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The Most Lovely of All Virtues

By
Gary Thomas
-
communicating with the unchurched

The Most Lovely of All Virtues

(If you’ve ever lost a child to miscarriage, please be careful about reading further—this could be triggering and traumatic.)

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Isaiah 42:3)

It was one of those afternoons that changed the way I think of others every time I’m in a public place…

Brent and Vicky (not their real names) were dear friends of ours decades ago, a young couple working part-time for our church as Brent went to seminary. Like many couples do, they struggled with infertility and had an entire mid-sized church praying for them. We knew they’d be wonderful parents and so we were elated when we got the news that Vicky was finally pregnant.

Six months later Brent called me: “Gary, the baby has stopped moving. Vicky is going in for an ultrasound today. Please pray!” I threw myself on my knees and pled with God to bring healing to this baby. I just didn’t want our friends to face this grief.

God, in His own wisdom, chose to take the child to Himself. When I walked into the hospital room and looked at Vicky’s face, I didn’t have a single word to say. We cried together, and then Brent asked me to run a few errands with him.

First, we went to the funeral home to make arrangements. The tiny white coffin Brent purchased broke my heart, to think that such a tiny human was going to be buried. Brent then asked me to go with him to the mall to pick out something to put in the coffin with his baby boy.

They had called him “little bear” (or something like that) while he was growing in Vicky’s womb, and Brent wanted to find a tiny porcelain bear to place in the coffin. A plush bear would be bigger than such a small child—thus the search for a tiny figurine.  I was already weighted down by grief, Brent even more so, but we shuffled into a large mall and then decided that one of two Hallmark-type stores would be our best bet to find what we were looking for.

The first store we walked into had a middle-aged woman at the counter. Brent saw a glass case with the perfect bear to bury with his son, and quietly asked how much it cost.

With a gruff, impatient, and challenging tone, the woman responded, “That bear is part of a set. If you want to buy that bear, you have to buy the whole set. You still want to see it?”

She didn’t want to be bothered to open the case.

I saw Brent flinch. Neither of us had much money to put together at the time; buying the whole set was unthinkable. I mentioned a similar store at the other end of the mall (it was a big mall), so with our heads cast down a little bit more, we shuffled with slightly shorter steps into another store with a young woman behind the counter.

“Hey guys, how ya doin’?” Her cheery voice lifted our spirits a little; here was someone who wasn’t overwhelmed by life and who didn’t seem to resent our presence.

Brent saw the exact same bear behind a case and asked, with an apologetic tone, “Is this bear part of a set?”

“Yes, it is, but let me see if my boss will let me sell it to you individually.” She made the effort to go into the back of the store, came out with a smile, told us the price, and I will never forget the look on Brent’s face. As a first-time dad, he didn’t want to disappoint his son. He had found the perfect gift to lay next to him.

As we walked out of the mall, it dawned on me that if you had asked the two salesclerks (one gruff, impatient, and unhelpful; one cheerful and kind) to guess where we had been before coming to the mall, they would never have imagined that we had left Vicky in her hospital room just after she experienced the still birth of a beloved child, and then gone to a funeral home to pick out a small white coffin. If you had asked these women why two young men were shopping for a tiny, porcelain bear, given a hundred years they wouldn’t have been able to guess that we were buying a bear to place in a beloved child’s coffin.

And that’s when it hit me: bruised reeds and smoldering wicks don’t wear signs on their foreheads, but they’re all around us. “Bruised reeds” are fragile and easily broken people. “Smoldering wicks” are souls so precariously holding on to their mental, emotional, and spiritual health that one unkind comment, one inappropriately quoted Scripture verse, can send them over the edge.

The Bible tells us that Jesus the Messiah was so gentle that He could interact with souls that fragile without doing further harm, and slowly nurse them back to health. Isaiah prophesied,

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Isaiah 42:3)

In businesses and churches, in stores and shopping malls, and even in ballparks, we are surrounded by bruised reeds and smoldering wicks. They don’t wear signs around their necks, but their hurting hearts and discouraged souls will be most nourished when they interact with a person who practices the virtue of gentleness, the mark of the Messiah.

Though Jesus gave Himself a number of figurative titles (such as the Good Shepherd and the light of the world), when it came to actually describing His character with specific virtues, there are only two virtues mentioned, and gentleness is one of them. In Matthew 11:29 Jesus describes Himself as “gentle and humble in heart.”

Before Jesus came, the prophets predicted that the Messiah would be known for His gentleness: “See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9, fulfilled in Matthew 21:5).

When the apostles looked back in memory of our Lord, they thought of this virtue: “By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you” (2 Corinthians 10:1). The first-hand witnesses of Jesus thought of gentleness when they thought of Him.

Let’s put this together: the Bible predicted that Jesus would be gentle; Jesus affirmed that He was gentle; and the early church—the ones who saw Him face-to-face and watched Him interact with others in public—remembered Him as gentle.

However we may feel about God, He reveals Himself to be gentle.

If we want to carry the message of the Messiah, we need to also adopt the manner of the Messiah, and that manner is gentleness. To truly convey who Jesus is, it’s not enough to just repeat His words; it’s how we speak those words that most accurately conveys His Spirit. Jumping in with verbal saws to remove spiritual slivers doesn’t accurately represent the One who could touch bruised reeds without breaking them or speak to smoldering wicks without snuffing them out. The Spirit of the God-man, who was sent to reveal the nature of our Creator, was clothed in gentleness; and this virtue allowed Him to enter into the lives of broken, hurting people in a redemptive way. God wants to give each of His followers this same capacity for compassion.

In the next blog post, we’ll look at how we can begin to practice this virtue. For now, let us remember that every believer who wants to represent Jesus must aspire to what Ambrose calls “the most lovely of all virtues”—gentleness.

(By the way, the happy news is that after Brent and Vicky decided to adopt a child, Vicky was able to conceive again and carry that baby to term. They now have a full family of four children, two adopted and two biological.)

For more on practicing the virtues, take a look at Gary’s updated and re-released book The Glorious Pursuit: Becoming Who God Created Us to Be.

Communication Strategy: Start Small, Reach Big

By
Joel Gorveatte
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communicating with the unchurched

The great songwriter and theologian (cough, cough) Bob Dylan was right when he declared “The times they are a-changin” in 1964, and he continues to be right today. Wherever you lead and communicate, don’t you feel like things have changed and continue to change drastically? Do you find it harder to communicate with and lead your people right now than in the past? I know I do. What if we were approaching our communication strategy with the right intent but the wrong method? What if there was a better way emerging to reach our people and move them toward engagement?

The Funnel of Communication

I get to serve at Journey Church in the southeast corner of Grand Rapids, and these questions are some of the things (among many others) our staff has wrestled with during the last several months. Through discussion and experimentation, we’ve started to use the term “The Funnel of Communication” to describe who we are trying to reach and how and when we communicate with them. Disclaimer: This is mainly in the context of trying to engage and mobilize people that call our church “home.”

Simply put, the funnel is a tool that can help you strategically think through how to build momentum in your events, sign-ups, and calls-to-action you are putting in front of people.

Here’s a breakdown that may represent how most of us have approached communicating these significant efforts in the past (or perhaps still do):

    • Conversation (ex. 1-10 people): Someone makes a decision and we communicate among staff or a leadership team regarding an upcoming event, outreach, or significant change. (This is the group that is responsible for seeing this project through).
    • Announcement (ex. 5-25 people): After the first level of people is in the loop, we might mention it to a broader group like a ministry team or a large group of leaders. (This is the group that will likely be “bought-in” and will contribute.)
    • Announcement (ex. 30-300 people): After fielding some questions or getting responses, we put the opportunity out to the whole church, organization, team, etc. (This is the group that we have to work hardest to engage.)

Maybe for your context, directly after someone makes a decision and initial planning occurs, you communicate to a broader audience through a video, in-person announcement, or email. In essence, you go from a tiny group (staff, leadership team, etc.) to a large group (ministry volunteers, congregation, youth group, etc.) very quickly.

What if you give your projects more time to build momentum by starting small, person-to-person, in your communication?

Here’s why: In a world full of noise, especially online, the most influential voice in someone’s life is the one across the table from them. So maybe it’s time to flip the funnel of communication. Don’t waste your people’s attention by starting with the broadest part of the funnel. Instead, start small and then work your way out to a bigger audience.

