, how sinful I am, and how I am unworthy to cast the first stone.

It is perhaps for accountability, and perhaps for confession, that I write about changes I must make.

I must change and be more obedient in sharing the gospel. I exhort others to do so, but I am disobedient far too much myself.

I must change and increase my time in the Word and in prayer. Too often, I let the tyranny of the urgent replace the priority of time with God. If I sound foolish, it is because I am, and because I have been.

I must change how I seek my identity. My identity should be first in Christ. And my identity should also be as a family man. My greatest titles are “husband,” “Dad,” and “Rad Rad,” not “CEO” or “Dr. Rainer.” Too often I seek the accolades of others instead of pleasing Christ and serving my family.

I must change the depth and breadth of how I love my local church. I must serve with greater joy, give with greater commitment, and worship with greater abandon.

I must change my involvement in denominational politics. Indeed, I must flee from denominational politics. My involvement breaks my heart and hurts my soul.

I must change from a posture of silence to one of courage when others are hurt, marginalized, and abused. My silence is too often a deafening endorsement of injustice and wrongdoing.

This list is neither complete nor exhaustive. God is still working on me. He knows I need a lot of work. I am not sure what paths I will take in the weeks and months ahead, but I know I need to be on His path and not my own. I am no less a sinner subject to failure and to fall than anyone else.

I must change.

With the few years I have left, I must change.

Let me be clearer and more biblical: I must ask God to change me. It is not by my strength nor by my might, but by the Spirit of the Lord that I can change.

And then, and only then, will I dare to whisper, “My life was not lived in vain.”

This article originally appeared here

A Reminder That God’s Provision Doesn’t Equal God’s Pleasure

By
Mike Leake
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communicating with the unchurched

You know how you know that you are doing the right thing? If things line up and it seems as if God is providing for you in this season. This was my philosophy and part of how I tried to discern God’s will early on in my walk with Christ. If things came easy and smooth then I figured that was the path of God’s blessing. When I ran into closed doors and difficulty then I figured it was God sovereignly hedging up my way.

You see, I’d always considered God’s provision as a sign of God’s approval. Maybe that was a remnant of my days swallowing the damnable prosperity non-gospel. Or perhaps it’s from places like Psalm 34:10, “The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.”

But then Psalm 95:10 smacked me upside the face: “For 40 years I loathed that generation…”

That verse caught my attention. Especially as I thought about how it related to these verses: For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These 40 years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing. –Dt. 2:7

What? “Lacked nothing”? I thought he loathed them. You mean he is still providing for them and making sure that they “lack nothing”? Weird. God even cared for things like clothes and shoes: I have led you 40 years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet.  –Dt. 29:5

His Provision Doesn’t Equal His Pleasure

God wasn’t providing for the wilderness generation because he was pleased with them. In fact he loathed them. But he was providing for them because He is God and He is good. He’s still their Father. So he cares for them; and somehow I think He still loves them—even while He loathes them.

This leads me to conclude that just because God is providing it doesn’t necessarily mean you are being obedient and pleasing to Him. It might just mean that while you are being a complete goober God is still faithful. Manna isn’t milk and honey, or wheat and barley, or vines and fig trees and pomegranates. And water from a rock isn’t brooks of water or fountains and springs, flowing out in the valley and hills.

Conviction

Here is something that I wrote in a prayer journal (otherwise known as a diary for a dude): Lord, I want to pursue your pleasure and not merely your provision. I want more than shoes. I want You. I don’t want wilderness provisions because of my disobedience. I want your rest. I want your smile.

I’ve grown less passionate about the Lord’s pleasure. I’ve contented myself with His provisions (which are awesome)—but I’ve assumed that His provision means that He is pleased with me. I know that He’s ultimately pleased with me because I am covered in Christ. And I know that I don’t pursue the Lord’s pleasure by performance. But I don’t pursue it by passive disobedience either (James 4:17).

It’s this: “God is delighted with our obedience when it is the fruit of our delight in him. Our obedience is God’s pleasure when it proves that God is our treasure.”

The Israelites wandered 40 years in the desert because they didn’t trust in the Lord. They didn’t believe he could spread a table for them in the wilderness. My heart has grown similarly jaded and that scares me. I’ve been a fool that has contented myself on lesser things. So, I’m praying today that the Lord will remind me of this and stir up my heart to passionately pursue His pleasure.

It’s time I shed my wilderness sandals…

—

I wrote most of this almost five years ago. God used this, I believe, to stir up in my heart a desire for not settling for the comfort I had in being an associate pastor but to pursue the uncertain waters of being a lead pastor.

If I’m being honest I miss the heart with which I wrote this. I find myself so busy these days that I don’t even look at the shoes I’m wearing. Are they wilderness sandals or something else? I don’t know, but I’ve got another sermon to write, another meeting to prepare for, another fire to put out.

Week in and week out I see God provide. The sermon gets done. I survive another meeting. We plod along a bit more. We continue to pursue faithfulness. But, oh this too easily contented heart of mine. I’m surviving and mostly managing to keep my head above water in pastoral ministry, but am I pursuing the Father’s pleasure? Or am I once again content with his provisions—this time the provision of just enough energy to get through my week.

I want His pleasure…

I don’t think it’s an accident that this song, which I’d never heard, came on Spotify as I was writing this article:

The original story appeared here.

Setting Dad and Mom Up for the Win

By
Justyn Smith
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communicating with the unchurched

Our pastor has said to our team many times that it’s more important for parents to be the heroes in the lives of our kids—not the kid’s pastor. Most leaders would agree with this statement, however few take steps to make it happen. We all want to be great leaders, to impact kids and create environments they love to be in. It feels great when kids look up to us. But we should be happier hearing, “You’ve really assisted me in raising my kids. Thank you!” than “My kids think you’re amazing!”

Sometimes kid’s pastors don’t intend to be the hero in a child’s life; it’s the side effect of a fun, engaging and effective ministry. Therein lies the problem though—it’s not intentional. As kid’s pastors, it’s important that we’re backing parents up and setting them up for success.

Here are six ways to set dad and mom up for a win:

1. Get to know the parents. We don’t spend enough time getting to know the people we are ministering to. We’re so focused on ‘doing ministry’ that we forget we’re dealing with real people. Spend time with families. Get to know as many as you can. This will help you understand how to minister to the families in your church and give you the opportunity to really make an impact.

2. Try not to go against what the parents have said. Maybe you feel it’s best to start your day off in prayer, yet a parent believes that you should set aside time after lunch. Don’t tell the kids that their parents are wrong. That’s the opposite of setting parents up for a win. Instead, focus on the positives of praying after lunch.