Start Small, Reach Big

We can’t assume that we can mention something one time to hundreds of people and get significant buy-in. So, what if the communication for your next all-church outreach started with every staff member on your team having one-on-one conversations inviting people in their circles of influence to be a part of it?

What if you waited to announce something on Facebook and instead had a Zoom call with three small group leaders who might influence their groups to join in what you are planning? Communicating like this will help your key people be informed and increase engagement because personal invitations are involved in what’s happening.

What if starting small in your communication strategy will lead you to reaching big?

This article on communication strategy originally appeared here, and is used by permission.

4 Signs You Are Leading Like This Is a Disruption (Not an Interruption)

By
Eric Geiger
-
communicating with the unchurched

4 Signs You Are Leading Like This Is a Disruption (Not an Interruption)

When I was a child there was a series of books that I loved to read; they were called “choose your own adventure.” Shortly after the book began you, pretending to be the main character, were confronted with a choice. If you chose one path you would turn to a certain page, and you would turn to a different page for a different choice. Based on the initial path you chose, you would then be confronted with another set of decisions that were not on the alternative path. Leading during the pandemic has reminded me of those books.

If you viewed the pandemic as an interruption, you likely went down one path as a leader. And if you viewed the pandemic as a disruption, you likely went down another path. The two views and thus the two paths are vastly different. An interruption temporarily pauses the trajectory of life and work. A disruption alters or accelerates the trajectory of life and work.

Pandemic as an interruption:

Leaders who viewed the pandemic as an interruption viewed this season as a pause in the normal rhythms of life and work. They spent time working and planning for the day when things would return to “normal.”

Pandemic as a disruption:

Leaders who viewed the pandemic as a disruption started to ask questions about what was changing and what would change in people’s lives as a result of the pandemic. As they served people “today,” they looked to how they would be serving people in the future.

My former boss Thom Rainer recently articulated that the pandemic is a disruption for organizations, specifically ministries, and not an interruption. I believe he is right.

One of my favorite parts of the “choose your own adventure” books was that you could go back and choose the different path. Initially I treated the pandemic as an interruption. I absolutely loved the season I was in and did not want to imagine that March 2020 was anything more than a temporary interruption. I know I was not alone. While many of us leaders hoped the pandemic was only an interruption, because we loved our roles and the people and the season we were in, at some point we realized that we were leading through a disruption, not an interruption.

Are you leading with the understanding that we have experienced and are experiencing disruption? Have you gone back and edited your approach? Here are four ways you know you are leading with the viewpoint that we are in a disruption and not an interruption:

1. You are leading with optimism.

If you view this season as an interruption, optimism likely continues to fade as the interruption is lasting longer than you could have anticipated. But if you view this season as a disruption, you can believe that the Lord is using and will use all of this for the good of His people and the advancement of His Kingdom. You believe that the Lord, who is in charge of it all, is doing a great and gracious work – that the Lord’s plan for His church was neither interrupted or disrupted.

2. You are seeing new opportunities.

Leaders who are filled with optimism are leaders who see new opportunities to serve people. You are seeing that people long for community, that many are open to the good news of Jesus, and that the Church has always served people in the midst of crisis.

3. You are seeking to serve people now, not waiting until their lives return to normal.

Instead of viewing this season as an interruption and preparing for some future moment in time, you are finding ways to serve people in this season. Leaders, we hold our roles to serve people, not to be served by people. And we must do so in the midst of disruption.

4. You are listening and learning.

As you are serving people, you are listening. You are learning through action, and are open to adjustments that serve people better.

This article originally appeared here.

How Does the Book of Job Fit in Redemptive History?

By
Nicholas Batzig
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communicating with the unchurched

Many have struggled to understand the book of Job. What is this mysterious book teaching about this righteous sufferer who was afflicted by the devil, discouraged by his wife, and falsely accused by his friends? Why did God sovereignly arrange the circumstances of his being tested and tried? These are questions that have led Christians to embrace the wide array of biblical teaching on the justice and goodness of our sovereign God; as well as to the example of how to perserve under affliction and suffering at the hands of Satan and men. However, other questions need to be answered when approaching the book of Job–namely, what place does this book hold in redemptive history? How does it relate to the fulfillment of all things in Christ?

In his essay “Trial by Ordeal,’ Meredith Kline tied the teaching of the book of Job directly to Genesis 3:14–15. Concerning God’s approach to Satan in setting the stage for what would tanspire, he wrote,

“It was the Lord who initiated the battle with a self-glorifying, challenging claim: ‘Have you considered my servant Job…an upright man and one that fears God’ (Job 1:8). In effect, God was telling Satan that the ancient curse pronounced against him in Eden (Gen. 3:14, 15) was in process of inexorable fulfillment: out of mankind in its covenant of death with the Devil, God was reconciling to himself a new mankind, called to engage in holy war against the Serpent and promised in that warfare an ultimate absolute triumph.”

This is a profound observation. We cannot understand the book of Job unless we tie it to the original proclamation of the gospel. God had promised to send the seed of the woman to crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). By this promise of redemption in Christ, God would redeem a people to himself from the fallen mass of humanity–the human race that had been led into rebellion against God by means of Satan’s temptations. Now, in the temptation, deliverance, and restoration of Job, God prefigured what he would do throughout the remainder of redemptive history in vidicating His own righteous, just, and gracious character.

Everything in the narrative of the book of Job is thrown against the background of the divine lawcourt. God, who needs no vidication, will nevertheless vindicate Himself and His servant Job, Kline went on to explain this when he wrote,

“Since Satan had in reality directed charges against the Lord as well as Job, the Lord was one of the litigants in the case. Because of this dual role of the Lord as Judge and litigant, for Satan to struggle to prevail over the ordeal power of the divine Judge, the God of the ordeal, was at the same time to enter into personal combat against the one who was his legal adversary. In this lawsuit, then, Satan was engaged in a judicial ordeal by duel with the Lord God.”

However, God was also at work in these ordeals to justify His servant Job.

“Though the trial had turned out to be of a kind that Job hardly anticipated, it was at his own clamant insistence that his ordeal struggle with the Lord eventually took on more particularly the character of a court trial. Throughout the debate with the three friends of Job voiced ever more desperately his plea for such a trial. Let come what may, he must have the privilege of a judicial audience with God. Guilty Adam hidden from the parousia of his Judge (Job 33:1; Gen. 3:8), but innocent Job let it be known that he had no intention of behaving like Adam, if ever God would grant his request for a fair trial.”

Ultimately, Job learned that the infinitely righteous God was the one with whom he had to deal. After Job set out his defense in his debate with his three friends and Elihu, the Lord confronted Job. Kline again wrote,

“Thus challenged by God, Job succumbed, acknowledginng as too wonderful for him the wisdom of the Creator embodied in the champion that confronted him (Job 42:1–6).

This is the turning point of the entire trial. When Job acknowledged This is what Job is vindicated by God.

Kline then observed,

“Overwhelmed in the divine ordeal, Job nevertheless receives a verdict of justification (Job 42:7–9) and the blessing of twofold restoration (Job 42:10–17). Job the vanquished is Job the triumphant. Like Jacob-Israel, Job triumphed by the tears and supplications of his vanquished, contrite heart. By the confession, ‘I abhor myself and repent’ (Job 42:6, he prevailed with God.”

This is a beautiful picture of the way in which God redeems and restores all of His people through the saving work of the God-man, Jesus Christ. Jesus, the Seed of the woman, is the greater Job who endured the temptations of the evil one and who wrestled with God in the Garden. He is the ultimate Servant of the Lord (Isaiah 42:1) who would suffer in order to justify His people (Isaiah 53:11). Like Job, Jesus cried out to God in helplessness. The writer of Hebrews tells us that “in the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered” (Heb. 5:7–8). Jesus conquered his accuser and vanquished the sins of His people on the cross. In the resurrection from the dead, Jesus was vindicated and God was vindicated in Him. He thus becomes the captain of salvation to all who trust in Him and suffer with Him. 

Finally, Kline concluded his observations on the relationship between the book of Job and Genesis 3:15, when he wrote, 

“By his victory in his wrestling ordeal with Job, the Lord proved the victor in his ordeal-conflict against Satan In this fateful ordeal, the Lord, the God of judgment ordeal, the Judge of all the earth, had spoken. He had revealed decisively through his champion Job’s victory over the draconic adversary that his gospel-decree of Genesis 3:14, 15 was sovereign and true: God the Creator would at last destroy the devil and by redemptive re-creation raise up a new mankind condecrated forever to the service of his glory.” 

All those who are savingly united to Jesus Christ by faith will also be tempted, tried, and ultimately justified. We are justified because of the perfection of the saving work of Christ, the Seed of the Woman. We will understand more of the sovereignty, righteousness, and grace of God as we read the book of Job in light of Genesis 3:15. 

This article originally appeared here.

Worship Summit Live Brings Together Top Church Leaders for 4 Events a Year!

By
Paul Richards
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communicating with the unchurched

Worship Summit Live is a day of educational content focused on technical training with the world’s leading experts on worship technology. This year the event features speakers such as Jake Gosselin, the CEO of Church Front, Seth Haberman, the Digital Pastor, and Paul Richards, the Chief Streaming Officer at StreamGeeks. This free to attend event has been put together by Paul Richards, the Author of Helping Your Church Live Stream, a book that is available for free here.

The first Worship Summit happened in early 2020, before COVID-19 shut down in-person worship ceremonies for churches around the world. Since then, Worship Summit Live has been an amazing place for volunteers, pastors, and worship leaders to increase their skills in live streaming and video production. “After reviewing the surveys from our Worship Summit’s attendees, it became immediately clear that our audience wants technical training on a variety of topics regarding live streaming worship services,” says event organizer Paul Richards.

An upcoming Worship Summit features sessions such as “How to make a Better Worship Experience Online,” “Customizing OBS for Worship Streaming,” and “Cinematic vs Television Style Live Streaming.” The Worship Summit event also features a Zoom video conferencing area where attendees can network, voice their opinions and get questions answered from church leaders who are speaking at the event.

The Worship Summit has become so popular that multiple live streaming equipment vendors are using the platform as a space to make new products launches. PTZOptics is a company involved with the event that makes live streaming cameras which are ideal for worship spaces. This year, a new PTZ joystick product announcement is expected to be popular regarding its ability to make live streaming technology easier to operate for church volunteers.

Michael Begeman, The Church of Conscious Harmony, in Austin, Texas says “We’ve discovered during COVID that our community is much larger and more far-flung than we ever knew, so we feel the need to keep everyone included…” Begemen was a speaker at the third Worship Summit where he talked about how his church combines live streaming with Zoom video conference sessions. For many Worship Summit attendees, the event has become a place to collaborate with other churches and learn in an online community setting.

Paul Richards also offers a free online course on Udemy to help assist with training volunteers and church media professionals. You can take the free Worship Course on Udemy and share it with your team. The online course is designed to help your team become more familiar with live streaming technology. The course accompanies the popular “Helping Your Church Live Stream” book available via paperback, kindle, audiobook and free PDF download.

Worship Summit Live is all about the connections your church can make. This event is a celebration of the opportunities made by live streaming. Come for a day of collaboration, and Q&A with the experts speaking on a number of timely topics. This summit is the best way to jump start your church’s communications outreach and audiovisual team goals. You can learn more about Worship Summit Live at https://WorshipSummit.Live

Worship Summit Live 5 Will Bring Together Top Church Leaders Feb. 11

After four engaging educational sessions in 2020, Worship Summit Live will return for a fifth session to guide worship leaders and volunteers on the latest technical training for video production and live streaming services.

On Thurs., Feb. 11 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Worship Summit Live 5 will host church production and technology experts who will demonstrate the best methods to produce live-streamed and recorded worship celebrations for virtual and hybrid congregations.

Attendees can view technical sessions at Worship Summit Live for free, as well as access a separate networking and collaboration meeting via Zoom for only $5. All registered attendees will have a chance to win a HuddleCamHD Pro IP webcam, valued at $549.

During these uncertain times, houses of worship have met the spiritual needs of their congregations in virtual settings. Worship Summit Live has become a popular event for worship leaders, musicians, volunteers, and administrators to gain practical knowledge to produce captivating live productions or video recordings of worship celebrations. The half-day event format will focus intently on technical topics, including a close look at the latest tools for online worship, how worship volunteers can use Open Broadcaster Software, and ways that anyone can provide services with worship music, even non-musicians.

The first Worship Summit was held in early 2020, before COVID-19 shut down in-person worship services for houses of worship around the world. Since then, Worship Summit Live has been a forum for volunteers, pastors, and worship leaders to increase their skills in live streaming and video production.

“After reviewing the surveys from our Worship Summit’s attendees, it became immediately clear that our audience wants technical training on a variety of topics regarding live streaming worship services,” says event organizer Paul Richards.

To keep that focus, the Worship Summit Live event will host some of the top technical minds in this area. This year the event’s main speakers include Jake Gosselin, CEO of Church Front, Seth Haberman, known as the “Digital Pastor,” and Richards, the Chief Streaming Officer at StreamGeeks and author of the free book, “Helping Your Church Live Stream.” Ariel Viera, known as “Urbanist,” will kick off the virtual event with live-streamed church tours from New York City.

Jake Gosselin

The instructional technology learned during Worship Summit Live should continue to guide attendees whether worship gatherings are remote, in-person, or exist in a hybrid format.

Downingtown-based PTZOptics – a manufacturer of robotic pan, tilt, zoom camera solutions for a variety of broadcast and live-streaming applications – is hosting Worship Summit Live 5.

The half-day schedule is available here. The live stream is free, and anyone interested in networking within the collaborative Zoom meeting can purchase a pass here.

PTZOptics is the sister company to HuddleCamHD, manufacturers of professional video conferencing cameras. For more worship streaming tips download a free copy of “Helping Your Church Live Stream.”

Chan Says He Has No Reason to Suspect ‘Communists Kicked Him Out’ of Hong Kong

By
Megan Briggs
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communicating with the unchurched

Author and evangelist Francis Chan recently shared that he is back in the U.S. after his visa to work in Hong Kong was rejected. Now, Chan says some articles written about the incident which speculate nefarious intent from the Chinese Communist Party could harm his ability to return. 

“Let’s be careful not to make this bigger than what this actually is,” Chan said during an  interview with CBN. Such comments could “be damaging to the possibility of me going back into Hong Kong when we have Americans saying ‘oh the communists kicked him out,’” Chan emphasized.

“That isn’t the case that I know of,” Chan said, referring to the speculation that his work visa was denied because of a communist agenda. Instead, Chan reasons his application for a 2-year work visa was likely denied because the organization sponsoring him “wasn’t clear enough and didn’t give enough detail as to what we would be doing there in country.”

“There have been different articles written about the situation and I think people have interjected their own views or thoughts of what may have happened. But the truth is, it very well could have been just my application for immigration that there was things we didn’t think through, and so they had some questions for us,” Chan explained.

Normally a work visa application takes 6-8 weeks for the government to process, but Chan said it took almost a year for him and his family members to receive an answer about their visas. 

Hong Kong Churches Face Disunity 

In addition to explaining the situation with his visa status, Chan also answered some questions about the ongoing conflict in Hong Kong between churches and the Chinese government. Chan said the biggest problem the church in Hong Kong faces is division within itself. Chan said there are believers on both sides of the pro-China vs. pro-Hong Kong debate and it is tearing the church apart.

Chan compared the divisions among Hong Kong believers to the divisions we are experiencing in the United States. He brought up the debate over whether or not to meet physically during the pandemic. This question is really a matter of methodology, Chan argued, and said the thing we should be more concerned about is doing what the Bible actually mandates: Things like confessing our sins to one another, bearing with one another, and aiming to become “perfectly one,” as Chan describes.

Chan believes each church group must have freedom to figure out how to obey these biblical mandates “in [their own] context.”

Uyghur Women Tell of Systematic Rape, Torture in New Report

By
Jessica Lea
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uyghur women
Uyghur people demand freedom with flag of East Turkestan in front of the U.N. building in New York City. Source: SFT HQ (Students for a Free Tibet) on Wikimedia Commons

Editor’s note: The following article contains graphic accounts of sexual violence against Uyghur women that some readers may find distressing and which could be triggering.

Uyghur women detained in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) are being subjected to systematic rape and brutal torture, according to accounts told to the BBC by former detainees and a former guard. One of the detainees, Tursunay Ziawudun, said that what she went through is perhaps “the most unforgettable scar on me forever.”

“They were three men. Not one, but three,” said Ziawudun, describing how one night during her nine months in the camp three men took her from her cell and gang-raped her. “They did whatever evil their mind could think of, and they didn’t spare any part of my body, biting it to the extent that it was disgusting to look at. They didn’t just rape; they were barbaric. They had bitten all over my body.” 