3. Address major issues in private. Don’t be afraid to talk to parents about big issues, or to gently confront them if they’re in the wrong. Listen to them and give them solid biblical guidance, but do this in private. Don’t ever correct or admonish a parent in public or in front of a their child—or any child for that matter.

4. Don’t speak negative of parents—EVER! If you use parents as examples in a teaching, don’t use them in a negative light. It’s not funny to demean even a “made up” parent as a joke. You want to always make sure you speak with honor and respect when talking about parents. If anything, use yourself as the negative example while using parents as a positive example.

5. Go out of your way to make parents look amazing. When a child is being checked out of classroom and you see his mom, tell the child how awesome his mom is. If you have a story about something good a child’s dad did, share it. In other words, talk parents up!

6. Create an event you facilitate that parents lead or participate with their kids that reinforce their role as the spiritual champion of their household. Set them up with discussion great discussion questions, guidance or answers to some tough questions that reinforces the bond and trust between them and their child.

We can and should support parents and teach our kids that the real hero in the room is the one they live with, the one who loves them more than anyone else ever will. It has never been about us and never should be. It’s about setting parents up to be forever heroes in the eyes of their kids!

This article originally appeared here.

7 Traits of a Great Team Member

By
Ron Edmondson
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communicating with the unchurched

In the business world and in the church, I’ve learned having a good team often makes the difference in how well we do at reaching our objectives.

I have been blessed with some great teams in the past. As a result, I frequently get asked if I have any openings on my team. I have a good team in the church where I am now. I’m also asked how I continue to put together such great teams. I’m not bragging, but I am suggesting I’ve learned a few things about what makes a great team—and specifically what makes great team members. And, all great teams are made up of great team members.

The longer a great team is together, the better it seems to work together, but it starts with finding the right people to join the team.

In the process of putting together teams, I have often reflected about what makes a great team member. What is it that causes some teams to bond together better than other teams? What are some of the joint characteristics all great team members share?

Here are seven traits I believe make a great team member:

Sense of humor – It’s critical that team members be able to laugh—at life, at corny jokes, and sometimes at or with each other in a healthy way. I don’t like laughter that makes fun of others, but great teams are comprised of people who can laugh with one another. I think teams should have fun together. It makes us a better team. We may even occasionally be found in the hallway playing a game. Life and ministry is stressful enough. Let’s laugh a little. Together.

Team spirit – There are no lone rangers on a healthy team. In fact, they rebuke struggling alone! Being part of a team should mean there are no turf wars on and no one should be drowning in a project without some help.

Work ethic – I’ve never been great at managing people. As a leader, I simply rely on people having the sense of responsibility and inner drive needed to complete the work. We set definite goals and objectives—measurable wherever possible—but I surround myself with other leaders who are passionate about Christ, our vision and other people, and are willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish the vision.

Healthy personal life – In ministry, we deal with a lot of messiness in other people’s lives. It would make it very difficult to maintain the level of ministry required of us if we were not personally living healthy lives spiritually, emotionally and, as much as it depends on us, physically. That doesn’t mean we don’t have issues or problems of our own, of course we do, but we are striving to be healthy individually and together.

Transparency – Great team members share burdens with one another. (That’s another way they stay healthy.) Team members don’t live on an island to themselves. The more a team learns to trust each other the greater this process becomes. The team is open to challenge the system, the ministry, the leader and each other in an attempt to make the organization better.

Loyalty – It is imperative in any organizational structure that a team member be dedicated to the vision, organization, senior leadership and the team. There doesn’t have to be unanimous agreement on every decision. That would be unhealthy, but there must be unanimity of purpose.

Servant’s heart – If one cannot approach their position from a point of serving others and Christ then he or she will not work well on a good team. It should be the model of the entire ministry, so certainly it must be represented by the team members first.

I’m sure there are more, but those are the ones that come to my mind first.

(For clarification, if needed, these are personality traits, not spiritual qualifications. Those are biblically scripted for us and would be covered in another post.)

Do you serve on a healthy team—or wish you did? What would you add to the list?

The original article appeared here.

How to Lead Small Group Worship

By
Joel Comiskey
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communicating with the unchurched

How to Lead Small Group Worship

In Groups that Thrive, Jim Egli and I didn’t ask how long the group worship lasted. We simply asked those taking the survey if worship through singing is a part of their normal meetings. So how much worship should be included? We advise asking the Holy Spirit to be your guide. Some groups might want to have meetings with extended times of worship. These times might include other elements like taking communion as a group and praying for one another and your community.

Many leaders feel inadequate to lead worship singing in the group because they think they have to sing like Chris Tomlin or be an expert guitar player. The reality is that God looks at our heart as we sing to him. I’ve experienced group worship times when the members choked out a joyful noise (with an emphasis on noise). But beyond the singing is God himself who dwells in the praises of his people. And he loves to hear worship and respond by revealing his sweet presences. Matt Redman’s famous chorus rings true, “I’m coming back to the heart of worship, and it’s all about you; it’s all about you.” Worship is all about Jesus.

Although spontaneous unplanned worship is wonderful, the best group worship requires diligent planning. The facilitator or member should pick a few songs before the group begins. Print out the words of the songs and then distribute the sheets to everyone in the group. Those who know the songs really well won’t need the sheets, but many will need them.

You don’t need a guitar player to lead worship. You can create a playlist on a smart phone and hook it up to a simple speaker. Many groups use YouTube to supply background singing while the group follows the words on the song sheets. Simple, quality alternatives—that don’t take too much time and effort—are everywhere on the Internet.

The person leading worship should give an exhortation to begin the worship time. “Remember that God is looking at your heart,” they might say. “Reflect on the words of the songs while you’re singing and know that above all else, you’re pleasing God.” A simple exhortation like this makes a huge difference in the atmosphere.

It’s a good idea to allow times of silence between songs and following the time of worship singing. Both during and after worship, allow people to pray out loud. Often in Scripture, God manifested his presence through worship, and it’s vitally important to hear from him during this time.

Help your group to become sensitive to God while asking him to show you how to reach non-Christians. Put him first in your group, and he’ll give you a new, dynamic atmosphere that will edify the saints and evangelize unbelievers.

The key is to allow time to focus on who God is and to thank him for all that he has done. Time spent in worship points people to our faithful and generous God and opens them up to hear him and receive all that he is offering to them.

This article originally appeared here.