Uyghur Women Recount Stories of Rape, Torture

Ziawudun is one of several Uyghur women who spoke to the BBC about her experience in one of China’s so-called “re-education” camps. During the time she was detained, she was raped three times in what she called a “black room” with no cameras. Ziawudun said that even though the COVID-19 pandemic had not yet begun, the men who raped her always wore masks. In addition to biting her, the men also used electric rods while sexually abusing her. And this was not an isolated event, according to Ziawudun. “Every night” one or more Chinese men would rape women in the camp. 

There are about 11 million Uyghurs, a primarily Muslim ethnic minority, who live in China’s XUAR. Following a series of 2016 terrorist attacks that were attributed to Uyghur separatists, the Chinese government began implementing a campaign to “re-educate” the Uyghurs in the name of suppressing extremism. The Chinese government has consistently denied reports that it is detaining, torturing, and brainwashing a minimum of one million people. In a statement to the BBC, a government spokeswoman said that the camps in the XUAR are for the purposes of “vocational and educational training” and that the government “attaches great importance to protecting women’s rights.” Mounting evidence indicates, however, that the government is actually perpetrating a modern-day Holocaust by attempting to exterminate the Uyghur people and their culture. 

Documents leaked at the end of 2019 revealed that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has an organized plan for oppressing minorities, and religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter provided footage to the BBC showing halls lined with prison cells inside the camps. Other evidence shows that China is using advanced technology to surveil and arrest Uyghurs for infractions that range from wearing a headscarf to having “extremist thoughts.” An NPR report from 2018 says the secretary over the region has “transformed [it] into one of the world’s most tightly controlled police states.” Footage leaked in 2020 shows Uyghurs being escorted off of trains into labor camps. 

The BBC’s story is not the first time that Uyghur women have spoken out. In August 2020, other Uyghur women who have escaped from China said the government is attempting to exterminate the Uyghur population through forced sterilization, abortion, and infanticide. The women were either witnesses of those crimes, assisted in them, or were subjected to them themselves. Adrian Zenz is a senior fellow in China Studies at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington D.C. In June 2020, he published a report that validates these accounts and extensively documents evidence of the appalling methods the Chinese Communist Party is using to suppress the growth of the Uyghur population. 

The night Ziawudun was raped for the first time, she was taken from her cell along with one of her cellmates. She saw her cellmate go into another room, after which Ziawudun heard the woman start screaming. “I don’t know how to explain to you, I thought they were torturing her. I never thought about them raping,” said Ziawudun. “The girl became completely different after that, she wouldn’t speak to anyone, she sat quietly staring as if in a trance. There were many people in those cells who lost their minds.” 

Ziawudun also corroborated the accounts from the other Uyghur women who report women being forcibly sterilized and compelled to get IUDs.  “It is very obvious,” she said. “Their goal is to destroy everyone. And everybody knows it.”

Another woman who spoke to the BBC named Gulzira Auelkhan said she was forced against her will to assist the Chinese guards who were raping the women. She said, “My job was to remove their clothes above the waist and handcuff them so they cannot move. Then I would leave the women in the room and a man would enter—some Chinese man from outside or policeman. I sat silently next to the door, and when the man left the room I took the woman for a shower.”

The men picked whichever women they thought were the prettiest, said Auelkhan, and the victims were ordered not to tell anyone about what had happened to them. She said, “It is designed to destroy everyone’s spirit.”

Preacher’s Kid and NFL QB Kirk Cousins Wants You To Be Aware of This As You Watch the Super Bowl

By
Jesse T. Jackson
-
communicating with the unchurched

The NFL’s 55th Super Bowl kicks off in Tampa Bay this Sunday, February 7th, featuring the reigning Super Bowl champions Kansas City Chiefs (14-2) versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (11-5). This year’s game represents the first time a team has hosted the Super Bowl in their own city. While the big game makes for good entertainment, the Super Bowl also provides one of the most lucrative opportunities human traffickers and sex traffickers have to promote their dark, criminal trade. However, some see the Super Bowl as a different opportunity: To bring awareness to this great evil of our modern times. One such person is Kirk Cousins.

Outspoken Christian NFL quarterback Kirk Cousins, who plays for the Minnesota Vikings, took to social media to raise awareness regarding human trafficking. Cousins is part of Team Freedom, a pro athlete group with International Justice Mission (IJM) which is a global Christian organization that, according to their website, partners with local authorities to rescue individual victims of violence and restore survivors to safety and stability.

 
 
 
 
 
 
View this post on Instagram
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by Kirk Cousins (@kirkcousins)

Cousins told CBS News earlier this week, “I think about how fragile my boys are… and to think that anybody would take advantage of them or harm them, it makes my blood boil to think that does happen to young people all over the world in the tens of millions. It’s disturbing.” The Vikings quarterback explained operating in the shadows is how the traffickers get away with selling nearly 25 million people worldwide, 1 in 4 of whom are children. 

 

A preacher’s kid who calls faith “the foundation of my life,” Cousins said, “If [trafficking] truly is brought to the light and identified for the horrible evil that it is, people will band together to put an end to it.”

IJM is partnering with Hillsborough County Commission on Human Trafficking to combat trafficking leading up to and during the Super Bowl. According to WUSF News, efforts to train Uber drivers to recognize possible trafficked victims have taken place, as well as large signs placed in the Tampa International Airport designed to inform travelers of the risks of human trafficking.

Florida ranks third in the nation for human trafficking, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s website. The site states that half of the sex victims in the United States are 17 years old or younger, and 96 percent of those in Miami-Dade county are minors who are female. Miami-Dade county is less than a 4.5 hours drive from where the Super Bowl will take place in Tampa.

You can join Kirk Cousins in raising your voice to end trafficking and slavery by signing the pledge here.

Vaccine Evangelists: Black Pastors Offer Education, Space, Even Their Own Arms to Fight COVID

By
Stephanie Martin
-
communicating with the unchurched

Distrust is one factor hampering the COVID-19 vaccination rollout. That’s why health officials are turning to church leaders for assistance, especially in Black and minority communities.

Although African Americans are disproportionately affected by the coronavirus, that population also faces historical and logistical obstacles to getting immunized. So Black pastors are working to protect their flocks and communities by rebuilding trust, serving as role models, and providing venues for vaccine distribution.

The Church Is Here ‘to save lives’ 

In Ohio, a Minority Health Advisory Group is working with African-American pastors and exploring the possibility of giving vaccines at churches. Bishop Timothy Clarke, senior pastor of First Church of God in Columbus, says, “Like an evangelist speaks to the unconverted, I’ve got to speak to the unconvinced, and I’ve got to advocate for this vaccine, because if people believe the lie then they are not going to do it.”

Another Columbus faith leader agrees that African-American pastors play a vital role. “People see our faces,” says Charles Tatum. “They know our voices, and we are everyday people to them.” As he waits for his turn to get his vaccine, Tatum is holding community forums featuring Black physicians.

In Panama City, Florida, Pastor Russell Wright Sr. has offered his church as a potential vaccination site. “My people are ecstatic that we are going to step up in helping to save lives,” he says. “That’s what the church is for.” He points to the infamous Tuskegee Project, in which Black men were experimented on without consent, as one reason minorities tend to be “apprehensive” about America’s health care system.

Bishop Donte Hickman Sr., a pastor in East Baltimore, agrees it’s tough “to encourage people to trust the science.” So he’s working with local officials to provide church buildings, parking lots, and vans for the effort. “We want there to be no excuses” to not get the shot, he says.

Spreading the Word About Vaccines

In addition to historic abuse and bias, African Americans may be less likely to receive the COVID-19 vaccine because of access and transportation issues. Another barrier, especially for older people, is a lack of digital fluency, often needed to register for shots.

In an interview titled “To Vaccinate or Not,” Timothy Sloan, senior pastor of The Luke Church in Humboldt, Texas, recently spoke to the country’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. The goal, Sloan said, was to boost vaccination rates and raise people’s “level of confidence” in the shot.

Bishop T.D. Jakes, senior pastor The Potter’s House in Dallas, also held a virtual panel featuring Dr. Fauci. Jakes, who’s “had an exponential increase in burying Black people” during the pandemic, says he wants people to distinguish facts from opinions and rumors.

When several Black pastors in Mississippi rolled up their sleeves this week to receive the vaccine, they spoke of the devastating impact COVID has had on their communities and traditions. “It is extraordinarily important for those of us who have been given the privilege of leadership to make sure that we lead by example,” says Pastor Jerry Young, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA.

The WHY of Modesty

By
Jessica Pigg
-
communicating with the unchurched

Modesty. It’s an out-of-style word that makes most people cringe, even in the church. Debates about modesty have divided believers for years.

But, no matter how long you search, there is not a list of do’s and don’ts in the Bible pertaining to modesty. There isn’t a skirt length or style listed for all Christian women to wear. Modesty isn’t a list of rules; it is a reflection of our hearts.

Fig Leaves

The first clothing ever worn by man and woman was fig leaves. These fig leaves were a sad attempt by Adam and Eve to cover their sin and feeling of shame and guilt (Gen 3). But God, in His great mercy and grace, killed an innocent animal to provide for them durable, more suitable clothing. Like Adam and Eve, we have all tried to hide behind “fig leaves”—whether it be our clothing, our appearance, our titles, our family or our good deeds. When we, as women, wear clothing that barely covers our bodies, we are covering up insecurity, a need for affirmation or self-gratification. However, dressing modestly acknowledges the beauty and power of femininity. Dressing modestly doesn’t mean you’re ashamed of your body. Modesty is simply valuing what has value.

We have to evaluate why we wear what we wear. As Christian women, who are ambassadors for Christ and “citizens of heaven,” which kingdom are we representing through our clothing and dress? The attitudes of our hearts directly affect the way we dress and the message our outfits send to the world around us.

Do we point others to Jesus? Or do we distract them from the gospel? Our lives should look the same behind closed doors at it does at church. Our dress should be a reflection of who we worship. In his book When People Are Big and God Is Small, Edward T. Welch states that we either worship God, others or ourselves. Since Christ purchased my body on the cross, I am to steward it for His glory.

You Are a Temple

As a Christian woman, your body is the temple of the Living God. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 6:19-20 states:

“Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you? If anyone destroys God’s sanctuary, God will destroy him; for God’s sanctuary is holy, and that is what you are.”

“Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”

In the Old Testament, the Temple was cared for with extreme attention to detail. In Exodus, there are chapters of instructions given by God as to how the Temple was to be set up and cared for. When Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the Temple was torn in two. This veil originally separated the people from God’s holy presence. His sacrifice opened the door for the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. We are now the temple of the Living God. Modesty is more than we have deemed it. It is not about rules and regulations, but about the state of our hearts and the object of our worship.

Our clothing reveals where we find our worth. 1 Peter 3:3-4 states, “Your beauty should not consist of outward things like elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold ornaments or fine clothes. Instead, it should consist of what is inside the heart with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very valuable in God’s eyes.” When people look at me, I want them to see Christ. I want them to see someone who has been changed by the gospel and looks different from the world.

Questions to ask yourself before getting dressed each day:

  • Does this display the gospel or distract from the gospel?
  • Is what I am wearing going to bring someone down, make someone envious or cause them to struggle?
  • Am I dressing to make myself known or to make Christ known?
  • Do I find my worth in my outfit or in my identity in Jesus?

From BiblicalWoman.com, where this article originally appeared.

The Pandemic and Decision Fatigue

By
James Emery White
-
communicating with the unchurched

The Pandemic and Decision Fatigue

The executive director of a denominational network of churches was asked to pinpoint some of the pressure points pastors and church leaders are facing during this extended pandemic. I found his answer insightful:

“There are a number of issues that we have identified; one is decision fatigue. What is happening is that the landscape is changing so quickly that from the time a decision is made early in the week, oftentimes they’ve had to make changes to those decisions before the week is over.”

“Decision fatigue.”

I hadn’t heard that phrase before, but it’s spot-on. And I don’t know of any leader of any kind – business, education, media – who hasn’t found themselves dealing with a fair bit of it. Speaking for myself, I’ve never before had to call so many “audibles” during a season of leadership in my life.

And it can be wearying for any number of reasons: 1) the speed by which you have to make the decision; 2) the knowledge that some will like it, and some won’t; 3) the implications of making the wrong decision; and 4) knowing the impact your decision may have on the lives of others.

So how can anyone who is having to make more decisions than ever during this season – and feeling the “decision fatigue” as a result – find some rest and even confidence at the end of a day?

First, pray. Specifically, pray for wisdom and discernment. The more you pray over a decision, the more confident you can be that you have made – or will make – the right one.

Second, resist. Specifically, resist external pressures that might affect your decision-making that are motivated by such things as partisan politics, bad theology, fear, anxiety or personal felt needs. It’s not that some external pressures aren’t worthy of being taken into account; just never allow yourself to make a decision simply because of external pressure. Leaders are meant to lead.

Third, maintain. Specifically, maintain a clear sense of true north in terms of mission, vision and values. There is much talk these days of what we “can” do or “want” to do, but less talk of what we “should” do. Always go with “should.”

Fourth, think. Specifically, think long term about your decisions. Yes, much of the “decision fatigue” is how we are being faced with so many immediate decisions affecting the short term. But the more your short-term decisions can be informed by long-term thinking, the better they will be. Make it a discipline to ask yourself the “10-10-10” questions: What will the effect of this decision be in 10 minutes, 10 months and 10 years?

Finally, trust. Specifically, trust God. Even if hindsight may prove that some of your decisions weren’t ideal, you can trust that God will not abandon you as a leader and will meet less-than-ideal decisions with fresh grace and mercy if you have the humility to own them.

Sources

Diana Chandler, “Pastors Express ‘Decision Fatigue,’ ‘Ministerial Frustration’ as COVID-19 Pandemic Lingers,” Baptist Press, January 25, 2021, read online.

This article originally appeared here.

12 Ways to Lift Up Sunday School During Your Services

By
Ken Braddy
-
communicating with the unchurched

In many churches, Sunday School (insert whatever your church calls its Bible teaching ministry) is what has become known as a “Step 2” strategy. These days, attending a worship service is “Step 1,” and moving those persons into a smaller group for Bible study is “Step 2.”
If Sunday School is to be an effective step 2 strategy at your church, here are 12 ways to lift up its importance during your church’s worship service. If you aren’t on your church’s leadership team, send them this post and encourage them to bring Sunday School to the forefront. Don’t assume that people know the next step to take – help them take it by focusing on your church’s small group ministry.

12 Ways to Lift Up Sunday School During Your Services

  1. Pray for a class and its teacher each week
  2. Remind the congregation and its guests of any online group options your church has because of COVID-19
  3. Interview an individual or a family about the things they enjoy about their Bible study group (do this regularly)
  4. Schedule a commissioning service where you pray for all of the teachers at the start of a new Sunday School year (usually in August)
  5. Preach a sermon series on the importance of groups, Bible study, and connecting with one another
  6. Use the worship bulletin to feature a group and its teacher each week…a short bio on the group leader, where the class meets, the Bible study curriculum used by the group, etc.
  7. Create a special registration card (or include it in your guest information section of the worship bulletin) in which people can specifically request to be connected to a Bible study group
  8. If your adult groups use the same curriculum, preview the upcoming sessions to create interest (i.e. “Next week our groups are studying X” or “We’re about to start a six-week study on Y”)
  9. Preach a sermon series that aligns with the Bible study series used by your adult groups (if the majority teach from the same series) – and encourage guests and unconnected members to participate in a group
  10. Encourage guests to stay and connect with a Bible study group while they are on campus
  11. Encourage time-compressed people to attend a Bible study group instead of the worship service.  I have served with several pastors who have encouraged people to get involved in a smaller group if they only have one hour to give on Sunday mornings. Pastors know that people are more likely to be around for the long haul if they are in a group.
  12. If you are the pastor, share a personal testimony of what you are learning in your Bible study group…you can set a great example for others to follow by being in a small group yourself.

This article originally appeared here.

Apple’s M1 Chipset: Here’s What We’ve Learned

By
Nick Nicholaou
-
communicating with the unchurched

Apple introduced Macs with a new M1 chipset late last year, and many are excited about it! Honestly, I am too! The specs suggest great improvements in processing power and speed, and like the Tom Cruise character said in Top Gun, “I feel the need… the need for speed!” And the fact that it’s from Apple has those we affectionately refer to as the fanboys especially excited! I’m getting lots of inquiries from folks who want to get a M1 equipped Mac. Is it ready? We’ve tested it; here’s what we learned.