A Warning Regarding Hypocritical Religion

By
Dr. Josh Buice
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communicating with the unchurched

Yesterday I preached Romans 2:17-29 in our study through Romans on Sunday mornings. The focus of Paul’s words was centered on the danger of hypocritical religiosity. Certainly if anyone could address such matters, it was Paul, a Jew of the Jews, a Pharisee—one of the insiders who became a true Christian and an apostle. Having been on the inside of the Jewish religious system and now serving as a Christian preacher—Paul understood the trap of legalism and hypocrisy. Paul sounds the bell of warning here in Romans.

Paul sounds the alarm regarding self-deception. At the root, sin is the deceiving of the individual’s conscience so as to cause a person to believe the devil’s lie about being satisfied in sin. In all reality, sin never satisfies. When sin is wrapped up in a religious system, it takes on another form of satisfaction—the idea that a person can please God in works of righteousness. This is precisely the issue that Paul was addressing with the Jews of his day.

The Jews were engaged in national pride, boasting in their bloodline. They were relying upon the law of God, when in reality the law has no ability to save but every ability as God has designed to condemn a person. The Jews were boastful, as they boasted in God and the law—their boasting was sinful arrogance rather than humble exultation. The Jews were hypocrites (actors) who played the part of God-fearing law keepers, but in reality they were sinners just like the Gentiles. Paul’s aim was to remove their mask so they could see their true face—the face of sin.

Paul pointed out that they were entrusted to be guides to the blind—leading people out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. They were to be teachers of children—but while they boasted in the law they kept it to themselves and failed in their mission. Because of their failure, they caused Gentiles to blaspheme God. Paul’s charge of indictment was a stinging reminder of the failure of hypocritical religion.

Paul went on to point to the inability of circumcision to please God. The mark of identification was a good thing, but if they were law breakers—the cutting of the flesh was of no value in terms of saving grace. They needed something far greater and that circumcision was of the heart.

  • 2 Corinthians 5:17 – Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
  • Ezekiel 11:19 – And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh
  • John 1:12-13 – But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, [13] who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

True Christianity is not based on external cutting of the flesh and keeping of the law, it’s based on the changed heart through Jesus Christ. As you examine this text and this great indictment upon the Jews and their legalism and hypocrisy—what does your Christianity look like? Legalism is a dangerous pit!

Charles Spurgeon once said, “It would appear that God does not know the best way of saving men, and men are so wise that they amend His methods!”

The original article appeared here.

5 Free Open Source Reporting Software Packages

By
Andrew Conrad
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communicating with the unchurched

You know the old saying: “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

Regardless of whether that old saw is true or not, being able to measure how well your small or midsize business strategies and tactics are working helps inform what to abandon and what to double down on.

The technology is available to easily create the sales reports, dashboards, scorecards, and charts needed to make reporting easier and more accurate than using a spreadsheet or (gasp) pencil and paper.

Who are you anyway? Bob Cratchit?

Though reporting software can be expensive, luckily there are open source and free reporting software options out there that even Ebenezer Scrooge wouldn’t hesitate to sign off on.

Free and open source reporting software

Just to be clear: Open source software requires some level of technical know-how to operate, so make sure you have someone on your team with the time and ability to implement your new tool.

If you have a very small team, or your IT department lacks the bandwidth to take on such a project, you’re better off going with a paid option (don’t worry, there are plenty).

Still on board the open source train? Great! Here are six options, listed in alphabetical order.

When comparing these options, it’s useful to not only think of the functions they provide, but the way in which developers will be interacting with the software and data. BIRT, Pentaho, and Jaspersoft all have Java and JavaScript capabilities. Pentaho twists that bit, adding in BSF and BSH support, while Jaspersoft supports Groovy scripting.

1. (BIRT) Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools

Designing a report in BIRT

Average user rating: N/A (BIRT hasn’t been reviewed on Capterra)

BIRT is the gold standard when it comes to open source business intelligence packages. Sponsored by Actuate, BIRT has been kicking around since 2004.

Over the years, it’s gained support from IBM — which has integrated BIRT with one of its major reporting tools — and Innovent Solutions, among other big players in the industry. The project claims it’s had “over 12 million downloads and over 2.5M developers across 157 countries,” making it a huge operation by any standard.

BIRT uses flexible Java to dig for data and generate reports for large organizations. Its tools can dive into all sorts of different databases — XML, SQL, JDO datastores, etc.

BIRT also has a huge array of customization controls, and extensibility options makes BIRT the duct tape of open source business intelligence software.

In addition to all its beauty and power, BIRT is also updated all the time. It probably updated while you were reading this post. OK, maybe not, but the software gets minor updates about three times a year, with a major update released annually.

A large developer community and wide adoption also provide you with plenty of resources for support when the need arises.

Recommended for:  Larger organizations with a robust IT department that has the time and resources to maintain a powerful but open source reporting tool.

Have you tried BIRT? Leave a review!

2. ClicData Personal

The main interface in ClicData Personal

Average user rating: 4.5/5 stars

ClicData is your ticket to simple, cloud-based insights. The software offers plenty of in-depth analytic tools but manages to keep its interface clean and straightforward. The free, “personal” edition is good for one user, but ClicData also claims enterprise-level users from McDonald’s to the City of Austin.

At the free level, you’ll be able to upload a full gig of data into the system, giving you plenty of room to groove. That data can take the form of Excel files or some non-Excel worksheet formats. You won’t have access to Google Sheets or any of the interesting social options that ClicData offers, but it’s a good start.

Reviewers often call out the company’s tech support as a benefit, which is a nice one to see in a field such as BI.

Recommended for:  Organizations of all sizes that are looking for a clean, straightforward system that starts simple and scales up to powerful, with the flexibility to upgrade as needed.

Have you tried ClicData? Leave a review!

3. Jaspersoft Community

Getting started in Jaspersoft Community

Average user rating: 4/5 stars

Jaspersoft is a collection of reporting and analysis tools that’s been in production since 2001. In 2014, the brand was picked up by TIBCO for $185 million.

Jaspersoft offers more advanced analytics options than some of the other free options on this list. The free Jaspersoft community edition is a slimmed-down version of the enterprise edition, but it still provides plenty of functionality for data analysis and reporting.

Reviewers have said that Jaspersoft has a better report designing interface than Pentaho (listed below) but that Pentaho offers more power in its reporting. Figuring out which reporting software package is right for your business will come down to your understanding of the business need.

Recommended for:  Small to midsize organizations that need an established, reliable tool that offers flexibility in designing reports without having to go into great depth right off the bat.

Have you tried Jaspersoft? Leave a review!