It’s All About the Apps

People often forget when new hardware and operating systems come out that the hardware or operating system isn’t where one does their work. Better hardware, or a new operating system may be good, but the biggest issue when considering the adoption of those shiny objects is whether one will be productive. That means the apps used to produce whatever work product is essential.

A small-but-growing percentage of apps work natively in the M1 environment. For those that do not work natively in it, Apple has a utility that can be installed called Rosetta 2. In our testing we only found one enterprise-class app that didn’t run on the M1 platform (we tested many office productivity and IT-required apps, but did not test any A/V apps).

For those apps that run natively on the M1, their speed was impressive! For those that did not run natively on the M1, their speed was about the same as running on recent Intel processors.

Being able to be productive is the most important filter to consider before purchasing an M1 chipset-platform Mac. Check the websites of the app solution providers you use to be certain you’ll be productive before proceeding. And if you’re not certain after doing that research, contact their technical support team and ask about the practical use of their app on an M1.

Screens: the Second Decision Gate

Many of us who Macs use multiple displays, or monitors. My personal preference is to use a MacBook with the screen open and two large displays— so three screens total. The ability of the M1 to support multiple screens is limited. Apple has heard lots of feedback on this issue, and we’re hoping they will address it in their next product release.

MacBooks come with a couple of USB-C ports; only one can have a display connected. Mac Mini’s come with two USB-C ports, and have the same restriction. They also have an HDMI port than can be used for a second display, but not if it’s a high-resolution display.

What Do We Recommend?

If you need multiple displays, you will probably want to wait until later this year— hopefully only until Apple’s Spring product refresh. If multiple displays is not a need for you, check to make certain your preferred apps will run on the M1 chipset. Chances are good they will, but it’s better to be sure in advance than to lose a bunch of time trying after your purchase.  The good news on that issue is that solution providers are addressing this at a fast pace, so you may be able to proceed.

 

Nick Nicholaou of MBS wrote earlier about the M1 chipset, this is his follow-up report.

5 Habits of Healthy Church Growth

By
Megan Briggs
-
communicating with the unchurched

God is inviting us to participate in the expansion of His kingdom. And, He’s given us the responsibility to evangelize and steward the people He brings to us. This is the heart of healthy church growth.

This article content from some of the best ChurchLeaders articles on healthy church growth, evangelism, and discipleship, all rolled into one article. We compiled it to make you aware of the barriers that might be hindering your church’s growth, and we provide action items and solutions to break through those barriers. However, for truly healthy church growth you have to apply these principles in your church and in your local ministry context.

5 Habits of Healthy Church Growth

Habit 1: Growing Churches Replicate Leadership

You remember the passage where Jethro counseled Moses about burning out? Here’s a quick refresher:

13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God; 16 when they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. 21 Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. (Exodus 18:13-21, ESV)

It wasn’t feasible for Moses to continue being the sole decision maker among all the people. This isn’t an easy task. It will require you to trust other people and to relinquish control of certain tasks. You may not be able to make every hospital visit, or lead another discipleship group, or conduct a wedding. You may have to start saying no to things. And you have to be okay with disappointing some people.

Habit 2: Growing Churches Have Enough Room for People

True or False – If you have empty seats in your meeting space, you have enough room?

False.

You may think that because there are empty seats in your service, you have enough room. But, when a room reaches 70%-80% of its seating capacity, it’s running close to exceeding its comfort capacity. That means if first-time visitors to your church feel cramped, they may not come back. This principle of healthy church growth applies not only to your main meeting space, but to every classroom and other meeting room in your church.

CAUTION: The temptation may be to create a second service, thinking the congregation will evenly split in half to attend each service. This isn’t usually the case, however. If your church comfortably seats 500 people and you move to a second service, the reality is 400 people will attend one service and 100 may attend the other.

Habit 3: Growing Churches are Led by Growing Leaders

Leaders are Learners. Nelson Searcy said “growing churches are led by growing leaders.” Being intentional about personal growth as a leader, growing in your knowledge and understanding of the Word, and growing in your walk with Christ are all essential to healthy chuch growth.

Action Items:

  • Create a monthly reading plan to read one new book each month. It doesn’t even have to be a Christian living book. But, remember that leaders are readers.
  • Find online learning opportunities.
  • Find a mentor or coach you consistently meet with to keep you on track with your goals, and to provide outside perspective on your decisions.

New Denmark Law Could Require Pastors to Submit Sermons to the Govt

By
Jessica Lea
-
communicating with the unchurched

A proposed law on religion in Denmark would require clergy to translate their messages into Danish and submit them to the government. While the bill is intended to curb Islamic extremism, church leaders of all stripes are arguing that it will be harmful to Christians and other people of faith in the country, as well as to religious freedom in Europe.

“The law will have negative consequences for many religious groups, such as evangelicals, moderate Muslims, and other officially recognized communities who now have to spend time and money on translations,” Thomas B. Mikkelsen, Chairman of the Evangelical Alliance Denmark, told Evangelical Focus. “The law aims to protect our community from the growth of radical Islamism, but the law will probably not be effective in that regard. Radical groups tend to establish themselves on the margins, in a parallel society, and never apply for official recognition. I do not think a new law will affect them in any way.” 

Danish Law Would Regulate Religion in Denmark

According to The Guardian, the Danish government has stated that the legislation’s purpose is to “enlarge the transparency of religious events and sermons in Denmark, when these are given in a language other than Danish.” The law, which the Danish Parliament will consider in February, is an effort to curb Islamic extremism, something that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has said she would do. Mosques typically conduct services in Arabic, and the World Population Review puts the number of Muslims in Denmark at over 313,000. 

Approximately 90 percent of the population of Denmark is of Danish descent, and Danish is the country’s official language, but people also speak minority languages including Faroese and Greenlandic. This is significant because there are churches in Denmark that hold their services in these languages and would be compelled to translate all of their sermons into Danish should the law pass. The prime minister has said she cannot guarantee that the law would contain an exemption for the Faroese and Greenlandic languages. 

Leaders in Denmark’s German-speaking churches, which have held services in German for 800 years, are also troubled by the law. Rajah Scheepers, who pastors one such church in Copenhagen said, “There is much concern. We do not only hold services on Sundays, but also baptisms, weddings and funerals, throughout the week. It is not realistic to expect that we simultaneously translate all these gatherings or that we translate them in advance.”

“What you’re looking at here is actually something that is nearly unprecedented in modern church history,” said Southern Baptist Theological Seminary president Albert Mohler in The Briefing on Feb. 3. “You’re talking about a Western nation that is threatening to require all pastors, that would include Christian pastors, to submit sermons in advance to pay for the transcription of the message, to make certain that the message is delivered to the government. That means that the Danish government now claims to itself the power to approve or disapprove messages.”

Faith Leaders see Threat to Religion in Denmark and Elsewhere

Faith leaders of various backgrounds have publicly expressed their dismay about the law and its potential impact on religion in Denmark. On Jan. 26, the Conference of European Churches (CEC) wrote a letter to Prime Minister Frederiksen and Joy Mogensen, Minister for Church Affairs, saying that the “CEC sees such legislation as an unreasonably negative signal in relation to religion and the role of religious communities in society.”

The letter continues, “Why should German, Romanian, or English congregations with a long history in Denmark suddenly have to translate their sermons into Danish? This would taint the image of Denmark as an open, liberal and free nation built on a Christian heritage of individual rights and duties.” 

The church leaders who signed the letter argue that the law violates Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and suggests that it is not compatible with Article 18 of the Lisbon Treaty or with the European Charter of Regional and Minority languages of the Council of Europe. Notably, Faroese Parliament member Sjúrður Skaale has also cited the ECHR in condemning the proposed law as discriminatory. He also claims the law would violate Section 10 of the Home Rule Act and Article 70 of Denmark’s constitution. Skaale took issue as well with the implication that Arabic is equivalent to Faroese, the latter of which is a mother tongue and officially recognized by the Danish government.

Bishop Robert Innes, who is over the Anglican Church’s Diocese in Europe, is another church leader who has written a letter (dated Jan. 27) to Frederiksen and Mogensen. In it, he said, “I hope that the Danish Government will pause to reflect on the potential implications of such proposals to require the translation of sermons preached at church services into Danish. I believe this overly restrictive step would constitute a limitation on freedom of expression that I know is prized in Denmark, as one of the world’s oldest democracies.”