4. Pentaho Community Edition

Pentaho Community Edition

Average user rating: 4/5 stars

Pentaho, which is part of Hitachi Vantara, has both a subscription-based enterprise edition and a free and open source community edition. The community edition has some functional limitations when compared to the enterprise edition, but it’s still very compelling.

With a wealth of analytics tools — data mining tools, an OLAP server, and multidimensional data query systems, to name a few — Pentaho gives you plenty of power to uncover the hidden patterns in your data.

The reporting software side gives users a report design tool, running on the back of a handful of open source solutions all integrated into the community edition.

Like BIRT, Pentaho has an excellent community of developers working with it. That means plenty of open source goodness: plugins, extensions, data integrations, etc. You can also get solid community support for development needs such as designing and displaying reports.

The potential to upgrade to the enterprise edition also means that — if implementing and customizing the open source system overwhelms you or your small IT team — you can pay Pentaho to get the system up and running and support your team.

Pentaho doesn’t publish its enterprise prices, but you can get a free quote.

Recommended for:  Organizations of all sizes that need advanced reporting options and the flexibility to upgrade to paid support and additional features.

Have you tried Pentaho? Leave a review!

5. SpagoBI

A chart in SpagoBI

Average user rating: N/A (SpagoBI hasn’t been reviewed on Capterra)

SpagoBI is a full-on open source business intelligence and reporting software option. There’s no paid version, it’s just one big freebie. The project kicked off in 2005 and has been growing ever since.

SpagoBI’s reporting is actually driven in part by Jaspersoft’s iReport tool. That means that you get some of the benefits of working with Jaspersoft — and other integrated tools — in SpagoBI’s environment.

On the other hand, it’s one more piece that needs to play nice with a bunch of other moving pieces, and reviewers have had trouble making everything run smoothly in the past.

Once you’re up and running, though, there’s no doubt that you can do powerful things. SpagoBI allows you to dig into and analyze data using OLAP analysis, user-defined KPIs, and real-time dashboards. The analysis power is impressive.

If you need some handholding, SpagoBI users can pay for support. Getting up and running can be smoothed out by simply forking over some cash and letting SpagoBI do its thing for you.

Recommended for:  Individuals or small teams that need a completely free but powerful analytics tool and have the time and expertise to untie a few knots while implementing it.

The value of reporting software

Picking the right reporting software for your business is a big step. It can unlock hidden value, help you make better decisions, and help you measure the impact of decisions you made in the past.

These five free reporting software options should give any sized business a good place to start the reporting and analysis journey.

If you need more options, check out Capterra’s full listing of reporting software solutions.

The original article appeared here.

5 Reasons I Still Believe in the People of God

By
Chuck Lawless
-
communicating with the unchurched

In my 35+ years of full-time ministry, I’ve at times wanted to walk away from my calling. People problems have usually turned my heart in that direction. Even today, it’s hard to watch as brothers and sisters in Christ struggle and fall. I’m not giving up on the people of God, though.

Here’s why:

  1. God loves us, even in our sin. I know that truth sounds basic, but that’s the point. God really does love us. Completely. Christ died for us while we were sinners (Rom. 5:8).
  2. The apostle Paul reminds me to love God’s church. I find this example particularly in the book of 1 Corinthians. Paul began the book by thanking God for the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:1-9), ended the book by declaring his love for them (1 Cor. 16:24)—and in between, he declared them all a mess! Still, he loved them.
  3. I’m one of the messes. All of us are. And, I’m deeply grateful that brothers and sisters in Christ have loved me for a lot of years. I’ve learned about God’s love through the love of others.
  4. God’s church still includes a lot of God-fearing, Christ-honoring people. Many of us get focused on the seemingly “newsworthy” events, and we easily forget all the folks who quietly, faithfully follow God.
  5. It’s the enemy who wants to discourage me about the church. If I give up on the Body of Christ, I begin living my Christianity on my own—and God never designed us to take this journey alone. We need the people God has given us.

No matter what happens today, don’t give up on the church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt. 16:18).

The original story appeared here.

Paige Patterson Won’t Speak at Convention. Hopes for Harmony

By
Bob Ditmer
-
communicating with the unchurched

As questions and turmoil surrounding Dr. Paige Patterson’s removal from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary continue, Patterson announced he will not preach at the Southern Baptist Convention next week in Dallas.

In a letter to SBC president Steve Gaines, Patterson wrote, “I will not preach the convention sermon as I was invited to do by the 2017 Committee on Order of Business and SBC messengers.” He said his decision stemmed from “days of soul-searching before our God, whose blessed forgiveness and grace are continually poured out upon us all.”

Patterson was removed from his role of president emeritus on May 30 by the seminary’s executive committee, a position he held for a week after being removed as SWBTS president. The firings were for statements he made in the past about domestic violence and women’s physical appearance.

While Patterson has denied the charges, and new evidence surrounding the allegations have raised more questions about his removal, Patterson said he would not preach in “an effort to do what I can to contribute to harmony within the Southern Baptist Convention and to respond to the request that has come especially from [Gaines] and other Southern Baptist leadership.”

Kie Bowman, pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, will deliver the convention’s keynote sermon. He told Baptist Press, “Dr. Patterson has done the right thing. This will help soothe and go a long way toward healing our convention and avoiding additional conflict.”

Many SBC leaders had called on Patterson to withdraw from the speaking role because of the controversy that has been swirling over his comments during the past month. One, Ed Stetzer, Director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College, tweeted his appreciation for the announcement.

In his email, Patterson also said he also is withdrawing as chairman of the evangelism task force appointed by Gaines a year ago in response to a vote of the convention in Phoenix.

Lawmakers: Abortion Is a ‘Gift’ to Sex Traffickers

By
Bob Ditmer
-
communicating with the unchurched

Fifty-six members of the Congress stood in front of the U.S. Capitol yesterday to decry new evidence that Planned Parenthood is covering up sexual abuse and human trafficking of girls, some as young as 12.

The evidence comes from a report and video series from Live Action that contends Planned Parenthood has a decades-long history of covering up crimes against minors that has gone largely ignored.

“Abuse cover-up is systemic to the abortion industry,” said Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, who spoke at the gathering.

“What these abusers do—what sexual traffickers do—to their victims is take them or threaten to send them by force to an abortion facility, which can become a key place for that abuse to be covered up,” said Rose. “And Planned Parenthood, instead of reporting the abuse as they’re mandated to do in virtually all 50 states by law—instead of reporting abuse, instead of being that person who can encounter a girl in a situation of extreme distress and be that moment of intervention for her—does a secret abortion, has a ‘don’t ask, don’t tell policy,’ and sends this vulnerable young girl back into the arms of sex abusers.”  

The latest videos from Live Action titled “Recorded Cases” details how the abortion giant’s refusal to report men who brought in girls as young as age 12 for abortions enabled their abusers to continue raping them.

Sometimes these young girls plead with Planned Parenthood staff to them help them escape their abusers, but their pleas go unheeded.

“Abortion is not family planning; it is family destruction,” said Rep. Diane Black (R-TN).  

“The lies that are coming from the Big Abortion Industry are just heartbreaking,” Black continued. “Live Action’s findings show us that these same lies are used to willfully neglect reporting these horrific cases of abuse, rape and sex trafficking.   

“It’s come to light that Planned Parenthood performs abortions on girls as young as 12 years old, and then sends them right back into the arms of their abusers without alerting the authorities,” noted Black. “It is shameful.”

“Planned Parenthood’s failure to report these heinous crimes does not empower women or our children; it empowers their abusers,” said the Congresswoman. “The despicable cycle of these facilities, turning a blind eye to sexual abuse and exploitation of our children, must end.”

“Planned Parenthood has shown gross negligence by returning these children to their abusers,” said Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ). “I find Planned Parenthood’s complicity in sex trafficking absolutely appalling.”

“It seems that Planned Parenthood…has broken the law,” said Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC). “There should be a full investigation into whether or not Planned Parenthood willfully turned over child victims of abuse back to their abuser, and if necessary, criminal prosecution.”  

“Are these lives not important to Planned Parenthood? Or is the greater abortion industry more important than protecting these young innocent lives?” asked Walker.  

“We’re borrowing money from China to send to Planned Parenthood, how moral is that?” asked Iowa, Rep. Steve King (R-IA). “I don’t think any taxpayer dollars should go to any organization that either does abortions or counsels in favor of them.”  

“Planned Parenthood portrays itself as a champion of women’s rights, but Live Action’s investigation exposes the abortion giant’s systematic betrayal of vulnerable women and girls,” said former Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave in advance of the gathering. Musgrave now serves as Vice President of Government Affairs for Susan B. Anthony List.

“Abortion is a gift to pimps, traffickers and abusers,” continued Musgrave, “and Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion business, has helped them cover their tracks while raking in more than half a billion dollars from taxpayers every year. We can’t put a price on the lives and dignity of unborn children and their mothers. That’s why further action is needed to disentangle taxpayers from the scandal-ridden abortion business.”

In addition to the public appearance, the lawmakers also sent a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services requesting an investigation into Planned Parenthood.  

“The report’s findings suggest that abusers feel comfortable taking their victims to Planned Parenthood. We are therefore requesting an investigation into Title X recipients, particularly Planned Parenthood, to determine how widespread this failure is and if there are other instances where Planned Parenthood failed in its duty to report suspected child abuse to local authorities and to HHS.”

Planned Parenthood is the largest recipient of Title X funding, receiving about $60 million tax dollars annually through the program.

Help Children of Divorce Transition to the Other Parent’s Home in Summer

By
Linda Jacobs
-
communicating with the unchurched

Depending on where you live, children will be getting out of school in the next few days and weeks. This means many children will be traveling across the country or town to spend the summer with their other parent.

How do children’s pastors and church leaders help these kids have a good send-off? You may want them to understand you will miss them. If they are just going across town, you may still expect them to attend your church during the summer.

Many children of divorce have people disappearing from their lives all the time. When you have an opportunity to “send them off” and tell them goodbye, seize the opportunity with gusto. Do not put any guilt trips on them about attending your church if they will still be in the area. This will be their time with the other parent, so don’t infringe on it.

Kids need to be able to depend on people telling them goodbye. They need to know you’ll be waiting for them at the end of summer when they return from the other parent’s home.

Ask children of divorce or their single parent what the summer plans are. Address the kids who will be leaving right away first. If you have a large children’s ministry, you may need to put names on a calendar or find someone to help you keep track, so you don’t inadvertently miss someone.

Tips for send-offs

Talk to the children personally if possible. Tell them how much they’ll be missed while they’re gone. Tell them to enjoy their time with the other parent. Some kids need permission to do this.

Text the children if you can’t visit them in person.

Reassure the children the church will be waiting on them at the end of summer. Some children get attached to their physical surroundings, so whether or not you realize it, they may be attached to the church building or the children’s area.

Assure the children you will be waiting on them to return.

You might take a picture of the children standing in front of the church building. Post this picture in a prominent place in your office or on a bulletin board. Tell the children you’ll keep their picture there until they return. Let them know they can remove it when they return.

Don’t tell the children all the activities they will miss over the summer months. This can be very hurtful to some children.

Keep in mind the children are going to be spending time at their other home. Although it might not seem like they have another home, they do. The children may be worried about leaving the parent, but let’s get real: This person they are going to spend the summer with is their other parent. They have a right to get excited about it.

Build on their excitement by asking them questions about what the other home is like, what they get to do, and people they might get to see. Here are a few questions to get you started on a conversation with the children going to visit their other parent.

What is it like at your mom’s place? Do you have your own room?
What kind of things are you going to get to do at your dad’s? Go fishing?
Will you see your aunts, uncles or cousins?
How about your grandparents? Will you get to spend time with them?
Does your mom have a church? Will you get to go to that church this summer? Can you take a picture of the church, so you can show it to me when you get back here? (Notice I didn’t say “get back home.” It’s important to allow the child to have two homes and two churches.)

While many of us think the children will miss us and/or our children’s programs, the reality is these kids will literally be changing homes and living different lives. Some will be moving into very different lifestyles for the next few months.

Don’t burden them down with the thought that they are supposed to miss everything at home. Remember they will be at home—their other home.

Keep your goodbyes and send-off light and joyful. Send the children off with a prayer, a couple of Scripture verses, and maybe even a big hug. Whatever you do, make sure you keep a smile on your face and joy in your heart.

Keep in touch with the children’s parents who go to your church during the summer months. This tells the parents you care about their children.

This article originally appeared here.

The Very Personal Power of the Holy Spirit

By
Daniel Henderson
-
communicating with the unchurched

While traveling the nation, speaking in a wide assortment of congregations, I’ve observed a troubling trend of language that depersonalizes the Holy Spirit. Rather than the supernatural and personal indwelling of God’s Spirit, the vernacular of songs, and even preachers, might lead many to believe that the Holy Spirit is some ethereal “force” that periodically appears, perhaps blowing in from the building’s ventilation system. I get the feeling in many places that we are conjuring up an elusive “it” rather than celebrating and cherishing the transforming power of an indwelling “Him.”