Pastor Dwight McKissic Receives Scathingly Racist Letter

By
Megan Briggs
-
communicating with the unchurched

Like most ministry leaders, Pastor Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas has undoubtedly received his fair share of criticism over leadership decisions he’s made or sermons he’s preached. But the letter he received last week is nothing short of hateful. And racist.

Calling African Americans “savages,” a letter signed by one John V. Rutledge says “they diminish every arena in which they parade: academic, political, corporate, judicial, military, athletic.” 

Rutledge goes on to say “Seeking another white bastion to badger and beleaguer, they invaded the church.” By “church,” context indicates that Rutledge is referring to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).

Pastor Dwight McKissic Receives Letter After Big Announcement

The letter appears to have been prompted by the Baptist Standard’s coverage of McKissic’s decision to withdraw his church from one of the two SBC-affiliated groups to which it belongs. The subject line of the letter reads: “McKissic cuts ties with STBC, potentially with SBC,” Baptist Standard, January 15. The managing editor of the Baptist Standard and the author of the article about McKissic, Ken Camp, is copied on Ruledge’s letter. 

A friend of McKissic’s, Kyle Howard, shared the letter on his Twitter account on Monday, February 1st. The letter circulated as others commented on its deplorable nature and used it as an opportunity to highlight the necessity of the church, and the SBC in particular, to address the lingering problem of white supremacy and racism. 

You can read the full letter in the tweet below. Please be advised that it contains disturbingly racist ideas about African Americans and does not reflect the views of ChurchLeaders.com.

Who is John V. Rutledge?

Rutledge is the author of A Church Has Gone to Hell —Southern Baptists: A Denomination in a Decade of Decline (2017) and How to Fail in Life: Believe Everything You Learned…In Church (2015). In his books, Rutledge describes being involved in SBC churches for some 50 years, but leaving that denomination over grievances he goes to great length to explain. As is evidenced by the letter he sent McKissic, one of those reasons is likely the SBC’s efforts at racial reconciliation, even while many, McKissic included, don’t think the SBC has done enough of this work.

Other leaders in the SBC have been quick to denounce the letter, a stance for which McKissic has expressed his gratitude. 

Gratitude for their condemnation of the letter aside, though, McKissic replied to that tweet saying that the leaders of the SBC (he refers to them as “entity heads”) don’t exactly have his back when it comes to other issues. McKissic has been very vocal about the things he believes needs to change in the denomination he has served for many years now. The most recent issue being the SBC leaders’ wholesale rejection of Critical Race Theory without so much as a phone call to pastors of color for their input. In the past, McKissic has also spoken up about how women are relegated to non-leadership roles while being openly criticized and how systemic racism and white supremacy continue to be at play within the church. 

Professor Anthony Bradley of Kings College in New York City said this kind of letter doesn’t surprise pastors of color. Bradley wrote “I’ve received many letters like that as well & I can tell you that it’s traumatizing. Black church leaders will respond, ‘see, we told you this would happen!'”

Biden, at Prayer Breakfast, Calls Out ‘Political Extremism’

By
AP News
-
national prayer breakfast 2021
FILE - In this Jan. 21, 2021, file photo, Doug Emhoff, left, Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden, and first lady Jill Biden, stand during a performance of the National Anthem during a virtual Presidential Inaugural Prayer Service, in the State Dinning Room of the White House in Washington. Biden is expected to address the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that calls on political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden on Thursday called for a confrontation of the “political extremism” that inspired the U.S. Capitol riot and appealed for collective strength during such turbulent times in remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast, a Washington tradition that asks political combatants to set aside their differences for one morning.

The breakfast has sparked controversy in the past, particularly when President Donald Trump used last year’s installment to slam his political opponents and question their faith. Some liberals have viewed the event warily because of the conservative faith-based group that is behind it.

Still, Biden campaigned for the White House as someone who could unify Americans, and the breakfast gave the nation’s second Catholic president a chance to talk about his vision of faith as a force for good.

“For so many in our nation, this is a dark, dark time,” Biden told those watching the event. “So where do we turn? Faith.”

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said the event is “an inclusive and positive” one that “recognizes the teachings of Jesus but is not limited to Christianity.”

The breakfast is moving forward at a time when the nation’s capital is facing a series of historic crises. Biden is struggling to win significant support from congressional Republicans for a coronavirus response package, raising the likelihood that he will rely only on Democrats to pass the legislation.

Many in Washington are still navigating the aftermath of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol last month, which Biden alluded to in his remarks Thursday, referencing the “political extremism” that propelled the siege. Trump faces an unprecedented second impeachment trial in the Senate next week over his role in inciting the riot.

Biden’s message on Thursday marked his latest call to return Washington to more traditional footing after four years of Trump’s aggressive style. During the 2020 breakfast, Trump singled out Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, who had voted to convict the president during his first impeachment trial. Trump even held up a newspaper with a headline reading “ACQUITTED” over his own picture.

Every president has attended the breakfast since Dwight D. Eisenhower made his first appearance in 1953. The event went entirely virtual this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with Biden and all other speakers appearing via taped remarks. Four living former presidents sent messages to the breakfast, with three speaking on tape while Coons read a message from former President Jimmy Carter — making Trump’s absence conspicuous.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a GOP co-chair of this year’s breakfast, pointed to regular faith-based gatherings on Capitol Hill that draw senators from both ends of the ideological spectrum as a model for the event. “We don’t see eye to eye philosophically, politically, but we do embrace each other as brothers of faith,” Scott, who also offered virtual remarks at the breakfast, said in an interview.

The breakfast has drawn pushback from gay and civil rights activists since President Barack Obama’s administration, with much of the opposition focused on the Fellowship Foundation, the conservative faith-based organization that has long supported the event. Religious liberals mounted a protest outside Trump’s first appearance in 2017, criticizing his limits on refugee admissions to the U.S., and a Russian gun rights activist convicted of acting as an unregistered foreign agent attended the breakfast twice during his administration.

Norman Solomon, co-founder and national director of the progressive activist group RootsAction, warned Biden not to “reach across any aisle to bigotry.”

“We don’t need any unity with bigotry,” Solomon said. “I fear a subtext of this engagement is, ‘Can’t we all get along.’ But that’s not appropriate in this case given the well-known right-wing and anti-gay background of the event’s sponsors.”

Solomon said Democratic presidents have continued a tradition of attending an event where their Republican counterparts often felt more comfortable because they feared being labeled as “anti-religious or nonreligious.” He said that Biden, a devout Catholic who attends Mass every week, could better send a unifying message by skipping the event and instead attending one that is truly bipartisan.

“God knows there are many religious leaders and gatherings that are devout and affirm human equality,” he said. “This isn’t one of them.”

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, agreed that “there are far better ways” than the breakfast for Biden to connect with people on the basis of shared spiritual beliefs.

“We would love to work with the administration to figure out a way to change the sponsorship of an event like this and to make it a place for Americans of all different religious beliefs,” Laser said.

Yet Democratic leaders, aware of Biden’s devout Catholic faith and calls for healing, have largely refrained from public comment on the event this year. Pelosi, D-Calif., taped her own message to the event on Thursday morning.

Both Laser and Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons, a fellow in the faith initiative at the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, pointed to the Christian symbolism seen during last month’s Capitol riot as an opening for Biden to offer pluralistic, open language about faith going forward.

“I hope President Biden recognizes we’re in a new moment,” Graves-Fitzsimmons said, “and that the Christian nationalism threat is a threat to both the sacred religious pluralism of the U.S. and to Christianity.”

Elana Schor and Will Weissert contributed to this article. This article originally appeared on APNews.com. 

J.D. Greear: It’s Unwise to Call VP Harris a ‘Jezebel’

By
Jesse T. Jackson
-
communicating with the unchurched

Southern Baptist Convention’s (SBC) President J.D. Greear posted on Twitter earlier this week opposing those who have been comparing Vice President Kamala Harris to Jezebel.

In January, fellow SBC Senior Pastor Tom Buck of First Baptist Church in Lindale, Texas and SBC Senior Pastor Steve Swofford of Rockwall First Baptist located in Rockwall, Texas have both referred to Harris as “Jezebel.”

Pastor Buck posted a tweet on January 22, two days after Harris was sworn into office, that read, “I can’t imagine any truly God-fearing Israelite who would’ve wanted their daughters to view Jezebel as an inspirational role model because she was a woman in power… To be clear, if Trump had been the first white man to hold the office of President, I wouldn’t have wanted my sons to look up to him as a role model… certainly not because of the color of his skin.” 