Majority Confusion

According to a recent study by Lifeway Research, 56 percent of evangelical Christians say the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a person. In that same study, 28 percent of responders said the Spirit is a divine being, but not equal to God the Father and Jesus. Only 51 percent disagreed. Twenty-one percent were not sure.

I am convinced that even among those who intellectually and theologically affirm that the Holy Spirit is a person, many still speak of Him as a “force” that mysteriously arrives from some obscure location. They describe Him in third person language as “The Presence” or a “power” in the atmosphere. I am deeply concerned that the Holy Spirit, even in contexts where His work is emphasized and His presence evoked, has become the “misrepresented God.”

Notable author Francis Chan agrees: “He is not an indistinct ‘power’ or ‘thing.’ I often hear people referring to the Spirit as an ‘it,’ as if the ‘Spirit’ is a ‘thing’ or ‘force’ that we can control or use. This distinction may seem subtle or trivial, but is actually very serious misunderstanding of the Spirit and his role in our lives.”

This confusion ultimately detracts from the compelling New Testament teaching on the person of the Spirit dwelling within us. This can subtly diminish our conscious, moment-by-moment enjoyment and consistent empowerment by the indwelling Christ. Most troubling, a confused view of the Holy Spirit can distort the impact of our promised new covenant experience based on the glorious person, sufficient work and clear promises of Jesus Christ.

Known, Loved, Worshiped

Because the Holy Spirit is a person, He is to be intimately known, deeply loved and clearly understood. Because He is God, we relate to Him in abandoned worship, unquestioned obedience and full surrender.

Practically speaking, I love the way one puritan writer from the 1600s stated it, “Our worship is sometimes with the Father, and then with the Son, and then with the Spirit. Sometimes the believer’s heart is drawn out to consider the Father’s love in choosing, and then the love of the Son in redeeming. And sometimes His heart is drawn to the love of the Holy Spirit that searches the deep things of God and reveals them to us… We should never be satisfied with our worship until all three persons lie level in us and we sit in the middle of them while they all manifest their love to us.”

If He were simply a force we summon, then He could be reduced to an “object” that we use for our temporal purposes and personal desires. Few things could be more contrary and offensive to the one whose holy presence is meant to rule and transform us. Nothing could more seriously contradict the finished work of Christ and His beautiful plan for this new kind of relationship, for which He shed His blood. Nothing could more seriously undermine our holy and beautiful relationship as adopted children brought into an assured and holy “belonging” to a loving Lord and Savior.

Boyd Hunt summarized it well, “Most importantly, the Holy Spirit, who is personal, acts personally, not impersonally or magically. Those who view the Holy Spirit as an impersonal power are concerned about how to control or use him. By viewing the Spirit personally, as the Spirit of the God we know in Christ, our concern should be to let the Spirit control our lives.” And, I would add, what beautiful, profound and ultimately fulfilling control this can be!

The Spirit of Christ

None of us would think of Christ as an “it” or some amorphous presence floating just below the ceiling of the worship center. We think of Jesus in very personal terms springing from all of the compelling pictures of His life as seen in the Gospels. We picture of His love, compassion, mercy, confrontation of sin and very intimate relationships with His followers. While Jesus and the Spirit are distinct in personality, the New Testament still describes God’s presence in us as “the Spirit of Christ” or “Christ in us” (Romans 8:9 – 11; Phil. 1:19; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 3:16–17; Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27). So, to be accurate in our relationship with the Holy Spirit, we must think of Him as the indwelling presence of an intimate savior, Lord and friend. Gordon Fee notes, “The Spirit’s agency can hardly be less personal than that of Christ.”

“Jesus puts a face on the Holy Spirit.” – James D.G. Dunn
One writer said that Jesus puts a face on the Holy Spirit. I like that. British scholar James D.G. Dunn elaborates in describing the New Testament work of the Holy Spirit: “Vitality of the Christian experience does not cease because the historical Jesus has faded into the past and the coming of Jesus has faded into the future; it retains its vitality because the Spirit is at work here and now as the other Paraclete.”

I’ve been to some churches that I think should be called “The Star Wars Community Church” because much of how they sing and speak leave me with a salient message: “The force is with you.” When you add the environmental smoke, digital lights, massive amplification (and even some sound effects), I’m ready to pull out my light saber and take on Darth Vader. Or maybe it is supposed to be the devil. Who knows?

We cannot think of the Holy Spirit in impersonal terms. His “presence” is not some mystical gas or the arrival of some nondescript energy force. His presence is very personal. He lives in us personally. He works in us personally. He moves in and among us personally.

A Personal, Perpetual Ask

So when Jesus said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13), what did he have in mind when he urged us to continually ask for the Holy Spirit. He would later explain the person and work of the Holy Spirit in his own words during his final gathering with his disciples (John 14-16).

I love his clarity:

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:16–18)

The Spirit who had been with them in the person of Christ would now be in them in the person of the Holy Spirit. And Jesus made it very personal, when he said, “I will come to you.” His life, person and power would dwell in them and they would constantly seek to abide in His life.

So, just as our initial “ask” resulted in a powerful salvation from a personal savior, so our perpetual “asking” promotes a powerful sanctification through the indwelling presence of a personal, indwelling God.

This article originally appeared here.

The Manly Side of the Book of Ruth

By
Carolyn Custis James
-
communicating with the unchurched

This article on the Book of Ruth was adapted from Carolyn Custis James‘s book Finding God in the Margins. Used with permission.

The Power of Power According to the Book of Ruth

In 2013 esteemed newsman Tom Brokaw predicted that the 21st century will be known as “the Century of Women.”[i] In her grimly titled book The End of Men—and the Rise of Women, journalist Hanna Rosin confirms his thesis and examines the flip side of this development. Her research (which is surprisingly sympathetic to men) substantiates that current social, cultural and economic changes are benefiting women and disadvantaging a lot of men. “For nearly as long as civilization has existed, patriarchy…has been the organizing principle, with few exceptions.”[ii]

Now all that is changing.

Traditional roles are becoming more fluid, and definitions of what it means to be “a real man” are not as clear or attainable as in the past. A man’s previously secure status as the chief decider, breadwinner and protector is eroding.

Men must compete with women for jobs. Jobs are disappearing as computers replace men and whole industries shut down or move overseas. Furthermore, a lot of men are working in jobs where their boss is a woman. As one man lamented,

Women live longer than men. They do better in this economy. More of ’em graduate from college. They go into space and do everything men do, and sometimes they do it a whole lot better. I mean, hell, get out of the way—these females are going to leave us males in the dust.[iii]

It seems the pendulum that favored men for millennia has swung in favor of women…

The Pivotal Moment in the Book of Ruth

Much is made about the initial encounter in the Book of Ruth between Ruth and Boaz in Boaz’s barley field. Without question this meeting is the pivotal moment in the story. But no one could know ahead of time that things will turn out well. Good stories have tension. One of the key questions posed by the presence of Boaz is, how will this impressive man use his power and privilege?

For starters, the enormous social and cultural disparity between them could not be more pronounced. They are polar opposites. He holds all the advantages. The disadvantages belong to Ruth. Throughout human history and right up to the present, the differences between them are the makings of some of the most horrific violations of human rights. Only consider the explosive combinations: male and female, rich and poor, young and old, Jew and gentile, native born and immigrant, powerful and powerless, valued and discarded. Anyone watching this nitroglycerin mixture would be expecting something terrible to happen. Especially when her request implies criticism of how he’s managing his field.

But Boaz’s response to her request to glean in territory that was off-limits to gleaners is a show-stopper. He was not offended, although obviously taken aback. Her perspective on Mosaic law was eye-opening to him. Not only does he listen and grant her request, but he exceeds it with evident determination that nothing must prevent her from succeeding. He even serves her a meal. How countercultural is that?!

We must not miss the earthshaking implications of his response. Boaz has just been introduced as a man who needs no improvement. In the eyes of the culture (and also of the narrator) he is golden. And yet, his exchanges with Ruth are eye-opening to him. He realizes what she is trying to do. Her perspective shed new light on a business he had been running for years…

Why Women Can’t Lead in Your Church

By
Geoff Surratt
-
communicating with the unchurched

As I have watched the scandal unfold at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary over the past few weeks I have been struck by the underlying tone of men’s treatment of women, especially women leaders, in the church world. It is a world where often men lead and women follow, a patriarchy that feeds how women are often treated in churches, Bible colleges and seminaries across the country. Under this system the church is deprived of desperately needed leaders, and women are scarred for life. To understand how this feels, read this excellent post by Beth Moore describing how she has been treated by men in the church. Treating women leaders like second-class citizens in the church has to end. 

I know what I’m talking about. For 36 years of ministry I have often sat around tables with men paying service to the value of women leaders while dismissing their opinions and undermining their leadership. I’ve also seen up close the damage this ubiquitous attitude does to the two most important women in my life; my wife and my daughter. Although my wife is an incredible leader and thinker, I’ve seen her struggle to overcome chauvinism in the church world again and again. (I am thankful she works for an organization, The ReThink Group, that considers gender irrelevant to leadership.) I have seen my daughter, who has amazing musical and technical gifts, struggle to break into the informal boys’ clubs at churches where she’s served. I also know what I’m talking about because I too have been guilty of not championing women leaders. 

The women in our families and the mission of our churches are too important to continue to go along with the status quo. It is time to make significant strides to engage all of the gifts in our congregations, regardless of gender. To change a system as ingrained as patriarchy, however, will take courage and it will take work. To avoid the change that is needed we often hide behind time-worn excuses.

We hide behind theology

Some hide behind the theology of complementarianism, which says that women and men have different but complementary roles in life. The challenge is at times this stance can limit what leadership roles are available to women in the church. My goal isn’t to argue theology, but to challenge the idea that God limits leadership based on gender. I understand believing the Apostle Paul reserves certain roles for men, but I don’t see how you can read the list of women leaders in Romans 16 and not see that Paul believed women were qualified for most other roles in the church.

Others hide in their egalitarianism, the belief that men and women are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities. While in these circles a woman theoretically can preach, hold the office of elder and be called a pastor, she is often still excluded from the table where decisions are made. I have found that chauvinism isn’t bound by theology.

We hide behind the possibility of temptation

This argument says we have to build walls around the women we work with to avoid the temptation of sexual sin. The walls we build include never being alone in a room with a woman, never mentoring a woman and never discussing anything personal with a woman. Unfortunately, these walls have proved ineffective based on the number of men who followed this protocol and were still caught in an affair with a co-worker. What these walls are very effective at is limiting the leadership of women. Limiting access to other leaders is death to collaboration, growth and advancement.

Here’s what I wonder about walls; if they are effective at combating temptation, why don’t we build similar walls to prevent other sins? Shouldn’t I limit my access to men who tempt me to anger? Shouldn’t I refuse to meet alone with men who spark envy? Surely I should never share anything personal with a man who may cause me to boast.

James says, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed BY HIS OWN DESIRE” (James 1:14 ESV). If meeting in a room alone with a woman causes me to drop trou I’m pretty sure walls aren’t my answer. The answer to dealing with sexual temptation is a deep spiritual walk and honest accountability. Walls are just avoiding the real issue.

We hide behind tradition

Some of us cower behind the flimsy excuse, “People in my church just aren’t ready for women leading.” I remember when people weren’t ready for drums in the church, pastors who didn’t wear suits and lyrics projected on screens rather than printed in hymnbooks. Its funny how willing we were to challenge those preconceived notions, but we aren’t ready to stand up for our sisters who are gifted and called to lead.

Changing the prevailing patriarchy in your church will be difficult and it will take courage. If you are up for the task here are five suggestions that I believe can make a significant difference:

Creating a culture where women can lead

Seek input from women leaders on your staff and in your church

A group of men sitting around a table will not change the culture of your church when it comes to women in leadership. The first step is to seek to understand what it is like to be woman leader in your culture, and the only way to learn is to ask. I understand this is a scary proposition because you might not like what you hear, but “we are not as those who shrink back.” Here are three questions you should ask:

  1. Does our church encourage and develop women leaders?
  2. What is the most challenging part of being a woman and leading on our team?
  3. What do we need to change to improve our culture for women leaders?

What to Do While You Wait on the Lord

By
Mike Leake
-
communicating with the unchurched

I heard a John Piper sermon quite a few years ago (or maybe it was an article I read) where he talked about wanting the gospel to go down so deep into his heart that his impulses were gospel. It wasn’t those exact words, but that is what I took from them. Ever since that moment I’ve been reading the Scriptures (and really my own heart) in a different way.