The pastor’s tweet ignited instant backlash, not just because of who Jezebel is in the Bible (a pagan queen who married King Ahab of Israel and introduced worship to pagan gods. She is also mentioned in Revelation 2:19-22, when Christ is addressing the Church of Thyatira). Calling a woman Jezebel was also a racist term that was used during slavery. 

Pastor Buck followed up his ‘Jezebel’ comment a couple days later saying he stands by his original tweet. 

Even before the inauguration of President Biden, Pastor Steve Swofford said in one of his sermons, “What if something happens to him [Biden] and Jezebel has to take over? Jezebel Harris, isn’t that her name?”

People on Twitter were quick to circulate Swofford’s words, including Robert Downen, who contributed to the Houston Chronicle’s expose’ on the Southern Baptist Convention and sexually abusive pastors.

Last year, J.D. Greear said, “We need to say it clearly as a gospel issue: black lives matter,” during his SBC presidential address in the midst of the pandemic and America’s racial unrest. In response to Buck’s opinion of Harris, Greear wrote the following on Twitter:

I realize that some pastors are likely unaware of the history of certain racial stereotypes in calling or comparing our Vice President to Jezebel, but that doesn’t make such statements any less unwise.

There are times we will critique policies, but that should not include personal attacks on a newly elected official God has told us to honor and pray for.

Let us speak clearly and boldly for righteousness, but in a way that honors what the Scriptures say about honoring our leaders. We don’t correct one sin through another.

The SBC President’s response comes a week after SBC Pastor Dwight McKissic called on Greear to “repudiate these men.” McKissic referred to their statements about Harris as “un-Christlike” and emphasized the pastors needed to be disciplined. McKissic recently pulled the Texas church he pastors out of one of two of the state’s SBC-affiliated conventions because of the recent decision to denounce critical race theory. 

‘Has Porn Already Broken My Future Marriage?’ John Piper Answers

By
Jesse T. Jackson
-
communicating with the unchurched

On John Piper’s “Ask Pastor John” podcast a listener asked the question, “Is there any hope that I will experience loving, godly, healthy intimacy in marriage?” after disclosing an addiction to pornographic videos that began when he was 10 years old.

The listener, Ben, explained the context for his question at length saying,

Beginning as a 10-year-old, I became addicted to porn videos. It was my primary battle for the next seven years. There have been wonderful victories along the way. But I also know these videos are unrealistic and perverse. God’s design for sex must be a lot different than what I’ve seen. But what I have seen is the only model I know. As I look forward to marriage, I fear that what I watched has already patterned my expectations. What advice do you have for me? Is there any hope that I will experience loving, godly, healthy intimacy in marriage? And what can I do now to ensure it?

The “Preparing for Marriage” author responded saying, “The answer is that there is hope for a loving, godly, healthy intimacy in marriage — if, in God’s mercy, a cluster of miracles happens in you and in your future wife.” The hope lies, Piper explained, within taking conscious steps that he and his future wife can take together, and a spirit-given subconscious transformation of one’s instincts. Piper said, “You must pursue these miracles.”

Pastor John suggested that women considering marriage should ask their future husband “point-blank” when was the last time he has looked at anything pornographic, and insist he has victory over it. Piper said, “Too many people today think that pornography is just inevitable; it’s a given, and marriages should just cope, just adapt to it. I think that’s like saying, “Poison is inevitable, and I’m just going to get used to taking poison.”

The theologian and former Bethlehem Baptist Senior Pastor gave his listener a path he could take that would lead him to the hope he asked was possible for his future marriage.

Humbling one’s self was the first thing Piper said he had to do. Seven year’s of “poisoning your mind” will have consequences that you are responsible for, Piper admitted. Citing 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and 1 Corinthians 7:3, he explained that having sex with your wife is holy, unlike the sexual expectations manifested from watching pornography that have perversely distorted one’s brain. “Be holy” he said, “because you are bought to be holy and indwelt by the Holy One.”

Next Piper explained 1 Corinthians 7:3-4 and included the Apostle Paul’s words from Romans 12:10 which say, “Outdo one another in showing honor.” Relating the Romans passage to the marriage bed he said, “this means outdo one another in seeking to maximize each other’s pleasure — each other’s pleasure. Or another way to say it would be this: each of you strive to find your greatest sexual pleasure in the greatest sexual pleasure of your spouse.”

Piper advised that when Ben met someone he wants to marry, he will need to talk to his future wife “very frankly,” about the next part of the path towards hope, “about what pleases her.” Piper clarified this question “comes after the two of your are married,” because during your courtship “you will admit to her that you probably do not have the best instincts and inclinations when it comes to the most healthy ways of sexual intimacy in marriage.” This is so she can decide if you are worth the risk, because she knows the truth about your pornography addiction. “Don’t you dare hide this from her, spring it on her after you’re married, and know then that there’s no way out. That would be very disingenuous, dishonest, evil of you to do that,” he said.

Piper closed his answer by saying, “I think it would be fair to say that every mature, healthy woman in marriage wants to enjoy her husband and wants to be enjoyed by her husband, but not used by him.” He then gave three things that contribute to a woman not feeling “used” but feeling cherished instead: words, eye contact, and protecting the beautiful garden of pleasure.

Giving a brotherly charge to his listener Ben, he said, “pursue holiness and purity and deep transformation, and there will be hope for you.”

You can listen to the entire podcast here.

How to Develop Praying Leaders

By
David Chotka
-
communicating with the unchurched

They were all quite young by our standards. Jesus chose disciples who were just getting started in life. He picked 12 18- to 24-year-olds and trained them for two of His three-year ministry. Then, 11 of those 12 disciples went on to transform the inhabited world with His teaching—empowered by His Spirit and employing the same method of discipleship.

At the root of everything Jesus did was His prayer life. Jesus deliberately prayed before He acted. In fact, John’s Gospel tells us that He could do nothing unless the Father showed Him (Jn. 5:19, 30). After a night of prayer, the Father revealed to Jesus His leadership core—and they were young (Lk. 6:12-13).

The 12 young disciples were so intrigued by the prayer life of Jesus that they asked Him to teach them how He did it (Lk. 11:1). They had seen prayer before, but never with the powerful results of Jesus’ prayer. He raised the dead, healed the sick, taught unearthly truth and was transfigured before their eyes.

Earth-Changing Strategy

Jesus’ discipling strategy was simple. What did He do? He picked teenagers and young adults, and taught them to pray and obey like Him.

This was a vital, dynamic prayer of encounter. This was prayer that clearly heard the voice of God, discerned the action of God and then entered into it, accomplishing wonders to the astonishment of all. In fact, Jesus refused to act unless He had a clear, direct leading, a command from God for every action.

He did not merely speak to God, but He heard God, interacting with Him back and forth until the fellowship (and/or the assignment) was complete. Jesus taught the Twelve to do this.

He mentored young Peter to hear the voice of God—and obey. (The conversations between Jesus and Peter are some of the most instructive and warmly human accounts we have from the Gospels.)

Jesus also brought three young adults with Him to learn together. Peter, James and John were there when He prayed to raise a little girl from the dead. When Jesus prayed about His future, talked with Moses and Elijah, and was transfigured, those three disciples were witnesses. And they were there when He prayed in death-anguish in Gethsemane. Even in grief, He taught them to pray like He did.

And He worked with nine more “20-somethings” in the same way. Then there were 58 others in the group called “the 70,” who also followed Him. Jesus required them to watch and learn and do as He did. Then He sent them out two by two to practice what they had learned.

Most of Jesus’ time was given over to instructing teenagers and young adults. God sent His Son to spend enormous amounts of His time with this age group during His ministry. By doing this, He gave them (and us) a method that can be easily replicated.

Here it is:

  • Develop your prayer life to hear God (without this step, none of the others apply).
  • Ask the Lord to lead you to teenagers and young adults who can learn to hear the Lord with you.
  • Mentor one, three and 12 at a time in how you hear and obey the Lord.
  • Hear and obey God in front of them.
  • Send them out to do the same, and then report the results back to you.
  • Celebrate the successes, correct the failures. Laugh together.
  • Instruct them to find one, three and 12 others to disciple.
  • Then start over again yourself with a new group.

Think Younger

As a prayer leader, are you struggling to get people to join together in prayer? Maybe you need to think younger. Ask the Lord to show you some teens or college-aged adults in your church and pour yourself into training them to pray effectively.

That was Jesus’ method. We would be wise to imitate it.

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