It’s been said that integrity is what you do when nobody is looking. I think you could say something similar about impulses. Those moments when I’m least on guard expose what is really going on in my heart. The unfiltered words which come to my mind are what is really there. And I want those to be sanctified. Again, I want Christ to so change my heart that my first impulse is to be like Jesus. I want to be like John Newton. It was said of Newton that he loved people at first sight. That was his impulse.

What I often do when I read through Acts is look for impulses. I want to know what it was that naturally sprang out of these Spirit-filled followers of Jesus. Here in Acts 1, before Pentecost, Jesus calls on his followers to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. What will be their first impulses to being told to wait? What will they gravitate toward in those moments that they are waiting for this promise of the Father?

First, they gathered. A first instinct of believers is to want to be around other believers. They didn’t think about going their own separate ways and live their own individual lives. Their waiting meant gathering with like-minded followers of Jesus…and to do so in the very room where Jesus had promised the Spirit.

Secondly, they were united in prayer. Prayer is the natural impulse of a child of God. Though we might go through seasons of distress and difficulty in this area, communing with the Father is our new normal.

Thirdly, they applied the Scriptures. Peter stood up and exposited the Scriptures (there is likely a bit of an impulse in this as well—where leaders, lead). I am amazed at the way Peter applied Psalm 69 and Psalm 109. Christ became the prototypical righteous sufferer and Judas became the prototypical persecutor of God’s people. So they applied the Scriptures through a Christ-centered lens and acting accordingly.

There are two points I am making here. One is to look at the inclination of the early disciples when they are told to wait. Are my impulses similar? When I’m told by the Lord to “wait” is my first response to gather, pray and apply the Scriptures? Or do I have different impulses?

The second point that I’m making is that when the Lord places us in a season of waiting that doesn’t mean it is a season of passivity. Waiting on the Lord means doubling down on gathering with believers, prayer and obeying the Scriptures. Being told by the Lord to “wait” doesn’t mean to be frozen. It means to faithfully dig in to the things that you do know. Be obedient in the disciplines and diligently dig into the Scriptures and apply them. That’s what you do while you wait.

Characteristics of Effective Prayer

By
Mike Bickle
-
communicating with the unchurched

Characteristics of Effective Prayer

One very important condition for effective prayer is to be committed to walking out a lifestyle of righteousness before God and people, as indicated in James 5:16: “The effective…prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

This biblical condition is often minimized or totally ignored, even by people who are deeply involved in the prayer-and-worship movement today.

A righteous person is any believer who sets his heart to obey Jesus as he seeks to walk in godly character with a lifestyle of practicing the truth (1 Jn. 1:6).

Setting our hearts to obey is very important, even if we fall short of mature, consistent obedience.

There is no such thing as a person who is so mature in righteousness that he is above all temptation and never falls short in his walk with God. In other words, the prayers of a “righteous person” include the prayers of imperfect, weak people—such as you and me—who sincerely seek to walk in righteousness even as we stumble in our weakness. I am so grateful for the glorious reality of the grace of God!

The apostle John declared that the Lord hears and responds to us because we keep His commands and do the things that are pleasing to Him: “Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight” (1 Jn. 3:22). Prayer is no substitute for obedience.

I have met those who imagine that if they pray and fast more, they can walk in a little immorality or be dishonest in their finances or slander the people who cause pressure in their lives. They think that being extra zealous in the spiritual disciplines will balance out areas of persistent compromise. But praying more does not compensate for unrepented sins that we deliberately continue to commit, as this verse from Isaiah makes clear: “Your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isa. 59:2).

Prayer is far more boring and difficult if we seek to live one part of our lives as if it belonged to God and another part as if it belonged to us. There is a dynamic relationship between our lifestyle and our ability to enjoy prayer. Our spiritual capacity to experience and enjoy God increases as we walk in purity. Jesus emphasized this truth in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt. 5:8).

Where there is ongoing, willful compromise in our lives, it will greatly hinder our spiritual growth and our capacity to agree with God in prayer. Sin hinders our love for Him. We must sincerely seek to live in wholehearted obedience because obedience is not optional in the kingdom life.

When we come up short in our obedience, we must acknowledge it and confess it rather than seeking to rationalize it. We call it sin, we repent of it and we freely receive God’s forgiveness. Then we “push delete” and immediately stand, once again, with confidence in God’s presence. Walking in obedience is not about seeking to earn the answers to our prayers; it is about living in agreement with love because God is love.

The truth of the necessity of keeping God’s commandments is overlooked by some who teach on prayer. It is more popular to emphasize our authority in Christ. That is also an essential truth, but the lifestyle of the one praying does matter. What we do negatively and what we neglect to do positively deeply affect our prayer lives.

Prayer That Is Earnest

Using the prophet Elijah as an example, the apostle James taught that one characteristic of effective prayer is earnestness in prayer: “Elijah…prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain” (Jas. 5:17). What does it mean to be earnest? It is important to understand what earnest prayer is because it is one of the primary conditions of effective prayer as set forth in the Scripture.

Two Aspects of Earnest Prayer

First, earnest prayer comes from a heart that is engaged with God. To be earnest implies that we are not praying by rote or just going through the motions. Being earnest is the opposite of speaking our prayers mindlessly into the air. We are to focus our minds and attention toward the Lord when we pray.

Second, earnest prayer is prayer that is persistent (Mt. 7:7–8; Lk. 11:5–10; 18:1, 7). The Greek word proseuche translated as “earnestly” in James 5 literally means “he prayed with prayer,” which is an idiom expressing persistence in prayer. Hence, the translators said of Elijah that he “prayed earnestly.”

We must refuse to be denied answers to prayers that are in agreement with God’s will. We must not stop asking and thanking God for the answers until we see them with our eyes. We must not be casual about our prayer requests, but persistent and tenacious.

Jesus taught a parable about the Father’s willingness to answer prayer that is recorded in the gospel of Luke. His message was that because of our persistence, the Father answers. He applied the parable by exhorting us to ask, knowing that the request will be fulfilled; to seek, knowing that we will find; and to knock, knowing that the door will open (v. 9). The Greek verbs for “ask,” “seek” and “knock” are in the continuous present tense. In other words, we are to ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking. The message is a call to perseverance.

“Because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Lk. 11:8–10).

The apostle Paul called us to pray “with all perseverance” (Eph. 6:18) and to labor fervently (Col. 4:12) in prayer. When we ask casually, with little effort to focus our minds on the Lord, or when we stop praying for something that is in God’s will, we show that we do not value what we are praying for. As we see in Jeremiah’s prophecy, when we highly prize something, we will seek the Lord for it with all our hearts: “‘You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart’” (Jer. 29:13).

This article originally appeared here.

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